"Uni" and PAPER TALES!

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What a beautiful day today in sunny California! A great day to get out and explore and enjoy!

I started my day in downtown San Diego in Little Italy at Dick Blick's Art Store, picking up a few items for a collage I'm working on. I needed some water soluble oil pastels and found a nice set with my 30% off coupon. The day was off to a good start!

Strolling down the main street (India Avenue) I noticed an outdoor market. What a buffet of sights and aromas! Fresh organic fruits and vegetables, made to order while you watched were crepes with sweet or savory fillings, colorful fresh cut flowers, a French Patisserie with the most scrumptious pastries, an Italian man making Panini's, another man who introduced himself as Dave the butcher selling rabbit and lamb he had raised himself, a lady selling fresh caught Sea Urchins (Uni) with fresh samples (my first taste of Uni!).

A demo on how to cut it open and clean it was so interesting.

After the demo there was more to see...there were aged cheeses and rustic artisan breads, artichokes as large as my head (I'm not exaggerating!) Fresh almonds and a variety of nuts, and the the stalls went on and on!!! It's open every Saturday from 9:00am to 1:30pm on Fir Street (which crosses India Avenue). I'll definitely be back soon~

Then I was off to visit a little store in the Sports Arena area, next to the Soup Plantation. It's called Paper Tales and they were celebrating their First Year Anniversary!
The make-it-and-take was darling, a 4 page book with adornments which was created by K&Company. It was the stores gift to loyal customers and their way of saying "Thank You". They served refreshments, cookies and a grab bucket with prizes and discounts for your purchase. Julie was running the store this morning and was waiting for the owner, Michelle, to arrive for the afternoon shift. Such nice people and the store has such a warm and cozy environment. What an eyefull! It was hard to take it all in...so much to see!

This cute little bird was a gift from the store!

Lots of glitter and jewelry and charms along with fabulous papers.

After my visit to Paper Tales, I headed toward Poway to check out the sales at Cool Scrapbook Stuff and to JoAnn's Fabrics for a couple of books. This was 50% off coupon day and I picked up a tape runner and two great books, and with my shopping completed I was ready for lunch.

All in all it was a great day as I headed for a favorite, little Bistro, "La Petit Corsaut", to put my feet up and do a little reading with my lunch!!! Bon appetit!


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