fun pic-tori-al

haha, that's the best i could come up with for a blog post about meeting tori spelling.

i don't even remember why i started following her on twitter, especially as i don't even watch any of her reality shows.  well - check that, i did see a few episodes of "inn love," where she and dean ran that bed & breakfast somewhere down by san diego.  anyway, suffice it to say that i'm not especially a huge fan, but i do love me some 90210 - the OG version, not this new one that's currently on the air.

but when she tweeted that she and dean were going to be hanging out at a holiday bazaar they were hosting at their shop invenTORI, i kind of really really wanted to go.  and lucky for me, my buddy kelley was totally into it too.  she'd actually met tori once before at a book signing in pasadena, but thought it would be fun.  and since she was riding solo with li'l d that weekend, i figured it would be a fun playdate for all of us.

since it was a sunday morning, traffic was blessedly light and we were in the valley within 40 minutes - a bit early, even.  this was good, considering that the bean had fallen asleep on the way.  i found a good parking spot on a sidestreet, and a few minutes later kelley and li'l d pulled up alongside us.  we chatted a bit, trying to let her keep sleeping, and then i finally plucked her out of her car seat.  she was super groggy, but was happy to see her friend.  i didn't get any pictures of it, but they walked along holding hands.  SO cute.

it was about two minute walk to the shop.

i wanted to take way more pictures of invenTORI's shabby chicness, but i didn't want to draw any more attention to us than we were already getting.  of course, because of our cute kids.  since tori & dean have little ones, they had a table of fun activities and a cookie decorating station set up for kids.

the bean decided to decorate two cookies.  she was proud of her creation, but for some reason didn't want to eat them.  i shouldn't complain about that, i suppose.

the tiny center courtyard was super cute and decorated with antiques for sale.

a bit of advertisement in the bathroom:

the dessert bar was lovely. but since i'd downed one of the bean's cookies, i was all sugar-ed out.  bah!

there was a nice selection of cute gifts for kids.

she and li'l d had fun drawing on the little chalkboards.

and she was happy to model a handmade elmo hat for me.  i was tempted to scoop it up, but wasn't feeling the $28 price tag.  eek.

i snuck away to peruse the kitchen goods section for a moment.

and then through a screen door leading to the back office, i spied a familiar face.  i nonchalantly held up my camera and looked away to snap this.  ha, i'm so stealth.

i'm almost positive this is their third, newborn hattie.

and liam scampered over to draw next to the bean.  stella was there too, but i didn't catch her.  "smile, bean!"

see what i did there?  i'm awesome.

kelley and i both ended up scooping up one of those cute portable chalkboards (because we had to buy something, after all) and she volunteered to take this for me.

what did i say to tori spelling, you ask?  well, the first thing that came to mind.  "so, how many times do you hear donna martin graduates?"

oh, yes.  i went there.  good gracious.

but she was really sweet about it.  "weekly.  gosh, maybe twice a week, even," as she smiled at the bean.  "oh, then i'm glad i didn't say it then," i blurted out.  OH MAH GAH, I AM SO STUPID.

i slunk outta there with my tail between my legs.

after a quick debate, we decided to head back to familiar territory and met up again at an old favorite, la grande orange.  kelley and i got a chance to chat and catch up while li'l d played a game and the bean looked on adoringly.

she loved the cafeteria-style plate that her lunch arrived on.

and look - my fried chicken and mashed potatoes was served with a fresh cinnamon roll!

all in all, the whole day was full of WIN.