One of my favorite places in the whole world (or at least the tiny portion of the world that I have actually seen) is Morro Bay, CA. Since I was a child, I’ve been coming here on family vacations, visiting family friends and more recently my own family who now lives nearby.

A few years ago I found this amazing little bead store. Beads by the Bay.

What makes it even more amazing is the ‘backyard’ of this store. It has an adult size playhouse/classroom in the back where they do jewelry classes.

The gardens are amazing too and everywhere you look is a little bit of inspiration.

My daughter was happy too because they have a cat that lives here. I guess it just showed up one day and decided to stay. (I think that was a good choice.) We brought treats for it and made friends quickly.

I bought some assorted charms for making my shadow box necklaces and a cool rusted metal piece of word art that simply says “create”. I love it!

Do you have a favorite place that feeds your creative soul or inspires you? I’d love to hear about it.