A Bicycle Built For Two

I fell in love with Newport Beach this weekend.

Newport is in Orange County and it took us about an hour to get there from our house. It's so beautiful!! There are tons of beach houses (which we will rent someday) bikes everywhere, a path along the ocean and another path along the bay which is filled with more beautiful homes and tons of boats. I am such a beach/boat/water girl, this was my paradise. We visited Newport with our best friends and we even had cheap Mexican for dinner which is my absolute favorite type of food.

After dinner we were walking to the pier when we stumbled upon a bike shop that was offering $5 rides for the last 30ish minutes of the day. What a great deal! Heck yes we'll ride your bikes for $5! So we decided to get tandem bikes, and it was so fun. Our bike was even equipped with a horn perfect for honking at everyone we passed. We biked down the beach, the pier, and in the bay. (This is the point where I fall deeply in love with Newport Beach.) It was a very fun, impromptu ride around the city.


We ended the night at an great beach bar called the Balboa Saloon where they were playing awesome jukebox music. I officially want to move to Newport someday (or at least visit it all the time and rent beach houses every summer), who's with me?

Celeb-Alert!

I've been seeing so many celebrities* lately!

The first two ladies Amy Adams and Rebecca Gayheart I saw shopping at Anonymous Store! It's still exciting to me that I see celebs while I'm at work!



Next, Tuesday night Peter and I were on our way to a birthday party in Burbank when we saw Jay Leno driving in an old-fashioned car with the top down!


Then, just today I saw Marlon Wayans at the grocery store!




*I don't know if people still care about my celeb sightings, but I have to document them somehow, right?

Honestly...

I got my first ever blogger award this week from my new friend (and soon to be La La Land resident) My Wooden Heart! I'm so excited about this guys, I feel so le-git. It's called the "Honest Scrap Award"

Okay, here's how it works.

"The Honest Scrap award comes with a caveat or two. Firstly, you have to tell your readers ten things about you they may not know, but that are true. Secondly, you have to tag 10 people with the award. Thirdly, let all the people you've given the award to know that they've gotten it (comment on their blogs or something). And finally, make sure you link back to the person who awarded you."

Ok, here goes nothing..

1. I love the real calorie filled, bad for you, Coca-Cola Classic more than any other soda. I made myself switch to Diet Coke or Coke Zero before my wedding to lose weight. I don't often drink "real coke" anymore but it will always be my favorite.

2. I am an only child. My husband is an only child. At times we treat each other like brother and sister to make up for it. This is not a good thing.

3. I am deathly afraid of snakes. I can't talk about them, watch them on tv, or hear hissing. Snakes make me feel physically ill.

4. My favorite movie of all time is Father of the Bride. One time I told a "hot shot" talent agent that and he laughed at me. How rude!

5. I absolutely hate and despise living far away from my mom. I haven't seen her since January and that is just way too long.

6. I love fashion. I don't talk about it much on here because I worry I'd bore my readers but shopping is definitely my favorite past-time and I love it when people ask me for advice on what to wear or borrow my clothes.

7. I am really mad at myself for cutting my hair short after my wedding. I love long hair and am patiently waiting for mine to grow.

8. I can't wear high heels. I'm a wimp.

9. I don't think like I'm experiencing everything LA has to offer because it is so expensive. I feel like I live most of my life saying, "someday..."

10. I am terrified that we will wait a long time to start trying for babies and then I won't ever get pregnant. My ultimate goal in life is to be a mommy. If I don't get pregnant, we WILL adopt.

ok, I'm going to "tag" 5 of my favorite LA bloggy ladies..
Dugout Daisy
For Your Consideration.. Lauren Parrent
The Newlyweds Next Door
Chances are..
Hanako66
*it's okay if you don't want to do this, i promise i won't be mad :)

Matt in La La Land

Today you're going to get the pleasure of hearing from Matt, who has been a great friend of mine since high school -- he is also enjoying life in La La Land! I hope you enjoy his sense of humor as much as I do!

I have been an avid fan of Ali’s blog since the beginning, and I feel honored to be a guest writer for the day. She recently told me she was hitting some writer’s blocks, so I’m going to take advantage of this and let everyone know a few things that have been on my mind lately.

I hate Susan Boyle.

I started hearing about her in the news about a month ago, and how amazing of a singer she was. With her grandmotherly appearance, she became an internet phenomenon with her underdog story of success, singing in her local church choir. Eventually, I grew curious enough to find her on youtube. All of her videos had millions of views, five stars across the board. I knew this was going to be spectacular…

And then it wasn’t. I’ve never felt so short changed in my entire life. She was so-so at best, missing notes throughout her whole song. As days passed, her popularity only grew, and everyone kept talking about how amazing she was. Well, I wasn’t buying into the hype, and I’ve grown to despise her. Every time I see that stupid smile and frizzy gray hair, I hope and pray it’s my last


Subway sandwiches go bad after 20 minutes.

The announcement of $5 footlongs has been one of the most exciting things that have happened to me within the last year (besides getting married and moving across the country, of course). I love Subway and could eat it a few times a week without getting sick of it. Just yesterday, I had my favorite sandwich: turkey with “the works” and a strip of honey mustard.

My word of warning: Eat quickly, and don’t save your leftovers. Subway sandwiches are really gross after 20 minutes. We’ve all put our other 6 inches in the fridge for a later meal, and the soggy mess always grosses us out. Yet, we keep doing it. I’ve even toasted my sandwich to dry out the wet bread, which actually helps a little, but it still doesn’t solve this gross problem.


Finally, wobbly chairs and tables are the worst.

You sit down for lunch at your favorite local café to realize in horror that not only is your chair wobbly, but so is the ENTIRE TABLE. Every elbow rests spills water, and nobody can agree on which way it should sit. If you’ve ever run into this problem with me, I don’t hesitate to take a wad of napkins and stuff it under the short leg. I highly recommend this successful technique.


I guess the point I’m trying to make is that if you ever find yourself eating a soggy Subway sandwich on a wobbly table, and you happen to notice Susan Boyle sitting right next to you, just run as far and fast as you can. Life is too short to deal with those types of difficult situations.

Flea Marketing

On Sunday the gloom lifted. I now think I should have taken that sunshine to the beach but hindsight is 20/20, right? Instead, we headed to the Melrose Trading Post flea market on the corner of Fairfax & Melrose! I'm glad we went because it was a fun thrifting experience. There were hundreds of vendors set up in the school parking lot selling everything from artwork, home goods, clothing, jewlwery, old books and movies, and even bin's filled with random pictures. I ended up coming home with some handmade jewelry, a bracelet and beautiful necklace. There were about a million other things I wanted to buy and plan to go back another day when I have some more cash laying around. We discussed that a flea market is like taking all the best things you'd find at thrift stores and putting them all in one place! And in case you were wondering, random flea market finds like this are reason #122 that I love living in LA!

June Gloom

Greetings from LaLa Land. I'm here to tell you that it's not always sunny in Los Angeles. This is a recent discovery for me as we entered the time affectionately (or notsomuch) called June Gloom by fellow Angelenos. This is no joke, this month of gloom and I'm officially not a fan. Wikipedia, which I know ALWAYS tells me the truth (joking) says that the gloom is prevalent in many parts of the world where marine stratus clouds* are common and in certain seasons they blow ashore and create the gloomy weather.

So anyway, I'm sick of it and I want my sunny beach days back. I think Mother Nature reads the dear ole' bloggy and I hope that she hears my complaints.

For now.. I'll be dreaming of July..

*I may or may not have taken a class in college called Weather & Climate and I may or may not have gotten a D in said class, being why I may or may not know anything about clouds.

Girl's Guide To Movies

I absolutely loved this movie. If you are a fan of indie, romantic comedies (that aren't always completely romantic/happy endingish) or Sundance films then you will love this movie as much as I did. Zooey is adorable, she's a great actress. Joseph Gordan Levitt, perfect for this role, I've missed him! The poster says "It's not a love story, it's a story about love" which describes the movie to a tee. As always, I don't want to give away too much of this movie, so I suggest seeing it on your own. The release date is July 17th which brings me to reason #321 that I love living in Los Angeles, FREE advance movie screenings! And yes, Peter loved it too, it's definitely not a chick flick.

Girls Grade: A+

Weekly Mind Dump

1. I've been a bad blogger recently folks. I can blame it on lots of things.. work, nothing to say, writers block, the a-a-a-a-alcohol (haha, thank you Jamie Foxx) but mostly I'm just being lazy! There's always something to write about in blog world, right?

2. On to point number two.. I've heard people talk about "June Gloom" and I was all "yea right, it's always sunny in El Lay" but hello! I was wrong. June is certainly very gloomy, it reminds me of a certain state that starts with an O and ends with hio. I need to know, So Cal girls, when does summer get here?!

3. Lately, I've had the bug to be crafty. My friend and I created a cardigan out of an over-sized cotton shirt (so cute!), used old picture frames to make earring holders, and plan to buy some canvas to paint artwork for our houses. I'm like a regular Martha Stewart over here. (I'll provide some pictures and maybe some easy shmeasy tutorials of my creations in the next few days!)

4. Peter and I are going to a free screening of the indie romantic comedy "500 Days of Summer" tonight. I'm super excited because the film looks so cute. I'll provide a full review tomorrow. For now, here's the trailer for your viewing pleasure..

Ketchup!

My friend Lauren, you've met her before here, had 3 friends visiting from her hometown in Missouri this weekend. We decided we needed to show them some Hollywood swankyness so we visited Ketchup on Sunset Boulevard! If you've followed the Hills for the past few years you'll recognize Ketchup as the place where "Speidi" ran into LC and Jason Wahler. Awesome Hills trivia fact, huh? (With each blog post I realize more and more I am such a dork... is that the point of these things?)

This place is SO cool. I didn't take any pictures inside because, let's face it, I didn't want to look like the loser girl taking pictures of the restaurant. I wanted people to think I'd been there a million times!

Ketchup is considered "upscale" diner food. They have mini-cheesburgers, tacos, and even mac&cheese (I don't think I can ever enjoy Kraft again after tasting this) on the menu. You must order Ketchup's signature fries. The are three different types of fries (including sweet potato, yum!) and five different ketchups (obviously!): wasabi, chipotle, maple, mango and ranch.


The waitstaff was ultra friendly which made the place a lot more likable. If this was Yelp I'd give the place 5 stars. It's fun, different, and oh so Hollywood. Little known fact - Ketchup is half price on Sunday nights but you have to be in "the know." They don't give you half off unless you ask for it!


Oh yea, we saw a "celeb" to all you Lost fanatics, I didn't know who he was, but you might! Mr. Echo?!

Mind Dump

1. I think technology is turning on me. My first generation iPhone is about to bite the dust. It doesn't ring (only vibrates) and is apparently not showing me phone calls considering I've missed a few this weekend that I've never seen. It also decided to stop updating a few months ago.




Also, the internet has suddenly decided to be super slow and not let me load pages half the time. Grr.

2. Did anyone else watch the MTV Movie Awards last night, or am I the only tweeny-bopper still watching that trash? I thought Andy Samberg was hilarious and I loved the performance of his digital shorts. Hilarious if you ask me.

On, that note.. Is Kristen Stewart the most awkward person on the planet? Yes. I think she play's a great Bella because well, Bella is awkward, but come on girl, you looked ridiculous last night. Robert/Edward bugs the crap out of me and after further review I'm officially Team Jacob. Hello Taylor Lautner!



3. I went to Griffith Park again this weekend with some girlfriends and a bird pooped directly on my nose. It was disgusting and disturbing.

4. I have to work until "close" three nights this week. That means I'll be at work past midnight. Ew.

5. I also went to Ketchup on Sunset Blvd. So swanky, so Hollywood. Further review coming soon!