The Day I Met The World's Cutest Baby or California,Day 1

Long ago, I promised I'd post about my LA trip. It may have been over a month ago, but I'm finally getting started on posting about it.I'm going to be brief, but I wanted to show some photos....
I flew into Long Beach, arriving pretty early in the morning (had to catch a cab to fly out of Dulles at 4:30am!). Long Beach is a neat old airport-- you still walk out to the planes and it's not all indoors-- which makes it feel like you're in a 40's movie or something. Anyway, we spent most of the day in Long Beach. While waiting for the Long Beach Art Museum to open, we walked along the beach road-- looking at gorgeous homes and out to the bay where the aquarium and such are located. Then we walked around the museum-- it had a great display work by California artists. Love to see that Spanish influence which we don't see much on the East.


Flowers I only WISH would grow so beautifully in my backyard. My green thumb has turned black these days, not much luck!

Next stop was lunch. On her hubby's recommendation, we went to a cool diner place called the Harbor House Cafe. Had a to-die-for burger and milkshake, and we admired all the Hollywood photos on the wall. Then we headed over to pick up Ezra! I was really excited to meet him! After all, he's my Godson! (I love the title!) He's bubbly, sweet, easy-going and ADORABLE! Love him to pieces!

Did a little shopping at M&L Fabrics- you cannot believe how much they have! This is in Anaheim, I think.

We met up with Autumn's hubby, Chad, for an awesome dinner at their favorite Mexican place. And I think after that I just pretty much crashed out of exhaustion!

Day 2, tommorow!

Hair and Other Really, Really Exciting Things

So this is pretty much a useless blog entry, but I just wanted to share a few things...

1. Don't you love her hair? I'm actually reading a book right now about Edie Sedgewick (Andy Warhol's factory girl) who had a similar style. About a month ago, I got my haircut like Mrs. Beckham there, but I love hers more.

2. Beckham. Is anyone else as excited he's here? It's kind of like when Pele and Beckenbauer came here in the 70's!

3. Hairspray! Can't wait to see this! Loved the original, would highly recommend if you've never seen before.

Proof That I Actually Do Stuff Outside

We'd originally hoped to go to Ohiopyle State Park (near Pittsburgh) this weekend for a weekend of biking, Fallingwater, and camping with my parents, but plans fell through. Feeling guilty because I hardly ever go biking with Jeremy, I asked him if he wanted to take me somewhere nearby for a day of "fun."



He (kindly) picked a very easy ride near a neat old town of Buchanan in Arcadia. I know he really loves mountain biking, but I'm just not the kind of girl who loves to jump over logs or get stuck in deep mud puddles for fun. Give me a nice flat road with a pretty view and I'm pretty happy.



At one point, we stopped and put our feet in the stream. We were just kind of walking around in it... This very young deer started walking towards us, she was actually walking in the stream, too. If the dog hadn't started barking, I think she would've come even closer. I wasn't fast enough with the camera for a photo.





We even took the dog in her little carrier. No photos of that. And no photos of me crashing either. Yes, we've made a note that next time, he's to take the dog carrier on his bike. It really makes the bike front heavy and harder to handle; on top of that, if she saw anything on the side of the road that she wanted to chase, she attempted to jump off the bike! So, I'd try to rein her in, steer the bike, stay on the bike... oh, that's another thing. My dad put those pedals on the bike that make it great when you're trying to climb up hills-- shoe cages is what I'd call 'em- but that's not their name.



Anyway, so I'm trying to make it up this steep hill, Jeremy's off exploring somewhere, the dog sees something-- I grab the dog as she tries to jump, I lose control, the bike falls over, my foot is stuck in the "shoe cage", the bike falls to the road, the dog's freaking out, the carrier falls off the bike, the dog breaks loose, runs away, I chase after her, leaving the bike in the road.... Yes, there's a reason I'm inside most of the time.



Well, lucky for me, the dog and bike were just fine, and I was pretty much ok. Just done. Done biking for the day. Deserved my reward. (Side story- my parents must've started some kind of thing where if I went biking or hiking with them, I'd be rewarded with some kind of food or shopping... strange, maybe, but now I sort of expect donuts or a cash prize after a workout :) !?? hmmm .... )



So we headed down to the cute town of Buchanan. It's one of my favorite little towns around here. We sat outside on the deck of a pizzeria then walked around. Almost every building had a historical marker on it, and most sold antiques or books. Lucky for Jeremy, I was just too hot to really shop, but this really is a great stop for anyone who loves to look for the cheaper end of antiques (some might call it junk, but not me!)...


This is how we all felt on the drive home!



Hope you had a great weekend!

Haven't blogged for quite a while!

To start, I should probably post some photos I meant to post long ago. What seems like ages ago, our niece came down for the evening and we arranged a play date for her. We painted pottery, goofed around, got some pizza at our new favorite pizza place and went for ice cream next door!

Here are the silly girls!



And afterwards, watching a movie while playing dress up and eating ice cream. You cannot help but recall the 20's or 3o's when you sit in this very family-oriented ice cream parlor. They often play old silent movies or kid movies, like they did that night.


And here are the adults... both so thrilled to be there, huh! Leslie was actually in town because she got a job at SVU as a new coach! So she'll be living here in the fall, so I'm sure you'll notice an increase in photos of her and her daughter.


What have I been up to????

• I traveled to LA to visit my good friend Autumn and her son Ezra, my godson! I plan on blogging more about that next time.
• Managing a restaurant. Was a little nervous about that (new responsiblities, going from one of the staff to in charge of the staff, worried the restaurant would catch on fire with me in charge, pictured the customers walking out and me chasing them down to come back, etc.), but I've really enjoyed it so far. Have called a few meetings and only briefly felt like Michael Scott! :)
• Relaxing every chance I get. Jeremy's working, too (painting houses!) so we've taken advantage of any free time we've got!
• Enjoying the holiday. We had a fun little picnic for the 4th. Have got to admit we still have leftover food we're forcing ourselves to eat.
• Wii've made some MINI purchases! Ok, so we both got some new toys last month... We've had a blast playing with them both! Pictures of the MINI soon!
• A little crafting. I can hardly believe I'm saying it, but I actually started and finished a craft project! Pictures will come with the MINI post.

Hope you're not stuck in the heat. I really loved this post by Posie-- this is so true of our pets this week!

Alright, officially, I've blogged and now some of you haven't got an excuse! We want photos!