I had a great time today at my friend Eva’s 4th birthday party. Eva’s party was at Sticky Art Labs which is one of my favorite “fun-for-kids-and-big people-too” places in Berkeley.  Sticky Art Lab is this great place that that has all sorts of craft supplies and scraps materials, where you can go to make fun projects like cork-robots, felt puppets, pipe cleaner mobiles. Eva and I have been to Sticky Art Labs before for their Coffee & Crafts Lab on Saturday morning a while ago, and having not known about the place before, I was enthralled. And, in fact, I will freely admit after our first time there, I was thinking of how quickly I could schedule another play date with Eva for another visit when one of the staff there told me that they have sessions for adults only (!!)—with wine!  I love art and making things, from serious crafts to just fun playing around with materials, I love the chance to be creative and create something new and beautiful. At home, I knit and have started doing some photography. For many, many years, I was very serious about ceramics and I still have a pottery wheel and a small studio in my backyard. The last few years, I’ve been busy with other things and have not had much time for pottery but I am hoping to get back into the throw of things (bad pottery pun!) again. I do miss working with clay. Meanwhile, at the party today, we played with homemade playdough (which as a clay person I loved) and made felt animal puppets. Eva made a butterfly and I made a Bodhi-dog. After the party, Eva and her mom Rachel came over to give Bodhi a walk and head over to our favorite dog park/playground. Eva used to be a little nervous around Bodhi and other dogs but now has become this awesome dogwalker and Bodhi just loves her! Eva is a girl after my own heart—she loves crafting and reading and fairy princesses and butterflies, and is whip smart and super funny, one of my all around favorite little people. I’ve known Eva since she was born, and I’ve known her mom Rachel since grad school. It’s been such a pleasure to be a part of Eva’s growing up and amazing to see her Mom and Dad (Jack), become such awesome parents to Eva. I’m so glad that they are all a part of my life. I also can’t wait until I can bring my own kids to Sticky Lab. Ok—I do realize that will be a while, but in the meantime, I’m looking forward to more crafty playdates with Eva! Happy birthday, Eva!