Bloggers Be Social - My Day At the SoCal Social

So on Saturday I got to spend the entire day in my favorite spot - Old Towne Orange. I love this quaint area of shops, restaurants and memories. Why memories? Because it's where I grew up! I was lucky enough to live right down the street from the Orange Circle when I was a kid and walking around is like taking a step back in time. A memory here...a reminiscence there...I just love it. Even though I don't live in the area anymore I still try to visit as much as possible.
So when I heard about the SoCal Social - a get together for bloggers in this very locale - I just knew I had to sign up. And boy am I glad I did because it was SO. MUCH. FUN.

Early Saturday afternoon I met up with some blogging pals - Raquel from Organized Island, Ann from Ann About Town, and Jamie from Minnesota Girl in LA - in the circle and we started our adventure. As part of the social we were given empty swag bags and a map of stores that were going to help us fill them with treats. We started out and soon were collecting up a storm.









Wouldn't it be crazy if those were our treats? They weren't. They were just items I loved in some of the stores we visited. Clearly I have a thing for vintage.
Anywhoo, we did get lots of awesome items - lavender sachets, crafts supplies, and snacks were but a few of our treasures. After we finished the swag walk we were due to meet everyone else for dinner but there was just one small problem. Dinner was still two hours away! What to do?

How bout some beer tasting at The Bruery? Sounds like a good solution to me! The four of us had a great time drinking and chatting about all things blog related (and not). Before we knew it it was time for dinner and we headed on over to El Ranchito for some yummy eats.
Ok. So I did take a picture of my food but when I uploaded it I realized there was no way I could share it. For some reason, in the photo I took the refried beans looked just like vomit. Seriously. Looking at the picture would not make you want to try the food. And I certainly don't want that to happen because El Ranchito is awesome! It's one of my favorite places to go for Mexican food (incidentally, they have an awesome happy hour).
During our meal we were treated to a talk by designer extraordinaire Mark Montano. He shared with us his journey through worlds of fashion, design, and television and gave us each a copy of his latest book The Big Ass Book of Bling.

signing my copy

Now you know no meal is complete without dessert and we were treated to some awesome goodies from Meringue Bake Shop.

my choices

So, SO yummy!
And while all this was going on there was also a raffle! And guess who won the first prize? This gal!

You would not believe how many goodies were crammed into that basket! As they say I made out like a bandit!
I think it goes without saying that I had an awesome time. Next year can't come soon enough!