Author Julie Carobini

Learned today that one of my shop's vendors just sold their brand. So hoping this is a good thing and that my supplier doesn't change much because my little beach shop would be so sad without their beachy products. The Webkinz people bought them and ~ how weird is this? ~ my new rep lives in ... Ventura. A national company and the rep is in my backyard. It's got to be a sign or something (A beach sign, perhaps? Lol ...). Seriously, I think I could sell beach stuff all the livelong day and be happy.

A friend and I were talking about careers over coffee the other day and she said something like, "I know what I do well, and so I do that. But if you ask me what I'd be happiest doing ... well, I have no idea."

As for me, it's hard to say. When a story gels in my head and makes it onto paper, I'm happy. When readers write to me, I'm happy. But I'm fickle. I get bored. Sometimes I wish I could travel the world finding treasures to stock my beach shop. Then again, I'd probably spend more time buying than selling, and there's this little thing that my family enjoys doing called "eating" ...

Ah, well. There's a darling shop in downtown Ventura that draws me in like a cat to catnip. It's filled with beachy signs and shell-encrusted mirrors and seaglass-inspired everything else. I call it my "happy place" and laugh all you want, but just walking in there puts a smile on this girl's face.

Have a place like that too? What's it like? And if you could do anything (and still eat), what would that be?