My niece Debbee’s shower was so lovely. The embroidered pillow Katie and I traveled to Canada to purchase from Winks Home Garden & Gifts was a big hit.
We are still running down here in Southern California. I’ll share detailed shots from the trip and shower sometime soon. We fly home tonight. Hope all is well in your corner of the world!
This past Mondayafter visiting my folks at their apartment in Brea I headed for the freeway and spotted The Hat. I enjoy a good pastrami sandwich so I decided to pull through the drive-thru to order one.
The Famous Pastrami Dip Sandwich was my choice for the day.
They don’t skimp on the size and the pastrami portion. I could only eat half.
I got my sandwich in this bag and noticed The Hat is as old as I am. It seemed fitting for this old girl born in California in 1951 to enjoy a sandwich from a company that’s survived and thrived for over 61 years in California.
I’m back from Canada and the Border Agents going and coming were very nice to me as usual. My time in Canada was filled with lots of good conversation and good food, oh my! My Dear is in Vienna right now and I’ll be interested in hearing about the food he’ll be eating. He’s there for a conference and won’t have much time for sight seeing but he does hope to see as much as his free time allows.
Have a good weekend everyone. I’m recuperating and laying low for the rest of today.
The reason I originally made travel arrangements for Southern California was to attend a lifelong friend’s baby shower. Her mother and I were best Russian buddies in our college years and onward. Our families attended the same Russian Baptist church in Los Angeles. We sang in the Russian Youth Choir and in the 70’s we were in a Christian Rock Band that toured England in the summers. Heidi sang at Dear and my wedding. Lots of history.
The theme that my friend Heidi and the new mom-to-be, Nikki, decided on was a nautical one. Perfect for celebrating the soon to arrive little boy.
Heidi and Ken have a beautiful home in the Orange Hill area of Southern Calfiornia.
This is the mother-to-be, Nicole. When she was born she lived across the street from us.
My friend Heidi and Nicole.
The food was delicious and listed on a fun Nikki Cravings Menu.
These are all my sisters with me. My SIL and two of my nieces were also at the shower.
My girlfriend Jeanie who married my cousin Jim was there, too. Our friendships intersect with a lot of people from church, the rock group and extended families.
We arrived for the shower in bright sunshine, sat down to our meal in the shade of the early evening, and left when the sun was setting…
It’s nice to be back home with Dear. I was upgraded to first class again and had a nice conversation with an ER doctor who sat next to me on the plane.
My Wednesday will be busy as I’m getting ready to travel to Canada on Thursday. I’ll be scarce till Friday. Hope all is well where you are…
On Sunday morning I met up with Cori G. from Brambleberry Cottage for some Kean Coffee and a stroll around Whimsy’s Flea Market in Old Town Tustin.
The Whimsy shop was fun to stroll through out of the sun…
It was sunny, muggy, and very hot but we persevered and managed to see most every vendor’s wares. I even bought 6 pink goblets. Hmmm…I have to pack them in my suitcase. I hope they survive.
Cori was a good sport and posed for my camera at the little chapel in the Flea Market lot. It was very good to catch up a bit with my bloggy friend.
Another fun looking shop in the the Old Town area of Tustin.
When I got back to my niece’s townhome I ended up going out to lunch with her and her fiance. They will announce their wedding date at our family gathering tonight. After lunch I was picked up by my sisters to head to a baby shower for a lifelong friend of ours. I’ll post about that tomorrow. Tomorrow I fly home and it looks like they upgraded me to first class again. Oh what a treat that is.
My first night in California my family got together for a build your own taco night.
I decided this was a good time to spring this new dessert idea on them.
Have you seen these caramel bits? I found them at Target and it’s great not to have to unwrap each individual caramel to melt them. The recipe for these treats is at Very Culinary. I used pecan pieces instead of cashews or peanuts. I wasn’t in my own kitchen when I made these. The next time I make them I’ll chop the nuts finer and the result will be prettier. They still were delicious chunky and disappeared quickly.
My parents made their first outing since my mom’s stroke and came to the taco party. It was nice to have them there and it was good for them to get out of the apartment.
The evening ended with this beautiful sunset in Orange, California.
Sunday was a full day and I’ll share later. Hope the beginning of Fall has been good to you.
Because of the rain and wind here in Chicago I don’t have photos to share today from Chicago but here are some shots of the Heron we enjoyed at the Riverside National Cemetery last Saturday.
When we arrived in Chicago yesterday we had one of those weird taxi experiences in getting to the hotel. There were 5 car fresheners in the back seat with us but that really didn’t help. The good news is that we made it to our downtown hotel and after we got settled into our nice room that doesn’t need air fresheners we had a lovely meal with some great friends from Seattle who are living in a suburb north of Chicago.
Friday morning we are going to choose an indoor venue to explore while we wait for the rain to move on.
Happy June to you all!
Flying south to Fresno and meeting up with some of these gals for this conference.
If you live in the Fresno area come on out and say hi!
As usual when I’m away from home I’m not sure what or if I’ll be posting the next few days.
Wanted to give a shout out to our Son in law Andrew because today is his birthday!
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 