Chinatown and Venice Beach

I am finally going to tell you about our last two days of our trip out to Southern California with my girls for Spring Break. Sunday after getting moved to another airline, just barely making the connecting flight, the airline losing our luggage and then experiencing a very long earthquake, we went out to eat with my dad & brothers and sisters. Remember on Monday we spent the morning in Seal Beach then went on to Art Supply Warehouse and then Fabric Barn. Tuesday we went to Melrose with some friends and my favorite shop was Johnny Cupcakes. Thursday we went up to the Los Angeles garment district  & my oldest found a pair of shoes for Prom. My younger daughter didn't like the garment district at all since it isn't the nicest of places. So, I thought she might like Chinatown which is just a few minutes away from where we were. I was right! :)

Chinatown is filled with little shops with inexpensive trinkets. I loved this one. Wouldn't it be awesome to have a party where the ceiling was filled with upside down umbrellas, or Chinese lanterns?

See how close LA city hall is?

See how happy my girls look?

Of course we got hungry and stopped at Yang Chow for some yummy Chinese food. Lots of signed celebrity photos on the walls. But, we didn't see any celebrities :(

After lunch we ventured down the street and found this courtyard of shops. I believe these have been in some movies.

We drove by the Westin Bonaventure. The elevators are on the outside of the building & I remember going up in them when I was in college ...they go really fast!

On Thursday we were going to head on up to Venice Beach. I really wanted to stop by Sweet and Saucy  bakery since I have been following their blog for awhile. It is about a mile from where I used to live in Long Beach. If you have a few minutes, definitely stop by and look through the gallery of cakes.

This is what the display looks like.

Cute pom poms in the window.

We bought some delicious cookies, a candy bar cupcake and this cake lolipop. They were all really yummy!

After stopping at Sweet and Saucy we drove up to Venice Beach. I don't recommend taking small children there, but mine are nearly full grown. Venice was my oldest daughter's favorite place.

A very cool wall with graffiti all over it

The boardwalk has lots of shops on it. A little surprising were the multitude of "doctor's offices" selling Mary Jane. Yep,  you heard that right! The smell was everywhere. I don't mean to get political here, but they might as well make it legal for everyone.

My oldest daughter (the creative one) is also very interested in tattoo's. I found out on the previous Monday that she had one done awhile back in Charlotte. Mr. Fanatic was beside himself when I phoned him.

You can see the tattoo on her back at the base of her neck.

After Venice, of course we went to In-N-Out Burger.

Our Los Angeles Shopping tour was a whirlwind 4 days of shop til you drop & eating good food! We all had a great time  shopping and spending some time with family & friends. Friday we headed back home.

Would love to hear about the places you all go on weekends or vacations. Who knows, it might help us plan our next trip.

Tomorrow I will be sharing some more about our patio in the woods. Hope you'll stop by for a visit.

Pam

Johnny Cupcakes is Awesome!

We visited  Johnny Cupcakes on Melrose on Tuesday. It is next door to Tarina Tarantino & across the street from Betsey Johnson's boutique. It is my all time favorite store for Design & Marketing.  At first, my friend and I thought we were going into a bakery. Who doesn't like cupcakes? We were definitely surprised when we went in.

The whole store is really cool. It is designed to look like a bakery, but they don't sell cupcakes.
Here I am taking a photo of my friend Linda & I in the mirror with a wall full of vintage oven doors behind us.

My girls choosing their Johnny Cupcakes tshirts.  Reminds me of Disneyland.

T shirts are displayed in bakery cases. See the stove? That is where you pay.  Soooo cute!

These are the shirts my girls chose. The one on the left glows in the dark.

T shirts are packaged in cute little bakery boxes & wrapped in tissue.

Every package has a little something in it.

 

So who came up with this brilliant idea? A big marketing company? Nope. His name is Johnny Earle. He is currently 28 years old.
"Earle says he initially started the Johnny Cupcakes brand "as a complete joke." The clothing line has its origins back in 2000 when Earle worked at the Newbury Comics music shop in Braintree, Massachusetts. Each day brought about a new nickname for Earle as coined by his co-workers: Johnny Appleseed, Johnny Pancakes, Johnny Cupcakes, Johnny Coffeecakes, etc.
In 2001, while ordering screen-printed shirts for the metalcore  band he played in, (On Broken Wings) Earle printed up a few shirts designed with the "Johnny Cupcakes" nickname. Almost immediately, co-workers and store customers noticed the cupcakes-themed shirts whenever he wore them and many inquired about how to purchase them. Sensing the demand, Earle started selling the shirts from the trunk of his car to local customers.
When On Broken Wings signed with a record label and began touring  in 2002, Earle stuffed his suitcase full of Johnny Cupcakes shirts to sell at shows and give to other musicians on the bill. This helped expose his designs to new audiences across the country, and the brand began to develop a cult following. The following year, Earle quit the band to focus full-time on his fledgling business." 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Cupcakes

Some more great things about Johnny: he unabashedly proclaims an alcohol & drug free lifestyle, both his parents & many of his friends work for him & he travels around & lectures at Colleges and Universities speaking to kids. I would encourage you to read more about his story on his website. It is really good.

 Hope you enjoyed reading about Johnny Cupcakes.

Thanks for stopping by...Have a great weekend!

Pam

Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles

Today I thought I'd continue telling you about some cool places we went during our trip to the Los Angeles area last week. I would have posted each day while we were there, but since we were staying at my dad's house & he didn't have the internet, I couldn't. Talk about SERIOUS internet withdrawal!!
Anyway, on Tuesday we spent the day on Melrose Avenue with my friend Linda and her daughter. It was so nice that she was able to take some time off of work and come with us. Our last visit to California I called her at the last minute to meet us at In-N-Out for one last burger. So glad we were able to spend the whole day together.
We went into a lot of trendy & cute shops on Melrose Some were pricey and some offered bargains. Even though I didn't purchase anything for myself, I still had a lot of fun going to shops that my girls loved. Of course we ate at the  In-N-Out Burger in Hollywood before we arrived on Melrose Avenue. The burgers, again were excellent!

My girls had to stop at Tarina Tarantino's boutique. They each had purchased a very expensive ring (for what it was made out of) the last time we were there in '07. Tarina's other boutiques are in SoHo & Milan. Enough said!  It is always a fun place to visit (anyway) because the interior of the store is really great!

My oldest daughter had pink hair as pink as the models in the photos in the window. Oy! I still have ruined towels with pink dye on them to prove it!

See what I mean about how cute this store is?

You know the goods are expensive when the items are displayed like this.

Here are the girls smiling for the camera.

I thought these earrings were cute!

Another boutique I thought was fun was Betsey Johnson's. I describe her as the Cyndi Lauper of designers.

Here the girls are again. So pretty.

Here's the dressing room area. The guys & parents really appreciate all the seating.

I didn't buy anything in Betsey Johnson's boutique, but some of her line is often found at Marshall. In fact, I purchased one of her bags this week. It's pretty wild for me, anyway. I'm allowed to buy something like this once in awhile even though I'm 50, aren't I??? What do you think?

The best bargains on Melrose were found at BCBG/Max Azria's Final Cut. For those of you who missed the previous post, my oldest daughter is going to 3, possibly 4 proms in the coming weeks. You can read more here. She found 2 dresses at Final Cut. One was $29.99 & the other was $39.99. Unbelievable!!! The shoes she found the next day in the Garment District for $30.

We found the shoes at a shop in the garment district in Los Angeles on Wednesday. I love those shoes, but you should see how high the heel is!

I am saving a really great shop on Melrose Avenue for tomorrow. The store is unbelievably cute & the story behind the business & how the entrepreneur got started is really phenomenal. Here's a clue:

Wishing everyone a terrific weekend! I am on my way outside to plant flowers in containers on my deck. Hope you'll come back for a visit tomorrow. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Pam

Fabric Barn

I still haven't finished telling you about the FIRST day of last week's Los Angeles Shopping Tour with my girls. After having breakfast with grandpa/dad, spending time in Seal Beach and then going to Art Supply Warehouse, we were famished. So, we headed off for lunch at In-N- Out Burger.

Oh......they were sooooooooooooooo good! Yum. It had been about 2 1/2 years since our last Double-Double. You know when you start dreaming about a burger, it's time to go eat one!

After In-N-Out, we headed on over to my favorite craft supply store in Long Beach called Fabric Barn. They have some fabric, but mostly ribbons, laces, trims, wedding supplies, shower supplies, etc. I have never  found any place cheaper than Fabric Barn. All of you within driving distance of this place should make a trip if you haven't been. It is definitely worth it.  Any of you crafters & decorators out there ever been to Fabric Barn?

The last time I was there you could by things by the yard, but they have since replaced this system & for most items you buy it by the roll. I did anyway. If you enlarge the photo you can see that a whole spool of ribbon is only a couple of dollars.

Cute butterflies. I bought some the last time I was here.

...little flowers and more butterflies of all sizes and colors

Here's what I purchased. Not much, but considering I already have about 24 boxes of craft supplies...!

I bought these 9" paper lanterns for my daughters graduation party.

 So that was the end of day 1 of our Los Angeles Shopping Tour. On Tuesday we went up to Los Angeles with some friends to Melrose Avenue, a trendy street full of interesting places to shop.

I hope you'll come back for a visit to see the interiors of these interesting stores.

Thanks for stopping by,

Pam