San Diego we have arrived.

Hello Fabsters coming to you live from San Diego. All is right in the Fabulous World so lets get down to todays Blog.

We set off this morning bright & early after setting up our GPS ...... who I might add ... does not hate us as much as the one we had last time.

I asked Mr Fab if he enjoyed the driving here in the US and he was like ......... HELL YES!

Allllll righty then ..... Happy Mr Fab is happy me.

We are staying at The Best Western American Inn in San Diego and apparently we are about 2 miles from Mexico. It is extremely interesting and I have learned to say Gracias rather than thankyou and also Hola for hello. 

We had decided to do our laundry and trying to find out about washing powder was interesting and I still wonder WHY I speak louder??? Like seriously ... is speaking louder going to make me understood? 

After much hand swishing to indicate washing clothes I did manage to get washing powder` ....

We also discussed .... should we both be liking sleeping in our own seperate big ol Queen beds quite as much as we do when we are married and in lurve?

*blink*

Yep we are.

We had to wait for the room to be ready so we decided to go grab a coffee from Macdonalds and use their free WIFI to sort out our day for tomorrow. 

All sorted and it is going to be a big one but very interesting.

We will be going first to the Midway to do the Battleship Tour. Mr Fab is super duper DUPER excited as  you all know by now how much he loves anything Military............Actually, as we were driving along the 805 he started getting quite chuffed as 3 ... count them ... 3 Jet Fighters flew low and loud overhead. 

He gets such a kick out of seeing that sort of thing!!!!!

Bless him.

After we have done the Tour we will then head down to the Boardwalk and just stroll for a few hours taking in the sights.

We would also like to take a trip out to Coronado but will have to see how time permits. 

We discovered we still had time to kill so toddled over to the Premium Outlet Stores which are about a mile from here and the very last US stop before the Border.

We are apparently not going over the Border ........

The Outlets were great and I managed to replenish my True Religion T Shirts. Yes,yes,yes I know I am way to old for True Religion and absolutly PROMISE the makers of True Religion that I will never wear one in public as I am so old but I adore them. Absolutely my all time favorite T shirts and my last one from Vegas was starting to show some wear after about a zillion washes.

Actually I rescind my promise as I may but I will be as discreet as I can ........

I wanted to show you some of the houses and things we have seen. They made me feel incredibly sad. Really I have no right to feel that way as it is none of my business but I simply couldnt help it. The contrast to some of the apartments and homes with lush green grass and flowers to these ones with their requisite bars on the windows and yards full of rubbish was just .... well ..... sad.

Another amazing day and we simply take everything as an adventure. To us nothing is a bad thing and we look on it as simply another happening in an exciting experience.

We will update with loads of pics tomorrow night when we are back and relaxing!

Revamp, Restore & Stay Fabulous!

Disneyland ... Let the Magic Begin

Before the Magic begins we needed to check in on Dexter The Diva to make sure he was having a great time with Auntie Kathy.

It appears he decided to go downstairs and have a bit of a roll in some fresh cut grass ..... and poo.

So we are at this stage awaiting the results of an Emergancy Bath to remove aformentioned .... Poo.

The Magic will begin once we have made sure all is clean & calm at FS Vintage..............

All is calm at Casa Fabulous and it seems it has not taken long for Dex to sort out Auntie Kathy and he has the house running exactly the way he likes it!

Which reminds me ...... Forgot to regale you with the Pulled Out Of American Customs Saga ...

Oh pahleese .. did you really think Le' Fabulousers would make it through Customs without a saga of some sort?

So ............. we are exhausted and simply wanting to get through and we know the drill having travelled the US before .. just sayin

Bland face , say nothing and just do whatever they tell you to do. So we reach Serious Cranky Mean Customs Chap who snorts and makes noises and uses his nasty red pen to write something illegible on our Customs Declaration and grunts at us to move to SECTION B.

Now I have deliberately capitalised SECTION B because it was vaguly ominous.....

We drag ourselves and suitcases to SECTION B and meet up with the only US Customs official who even vaguely has a sense of humour.

Nice Customs Chap: Who did you enter the country with?

Mr Fab: Virgin Australia

NCC: I assume you are talking about a plane and not her? *points in my direction*

Mr Fab: *blink* Ahhh yep * snorting snickering*

NCC: *snorting snickering*

Me: * Bland unamused face*

Those Two: *more snorting snickering and general boy type stuff*

It appears the first customs chap had not changed the date stamp on his date stamper so it told the Customs people we had entered the country the day before......

*sigh*

Moving on and getting ready to Wish Upon A Star.

We walked up To Alamo Car Hire to collect the car and Mr Fab is a bit chuffed as he went with a Chevy which is very swish for us Aussies....

We spent the first ten minutes trying to figure out how to unlock the Park Break ....

As ya do...

We are staying at The Castle Inn & Suites which made us laugh out loud because it looks like ......

A CASTLE!!!! Seriously!!!!

OK so we have experenced the Magic and feel very Disneyfied. This is a toughie really as my entire life I have grown up with Disney and to FINALLY walk through those Gates ......

How bout I tell you what NOT to do?

* Do not go for one day ... absolutely not enough time to see everything

* Do invest in a VIP pass as we didnt go on any rides as the average wait time was anything from 35 to  85 minutes. 

* Do NOT go in June. Way to hot and sticky and PEOPLE???? Holy dooley I have NEVER seen so many people in the one place???? Everyone was pushing and shoving and it eventually became a little to much as Mr Fab and I tend to be stollers who like to stroll and enjoy.

* Pay the money for a Joint Park 3 Day pass. We simply brought one Park pass and that cost just on $200 US and basically we didnt really use it as aformentioned wait times on rides.

* Wear a hat ... absolutely wear a hat

* Comfy shoes are a MUST

It was very commercial and it cracked us up that the Disney merchandise can be up to half price outside the park. Made us laugh.

Kids of all ages will love this place of Magic and fun! 

Tomorrow we are driving up to San Diego and pretty excited about seeing it! Mr Fab has plans for the military stuff and I am looking forward to walking the San Diego Boardwalk. Pretty tired after our big day at Disneyland so signing out for this day of our Fabulous Adventure.

Revamp, Restore & Stay Fabulous

Let the Journey Begin

The day started out crisp and clear and so far absolutely nothing has gone wrong!

The Taxi arrived promptly at 6.30 , the run in morning traffic was fine and our arrival at The Virgin Checkin....... unevenful.

Remember we are doing Premium Economy this time and after 40 minutes into our 11 hour and 56  minute flight we have had a Fabulous Family discussion and unanimously passed a new rule that we NEVER travel Cattle Class EVER again.

The check in was seamless and took about 10`minutes tops. We then wandered about killing time till boarding with Mr Fab treating me to a bottle of Coco and himself to the most scrumptious smelling to die for after shave ....

We were boarded early and after being seated we were offered a refreshing chilled beverage to ease the time waiting for eveyone to be boarded and ready to go.

Are we loving this?????

Hell yes.

Would not mind trying Business Class but unless a Fairy drops a massive bag of money on our heads .... that aint happenin.

I am actually typing this Post sitting in my extra wide compfy seat waiting for lunch to be served. I have already popped the Menu away to go in a memory jar and I am thinking I may go with the Chicken?

 

Ohhhhh we also were given a bag of cool crap to make our journey easier like ear plugs and pens ect .....

So lunch has been served and it was serious scrumptious. Mr Fab & myself work like a well oiled machine ... he gives me the cheese i give him the milk and sugar. Easy peasy and all is zen. We both selected the Parmesan Cheese Chicken with chunky Tomato sauce and mash potato as our main and had a Turkey Ceaser Salad as a starter.

The desert was a Choc orange Tart which caused me to pass out, swoon, come back to life and swoon again just because I could .......

*happy tummy time*

Arrived in good time and had our usual ridiculous time finding the Hotel Shuttle ..... we seem to never quite get the plot where the hotel shuttle pickup is concerned but finally sorted it out.

We are staying at the Travelodge on Century Blvd this time. It is clean and the reception staff are friendly and accomadating.

We have an hour to kill before we can get into our room and shower settle down and relax.

Now the Hotel is not luxurious but it is clean and comfortable. It has been around since the 50's and Roy Rogers stayed here apparently ..... which is kinda cool ... sorta. The room has a vintagy feel and it is more than enough for what we need. The staff are friendly and helpful which is always a bonus! We have already sampled a Cup o Joe at the Dennys which was probably the best cuppa we have had in a while so all is right in the Fabulous World.

We will be collecting the hire car tomorrow morning and heading down to Anaheim for the whole Disneyland Experience. We didnt do it last trip so thought maybe this time we better just so we can say we have!

Enjoy our first Blog for this Great Original Fabulous Adventure and we shall be making sure we show you everything we can .... I reckon my Ipady pictures are getting better ......

I shall finish with my usual ......

Revamp, Restore & Stay Fabulous

Websters Workshop 26th July

We have our next Workshop set for 26th July 2014. 

Should be Fabulous! 

Come join us for a morning of fun, revamping, morning tea and probably a few laughs as well!

Revamp, Restore & Stay Fabulous

Back in The USof A

Thought I better do a bit of a test post to make sure that the U Beaut Purchased Super Cheap From China - keyboard - works and we can upload heaps of pics to show you what we do in America.

The planning for this trip has been absolutely huge because we have done all the bookings and so on ourselves.

Actually let us be perfectly clear ....... I did the bookings and so on....... had ya going there for a minute didnt I???? You all thought Mr Fab had helped didnt ya????

Bahahahahahaha - Bless him.

So first let's check to make sure the pics upload ok - CHECK

The Keyboard works - DUH!!!!!!! CHECK

We have a winner so we will be chattering to you from the Good Ol US of A.

Make sure you leave a comment for us so we won't miss you as much as we will.

This of course is the one we will miss the most!

Now remember there will be a fresh and shiny new Websters Workshop on the 26th July and we would love to see you there.

Revamp, Restore & Stay Fabulous

Rockin The DVD Collection with a Websters Revamp

This was the cabinet I mentioned in my previous post. It was a bit raggedy, a bit well used and obviously well loved.

Pretty Fabulous Silky Oak Cabinet

A Peek inside

Terrific piece ...... so what to do?

Our DVD collection was housed in our old bedroom dresser I did up ~ but it was not super successful ~  the drawers didn't come all the way out because of the Bookcase in the Book Nook.

Hmmmmm could this work?

But where to put it????

Let us begin:

You know the drill by now ~ good clean with Eucalyptus in water on a damp cloth.
We then used the normal recipe of:

2 x Tablespoons of Websters
1 x Tablespoon of water
1 x Cup of Latex paint ~ Antique White USA

Websters Does it again

We went with 3 coats of Websters on this one as I wanted a really good layer to take back. I wanted to achieve a Just Been Dragged Out Of The Shed french country kinda look ... kinda sorta.  One mix did two coats no problems but needed another batch for the third coat. ( I used the leftovers on another Chair I had laying about.)

We did the inside in some leftover Red paint we also had laying about.

No waste at all using this amazing product!

Drying overnight

When it had dried overnight ~ pause here to mention ~ Websters is touch dry within about an hour but I left this one as I wanted to really make sure it had well dried so it would come away chippy.

And it did .......

I used my prefferred method of the Good Ol Purple double side Vileda cloth and wiped down every section.

Now this was the part I was dreading. I am NOT a big fan of Dark Wax. Nope not even a little bit. I prefer the Clear and use it on most of my pieces but I have a huge tin and loathe waste so ~ stepped into my Big Girl Undies and started the process.

Very slowly and in very small sections in a circular motion. I buffed each section pretty quickly and left the whole thing to set for awhile. We also left the internal drawers ~  as they were ~ because the silky oak wood is divine. A quick wipe over with the dark wax and they are perfectly Fabulous.

Chippy Fabulousness

I decided to go over the whole thing again with a coat of L'essentiel Clear Wax and I gotta say ......

*SWOONWORTHY*
 

A gorgeous glow from the top layer of L'essentiel Wax

The look is exactly what I wanted AND as an added bonus Mr Fab helped me alphabetize the DVD's and put them in the drawers.
 
Fabulous Tip 1: Every now & then I run some L'essential Wax over the wooden handles of my good paintbrushes after I have cleaned them. Just to ensure they stay in tip top condition.

Fabulous Tip 2: I wash my Brushes in  Marseille stain remover soap 100g with orange essential oil. Available at FS Vintage for $8.50 a bar. ( I have been using mine for months)

Available at www.fsvintage.com

The finished Revamped DVD cupboard!

Cant show you the entire Guest Room because of the packing stuff on the bed.

Add a sweet Zinc Heart available at www.fsvintage.com

Inside Cabinet painted Red for a bit of Drama

Ta Dah!

Hope you enjoyed this Makeover. With Websters you can create and transform anything! Leave us a comment or any questions feel free to contact us!

Revamp, Restore & Stay Fabulous.

Junky now Funky with Websters

Came across this set of Drawers for a great price along with an old silky Oak cabinet ~ (That is of course another story coming soon) ~ on Gumtree along with the added bonus of meeting the lovely couple who were selling!

Isn't the wood perfectly Fabulous??

I am so insane stupid happy with these drawers but they were not quite perfectly Fabulous as I wanted them to be chippy & really distressed.

I thought I would show you what I did to achieve the look.

 

Dreamy drawers

 

Once I saw the actual drawers I simply could NOT paint them entirely and wanted a really shabby look with plenty of this beautiful old wood showing through the Websters.

I gave them a good clean with my usual Euclytptus Oil and water on a damp cloth then mixed up a batch of really wishy washy Websters.

I used the following recipe:

2 x Tablespoons of Websters Chalk Paint Powder
1/2 Cup of water
1/2 Cup of Dulux Antique White USA.

Gave it a really good mix then applied three coats allowing time to dry between each one.

I then set about distressing them exactly the way I wanted.
A method I really like is using one of those Purple Vileda Cloths. You know the ones that are soft on one side and kinda scratchy on the other?

I used it quite damp and simply went over the paint to achieve the shabby scrappy look I wanted.

The top & drawers were given two coats of L'essentiel wax to achieve the soft deep shine and single coat over the entire piece to seal.
A good buff before they made their way upstairs to begin life .... again.

Scrumptious scrappy shabby Fabulousness

Side View

Drawer Front

 Are you ready for the final finished piece?

Finished

What do you think? Is this the kid of thing you would like to do? Then why not attended one of our Websters Workshops?

Leave us a comment as we would really love to hear from you!

Revamp, Restore and Stay Fabulous