Look, A Whale!

As I mentioned last week, Doug's mom came to visit us and we crossed several more things off of our California Bucket List! 

First, we took her to Venice Beach! I don't think I've really written about this place at all, and it's probably because I never take pictures while I'm there. Half of the stuff would be inappropriate to put on the blog anyways, so I just don't even bother! ha! But it's actually really fun and VERY entertaining. 

Anyone fans of the show Storage Wars?? We are! We finally visited Jarrod and Brandi's store, which is like 15 minutes from our house, and I bought a paper cutter! It is a great addition to my crafting desk! :)

And then the highlight of the weekend - whale watching! Doug and I had been dying to do this and it did not disappoint!

We saw a ton of dolphins and seals during a 'feeding frenzy'

Doug said this looked like Maisy....mean!

The boat had this underwater capsule, but it was a little too much for this slightly claustrophobic girl! 

We saw a whale! 

I know these pictures aren't the best, but it was incredible to see! They showed us a picture of the type of whale we saw, and it was amazing how much there was of him that we couldn't see under water!

It was freezing!

If you ever find yourself in Southern California, make sure to take one of these tours! 

Monday Ramblings

-Last Thursday, we lost a family member on Doug's side of the family. I feel that it's not my place to share any more about it on here, but I hope that those sweet family members who were affected by this tragedy know that we were thinking about them and praying for them all weekend. 

-Since we've been so busy lately, Doug and I decided to have a low-key weekend. We did a little shopping, a little movie-watching (The Bodyguard and This Means War- it was hilarious! I highly recommend it!), and lots of good food. Today we went to Dave and Buster's and enjoyed every minute of the games we played. We are probably the most competitive couple you'll ever meet. We thrive on it!

-I have some big plans coming up in March. I'm going to Vegas for the first time, and then the following weekend I'm going home. I've been trying to get skinny for it, but I am having a hard time putting. down. the. chocolate. However, I have been more successful with the fitness aspect! Now that I'm nannying, I make sure to take the sweet baby on a walk everyday. 35 minutes, uphill, pushing a stroller...I can already feel a (little) difference!

-I saw my first chinchilla last week. Ohhhh my goodness, that is the cutest thing ever and I want need one. Hey- my birthday's in a month! ;)

-I'm realizing I really don't have that much to talk about right now. So when all else fails, why not just show y'all some cute pictures of Maisy! :)

I just can't help but smile at that last one! She is definitely more person than dog!

California Bucket List

To say there's a lot to do in SoCal would be a huge understatement. So to make sure we see everything we want to see, we decided to make a California Bucket List. We've done a lot of it already (those are crossed out and linked to the post where I wrote about it). If you have any other suggestions, please leave a comment! We want to make sure we see it all!

Orange County

-Irvine Hot Air Balloon

-Disneyland

-Dog beach

-Whale watching

-Balboa Island (and here)

-Angels game

-Laguna Beach

-Huntington Beach

-Newport Beach

Los Angeles

-Warner Bros Studio Tour

-Universal Studios
-Bachelor Pad finale taping

-Hollywood Sign

-TMZ Tour

-Santa Monica/Malibu

-Hollywood Boulevard (here, here and here)

-Ellen taping

-Dodgers game

-Jimmy Kimmel taping (here and here)

-Rodeo Drive (and here)

-The Grove (here and here)

-Venice Beach

San Diego

-Sea World

-Safari Park

-Gas Lamp District

-Padres game

-Zoo

-La Jolla

-Del Mar

-Balboa Parkhttp://www.thesmittenmintons.com/2012/06/girls-day-on-balboa-island.html

Doug's Half Marathon! (And Celebrities!)

Last Sunday was a proud day for us! Doug completed his first half marathon! He did the Rock 'n Roll Marathon in Pasadena, and it turned out to be fun for both of us! Because....there were FAMOUS PEOPLE there! If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you'll know that I have a bit of an obsession with all things celebrity. And it just so happened that these celebs are stars of one of my all-time favorite shows, Grey's Anatomy!

That's right....Dr. Miranda Bailey, Alex Karev, and Teddy Altman were there! (AKA Chandra Wilson, Justin Chambers, and Kim Raver)

You could say that I flipped out. But that might be an understatement. 

Joey McIntyre (from NKOTB...duh) was also running the race! 

Okay, back to Doug! Here's some pictures from the day:

(1st place)

Elvis

Gumby

Banana Man

My weird husband finishing the race

I was a very proud wife that day! 

Monday Ramblings

-As I mentioned on my last post, I am throwing a baby shower. It is probably my favorite thing to do. I am OBSESSED with crafting right now. OBSESSED!

-Some might say that I also have an obsession with creamer. Too much?

I bought out our grocery store of the Peppermint Mocha, since it is only out once a year! :)

-I made this chore chart a long time ago and always forgot to post about it. I'm terrible at keeping our house clean, but this makes it a lot easier. Only a few things each day, so I never have to do it all at once when we are expecting company! It also helps with forgetful husbands :) (I need to buy white board cleaner...it looks a lot worse in pictures than in person!)

-I am LOVING my job. The baby is the sweetest thing, and she is also one of the prettiest babies I've ever seen. I don't want to post pictures of her on here without asking her parents, and that would be a pretty weird conversation if I did ask! haha So here's one that I can show you!

-I video-chatted with my 2 besties a couple weeks ago. We enjoyed using the features on google chat :) Love these two!

-I just bought the Hunger Games series...I can't wait to get started! But from what I hear, I think I need to choose wisely on when to read them, since I will mostly likely be unable to put them down!

-Has anyone had the Keratin treatment? It sounds pretty appealing to this frizzy-headed girl, but I don't want it to take the curl out of my hair. (I know my mom is screaming "NOOOOO!!!" while reading this....don't worry Mom, I haven't decided for sure yet!)

Wouldn't this be nice!

Take 3

This is a little recap of my third, yes third, SoCal Meet-Up! Obsessed much!?

Ashley, Britney, and Stephanie met at my house so we could all carpool together. Our first stop was Del Mar for brunch!

Ashley and me

We met a few other girls there, too!

My french toast was AMAZING

After brunch, we walked down to the beach and took in the gorgeous view.


Unfortunately, during the group picture, Leeann was pooped on by a bird :(

Britney, me, and Stephanie

Then it was off to the meet-up!

There were over 60 bloggers at this one! The hosts did such an amazing job. They even had a raffle prize for each person! I won this print of San Diego's beach towns. But then I met this adorable surfer girl, Devon, and knew that this print was meant for her!

Britney, Ashley, me

And I finally got to meet Katie! Love this girl!

After the meet-up, we walked down to the beach to see some adorable seals. They did not disappoint.

*Thanks to Ashley and Katrina Irene Photography for the pictures! I can only take credit for the last 2! :)