The night before we left, I had an appointment to have my hair colored, and I ended up having about six inched of curl chopped off.  Yikes. I liked it at first and then on the way home I started to freak out about it... I am still getting used to it, but others seem to like it.  (It goes to just above my shoulders now).  You can see it in this photo to the left (click to see larger version).

Before I left, I had emailed Alix Bluh of Modern Relics wanting to know where her beautiful jewels were sold so I could try to get to a place to see her work in person - and she wrote me back saying she had seen my site and would like to meet me! I was thrilled, and it turned out that one of her friends was in town from Seattle because her work was the work of the month at My Trick Pony, a custom graphic apparel shop in the Castro area and was having an opening one of the nights we were there.  So we went to Home for dinner (delicious!) and then went to meet them at the show.  Alix and her friend were so wonderful and welcoming.  I had such a great time chatting with them and picking out a shirt and watching the graphic I want be created and added to it,  Alix and I plan on keeping in touch, and I promise to show you the jewelry I get from her as I order it!  She is an amazing jewelry designer and really was a great person!  I told her she needed to have more online shops carry her stuff since it is amazing, so I will keep you updated if I hear of any!

So - shops and links.  I always love using the Time Out guide books, I highly recommend them (I have used them for trips to New Orleans, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angles and have the Las Vegas one on order for May).  Anyway, my first find was from the guide book.  An antique shop called Aria.  Wow.  I was in heaven.  I walked under the simple yet stylish shop sign into heaven.  The walls were lined with antique papers, maps, charts, old drawers filled with wooden letter blocks, piles of elegantly written invoices and bills from the early 1800's.  The man who owned the shop was wonderful and such a wealth of knowledge.  He travels to France often to bring back the most wonderful items.  After hearing I was looking for paper, he kept popping in and out of different areas of the shop with more stacks of treasures.  I had to put several things back not knowing how I would get them home, but I still found lots of stuff for myself.  It started to rain by the time we left, but we were in this adorable area in north beach littered with shops, so we dodged the rain every time I say a shop I wanted to check out.  First was the most wonderful paper store called Lola.  In there I found lots of treats, including cards by Bella Muse (which was my first time seeing them in person) and cute notebooks by Russell + Hazel.  I popped in and out of a dew other shops too, but eventually stumbled into Delilah Crown - a beautiful boutique that carries clothes, accessories and note cards made by the owner mixed in with some other goodies.  I purchased a wonderful bag (the style is a "Strolling Bag" - I love that name for it!) that I have used ever since and was one of the owners works.  I love to be able to support other artists, especially when it is a cute bag like this!  I also stumbled upon some other great items and found their corresponding websites, Red Cap Cards are adorable, and so is the Hello Lucky site.  I forget exactly how I stumbled upon SCAD's Shop since they are in Savannah not San Francisco (Savannah College of Art & Design) but the shop is wonderful!  I also saw some cute products by Shadow Box Art and whimsical iPod covers from Mixx (unfortunately, no cases for the video iPod yet).

Oh and I have to mention that one day, we stopped at Citizen Cake for a snack, and I had the BEST cupcake I have ever had. (oh and how cute, they have another shop called Citizen "cupcake").  Yum. 

San Jose was not that thrilling.  I did drag Mike to a couple shopping areas, and I discovered a shop called Lucy, that from their site does not look all that great, but I bought some pants, a shirt and a hooded sweatshirt that I just want to wear everyday I love them so much.  If you see things you like on their site, you can get $20 of any $80 purchase using the code "1105welcome" (it is good until March 31, 2006). 

I arrived home to tons of great mail, including 2 packages from swaps I did with Melissa and Misty and they both spoiled me.  Misty sent some wonderful cards and a bunch of prints, her work is amazing so I am thrilled.  Melissa and I did an ephemera swap and oh the goodies she sent!  Thanks so much to both of you!

I also discovered that I won a contest at Art Chix Studios, and my collaged ATC will be made into stickers that are included with your orders through them!  (click image to see a larger version).

All in all it was a good trip, but it was wonderful to step into my home and fall into my own bed (especially after the redeye flight we took home) and to have Tuala all excited to see us - that little tail of hers wagging a mile a minute!  I also have to admit that after the horrible rental car we had while away, I wanted to kiss Chili when I saw her, and she is still new, so I was happy to be home and able to drive her again!

Well, I am off to catch up on orders and get caught up on emails.  ah... Home Sweet Home.