a day on the lake

It's been far too long since I've spent an afternoon on the lake, and it felt oh so good.  The boys went out earlier Tuesday morning and did some serious wake surfing (which I'm terrible at, by the by) and the ladies spent the morning at the cabin enjoying some girl time.

And who wouldn't want to just lounge around this cabin??? Get a load of that view!  We were doing just fine.

We met up for lunch in the afternoon and had some good times.

And when I say good times I do mean besides the fact that somehow my eyes stopped producing tears of any kind while we were out there basically rendering me blind for most of the afternoon.  Thank goodness for sunglasses, Visine, and a steamy shower back at the cabin.  Lesson learned.  I will now carry eye drops with me wherever I go.

An extra thank goodness for sunglasses.  My eyes are most definitely closed or extremely squinty (more so than normal ;) in every one of these pictures.  But we had a great time and made it off the lake before the sky decided split open.

Take me back to the lake!  I could cruise around on that boat all day...

two whole years

Well, we finally made it up to Utah!  And we are so so happy to be here.  Get a load of that sunset??  Gorgeous.  It is oh so good to be back.  We've already had two or three summer rain storms pass through and I am one happy duck.

We stayed with David's brother and sister-in-law for the first couple of days we were here and this was the view we woke up to every morning.  I could get used to this:

And then on Saturday Dave and I celebrated our SECOND anniversary!!!!!  It's pretty hard to believe it's been two whole years since our wedding day.  Where does the time go?  I've gotten to the point where I can't really remember what it was like before David.  I guess that's a good thing ;)

We started the day off right celebrating with brunch at our favorite Communal on Saturday morning and ate the most delicious things.  Holy cow, we love that place.  Fluffy buttermilk pancakes, fried french toast, and our favorite biscuits and homemade jam.  Honestly, one of the things we miss most about our Provo (besides family), is some of our favorite eateries.  Maybe it's a good thing we moved away.  Our waistlines might be (might be) a little slimmer ;)

I think we might be doomed to have waiters who take not so great pictures of us on our anniversary.  (Proof here as well).  I guess we'll have to make a tradition of it.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying being in Provo and eating my favorite Hawaiian shaved ice.  Soooooo delicious.  I could eat that stuff all. day. long.

And that night we decided, even though it was our anniversary, we'd spend time with our favorite people.  We made our favorite pizza from this favorite Provo haunt with the Nemrow family and then ate dessert and played games with some of our favorite friends.  It was a night of favorites and the perfect evening.  Dave and I can have a romantic dinner together anytime, but while we're here we're going to spend as much time as we can with our best buds.

And there are only more fun Utah times to come!  Can't wait for this next week up at our cabin in the mountains!  Bring on the summer thunder storms.

musuem wednesday

So this past month we've been gone more than we've been home (and we haven't been home for one single weekend!  Craziness), but I had a few goals to do when we were home sweet home, and one of them was to do an afternoon lunch date at the Getty.

Yesterday afternoon we packed ourselves a lunch, hopped on the 405, and rode the tram up the museum.  I love me a good tram ride, by the way, especially one with lovely views of LA homes and hills.  The city was, most unfortunately, swathed in fog smog today, but we expected nothing less from you LA ;)

The Getty is so stinkin' beautiful by the by.  I could wander around there all day...and, well, we did!  However,  I always forget how tired museums make you!  I swear, I walk in and all of sudden my hand goes to my lower back and I'm looking for a chair.  Don't worry, I persevered.  

Dave also found his twin among the sculptures.  I mean, that face?  So fabulous.   And we met the most darling docents.  I tell you, when Dave and I are retired, we can go become docents at the Getty.  I'm down for that.

And it was a lovely day.  We'll lunch on the lawn of the Getty anytime.

highlights #68

So, this being in between jobs thing is pretty fun right now (of course it helps to know there's another job lined up come September).  It's like we get a little summer vacation!  Next August I'm sure we'll look at each other and say we're read for another month off...what do you think E&Y??  For now we're enjoying all this freedom and having as much fun as humanly possible.

Next on the list is a few weeks in Utah for family time, best friend's weddings, and so so much fun lovin' the beehive state.  Can't. Wait.

Here are some fun posts around the web:

this makes me love John Krasinski even more

eat fit cutlery

those Canadians know what's up

awesome DIY

thinking about driving PCH (do it)

an awesome hotel

genius.  I'll take all these clothes please.

a great cookbook idea

and this woman is pretty amazing (her Julia Roberts impression? Awesome)

xo

baby sister birthday weekend

We spent this past weekend down in Orange County with the fam planning Brooke's surprise 18th birthday bash.

But, first and foremost, a beach day was definitely in order.  

It was a lovely day in San Clemente.  As the story goes, David has been coming to this beach south of the pier with his family for years, and I've been coming to this beach north of the pier with my family for years...so we're pretty sure we were there at the same time at one point along the way.  I'm sure.

The next day was all about getting Brooke's birthday partay prepared.  We had life size Jenga & lawn Twister, ping pong & Mexican Cokes, and a caricature artist + a rockin' s'mores bar.  It was fun times and she was totally surprised.  I think we done good.

Sunday was really Brookie Sue's b-day and she is a whole EIGHTEEN years old!   That makes me feel so old.  When did this little lady get so big?!?

It was a pretty fun weekend.  We love this little sis of ours, and we especially love celebrating her.  Happy 18th B-day Brookie Sue!  I'm glad we decided to keep you, even though I wasn't quite sure about you at first ;)  Love you!

coast cruisin'

So, the plan for our little Northern California vacation was to drive up to San Fran as quickly as possible (the 5-N// 5 hours), with not much to look at, and then to drive home at our leisure (the 1//8 hours) with spectacular scenery.  It was a good plan.

We headed out Monday morning (a little later than planned, hey, we're on vacation right??) and went westward to the coast.  First off, let it be known that this trip was a little half baked.  We had San Fran all mapped out, and then the general idea was to hit the 1 and cruise along the coast, stopping where it was pretty and getting a hotel in San Luis Obispo on Monday night.  That was the whole plan.  I'm normally not one to fly by the seat of my pants quite this much.  I like to have a little more structure, but we decided to just wing it.  And that wasn't all that bad of an idea.

Our first stop was at Pebble Beach per request of the golf loving boy in the driver's seat.  We quickly learned that to even get close to the resort you have to take a (very scenic and lovely) roll down the 17 Mile Road...which costs $9.75.  Although perturbed (a drive and some pretty views is normally f-r-e-e), we finally decided to do it, and honestly it didn't disappoint.  We drove along the mansions they call houses, saw a  few other links courses (Dave was giddy), the ocean was lovely as ever, and sea lions were aplenty.  But the pièce de résistance was definitely getting to Pebble Beach's lodge and seeing the 18th hole.  Dave was like a little kid jumping around and pointing and laughing as we watched a party play the last hole.

In accordance with our lack of planning I didn't think for one minute it would be cold as we drove down the coast.  Oh, I brought my tweed little blazer to match the outfit I wore in San Fran - I knew it would be cold there - but that's the only jacket I had with me!  And guess what?  It was chilly cheeseburgers out.   So no wise cracks about the mismatch-ness.  It is best to be warm.

We then started southward.  We picked our way through the cutest Carmel and then hit Big Sur.  And holey freakin' moley.  Big Sur is GORGEOUS.  We had no idea.  I mean, I knew it would be pretty coastline, and the ocean is always lovely, but Big Sur is surely something else.  We had the best time and we decided we could drive forever if the ocean is off the left shoulder.  Just point me in the right direction.
P.S. I love the iPhone's panorama pictures - they made it so much easier to capture this huge scenery.  Picture overload coming atcha.

We got stuck in a small spot of traffic in that last picture...not a bad place to be stuck I think.

We ended up grabbing lunch (dinner?) at a most darling restaurant on one of Big Sur's lovely cliff sides: Nepenthe.  I mean, that view?  Ridiculous.  And I couldn't resist the little phone booth either.

After noshing we hit the road again, enjoyed some spectacular views, watched the sky turn into cotton candy, and said hello to some elephant seals.  It was a full day.

The next day we rose bright and early(ish) and had breakfast at the most darling little coffee house.  Despite the cloud cover in Pismo Beach that morning we still opted to eat our scrumptious breakfast croissants and lemon scones on the patio.  The owner of the shop was sure we were a little Swiss couple who had come through the day before - it must have been my milkmaid braids.

Our first stop of the day was the classiest landmark in San Louis Obispo: bubblegum alley.  I've always kinda wanted to see it.  And guess what?  It's disgusting.  But San Lois is a pretty darling little town, and that made up for it.

 

Next on the list was Solvang, the cutest little Danish town you ever did see right smack dab in the middle of California.  Disneyland-ish vibes abounded, and my milkmaid braids felt right at home.  Plus we ate Danish pancakes for lunch.  Totes appropes & delish.

It was jolly time, and just so stinkin' charming.  By this time (as you can tell from Dave's eyes above), we were pretty bushed.  We snaked our way down through Santa Barbra and Ventura, and then made the rest of the trek inland towards home where our heads and our pillows couldn't come in contact any faster (after catching up on Project Runway of course).

It was a great trip and we're so glad we got to explore our own backyard for a few days this summer.   Turns out California is a lovely place, but we already knew that.