A Week with My Sister - Part 1

Monday, June 16th, the kids' Father's Day weekend visit officially ended with Jeremy, Robin, and Autumn's morning departure for the San Francisco Airport. I think I would have been really glum but my sister was staying on for a week. We did not plan to be very ambitious but did get out of the house most every day with some minimum outing. On the Monday they left, Maxine and I returned several baby items I had bought just in case they'd be needed. As it turns out, they were not. I had a co-sleeper and a stroller to return at Target.

In this history of Target logos, note that the newest does not bear the word Target.
A milestone in the success of an organization is that its logo need not bear its name.
Other examples are Nike and Starbucks.
I think you need to be a generation younger than I am to appreciate this distinction.
I still miss commercial jingles like "Snap, Crackle, Pop, Rice Krispies"!

There was a duplicate Vivian outfit to return at Marshalls. We also did a mundane Walmart trip to refill some prescriptions. No excitement here.

Returned outfit. In and out.

Picked up presciption. In and out.

Tuesday, June 17th was exciting, for me at least. I have always loved the Hobby Lobby store that Robin has in Oklahoma City. Actually the Hobby Lobby chain originated there in Oklahoma. One finally opened in our neighboring town of Dublin a couple months ago, and I had not been to it yet, so Maxine and I checked it out Tuesday. She bought some cute kids buttons in owls, ballerinas, monkeys, frogs, and butterflies and I bought a couple half-yards of flannel, but basically, we just enjoyed a couple hours walking around looking at the big assortment of home and wall decor. I am a cheap date.

Rhyme time. Tame name. Ever clever. Foam home. Dye supply.
 Glue for you. Quaint paint. Decor galore. Leads in beads.

Whooo is going to get these buttons?

Wednesday, June 18th Maxine and I went with Frank  to look at model homes but we failed miserably. Apparently they are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays we found out after going to two sites with no luck. But we salvaged the day with a nice lunch at Panera Bread.

I never noticed until I posted this logo that
the beige swirl at the top contains a loaf of bread.

We followed the Wednesday's lunch with a quick zot into the Jo-Ann's Fabrics that is just on the other side of the parking lot from Panera Bread. I was in search of a quilting magazine to replace one I'd just bought but given to Robin since she liked so many items in it. They did not have the magazine but patterns were on sale so Maxine got a few for her grandkids.

Among snobbish quilters this is known as the J store.

Afterwards we browsed my local quilt shop In Between Stitches where I succeeded in getting my replacement magazine (and a bit of fabric too but I will admit this in a tiny italicized font that is hard to read).

This store in on the main street of downtown Livermore.  I love having a quilting store so close!

Thursday, June 19th Maxine and I drove up to Walnut Creek about 25 miles northwest of Livermore to visit The Container Store.

This was the furthest away from home we'd ventured thus far during Maxine's stay.

The Container Store is a neat place that does way more than just closet design. They have a system or container or gadget of some sort to store or organize just about anything. 

Wow!

I bought a USB hubman, a pretty cool device that lets me keep plugged in my HP color printer, my Brother black and white laser printer, my Dymo LabelWriter and still have a free "hand" for me to connect and disconnet my camera for picture uploads. Maxine bought some convertible dividers for her cutlery drawer. We were not major spendthrifts. I think it was less that $20 for the two of us. But the store is a mental overload of clever idea and striking colors!

Hubba, hubba. This hubman is great to have around!

From The Container Store we walked to lunch at the nearby California Pizza Kitchen. Their menu is rather eclectic and they have some inventive, yummy combinations that go beyond just pizza. We had some great salads there.

The first California Pizza Kitchen
was opened in Beverly Hills in 1985
and is reknown for its innovative ingredient combinations.

The carmelized peaches were warm and were delicious
with the red onions, toasted pecans, and cranberries
on a bed of field greens and spinach.

Around the corner from the pizza kitchen, we browsed a large, two-level gift store named david M. brian.

Is non-capitalization considered highfalutin?

A set of eight Mikasa globe wine glasses in there really caught my eye. I liked their balloon shape and each was a unique and striking pattern. When I learned they were on clearance that clinched it for me. I caved and bought them.

These globes came in two sets of four.
I am gong to start liking red wine just so I can use these goblets.

Friday, June 20th I made reservations for Maxine, my friend Vickie, and me to have high tea at 1:00 pm in The English Rose, a tea room in the adjacent town of Pleasanton.

Even the pink toile rose design behind their name oozes English.

Our serving caddy had three tiers.
The topmost bore our warm scones, petits fours, and treats.
The middle tier held our savories such as phyllo dough with walnuts.
The lowest tier had our tea sandwiches in several varieties -
chilled cucumber, turkey and cranberry, and egg salad.  

In addition to the food,
it was neat admiring all the different China patterns.

We had a cozy table in the corner right beside the window looking out on the sidewalk. The waitress brought a three tiered tray of goodies and we tried out the tea flavors Strawberry (in honor of strawberry-themed week), English Toffee, and Almond Joy.

"Oh, no! We forgot to take a picture of the presentation before we decimated the lowest tier."
Oh, well. Two out of three ain't bad.

My sister Maxine and my friend Vickie.

I just love Maxine's zebra top with the bright flowers.
She is standing in the gift shop portion of the tea room.

Maxine and I pause for a photo
during our exploration of the patio section of the tea room.

After the tea, Vickie dashed off to work, and Maxine and I walked one block to a quaint little gift store on the corner called the Berry Patch. They carry jewelry, children's toys and games, and handmade items from local artisans and crafts folk. I bought a couple greeting cards - one for an upcoming birthday and one to frame just because I thought the image was so pretty.

I will frequent this store if I am looking for a good quality toy or a unique piece of jewelry.

The cheetah magnifying glass pendant was for Maxine. It reminded me of an awesome photo she had of herself several years ago holding a four month old baby tiger.

With this magnifying glass pendant Maxine can now read the fine print
on her visiting contract ("thou shalt have a good time") and her airline itinerary.

Maxine is holding a four month old baby tiger.
This image started as a crisp, clear, glossy print.
Photographed by cell phone, texted, forwarded via e-mail,
captured as screen shot, uploaded to this blog...
  it got kind of fuzzy in the process.
But you get the idea. Maxine is still awesome.

After the Berry Patch, Maxine and I joined up with Frank for a second attempt at viewing model homes. I will save the rest of our adventures, Friday afternoon through the weekend, for A Week with My Sister - Part 2.

None of our excursions Monday through Friday this week required tickets. This was cheap entertainment. Maxine and I really just enjoyed our time together and bought very little. The money from my baby product returns exceeded my expenditures. This post reads like one big advertisement of stores but if I'd been a bit more savvy and set up an income stream on these web pages, perhaps I could have even made money by posting all these store logos. At mere pennies per click, I highly doubt that this blog has enough traffic to warrant the effort, though.