Laura Ward and I had a four day visit with Cassie Rogers in Santa Monica, CA. We arrived on Wednesday, May 13th and returned home on Sunday, May 17th. This was my first trip to California and my first view of the Pacific Ocean. We stayed at the wonderful, historic Culver Hotel in Culver City. All of the meals we had on the trip were wonderful and my number one favorite restaurant was “The Wallace” which is also located in Culver City.  Yummy! 🙂

Cassie was a perfect hostess and we had a very wonderful time!  Cassie gave us a wonderful tour and drove us up the Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu and viewing the amazing homes in that area of prime real estate,  Then, on to Ventura where we visited many antique and speciality shops.:)

This is the view from the beautiful Hotel Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica. We stopped there to have refreshment and to enjoy the view. Afterwards, we walked to the lovely beach.

Finn also enjoyed the ocean view sitting on the lifeguard’s stand. The tote bag was a gift from Cassie and it contained sand buckets and shovels for our Sashas. 🙂

Kendal joined Finn for fun at the beach!

Too chilly to swim, Finn was content to build sand castles. 😉

What a great place to play!

Laura dipping her toes in the Pacific and holding Kendal. ❤

Cassie and Finn enjoying the day. ❤

Cassie gave us a great tour and we were able to see Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

More high-end shops.

This hotel is the Official Beverly Wilshire Hotel, A Four Seasons Hotel where the movie “Pretty Woman” was filmed starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.

Driving through Hollywood was quite a sight!  Very crowded and full of tourists.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was difficult to get a photo with all of the people walking around the stars.

The sign for the TCL Grauman Chinese Theatre.

Construction underway as we left the Hollywood area. You won’t see billboard signs like this in West Virginia! I admit I blushed a bit myself. 🙂

Interesting buildings and advertisements.

We attended a local doll show in Pasadenda which was wonderful! I talked with a few doll dealers that I have known over the years which was a special, unexpected treat. After leaving the doll show, I snapped this photo of the iconic “Hollywood” sign located in Hollywood Hills in the Santa Monica Mountains. 🙂

As fabulous as everything was, the highlight was spending time with Laura and Cassie in Cassie’s studio. Cassie created this fantastic “Dollywood” scene for the dolls and Finn and Jessie really enjoyed posing in a star’s spotlight on the red carpet.  Cassie had tiny, metal Oscar awards for the winning stars! ❤

Shown are a few of the wonderful stars that Cassie made for Laura and me.  These “Walk of Fame” stars line the red carpet runway above.  Each one has a name of a special Sasha Doll belonging to Laura and me plus she made one with our names too. 🙂

Tha backs are made of cork and they are coasters! How creative and thoughtful of Cassie to make them and I love them! ❤

Cassie gave Joy a special hair styling session.  She also helped Laura with a couple of Sasha projects.  We learned a lot by watching Cassie. 🙂

I brought a redhead White Dress girl with me in my suitcase and Cassie graciously offered to repaint her. This is her with her new look and her name is “Tassie”.  I love her beautiful brown , hand painted eyes and brows! ❤

A full length view of Tassie wearing a knitted outfit found on ebay and her lime green leather shoes were made by Jean Jensen.  It was 39 degrees yesterday morning so we are able to wear long sleeves and sweaters for most of the day. 🙂

A closer view of Tassie. ❤

Tassie is happy to be here at Sasha Shangri-la. She arrived earlier this year so she counts as a 2015 purchase. 🙂

A photo without her hat. Tassie’s hair is fabulous and thick with loads of natural curl. While at the Pasadena Doll Show, I bought a sandy haired “Party” girl (1985) that had no original outfit except her shoes and a blonde Gregor denims boy with brown leg stringing. They were sold together as a pair and I was happy to find a Sasha because many doll shows will not have a Sasha doll for sale.  The boy Gregor is with Cassie visiting but Cassie offered immediately to repaint the Party girl and I was able to bring her home on the plane.  Here she is, drum roll please………

Please meet “Sammie” a lovely Party girl and the first one I have ever adopted. The sandy blonde hair is really a lovely and different color. It looks more like a strawberry blonde color to me.  Her previously stamped blue eyes are now a lovely blend of blues and grays beautifully captured by an artist’s brush and palette. Thank you Cassie. ❤

I dressed Sammie in a pretty blue corduroy dress set by Ruthsdolls. She looks so nice in this color.  Sammie and Tassie both had a nice bath and shampoo before they were painted. 🙂

A closer view of Sammie.  She is getting to know everyone here on the farm and is very close to Tassie. 🙂

A side view of Sammie. 🙂

Sammie, Tassie and I want to thank you for visiting with us. We are sending hugs to you and happy wishes for this weekend and the week to come! 🙂 xxx

Finn is always the first one to volunteer to help with chores here at Sasha Shangri-La.  Finn is no stranger to work and, in fact, Finn loves being active every chance he gets.  His ever-faithful pup, Fetch joined him. 🙂

This time Finn is helping my son wash his truck.

My son has a Ford F150 Truck which is a pretty big truck to me! 🙂

Luckily Finn likes a challenge! 🙂

Afterwards, Finn rests by the state license plate. He likes the deer plate and we do enjoy watching the many deer here on the farm. 🙂

Tires look very nice to me.  But my son has already replaced these wheels with new ones that he says are much better!

Finn and I liked these wheels very much and we really don’t understand buying new ones. But, my son doesn’t understand the buying and selling of Sasha dolls. So, each to his own! 😉

After washing the truck, Finn helped to carry in the groceries. 🙂

I was so thankful to have his help and Fetch’s help too! I took several photos of Finn around the VW Jetta while unloading the groceries.

Finn’s vest was knitted by Linda Simpson. I love it!   I hope you will forgive the use of these slip-on tennis shoes.  I didn’t feel up to wrestling with the laces on the tennis shoes that Finn normally wears and Finn said it was okay though he thinks they are “girly” shoes!  For those of you that do not know Finn, he is a 1967 English production NP with all platinum hair. ❤

A last photo of my beloved Finn waving goodbye. We thank you for visiting us and we wish you a beautiful weekend to come! 🙂 xxx

Speaking of beautiful days, I took this photo last weekend while waiting in my car at the local Home Depot store. It was a glorious day and I couldn’t resist taking a photo of its beauty. ❤

Lucy is a most remarkable Sasha doll. I bought her from a UK seller on facebook who had rerooted a previous Gregor doll to create Lucy.   Later last summer, I took Lucy to the Sasha Festival in Phoenix and Lucy was then repainted by the very talented hands of Cassie Rogers. 🙂

The amazing cumulative result of the rerooting and repainting work you see here in the lovely Lucy. 🙂

Lucy is wearing a sunny checked dress that is unlabeled. Her sunny dotted socks were made by the talented Sharon Humphreys and her fun, orange leather shoes were made by Jean Jensen. 🙂

A closer view of Lucy. 🙂

Lucy has a furry friend here at Sasha Shangri-La that she is very fond of and loves to hug! 🙂 xxx

Lucy loves Fozzie Bear!

Fozzie Bear is a very lovable bear with a wonderful big smile! 🙂

A happy pair of friends! 🙂

Just spending time together. 🙂

Lucy has won many hearts here on the farm. ❤

And Fozzie Bear is one of those hearts. ❤

A last photo of Lucy today. We both thank you for stopping by the blog and we are sending you happy wishes for the rest of your week to come. 🙂

Note: Lucy has been by my bedside during my recent recovery time and I have really enjoyed her sweet face looking my way.  Her sunny outfit and beautiful face really helped to cheer me up.  I love Lucy! ❤  xxx