Shopped out!

Had Mikalea around this morning to baby to baby sit Emily while I was dress hunting. Think I went into every shop twice at Fashion Island. Even went to Neiman Marcus. Once. Still of the opinion, American dresses suck but - sit down and take a breath - I found a dress on sale at Bloomingdales. 90 bucks, and it will do unless I find something better in Italy. Phew. Nearly started panicking for a while, having my doubt I´d find anything to wear. Also found a nice casual dress at BCBG and some stunning shoes at Nordstrom. Shopped out!

                                                                     Fashion Island

                                                               The much hated shoe sale

                                                Found a nice pari of heels from Michael Kors

Rushed home to fetch Emily before heading to the paeditrician. I wanted to make sure it really is the teething keeping Emily up all night and nothing else. And yep, nothing else wrong with our sweetie pie, she has another 3 teeth coming out so now, a grand total of 10 teeth in 6 weeks. Surely a new record, right?

Stopped by at Target on my way home to get a few bits and bobs. Every time I have my bags packed, there or elsewhere, I wonder why they pack the stuff the way they do, e.g. why do they ask if it is ok to pack the toothpaste in the same bag as the water? Beats me.

Mums´ Night Out

I decided a  few weeks back that a night out with some of the mums from the Swedish school would be fun and tonight was finally the night! This sort of a night out needs to be established as a repeat, for sure.

Anna took us out on her duffy for about an hour before heading to Divbar, a new BBQ joint in Newport Beach at the PCH.

                        In true ladies style we all had a salad at this BBQ place, Divbar in Newport Beach

Great company and once again I was reminded aboout how luckily we are to live here. Newport has such a great coastline, and tonight we had the perfect weather. Some beautiful houses along the coast here. Some great boats, too.

Finally Mikaela is back from Sweden and she will baby sit Emily tomorrow for a few hours. Part 2 of the dress hunt for the wedding.

Mom's Club & Country

If you look at meetup.com you can find all kinds of meetup groups. I have joined a couple (mum groups, volunteer groups) but never gone to any. Until yesterday morning. I joined the Mom's club Irvine Marketplace a few months back but hadn't been to any of the gatherings so I thought it was about time. Not sure what expected me so I wasn't overenthusiastic about going. What mums join a group like that? Weirdos? Nutcases? Fanatic stay at home mums? How was relieved was I when I met the super nice mums and they turned about to be super normal. Phew. I really look forward to going to the next meetup. Perhaps I will go to one of the volunteer events next time.

I have also find a place I really want to visit http://theranch.com/saloon/ in Anaheim. Not many country and western bars around here in Southern California so how lucky am I to have found this one! Now I just need to convince hubby to to some dance classes with me - line dance and two step of course. Now that sounds like a brilliant idea.

 Hubby and I soon?

Cloudy!

• Swimming. Nothing beats a morning swim. Hurrah! Finally it is cooling down a bit, I am starting to feel like a piece of toast. Burnt toast, that is.Went for a morning swim this morning. Since it was cloudy and a little cooler outside I thought the water was going to be cold, but what I pleasant surprise. I dipped my big toe in and yaaay, pool was heated!

Back exercising now, and while I am returning to the bootcamp, I am now adding swimming to the routine:)

Shopping. Once again, I am dress hunting. This time for Bea and Enzo's wedding in Tuscany in two weeks. I went to South Coast Plaza and had a look in Nordstrom's and Bloomingdales. NADA. Panic panic but there is still some time. Luckily Mikaela is back tomorrow so I have a baby sitter for Thursday. Dress hunting part two to follow! Shops are full of new stuff for the winter and it was very tempting to get carried away. But first things first. Need to find a dress.

                          Michael Kors, sooo popular here. Never seen any of his stuff in Europe.

Ulta. Paradise for shampoo and skin products. I buy all my dermalogica stuff here (and my friends' in Sweden too!) and all my shampoo. Always spend more than intended. Like the other day. Needed some conditioner, came out with three. Always searching for something better.

Arrrgghh!

I hate Cox. Actually, I doubt that hate is strong enough to describe my urrent dislike towards them. We have always had bad connection but since we moved into the townhouse, we lose the internet at night, roughly after 7 pm. You know, the time when people get home. So literally, we have no internet in the evening. At all.
Not only that, but we also keep losing the cable channels. Sometimes we think we have recorded something, and then it turns out it didn´t because the channel was not available at that moment. We have had technicians coming around and they all tweak a little and say problem´s been solved before leaving. Right. Calling the tech support at night is something I have given up on, since I cannot use the chat support I have to call and normally I give up after waiting in the telephone queue for at least 30 minutes. The worst thing about this? We pay around $ 200 a month for cable and internet. That includes the "premium internet with a power boost" for $ 64. We are on a promotion so we get HBO and a few other channels for free so we don't have all the packages. Such a rip off! I miss Germany. We had super fast internet for 10 euro a month. It is ridiculous, the internet is faster and more reliable in India.  

Welcome to the US, where internet, mobile phones and cable still are expensive. You see, in Irvine Cox has a monopoly. There are no alternatives. We could put a dish up, but that does not solve the internet problem. 

Visitors

Yesterday morning hubby had a little disaster at work hihi. I suddenly received a sms saying "can you please bring me another shirt, my juice exploaded". Of course I grabbed a clean shirt (luckily I had just picked them up the previous day) and babs and drove up to Anaheim. So what had happened? Well, hubby had borrowed my new water bottle and filled it with sparkling water and juice and it exploaded when he opened it. Karma! That happens when you take my bottke without asking, haha! The shirt looked kind of funny though, LOADS of yellow stains.

Spotted these cars on my way back

                                         Fisker Karmas parked outside Fisker Automotive

Later on at night we had a visit, Stefan and Iris - who we hadn´t seen in years - came by for dinner. BBQ of course! The are doing a round trip around CA. Really nice to see them again, we haven´t seen them since they moved to Berlin 2 years ago. Not very often we have friends popping by for a BBQ during the week so it was a nice break.

Pool Party

So yesterday we went to Finley´s birthday party - he turned 2 and celebrated with a pool party. It was our fifth pool day last week and we were completely knackered by the time we got back from Ladera Ranch. All three of us fell asleep once at home. Nice to catch up with some people we hadn´t seen in a while.

New Stuff to Watch

Some of our favourite shows are returning now, a sign autumn is getting closer :) Boss premiered Friday nicht and it looks like the second season is going to be just as good - if not better - than the first one. Kelsey Grammar doing a great job again.

Last night we were desperately looking for a film to rent but either we cannot agree (I really dislike American comedies) or there are simply no good films out there so we decided (after me offering to get hubby a beer, we horse traded about everything here) to buy the first season of the miuch acclaimed Downton Abbey. So enjoyed it! Nice to hear accents again, and nice, to watch something else than all the American stuff we get here. Looking for something to watch? There you have two things straight away :)

Now, we have a pool party to go to!

Dentist Appointment

Hubby had a dentist yesterday (yes - on a Saturday) so I decided to drive him and walk around Corona Del Mar Plaza while waiting for him. There are a couple of nice shops there and I actually think I have found my first favourite shop in the US, Sienna Brown. The Plaza is one of the nicer ones, with plenty of boutiques and a couple of cafés. On the way down there we were discussing wheter or not we should go for lunch afterwards and if hubby would be in pain sorting his root canal out. Nope, I said reminding him about my visit a few weeks ago where I was offered ibuprofen after having my teeth cleaned. Americans don´t like pain. Or, they like convinience. How right I was.  Hubby got not just one but two shots and a card with the dentist´s private phone number just in case he would feel any discomfort later. What a service huh!

Ice cream after we got tired of walking around. I have to agree with the Germans at the table next to us, ice cream is expensive here! This little cup cost me $ 4.50!! I miss the Italian ice cream cafes in Germany!! It was easy to spot the Germans next to us, the woman had hairy legs and no pedicure (UNTHINKABLE here), and she smoked. I rarely see anyone smoking here,

                                                       The Plaza. Lots of nice little shops.

 New favourite shop? I haven't found ANY favourite shops since moving here. A long time ago I loved Banana Republic. That was before GAP (or, GAP's parent company bought them).

Also found a new supermarket, Bristol Farms, yaaaaay, how nice. Lot's of delicious stuff. Fresh salsas.. I am a bit of a salsa junkie. Fresh salsa junkie. Find it extremely hard to walk past that section in the store. Had to pass on the cheese though, $ 12 for a tiny bit Gouda. Rip off!!

Pool Fun

Had our forth pool date this week. Fourth! Needless to say, I am knackered. Packing the pool bag, swim nappies, cooler bag..ash all the swim wear. Phew. NO swimming until Sunday now. Yaay!!

Thing we had too many activities today. First swimming, then home and eat, then Gymboree. I enjoy Gymboree more and more now when I have made some acquintances, Emily is getting a little borded though so hopefully we will get promoted to the next level soon. After Gymboree we went to Target to get some bits and bobs, Evil evil Target. Always end up spending more than planned - time AND money!

Just had some food from our favourite take away, La Sirena, and I am trying to plan the weekend a little. Tomorrow morning hubby is off to the dentist and I get the rest of the day will depend on how painful that visit will be. Sunday we have another kids´birthday. This time a two year old and a pool party!

Swedish News

I read about 3-4 newspapers online every day. Currently the big news are that Julian Assange was granted asylum in Ecuador today even if Britain still promise, they will hand him over to Sweden. We´ll see about that. There is this American conspiracy to capture Assange but I doubt Sweden would have played along and handed him over to the US. But this must seriously be the reason why he is so concerned about being handed over to Sweden. Swedish rape laws are ridiculous weak, usually the court aquit so I doubt going to trial were any of his conserns. Frankly, in my opinion it is seems pretty easy to get aquitted in Sweden right now, disregarded of the case.

There is another case which made the headlines today. Someone got axed to death and it could not be determined who among the three suspects actually killed the guy (they knew one of these three guys was guilty) so all three were aquitted. That is how the Swedih courtsystem works, it doesn´t like the he did/she did sort of thing. Not saying I am in favour of the capital punishment but the Swedish judicial system is pretty crap.

Sweat Monkey!

Went to the beach this morning, and OMG that was hard work! It was really hard finding somewhere to park so we ended up having to walk a far bit. Me, the bags, and babs. No pram. Think I sweated the whole Lake Tahoe. It was a nice change going to the beach instead of the pool. We didn´t go in the water, that would have been too much work (note; on my own, I ALWAYS go in the water, I was born in Umeå, anything above 15 degrees C is warm!!) so we just sat on the blanket. Nice change but sooo much work. SUn was beaming on us, it was hot hot hot and not sure we will do that again. Unless we find a small beach. With a huge car park. I know I am a fussy mum sometimes. I don´t like sand everywhere, hence we will most lilkely only go to the beach when hubby is around so we share the burden and I don´t like mushy bananas etc, hence the only time Emily will have the joy of eating it is before bath time.

                                                          Newport Beach close to 62 st.

Thought I derseved a wild salmon soft taco from La Sirena for lunch after all the effort going to and from the beach. For some reason I thought it had cooled down so when I decided to take that 15 minute walk I had know idea what I was letting myself into to.  A very sweaty stroll!

Naughty to have a mid week diet coke. Both hubby and me have been on a soda detox for a while. We have never had this much soda as here in the US: Scary!! Those damn refills end up being evil, you completely lose control how much you really have had. Before we moved here, we were sparkling water junkies, but since the water is kind of pricey here plus you  can´t buy crates everywhere we have started drinking diet coke at home. NOT good. Need my sparkling drink but something has to change.

Tomorrow we are back at the pool - nice & relaxing!

What we are up to...

• Emily's sleeping pattern is still messed up. Being a pragmatic person used to being able to solve problems, I have realised that there is no immediate solution. Babies are unpredictable. Doh!

• It is hot hot hot outside. Over 30 degrees C every time. We are getting toasted.

• Still having BBQs every second day. Quesedillas and steak are the favourites.

• Went to our third baby birthday party this year today. Plenty more to come.

•  No exercise for three weeks now. I have banged my knee at the bed, preventing Emily to fall off it. Twisted my arm, pulled a muscle in by thigh and got headbutted on my nose the other day. Plus I have had the cough from hell this week. Can´t wait to get back into my routine. Hubby hasn´t been either for a long time. We were doing so well! And this morning I could notice, that in 8,5 months, I have lost 30 kg. I will never let myself gain that much again. Pregnant or not. 

• Still going strong on the country music. We have listened to Chris Young, Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Dierks Bentley and Keith Urbanevery day since we moved here. Prime country and the highway - you make Sirius worth having! 

• Going to Italy in 3 weeks! I will be dreaming about Prada and miu miu soon, factory outlets, here we come!

• I have realized there are a lot of stuck up people living here.  Sort of the closer you get to the beach...And the trend, ugly men hot babes is at times a little too obvious.

• The olympics ended today. This was the first olympics I didn´t watch. Sometimes I feel we live in a bubble here, disconnected from the world. Not even the news nor the newspapers give me real news. 

OC Fair

OC fair is currently on in Costa Mesa. It is a big fair with lots (and I mean lots) of food. Americans are just like the Germans, they like food!! The portions are however, slightly bigger according to the motto the bigger the better.

Something I really miss here is beer. Going to a festival like this, you want to be able to have a beer or to. Nope. There was one little place selling beer and you were only allowed to buy to after showing ID. Ridicilous.

There is also livestock on show, e.g. camels, cows, horses and then this poor thing

The owner charges $1 for you to go in and have a look.

No rides for us I am afraid, though I spent about $ 20 trying to win a giant smurf!

Orange County Zoo

OC zoo in Irvine regional park may be the smallest zoo I have ever been to but at the same time, it is also one of the nicest ones. It is located inside the park so you have to pay $ 3 to enter (weekdays), the park itself is nice. You can do horse riding, go on the little train, there are playgrounds, rental bikes. Perfect for a day out. The zoo focuses on animals and plants native to the southwestern United States. You'll find black bears, mountain lions, bald eagle, great horned owls, coyotes, turkey vultures and more. There is also a petting zoo with goats and sheep. Quite scary when you realize all these animals are out there! Especially mountain lions, not sure I am ready to go hiking just quite yet. Entry fee is only $ 2, so we will definitely come back here again.  Great place for kids too, you don't need to prepare a lot since you won't be gone all day. Who ever though I would be taking little things like these into consideration!

              This gave me the confirmation I did see a coyote the other day running down our street. Hilfe!
 

                                                              Nice little corner for stories

                                                           Orange Country Zoo


Stopped at this place later on the same day. On the way to Laguna Beach on the Canoyon Road you'll find the Pacific Mammal Marine Centre, which is a rescue centre for seals, sea lions etc. Always wanted to pop in and this time we did. Super nice! Go if you ever get a chance.

Venice

Last weekend we drove up to LA for the day. I have had my eyes on a Scandinavian design store in Venice and thought it as about time to take a look. It was ok, a lot smaller than it looked like online and they hardly had any furniture (online they have a lot, but I am a little resistent, buying furniture online if I haven´t seen it in person). Took a walk along Abbot Kinney Blvd, grabbed some lunch before heading to Santa Monica. Abbot Kinney is an area where you find a lot of desginers, chique meets vintate. This is where I would live if I were to move to LA one day! Mot people visiting LA only go to Venice Beach but there is so much more to discover. venice BEach is probably the worst beach I have been to, apart from Santa Monica. If you walk up a few blocks from the beach, you come to Main street and then, Abbot Kinney. Both streets are good for shopping if you want something hip and trendy, yet unique.

                                                                  Abbot Kinney Blvd

                                             Very much LA. Filming on the street.


Went to Santa Monica since this is where you find Bo Concept here and I wanted to have a little peek. Still find Nordic interir design to be the best. Unfortunately Bo Concept is a lot more expensive here than in Europe. A LOT.

                              Santa Monica, Third Promenade. Always have time for a visit to Kitson. If you get a chance to have lunch in Santa Monica, go to the mall and visit the restaurants on the roof. Nice.

Joshua Tree

We left Palm Springs pretty early, could't really handle another crowded day by the pool, and drove to the Joshua Tree National park instead. The scenery on the way there was simply amazing, you are surrounded by the mountains, and it feels like you drive trough a movie at times. A little bit like a horror movie, I have to admit. Not sure who lives out thee in the desert, or where you do the food shopping, guess online shopping is really needed out there.

We stopped at the rangers' outside the park to buy a map and get some information. We got a route which took us about 2 hours (we didnt have time to stay longer) and we only stopped a few times. Well worth going though, some amazing scenery to be found here. And it was a little cooler than in Palm Springs, where we had had around 45 C. Really glad we did make the effort to drive up to the park, unfortunately we didn't see any of the exciting animals that "hang around" there, not sure I'd like to camp out there as some people did, but it was well worth it just by driving through the park. Got the taste for more parks now!

Have a look!

Palm Springs

Back from Palm Springs, parents have gone home and I am recovering from a stupid cold!

Why didn´t you warn us about Palm Springs! Weird weird people..it is like a melting pot of the US, haha. You have the crazy drunken women by the pool, big families, nerd golfers..Not sure if it was the hotel or actually Palm Springs?

We left pretty early last week Friday, after bout an hour east, we arrived at the infamous outmall close to Palm springs. While it wasn´t huge, shop wise it was pretty decent. James Perse, Tory Burch, Prada...not the typical shops you find at the outlet malls around here. Unfortunately it only had one really crapy food court so we only had a small bite. We manage to spend 4 hours here though, so I can only recommend it! Nice little break from driving, too.

After doing some research we booked ourselves into Las Palmas in Rancho Mirage, just a couple of minutes outside Palm Springs. Looked really nice online, was pretty expensive and it had great reviews online. Ha, what a let down! And it was sooooooooooooo busy, over crowded pool area is an understatement, For this price, we could have stayed at Hyatt or Marriott. I have realized there is a problem when travelling with a baby. Surely we want to book family friendly hotels, but without having one billion kids around us. Kind of a catch 22. If we go for a non family friendly hotel, well, who knows where we would end up. Lots of stairs? No prams allowed in the restaurant? I know for sure though, no more hotels with lots of kids activities, LOL.

Chilling by the adult pool

Crazy busy! 112 degress Fahrenheit!!

On our way to downtown, taken in the car. What a view!

On our way to Palm Springs

Marilyn, in Palm Springs downtown

Downtown Palm Springs, what a disappointment. Nothing NOTHING to see.

All of a sudden these wind mills popped up along the road. Lots of them!

I had the same feeling as coming to Vegas for the first time..what, this is it? Perhaps because we had picked such a super busy hotel I felt I was in Mallorca or something. It wasn´t even as hot as I had expected!