celebrations!

Well, it's officially official and we can finally start spreading the news - nope we're not pregnant - Dave got a new job!  He'll be starting work with Ernst & Young in their LA office this September and he's pretty excited about it.  We definitely did our fair share of happy dances this weekend and ate some mighty good grub to celebrate.  Dave has been working this past year for a wonderful local firm in the Santa Clarita area, but he can't wait to drive down to LA and be a part of a new team (not so excited about the commute, but you win some you loose some).

Bricks on Lyons did not disappoint us with some great burgers and tots to aid in our celebrations: we were happy people.  Plus we RedBoxed the Hobbit and saw it for the first time that night, which, you know, was pretty awesome.  When we got to the end of the movie I totally forgot it was a trilogy and I was so confused when it stopped before they got to the mountain.  That was a little anticlimactic.

We're also in the market to get Dave a new car - bleh - and on Saturday we did a few test drives at dealerships down in Orange County.  So of course we called my parents to see if they wanted to meet up for dinner.  We ended up at Downtown Disney for some sandwiches, gelato, and the best company.

 And that was our weekend!  It was over much too soon, but...Dave's last day at his old firm was actually yesterday!  So it's going to be perpetual weekends for us from now til September 4th.  We're planning to live it up before I send Dave off again and become an E&Y widow.  San Fran and Utah trips here we come!

the Scottish play

So...it's been a while since I've seen Macbeth.  I told some of my girls at church that I was seeing it this Thursday night and that they should come too!  And they just looked at me like...Macbeth?  That's a creepy one...thanks, but no thanks.

Ok, yeah, it's a sad, sad play of awful, evil men that get twisted and polluted by pride and promise of fortune  - but we still enjoyed it!  Mom and Brooke came up and joined Dave and I at Griffith Park for us to introduced them to our little beloved Shakespeare Festival, who, even through the blood and gore, didn't disappoint (can you see Macbeth's head in the picture above?  Bright.  Bloody.  Red.  He's available for children's parties in case you're interested)  I'm still so impressed with the caliber of actors they have in this troupe that puts on this festival to the public all for free!  Of course, donations are welcome and wanted after the show, but it's such a fun community program that I'm so glad we stumbled upon.

Next up: As You Like It (which Brooke kindly reminded me is the plot line of She's The Man - now I remember).  Hopefully we'll laugh a little more during that one..

highlights #66

It's been one of those weeks of lots to do, lots of time to do it, and little productivity.  When you've got time on your hands it's so easy to say you'll do this or that later...and then later becomes later again, and then much later, and then not for a really long time.  Sometimes time constraints are a good thing, I think.  While I try to hunker down and get a few things done (laundry - check, dishes - check, job applications - soon to be check), enjoy a few post from around the web:

what 13 people wore to an interview with Anna Wintour (aka: The Devil Wears Prada's inspiration)

Manhattanhedge

a sweet proposal video (I'm still a sucker for these things)

a game changer

such a sweet necklace

the top 10 most read books in the world

speaking of books, everyone should watch this trailer (it's gunna be intense!)

I want this dress and this dress

made this on Monday - super easy and light (minus the parsley - I'm not a fan of parsley)

this is such a fun and interesting blog series

and, of course, let's not forget about the new little prince!  Let's all be honest and ask how on earth Kate is in heels and a dress (with a waist!) the day after giving birth.  Super.  Woman.

xo

weekending

So, we had a pretty fun weekend.   What with having David around for a whole week, and then playing for another week with my family, this past week as been a little boring...so it was my goal to jazz up our weekend as much as possible.

Friday night was our Stake Temple Day, and, to be honest, I don't think Dave and I have ever actually gone to the temple on a designated ward or stake day...it's always just so much easier to go when we plan it.  But it worked out this Friday night.  I grabbed Dave from work, fed him some mac n' cheese via tupperware (fancy stuff), and we went with everyone.  It was so much fun to be surrounded by some familiar faces, and we had a lovely peaceful night.
       And P.S. the LA Temple is so ridiculous beautiful.  It is always such a treat to come see it.

Saturday turned into lesson planning day because both David and I were teaching classes in church this Sunday - and, actually, David was teaching TWO!  So we were in prep-mode.  But later in the afternoon we called it good and headed down to Griffith Park for some Shakespeare in the Park.  More accurately, it was Oliver Goldsmith in the park this weekend as they preformed She Stoops to Conquer (don't worry, we'll go back for some Shakespeare this week).  I'd never heard of this show until now, but it was tons of fun, and, besides, it's just so enjoyable to be outside on a summer's night enjoying good entertainment (for FREE!).  We gave it two thumbs way up.

And that was that.  We wrapped up the whole weekend (drum roll please), eating pie a la mode and playing dominoes on the living room floor Sunday night.  Quite the crescendo to a fun few days.

toblers @ balboa: part 2

The next week started off with a lovely Sunday and a stroll around the Newport Beach Temple - my fave.

Brendan and Megan hopped on a plane back to the Midwest earlier that morning diminishing our party by two.  So very sad. 

And to add sadness to sadness, I sent Dave off and back to work on Sunday night.  I'm so silly, but it was crazy hard to say goodbye for a whole week!  We did this for almost 3 months while we were engaged, but I guess something about living together everyday for the last two years has gotten us a little attached to each other or something.

Needless to say there was a lot of this going on during the week:

Sans David we did throw Chris an early surprise 30th birthday bash that was pretty darn fun.  Good friends, sloppy joes, and ice cream cake.  What more could a soon to be 30-year-old want?

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and we made one final BalBar run on Tuesday night and said goodbye to Chris & Kristin on Wednesday morning.  Leaving it just the three girls and dad at the beach house.

And once everyone left the weather somehow took notice because the sun went into hiding and afternoon showers weren't unheard of.  

But we decided not to care.  Seeing as how we only had three bikes, and there were only three of us left (with dad at work during the day) we figured a bike ride on the peninsula was in order.  We rode the ferry over - which is always so fun - and cruised the Newport boardwalk.  My bum was a bit (a lot) sore afterwards, but such is the price you pay for choosing the bike with the tiniest seat.  My fault.

Fortunately the clouds eased up a bit and proved to be excellent canvas for some spectacular sunsets.  So I won't complain about them too much.  

And them, boom!  When David joined us again on Friday?  Sunshine.  Just like that.  If I'd known it was going to be that easy I would have made him come down sooner ;)

That last Friday was spent basking in the sun, reading on the porch, swimming the canal in front of our house (exhausting to us non-swimmers) and, of course, strolling Marine Avenue for dinner and a BalBar.

And that was a wrap!  We woke up early the next morning, swept the kitchen, packed out bags, Dave said hello to Bubbles the pug down the street, and we said our goodbyes to Baron Cottage.

I could get used to an annual family tradition like this...

highlights #65

It's been such a fun (and long) two weeks away that it's kinda been hard to adjust back to the day-to-day of normal life!  What is it that do again?  I guess it doesn't help that I'm sick and down for the count right now.  While I go take more DayQuil and find a kleenex here are some fun finds from my last few days of couch sitting.

go away, I'm reading

I'm in love with this bathroom (especially the tile floor!)

I've started to do a one-line-a-day journal from my phone and am totally loving my DayOne app

this blows my mind, definitely watch the video of how it's done

never get tired of the Brits and their fascinators 

a great story for all you Craiglist hunters

David sent me this link the other day.  Enjoy.

and for some reason I was looking at wedding dresses this morning - this one and this one are so perfect
(and while we're talking weddings, this one - shot by my fave Jessica Claire - is so stinkin' fun and full of whimsy)

xo

toblers @ balboa 2013

Two weeks in the sun later I'm baaaack!  I don't have much of a tan to show for it, but I do have a lovely summertime cold.  Ah well, it's been known to happen.  So I'm going to sit on my couch watching Scandal in my pj's, and blog about the past few weeks of family time.  And what a lovely couple weeks it was!

All nine of us stayed in a tiny little beach house on the East Bay Front of Balboa Island that only had three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and only two of those bedrooms had doors to them by the by...good thing we like each other.

We also took family pictures for the first time in something like 7 or 8 years which is something of note.  We added three new faces since those last pictures were taken and new ones will probably be around when we go to take the next ones.

We putted around the island on a Duffy boat one morning:

And we also took it upon ourselves to solve one of the Island's the world's biggest questions: Which of the 3 sweet shops on Marine Avenue, Dad's Donuts, Sugar 'N Spice, or Too Sweet, has the best BalBars and frozen bananas??? 

A completely serious blind taste test was conducted and the results were...

In case that picture is hard to read Too Sweet completely swept the board for best frozen bananas and it was almost a tie for the BalBars.  There were 3 votes for Dad's and 4 votes for Too Sweet.  Megan and I were the mediators and, therefore, didn't participate in a full blind test, but if it's worth anything we voted for Too Sweet for both. (Sugar 'N Spice didn't do so hot...they actually got no votes at all! We laughed every time we saw their long line after that - they were, however, the first BalBar stand on the island and get bonus point for that)

We spent the rest of that afternoon out in the water.  With kayaks and SUP's (stand up paddle boards) to go around we overloaded all of them and got the whole gang in the water.

 **Those are NOT two-seater kayaks by the way...

While we were out on the bay the day before we actually saw people doing yoga on their paddles boards...what the what??  Obviously I'm having no problem doing my warrior 2 pose above. (??)

Next was the 4th of July which was so very festive and fun.  The flags were up and out all over the island and everyone was in the red, white, and blue.  The 4th of July also happens to be all the in-law's favorite holiday (no pressure) so it was extra fun to be all together.  The boys went golfing, the ladies stayed and relaxed, a boat parade went by, good food was eaten, Lucky Undies was played (card games people), and fireworks off the North Bay front were watched.  It was a full and festive event.

The rest of the week was spent eating delicious cinnamon rolls from a local bakery (which I am craving right now).

We also finally made it across the bay to the peninsula to find some waves, wrecked havoc on the beach with a giant sling shot of sorts, and generally enjoyed every minute.

** I promise Dave is wearing shorts

 
And that was only the 1st week!  Unfortunately most everyone was gone the second week we were there.  Actually, that includes David.  Since I am currently jobless I would have just sat around at home in Santa Clarita...so why not sit around at the beach house instead?  A whole week is the longest Dave and I have ever been apart and we celebrate our 2nd anniversary next month!

Craziness.

Part two to come!