Vegas Weekend

Last weekend was just what the doctor ordered! I got to spend the weekend in Vegas with some of my best friends from college. It was a weekend full of sleeping in, watching girlie movies, eating delicious food, mani pedis, talking, laughing, shopping and eating some more.

We also celebrated this fabulous lady's birthday! And I was introduced to a delicious little place called Nothing Bundt Cakes...seriously so yummy! I want some right now!

I don't usually enjoy driving. Living in LA, with traffic and everything I always prefer that someone else takes the wheel, but on road trips I don't mind it. It can be very peaceful and this roadtrip was great.

On the way up I listened to a book on tape by Lee Child who is one of my fave authors right now. And on the way home I just listened to music. I am kind of obsessed with the song Safe & Sound off the Hunger Games Soundtrack, so that got played a lot on the drive home. So pumped for that movie!

The wonderful men in my life

My hubby, my main squeeze, my man, my best friend.

My puppies, my protectors, my shadows, my little snuggle buddies.

If you take time to count your blessings, you can surprise yourself with how many things you have to be grateful for.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!

Day of Love!

Before I start my Day of Love post, I have to get mushy for a second. I am so grateful for the wonderful man that I am lucky to be married to. We are a perfect match, a great team, and I grow more in love with him everyday. Love you hubby!

Alright, now on to the fun stuff! This year our Valentine's Day was all a surprise, planned by my awesome hubby! All I was told was the general attire I should wear for the evening & what time to be ready....We started with an amazing dinner at Joe's on Abbot Kinney, a favorite of ours from our days in Venice. Seriously their mushroom ravioli is the most delicious thing on the planet!Then we headed to the Santa Monica Pier for....drumroll please....It was such an awesome show! I hadn't heard much about it, so I didn't really know what to expect, but it was very entertaining. I spent the night in complete awe of these acrobats and performers, gasping every time they sent a man flying through the air. Seriously, if you have never been to a Cirque du Soleil show, you have to go!! It was such an amazing night, and a perfect way to spend our Valentine's Day! We had to take the classic shot in from of the the big top : )
Also, a fun side note (Mase was so puzzled at how excited I was) we saw Steve Urkel at the show! He was there on a date so I didn't harass him, but I was so stoked to see him. I live in LA, I have run ins with famous people all the time, but it is really funny to me which ones I get genuinely excited about. I have to say its usually the people from movies & shows that I watched as a kid (ie. Uncle Jesse from Full House & Steve Urkel from Family Matters). Anyways, hope you all had a great Day of Love!

First Fridays, Football & Friends

On the first friday of every month our cute little neighborhood of Bixby Knolls has a fun tradition. First Fridays is a pretty common thing all over, but if you aren't familiar with the concept, basically on the main street in town, the shops stay open late, there restaurants all have special discounts, and there is live music & all sorts of fun stuff happening. The little art gallery always has unique pieces. It is always a fun time, to walk around and enjoy the festivities!
For the second year in a row we hosted a Super Bowl Party. Its pretty basic, lots of food and football, but this year I got crazy and wanted to make a festive cake. It didn't turn out exactly like I was hoping, but not bad for my first attempt!
This last week was full of friends. First my girlfriend who moved up north came down for her birthday. It was super fun! We ate delicious food at Natalee Thai and laughed harder than I had in a long time!
Then, Mason's friend came into town with his family to go to Disneyland (FYI we live only 20mins from Dland for anyone wanting to visit!!). Their little girls were absolutely in LOVE with our dogs, and vice versa. Jax & Gus handed out as many puppy kisses as these girls could handle and it was super fun to get to spend time with them!

Mack Family Photo Shoot

This year for Christmas was the first time in a long time that the whole family would be together, so as a gift to my parents I had a photographer come and take some family photos. Jylare Smith is an amazing photographer and got some great shots. I seriously want to post them all but I won't make you scroll through 80 photos, so here are just a few of my favorites!!

Once again, a big thank you to Jylare Smith Photography for making us look good!

Party Like it's 2012

So far I am loving 2012. I know its only been a few weeks but they have been a fun few weeks. Even without kids, as the years go on it becomes harder to make date nights happen. With work and everything else going on it is all too easy for us to be serious couch potatoes! So in the past few weeks it was a special treat to have some really fun date nights.

The first was a trip to the Los Angeles Temple and then dinner at Tito's Tacos. A super simple date but really nice. And anyone that knows us, knows that those are 2 of our favorite places on the westside. I am so grateful to live so close to a temple. Seriously though isn't it just gorgeous?!

The next date night was a little surprise for my hubby. It was a Friday night and we were planning on going to a movie, but at the last minute, I decided to mix it up, so instead we went to the batting cages! While I was laughing so hard at myself I barely hit anything, Mason is quite the athlete!

It was really fun to do something different. I was afraid to go inside to get a photo of him...lets just say his pitches were a little bit faster then mine : )

We also got in a date night in the form of a fabulous birthday party. With 80's music, pool tables, a pinata, and a professional face painter!

We had a blast catching up with friends and eating good food. Serene sure did it up right for her special day! Woo Woo!

Road Tripping Holidays

To kick off the holiday season I got a special treat. My college friend Red Rachel was in town and we got to catch up over dinner and on the way home we stumbled upon a little Christmas spirit. An entire block with every single house lit up. I mean they went ALL OUT, there were tons and tons of lights, fake snow, mechanical santas and even White Christmas playing in someone's front yard. It was so much fun! Now, moving on to the holidays...This year we drive up to Utah to see my family and then down to Arizona to see Mason's. It was a ton of driving, but it was totally worth it! It was such an amazing trip, hours of talking, eating, laughing and plenty of trips to Kneaders. Here are just a few of the highlights. During the holidays, as a family we like to eat and lucky for us, my brother-in-law is quite the chef. Everthing from apple pie to homemade spaghetti sauce, we ate more food then should be allowed in a weeks time, but it was all so good! Another Mack family favorite is pizza night. My dad has been making homemade pizza for as long as I can remember and it never disappoints.I mean look at all that cheese! So good!
Arizona was a very short trip, but we got to see Mason's family which is always so much fun! We also got to go to Mason's high school reunion, which was a blast, but kind of crazy that we are old enough to be attending a high school reunion. Man, does time fly! As a side note, I finally got to fill up my advent calendar. Oh yeah!