2011 Recap

Unfortunately, time has run away from me again and 2011 is all over and done with!  We were swamped during the Holidays this year and so I'm behind on some of my posts for 2011. Before we move on to 2012, I do want to recount some of the cool things we were able to do before the end of the year

• D's bday - had a wonderful time in West Hollywood. We dined at this super trendy restaurant called AOC, followed by a concert at the House of Blues where Steel Panther was the headliner. They're a spoof band similar to Spinal Tap, but more in line with the 80's glam rock.  Here are some pics from the night:

•  Chicago/Wisconsin Thanksgiving Vacation - D and I spent a week right before Thanksgiving visiting friends and family in the Midwest. We started the trip off with a Notre Dame football game, followed by a day in Chicago visiting old family spots and the Sears Tower (Willis Tower), a quick day in Milwaukee, a quick visit with friends in Brookfield, and lastly a family reunion surrounding D's grandma's 80th birthday celebration. Whirlwind trip, but we had a complete blast!  Even handled the weather fairly well too . . . even though everyone kept saying, "Oh the weather's great!  Its only 50 degrees out!" Silly SoCal transplants! Here are some pics from our time in South Bend and in Chicago:

My Oma's house in Chicago

D's house when he was a born

• Wedding #3 - D and I flew the weekend after Thanksgiving to his cousin's wedding in Phoenix. We were only there for 24 hours, but had a blast at the wedding and catching up with his other side of the family. OH! And we just happened to go to Alice Cooper's restaurant for lunch. Great bar scene and I had to pick up a couple souvenir t-shirts too . . . yes, as in more than one. Here are some pics from the wedding:

• The next weekend we were in SF. I was up for the year-end business meeting and holiday party, and we stayed the weekend to act as god parents for the baptism of good friend's daughter. Don't have any pics of that to share, but we felt truly honored to be part of her special day. Plus it was my first time meeting the little lady!
• Between these trips, I had a couple business trips thrown in too. All in all, I was on 16 different flights in 5 weeks.  I love to travel, but man was I happy to be grounded for a bit after that!
• Had a lovely little Christmas at home with D's parents. D and I were alone on our own on Christmas Eve and spent the day hiking, watching movies, and cooking up food. I did my first turkey for Christmas day too!  Turned out fairly well, learned some good lessons for next year :)
• Although D had to work on New Year's Eve, he was off on the 30th and we decided on an impromptu date night at Lexington Social House in the heart of Hollywood at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine. After dinner we went to Upright Citizens Brigade for some late night improv. A pretty small stage, but was fun to be sitting in spot where a lot of famous LA comedians had gotten their start (similar to Second City and Groundlings Theater)

And that wraps it up!  Phew. What a way to finish the year!?  Wouldn't have it any other way . . . now bring on 2012!

New Year's Eve

Phew!  Can you believe 2011 is almost over?!  What a year . . . but before I wrap things up for the year, I'll leave you with this lovely little duet . . .

Wedding #2 - Beachside Bash

D and I went to our second wedding this fall at the Catamaran Hotel in the Mission Beach neighborhood of San Diego. The wedding was of a good buddy of D's from college and we had a lot of fun catching up with old friends and I loved hearing a bunch of stories about D's "wild and crazy kids" days in college.  Unfortunately, we didn't have a ton of time in San Diego, as that was the same weekend as the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco. D and I don't have a lot of weekends off together, but the ones we do have, we sure push 'em to the max!

"If you're cool, than I'm cool, than we're cool"

I'm floating on cloud nine. D and I went to a super rad concert last night for one of my favorite R&B singers, Anthony Hamiliton.  I hadn't listened to his music in a long time, but while browsing upcoming concerts, I saw that he was going to perform at Club Nokia in downtown LA. I quickly emailed a link to the concert and asked if D would want to go with me. D said he hadn't heard of Anthony before, but would be down to go. I explained that Anthony was amazing and that he even performed on one of the early episodes of the Dave Chappelle show, that sealed the deal for D and I jumped online to get us tickets.

The days leading up to the concert, I listened to all of my old favorite songs by Anthony and listened to his more recent stuff too.  It was fun listening to my classic college jams, as it swooped my right back to being 20 and in full-swing college mode. I grew more and more excited, but was worried about us being out on a "school night" being too much strain on our busy work schedules. Plus, the last concert I had suggested, ended up in mixed results (ie - the Neon Trees fiasco at OC Fair). Finally, the night of the concert came and D and I headed to downtown.  We grabbed a couple drinks at the JW Marriott and then left for the concert venue. It was a really cool intimate club and the crowd was very lively and excited for Anthony to take the stage.  Once the music started, Anthony's voice was just as lovely and buttery as it is on record. The muscians were amazing and I felt like we were in the middle of gospel church with people all around us clapping and dancing and occassionally yelling out, "Sing It Anthony!!"  I heard all of my favorite songs and some of his new ones too.  Music is such a wonderful thing. I'm so happy we went to see him and feel lucky to be able to take advantage of the music scene here in LA.

If you would like to hear a sampling of Anthony's music, here's a link to a lot of his songs:

http://myplay.com/audio_player/myplay/56/443719/443736?allowBrowsing=1

My favorites are "Cool," "The Day We Met," "Her Hear," "Can't Let Go," "Mama Knew Love," "Charlene," "Since I Seen't You," "Comin Where I Come From" (The song he performed on Dave Chappelle) and "Lucille."  Looks like I've covered most of the list! 

Wedding #1 - Armenian Delight

Its been a busy wedding year for us!  Went to one in the summer, two in the fall, and have one last one to go to early December. D and I both enjoy going to weddings; who doesn't enjoy a festive atmosphere?! The first wedding we went to this fall, was in mid-September on a beautiful warm evening in Pasadena. The wedding was for D's medical school friend, who happened to grow up in a close-knit Armenian community in the LA area. The ceremony was at a lovely Armenian church, which was followed by an elegant outdoor reception at a mansion in Pasadena. I had never been inside an Armenian church before, but was interesting to note the difference between the interior of the church to the American Catholic churches that I had grown up with. The ceremony was split equally between Armenian and English, so we definitely go the gist of what was going on.  There was a really sweet part in the ceremony where the bride and groom rested their foreheads against each other and looked into each other's eyes and "breathed in each other's souls." After the ceremony, we headed to the outdoor gardens of a nearby mansion and were greeted with refreshing glasses of hibiscus lemonade. The food was outstanding and the bride and groom looked so utterly happy. My favorite part of the food was the gelato bar for dessert! A perfectly sweet ending to a lovely evening. Congrats M & A!

 

Half the Sky

Just saw an ad for this exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in LA and can't wait to go see it!

Women Hold Up Half the Sky

The exhibit is based on the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, including pictures, stories, and the beginning of a documentary! I've talked before about how this book really opened my eyes about the treatment of women and young girls in other parts of the world.  Highly recommend it if you're looking for a good non-fiction book.  A little heavy at times, but very inspiring.

I'll let you know how the exhibit turns out!

Wineos

D and I did an overnight trip to Santa Barbara wine country in July.  I recognize that it is now October (where the heck did all the time go?!), but I think it’s still fun to revisit our trip. I heart Santa Barbara and could definitely commit to living there. Its go beaches, mountains, and wine!  A fabulous combination with only occasional spouts of bad weather (June Gloom is pretty oppressive . . . but I guess that’s merely by Socal standards). Anyway, back to our trip . . .

We drove up from LA and went straight to the Santa Ynez Valley. D used to live in a small town outside of Napa, and since we hadn't made it to any wineries since we moved to SoCal, we were pretty over due for this trip. In fact, one of our first dates was an outing to some wineries in Napa! Without a particular route in mind, we kind of followed the same  trail that the wineos used in the movie "Sideways,” but luckily we avoided all of the kerfuffles that the movie's two main characters got into. My favorite part of visiting wineries, other than the wine tasting, is talking with the tasting room attendants. D and I are educated wine drinkers, but definitely not snobs about it. We really enjoy learning about the whole process of making wine and also all of the vineyard dramas that go along with it. My Alma Matter, Washington State University, began offering a Wine Business Management degree right after I graduated from grad school. Since leaving WSU, I’ve wondered if that major had been available while I was in undergrad, if I would have pursued it rather than my Hospitality Business Management degree. Hmmmm  . . .we shall never know! After our winery tour and checking into our little hotel in Solvang, we went to dinner at the Hitching Post (which was also in the movie and is a local favorite). Dinner was delicious and the Pinot was even better! The next morning we packed our car up with an array of clinking wine glasses and bottled concoctions, and made on last stop before heading home. We stopped in Solvang to sample their delicious butter cookies. Although we resisted buying the 5 lb. drum of cookies, we definitely snagged a few for the road, ending our trip on a wonderfully sweet note.

Bridlewood Estate Winery - just bought by Gallo Wines

Firestone Vineyard - Owned by the same family who started Firestone tires

Foxen Vineyard - They tried to sell us a Pinot that they called the "Watermelon Jolly Rancher"

Curtis Vineyards

Hitching Post in Buellton

 

 

Downtown Solvang