Psst…chalkboard idea borrowed from another Hawkeye mama!

We contemplated moving away from the Westside. Downtown was looking trendy and fun. We even found a super cool loft with exposed brick and huge windows. We almost pulled the trigger but decided maybe we weren’t downtown people. Eh, back to the drawing board for a couple months. Then, THEN! I found a glorious Craig’s List posting describing our unicorn of an apartment. Matt and I sped over there and were sold in about 2 seconds. We move in this weekend. This has given us approximately 10 days to pack all of our stuff and get ready for the movers to arrive on Sunday.

Things are slow going. I am the person who wants to clear the clutter, trash any un-used items and start off with a lighter amount of stuff in our new place. Matt, well, he does not. He LOVES to get all nostalgic packing the boxes. It doesn’t matter if we’re packing mementos from our wedding or last year’s tax return. Every item needs to be carefully reflected upon and then saved. Lord almighty, he’s a saver. We’ve come up with a basic solution. I’m packing the boxes and hoping he doesn’t miss anything I toss/donate/sell on Craig’s List.

So, we will be back to share photos of the new place (our camera cord is currently packed up) and give you the run down on how hiring movers (fancy!) for the first time went down. In the meantime, tell me your packing mantra: toss it or save it?

psst: Ridiculous/awesome unicorn picture found here. All other fuzzy pictures courtesy of my awesome cell phone camera.

We felt a little sheepish handy over our twenty bucks but without a doubt I can say, it was worth it. I personally could skip the craziness that is Hollywood. There isn’t anywhere to park, there are million people milling around (with strollers!) and I can’t handle getting hustled by some “actor” dressed up as some blue man from Avatar. Exit soapbox. Ahem.

But the tour? It was fabulous! It was an hour long and we had great guide and perfect seats. Honestly, if you want to see Hollywood, this is the way to do it. You hit all of the hotspots and our guide pointed out buildings and scenes from movies that we never would have know/noticed had we driven around solo.

Our guide had plenty of stories to go along with all of our stops. I can’t remember them all and I’m pretty sure there was some heavy improv going on but it was fun.

You definitely have to keep your camera handy throughout the tour. We coasted right by a few landmarks that I wished I could have grabbed a photo of.

The Whiskey a Go Go. Bonus billboard of Betty White!

The Laugh Factory. Where the likes of Tim Allen, Drew Carey and Wanda Sykes (love her!) got their start.

Definitely a must-do if you’re in town and want to see Hollywood. Skip the walking tours and hop on a bus! What’s the most touristy thing you’ve done? We are always ending up at some tourist trap, whatever city we visit. Hard Rock Café, anyone?

We spent our first day soaking in the sun on the beach and doing a little bar crawl along the boardwalk. Big Deans, The Whaler and The Waterfront Café if you’re ever in the area and in need of adult beverages and an ocean breeze. We felt extra cool on our bicycle built for two. The boys were slightly mortified.

Day two was spent taking in the fanciness that is Beverly Hills. I can’t help myself, every time we pass the Beverly Hills sign I start singing Cookie Time from Troop Beverly Hills.

Here we are in all of our touristy glory!

We made a quick detour for Sprinkles Cupcakes (Red Velvet for me and Blueberry Lemonade for Matt) on our way to Hollywood for our Starline Double Decker Bus Tour. But that adventure deserves its own post. I mean it is on our Sand Bucket List and all!

We spent another day at The Grove hunting celebrities. We saw AC Slater filming his show Extra and Vince Vaughn. For journalistic integrity I will conceded that the boys were the ones who actually saw Vince Vaughn. Mel and I were too busy scouring the sales racks at Anthropologie. Executive decisions were made that it still counts as a celebrity sighting because we have a picture. So there.

After our brush with celebrity fame we were off to the Dodgers Game. New Dodger gear for the boys. I find this traitorous as they are both Cubs fans.

Another celeb sighting at the Dodgers Game. Nakia from The Voice belted out the Star Spangled Banner and Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

We wrapped up the last day of whirlwind fun at Universal Studios. Plenty of fun and food was enjoyed there!

Whew! Just recapping our adventures makes me tired. We had so much fun with our Iowa pals and can’t wait to have them back. Hopefully they’ll bring their super cute baby Emma with them next time!

What’s the most touristy thing you’ve done while on vacation? Ever rode a bicycle built for two?

1. Everyone needs some good summer time tunes. Kenny Chesney is my main man to set the drinking, grilling, good time state of mind.

2. I, along with the rest of the blog-o-sphere are in love with these outdoor pillows. At $24 for 2 you can’t beat the price. I think these will be making an appearance on our patio shortly.

3. Toms. These comfy, casual shoes are rocking my world. I had never heard of them until we moved out West. The company is actually located about 5 blocks from our place. I love their styles and their mission. For every pair of shoes purchased, a child in need gets a pair.

4. Homemade ice cream. I don’t think there is anything better! We have the Ahrens’ secret family recipe that we’ll be relying on this year to beat the heat.

5. My beloved Townie. I can’t stress how much I love this bike. It’s pink, it’s a cruiser and it has gears. Glorious.

6. The smell of burgers on the grill is the official sign “it’s summer!” We were gifted this fabulous grill for Christmas. We need to put it in a place of honor instead of balancing precariously on our old bench.

So, what’s your favorite season? Any summer time must haves that I need to add to my list?

Our family friend who works at Gallo Wines suggested that we take the cellar tour at Bridlewood Winery. I definitely recommend it! Our wine tour guide (Amy?) took us to the cellar where they do all of the barreling and aging.

We were able to taste 2 wines that won’t even be able to purchase until 2012. They were pretty delicious and had an almost a bubbly taste. Our guide said that was due to the fact they hadn’t been bottled yet.

We learned a lot about the actual process of wine making which was really interesting and fun since we’re definitely novices. This winery hand harvests their fruit and bottles everything on site.

After the cellar tour we took a horse drawn carriage around the property. The estate was originally an Arabian horse rehabilitation center. The pond below was used for water therapy before they added a hydro-therapy pool.

These are the Syrah grapes that are grown on the property. This winery boasts the 5th best Syrah in the world. We were lucky enough to have a taste. Delicious and I don’t even like red wine that much.

We definitely left the winery stocked up on wine and Matt’s parents even signed up for the monthly wine club.

We had a great time in Santa Ynez and will definitely be back. My favorite wine was the Reserve Viognier. It was so crisp and fresh. What’s your favorite kind of wine? Have you been wine tasting lately, where should we visit next?

This place was so great! It was a lot different than a regular zoo. The animals are all grouped by their natural habitat and are allowed to roam around with other animals (with fences around the perimeter).

We loved seeing all of the animals interact with other species that are normally found in their natural habitat. Of course, they keep the predatory animals by themselves. No one wants to see a gazelle get mauled on the safari.

The best part of the day was while we were out at the African viewing spot and there was a stampede of animals. It seriously looked like the beginning of the Lion King.

THEN…the pack (herd?) of Rhinoceroses came right up to the viewing platform. It was so cool. I felt a little geeky about getting so excited but it was amazing.

This wasn’t taken with a zoom lens. So cool!

Here we are all geeked out over the African Outpost.

We then hopped on the African Tram Safari and got an up close and personal with the animals.

Moral of the story…we loved it and would happily visit again. Plus, we got to cross off one more thing from our Sand Bucket List. So tell us, how did you spend Mother’s Day? Have you ever been on safari, at the zoo or in the wild?

So, in other life altering news, I dyed my hair brown. I know. Crazy, right?

Before…more blonde than nature intended. I tried to find a picture that was closest to my natural hair color but apparently my archives don’t go back that far. Ahem.

After…brown hair! Whew! It’s a lot darker than I thought it was going to be but after a few days of living with it, I think I like it! Sorry for the phone pic, I haven’t quite mastered the art of the self portrait via iPhone.

So, what do you say? Love it, hate it? Care more about how I took that snazzy “after” pic? Instagram, if you must know.

David Bowie awesomeness found here

If you have a chance to visit the Natural History Museum I would definitely recommend it. The building itself is really neat and there are tons of different exhibits. These 2 greeted us as we entered the museum.

I love how each of the exhibits were set up. It included the animals and their typical natural habitat. I thought this looked really realistic!

After checking out the African exhibits we learned about the evolution of different animals. Look how big pre-historic bears were!

This is why I don’t camp. I wouldn’t stand a chance with a bear.

The skeleton of the Wooly Mammoth was huge. It was kind of crazy standing next to it.

After the museum we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Mercado La Paloma. A great Saturday date for under $25. You can’t beat that…and we’ve checked another to-do off of our Sand Bucket List. Hurrah!

So tell us, what’s the last artsy, fartsy thing that you’ve been to? We’re you as surprised as we were to enjoy it as much as your 3rd grade field trip?

I love how everyone in the neighborhood goes all out. Santa even made a visit for all of the neighborhood kids.

So, do you have a neighborhood that you love to visit during the holidays? Maybe you’re one of the crazies stringing up all 10,534 lights Clark Griswold style. Do tell!