​Carissa gave up on the rain and moved to Mexico. She stayed there quite happily for some time. When she would come to visit, she always brought gifts. Carissa is the only person I know who would purposefully travel with a breakable painted squirrel. And I’m glad she did.
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She recently moved to San Francisco. Didn’t take to it much and relocated to Santa Cruz, mere blocks to the beach. She commutes to The City, but doesn’t have to drive, so…there’s that.

I used to have more free time to dedicate to my first love: dressmaking. And so, years ago, I was asked to make a sweet seersucker dress for Brianna to wear to her wedding rehearsal dinner. The special touch she wanted was that the back would have a cutout of a heart. No problem, said I! She was cute as can be.
Brianna recently celebrated her 40th birthday and took herself to Paris. (For mine, I threw a dumb last-minute party. I’m doing it wrong.)
​Update from Brianna: Received a response (via postcard) just one week later. That’s how we like to play.

Back when she had more time and fewer children, my friend Naomi would work on projects all year and then have a fun jewelry sale/show around the holidays. It was just a hobby, but she is very skilled. I was lucky enough to benefit when my birthday rolled around. Sidenote: I like color.
The postcard is from Sevilla, Italy. She and her husband have a special love for Italy and even live there for months at a time when life lets them do that.