The BIG Move....

Am finally moved to California.  What a monumental task this has been!

*Sell the house (took almost a year!)

*HUGE garage sale and multiple trips to Goodwill, Saint Vincent DePaul's. Gave living room furniture to Jeff and Kristy...

*move temporarily into my parents beach house, and my childhood bedroom for 6 months (the last 3 weeks with no furnace!).  That was just a little weird...

*baby steps with a new business - start ordering inventory (what was I thinking?????)  Coastal home decor inventory shows up by the truckloads...

*Find an apartment/storage unit/UPS store/grocery store/Post Office/etc in California... still looking for a car wash

*Load the U Haul (again, what was I thinking???) with boxes of unopened Caron's Beach House inventory, a few pieces of my left-over furniture, my precious beach cottage dinnerware (nothing matches!), favorite home decorating coffee table books, cookbooks,  antique glasses and plates, PILES of sea glass and shells (couldn't part with those)   How did I get so much stuff??

*Drive 2.5 hours the first night to a beautiful Econo Lodge in Kelso, Washington,  AFTER loading the truck.  It was a deal! $39.99 for the night and included free wifi AND breakfast!  Me driving the truck, Alex driving the car and the 17 year old black cranky cat. (+ cat box)

*Leave Kelso at 6:30 am,  and drive 15 hours to Belmont, California. Stopped for Burger King breakfast in  Salem, gas in Eugene (love how someone else puts gas in your car in Oregon!) KFC in Yreka, gas in Redding + chocolate and bad gas station coffee. Listened to anything that would come on the radio while rattling along on I-5. (that's right, I listened to lots of country music and old rock and roll!)  Up steep, windy, beautiful mountain passes in Southern Oregon and Northern California, while trying to get the truck to go even 50 miles an hour.... Many many hours driving through farmland in California, while the sun set on acres of emerald green fields.

*EXHAUSTED!! Thank goodness Tom had pizza and red wine waiting when we got here. Had a few tears....

Ready for my new life here, whatever it might look like. Excited about finally being able to market to my old Caron's Beach Cottage customers, and to finally really get all of the marketing in place for Caron's Beach House.  Stay tuned... there's will be so many more adventures at the beach!

P.S. Had a blast with the kids when they came to help move and to be tourists in my new town!  Here's a few shots of them having fun -

On our new deck in Belmont, overlooks the San Mateo Bridge and the Oracle buildings in the background.

On the trail to Point Bonita - they were a little freaked out on the one-lane road through the Marin Headlands... Alex did not even want to venture out to the lighthouse, I will admit that it was a little scary!

Allison at Point Bonita Lighthouse

Somewhere along Hwy 1 .... so many beaches to explore!

Scott's Beach on Hwy 1  - great spot to watch kite surfers and play in the sand and surf!

Pigeon Point Lighthouse overlook - we had gorgeous weather!

All of us at San Francisco's famous overlook on the Bay and on the Golden Gate! Fab lunch in Sausalito that day too in the sunshine on the deck at Horizons - great food and service! 

See you soon! 

Look at What I Found in Ballard!

I confess... love a great bargain.  Also love discovering new places to find treasures - thank you Melissa for introducing me another hidden jewel in Seattle, a new (to me!) consignment shop in downtown Ballard of all places.   I highly recommend "Classic Consigment" on 24th Ave., they have wonderful furniture, accent pieces, china, art, jewelry and a whole lot more. All at very reasonable prices and good quality + the shop owners are welcoming and fun!

Don't worry - I did restrain myself from buying a whole set of Blue Willow, but I may have to go back and get some vintage wicker chairs that I found.... Would look perfect in the new apartment, great lounging seats to enjoy the view of the San Mateo Bridge spanning the San Francisco Bay.  hmmmmm...

I carried Vietri Italian Artisan  inspired dinnerware in my coastal living  retail store in Poulsbo, and one of my biggest regrets is that I didn't buy any for myself!  Love the shapes, the colors, the history, the artistry and in all of the painstaking care in the hand painted details.  If you have ever seen Vietri, you will know what I am talking about!  I found two PERFECT examples of Vietri, while happily searching the shelves at Classic Consignments - almost giddy with excitement!

Check out my find - 2 collector pieces from the Ristorante' series - "Mauelina" and "Nannina".  Trying to decide if I should keep them or list them on the website in my "Beach Finds" category.  What do you think?

Off on more adventures this week - stay tuned!

Texas Beauties

Emily Boehme White

Miss her every single day.. miss clam digging, sandy fingers, home made berry wine (extremely potent!), chocolate chip cookies, eating pea pods, cutting Christmas Trees, the best clam chowder, Southern Fried Chicken,  sleeping in my dad's old brass bed, picking strawberries in the sand dunes, buttery bisquits, orange soda, blackberry syrup, oatmeal with "bugs" (raisins), making grape vine wreaths, collecting sand dollars at Ocean Shores....

So glad I found these photos of her with her best friend, Dorthy Mae, having a wonderful time at the shore in Galveston!  Look how carefree they are on a much needed break from the farm, the citrus packing sheds and the heat of the heartland in Texas. Sitting on a seawall sometime in the mid-1930's, just teen age girls in matching bathing suits... enjoying a day at the beach. (I suspect looking for boys too!)


And in the sand....what fun they had that day! Escaping for just a short time from the pressures of the great depression and the dust bowl in Texas.



Cannot imagine what courage it took for her to get on a train in Texas, go to San Diego to marry my grandfather before WWII and never look back...