Summertime

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Happy 3 day weekend! It is so nice to wake up on a Sunday and realize you have one more day of sleeping in left. Hope your extra time off was as good as mine was. I did nothing but eat, read, and refresh. Since this weekend marks the unofficial start of summer, I've decided to create a summer "to-do" list, a list of fun things that I'd like to see or do in the months to come. 

Ride on the Santa Monica Ferris Wheel (also on my 25x25 list)

Make these nectarine vodka chillers

Go to McConnell's Ice Cream (amazingly, I've never been)

Go to the Cleopatra exhibit at the California Science Center

Hit up the beach more

See the Walt Disney archives exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Library

Attend an eatseehear event

I must say that changes are a coming this summer (nope, not job changes - guess again) so we'll see how many of these I can check off. Here's hoping! 

Race recap

Yesterday, my cousin and I ran the Revlon Run/Walk 5k. Last year we walked the race, this year we decided to try to run it. My cousin has been training for weeks (go girl!) and I've been trying to keep up with regular runs. We took the metro down bright and early (it dropped us off right across the street from the event - so convenient!) and walked around the expo. I have to say, the free swag was not quite as good as last year, but oh well, we still got some good stuff. We walked around the expo for a while, then lined up for the race. A lot of celebs were on hand to host the event (Matthew Morrison, AC Slater (Mario Lopez), Stacy Keibler, Halle Berry and Matt Bomer). The runners were supposed to start at 8:45 and the walkers were supposed to start at 9:00. There was no attempt to distance the 2 groups, and they just let everybody start at around 9:00. It took a few minutes to even get to the starting line, and even after that we had to dodge people for a while in order to be able to run. Trying to avoid walkers and stick together proved too difficult for us, so we split up and just went at our own pace. I felt good for most of this race - I kept a nice, easy pace and didn't feel too tired. I hit "the wall" when I saw the 3 mile marker - the last part felt so hard! But I finished and got my medal (from the cute volunteer firemen at the event). I used Map My Run to keep track of my time - it says that the route was actually 3.67 miles, which I ran in 40:23. Then my cousin and I sat and drank some water and had a snack before heading home. I think this is a super event, just not sure if I would run it again (maybe go back to walking it). It felt a little crowded to be dodging people all the time. But good for a fun run, rather than a seriously competitive one. I find that I like running in races - there's something so motivating about being in a huge group, all heading towards one goal. Which one next? 

My weekend, and #16

For some reason, the last few weeks have felt really long. Work has been getting busier, and each weekend was flying by, packed with chores and errands. So I made a promise to myself - Saturday I would just rest and relax, guilt free. I spent the day reading and catching up on all the shows I missed during the week. Pretty sure the most strenuous thing I did all day was hit up the starbucks drive-thru. 

Today, I felt so much better and was ready to do something fun and different. I've been wanting to see the dinosaur exhibit at the Natural History Museum for a long time, so we headed over there. It was so cool! I'm kind of a history nerd, and dinosaurs have always boggled my mind, so I loved getting to learn more about them. (And the other exhibits were great too - we saw giant camels, walking whales, and mastodons from our own backyard!)

Also, I'm 99% sure they come to life at night. 

#15

Ok, I'm just now getting back in the swing of things. I promise I didn't go AWOL. I've been working on my resolutions (more on those later), watching 30 rock obsessively, and trying not to curse this hot windy weather we've been having. In between all that, I did go to Chocolatine. My cousin and I took my mom there for her birthday last weekend. It's a very cute, very small French cafe with absolutely drool-worthy desserts. We'd had a delicious lunch and pretended we were in France (it was more like how I envisioned France in my head - not how it was in real life) 

I wish I had known about it earlier - it would have been perfect for my cousin's bridal shower! Oh well. We'll just have to go back and pretend. :)

#14

This weekend, I checked #14 off my list. Cousin, mom and I went to the FIDM museum. They were having an exhibit on the little black dress and an homage to Breakfast at Tiffany's. It was a cool exhibit, just wish it was bigger - there were only about 12 dresses there. Afterwards, we hit up Bottega Louie's for lunch and lots and lots of desserts to take home. Mom and I picked creme brulee, peanut better tart and macarons - delicious. 

I love L.A.

Another fun weekend! Saturday, my mom, cousin and I finally saw Harry Potter. Love! That night, cousin snagged free tickets to the Dodgers game for us. (Allowing me to cross #10 off my 24x24 list) We were much more interested in snacks than the game, but it will still fun to go and the Dodgers won! Today, I ventured out to The Getty to go see the Paris: Life and Luxury exhibit. It was wonderful, and it gave me a huge hankering to revisit the City of Light. How was your weekend?

In my own backyard

I'm sad this weekend is almost over...since this has been the best one in a while. 

Started Thursday night with a trip to Malibu Wines with my friend Liz. We bought a bottle of wine each, then watched an outdoor showing of Breakfast at Tiffany's. They have such yummy wine, and it's so much more fun to go when it's not hailing.

Friday, I took a vacation day - slept in, went to the gym, had french toast for breakfast, wine with lunch and a big long nap. Just how a vacation day should be. 

The next day, my cousin and I decided to be brave and venture out during Carmaggedon. (turns out, if you tell LA to stay home...they actually do. Traffic was a breeze!) We are both working on saving money, so here's how we did LA on the cheap:

We took the metro to downtown to escape traffic and parking...plus it happened to be free this weekend! First stop: Bottega Louie. We've been wanting to go together for months and I proceeded to drool all over their pastry displays. We didn't eat lunch there (expensive!), but we both bought a box of 4 macarons for $9. Already dreaming of going back. 

Next, we hiked up a hill to the 500 Days of Summer Park. (Not it's official title, but it should be). Love that movie!

Right next to that park is Angel's Flight. We rode the "shortest railway in the world" for just a quarter. 

Next, we walked to MOCA. I cheated a bit and used my student ID (sorry MOCA), so it was $5. I kinda made up for it, since we ate lunch at their cafe. $10 for pasta, peach ginger lemonade, and the biggest macaron I've ever seen. 

Not really a contemporary art person per say, but it was really cool to see Warhol's Campbell Soup paintings, Jackson Pollock work and huge Rothko paintings. 

Next, we decided to take the metro over to the Renegade Craft Fair. After hoofing it from Union Station to the fair, we treated ourselves to beers ($5). We walked all through the fair - they had tons of cute stuff. We each ended up buying 3 of these postcards ($10): 

On our way back to the metro station, we took a quick wander through Olvera Street, but didn't buy anything. Then, we were back on a train and home again. Overall, our totally fun day ended up costing less than $40. 

Love getting to explore my own backyard a little more. I've lived in So Cal all my life and never done any of the things we did. Already planning more adventures :)

Stayin' alive

Ok, I promise I'm still alive. I spent the better part of last week sick as a dog. Some super cold knocked me on my ass. Anyways, I knew I had to pull it together because it was my cousin's bachelorette party on Saturday. I knew she wanted something more classy than trashy, so I planned a simple day of wine-tasting and dinner. 

First, we hit up drybar. I had never been, but it was pure girly fun. Blowouts, champagne, magazines...so  great!

Then we picked up some bread, cheese and strawberries and headed over the Malibu Wines. It was PACKED, so instead of tasting, we just bought a bottle of wine and brought it to our table. I'm not a huge wine fan, but it was delicious! Unfortunately, clouds started rolling in. First it was drizzling. Then raining. Then pouring. Then hailing! In Malibu! We had to make a quick getaway, which was so sad. It would be amazing to go back when the weather is nice. 

Then we headed to Ladyface Alehouse, a super cool restaurant and brewery. Since my cousin and I got there at a weird time (4:00), we weren't super hungry and therefore couldn't sample too much, but we'd love to go back for the beer tasting we saw as we were paying (doesn't that always happen?!) 

It wasn't a typical bachelorette, but I had a blast! I hope my cousin did too :) 

I love LA

Spent most of the weekend visiting my lovely cousin at her new apartment in LA. It was a wonderful time, filled with: gelato, air conditioning, strawberries, macarons, champagne, farmers market, the grove and lots and lots of The OC. Forgot how much I love that show.

Cinespia

[Image: latimes.com]

Last year, I heard about this event called Cinespia, where movies get screened at the Hollywood Forever Cemetary. My mom, cousin and I packed up a picnic dinner (bread and cheese, grapes and sparkling lemonade - yum!) and went. We caught a showing of Some Like It Hot (HIGHLY recommended). Lemme tell you - people really get into these weekly showings! They go all out. I saw people with mini tables, candles, the works. It was definitely a fun, unique way to go out in LA. And I wanna go again this summer. I would love to see a scary movie - how awesome would that be? Too bad I don't know too many people who like scary movies. Any takers?

They have an awesome selection of old classic movies and cult hits. It's a total hipster heaven. It's just really fun to sit out under the stars and watch a movie!

Disneyland

So to say I love Disneyland would be an understatement. I go there quite a bit (it doesn't hurt that my cousin works there, and yes, I've informed her she can never quit :) )

I love all these vintage photos from the '50s and '60s. Doesn't it look like that boy is having the time of his life?

[Images: yesterland.com]

The Grove

One of my fav places in LA is The Grove. It's half modern shopping center, half a glimpse into LA's past. The newer part is filled with awesome shops and apartments (I would kill to live there!). It also has a two-story Barnes and Noble that I could spend hours wandering around in.

But my favorite part is the old farmer's market. It is filled with tons of fresh produce stands and has booths serving up any kind of food you can think of. It's a great place to people-watch (and stuff yourself silly with amazing food). I don't get to go there a lot because driving in LA scares the ever-living out of me, but everytime I do, I love it.

[Images: thegrovela.com]

Getty Villa

The Getty is a huge (free) museum in LA. It houses everything from modern photos to antique European furniture (although the gardens are my personal favorite). But I'm actually a bigger fan of the Getty Villa. Nestled in Malibu, it feels like a hidden gem overlooking the coast. It's much more specialized: focusing on Roman and Greek art and architecture.

It's someplace I can definitely see myself sipping a cup of coffee and lingering over the different art pieces. Just looking at these pictures inspires me to add a little romanticism into my style.

[Images: getty.edu]