The Crown And Crumpet

This gorgeous tea room was featured in Romantic Homes a few months ago, and after taking in all the pictures in the article, I knew I had to add it to my must see list. No one's photos (certainly not mine!) could effectively capture the whimsical loveliness of this magical place... I could truly picture Alice enjoying a cuppa whilst gazing upon the San Francisco Bay....

Love the TV in the fireplace...

You may reconize some of the knick-knacks from Lollipop Workshop! Love her stuff!

Oh yeah, the food!!! Mmmmmmmm..... little tea sandwhiches, hot buttered crumpets and scones with clotted cream and jam, and the most heavenly tea.

After we finished our tea, we spent time browsing the attached shop and I did a little damage to my debit card buying up Cath Kidston-esque paper lanterns and a reusable market bag. And of course a visit to the Fishermans Wharf area wouldn't be complete without stopping into my most favorite plave in the world... Musee Mechanique!!!

If you ever plan to visit the San Francisco area, I must wholeheartedly recommend the Crown and Crumpet be added to your dining list. You can visit their website here.

We interrupt this "what I did on my trip to California" posting series for a commercial break....

Just wanted to announce quickly that I have listed some new stuff in my etsy shop and that there will be two new guys listed on Spooky Time Jingles tonight (midnight EST)!

Now back to regularly scheduled posting ;-)

Castle in the Air

When arranging the trip to ZNE last week, I made sure to include an extra day to do some local exploring in lovely San Francisco and Berkeley. Our hotel was located pretty close to the end of the B.A.R.T (Bay Area Rapid Transit System) in Pleasanton, so we opted to use it instead of tempting the fate of our rental car in big city traffic.

Of course, having grown up in the suburbs and now residing in small, no public transportation type of town, I was totally geeking out tourist style at the opportunity take this subway- like train. If you live in the area, and saw some goofy redhead taking photos of train signs, yeah, that was me. We only had one day to pack in some long anticipated visits, so off to the station we headed early on Friday. Our first stop was at the North Berkeley station... our destination.... Castle in the Air!!! (I apologize in advance for the blurriness of some of these photos. I was so excited I couldn't hold my camera still. Photos do not do justice to how awesome this store is!)



I am telling you fellow bloggers and friends, that this store was well worth the 30 minute train ride and 10 block walk (through a gorgeous neighborhood....see pic of fairy tale type cottage below found on our 10 block walk). It's absolutely magical.

Those that can't make the trek to the Bay to experience the shop for yourselves can get a sampling of the enchantment by visiting their website here.

I'll be back in a couple of days for part two... The Crown and Crumpet!

Winner !

Thanks so much to everyone who left a comment or followed me on blogger or on Twitter. It was such a wonderful welcome back! Between the comments and the followers there were 128 entries! I decided to use technology to assist me in picking a winner and according to the random number generator, the winner is......

Since I counted comments first, number 15's comment belongs to......the very talented Heidi!!!!
Thanks again to everyone who entered. I love doing giveaways and I promise to do another one soon!

I'll be back soon with some Art Fair and Bay area goodness photos on Saturday. Here's a quick glimpse of the route we took (can you tell I just now learned how to use the Alt PrtSc function on my computer?)
and finally a snapshot of good ole fashioned drive in dining in Wasco, California...



(and on one last totally unrelated note... LOST this season has been completely mind blowing! If you are not a fan already, (and you like action, adventure and mystery) I really recommend this fantastically conceived and well written show. You can catch up with us die hards by renting the DVD's during the too loooooong hiatus).

Giveaway winner announced tommorrow!!!

Hi everyone. After a mind blowingly wonderful trip to the beautiful Bay area, it was back to grind today in Sunny Arizona. I am going to comfort myself with a bit o' LOST on the television and some lasagna for dinner (and dream of the handmade gnocchi I was privileged to eat in North Beach on Friday night).

I'll be back tomorrow to post the name of my giveaway winner and share some pics. Here's one until then....




Happy Wednesday!!!