LA Trip Recap

I am waaaaay behind on posting about so many things, so I figured I'd start with finishing the recap of my mom and I's trip to LA and San Diego. 

On the day we went to LA, my mom got a call from her doctor that morning with bad news. (I just realized I never posted an update on her situation!) Her doctor said her scan came back with spots of cancer in her neck and chest- we were not expecting the chest. When she got back to Atlanta, she went in for another scan. They mailed her the results before her doctor called to explain, and she found out that there were two nodules in her lung...this is when I freaked out. Luckily, her doctor called the next morning and said they were benign! PRAISE THE LORD! Now, we just wait for the radioactive iodine to work its magic and kill the cancer in her neck. She'll have blood work done in a couple months, and her doctor is very optimistic that everything will be just fine! It's definitely been a roller coaster of emotions but we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

Okay, onto the recap!

After going to Rodeo Drive, we ventured over to Hollywood Boulevard to see Jimmy Kimmel! Before we went in, we saw all of the famous theaters, including Grauman's Chinese Theater

And the Walk of Fame

And the Roosevelt Hotel

We also saw the premiere of Phineas and Ferb, the movie! We couldn't stick around though since we had a date with Mr. Kimmel :)

I couldn't take any pictures inside of the studio, but this was easily the highlight of our day. I l-o-v-e going to tapings. I've been to TRL back in the day, Regis and Kelly, Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve, and now Jimmy Kimmel. And this one was nothing short of entertaining. 

First, a guy in the audience was incredibly intoxicated and fell asleep during the taping. He may have done something inappropriate, but we couldn't see because huge security men were surrounding him and kicked him out. He yelled out, "I'm under arrest!" on his way out :)

Then, a woman behind us actually made my jaw drop. 

One of the guests on the show for that day was this little boy. He caught a ball at a baseball game and gave it to another little boy who was crying because he didn't catch it. It was SO sweet. Watch it...it'll make you cry!

Right after this segment, they threw some t-shirts out to the audience and one flew right over my head. A girl 2 rows back caught it, and then an old lady in front of her grabbed one of the sleeves and refused to let go. The girl was just as in shock as I was and kept saying, "seriously...I caught it....let go!" but the creepy old lady just stared at her and didn't say a word. This went on for a couple minutes (ridiculous!) until the show started taping again and the producers yelled at the lady to let go. I was a little annoyed when they gave the old lady a shirt!

This lady seriously had the nerve to do this over a t-shirt. Right after this little boy came on the show because of his generosity. Irony at its finest.

Next up: the final post of our trip to San Diego! 

The Perfect Margarita

It's no secret margaritas are my drink of choice. I don't care what I'm eating, what season it is...I will always choose a margarita over any other drink. 

We always want to make margs when we grill out, but my problem is, I hate margarita mix....the kind that you buy in a huge bottle and just add tequila. It tastes like thick syrup and doesn't compare to the fresh margaritas I get at restaurants (I think Chili's still has my favorite one!) So my goal for this weekend was to find the perfect margarita recipe...and I think I found it!

I found several recipes online that sounded good, tried them out, made some changes, and in my opinion, perfected it. Here's my perfect margarita:

Ingredients:

-2 oz tequila

-1 oz triple sec

-2 oz lime juice

-4 tsp of sugar 

-margarita salt

-splash of orange juice

-ice

(alter amounts depending on how strong/sweet you like it)

1. Microwave the lime juice for 30 seconds then stir in sugar until completely dissolved.

2. Combine ice cubes, lime juice, tequila, triple sec, and OJ in a shaker and shake!

3. Dip rim of glass in lime juice, then in salt. 

4. Pour, garnish, and enjoy!

*If you prefer frozen margs, just add all ingredients plus some ice cubes and blend*

Fun Finds

As we've been waiting for our stuff to arrive (it's coming today! finally!), we've had a lot of time to work on the house and buy pretty new things. I've been a bargain hunter and got most of it on clearance. Here's a little sneak peak of our house and what I've already put in it :) 

My string lights....OBSESSED!

lights: partylights.com

vase: Pier 1 ($3)

flowers: Michael's ($1)

Windchime: Big Lots ($6)

Tiki torch: Big Lots ($3)

Peacock: Target ($20...Doug and I just couldn't help ourselves! :)

Amazing Craigslist find! ($120!!) It had a few spots on it that a furniture marker covered right up!

Cute little flower: Pier 1 ($3)

This is still a work in progress- I still have a few things to add!

Sunflower plate: Pier 1 ($7)

Blue pot: Home Depot ($4)

Watering can: Home Depot ($11)

Watering can (I'm obsessed): Lowe's ($18)

Vintage fertilizer box: Free! Previous tenants left it! I think it's pretty :)

Oops....how did that get in there? :)

Road Trip Necessities

Our cross-country road trip was shockingly easy. A huge part of this success was that our pets were perfectly behaved. But here are a few other things that made this adventure a little easier for us:

iExit

This app is amazing! If you are on a highway, it will list what's coming up at each exit. You can also make a list of favorites and it shows you where the closest favorites are....so you can see how long you have to wait for a Starbucks!

GPS

This one's pretty obvious. A GPS is a necessity for road trips.

Cracker Barrel Audio Books

I think this was my favorite thing on the trip. Cracker Barrel has an easy way to get audio books. You can go to any Cracker Barrel and get an audio book for under $4 a week. We listened to Harlan Coben's mystery, Caught, and we both loved it. It was 11 hours so we finished it easily during the trip and dropped it off at a Cracker Barrel in Arizona! It really helped to pass the time and take your mind off of the never-ending driving.

Blogpress

Although this app gave me a little trouble on the second day, it was still great to have. I could write posts while we were on the road to keep y'all my mom updated :)

Sonic

We definitely ate here the most. When you have two animals in the car, you can't exactly leave them to go have a sit down meal. Sonic is very pet friendly so we could walk Maisy while we waited for our food, and they had water bowls out filled with ice water. Plus they have cherry limeades, so it's a win win.

Starbucks, of course

And what would I do without my favorite coffee!? A delicious way to start the day.

Those were our favorite things on the trip. If you've ever done a long trip like this, what were your must haves?

The Time We Found Weed

When Doug and I finally arrived in Irvine after our 3 day road trip, we went straight to our new rental house. We were SO excited to finally be here and be able to start moving stuff into our home! 

Well, I start looking around the kitchen for the garage remotes and open up the top drawer. And sitting inside, nice and neat, is a bag of marijuana.

(this is not the actual picture, just one from google images....I am still kicking myself for not taking a picture of it!)

I yell out to Doug, "WHAT IS THIS!?" So he comes over and smells it, confirming that it is, indeed, weed. 

There was a really small amount in it, and the words "MASTER KUSH" were written on the front. So we urban dictionary the word 'kush' and it turns out it's a term for high quality pot. Sweet.

I start feeling very uncomfortable and am not quite sure what to do with our findings. Illegal drugs make me feel awkward. 

----I decided to remove the rest of the story to protect the identity of the pot heads :) ----

After all of this was over, all I could say was, "Welcome to California!"

GA to CA: Roadtrip Recap

(I had written a lot of this during the trip, but between my blogger app and the hotel internet, it was impossible to post it!)

We made it through the first day! It was actually a lot more fun than we had anticipated.  We drove through Georgia, Alabama, then stopped in Mississippi to see Doug's grandparents, where Maisy made a new friend, a sweet poodle named Maggie.

As you can see, we're taking pictures of every state sign. I was driving when we entered Louisiana so you can see the professional quality photos that Doug took. I had to majorly crop it just to see the state name.

He was also in charge of taking pictures of the Mississippi River.....FAIL.

Then we made our way to Shreveport, LA to meet Megan! The post about our awesome blate is here.

On day 2, we drove through all of Texas and into New Mexico, finally making it to Albuquerque for the night.

And on day 3, we drove through the rest of New Mexico, into Arizona, then finally into California!

36 hours of driving later, we made it home last night. We are so surprised and thankful that we didn't have any issues during the trip! We could not be more proud of our little pets- they were just perfect in the car. They slept the entire time and barely made a peep! Such little angels :) I've taken about 4,000 pictures of them, but I'll try to narrow it down and share just a few:

"Get me outta here, Mom!"

Home sweet home, California?