Raspberry chocolate cake, champagne and a sweet dose of community

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.”
-- Henry David Thoreau
(via hello, romantic)

More than I love champagne and chocolate cake swirled with sticky raspberries (shared recently at a late-summer triple date night), I love our friends, our L.A. "family," the backbone of my growth and support and encouragement for the past few years (and, I predict with great hopes and humble assurance, for many years into the future).

I see those relationships as true "success," a much truer and deeper success than any promotion or accolade or great day. I cherish the amazing blessing that those people stick with us and run after us even -- especially -- when life's difficulties are scattered throughout like in a minefield. And I rejoice that they don't/won't let us slip through the cracks even when we are "too busy" to look for them.

So a hearty "cheers" to you, dear friends.

(And doesn't that cake look delicious? It tasted even better than it looks.)

Photo credits: Kelsey Ramos, all taken on an iPhone 4G.