Friday, August 26, 2011

My visit to California:)

Where do I begin?  My visit to California was amazing!  Filled with blue skies...palm trees and fresh ocean brine.  We crammed in a lot in one week.  We visited some of the most beautiful spots in the Los Angeles area. Some of my favourites were Paradise Cove and El Matador Beach in Malibu, which were simply stunning. We also spent a lot of time in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. We shopped till we dropped...especially all of us girls. I felt sorry for my son having to endure the Sephora and Victoria’s Secret visits! He was a great sport though, all complaints aside. We ate at some fabulous restaurants. It’s safe to say that our favourite (unanimously, across the board, no question) was Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills. Incredible pasta dishes! Talk about bon apetito!


I also had the pleasure and privilege painting with Christie Repasy! My assistant Leanna and I hopped into the car one early morning...with our eyes still glued shut...we had no coffee and no idea what was waiting for us up ahead. We headed for Fallbrook.  With our GPS in hand we headed south, thinking we were safe...little did we know that GPS would freeze up and send us flying all over the map! Leanna hardly ever leaves the Los Angeles area to go south, so she had no idea how to get us there by memory. We ended up in Anaheim, where we had a massive laugh attack. We literally almost peed our pants. By that point we were delirious and in serious need of coffee. I had been slapping my face to keep awake until that point. The coffee kicked in and we were back in business….only to end up on another wrong exit….towards Las VEGAS! To top it all off, Leanna’s phone was dead and Christie had been calling us to see if we were okay. We got back on track, and finally made it to Fallbrook…relieved that we didn’t miss the class.


Christie lives in a gorgeous home in Fallbrook. It was such a peaceful afternoon for all of us. She is a wonderful, talented, giving person!!! Oh...and did I mention she's a hoot?  Her studio and shop is to live for.  She taught us so much. I am very much looking forward to my next visit. The rest of the ladies were sweethearts too, and we ended up painting some beautiful roses if I might say so myself.


Have a peek at some of the other students...their beautiful work...and some photos of Christie's Shop!!

xo Mary