California Dreamin'

A few weeks ago I went to Southern California with my dearest friend, Jane. We haven't seen each other in a few months (she lives in Provo). We decided to take a trip kind of spur of the moment... but I'm so glad we did. We decided to go to California and stay with Jane's brother and sister in law, Andy and Debbie. Debbie and I have been Facebook friends for about 2 years now but we had never met each other.

We did a lot of things! The weather was great. We stayed at Andy and Deb's place in El Segundo, California. It was the perfect place to get to where we wanted to go. Here are some pics of our adventures:

Our first adventure took us to Bountiful in Venice. Bountiful is owned by one of my absolute favorite interior designers, Sue Balmforth. When we reached the store, there was no mistaking it. The cake plates (thousands of them by the way) gave it right away! Here are a few pics from inside the store:

We were also fortunate enough to be at the store while Sue was there. It was a pleasure to meet her. She was SO nice and she was so excited that we had traveled to see her. She let us take a look in the back of her shop (her design studio) and also walk upstairs to her loft to see her bedroom (which was fab). This was definitely a wonderful experience for me!

Debbie and Jane @ Bountiful

Jane and Me @ Bountiful

Sue's bedroom

Me walking down the stairs from Sue's bedroom

Chaise lounges hung on the wall (fab)

After we spent almost 3 hours in Bountiful, we skipped over to Santa Monica to see Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic shop. It was of course amazing as well. We weren't supposed to take pictures in this store, but the girl who was there let us... since we had come from so far. I love the over-sized rosary beads on the side of the mirror as well.


After a day of shopping and looking... we went over to Beverly Hills to get a dozen cupcakes from Sprinkles. It is my ALL TIME FAVORITE cupcake shop.

Deb and I are so excited!

Cupcakes are yummy!

Oh be still my little cupcake heart! They were so yummy!

My trip was so much fun! I can't believe it has taken me 26 years of life to take a weekend girls trip! We have decided to make it a yearly trip. So much fun! Andy and Debbie were perfect hosts! I appreciated their kindness and hospitality.

I was also proud of the fact that I was able to navigate my way around LA without getting lost once. The traffic was hellish indeed... but I made it through. Check that one off of my bucket list (not).