Paris in a Cup - Orange, CA

~~ Paris in a Cup Tea Salon ~~

The day after Mr. VLT and I came home from Bastrop, I went on a shopping trip to California. (Ah!! The weather was so beautiful: sunny, cool, and gorgeous!) Every time I go to CA, my sister-friend Colleen and I go to the Orange Circle. It's a street in the City of Orange that is wall to wall antique shops, boutiques and wonderful restaurants.


And every time Colleen and I go "The Circle" we have lunch at this adorable tea house. It used to be an clothing boutique and antique shop. Then a few years ago the owners decided to turn it into a tea house. We've been going to it since it opened.

The decor is just amazing. The color combination is so rich, and classy and drop dead gorgeous! Yet, it's comfy and inviting too. I'd love for her to come redo my house!

You usually need to make a reservation to eat hear. We came on a Wednesday and almost didn't get a table. Luckily they had one little table for two available. I've always called ahead before, but I didn't this time. Lesson learned.

I forgot to take a photo of the shop at the front of the store. She has tons of beautiful and unique tea items, and the most bling-y and shiny jewelry! This is a little buffet she decorates for the seasons. It's it dreamy?

Since it was warm outside, a cool ice tea was what I needed. They serve individual teas in personal carafes. There are dozens of teas to choose from. I had the house tea. It's SO delicious that it doesn't need any sweetener.

A turkey croissant and the most delicious potato soup. You HAVE to try it if you ever eat here. I have the "Josephine" lunch plate which included the yummy confections below.

As I mentioned, I forgot to take photos of the gift shop, but not the bathroom! I know it's a little goofy, but even the bathrooms are beautifully decorated!

This is one of those places that you just want to visit again and again. Which I do every time I come to CA. It's worth the trip, I promise!

Paris In A Cup

119 S Glassell

Orange CA 92866

(714) 538-9411

www.parisinacup.com

Patricia :o)

Bastrop - Part 2

~~ Pecan Street Inn ~~

Owners: Bill and Shawn Pletsch

While we were in Bastrop, we stayed at a wonderful Bed and Breakfast called the Pecan Street Inn (click on the name to go to their web site). I forgot to take a picture of the outside house while we were there, so I borrowed the photo from their website.



The house was moved from it's original location and was rolled to it's present location on logs!!! Because of this, the front door was around the side and we walked through a cute little gate and up to a little courtyard that led us to the door.



Make a right at the courtyard, and walked up a couple of steps.

We were greeted by this adorable kitty. He wasn't laying around when we arrived. He walked right up to us and led us to the door, where he wound our legs waiting to be petted. He was always waiting for us when we came and went from the inn.

We had a key, and as we let ourselves in, we were awed by this beautiful entry. To the left is the stairs going up. To the right, is the parlor (living room) below. There's my hubby making himself at home.

This is the fireplace in the parlor and a bit of the entry is visible through the huge pocket doors.

This is the other side of the parlor leading into the formal dining room through another set of giant pocket doors.

Here's part of the eat in kitchen. We had breakfast in both rooms which was fun to us that we got to use as many rooms in the house as possible.

This is a built in china hutch. The original glass door slides UP into the wall!! How cool is that!? It has lighting, too, but I didn't think to turn them on for the photo.

The kitchen is a real working kitchen. Bill makes the yummiest breakfasts in here!! Both Bill and Shawn are the friendliest, most down to earth people. They will make you feel at home and at the same time make you feel like royalty!

This is our room. It has a king size bed that is very comfortable.

More of our room.

We even had a working fireplace, but it was a little too warm, being July, to use it. Though we did sit in front of it while playing dice.

This was our private bathroom. It wasn't dark at all. Not sure why the photo came out so dark. Trust me, though, it was very, very spacious.

This is one of the other rooms, with a small private bath.

This is a little sitting room to the 3rd bedroom upstairs. And the photo below is the private bathroom.

This is the 3rd bedroom. When we arrived, Shawn told us we were the only ones in the house and had a pick of the rooms. We liked the one with the fireplace the best, though all of them are very nice and comfy.

This is a very old house and it is a little squeaky at times. Though I try to tell myself that I don't believe in ghosts, I can't help but be nervous when in older homes. Shawn assured me that there are no ghosts, spirits, etc. I had my doubts. I will admit that I was a little scared that first night as I prepared for bed. But, I have to tell you, as soon as I lay down, I had such a sense of peace and security. The house was quiet, peaceful and filled with a sense of "good." I don't know how to explain it, but there were no fears or apprehension again.

If you're ever in Bastrop and need a place to lay your head, I would easily recommend Pecan Street Inn. The prices are reasonable and very affordable, and they are in the heart of the historic district. Everything is within minutes of walking or driving. Just click here to check out their website and get all the info you need.

Patricia :o)

Bastrop, TX - Part 1

I've been gone from blogging for a long time. But I have a great reason. I've been traveling; some for pleasure, and lots for business. Before I went on an out of state shopping trip, Mr. VLT and I took a couple of days off to explore a cute little town North East of us. We stayed at a B&B (more on that next post) in the sweet little town of Bastrop. Weird name, but the nicest people you could ever meet!!



There's lots to rave about Bastrop, but the thing that we really enjoyed was driving through the old district and looking at all the old houses. There were so many!!









I took at least 30 pictures of different houses. All of the houses were beautiful, all were wonderfully maintained, and I could have easily lived in any of them.
But in an effort to keep this post short, I narrowed it down to the 8 best photographs. I had a lot of trouble with the angle of the sun, power lines, telephone poles and mostly, the landscaping!

Most of the houses are landscaped with very old trees that got in the way of photographing. They looked marvelous to the naked eye, but I just couldn't capture the beauty and grander of the old houses through the trees.

I don't know the styles or histories of any of these homes, so they're displayed here as eye candy. Talk about "Yum!" Check out that curved porch!!

This is one of my favorite homes. It's hard to see the details in the outdoor decorations, but there are white rocking chairs on the porch, a wreath on the white picket fence, flags on the post. It's just gorgeous!

This one was for sale. I don't remember the exact price, but it was around $495,000 or something like that. A little out of my reach at the moment, but maybe some day...

I love the clean lines of this one. And check out that lawn! I would never have thought there could be so much green in Texas (until I moved here, of course).

I'll share photos of the B&B we stayed at in the next post.

Patricia :o)

A clock that's for the Birds!

Since I'm always running short on time, I thought it would be appropriate to tell you about a great find I made a couple of months ago.

I found this beautiful porcelain clock at a church rummage sale for only $5.00!! I probably could have got it a little cheaper, but it was for the church and a good cause, so I didn't haggle. I knew it probably didn't work (it didn't) but how much could it cost, right?

How could I pass it up. LOTS of pretty pink roses, sweet little blue birds...

There are even little angels in it. It was in great shape with very little damage. I accidentally broke the tail off of this little bird. But then I lost it so I couldn't super glue it back. Oh well!

Look how sweet these pretty blue birds are at the top of the clock!

Back to the "it didn't work" part. My hubby searched the Internet and called a few places. He did find the part that had to be replaced on line. After taxes and postage it was $23.95!! Yikes! Not only that, a clock repair place told him to get it as that was a great price and those parts were soon to be discontinued.

The great news is that the part came super fast, was easy to replace and the clock works wonderfully now!! Even though my $5.00 bargain turned out to be a little on the expensive side, I think it's beautiful and worth way more than the $29.00 it cost in the end. I love it and feel very lucky to have found it.

Patricia :o)

Fun Finds

After 2 1/2 years of living in San Antonio, we're still finding our way around. We'd heard of a flea market north east of us called Bussey's Flea Market, but weren't too excited about visiting it because, so far, all the flea markets in our area sell cheap new things. But we read some reviews and decided to make a day of it. It's not the kind of flea market I'm used to from So. CA (Like the Rose Bowl in Pasadena), but it was SO MUCH better than I expected!

I fell in love with this vintage wedding dress! It's a size 7/8 so I'm not sure if it will fit M'lady (my dress form). AND it has to be cleaned some how. But I couldn't pass it up. It has metal snaps, hooks and zipper.

It's all layers upon layers of lace. I only found one or two tiny tears on the sleeves, and it is in otherwise wonderful shape. However, I do need to wash it...

I got it for so cheap, that I think I'm going to risk soaking it in a tub of Oxyclean and rinse with cool water, gently squeeze the water out by rolling it up in towels, and then line dry. It smells old and musty and I can't stand the thought of bringing into the house, so it's hanging in the garage by my car.

There's not a lot of adornment. Just lots of lace and a few sprinkles of sparkles.

At first I couldn't find any decent linens, affordable or otherwise. Then I hit the jack pot!! There was a wonderful older lady who had most of these linens priced a little high. They were marked, but I asked the price anyway. She knocked $3 to $5 dollars off of each. Suddenly, they were VERY affordable and in GREAT shape. I even have some of them up for sale already in my eBay store.

I also picked up this little cherub compote plant holder thingy for only $2.00! I thought it was vintage until I got him home and looked at the bottom. It had a store price tag for $5.95. I guess it doesn't matter. He's cute, he's affordable, and he'll be vintage someday, right?

I got this old plant stand for only $5.00!! I think the guy made a mistake. There was a smaller one that I heard his wife quote $10.00. It pays to ask, even if you think you know what the price is. I hope the husband didn't get in trouble...

Can you believe I got this fishing basket for $10.00??? It's pretty old from what I can tell. It has leather and canvas straps. I've seen these at antique stores for $95.00 and up. I was so happy to get this for my hubby. And look what was inside...

...these adorable hand crocheted and embroidered baby shoes! The guy selling the basket gave them to me for free. They didn't look like this when I got them, but it wasn't hard to soak them and air them dry. Too cute!

If you're interested in visiting Bussey's, their address is 18738 I.H. 35 N., Shertz, TX 78154 (210)651-6830. I wouldn't make a special trip out there, but definitely stop by if your in the area on a Saturday or Sunday.

Patricia :o)