Day Alone - Last Bookstore

Since yesterday was Veterans Day (and work was closed) I took Monday off as well, creating a 4-day weekend (after 4 days of travel for work). It was the perfect way to get grounded.I did a HITT exercise, gave the dog a bath and then ran 2m with him. I met a friend pretty early for breakfast at Paper or Plastik Cafe (where the "no laptop" pic was taken above - Hi Julie!) and then picked up a weaving Jessica O'Brien made and gave away for free via Twitter (heart the Internet).---Some time that morning I thought about The Last Bookstore in downtown LA - I'd never been. Having the entire day to myself seemed like a good enough reason to go.The drive downtown was pretty easy with the help of GPS and I found a metered spot across the street. #bonusInside it is all sorts of used-bookstore-goodness. There are shelves and shelves of books, grouped in the usual categories, but the endcaps had random assortments of new and used volumes. The tables in the middle held art or coffee table books - the themes not entirely obvious at first glance. There were a bunch of very worn, very old chairs strewn around, some with people lounging and reading. And there were PA speakers set up, with a random playlist going, though I caught some Conor Oberst, which made me super happy.I walked around for over an hour, collecting a few books that I thought were worth owning. And by worth owning, I mean, books whose pages I may want to write in the margins of. I love reading but I don't buy books often anymore. In the interest of more open space in our apartment, I gave away most of my books in the past few years - getting our living room down to one bookcase and the bookcase upstairs holding other things besides just books.But that dry, paper smell of stacks of books? That never gets old.---I drove from the bookstore to a Starbucks. I tried writing some, but my brain felt so overwhelmed with ideas, it seemed blank. After an hour of scratching around, I left to pick up groceries.At home I unpacked the groceries, biked the dog around the neighborhood, cooked Mexican food for dinner, and pulled the 9 of Cups from the tarot deck: It is a sign to enjoy the abundance of life and to feel each of your emotions as if you had never felt any of them before. See the perfection all around you.Yes, another day alone. Just like my day in Pasadena last month, it was a much needed luxury of spending time with myself, and creating space to just be.Perfection.