Guilty Pleasures!

Come on, we all have them and some are downright weird, so it's hard when we come to admit them!

One of my favourite guilty pleasures is looking at houses for sale in Pasadena CA. Yep you heard right!

If ever I found somewhere I'd like to spend the rest of my life it would be Pasadena California, so what's so great about it? I dunno, but you know when you go somewhere and you just think, this is it, this is where I want to be, well that place is Pasadena for me and my lovely husband. There's so much I love about it, of course they have a fabulous vintage/antique event once a month at the Rose Bowl, that has got to turn any vintage lover on, but then there are other things, it's got a great little place called Fair Oaks Pharmacy, which is essentially a drugstore with a soda fountain in it, like how it used to be. Don't get me wrong Fair Oaks Pharmacy isn't enirely a throw back, it's a modern pharmacy, but the soda fountain bar is old, and they've turned the shop part into a little boutique selling cute stuff. I also love a store called Lula Mae's this is a special store in my heart, cos not only is the owner a sweetie who was so lovely to us when we had an extended stay in Pasadena once, it also made me take the jump and start Notorious Kitsch.

Other stuff? I like the houses, I like the restaurants, I like the outdoor life - very different from the UK. So I wanted to share my love of Pasadena with you and show you some of my favourite places, oh and maybe a house or two I want, in case you're a millionaire and you want to treat me!

So this is what I do with my lazy hours on a Saturday or Sunday, I dream of being rich enough to have a home in Pasadena! I would love to know what your guilty pleasures are, of course I have many more which I might reveal over the course of the next few months, but it's a start. So come on fess up!

See now we're talking I can imagine driving up to this 1956 house in Pasadena, seeing the huge palm trees in the distance and grinning like an idiot!

It is a coincidence that the 2nd house I'm showing you is also 1956, but look at that corner window, wowweeee! Again, I would be grinning like an idiot if I lived here too! There would be lots of grinning like an idiot if I lived in Pasadena I think!

Then of course to complete my dream of my own mid century home in Pasadena, once I have selected my home (in my dreaming on a Sunday morning) I would tootle over to my favourite blog on resources for renovating older houses, cos let's face it usually people have torn these beauties to shreds.

So off I tootle to www.retrorenovation.com this is a retro renovators dream! I'm most in love with their kitchen sections, weird I know but there it is, and for me in particular the 50's kitchen section http://retrorenovation.com/galleries/1950s-kitchens/

Ok so places, Lula Mae's

Not a great shot, but a great shop, and it can be found at 100 N Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena.

Ah Fair Oaks Pharmacy, don't you just love it! It can be found at 1526 Mission Street, South Pasadena.

There you go, that's how I spend my time when dreaming about what I want out of life rather than reality :o)