Menaige Trois Bonne Anniversari Extravaganza!

I had a chance to get my butt down to L.A. for a visit with Jess to celebrate her birthday (yesterday), my birthday (last Sunday) and Jess's friend, Sam's, birthday (next Sunday). We kept things low key on Friday night with some Chinese food, warm chocolate chip cookies and a couple episodes of What Not to Wear. Ahhh, my kind of night. :)

Saturday, Jess, Sam, me and about 20 of their closest friends met up at Eclectic, a fantastic wine bar and grill in North Hollywood. Yum yum YUM. And that was just the pomegranate martini! After dinner, we headed down the street to Skinny's Lounge to dance the night away. As Jess would say, "the drinks were strong, the bartender was friendly and the lights were dim." All good things except when 2 of those 3 things lead one to fall and sustain some very minor injuries. Not that I have any idea what that would be like....

All in all, we had a blast, which of course meant that I was doomed to a Sunday filled with nausea and headaches (aside from the pain from what felt like getting punched in the face). And somehow I still managed to get through what felt like the longest 1-hour flight I've ever taken in my life.

Anyway, here are some pictures from a great weekend that I will not soon forget. Thanks Jess, Chris and Indy for putting me up for a few days!! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESS!!!! :)

Birthday, Part 2

All I seem to do is whine on this thing, so to lighten things up a bit, I thought I'd share the rest of my birthday weekend fun with ya'll. :)

Saturday night was amazing. Our dinner at Picasso's was undeniably the best meal I've ever had. I'm drooling just thinking about it!

Sunday, we woke up and just lounged around for a while. Then we braved the valley winds and headed off to Great America. I LOVE amusement parks and rollercoasters and what better way to ring in another year of getting older than by screaming your lungs out like a little kid?! We had so much fun. And the best part was not having to wait in line for more than 10 minutes - the upside to going on the first day the park opens! Although it did occur to us that maybe going to ride dangerous rollercoasters when the teenagers who work there are still being trained on how to operate them, might not have been the brightest idea we've ever had. But it all worked out, we survived and I even had a chance to wear my new cashmere scarf from my momma!

Unfortunately, someone (ahem Rusty) drank a few beers before we left for the park, and I'm sure you can imagine what being flipped and turned and spun around did to his belly full of beer. So after going on every ride that was open, we decided to head home where Rusty made me dinner. I've been told birthday cake is forthcoming because we'll both be out of town this weekend and contrary to popular belief the two of us cannot down an entire cake in less than a week... although we've tried.

Thank you to everyone who remembered me this weekend and especially Rusty who went above and beyond to make sure I was spoiled all weekend long. I love you!

Sip Bacardi like it's your birthday

Happy Birthday to MEEE! Ok, I'm jumping the gun a little since its not really until tomorrow, but the great thing about your birthday falling on a Saturday or Sunday is that the entire weekend is all about you! Or at least it should be. And you can quote me on that. :)

The weekend started out pretty slow as far as birthday fun goes. I had class this morning, followed by more homework for another class. Of course I did make sure to take some time out to go to this cute little place called I.B.I. Boutique nearby that is owned by a girl who went to Santa Clara University, my alma mater. I love her stuff, especially her handmade jewelry. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend going to check it out. Usually I go and just drool all over everything because its so cute. And who doesn't love supporting a fellow Bronco?

After I treated myself to some unnecessary jewelry and hair accessories, I took off to go wander around the local farmer's market. If I had some cash on me, I would have left with an orchid taller than me and some tulips that had a vase waiting for them in my living room. But it didn't matter anyway, because Rusty ended up coming home with enough flowers to fill 3 vases! Yay!

Once we trimmed all the stems and found somewhere to put it all, we set out to walk the dogs. Of course, we realized after it was too late that it was super windy and cold and had forgotten the frisbee to play with at the park. Either way, it was nice to be outside, forget about work and school and just be with my guys.

And to round out Day 1, my super awesome husband is taking me out to dinner tonight for tapas and a pitcher or two of sangria at my favorite restaurant downtown, Picasso's. I can't wait! ("Topless tapas!")

And finally, I wanted to share a conversation between Rusty and I. On our way home from our walk, we passed someone's house where a bunch of people were outside. We glanced over and one of the guys waved.

Me: Do you know that guy?

Rusty: No.

Me: Hmmm... I wonder why he would wave.

Rusty: Maybe he thought I looked like the unibomber and he wanted to be friendly so I didn't pull some crazy shit.

Me: Sure. I can see that.

Rusty: But you make me legit. You in all the argyle. (I was wearing an argyle sweater.)

Me: You're right. It's the argyle. Argyle makes you feel safe.

He does kind of look like the unibomber here, doesn't he?