Downtown Los Gatos

Since I have been focusing on local downtown areas I decided to explore Downtown Los Gatos yesterday in a new light. I have been to Los Gatos a zillion times. I even worked at the Banana Republic there a year ago. I wanted to focus on only going to stores that reflect the image and style that I want to portray for my Etsy shop Event Shop Design. To start my little afternoon adventure I had to fuel up at one of my favorite Japanese restaurants, Kamakura on N. Santa Cruz Ave. I enjoyed one of my favorite things to eat, sashimi tuna yum!!! The quality of the food at this Japanese place is excellent and a pretty good deal at lunch time.

After a light lunch I strolled down the street and popped into the candy store "Lolli and Pops". This sweet little candy shop is so inviting and apparently is worldwide. I was drawn by all the cute displays and beautiful pastel colors. It made for a great color palette for inspiration. I was amused by the large gummy bear display they have. I think a "Gummy Bear" themed party would be fun! I love how they incorporated party items with the candy displays. It was really tempting to want to purchase one of their fancy bars of chocolate such as the "Give S'more" chocolate bar, but I refrained. I will definitely come back again to pick up a little gift for a friend. 

Moving along from the candy store I went to my favorite bakery in Los Gatos, "Icing On The Cake". Not only do I love all of their baked goods I also am excited about their party and gift merchandise. My favorite cookie there is the "Crumble Bee"and my favorite cupcake is the "Swirly Cake". It reminds me of the Hostess cupcakes that we grew up with. To go along with all of their sweet treats they have cute little labels. The one for the "Rainbow Sugar Cookie" has the "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" book illustration. So cute! It is one of my son's favorite books. 

Along with all the delicious treats in this bakery I am also drawn to all the bright colors of the merchandise. The one display that especially caught my eye was of the "Fiesta Wear" which I love! These colors would make a great color palette. I am thinking of doing some "Rainbow" party inspired items; flag banners, cupcake toppers, invitations, and more... 

I am inspired by the story behind this little bakery that has been around for thirty three years. It all started with the owner owning a turquoise Easy Bake oven in 1965. I never had an Easy Bake oven but I did have a Holly Hobbie oven. She also had a love for baking which l do as well. My grandmother taught me how to make Toll House chocolate chip cookies when I was eight years old.  She definitely was responsible for my love of chocolate. Here is a photo of their post card that I picked up while I was there. It is on her turquoise Easy Bake oven and my favorite Swirly Cake cupcake. So much goodness!

To end my sweet little adventure day in downtown Los Gatos on the way to my car I noticed a little shop called "Out Of The Envelope". The window display for valentines caught my eye since I love all the cuteness during this season. I do not know how I never noticed this store before. Not only do they have gift and stationery items but they also do printed invitations, screen printed items, and embroideries. I spoke to the owner and she was really friendly. As I do for every store that I blog about I asked if I could take photos of her shop. She was interested in what I was doing so I proceeded to tell her about my Etsy shop. She wanted to look at it while I was in her store so she pulled it right up on her computer. She even asked if I sold wholesale which was flattering. I guess I need to look into that aspect. One thing I have discovered in these little blog adventures is that many of these shops sell items from Etsy, which is pretty exciting.  I ended the day feeling inspired and excited about what the future holds for my little party business!

Downtown Campbell, CA

This week I decided to have a local inspiration day in downtown Campbell, CA.  I am excited to start the new year building my ideas and business for Event Shop Design. I started my adventure at "Recycle Bookstore West", a new and used bookstore with great selection and a (fluffy/cute/etc) shop cat named "Bob". One of the first things that I noticed was a cute book for kids called "Little People Big Dreams Frida Kahlo". I love Frida and the fact that they have a series of books of women in history for kids to learn about is just another feather in this store's cap for me. One Frida book had a beautiful flower pattern that would look great on stationery.

I also discovered on my little adventure a store called "Redemption". The store sells stationery, home decor, jewelry, clothing, and accessories, all locally made. The whole store is in the theme of the state of California. I was really inspired by their gift items made with local maps. They gave me the idea of designing cupcake toppers and flag banners with maps, which would go with a Travel theme "Wanderlust" party.

Following the store "Redemption" I was drawn by a floral shop called "Petite Petal". Outside they have a display of cute little succulents. When I stepped into the store it was very inviting. One of the owners working there greeted me and was super friendly. There was a nice display of succulent plants and cactus in terrariums. They also have beautiful stationery, party supplies, candles, flowers, and pottery throughout the shop. Everything is merchandised in a chic and simple manner. Many of the plants have stationery with the quotes that correlate next to them. The store offers workshops and team building events as well. I will definitely come here again. I might even take one of their workshops such as; "Flower Crowns and Cupcakes" or "DIY Terrarium's".  Both sound like fun! Check out their website: http://www.petitepetalco.com

To end my inspiration day I went to a local favorite for lunch, "Brown Chicken Brown Cow". I had a light lunch of "Angry Goat Cheese Crostini's", which has a spicy blend of goat cheese, Jalapeño, garlic, onion, and cilantro, served with toasted crostini, arugula and chives. It is the perfect balance of spicy and salty. It paired nicely with the J. Lohr Chardonnay. It was a great end to a productive and exciting day discovering new things and making some connections right in my own backyard!

Muir Woods

Wow since I went back to working part-time I had neglected posting my weekly blog. This was my last entry from June 2016 that never got posted! Now that I am focusing on my own event and design business again I will be getting back on track for 2018 creating and blogging.

During Memorial Weekend we decided to go go across the bay to one of our favorite places, which is "Muir Woods". When we lived in San Francisco nine years ago we used to go often. We would park up above and hike down into the woods. It is always pretty exciting for me to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and head over the bay. It is refreshing to leave the heat and head into the fog. Being that it was a holiday weekend the parking was a bit crazy to get into the park. My husband had to drop my son and I off and park pretty far away. It took him about 30 mins for him to get back to us and he even ran. As soon as you get into the park and see all the trees my blood pressure drops and I become very relaxed.

Once we got there we started our hike on the nice wood path. The weather was perfect for hiking nice and cool. My son had only been to these woods once before and he was pretty excited to be there. He enjoyed seeing the cut tree with all the rings that had different years labeled on it. This always reminds me of the movie "Vertigo" since they went to that exact same spot in the movie. It was so nice to take our time and soak it all in. I love the sound of the breeze in the trees and the stream going by. When you look up you are surrounded by the beauty of the woods. 

After we hiked for about an hour and a half we headed over to the "Muir Woods Cafe". Everyone was hungry after hiking since there was a line out the door. We actually got lucky and found a table inside. I ordered their famous "Marin Melt" Panini which was stated as "best thing I ever ate" on the Food Network. It is made with Cow Girl Creamery Mount. Tam Cheese and Point Reyes Farmstead Creamery Toma cheese. To go with it I also got their fantastic vegan tomato soup as a "Marin Combo".  It was so delicious! 

After our time in "Muir Woods we went over to Sausalito for an afternoon treat. As a tradition we always get ice cream at "Lappert's Ice Cream".  The only other place we have had it is in Kauai on our honeymoon. My favorite flavor is the "Kauai Pie", which is coffee ice cream with coconut, macadamia nuts, and chocolate chunks. The whole combination is unforgettable. We enjoyed our ice cream as we strolled around the little town and walked along the water. I was a beautiful day were you could see clear across the bay and see the skyline of my favorite city San Francisco. It was an end to a wonderful day!