Around our {new} house

Hooray! The moving-of-the-stuff is behind us {completed in record-breaking-temperatures-hottest-weekend-of-the-year-so-far...OMG it was SOOOOOO hot!} and now we can start getting things settled. :o)  We won't have an internet connection until the end of this week so I'm using my lunch break at work to give you a little look inside our new digs.

 Flooring.

 and dust.

{Look familiar, Amy?} 

 Kitchen cabinets in progress. 

Happy.

 Flowers for a house that's not yet unpacked?

Oh yes, I did.

 Yes, it already feels like HOME.

{Thanks so much to Karen for this sweet surprise!}

We have lots to do, but we are happy.

:o)

Cali Blog Tour - Half Moon Bay

The last part of our road trip was a trek to visit with Rinda. Carrie and I were so excited as we left my mom's house that morning and headed toward the California coast. Like Mel, I've known Rinda for almost two years, having met both of them in an online class we'd all participated in.

As we drove to the coast I was feeling so blessed and happy to be meeting yet another blog friend. Three in one weekend!!! I'm a lucky girl.

We knew we were getting closer when we saw BART - the subway system that goes into San Francisco. We traveled along side of the train for quite awhile, until Carrie finally out ran it. :o}

The San Mateo bridge was a little scary to cross. See the gray stuff right over the edge? Yeah. That's water! It looked like the bridge was sitting right on top of it!

Rinda had invited us to come straight to her house and the plan was to take off from there and see the sights of Half Moon Bay. We got to meet her sweet little Gypsy dog, and had the pleasure of leafing through her art journals. Let me tell you, seeing Rinda's art in person was a real treat! We loved every bit of it!

We headed out to see the sights but Rinda said there was something she wanted to show me first. It was a decorated mail box she drives past every day. :o) So cute!

My aunt had told me about a place called Half to Have It. When I asked Rinda about it she was all too happy to take me there. I could have spent hours poking around at this place! Here are some pictures I took that day...

Rinda and I each considered buying one of these large sunflowers although neither of us did. I'm still dreaming about them...

And these adorable mercury glass mushrooms? I did buy one of them!

Carrie: "Oh my gosh! These mushrooms are SOOOO cute!"
Me: "Ooooh...you're right! I'm gonna' get one. Can I buy one for you too?"
Carrie: "No...I don't have any where to put it."
Rinda: "How about your bathroom window?"
Carrie: "I don't have a bathroom window."
Me: "In a plant?"
Carrie: "No plants either..."

I knew she wanted one, but she succeeded in convincing me otherwise. Then on the way home later that day she says, "I should have got one of those mushrooms." Argh! Gemini.

I loved these glass balls and regret not picking a few of these up for our new patio space. I really need to save some money and go back...

I loved these strands of beads with the bells at the end. I took a picture to remind me to make some once my beading stuff resurfaces from the move.

Vintage sand pales and shovels. Should have grabbed one of those too! Ugh!

And yes, I did bring this guy home:

So, when Rinda dragged me away from "Half to Have It" we headed into the downtown area and took in the sights. Work it Carrie...

We enjoyed a delicious lunch together and then hit some more shops. Here's another self-portrait of the three of us. Rinda and I bought flower "frogs" at this store.

Half Moon Bay is such a lovely town. I loved every bit of it.

We stopped at a nursery and got a bouquet of flowers to take home to my mom.

And stopped by the beach for a few photos...

Love my girl C.

And I love this photo of Rinda:

We have a few of these shots - with both of us laughing about something. We did a lot of that on this day. :o)

We bid Rinda farewell and headed back to my mom's house for the night. I hated to leave, but the clock was ticking and we wanted to be home before dark. The drive back to Mom's was beautiful and oh so bittersweet.

We got a little lost on our drive back to Mom's house...there was a bit of tension {eh-hm} and then we discovered that we were actually on the right track - just a different route. I loved landing back at my mom's that night and being able to tell her about yet another amazing day we had.

The next morning we were up before the sun was and headed out for a 11-hour drive back home. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun in one weekend. Having the opportunity to meet three blog friends {Margaret, Mel, and Rinda} was so wonderful, being able to spend time with my family was a real bonus, and doing the whole thing with my Carrie? Priceless.

♥

Cali Blog Tour - Mom's house

We left Mel's rental house in Pasadena at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday morning heading north to my Mom's house. Carrie will scoff when she reads this, remembering that I made her get up and leave so early because I thought it was a 6-hour drive to Mom's. {eh-hm...turns out to be under 4...we'll know next time...and besides, she's the one with the GPS in her iPhone!}

Kind of a wonky photo below, but it shows my mom's dining area, with her Team Teal banner still stretched across the opening here {Carrie and my sis, Valerie at the table...}

We got to see this little peach, Miss Presley who is 6-years old now and missing a few teeth.

We told Mom that we wanted Pinot Grigio, any brand would do. She bought this based on the cute label {haha, I was proud of her for that!}.

We sat outside and enjoyed each other's company while my nephew Stone and my step-dad Rod did some snail hunting. It's always so sweet to see these two together. {BTW, I have future plans for these photos...}

Got to spend some time with my awesome Aunt Sharon. I love this woman {and her hubby ain't so bad either}!

Enjoyed a little harmonica performance by Stone and his Papa.

Loved on my sweet girl, Carrie.

And my amazing mom, Marti.

It's always so nice to spend time at my mom's house with our family.

♥

The next morning Carrie would be able to sleep until 7:30 a.m. before I forced her out of bed again for the next leg of our trip...

Cali Blog Tour - Pasadena Part II

Carrie and I were still reeling from our fun lunch with Margaret and the beauty of Pasadena, California. As soon as we found The Huntington Library, we were smitten with the amazing surroundings. We searched the crowd, looking for our blog friend...and there she was! All the way from England...

Hi Mel!!!

So cute - notice her two kiddos, running away behind her - that sweet and funny awkward too-shy-to-stick-around-and-do-the-whole-introduction-thing. {That didn't last long!} :o)

We had a limited time to walk around the gardens at the library, throw in some excited chatter between all of us, and snapping pictures left and right...the time went much too quickly!

One of my favorite things about being at the gardens with Mel and her children was experiencing their delight over the amazing hummingbirds there. There are a BUNCH of them, buzzing close by your head and flitting all around. Though seeing a hummingbird isn't rare for me, it was so fun to see them up close and to relish in the glow of Mel's excitement over them.

It was so lovely meeting her children. They are both so well mannered and sweet. The Boy has a quiet and gentle way about him, and speaks so intelligently about all things nature related. We had an interesting conversation about dental work while walking around in the garden. LOL. He's brilliant.

And his little sister, The Tomboy? Well, she was quite shy at first, covering her face with her hat, giggling and trying to hide from me. I knew that wouldn't last long. She was carrying a penny around with her and I couldn't resist showing her a little trick I know where you place a coin on your elbow then quickly catch it with your hand in a sweeping-down-motion. The penny proved to be too light so I gave her a quarter - she got a lot of entertainment out of that 25¢.

Being blog friends for almost two years now, it seemed so natural and easy to be with Mel and her family. There was an instant comfort about being with Mel - like visiting with a family member you love and haven't seen for a while. It was awesome!

The Children knew I wanted to see turtles, so we headed straight to this beautiful pond where we could see a few little turtle heads poking up on the top of the water. {No photos of that...you'll just have to take my word for it!}

After walking around the gardens we went to the gift shop where Mel's sweet girl had all kinds of turtle items she'd scoped out for me to buy. "Look at this one, Deb Turtle!" "...and this one!" It was so dang cute. I ended up buying a small turtle hand puppet she had found. We flipped a coin to decide whether is was a boy or a girl turtle. {It's a girl.}

So, from covering her face with a hat, to being

great pals within about a two-hour window.  :o)

It was so much fun being with Mel's family and conversing with them. I realized how LOUD Carrie and I are, compared to their soft and lovely British accents. I felt like an animated California girl {uh...well...I am after all...}. And the sweet way that Mel's children called me "Deb Turtle" just touched my heart.

Mel and The Doctor had graciously offered to have Carrie and I sleep at their rental house for the night and I'm so glad we did. It gave us more time to visit, enjoy a lovely meal prepared by Mel, a glass of wine on the patio, and then falling into bed, deliciously tired.

But before retiring, little miss The Tomboy could be heard saying, "Please Mummy, just one more photo with Deb Turtle. Please? Just one more photo..."

We took the photo and I told her that we needed to say our good bye's as Carrie and I planned to be up early and slip out before she was awake. She stood in front of me, her little shoulders slumped forward and head hanging a little bit. I'll never forget what she said, in her soft and sweet little British accent, "Good bye, Deb Turtle."

Not good bye, my sweet little friend,

just farewell until we meet again!

♥

Cali Blog Tour - Pasadena Part I

Greetings, everyone!

I thought I'd break our road trip photos into a few different posts over the next week while Doug and I move and settle into our new digs. Here's the first of the series...

* * * * * * * * * *

Carrie and I left my house in Arizona at 5:30 a.m. on a Friday morning headed to California. Neither of us had ever been to Pasadena before - other than driving through on the freeway without venturing into town. Quite honestly, venturing off the freeway never appealed to me as it isn't the most beautiful part of the drive to my mom's house...but I digress. Turns out, Pasadena is absolutely beautiful! Huge trees and beautiful lush landscaping every where you look. I loved the canopy of trees on every street and kept ooohing and ahhhing at every turn!

After a 6-hour drive from home to Pasadena, we had a little time to kill before our lunch date. We had directions to get to Old Town Pasadena but took a wrong turn and ended up on a street with plenty of antique shops to browse - right up our alley!

We happened upon this lovely shop where the clerk was a bit wacky and very chatty! Nice thing is that he was very knowledgeable and we talked at length about these amazing Victorian Hall candle lamps. Ah!!! They were so stunning!

Cool plants along the way...

When we found out that Mel would be in Pasadena during her visit to the states, I remembered that my blog friend Margaret lived near by and sent her an email about meeting up. She agreed, and suggested we go to a place called "Pie 'n Burger." Great call on her part as the food was very yummy!!! We were so busy chatting that I didn't even take my camera out during our meal!

Let me tell you about my friend, Margaret. I found her blog in the very beginning of my blogging venture - about two and a half years ago. Yes, it was in the beginning, before I had a million other blogs to follow and I was actually poking around looking for something to read. I used to always check the "Blogs of Note" tab on my Blogger Dashboard and one day it happened to be "Finnegan Begin Again." I clicked over and was immediately drawn to Margaret's witty writing style.

I left a comment on Margaret's blog, and the next thing I knew she was commenting on mine. Fast forward a couple of years and here we are, meeting in person and enjoying each other's company at a funky place called "Pie 'n Burger." :o)

Margaret's knack for taking ancient legends and putting a modern-day-California-girl twist to them is just so entertaining! Here's what she does: You have a life challenge and you call upon Margaret to give you a Goddess that relates to your little situation. She does just that, throws in some sage advice and you walk away feeling like there is hope - mixed in with some tongue-in-cheek humor. I highly recommend her blog and her Goddess gifts to each and every one of you! ♥

So, back to Pasadena and the beautiful trees - some in full bloom - absolutely stunning!!!

After lunch with Margaret we headed over to The Huntington Library for the next leg of our trip. Again, more beautiful mature trees lining our path...a little argument about where to park...walking and searching the crowd for our next blog friend meet up...