Great Day at The Grove!

The Grove is seriously the 'Disneyland' of shopping. Jazz music softly piped through the open air centre, twinkling lights, gorgeous trees lining the perfectly kept streets, a restored tram humming its way through the centre and of course the shopping! Everything you could possibly imagine and more.... amazing markets with gourmet food galore, stunning clothing stores with matching price tags and glamourous people everywhere who look like they spent half the day getting ready to be 'discovered.' All in all, it was a fab day out, topped off with a trip to the local cinemas to see Jennifer Aniston's latest flick with Adam Sandler - light hearted comedy! 

T

Fabulous week in San Francisco & Redwood City :)

What an incredible week spent in the beautiful cities of San Francisco & Redwood City!!
I loved every minute of it... the quaintness of the architecture, funky cafes, tree lined streets, the glistening of the bay, Fisherman's Wharf, and of course the opportunity of staying with a beautiful local - Rita Damore! After spending 3 fabulous nights in San Francisco, I went to Redwood City, where I stayed with the lovely Chris & Bob Hollies and their precious girls - Brighton & Bethany! They certainly made me feel extremely welcomed and I loved being in this gorgeous part of the world. Whilst I've only posted a couple of photos on here, I think you can see just how much fun was had...  

16th Feb 2011 Tickets booked for San Francisco!

Great, relaxing day! Headed down to one of my new favourite cafes ' The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf' and felt very tech savvy with my ipad, amongst all the other mac users there! Tonight Chelle & I booked our flights to San Francisco for this weekend. I'm so looking forward to the adventure! i haven't been there since I was 10. We are staying with Rita, who lives in the heart of the city and has views of the Golden Gate Bridge. It's going to be great! Then next week I'm staying with my dear friend Chris Hollies, who i used to teach with years ago at COCB. Life is grand! G'night. :)

13th Feb 2011 Great Day out with Nora & Chelle!

This morning we went to Bel Air Presbyterian! Such a great church - up on the top of a mountain with the most stunning view ever... We went to the 9.01 service. Very non-conventional - you sit at round tables over coffee, muffins, have a time of singing and then watch the message from the main auditorium, which is beamed up onto the screen for all to see. It's a great way for people to connect - loved it!! 
For lunch we headed to a great Asian Restaurant called 'Rock Sugar'. Gorgeous interior design - probably the best I've seen for this type of restaurant. Chilled out in the afternoon, which was great!

12th Feb 2011 Santa Monica! Shopping/Pier/Jamie Oliver

Saturday, after sleeping in, we headed onto a REd metro bus and went into the beautiful Santa Monica! The weather was incredible... Blue sunny skies, perfect weather, an they have the most divine shops there. In our first 5 minutes of being there, we bumped into Jamie Oliver!!!!! We even were able to have our photo taken. He recognised our accent straight away, commenting, 'Hello Aussie chicks.' I wonder what tomorrow will bring!

11th Feb 2011 Valentine's Ball

What a great weekend it's been so far! Friday night we went to the Newport Beach Valentine's Fundraising Ball. Amazing time was had! It was fun dressing up - my outfit looked so expensive, yet the dress cost me $14 and the shoes were only $10!! Bargain...

8th Feb 2011 Shopping in Century City

Today was spent exploring the fabulous shops of Century City, in Beverly Hills next to where Rochelle works. I thought I'd only be there for a couple of hours, but there was so much to see and everything seemed so cheap, that I ended up staying the whole day!!! Consequently my weekly budget is 2/3 spent and it's only Monday - lol. 
Tonight we chilled at home, skyped with my folks and had fun uploading travel pics. I found the best bracelet today - it said 'Embrace the Journey' Seemed like it was sitting right there on the counter, waiting for me to purchase it!! So guess what... I did. I'll upload a pic later to show you. It will be a constant reminder to me on my travels to embrace what comes my way! 
We are going to a Valentine's Charity ball Friday night at the Hyatt (as you do). I picked up a gorgeous cocktail dress for wait for it - $14.00 and shoes for $10.00. Back home you'd pay around $250 - $300 easily!! Needless to say, I was very happy with my purchase.

My new favourite store- Ross for Less!!

Okay, so I have discovered a new favourite store... 'Ross for Less'. You can seriously pick up bargains there! I bought a gorgeous dress for $14.00, a pair of shoes for $10.00, another pair of shoes for $10.00 and another stunning dress for $8.00. They are all designer items that have been drastically reduced! Seriously makes DFO look pathetic. I am going to need to purchase another suitcase for sure!!!

4th Feb 2011 - 7th Feb 2011 First few days in LA

What an incredible first weekend I've had in LA! The weather here is perfect right now - about 24'C through the day and then a little cooler at night. My flight over went so quickly, thanks to the movies on V Australia! I think I watched 5 in total, but had very little sleep. Sat next to a fascinating couple who have done a tonne of travelling, so we had lots of stories to compare and chat about. 
The weekend was spent this way: * bargain shopping (picked up a stunning evening dress for $14 and shoes for $10 from an outlet store. :) *fancy show at the Magic Castle in Hollywood Hills *dining in Santa Monica at Lemonade Cafe *Church at Bel Air (just happened to be Ronald Regan's old church, who they celebrated that day for his 100th birthday) *VIP free tickets to TV recording with Josh Groban!!!! We ended up sitting in the 3rd row. I wonder what today will bring. :)