Romantic Birdhouse Mailboxes

Just because I thought I'd be photo-heavy this time, here's a glimpse into our SoCal visit this past weekend. Let me start with a written description. Friday morning we slept in, and hit the road at our convenience...which was amazing. We stopped for coffee in a place much warmer than home, and continued along the 101, marvelling at how different it was from the 5. When we hit Santa Barbara, there were literally dolphins frolicking in the surf along the highway. Amazing. And the weather was absolutely gorgeous and warm. So we cruised along the 1 just for kicks, since we didn't have anywhere to be, and admired the ridiculous houses in Malibu, looked out for celebrity homes, and checked out the view. We finally checked into our hotel in Torrance (thanks, Pop!), dropped our bags, and went on a little dinner date to Red Lobster, which turned out to be a haven for the elderly. Apparently, all of SoCal was Elderly Night or something that Friday, because we were drowning in them. Our dinner was fantastic (never-ending cheddar bay biscuits, anyone?), and a glass of wine helped me relax from the stress of traffic. Ugh. We stopped back at the hotel, and settled in for the night in our big bed.
Saturday, Nolan woke up super early to hit the ER to catch some residents there that he knew, and get to know the place a little better. I woke up a little later, went to the hotel gym to get a workout in, grabbed some breakfast and a leisurely shower, then got all prettied up for an afternoon with Nolan. We drove all around Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach, walked along the beaches and the boardwalks and got to know the areas that we could potentially live in. We went out for lunch at Red Robin, then Nolan took me on a tour of basically all the tourist attractions: Hollywood sign, Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman's, Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills, Westwood (where we stopped for Diddy Riese ice cream sandwiches), and Brentwood, where we hit up the Whole Foods and ran into Jessica Alba and Cash Warren. Excellent first celebrity sighting! Then we stopped off at El Pollo Loco for dinner, because Nolan LOVES that place, went on a mini-shopping spree, and went back to the hotel to sit in the hot tub and read, and watch some tv. Most relaxing day ever.
Next day we grabbed breakfast, packed our things (we decided to head back a day early because we missed home!), and went to Downtown Disney to hang out for the morning. We played with Legos, walked around and explored shops, got some beignets in the New Orleans part, and picked out a sweater-vest for Milo in the build a bear shop. Hah. Then Nolan met up with an old friend for lunch, while I ate and read outside in the sun and just generally relaxed in Brea. Then we hit the road and drove up the 5 back home, where Ash U and Milo were still up waiting for us. Home sweet home.
Apparently he missed us/was pretending to be hungry:


My delicious lunch in the sun:


Nolan playing with legos...


Both of us with our sculpture (that's us standing on top, hah):


Downtown Disney! Sent this picture to my mom and she thought I was at Gold's Gym...?


The line we had to wait in for our Diddy Riese...

The end reward!


One of the tasty beignets from Downtown Disney:


Walking along the beach...with dolphins in the water in the background.