Weekly Wrap-Up: Shopping, Eating, and Blogging (need I say more?)

This weekend was such a great one!  I had the pleasure of attending the SoCal Social, of course, but it deserved its own post!  But don't go away, I have lots to share including one of my favorite fabric stores and shopping!


Precap (jump to):

• Eats: Avila's El Ranchito Mexican restaurant, Creative Cakes
• Sights: M&L Fabrics, Super King, SoCal Social

I had no Friday meeting (woo!) so I hightailed it to M & L Fabrics to pick up some fake leather for our Mad About Plaid Challenge.  No exact plans yet, but I will be sure to share them when I figure it out.  :)

Anyways, I love this store because there is a HUGE selection for great prices!

It is impossible to take an entire picture of the store, so this is about half of the space taken from the back of the store.  Aaaaahhhhh!  So overwhelming!

Lest you think that it's crazy to get through, it is amazingly organized!  It is all in rainbow color order, which you know I love from my closet post.  I will show you just a couple of the rows of different fabrics that they have.

Minky/faux-fur/velboa.  I spy the velboa I used for my holiday cape!

Cotton & quilting prints.  Chevron and polka-dots galore!  I love polka-dots.  :)

Home decor fabrics.  I have really only used home dec fabrics once on this body pillow, but I can't wait to use more soon!

Sports team fabrics (including the Lakers!)

Sequins!  Loving them, even though my last experience for my New Years Dress was super messy with half-cut sequins everywhere!

Lace!  I adore the stuff, and made two dresses with it!

Here's a collage of more good stuff on along the walls

• Cording & velvet
• Gingham of all colors!
• Tulle and sparkly tulle
• Fleece of varying thicknesses & patterns

• Trim, ribbon, etc.
• Vinyl, plastic, oilcloth
• $1.99/yard section (in the back!)
• Stuffing, pillows, interfacing, etc.

Believe me, it's huge in there and I didn't even take pictures of most of the stuff.  They have buttons, patterns, sewing supplies, machine accessories, and so much more!

The irony?  No soft pleather for garments.  Maybe next time!

Next, I went to Super King, an international grocery store that has the cheapest produce ever!  You may have seen that I Instagram-ed this box of produce.  Not quite perfect, but only... $2!

Yep, that's right!  I was buying kale when I saw this box of produce just under the display.  So, I got 3 large eggplant (which were perfect except a couple of scuffs on the skin), 2 peaches (which I ate in my yogurt cups), around 5 plantains, and a million baby bananas!  Not really a million, but still a ton.  I will have lots of bananas for my favorite breakfast cookies!

I made Eggplant Parmesan with my new bounty.  Yum!

On Saturday, I squeezed in a quick shopping trip between the gym and the SoCal Social.  I needed that pleather!  Unfortunately, I noticed that there was a pattern sale and I ended up buying these lovely ladies.  Time to update my sewing pattern collection post!

Butterick 5371 is not for a costume, I honestly want to recreate that belt pouch.  I love them, remember?

Butterick 5797 is intended to be a fitted top with straps that I can wear with my skater skirts, but I will lengthen it significantly.  Last week, I couldn't find a top in stores that wasn't cropped super short, so I'll just make my own!

Next, I went to the SoCal Social!  Yay!  Recap post tomorrow, okay?

We ate at Avila's El Ranchito Mexican Restaurant, which I shared on The Episodic Eater earlier.  So much guacamole!

Dessert was provided by Creative Cakes, which I also shared here.  You HAVE to see the pretty display that they had set up.  :)

I basically spent Sunday diving into all the fun swag and catching up with tons of blogs and work.  Nothing special to share.  :)

This weekend I have some time to craft/cook because I will have my friend over.  Remember the trips I took to London & Paris in April?  She was my travel buddy!  She has a definite sweet tooth, but I think we're going to attempt a savory recipe this time.  I haven't seen her in forever, so I can't wait!

Anybody have fun plans for this weekend?  Maybe a Halloween party or two?  :)