Fiona's Sweet Shoppe Archives - Northern California Style

Cannot believe Christmas and the holidays have passed already. Is it me or did the end of last year fly by crazy fast? There were a lot of things on my to-do list that just never happened. Gee kind of like this post..

I still wanted to show some of the fun here in Northern Cal during winter break…So what the heck! Better late than never! (Okay if your done with holiday posts feel free to click over to something more relevant and exciting. I won’t be offended. 🙂

Though we did not leave for the Christmas break, we did get to squeeze in some lovely walks as the weather has been very mild here, compared to the rest of the country. I love the rough and brambly gray of much of the plants and trees mixed with the buds that are already showing on so many plants. I think it’s been too warm actually.

It’s still warm! We are loving it, but feeling bit guilty about it.

Chilling with the neighbors’ cat in my yard.

We Californians are probably all going to hell! (Hope not!)

Love this old ivy wall surrounding an historic house I pass on my walk.

I did get out for a day with my favorite guy. My husband patiently shopped with me and we shared a lunch outside on of my favorite days of our break. He and I did quite a few walks and little dinner dates and coffee runs. One of the perks of staying home was more downtime together for all of us.

We also drove to Half Moon Bay to walk the beach a little and grab clam chowder and lobster rolls at Sam’s Chowder House.

It was an amazingly gorgeous day for December.

The boys built the Lonely Mountain from the Hobbit.

We saw that and the Mr Banks movie on our break. I loved Mr Banks!! Highly recommend that one.

Also got to stop at my favorite nursery and get a few ivy plants to perk up the house.

The other highlight of the holiday break was getting up to San Francisco for a night with the kids. We were a bit hampered by Griffin twisting his ankle right before we left. : [ It wasn’t ideal, as San Francisco is such a walking city and a tough one at that with all the hills. His crutches were exhausting and so we couldn’t cover much.

We walked to Macy’s to see the pets up for adoption in the windows. The boys love that.

Also so many gorgeous holiday windows!

Burberry

I loved Gumps! Their windows were chic and original..

Our motley crew.

And cute!

Inside the mechanical toys and Santa’s from all over the world charmed us. We were all fascinated!

Gumps is a must do on a shopping trip here! Unique and fab items from all over.

Loved the windows at Ghurka…

How about those Cartier panthers?

We got to another of our favorite spots, Fiona’s Sweet Shoppe.

Griffin and I first discovered this tiny treasure on our summer trip to SF. They specialize in Scottish and U.K. candies. They have things that you’ve never heard of or tasted and they do samples. Don’t miss Fiona’s which is on Sutter Street. My favorites are the brown sugar cubes that have black licorice in them!

Picked up a darling modern Christmas tray and more at Crate & Barrel. Always love everything there.

C&B is wonderful spot to find fresh ideas. I always want to re-do my home after a visit.

Neiman Marcus’s huge tree reflected from the windows.

Dinner was just Max and I as the kids preferred to stay in the room and watch their own movie. Griffin couldn’t really walk anywhere far. We got them a room service pizza and they were thrilled.

We stayed at my favorite, The Hotel Monaco, and they give kids a complimentary movie card, which was so nice. We also got some passes to, “Raid the Bar,” which was credit for your honor bar, so the boys got sodas and goodies from it.

It’s those little things that make The Hotel Monaco and Kimpton Hotels worth choosing. This was all on out own dollar and it was nice that so many perks come along with an overnight stay.

Griffin and I chilled out in the animal print robes a bit too. Fun!

Dinner in the downstairs bar was delicious and fun and it was nice being in the hotel while the guys were upstairs.

Things were going okay until the next morning when our neighbors texted to tell us our Guinea Pig had his head caught in his wire ball. 🙁

Can you believe it? That’s our sweet neighbor Abby, who rescued him.

Luckily one of her brothers got our wire cutters and pried him out. We were so thankful to them! The pig was unharmed…However at that point we threw in the towel and came home.

Still it was lovely to be in San Francisco during Christmas even if it was 18 hours!

We did New Years at the home of my friend Aimee and her brood who are like family to us. They also enjoy lots of crazy nutty teens and make it fun for them as well with obnoxious hats and exploding items! I don’t think my kids would enjoy New Years if we weren’t there.

We had time to spend with my 96 year old grandma Jody too. The boys helped her grocery shop. It was a perfect day except in my excitement I locked us all out of the car with my grandmother’s groceries and ice cream inside! That was fun. Didn’t bother my grandma at all of course! She rolls with the punches and that’s why she has probably lived so long!

We spent a fair amount of time just chilling like my neighbor cat does here in my yard…Is that cat yoga or what??

And now we are off…Another year and all that. January is flying by too fast.

Here’s to 2014!

If you’re still reading, happy weekend!

Kim

All images property of NorthernCalStyle

Beach combing in Davenport.

Wow, this week has flown by and I hardly have had time to catch my breath. I’ve had no blogging time or been able visiting my pals in the blogosphere either. I am trying to catch up!

Hey and what about those Olympics? What a wonderful time suck. I’m crazy for London, so I am loving seeing all of that and of course the sports. Synchro diving? Wow. Even loved dressage and kayaking. I don’t mind suffering through so much men’s swimming. 😉 So fun to watch it all. It would be a blast to be there. I’m like a zombie each night dragging my self to bed after NBC (don’t even get me started on them) strings me along for those medal ceremonies until the bitter end of the broadcast at midnight or later! In the morning I’ve got TV hangover and can’t get up. No wonder nothing is getting done!

My oldest has been away a tennis camp in Carmel Valley. This requires two weekends of trips down to Monterey Bay. Not so horrible actually, but driving and making little stops has taken lots of our week. I never went to Summer camp as a kid and neither did Max, and I was determined my sons might have that special experience of camp. Carmel Valley Tennis Camp has been around forever has the feel of a real old-fashioned camp with tennis. Jackson went last year at age 12. I was sooo nervous about it. However, when he came back he wrote me a note saying,” Thanks mom for letting me go to camp. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever done.”

Jackson last year at camp.

I was thrilled he had fun, especially since he went on his own without a friend. He is at the same camp this year and I highly recommend it if you have a child who is into tennis. Love this place!

Anyhow, I am still working on the second installment of my trip behind the redwood curtain, but I wanted to share some fun things we did this week in case you want to head out of town.

Small Griffin at Small Paul.

My younger son Griffin is really good about getting me out to do things and the two of us took a little trip up to San Francisco to get a few new school clothes and have lunch together. We usually don’t get to spend a whole day with just the two of us. One of our first stops was checking out the Small Paul store, and then to Zara for the boy’s section. He has been wanting some colored jeans and I knew Zara, which is Spain’s version of the Gap, would have them and they did. I always love checking out Zara for myself too. I first fell in love with this store in France and England. I was so happy when they finally came to America. One thing I love is their coats and jackets. They always have a fantastic selection that are very current and fashionable without costing a ton. This time I bought a black and white zebra inspired scarf. I think San Francisco is the only Northern Cal outpost of Zara, so it’s worth a trip.

When we were up there we cruised between Post St and Maiden Lane and the general Union Square area. Love the windows at the new Prada store. ~~Dreaming of~~ Checking out the latest bags..

And at Kate Spade. What’s not to love in that store? I always have a wish list running in my mind when I visit there. Alas I had a small boy with me so, on to lunch..

We ate lunch at my very favorite new find, La Boulange! This French bakery is just so good. Have I said that before about bakeries? The quality here is unmatched. The breads are heaven and very affordable. Baguettes are $2.00! Well, I had a Croque Monsieur that was as good (or better actually, now that I think of it), than any served in France and healthy quinoa as my side. Grif had a hotdog in a croissant. Do not miss their home made potato chips. Yes, I ate those too!

After Grif and I spied a darling little sweet shop that we popped in. Fiona’s Sweet Shoppe is a real discovery and unlike any candy shops around. It was opened by a Scottish doctor who came here and missed the treats from back home. They specialize in candies from the England and Scotland. They generously let us sample all kinds of unusual candies we had never known before. I am now in love with something called brown sugar cubes, which is soft black licorice covered in brown sugar. Griffin found a few new favorites too and we left with a bag for about $4.00! Another wonderful stop if you are up here for the day!

Okay one other fun idea for you this week.. Have you been berry picking lately? I haven’t in many years. My friend Kim and her daughter Abby asked us to go strawberry picking in Davenport, near Santa Cruz. It’s a quick 35 minute trip to Swanton Berry Farm where you can pick your own organic berries. They had a very cute farm with a pie shop, jams and other goodies too. It’s on the honor system, so bring cash. You weigh it yourself, mark it, and leave your money. The kids loved picking their own. The day we went it was only us and two other families. I had forgotten what a blast this is and the strawberries are SO good.

After that we toodled back to Davenport, to check out the tide pools. I had no idea they even had a good beach there. I hate to even share this, but if you go down Davenport Landing Road, you will hit a very small parking spot and a very huge beach with tide pools to the left and right of the beach. Make sure you come at low tide and I recommend bringing a lunch. Not many good food options this way. Great spot for a lunch picnic here on the beach. Fabulous beach! Now, don’t tell anyone…

After, on the way back to highways 1 and 17, you can make a stop in Downtown Santa Cruz for a treat. I am just getting reacquainted with this town again and loving spending time downtown. It’s really become very hip and less hippy, if you get my drift. Kim and I grabbed coffee at the very cool Verve coffee house. We both agreed her cappuccino and my latte were the best coffee we have ever had. Seriously. Oh, and they make those cute hearts and stuff on your foam. Extra points for that!! Love the decor too. The finale to all this was a stop at The Penny Ice Creamery a very special local ice creamery with flavors like Earl of Grey, Strawberry Pink Peppercorn, and Burnt Cinnamon. They use only organic eggs, milk and sugar of course. The Penny Ice Creamery is pretty famous around here as they were invited to be Michelle Obama’s guest at a State of the Union address last year, since they were able to open their business thanks to Obama’s SBA Recovery Act. That act allowed them to get a loan for $250,000, which let them build and open the shop and eventually employ 11. Unbelievably cute shop where you can see them making the ice cream and totally deserving of a special trip. Abby had vanilla bean and Grif has plum sorbet. I am counting the days until I can go back and bring the rest of my family. It was a perfect Summer day trip if you are in these parts!