My Mom is Moving Back!

Six years ago my Mom took a job in Boston. 

 It was supposed to be for a year. But she fell in love with the job and the city so she stayed for five more years. 

 

So for six years my Dad and her have been doing the "bi-costal thing", flying cross-country a lot and living in two homes. 

And I've sure enjoyed visiting them in Boston several times. 

 

Momma's office in 2009.

But I must say that I'm more than a little bit happy that she's leaving her job in Boston....

And she's going going, back back, to Cali Cali!

Next month The Mr. and I are going out to visit her one last time before she leaves Boston. And then, at the end of July, for the first time in 11 years, she and I will BOTH be San Diego residents. How's that for crazy timing?

This & That: Olympic Trials, Cooking, Hair and More...

It's been a while since I've had a good ole fashioned "random" post so here goes... 

1. Tomorrow, my brother-in-law is running in the OLYMPIC TRIALS! He's running the 800m in Track. He's a long shot to make it to the Olympics, but I'll cheering him on from home like crazy (the trials are in Eugene, OR and televised NBC Sports Network). We're so excited for him and proud of him!

2. On Saturday I have my company's annual party at The Edison in Downtown LA. I'm so excited to go to this venue. I hear it's amazing! The theme is 1920s and I'm not dressing up. I don't love that theme and I just did that in November.  The party should still be blast though.

3. I couple of weeks ago I put this little gift in the front seat of The Mr.'s car on a Sunday night so he'd find it on Monday morning when he got in the car to drive to work. I got the idea to do something unexpected and nice for my husband on The Dating Divas website. They have such cute ideas! He loved it.

4. The Mr. texted me this picture of our cat, Judah, the other day. I died. So cute!

5. I recently bought these Ria Summer Drink glasses from Crate and Barrel. I love how they match our house perfectly. And they are such sturdy glasses (I hate how breakable a lot of margarita glasses are).

6. I decided that I need to "pin" less and cook more from my recipe folder on Pinterest. So I made Grilled Corn Orzo Salad with Chili-Lime Vinaigrette from Iowa Girl Eats. It was AMAZING! I'll be making this again. Such a wonderful summer salad and it tastes great with Mexican beer.

7. The Mr. made Tequila Lime Chicken on his new Char-Broil Infrared Grill to go with the orzo salad. It was really good!

8. I mentioned that I cleaned out a bunch of old pictures from my parents house of me in high school and college. From the high school ones, I picked a few favorites and made this frame. It's now on my desk at home. I love seeing how little we were! I'm so lucky to still be friends with most of these girls.

9. Looking though old pictures made me want to grow my hair out. Here's a pic of me a couple of years ago with longer hair. I want it to be that length or longer again. Any tips for growing my hair out?

10. Speaking of growing my hair out, I think I need to wash and dry my hair less, which makes me think I should invest in some dry shampoo. What's your favorite dry shampoo? 

Adventures in the Windy City

Last weekend we spent three days in Chicago!

 

The trip had two purposes. 1) to help my grandma move out her old house. 2) to introduce The Mr. to Chicago since he'd never been there! 

We spent the first day packing up and cleaning out my grandma's old house. She lived in this house since 1951!

She's been living in an assisted-living retirement home for almost a year, so needless to say there was some pretty gross stuff to clean out. Like really old food. YUM!

That night we saw a comedy show at Second City (improv and sketch comedy). Second City has launched the careers of TONS of SNL stars. It was hilarious!

On day two we continued to clean out the house and pack up stuff to ship to CA for me and my parents.

That night we went with my parents to Greek Town to a Greek Islands restaurant for yummy Greek food.

The we drove around the city and saw University of Illinois Chicago where my dad went to college. Then we looked at the gorgeous city lights from the Adler Planetarium.

On the third day we took a massive tour of Chicago. We walked all around the loop.

We went up to the top of Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower)

They have this cool thing now where you can walk on these enclosed glass ledges. Pretty awesome and surprisingly thrilling.

My mom kept trying to take a picture of us with my iPhone, but kept failing. She finally got one and I just love the looks on our faces. Pure disgust.

Then we went over to Millennium Park.

 

I couldn't believe so many kids were playing in fountain! But there looked like they were having so much fun it was a blast to watch.

 

 Next we went over to THE BEAN! 

It's such a fun piece of interactive art.

 Then we walked around some more in Millennium park.

After that we took a quick taxi over to Navy Pier to walk around and get a drink. 

It was SUCH as pretty day.

We ended out tour with a water taxi from Navy Pier back to where our car was parked by Willis Tower. It was really fun to boat in the river.

Next time we go I want to go to more museums. We just didn't have time this time!

Wedding at the Grand Del Mar

This past weekend a family friend of ours that I've known my entire life got married at the Grand Del Mar in San Diego.

And WOW! What an amazing wedding.


First The Grand Del Mar was amazing. It's like a luxury, modern, Italian palace in the San Diego hills.

My parents were lucky enough to stay the Grand Del Mar. Here's my Mom and I in the lobby. Yes, the wedding was black tie.


The bride and groom got married in the Chapel on site at the Grand Del Mar. Gorgeous chapel!


Here we are, waiting for the ceremony to begin.


And the reception was ah-mazing.

The centerpieces were these giant "trees."


They had a rockin' band called "Energy." And as soon as the Bride and Groom did their first dance we filled up the dance floor for the night!


We also had like 6 courses of amazing food. There goes my diet.


The bride and groom looked so beautiful and happy. And my whole family had an amazing time!

Mother's Day, Luau Bridal Shower, and my BFF is Back!

So this post is a few days late. I hate when bloggers complain about not being able to blog, but seriously work has been kicking. my. butt. So bear with me...

Last weekend was Mother's Day. I was so glad I got to spend the day with my Mommy!

This is one of my new favorite pictures of us -- taken on Mother's Day 2011.

This is what I gave my Mom for Mother's Day. A Blurb Photo Book of all of the trips her and I have taken together. Just our mother-daughter trips.


It includes trips to Lake of the Ozarks, Quincy IL, Chicago, Boston, Salem, San Diego, and New York City.

She loved it!

This Mother's Day was a tough one for me, so I was happy that I was distracted by co-hostessing a bridal shower for my God-Sister (my God-Mother's daughter) on Mother's Day. My Mom and I co-hostessed it with another Mother-Daughter that we're all good friends with. And the shower was mainly Mothers and Daughters that we're close with. Very fun.

Here's some of the fun food and decor. Reminded me a lot of my own 2008 Luau Bridal Shower.


The food was so good and my Mom made amazing Mai Tais!

Here are the hostesses, the bride-to-be (in black and white), and her Mom.


Also, my best friend in the whole world (aka my childhood playmate/maid of honor/almost sister) is BACK from her 2.5 years in Ecuador for the Peace Corps. I missed her SO much. I got to spend a lot of last weekend with her. I am so glad she is back! Sadly, she is moving to Washington DC in August, but I know I'll see her a lot more when she's in DC rather than Ecuador.

Reunited and feels so good!


Are you still best friends with someone from your childhood? Do you see them a lot or a little?

We Are Family!

You may have seen a lot of my pictures of my family on this blog, but you probably don't know much about them. So I though I'd tell you a little bit more about some of the most important people in my life.

My Dad, "The Professor"

As his nickname suggests, he's been a professor of Communication in San Diego for over 30 years. He's published tons of articles (both academic journals and in popular press like, Cosmopolitan Magazine) and several books, and on top of that is an amazing teacher. His students always tell him how much his classes changed thier lives. The Professor is also a marathon runner, a wine connoisseur, and an avid skier. He has always encouraged me to be athletic and even coached my basketball teams when I was growing up. He's an amazing person. I love my Dad.

My Mom, "The Dean"

As her nickname suggest, my Mom is a University Dean in Boston (Yes, she and my Dad are still married, they fly back and forth all the time). She is the ultimate role model of a working Mom. She's had an amazing career but still took time to help me with my homework and watch all my tennis matches. She and my Dad took me on so many amazing trips when I was young and she is still one of my favorite "travel buddies." My Mom is my hero.

I'm an only child so I'm super close to both of my parents. It's hard to say if I'm a "Daddy's Girl" or a "Mama's Girl" because I have a wonderful, close, and unique relationship with both of them.


Since I have a tiiiiny family, I thought I'd tell you a bit about the Mr.'s family too...


His Parents, "The In-Laws"

The In-Laws have their quirks, but overall they are great. I actually think I really lucked out in the in-law department. They are very loving and kind people but also tend to "stay out of our business." I have to really admire my Mother-in-Law for letting me have her first born baby (my husband) and being so chill about that transition. I always enjoy visiting The In-Laws in Portland and going on our annual camping trip together.

His Brothers, "The Nearly-Wed", "The Runner", and "The Student"

The Nearly-Wed is a year younger than me and is getting married in two weeks! He lives and works in Portland and reminds me SO much of The Mr. personality-wise.

The Runner is Sophomore at the University of Oregon and is a star track runner. Currently he holds the fastest 800 meter time of any collegiate runner in the USA! He really could be an Olympic hopeful in 2012 or 2016!

The Student is about to get his Master's degree in Finance in Portland. He's also an fantastic pianist. And he is single. :)

And there's one more person that I didn't want to forget. The only living grandparent that the Mr. or I still have...

My Grandma, "The Scandinavian"

The Scandinavian lived in Sweden until she was two years old and then moved to Chicago. She is now 92 years old and still lives independently in her historic home in Chicago. She is one of the kindest, smartest, most wonderful people that I know. She stays up-to-date on politics and news and always has an interesting opinion to share. And I love her stories from the Great Depression, WWII, and beyond. She has an amazing memory! I'm so lucky that she's lived to be so old so that I've gotten to know her so well.


So that's my lil family! The older I get the more I appreciate my family and see how important they are to me.

Head over to Kelly's Korner to read more about families and share yours!

Everything smells like campfire smoke...

We're back from camping in Ft. Stevens, Oregon and I feel like my whole life smells like smoke.

I've shampooed my hair now twice since camping and I can still smell the campfire in it. I laundered all my clothes, but a few still have a faint smoke smell. Ahhhh, the joys of camping!

The trip was super relaxing and fun.

We played a lot of games and sat around the campfire a lot...


And played Bocce Ball on the beach again...


We also did some great bike rides...


Family bike ride picture! Notice the newest female on the right. Yay, the number of girls is sloooowly catching up with the guys...


Silly family photo in a WWII jeep!


I love the family camping tradition, but I must say sleeping on my plush mattress back at home last night was pure heaven!

Oh and I don't miss the mosquitoes.

Or having to choose between walking 1/2 mile to the restroom or peeing in the woods when I wake up in the night having to go to the bathroom.

But I do love camping.

Just once a year.