Sunny SoCal...

I was allowed to sleep in until about 9 a.m. on my first day back in the states, which was Sunday, Oct. 21. But then I had to get up and get ready for the Sunday morning Kasal family tradition of meeting at Starbucks for coffee. My parents, grandmother and my brother's family use this time to meet to catch up on what's happening with each other. After we got hopped up on caffeine and sugar, there was a special trip that I enjoy each fall, a trip to Roger's Gardens in Corona del Mar. This is an upscale nursery where prices are a little high, but the quality of the plants and gifts are stunning. I always get creative ideas for gifts and projects when I visit this place, and this year was no exception. Here are some of my favorites:

This succulent wreath was so cool.

A cheerful collection of ceramic mushrooms. I've also seen these at the Laguna Beach Sawdust festival.

Owl pet rocks.

Some varieties of roses were in full bloom.

Love this gazebo!

I love snowdrop flowers, but have never had any luck growing them myself.

Christmas was ablaze in light and color in the garden's gallery.  In here $80 tree ornaments are plentiful, which is a little bit out of my budget this holiday season, but they were beautiful.

I loved this house of cards shelf.

These realistic penguins were so much fun!

These collage Christmas trees were priced between $400 and $1,200. I got a couple of styrofoam cones at Michaels and plan to make my own versions with collage crap I already have... for less than the boutique price. But, like I said before, this gallery always gives me great ideas!

This Christmas tree was completely decorated with baby girl and pink ornaments. I looked for the baby boy tree, to no avail.

For lunch I enjoyed my favorite fast-food salad: The Wahoo's Chicken Salad from Wahoo's Fish Taco, which can be found all over SoCal. Yummy!

After lunch my Korean sister-in-law, Gina, and my Mom were eager to show me the Daiso Japan in Irvine. They wanted to know if it was like the ones I had seen in Japan. The short answer: Sort of. While many of the products were the same, the Daisos in Japan do not look like they have thrown up Pepto Bismol. There are pink accents, but the Irvine store went a little nuts with the bubblegum pink motif. And 100 yen is worth about $1.24 right now, so, at $1.50, the products are more expensive in the states, which would probably account for the shipping costs associated with getting these products across the Pacific.

Some of the products I had just seen the week before in Iwakuni were for sale in Irvine:

And the entertaining Janglish was still rampant, thank goodness. I enjoyed this little grammar foible:

Meanwhile, later that evening, my brother and sister-in-law were enjoying the Daiso gifts the boys had picked out for my niece and nephew more than the kids were:

And, of course, last but not least, I enjoyed quality time with my parents...

Wednesday, Oct. 24, was the day to travel to Colorado, a 15-hour car ride. Details to come in the next post...