California Sunshine, English Rain and back to the Victorian English Bamboo Tables

on to California

The wedding in Virginia and all the festivities over
we headed to California, where we stayed at Jay and Krista's in the Laguna Hills.
Yes, Yes, I know they had just got married. LOL

They decided they would have a honeymoon at a later date.
The wedding had taken them months and months of planning.
Everything down to the tiniest detail, was executed with perfection.
It must have been quite a headache, and exhausting to boot.

So, now was the moment we could all spend time together.

Laguna Beach...heading off to lunch.

at the Beach House restaurant.


http://thebeachhouse.com/


Its the most fabulous place

Here's a bit of what they say about themselves....

The original Beach House Restaurant was founded by Gale Pike in 1968, in Laguna Beach in the former home of Old Hollywood character actor, Slim Summerville. The house was built in the 1920’s and the restaurant has retainedmuch of its character and charm. Much of the original woodwork, fixtures and wrought iron remain to this day.

Slim starred in such films as “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Tobacco Road” and his star is seen today on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame.There are even rumors of Slim’s ghost contentedly wandering through the restaurant late at night.

...........everything about the place was rather gorgeous.

The food, surroundings, the cocktails........I only had one, by the way Ha Ha

No, really I did.....

We went up to see the Mission at Capistrano,

http://www.missionsjc.com/

It's reputedly the birthplace of the California Wine industry and a beautiful, beautiful place, with so much history,
I could have stayed their for days.

http://www.sanjuancapistrano.org/

 the bells of the original mission that was left in ruins after an earthquake

a great place for a wedding..there was one there the day we visited.

This made me laugh...
Jay and Krista have 2 dogs,
little and large they are..

They walk each day with friends, a real crowd of them and afterwards they used to go to a local cafe for coffee.
When the cafe closed, one of the friends opened their house for the after dog walk coffees.
This is the sign they had made.
Great hey?

One of the wonderful things we liked about  California, is,
apart from the weather, which of course means you can plan things and be pretty certain the weather won't ruin your day,( unlike in our English climate.).

.....going out for brunch ...mostly we all found something to suit our own way of eating.
.....the carnivores, the veggies, the vegans..actually, I think California is veggie heaven.

( We also discovered Trader Joes..Oh to have these stores in England..sheer joy.
http://www.traderjoes.com

Anyway, back to brunch
This was in Laguna, on the Pacific Highway,
and was obviously an incredibly popular place...it was packed..all outside eating..
the food was quickly served and made to order..not heated up rubbish.

Jay, Krista and Nass...we were joined by their great buddie, Crystal

It was called Madison Square...they also had, 
as they describe themselves, " whimsical gifts"


http://madisonsquare.com/


Cafe Hours: 8:00am - 2:30pm • Closed Tuesdays
Phone: 949 494-0137 •Fax: 949 376-6507

320 North Coast Highway @ Laguna Beach






After the sun,
the socialising,
eating al fresco almost every day,
we headed home to England and yes, you guessed it .....

Ah well,

so long USA, but

it's great to be home.

Our old, blind, Bella the cat,

was overjoyed to see us.

This was a card Jay gave us while we were in the US,

Its very cleverly done and looks the image of Bella

it really made us laugh

We are so lucky with our own friends.

My neighbour and friend, looked after Bella the first few days,

and even cleaned out my fridge and washed my floor,

as well as sitting and watching TV for a while,

to keep her company.

While my chum, Allie,

did the second stint and 

sat reading for a while each time,

 to make sure 

the old girl ate her food.

Friends, what would we do without them.  

Now, its back to work on
Victorian Bamboo Tables.

After having a few pieces in
House and Garden Magazine a month ago
I've had several more orders come through, since being away.
So having unpacked and restocked the pantry,
tomorrow its on with the old bamboo.

Have a great day

www.arundeleccentrics.com