day in the mountains

the hub's car was broken into last month (in broad daylight, at a shopping center, as he met a client for lunch) and the fabulous coach briefcase he'd bought a few months ago was stolen. inside was with his laptop, one of the mont blanc pens i'd given him, and some other crap that wasn't necessarily valuable, but it was a bummer nonetheless. not to mention, he lost a shitload of e-mails and files that he'd had on his hard drive. back that shit up, man!

so we decided to head back up to lake arrowhead village for a day trip on saturday. on the way there, we stopped in redlands to meet brother wan for lunch at famous dave's for some bbq. i'm not a huge fan of bbq, but everything was pretty scrumptious. we had some smoked salmon dip on warm, chewy flatbread as an appetizer, and guzzled down big glasses of southern sweet tea. i went with the pulled pork sandwich, and then we all shared bread pudding for dessert. i managed to sneak a few pics of the garishly decorated interior.

the bean sat in a high chair and snacked on little pieces of flatbread. oh, and the table. :X

we said goodbye to brother wan, who had to go to work, and hopped into the car for the ride up to arrowhead. i pulled my book out to sneak in some reading while the bean snoozed, and before i knew it, we were there.

as we circled the parking lot in search of a spot, we realized that the village was extra crowded due to an antique boat and car show. joy. but we somehow scored on a primo spot right in front, so we put the bean in the stroller and headed out to see the sights. it was such a beautiful day - clear blue skies, temperature in the high 70s, and hey - we were there to do some shopping. what more could i ask for?

the antique cars and boats were really cool, and we strolled along the lake, watching the ducks and eyeing the gorgeous homes along the shore.

as we continued our stroll along the lake, the awards were being presented to the owners of the winning cars and boats by june lockhart.

the hub had no idea who she was, but i totally knew her from general hospital, where she played felicia's grandmother. whee!

i got all oogly-googly over all the adorable dogs that we encountered. i love my mollydog, but i would LOVE to have a yellow lab one day (like when we have a house with a yard big enough for one).

we giggled at the various signs that advertised upcoming acts for concerts by the lake, like this one:

then it was time for refreshments. the hub and i shared a large flavored iced tea from this place:

and then i snapped some photos of us.

the whole reason why we even drove up to begin with was:

there were so many great deals, it was amazing. the hub found a new briefcase he liked, and although i'm not really a huge coach fan, i couldn't resist this one:

it's a $400 leather tote, and i got it for $150! i love it.

on the way down the mountain, we opened up the sunroof and enjoyed the clean air, which also carried the fragrance of wild flowers growing all along the road. it was gorgeous, and smelled wonderful. gotta love the mountains.

we ended our saturday by meeting my brother and O out in pasadena (yes, we did a lot of driving that day). after a lovely dinner at il fornaio, we walked over to pinkberry only to find a line out the door. so we ended up skipping it and going home. but not before i let out a squeal when i saw that these were now a part of old town:

i kept it quiet, though, considering my new bag. and, um, the PF shopping spree. yikes.