babymooning

No matter that Dave and I have been out of town pretty much every weekend for the last month - we left again!  But hey, with a baby coming in a few short months we're trying to enjoy the time we have left with just the two of us.  Which is why we took a kind of impromptu babymoon down to Laguna Beach this past weekend.  It was a short trip, down Friday night and back up Sunday afternoon, but I'm not complaining.

We spent Saturday morning enjoying a continental breakfast and satisfying my doughnut cravings (score) and then sauntered on down to the beach where we planted ourselves for the full day (beneath the shade of an umbrella - no burns this time please!).  Part of the fun of sitting on the beach is just people watching, and we got a full show on Saturday.  Crazy kids, surfer dudes, and a lifeguard with her hands full, it was pretty entertaining.  Also, there is probably nothing better than a salty sea breeze and sand between your toes.  Just sayin'.

 ^^^  This might be one of my favorite pictures from our weekend.  We were walking back from the beach when a darling lady is the brightest royal blue dress you could imagine stopped us and started to gush about how great we looked: just like a painting!  All that orange and blue!  She insisted we get our picture taken before we changed, so of course I asked her snap one.  She was hilarious and probably took 8 pictures of us.  Made me laugh.

That night we cleaned ourselves up and strolled downtown Laguna along PCH.  When the restaurant we really wanted to go to told us there was an hour and a half wait for a table my starving pregnant heart pretty much fell through the floorboards.  I just couldn't make it that long without sustenance.  Our solution?  Go get dessert first.  It was a perfect plan.  And that dark chocolate hazelnut gelato was on the crazy side of delicious.  We then ended up having a lovely time strolling shops and watching the sunset while surfers caught the last of the day's breakers beneath our lookout.  It was a happy upset, and, yes, don't worry, the food was worth waiting for.  Those deviled eggs?  Ohhhh baby...

Also thank goodness for kind strangers who take pity on a couple trying to take a selfie and offering to take our picture.  You are the best.  We are sending good karma your way.

The next day we lounged, slept in, went to a later church meeting, and strolled the ocean cliffs.  We would have stayed and watched the waves longer, but honest to goodness, it was 89 degrees and I was seriously going to faint.  Being 7 months pregnant is no cake walk, I tell ya.  I needed air conditioning and ice water stat.

Despite it being gone in a blink, it was lovely weekend.  The nice thing about staycations though, is that they're never too far away :)  See you soon Laguna!  (and maybe a gelato too...)

nemrow family vacay 2014

The end of summer and I have had a little bit of a love/hate relationship.  Love because both of our big family vacations where slated for the end of August, but hate because it's August.  The end of summer!  It's always bittersweet, and made more especially so because we don't get all the autumn magic here in Southern California - so it's just kinda the end of summer lovin' without the hope of crisp fall air and chunky sweaters.  But I digress.

For the Nemrow family's get together this year we headed down southward to cozy up in San Clemente for the week, aka: my favorite beach.  Besides the fact that burned the heck out of my shins and feet (eek!! not fun), we had a jolly time and even more fun running around all over the place with nieces and nephews.

Introducing Ethan to the ocean for the first time was kind of the cutest thing ever.  He was really hesitant at first, but he warmed right up to it in no time.

This is basically how we set up camp every day: a bunch of chairs and umbrellas.  My legs strayed just a little too far from that shade...

Meeting baby Abby for the first time was definitely a trip highlight - isn't she gorgeous??  Christy and Jake welcomed her into their family about a month earlier and she was such a little darling.  Asking Jaden how to say her name was equally cute: "Aabbb" was about as close as he could get ;)


Also having a little newborn to hold was kind of the best thing ever after I fried my legs.  I was shade bound anyhow, so baby girl and I watched everyone play in the waves - ok, she slept, but I watched everyone.

 I try to get a brother picture at most family trips - I need to work on getting a girl picture too...

 Thank goodness for big floppy hats and longgg wraps.  Save that virgin skin!

Jadon was just small enough where the waves were too crazy for him - but the sand, oh man, that was where it was at for this guy.

^^ Before said leg frying (or probably in process of...) ^^

What with having family vacations back to back we had to cut our time a little short with Nemrows to get some travel time under our belts for our next trip.  We took an impromptu family Christmas card picture after dinner (my favorite way to do it - no stressing about outfits and hair) and said our goodbyes.  But the next time we see these folks we'll have a babe in arms!!  Hello, that's crazy times.

Apparently, stripes was a common theme... (and don't mind my red, puffy, Flintstone feet - bless Christy for cutting them out of the Christmas card)

Thanks for the best time Nemrows!  Getting to hang with you guys is one of the highlights of our summer!

the saguaro

This past week, David had a client in Palm Springs which required him to travel on location.  When he was extended the assignment he chafed just a little bit and told them how much he'd been traveling lately (a lot) to which they responded, oh, you can bring your wife with you.  Which, of course, changed everything ;)

Now, I've never been to Palm Springs before, but there is, indeed, a first time for everything.  I've always envisioned Palm Springs as a valley full of seniors, golf courses, and shopping.  Well, I was right about the elderly communities, but we didn't see a single golf course the whole time we were there and I was a tad underwhelmed by the shopping options.  If I drove a half hour outside of town the outlets were promising, but in Palm Springs?  Not so much.

One of our favorite things about our trip was the food, oh such good, good food.  I will most definitely be missing a certain sandwich joint and the most delicious raspberry sorbet in the coming weeks.

Along with the cuisine, our hotel was decked to the nines in the colors of the rainbow which was endlessly charming and pretty much the only thing I took pictures of the whole time we were there.  Albeit, the only other options were selfies taken while Dave was working all day or restaurant table pictures during our meals together, both of which I'm happy to avoid.

Insert photo dump of palm trees and this super fun hotel:

We ended up leaving on Thursday instead of Friday due to a change in David's schedule, but I was pretty A-OK about getting outta there sooner rather than later.  Turns out the Coachella music festival starts there today and the crowds of party people were already starting to be ushered in by the bus-full by the time we were quiting town.  Yep, time to go.

Adios Palm Springs!  Till next time. 

Newhall, CA

A Saturday afternoon walk was just the ticket.  It was organized chaos refereeing three pre-teens all morning, so when we got home that afternoon I immediately decided Dave and I needed to go for a walk around the neighborhood.
Nothing quite like fresh air and the setting sun to calm the nerves and settle the head.

Plus I love all the lemon trees in this part of town.

weekending

How come some weekends seem to last and last, and others (like this one) are over before you know it?  It's ridiculous.  This weekend flew by and now it's Monday all over again.  The injustice.

This past Friday night Dave and I were very excited to try one of our new found Santa Clarita eateries - The Newhall Refinery.  Dave and I haven't gotten excited about a local restaurant in a while so this was a treat.  We give it two thumbs up on food, pricing, and service.  Plus they serve a beet salad with goat cheese - brownie points for sure.  We liked our dinners so much we were persuaded to stay for dessert and our waiter told us we had to order their blueberry bread pudding.  Neither of us have ever had a bread pudding before (and I mostly associate it with being the only dessert anyone ever seems to make on Chopped), but holy moly, this was a winner.  We shared one serving, but honestly, I think I need my own next time...

On Saturday, after washing cars and working a few hours, we headed down to Pasadena and wondered around possible neighborhood options.  The LA commute is not something Dave is keen on doing too much longer if we can help it so...hopefully we'll be moving further south this coming springtime!  We shall see, but as of last night wandering the streets and grabbing a hot chocolate to stroll up and down Colorado Blvd, I was charmed.  Plus we found a tasty hotdog joint, what else do you want from a place to live?

Please stick around fall weather!  My boots will be so very sad to be put away again...
And yes I am aware that most of this post involves us eating - you can see where our priorities lie.