An Invitation: Caudalie French Skin Care + Jason Wu Event in Venice Beach, California

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An Invitation: Caudalie French Skin Care + Jason Wu Event in Venice Beach, California

As I was going through the mail following our summer travel, I discovered an invitation to an event for a brand of which I am a longtime fan. The event was to celebrate the collaboration between the french skin care line, Caudalie by Mathilde Thomas, and fashion designer, Jason Wu. My first thought was, "I can't fly to Venice Beach, I just got home from 3 weeks in Europe". Then I realized that Scott was already planning to be in LA for a class reunion that very weekend and had already reserved a hotel. The timing could not have been more perfect! We decided to drive the 8+ hours to Los Angeles and it was so convenient to have a car for all the stops we planned to make. We downloaded the intriguing podcast 'Serial' which made the drive absolutely fly by.

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San Diego Getaway (Mixing Work & Play!)

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San Diego Getaway (Mixing Work & Play!)

The first time I visited San Diego, as a teenager, I felt like I had arrived in a tropical paradise. The waters were shimmery and foliage was lush with palm trees waving in the soft breezes. I hadn’t been to San Diego in years, so when a professional conference Scott and I were planning to attend was scheduled in town, we jumped at the chance. The Bahia Resort, the first beachfront hotel built on Mission Bay, has a mid-century modern vibe with a Mediterranean twist. Interiors have been updated over the years and, thankfully, they have left the retro exterior in the original form.

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A 'Surprise' Branch of My Family Tree

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Last weekend Scott and I made our annual trip to Newport Beach to see a  surprise ‘branch’ of my family tree. This side of my family, the Swansons, are my birth family. I am the oldest sibling, adopted to another family at birth. Rod and Dorie are my full-blooded brother and sister and were raised by their parents never knowing there was an older sister.  A number of family members knew about that first baby-but not these two.

Surprise!!

Dorie always thought she was the oldest sibling (nope!). I think that makes us even more alike-two first born sisters.  We’ve never had a fight, though she laughs and says maybe we should “just to say we did”.

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