what happened the last 3 days?

The day after we went to the outlet shopping center we decided to see something from the inner country. We drove 1 hour NE to Temecula. It is a city which is famous for the old town, with its wine bars, lil' shops and a lot to see. 

(from anne4property.com)

We walked along the historic streets on wooden sidewalks with music playing from the lamppost and the sun burning our skin by at least 96°F/ 36°G.

It was pretty warm but I thought it's OK, only the guys complained about the heat. When I went to the tourist office, the lady told us it isn't hot today because it's under 100°F. 

:)

(from temecularealestateandliving.com)

Later we drove further east to the wine country of Temecula. We visited one winery and bought 2 bottles of wine at the Callaway winery  (still in the fridge).

....

The next day nothing really happened, we went to the beach in La Jolla and had dinner with our incredible hosts. This evening was amazing, we had so much fun and absolutely delicious strawberry Margaritas. Stella and Richard are awesome!!!!
....

Yesterday the weather wasn't perfect to go to the beach and so we decided to stay in San Diego and visit the 

Festival of Sails and the USS Midway. 

We also watch the sun set and it was soooo romantic!!!


Thats for now and all of you who took the challenge to find out whats wrong with the picture from my last post, will get a post card, just write me your address in Facebook.

I wish you all a great week!!

coffee thirsty greetings
mELinus

shopping and other surprises

Yesterdays was a day full of surprises and I will have one for you too. After a late start in the day we drove to an Outlet about 20 minutes from San Diego and shopped until the credit card got hot.

outlet center

When we realizes we wont make it through the whole center, we decided to go back to the car and drive home. But we wanted to see everything and so we drove to the end of the outlet center and then we saw this:

border fence

We have known that the boarder to Mexico is not far from San Diego and the outlet is even closer, but this close, we never thought that. We shopped the whole day and did never realize that the fence from the boarder is just a stone throw away. 

boarder and Mexico 

To our left was the shopping center and to our right was Mexico. We were stunned.

borader with shopping center

It was a very difficult experience for us and we talked about it a lot when we drove back to San Diego. But the day was great we have been very exhausted of all this undressing and dressing again. The best thing was, it's Labor Day weekend and that meant a lot more savings for us. Yayyyy!!

AND NOW 

something new for you. Please look at the following picture and tell me what is wrong in it. Write a comment under the post with your thoughts and I will pick someone and she or he will get a postcard from sunny funny San Diego!!!

Whats wrong in here???

So lets start and have a nice day!

finger crossing greetings
mElinus

harbor & beaches in Oceanside

Bench in Oceanside

Yesterday we made a beautiful trip to sunny Oceanside, just about 30 min. north of San Diego. I mean it would have been 30 minutes if you are going straight, but it's vacation and that means once in a while you do not have to do straight things. We drove up the Hwy. 101 and had stunning views over beautiful beaches and harbors. The waves have been great and we saw a lot of surfers. So yesterday was all about "Harbors & Beaches".

not Hollywood but beautiful as well

When we arrived in Oceanside, we needed a break from all these impressions and of course to get something to eat. We had lunch at a roof top restaurant in Oceanside and the pic below shows our stunning view over the harbor of Oceanside.

lunch view

It was an amazing time, because the food was good, the music absolutely perfect and the breeze from the ocean was the perfect addition to the midday sun.

blue water, blue sky and white boats....

We even saw some monsters at the beach ... ;)

sand monster

The best was the parking lot, because it was way more than this. A lot of campers and families had their vacation homes there and enjoyed the sun, the ocean and the beach right at their 'door step'.

beachy parking lot

When we came back to our vacation home, we had a nice talk to our lovely host Stella. She is amazing, I mean she is way more than that. No 5 Star hotel can offer this love, dedication and personal passion for details. I can't say how much I love her and her husband. 

Last but not least we had dinner at FLEMMINGS in Down Town San Diego with steak and mashed potatoes, exactly how it should be.

Now I am looking forward to another wonderful day at sunny California and wish you at least a sunny day, where ever you are.

sand between my toes greetings
mElinus

First Breakfast in San Diego

As promised here are some pics of my first day in sunny San Diego. And by now, I can say, I LOVE IT. The city is beautiful, the ocean is stunning and the people are the nicest you can wish for your vacation.

BREAKFAST

My first breakfast in San Diego were Texas Eggs Benedict with hash browns and a cappuccino at 1pm in the gaslamp quarter.

GASLAMP QUARTER

This area is so beautiful and the perfect place to watch people and enjoy a breeze from the ocean in the wonderful California sun.

DOWN TOWN NEAR GASLAMP QUARTER

We took the stairs up to the top of the San Diego Convention Center to get the stunning view at the San Diego Coronado Bay Bridge.

SAN DIEGO CORONADO BAY BRIDGE

What an amazing start in San Diego. Afterwards I laid on the beach and got a lil' sun burn.

Today was great and we will go out for dinner tonight.

Wish you all a sunny day tomorrow.

overwhelmed greetings

mElinus

nice birthday surprise

Yesterday I got so many presents and cards for my birthday, good friends called and emailed me and after a long day I checked my FB and Etsy account. And I could not believe it, but I sold 5 of my collection cups. Ok, it wasn't that surprising, because I wrote with So Min Lee already and made a rEserved ISTING for her, but it was a very nice birthday surprise. 

My fist collection cup was shipped to Wisconsin, USA. This time all 5 sets are going to be used in South Korea. 

This two sets are my favorites, because they are such a nice 'couple' and the decor is just perfect for a dreamy tea or coffee meet up with a good friend.

This one is my favorite when it comes to design, because even if its more than 40 years old, it looks modern and stylish to me.

And last but not least, these 2 beauties. The golden one is very classical and fits for nearly every occasion. The pink / purple one is very girlish, I think and gives your table a nice splash of color.

But for now I have to say god bye to all 5 beautiful German collection cups and send them on a long journey to South Korea.

I am happy that I sold them, but I really like these cups, so I am also a little sad. But I am happy in the other way, because I found some beautiful 'new' ceramic pots, cups and plates during the last weeks and they will be up soon.

'carefully packing' and 'left-over birthday cake eating' greetings

mElinus

frankie ... an Australian Magazine

I want to share a very interesting find with you. A friend of me lives in Australia and she shares my passion for self-made and vintage. She loves Etsy and everything what is not made in a huge factory.

A couple of months ago she introduced me to a wonderful magazine from Australia and I want to share this with you. 

(pic from frankie.com.au)

This magazine is ' is a national bi-monthly based in Australia, aimed at women (and men) looking for a magazine that’s as smart, funny, sarcastic, friendly, cute, rude, arty, curious and caring as they are.' (describtion from frankie.com.au)

And this description hits the bulls eye (metaphorically speaking). You can find recipes, music, news, many things about craft, art and fashion, events (most of them in Australia, of course) vintage, food, and ideas for your home and interesting places for travelers.

(issue 42 from frankie.com.au)

So if you need a boost of ideas, creativity & opportunities and a down-under point of view your are absolutely right here.

If you want to check this awesome magazine out, go to

frankie.com.au


Facebook


Twitter

(pic from frankie.com.au)

I hope you get a boost and lots of new ideas. I wish you a joyful read and a sunny day!!

browsing and marveling greetings
mElinus

Bean salad Mediterranean

Last weekend a friend came over and told me she harvested a lot of runner beans and if I need some? I thought ok, nothing better than home grown veggies and fruits. When she came the other day, I was like shocked. She gave me a whole bucket full of beans.

Here are the beans, we needed nearly 2 hours to cut the end off and chop them all.
Afterwards we had to wash them pretty much, because of the bad weather during the last days, they had a lot of dashes of rain and dirt.

(if the beans are smaller you do not need to take the stringy bits from the side off)

I put a whole lot at the side and the rest of them in a colander to get the water out. I froze most of them so I can use it later.
The others I put in a pot with water, 1/2 table spoon salt, 1 stalk of savory and rosemary herbs (or 1 table spoon savory and 1/2 table spoon rosemary) and cooked it.

After 20-30 minutes the beans are ready to cool down.
Just put them in a colander again and wait until they are cooled off.

For the salad you will need one chopped and braised onion (for about 4 hand full of beans, please use oil and not butter, it won't taste well after cooled down), salt, pepper, olive oil (or any oil you like) juice of a lemon and herbs just as you like. I used dried basil and garlic.

After you flavored your bean salad, put it in the fridge for at least 12 hours.

Before I served the salad, I added 2 cut tomatoes.

Unfortunately I do not have a picture with the finished salad, because when I was ready, friends came over and we ate the salad right away and I forgot to take a picture :)

Yummy greetings
mElinus