Halloweening

Happy Halloween!!!

How to: have the most wonderful visit with Mom and Steff

Mom and Steff came to visit last month and let me tell you how much F-U-N we had together.  I was so glad that they finally got to see our little beach bungalow and spend some time with us in Hermosa Beach.  Here is how we had the best week ever!

1.  Check out the Santa Monica Pier.  It's one of my favorite things to do with all our visitors.  Great shopping and even better people watching.  And the newest found treasure from this place?  Gelato!!  Dare I say it's better than the gelato in Italy??  I just might...

2.  Go to Disneyland!!  It's the happiest place on Earth and in the fall time - it's the scariest!  Being there around Halloween was so fun!  I've got to look into getting a job as a decorator there. 

3.  Walk on the beach EVERYDAY.  Duh - when you live a block away from the beach it's kind of a necessity. Funny how it never gets old...

4. Hike in beautiful Palos Verdes

5. Go to the Getty - check out the amazing artwork and beautiful views!

6.  Shop!  When Mom's in town it's an absolute must!

7. Eat, Eat, Eat!!  No joke - we did not cook once the whole time they were here! 

8.  See your long lost cousins.

9.  Stare in awe at the beautiful sunsets.

10.  Cry when the week is over and begin the Countdown to Christmas in Colorado. 

Thanks for coming Mom and Steff!  We love you guys!

How to talk to Girls

Apparently this blog is becoming a place for me to post videos about little kids kissing, old people who love each other, and now - little kids giving advice about love.  I hope you find these videos as absolutely hilarious as we did. 

Make me Smile

Just in case you haven't seen this amazing video yet, I thought that I would share it with you.  It kind of reminds me of this video about young love.  Except this video is about old love. 

Just Another Day in Paradise

If this picture doesn't entice you to come visit us, check out this article that was in the Denver Post last weekend.  We will personally take you to all the hot spots around town.  That's a promise.

My Best Friends' Weddings

This summer two of my very best friends married their best friends.  The celebrations were beautiful and I was so honored to be a part of their special days.  Chelsea and Cassie - I love you guys so much and I wish nothing but an eternity of happiness for you and your sweethearts. 

"Choose your Love, then love your choice."

The OC

A few weeks ago we headed south to spend some time in Orange County.  OK, so it's really not that far away, but it was a nice change of pace.

First, we went to the Orange County Fair.  We had a blast and my wonderful hubby even won a prize for me! 

Snoopy now lives upstairs in the studio.

Then, we spent some time with some of the cutest kiddos I know.  Eric's brother and family live in Orange County so we spent the night with them and then hit up a donut joint for breakfast. 

The next day we went to the US Open of Surfing and got to watch some awesome surfing.  It took us two hours (yes, I said hours) to find a parking spot, but it was all worth it when Eric got to watch his idol Kelly Slater ride the waves.

He is handsome :)

There were so many people on the beach



So I have this thing for red heads...

For almost as long as I can remember, I have LOVED red hair.  No - like I really love it. A lot. I would be one happy momma with a whole clan of red headed babies.  Unfortunately,  Eric feels differently. I'm not sure when my love for gingers developed but it officially became an obsession when Shaun White entered into my life.  I love those red curls that stick out of his helmet as he wins gold medal after gold metal.


...Speaking of gold medals and Shaun White - Did you know he just won the gold medal for the Skateboard Vert at the 2011 X Games in LA??  Well he did. And I was there. And it was awesome.

We had a really great time. But then things got really crazy...

 Guess who's shoe that is????

Yay!  

And at the end of the day... I love red heads even more than I did this morning. 

Tres Cosas

3 things that I love in life:

1. Latin music

2. Latin dancing

3. Latin babies

What's that you say? All three in one video? Score!

PS. Yes, this is my third post in 4 days - I'm just as shocked as you are.

Les Mis

For Christmas this last year - Eric and I were on the exact same page.  Instead of exchanging "gifts" we exchanged "dates."

Remember when I surprised him with tickets to see go this?

Well, he may have outdone me with tickets to see Les Mis.  We went a few weeks ago to see the absolutely amazing production at the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown LA.  The music was powerful, the story was inspiring, and the company was superb.  Not to mention our seats were smack dab in the middle of the orchestra section - score!

The play is on tour - check to see if it's coming to a city near you - You WONT regret it.  We would go back if we could. 

Even if you don't get to go - do yourself a favor and check this out.

Dear Colorado,

        It was so good to see you again. You can make me smile like none other.  Even husband notices the extra spring in my step when the two of us get together (I guess there is no denying that we were meant to be together).  Thank you for bringing all of my favorite people together in one place so I could be the happiest girl in the world.  You really are the best.  And I have the pictures to prove it.

Until we meet again,
Maddi

Visitors

We had visitors.  The really good kind of visitors... the kind that you don't want to leave.  Ever. 

But alas,  our weekend came to end and Jill Bean and Garyn had to go back to Provo.  But boy did we party while they were here. 

We went to Santa Monica.

And had a bon fire.

And played with star fishies.

We love having visitors.  You are invited whenever. For Real. 



high five for first kiss

I remember my first kiss and magical isn't exactly the way I would describe it.  More like terrifying.  It was Ashley Jacobs birthday party and I was going with my boyfriend.  We had been "going out" for about a month so I knew it was coming... soon.

I thought I was prepared.  I had gum, chapstick, and I had talked it over with my more experienced friends. I decided I would just let it happen naturally and it would be perfect. I could handle it - how hard could it be?

Turns out my boyfriend had also been thinking about it.  And plotting... with his friends.  We were going to kiss that night and they were going to make sure of it.  Well around 10 o'clock it still hadn't happened so they took their plan up a notch. Forget the subtly and romanticism, my mom was going to pick me up in 15 minutes and they were running out of time! We were sitting together in a room full of people and all of a sudden there was a brown fuzzy blanket over my head, over our heads!

Then there was chanting - kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss.

And then I felt it - it was wet and slimy... all over my cheek. We missed. I was mortified.  I wanted to run away, but I didn't want to come out from under the blanket and face the awaiting crowd either so I gave it another shot.  And we kissed... on the lips. 

Happy Anniversary!!

To my most wonderful parents! Yesterday they celebrated their 29th anniversary! That's right - 29 years people!! Congratulations to the love birds and thanks for being the best parents that a girl could ask for! 

oh heeeey

Sorry about the lag in posting.  I'm working two jobs now so I'm pretty busy as you can imagine. I work my new job as a behavior therapist from 8-5, and then tutor until about 9.  Like I said, I'm pretty busy, but I love my new job and it's really opened up my eyes to new opportunitites that I had not  thought about before. But more about my awesome new job later...

Last weekend Eric and I took a long weekend and drove up the California coast!  It is the first trip that we have taken just the two of us since our honeymoon and we had so much fun!

                                                               First stop - Malibu Pier

We stopped in Santa Barbara for lunch and visited the old Spanish Mission.

I may or may not have teared up inside thinking of Spain.

Eric loves taking silly pictures... obvisouly.

A bus within a bus.... genius.

We stayed the first night in Avila Beach... it was cozy, quaint, and absolutely perfect.

There was a farmer's market in town and we had a blast listening to the music and eating delicious food.

 Um, yes please.

Most delicious thing ever.

We stayed at the coolest hotel! It was the most welcoming, comfortable hotel that I have ever stayed at and we can't wait to visit again! There was a welcome basket of goodies in our room, a fireplace, free movie rentals, and fresh chocolate chip cookies 24 hours a day. It was like staying at grandma's!

Oh, and we had a hot tub in our room. 

It wouldn't be a trip without a few little hiccups.  Saturday night we had a "visitor" knock on our balcony door at 1 am.  A drunk guest of the hotel climbed up our balcony and tried to come through our door because he couldn't find the main entry to the hotel. Even though he told us that he was unarmed (all he had was his pants and his wallet - literally) and just looking for his room, we didn't feel comfortable letting him in. Duh.  He was extremely persistent and just wouldn't climb off our balcony.  I eventually got one of the hotel workers who was finally able to talk him down. 

It was scary at first, but we went to bed laughing.

We woke up Saturday morning to a completely flat tire.  We ran over a nail at some point during our drive, and the tire slowly leaked over night.  It was a bummer, but we were lucky that we didn't have a blow out on the road.

After we got the tire fixed, we headed up to Monterrey and spent the rest of the night exploring the city. 

In the morning we went to the famous Monterrey Bay Aquarium.

And then we drove home and enjoyed the unbelievable views!

  The weekend away was just what we needed, and we hope to make the trip a tradition! I had so much fun with my best friend and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if we're hanging out in Monterrey or in our own apartment - he makes everything so fun!