Hearst Castle and Diaper Cakes!

Hey everyone…..hope you are all doing well.  Things are sort of back to normal here in casa di Mooney.  We had company in for a week, then a friend from college was in town so we spent a day with her, the next day we packed our bags, took the dogs to the kennel and the following day left on a great vacation.  Add to that I got an order from someone who attended the baby shower to make the shower favors for her sister’s baby shower which of course needed to be done before I left AND my company asked me while they were here to make some baby shower invitations and let’s just suffice it to say I was really busy!!!  I just realized as I typed this, that I forgot to take a pic of that baby shower invite too, darn it!  Well, I will have to have her take one and email me I guess!!! 

So we headed off to the wedding on Wednesday….oh yeah and picture this…while I was getting my pedicure done on Tuesday, I was making the favors for the wedding and am happy to report I finished assembling all 50 butterfly matchboxes while I was sitting there….all the little Korean ladies has tons of questions about those, and I was sure glad to not have to work on them in the car!  The coast along highway 1 in California is so amazing and rugged and beautiful, we just loved seeing it and everything that the area has to offer.  Our view from our room at the Ragged Point Inn was just amazing as seen here:

but for the first time in a long time, we had no cell phone service or decent internet.  I paid for a satellite service but it was really spotty and went in and out the whole time and was about the speed of dial up and as everyone knows it is really hard to go backwards when you are used to superfast internet, so I just put the computer aside and enjoyed myself!!

We drove to Monterrey on Thursday and went to the aquarium which was very fun and hands on, then on the way back to the hotel we found the most awesome restaurant…Nepenthe….we loved it and the view so much from there, we drove the hour back there on Sunday to have dinner there again!  Very cool place and here is their website if you ever go to the area:  http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/

Here was my view:

Then on Friday we toured Hearst castle and it was simply amazing, all the attention to detail was something else!  

Here are some pictures of the neptune pool:

and here is the indoor pool:

and the dining room:

I think Matty said it best at the end of the tour while we were in the theater room watching old black and white movies of WR Hearst and his guests:  “ Mom, I am really impressed.  This guy did a great job building this house!”  That’s my girl!  We also saw the seals as we were driving there:

The wedding was Saturday and took place in this spot:

here’s a pic of the happy couple:

and here is the beautiful reception area:

I wish I could post pics of the girls in their flower dresses…. they got their hair curled for the first time and spun and twirled so cute on the dance floor.  The said it was the best day ever when they went to bed that night!

The last day there we took a hike not far from the hotel to a great waterfall:

and I think this last pic really exemplifies the Big Sur area:

 

and not to forget to mention it..the drive over to highway 1 on Highway 46 had the most amazing show of wildflowers, the hillsides actually looked like they were on fire!

So I am killing you guys with pics this time but I have to show you my great diaper cake for the baby boy jungle theme shower, here where the invites that were my inspiration:

and here is the cake:

and here are all the favors and things I made her to go along with:

and guess what???  I already have another order for a diaper cake!!  Maybe I have found my niche after all!!!

Ciao for now!!!     Deidre