A Little Coastal Charm

This past weekend marked the last days of July. We spent the better portion of the week AND weekend, trying to fix up our house {feels like the "fixing up" process of it is unending}. To escape the heat of the hills, we decided to take a local drive down to the coast to get some much needed relief. Luckily, we are only a few miles from the ocean breeze. Before we moved into this house, we used to live less than half a mile from the beach, and it never really got warmer than 80 degrees, and turning on the air conditioner was quite rare. But in order to enjoy the luxuries of having a home with a front AND backyard {along with many other amenities}, we gave up "townhome" living, and along with that - the cooler weather during the hot summer months. Funny how only a few miles of mountain makes a HUGE difference in temperature.

So the hubs & I loaded the kiddos and decided to visit one of our favorite places to eat during the summer, Ruby's Shake Shack which happens to be on the Malibu Pier. Incidentally, I finally found my camera {woohoo}, but I forgot to charge it {boohoo}...so the batteries were on low, and my memory card was nearly full {yeah, I still have your average run-of-the-mill, older digital cam). But I managed to take a few pics of our excursion, which I'd like to share:


It's not uncommon to see people fishing off of the pier.


From a distance, you can see "Ruby's Shake Shack Cafe" to the right.



The ocean views were lovely. Here's the view to the right of the pier.

And a view to the left.


As we neared our destination, we found out that the cafe was closed - not sure why? Bummer! So we instead opted to take a look at the cute coastal shop right next door.


Ahh the days of summer - midsummer days to be exact! ;)




And of course my little one managed to find the corner where all the vintage toy cars were. He LOVES cars, and I already know how I'm going to decorate his room, once we finally complete a few more minor renovations.




Love this retro vintage item! ;)


On our way back down the pier, my camera's battery started to die on me. ;( But I managed to take the last few pics. This one is of the "Beachcomber Cafe," which is situated at the beginning of the pier.


The Beachcomber's outdoor patio where everyone loves to sit during the summer.


And here we are saying goodbye to the lovely beach weather, and heading back up {and over, then back up} the hills and into the heat! ;)

Well that concludes my little bit of coastal charm. I hope you enjoyed the pics as much as I enjoyed the weather. ;)

On a side note, sometime later this week I'm hoping to post a few "sneak peeks" of what we've done to our house so far. Nothing big, because there's still some renovations {like adding a wall}, and some MAJOR decorating to be had {not to mention "furniture project re-dos"}, but at least all the interior painting is done...well most of it that is - as we still need to paint the kitchen cabinets white, but that will be a little later down the road...so stay tuned!

I will be sharing this at:


Anything Goes Tuesdays @Type A
Summer Loving Link Party @Modern Country Style