Valentine's Day 2012 -- our In-N-Out tradition

Our Valentine's Day tradition is to go to In-N-Out for dinner. Many years ago we were frustrated at how difficult it was to get a reservation at a nice restaurant on Valentine's Day. One restaurant owner even encouraged me to come the day before V Day because he said they bring in more tables and chairs because it's such a busy night. Rubbing elbows with a stranger didn't sound very romantic to me, so I suggested we go to In-N-Out to celebrate the day. It was a great idea--the restaurant was empty and the food was delicious. Over the years we've continued the tradition and while some of our friends thought it was weird at first, I know a few of them have done the same thing as well!  When the economy took a downturn a few years ago we noticed that there were a lot more people who had our idea and so we no longer get the restaurant to ourselves, but we're going on our 10th year of spending the evening feeding french fries to each other.

Chris gets the double-double and I get the grilled cheese animal style since I am a vegetarian. If you're not getting it animal style you're doing it all wrong!

From Valentine's Day 2012

Thanksgiving 2011 in LA

I realize this is severely overdue but it was a great time so I want to remember it!  Chris and I hosted his mom, sister and her boyfriend at our house over Thanksgiving 2011.

Jessica and Noah are huge Boise State fans and they happened to be playing San Diego State that weekend

From Thanksgiving 2011 in LA

From Thanksgiving 2011 in LA

Jessica and Noah in Kenneth Hahn Park near our house

From Thanksgiving 2011 in LA

Downtown LA from Kenneth Hahn Park (the largest urban park in America)

From Thanksgiving 2011 in LA

Jumping for joy at Roscoes!

From Thanksgiving 2011 in LA

This was the first opportunity I've had to use our china!

From Thanksgiving 2011 in LA

Southern Thanksgiving--my favorite meal! Cornbread dressing, sweet potato casserole and pintos!

From Thanksgiving 2011 in LA

Really proud of my cornbread (took 3 tries to make it right. Who knew white corn meal was so difficult to find in LA?) From Thanksgiving 2011 in LA

From Thanksgiving 2011 in LA

When I was a child I used to beg my parents to put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, but they couldn't always be convinced. Now I'm an adult and can do whatever I want! Ha! Our annual photo by "the chosen tree" at the Delancey Street Foundation Christmas tree lot--a tradition!

From Thanksgiving 2011 in LA

From Thanksgiving 2011 in LA

Day after Thanksgiving dinner at STREET by Susan Feniger

From Thanksgiving 2011 in LA

Riley the fire dog

We recently took Riley to a local fire station. He is usually snoozing in the middle of the day, so he wasn't too photogenic. However, he did love the fireman!

From Riley at the Fire Station

From Riley at the Fire Station

From Riley at the Fire Station

From Riley at the Fire Station

From Riley at the Fire Station

From Riley at the Fire Station

From Riley at the Fire Station

Progress on our house

I've been missing from the blog lately because all my time is focused on our home renovations. I will post some before and after photos later but I wanted to share this recent picture of our house. We took the big black screen off the front and it has really opened up the front of our house.

From Our first home

We are homeowners!

Sorry I've been gone for a while, my time has been filled with moving and remodeling! We are homeowners!

From New Album 7/9/10 4:19 PM

30th birthday part 2

A few weeks after I returned from Spain I had another birthday weekend! A few friends helped me celebrate in Malibu:

From 30thbday weekend

At the Pepperdine Heroes Garden overlooking the Pacific with my friend Michelle

From 30thbday weekend

The whole group (L to R) Jason, Michelle, Jon, me, Chris, Jessica, Noah, Eddie, Jessica (my travel partner in Spain) and Erin

From 30thbday weekend

From 30thbday weekend

I love jumping pictures!

From 30thbday weekend

The girls got our hair done at Drybar in Brentwood

From 30thbday weekend

Chris and Eddie have known each other since kindergarten!

From 30thbday weekend

My friends Jon and Michelle

From 30thbday weekend

With my birthday dessert

From 30thbday weekend

From 30thbday weekend

At dinner with our friends, Jason and Michelle

From 30thbday weekend

From 30thbday weekend

From 30thbday weekend

Wildflowers at Carrizo Plain National Monument

Chris and I have been looking forward to seeing some wildflowers this spring. Even though we live in a desert, there are many opportunities to see wildflowers this time of year. Within a short drive any any direction (except west, obviously) we can see so many different things!

The Carrizo Plain National Monument is about 3 hours north of our house in LA. This area was established in 1988 to protect habitat for endangered species and to restore native ecosystems. It is the largest contiguous remnant of the San Joaquin Valley system.

As we were driving down the grapevine (a mountain pass on the 5 Interstate) we saw acres and acres of blue flowers!

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

Obviously my camera does not do the colors of the wildflowers justice! As we turned off the main interstate we started to see more yellows and golds

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

We turned down a dirt road called "7 Mile Road". It wasn't long before we saw this jackrabbit with the biggest ears I've EVER SEEN--at least 5 inches tall (not a great picture, but I had to include it)

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

We got out and let Riley sniff around. Here is my new favorite picture of him

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

Here he is looking like the Joker again:

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

This is the Temblor Mountain Range. We drove over these mountains to get into the Carrizo Plain and at the base of them lies the San Andreas Fault Line! Look at the wildflowers covering the mountains.

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

This is Soda Lake. It is a (mostly) dry lake throughout the year with a surface crust containing about 82% anhydrous (lacking water) sodium sulfate, 9% sodium chloride (table salt) and 9% miscellaneous salts.

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

Before the Carrizo Plain became federally protected area, there was to be a working ranch on the plain and some of the machinery is still sitting here

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

These ponds are directly on top of the San Andreas Fault

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

We drove back home through the Los Padres National Forest where there was still snow on the ground!

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

Riley snoozed the whole way home

From Carrizo Plain National Monument

If you'd like to see all our pictures from Carrizo Plain National Monument click here.