Bye Bye LA

Hello.
We are home again after the most amazing weeks ever.
We have sone and seen so much in the one week. It's felt like the honeymoon we never had and we got to meet the most wonderful group of ladies that I'm so happy to call my friends.

We started off on the 9th Jan with 2 nights in the quaintest B&B.
The Channel Inn in Santa Monica. 

We highly recommend this place and would go back just to stay here again. It was beyound perfect.
Each room is individual. This was ours. There was a cute desk under the window with a glimpse of the ocean.
There was always homemade cakes and cookies available.
A fridge with sodas, hot drinks, cheese and wine and nibbles table in the afternoon and the most amazing breakfast spread all complimentry. They could not do enough for you.

 
The first morning before breakfast we wandered down the to beach which was just 2mins away.
There is a big walkway within the beach that can take you for miles. After breakfast we walked a mile to Santa Monica Pier.

I was last in Santa Monica in 1996 and it's really improved since then. We loved the shopping. Stopped for lattes. I was thrilled to see an Anthropogie. I treated Hollie and myself to an apron each and bought some cute dishes too.

The following day we enjoyed the sunshine, put the roof down on the car and drove around Beverly Hills and Hollywood.

 

We then had the drive from hell to Anaheim (those LA roads are a nightmare). We met Ade's work collegue at our next hotel, The Sheriton in Anaheim. Him and his wife took us out for a lovely meal.

 They bought us back to the Sheriton where we settled in to our very big room before meeting up with the Cocoa Daisy girls.

 It was so good to meet the girls. We went for an Indian with Emily, Denise, Mandy and Sharmaine.

And the following morning we all met up for CHA.

I went around with Denise and Sharmaine. It was so much fun (despite the pounding headache that I had most of the day).

We met lots of people. I loved Elle from Elle's Studio. What a sweet lady!! She has some wonderful new things instore including paper lines : )

 

We loved Amy Tan and stopped to chat and do a make and take with her. I'm looking forward to her new book.

We stopped by to get messy with our lovely Ronda and admire and play with her new Crafters Workshop Masks.

We then all met up for a meal in the evening and had a good laugh back at the hotel together.

 

Ronda, Stephanie, Sharmaine, Mandy and Denise.

 Myself and Christine the owner of Cocoa Daisy.

The next day Christine, Mandy, Denise, Stephanie, Sharmaine and myself and Ade all had an IHOP breakfast together. The girls all then hit CHA again. It felt like even more fun this time.

 We did this in the photo booth.

And this with Dina Wakely.

 

We played with Claudine Hellmuth.

  

Then Denise, Stephanie, Sharmaine, Mandy, Ade and I went to Downtown Disney for some fun.

I have to say Ade fitted in so well with the girls and they seemed to love him too. He became one of us.

And I think after that evening none of us will ever look at lego in the same light again.
The lego store at Downtown Disney.

We had a lovely Italian meal whilst we were there and all came back for cocktails at our hotel.

Monday was then Denise's last day : (
We all had Starbucks together and a great Cocoa Daisy chat. We have just bonded so much and all had so many ideas that were bouncing between us. It felt like such a great team spirit.

We sadly saw Denise off and then breifly met Julie Tucker-Wolek. I can't find those photos right now, I think they were taken with the other camera. Julie was lovely just as I expected. Thanks for waiting for us Julie x

Ade and I went shopping for the rest of the afternoon and then met up at our hotel again in the evening for more drinks.

Starbucks again in the morning for our last time together. It was so sad having to say goodbye. I feel so close to these girls now : (
Ade and I had planned a day exploring the coast a little. It was roof down and lots of stop offs.

Newport Beach

 Laguna Beach

 Dana Point,

 We stopped at when Ade had worked a few years ago and went to the place he used to eat all the time and had ribs for lunch.

 

And we stopped off at the beach that was closest to him when he was out there. Aliso Beach.

The drive was really beautiful and this part of California was so much prettier.

And we loved our little Mustang.

We ended the day in the hot tub back at our hotel. It felt so strange with all the others gone.
In the morning it was time for us to leave too. Another hot tub (something that Ade and I had done every morning before meeting up with the others). We went to Starbucks for the last time and felt sad at our table without the others and then we headed out to Seal Beach for lunch before going to the airport.

There were dolphins swimming here near the pier.

And then the flight home which was easier than on the way out. We slept a little, it arrived an hour early and Matt le Blanc was on our flight and stood near us when we were waiting for the bags to arrive. Rather a pleasant ending : )

So as you can see it's been the perfect week and we have loved every minute.
Thank you to everyone who helped us do this. Parents who had our children, friends for helping after school, Christie and Simon for having Poppy Dog and to our lovely Cocoa Daisy friends.
Same again next year??????

Big hugs and love from
Lisa and Ade xxx