Mini Escapes

Every once in a while I get in those moods where I just want to wander around aimlessly. Whether it be on foot, by bus, or peddling away on Pierrot (my bicycle) I've just got the wanderlust. Just call me Robin Vote (a la Djuna Barnes' Nightwood). After relaxing at home for a bit this passed Saturday I got dressed, counted my change, and decided to board the bus. Sure, let's run errands. I needed to get a tire pump for my bike anyway. So I boarded the bus towards the Target store at Santa Monica and La Brea. My how I've missed riding the bus.

Once I got to the top of the stairs in the courtyard I saw Nicole sitting on one of the wooden benches in front of ULTA. Nicole was reading Rick Riordan's The Titan's Curse, a book, she explains, about the Olympians. It's a fantasy book or sorts and is part of a series of books. She thought she'd take some time to read today since she had the day off from work. "Yeah, I'm a pretty quick reader so I tend to pick up books that are also 'quick and easy' reads." This way she can get alot accomplished during her down time.

Nicole tends to lean towards fantasy books because they storylines are a great way to escape. She also enjoys stories with great drama involved.

Growing up Peter Pan was her favourite and she read it over and over. And not the Disney version, per se. She read the real deal. "I liked Peter Pan because of the imagination throughout the story." If we're going to escape in books why not add some quirky twists to it, right? We talked about the book versus the movie and like many, Nicole prefers the book over the movies although she admits to enjoying the film adaptations.


Nicole used to draw when she was younger and make up stories to go along with her drawings. Nowadays she would love to write her own children's book if she could and she would hone her artistic skills of yore so that she can do her own illustrations to accompany her fantastical storylines.

Did you ever make up your own stories and books, complete with illustrations, when you were a child? I remember doing that in school and even binding them ourselves with creative book covers. (In one class we even sent our work to be professionally bound). One story I remember writing was a tall tale! Kind of a modern Paul Bunyan but a woman, of course! I was in 4th grade and I remember incorporating the word "smithereens" into my story. Something about crushing bricks into smithereens.