Coming back from Cali

Arrived home yesterday after our family’s week-long visit to Orange County, California to visit my in-laws for Thanksgiving. We had a great visit and the kids adore seeing their grandparents, as well as their two cousins, two uncles (one on my side, one on my husband’s) and auntie.

Spent most of the time relaxing with family, but a little time venturing out: a day in Disneyland, visits to the local parks with the kids, some excellent Korean food at a local Korean BBQ house in Irvine, a movie with our girls (Happy Feet Two, my expectations were low, and were slightly exceeded by the film) and an outing to Fashion Island Mall in Newport Beach.  If you are a regular reader, yes, we did just return a month or so ago from a week in Disney World. In our defense, we just wanted to check out the infamous Christmas decor, parade, and experience at Disney (it was very cool, especially the way they converted the “It’s a Small World” ride for the season and the Christmas parade extravaganza!).

As nice as it is to see family, it is always a good feeling when we touch down back at home. I admit, as I get older I’m not the best house guest.  I suppose I’m getting more set in my ways and enjoy the comforts of my own bed and space to spread out in without feeling like I’m infringing on other people’s.  Also, being in Orange County without a car of my own (I can borrow my in-laws, but somehow that feels strange to ask “permission”, especially knowing that leaves them unfairly housebound) is challenging since you really can’t walk anywhere, and there are so many great places you could go to explore. But, as I mentioned, we did stop by Fashion Island, and here are a few snapshots of what I saw there – could’ve spent an entire day, but was grateful for a couple of hours which included our visit to Build-a-Bear for my girls as well as a quick photo with Santa and a stop at a gelato shop!

Checked out this super cool home store, Room Service. It had a very vintage, mid-century, and Hollywood Regency flair to it — reminded me of Jonathan Adler and Palm Springs. Check out their online shop (name underlined above is the link), and see for yourself. They will even deliver outside of CA if you see something you can’t live without. 🙂