I’m home! Or not at home, in Finland, but anyway once again survived the 16-hour flights. Looking forward to the jetlag and starting to go through the two week pile of work e-mails tomorrow (yeah…). Unbelievable that just hours ago it was Saturday lunchtime in hot San Francisco, and now it’s Sunday dinnertime in Finland.

This was last Saturday Morning in Santa Barbara: It all began with the Banana Republic sale...

In the plane I realized that I have one very important thing still to cover: the shopping. You could summrize it in three words: ”Körssi, Koutsi & Bansku”.

“Oon Körssillä” ei siis välttämättä tarkoita tupakointia.

Anyway, here’s listed the most of our findings.

“Körssi”, Michael Kors

Saldo: 2 bags (my brown weekend bag has been used a lot ever since! And Orvkki’s white tote is so cool!)

Dooney & Bourke

Saldo: 1 bag, 1 clutch
“I think I’m a bit tired of Coach. Dooney & Bourke rocks!” says Orvokki.

But nevertheless, at “Koutsi”, Coach

Saldo: 4 bags, 3 small clutches, 1 pair of sunglasses, several scarves and key rings, see below.

… and the morning continued with the Coach Factory sale…

But then we hit the road and drove a few hundred miles to Barstow. No more shopping for today. Until… What a surprise in the middle of the desert: an outlet!!

This is how our back seat looked like after that visit. Where do we put all this stuff?

”I’m peeing in my pants,” Miss H laughs. Thank God our modest roadside motel near Barstow had the equipment needed to take the shopping to our room! ”Wow, why didn’t you go to The Four Seasons with all that,” asked a guy in the lobby. ”We couldn’t afford it anymore,” I replied. 🙂

But wait, the list continues:

Kate Spade

Saldo: 1 bag (Miss H’s favourite orange, see pic above)

Kenneth Cole

Saldo: 4 pair of heels. And I bought a dress and a top & Miss H a pair of black trousers after dinner and some drinks in Vegas. The shop was closing in five minutes but we FELT LIKE SHOPPING!

Macy’s

I shopped a couple of dresses from the Rachel Roy collection (the cotton grey / bright pink one you’ve already seen in some pictures) . The girls shopped four pairs of ballerinas. And Miss H a cardigan.

Banana Republic, “Bansku”

Saldo: 1 bag and LOADS of clothes for every occasion. Especially cardigans. Especially for Miss H.

GAP

Miss H tried to avoid it but finally yesterday went to shop some last-minute cardigans.

As we discuss this on the plane, she says: “Now wait a minute, they are not all cardigans!!”

“So what is it then?” Orvokki asks. “Is it something you wear with long sleeves and buttons in the front?”

“Well…”

“What would you call it then? A… pear?”

“Well… no…”

“So it is a cardigan”, I say.

And we laugh. Every year it’s the same story. I’m sure Miss H’s cardigans had something to do with her and Mr. Heinämaa’s decision to move to a house. 😉

I need to summarize the whole trip with a proper blog post, but it can wait now. I’m off to sauna! Yes!

Oh, one more:

The Venetian – finally some service! The poor bellman had eleven bags to take care of.
(The Michael Kors weekend bag is the one hanging on the left.)