If you have been following my blog lately you are probably on the know that we are moving again - this time back to good ol' London, the land of Union Jack - and of course my favourite luxury toiletries and goods brand: Molton Brown. I had pretty much ran out of the lovely Molton Brown supplies from my previous large-scale supply trip in UK a year and a half ago and was left holding fort with the little airline and hotel bottles!

As the whole moving process was getting pretty stressing, it was a great pleasure to realise that the lovely Kempinski Beijing hotel (yes, a review will follow!) that I chosen as the command center for our last days in the city was offering a lovely selection of Molton Brown - one of my favourites scents: the lili-pili ones - plus the delectable toko-yuzu body lotion. Little things like that sometimes make a huge difference at the end of a tiring and frustrating day - at least it did for me during these few days!   

  

The return to the reality has been harsh here in Beijing after impeccable sunny and pollution-free mini-break at the mountains: the pollution level is hitting sky-high : 314 it's classfied hazardous compared to 6 that we had the other week...(poor miss A. as she has X-country practise today but the kids are not allowed to be outside with this kind of pollution reading - and her first ever race is supposed to happen this weekend also!). 

Clearly my little jog is out of the question too with this asthma of mine, so instead I have downloaded a few new books on my Kindle (one a cooking kind as I have finally decided that I need to master a few more dishes, so we'll see...) and I'm going to enjoy a hot cup of freshly ground coffee and an almond biscuit (from my small imported reserves) Oh those simple little luxuries of life - anyway no Starbucks anywhere nearby and not sure if the $6 USD price tag for a little cup is worth it...

A day on the beach with a friend - hiking for miles, walking barefoot, spotting seals, listening to the waves crashing... a heaven for the body and mind. This is what one needs every now and then (at least I do).

Add there a warm, sunny weather, a follow-up hike up in the mountains amongst the giant redwoods, a heavenly Italian dinner with friends - and it is a day to remember! It's almost time to say again goodbye to California and I'll savour these fun memories in months to come.

Friends waiting for a little snack...

Soft, warn sand is calling bare feet to walk on it 

Oh that colour of the sea - just amazing 

Some beach-side eye candy (of house kind)

The plants are nicely spreading across the pretty little bridge

Mysterious smoky mountains on the background 

Calm after the storm that rooted this plant? 

Warmer water pocket - but no tide pool creatures found here 

Phase 2 of the plan did not quite work out as it was high tide, and most of the beach was closed off for the seals...maybe next time I manage to spot an ochre star out in the nature...

Sadly the marine reserve is a no-collecting zone - they had the prettiest sea shells here - I haven't seen anything like these on other beaches

Next stop - a walk up the mountain in the shadows of the giant redwoods - so impressive. And all along a pretty little stream

Giant tree, giant roots. I wonder why this made me think Lord of the Rings... 

Autumn is clearly coming to the woods. So pretty everywhere!

Look, there's a chili pepper! No dear, it's a banana slug...Everyone, meet my new friend slugsy

Sometimes all you need is a cup of coffee, a tasty slice of cake with a good friend and a little stroll in a nice-looking area to relax a bit. For me that special place (other than the hikes in nearby mountains) is the Santana Row area in San Jose. I love this boulevard with fountains, shaded areas to sit down, the square for a game of giant chess or the shaded tables for board game - not to forget that the area has cute shops and lovely cafes and restaurants...

it seems like Target badly underestimated the appeal of Missoni collection as their website has been down since midnight...If I wasn't in Las Vegas right now I'd be running through every local store back home to get my favourite items, but carry-on allowance in the plane does not allow it...So I am hoping that the site comes back up and that the items I'd like to have are still there.

Meanwhile I'll be enjoying a different kind of treat that I found last night - the Missoni for San Pellegrino sparking water...

Enjoying these...

...while trying to get here...

...but all I get is this!

..and finally I got in, realise that all the home items I want are gone. So I settle for few pieces for me and miss A., go to checkout and it fails again. It looks like nothing for me today - I don't have time to hang out online the whole day while Target is fixing their issues. I'll just cross my fingers and hope I can find something in the stores when I get home.

This leaves me wondering if anyone out there got all the items that were on your shopping list?

Now how's busy person going to relax at home when the new magazines arrive? WIth a glass of good wine and some summer fresh home-made salad. A little Buddha bar dinner collection playing on the background and the good chi starts flowing in. Batteries recharged for a day or two! The salad had a new dressing and it was tangy and de-licious if you want to try the very simple recipe is below.

And the magazines - definitely a yes this month. Some little gems there to read and look at for sure.

Summer-fresh salad:

- organic green mix spiced up with arugula

- already crumbled feta (I don't go for the store brands but get mine from the greengrocer - not branded, but so delicious)

- vine tomatoes

- white wine vinegar, sea salt and extra-virgin olive oil

When you see your favourite things you should always stock on up them! Our favourite when it comes to hand lotions and such is the good old English Molton Brown. Somehow I never managed to visit those places in SF that stock on my brand (and yes, I know they also sell on Internet...), and despite most chains being global it just feels better to buy it in the country of origin. I hope I haven't been fooled and that they haven't moved their production yet to China or somewhere else (have to add that I did some fact-checking and the products are still made in England, but the company has been owned by Japanese for some years now).

Maybe that is a weird attitude, but regardless our suitcase is filled with Molton Brown (and Jaffa cakes for the lovely friend who is picking us up from the airport). I wonder if anyone else is as silly as I am and travels around the world with hand lotions and stuff...

Anyway the reasons we love Molton Brown are many - they actually work well (I don't like those lotions that leave your skin slippery or too dry), smell so delicious, the bottle design is cute, and I find the names lovely too...I got some thai vert, naran ji, amber cocoon, white mulberry, heavenly gingerlily (this one is still on top of the list), yuan zhi and coco de mer. Oh I know it's a long list, but the whole family participated in the testing and smelling process and we had a lot of fun!