Good Waffles & Goodbyes

Our good friends are moving. Boo!
But they are moving to one of my favorite places, Connecticut. Yay!

As a goodbye/going away party they had a bunch of friends go to dinner at Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles. Yeah you heard me.

After living in LA for 7 years it is crazy to say, but this was actually my first time having chicken & waffles. Verdict? Pretty dang good. I love the sweet and salty combo and their mac & cheese was awesome. Only downside...it is very heavy food, lets just say I definitely made sure to go for a run the next day to try to burn off some of those calories!

Sad to see our friends leave, but excited for their new adventure out east. Just gives us another reason to take a trip out to the east coast.

                               We are going to miss you Rosells!

Dr. Mack is in the house!

My dad is awesome. He is one of the smartest people I know. Which is lucky for me because that means every year he comes to San Diego for a super smart science convention thing (and yes that is the official name of it). And since San Diego is less than 2 hours from my house... that means that I get to hang out with him!

My dad loves mexican food and Old Town is the perfect place to score some great eats. We had a delicious dinner at Old Town Mexican Cafe and then walked around a bit checking out the shops and architecture.

You know me and my sweet tooth had to stop in at the candy shop!

Then we decided to take a field trip to the suspension bridge. If you have never been, you should. It is tucked away in a neighborhood and over looks a beautiful canyon. Even though I am a little afraid of heights, I can't fight the urge to rock back and forth to make the whole bridge sway. It is really a fun little spot.

After such a great day I convinced my dad to rearrange some things so I could squeeze a little more time with him. So I drove back down 2 days later to hang out with him again! This time Mason couldn't come with me so this guy came along instead.

The weather was much nicer and so we got to go down to the beach, the dog beach of course!

We tried to coax Gus Gus down into the water, but he was not really into it. He is so mellow it is unreal, he was completely content to walk along and smell the ocean air. I tried to get him to go romp with the other dogs and he just looked at me like I was crazy.

I don't know what it is, but being at the beach always works up an appetite. So we headed back to Old Town and ate at a place called Pizza Bella. I had eaten here once before, after I ran the Rock N Roll Marathon, but I have to admit I don't remember much about that day other than being really sore. So I was excited to try it again.

Growing up in New Haven I am somewhat of a pizza snob so I was a little skeptical at their sign that said 'Best Pizza in America'. We gave it a try and I have to say it did not disappoint. It was seriously delicious. I mean look at this thing. Yum.

Then we went over to the Mormon Battalion, I know, I know I've posted about it before, but what can I say?! My dad had never been and I was happy to go again!

These day trips were so much fun, I can't even tell you. Driving home I realized a few things.

# 1. I really love San Diego and I would not mind living here someday. Who knows, maybe the signs are telling me something : )

# 2. It is very rare that as an adult, I get one on one time with my dad and it is a special treat. It makes me happy to be around my dad and it is a great opportunity for Mason (and myself) get to know him better. Love you poppa!

An unconventional date night

Dinner and a movie. That is pretty much the most typical date ever invented and happens to be one of our favorite dates because we love eating and we love movies! This weekend was no different except one little detail. Since we could not agree on a movie, we decided that we would go eat and then go to the theater together and then just see two different movies.

My hubby loves scary movies while even seeing the previews for those kinds of movies cause me to spontaneously close my eyes, cover my ears and hum to drown out the sound. Yeah, I am a big baby.  So we ate a delicious dinner at Cafe Rio and then I went to see The Lucky One and he saw Cabin in the Woods. And I have to say it wasn't as strange as I thought it would be to be alone in the movie.

I know compromise is a big part of marriage and all, but in this case I think we found a pretty sweet solution. Does that make us a weird married couple? Eh, probably. But who cares! 

A Visit from the Wrights

Last week Mason's parents came to town for a little visit. His parents are totally awesome and they actually both grew up in Long Beach so we had a blast driving around and hearing stories from their past. We even got to take a tour through Mason's dad's childhood home (which is father built).

They also introduced us to some great new restaurants, which have been around since they were teenagers, but they were new to us! One such place was Philippes French Dip Sandwiches. 

From the cute little waitresses in blue caps to the old fashioned deli counter, just the atmosphere was an experience in and of itself. The sandwiches were great, but if you ever go you have to try the banana cream pie!

We did a lot of driving while they were here and on a drive back from looking at some of the properties that we have flipped in South LA we stopped at the Watts Towers. This is the most random piece of art in the most random place. It is funky and beautiful and the story behind it was actually really interesting. I had never even heard of them before and I ended up really enjoying the excursion!

It was so much fun spending time with Mason's parents. I am seriously so grateful to have the best in laws on the planet!!

Birthday Festivities

This weekend my hubby turned 29!! After throwing around a lot of ideas, he opted for a very low key celebration, which ended up being perfect. He works so much that it was really nice to take a break and spend some serious time together. I mean we got to spend the whole weekend together doing whatever my hubby wanted. It was a great weekend.

We started with some yummy burgers from Five Guys. Then surprise, surprise we hit the Peterson Automotive Museum. My man just loves his classic cars!It was our first time there and it was awesome. The museum is really cool, it is set up like a street scene and it is absolutely packed with so many amazing vehicles.My personal favorite was the scooter room. I totally want to buy a scooter now!!Then we headed over to the Beverly Center and picked up a few things for Mase. While shopping would not usually be something he wants to do, he has really been wanting a new pair of boots and shoe shopping is not really shopping in his book. It's like when a little kid says they are full of dinner but still have room for dessert, he can have the worst shopping legs and we walk into a shoe store and he is totally revitalized. Love my hubs. Cruising home at the end of a perfect day and I remember why pick up trucks are so awesome. Bench seats mean that I can snuggle up next to the birthday boy.

On his actual birthday (Sunday) we had a yummy dinner, roast, potatoes, & spinach salad. And I am a huge believer that everyone should blow out candles on their birthday, so while I know it was a little excessive to make a whole cake, but who doesn't love leftover birthday cake?

To my hubby,

I love you more and more everyday and I am so happy I get to spend eternity by your side.

Happy Birthday to the best man that I know!

Back to Back Babies!

Is it just me or is pregnancy contagious? It always seems like when one of your girlfriends gets pregnant it starts a trend. So a few weeks ago I helped throw a shower for Sharie (who had her baby boy this week, Yay!) and this time it was my sweet friend Emily's turn. Lucky for me she is having a girl so I got to help throw two totally different showers.

As you can tell, I went a little over board with the whole pink theme, but I figured, hey when else will I have the chance to be this girlie?! Pink lemonade, strawberry butter and hot pink cupcakes= super fun night.

One of my favorite shower activities is decorating onesies. It is really easy and allows people to be as creative as they want and the mom to be gets to take home some one of a kind keepsakes. It is always a hit!

OC Cruisin

One of the best things about living in southern california is the weather. Some days the weather is just so nice you just have to go for a drive. So we piled in the chevy and took a drive.

This little bully was in heaven with his nose out the window the whole time, practically jumping out of the car when we got close enough to the coast that you can smell the ocean.

We went for a little cruise around our hood and watched the sunset over the ocean. Perfect ending to a perfect day.

Getty Villa Vistas

This weekend Mase and I took a trip up to the bu to The Getty Villa.

I have been meaning to go forever but we finally made it happen and man was it gorgeous! I mean every building is just gorgeous and the view is breathtaking.

All the stone work and the columns were amazing and all the walls and ceilings were covering in carved details and painted murals.

We really enjoyed all that museum had to offer, but the weather was so perfect

we spent most of our time wandering around the beautiful gardens they had.

The art & statues of ancient rome is truly beautiful, but there was one thing that was creeping me out. On a lot of the busts in gardens they did some restoration to show you what they would have looked like when they were first created. But man the eyes......

Creepy right? I mean aside from the fact that they all looked either sad, scared, or in pain, their eyes followed you everywhere. I much preferred the statues where they didn't restore the eyes. Yeesh.

A Blustery Day

The hubs and I took a quick trip down to Santa Monica to get our bikes tuned up and to go for a little ride around our old stomping grounds. We did not anticipate the wind! So I know this picture doesn't totally capture it, I kept hoping you could see the palm trees bending more, but whatever. You get the idea!

It was sunny and gorgeous, but the wind made it very hard to get anywhere on the bikes. So we took a nice walk, a short bike ride (and got a serious work out), had a snack, and headed home.

Little Gus Gus was such a trooper! His floppy ears flapping in the wind while he was running alongside the bike was quite a site to see.