La La Land

Have I ever mentioned how in love with Los Angeles I am? You’re probably laughing, right? Because the real question is, when do I NOT mention how in love with Los Angeles I am? Let me just apologize in advance if it’s annoying. One day, I’ll move there and you’ll never have to hear about it again. Maybe ;) I'm still winding down from an L.A. high; four days, four nights in sunny, beautiful SoCal with some of the most awesome ladies I’ve ever met. It’s safe to say that it was one of the best times I have ever had. And it only fed into my desire to live there. Like, now. It’s been nearly two months since I’ve returned and I’m finally finding the time to blog about the epicness that it was!

On Thursday morning, November 4th, I bid farewell to a cold, rainy Atlanta.

See ya! Wouldn't wanna be ya!

One pair of $25 headphones, a 5 hour flight next to a guy with what could only be described as the worst case of halitosis in history, and one midair text from 30,000 feet later, I was ready to hop off the plane at LAX (sorry, I had to)!

What's up Los Angeles?!

I tried to contain my excitement and not sprint through the airport and avoid being arrested. Or to scare CC and Kim away...I needed a ride. And somewhere to sleep. I managed to make it to baggage claim with no incidents to the waiting @CynicallyConvy and @kimmcarr who were there with open arms AND a sign!! #IWin. After retrieving my luggage (no worries, it only took 45 minutes…thanks LAX!) we were off! First stop? In-N-Out!

Don’t judge. You’re just jealous ;)

After devouring every last bite, and spilling my drink in the parking lot (sorry we can't have nice things and thanks Kim for running back in and getting me a new one), we were off to our next destination, to visit @Just2CUsmile at school!!! Holy excitement, Batman!!

We kept quiet as mice (this is a joke) as we made these awesome hand turkeys ;)

Once the kiddos were gone, we were out the door and I was introduced to Yogurtland. Let me tell you something, ok? Froyo is so in right now. It is on every single corner everywhere. Atlanta has a number of chains for the yummy stuff, but until Pinkberry opened this summer, none of them were really much to write home about. Then Pinkberry happened and that’s all I wrote home about!! So here I am, trying Yogurtland for the first time. I’ve been assured that it’s better. I hear it’s self serve, which scares me because you can easily get a little out of control in those situations, right?!

Lots of om nom nom noms

Well, then I walk in a see all the different flavors. Ok…I’m starting to like this. I try several flavors, such as: peanut butter, vanilla wafer, pistachio, chocolate twilight, and red velvet cupcake batter. That last one isn’t a joke. I will say that Pinkberry’s fruit is better, but Yogurtland is giving them a run for their money on flavor choices! We left there, drove by someone’s house, went to Target for bonfire (!!!) supplies, then had some Mexican for dinner where CC threw onions on Iris so she wouldn’t feel left out and she also discovered that I secretly hate her and can give a mean bitchface. We make it back to Kim’s where I am a complete zombie after being up for nearly 24 hours. And I crashed.

Friday CC, Kim and I all went to lunch at Aroma Café. I don’t even remember what I ate other than sweet potato fries. But I do know it was delicious. Are you getting the drift that all we did was eat the entire time? Because we did. And I'm not ashamed. Then we headed back to Iris’s school for a dominating round of Jeopardy with her class!!! And just for the record, we totally won! And mad props to the team who answered, "OMG, IDK!!!" After school, it was bonfire time!

Only after we stocked up on Salsa Verdo Doritos! Hey Frito-Lay, WHY DON'T YOU SALE THESE IN GEORGIA?!?!?!

Los Angeles on the way to the beach <3

"This is NOT a bonfire."

We picked up @KJN52 along the way. We sang, we danced, we drank, we talked, we had the most amazing time ever.

That is until CC blew her hand off with five thousand sparklers. Trufax. After a stop at CVS to buy out their supply of ointments and bandages, there was another stop at Yogurtland.

#FingerGun

Saturday was the most epic day of all epic days in the world. I'm actually surprised the world is still standing. Or rotating? Anyway, it started off with Welcome to the Rileys.

If you know me, you know how long I've waited for this movie. It's still not looking good for Atlanta to get it at any point so I was thrilled to get the chance to see it in L.A. with these ladies. Of course, it was brilliant. I'll need to write a post on it. Only after I see it again.

Woot-woot!!

After a quick wardrobe change, we hit the road for Laguna for drinks at the Ritz followed by dinner at Stella's to celebrate KJ's birthday. And celebrate we did! Have you ever been to the Ritz in Laguna? Holy shit. The place is beyond incredible. I don't think my jaw left the floor once. Even better was the view.

Are.

You.

Kidding?

We sat and had drinks and talked and watched the sunset and it was perfect. Oh, and did I mention some housewives of the O.C. joined us? Yep. Two rounds (of which KJ's were purchased by the waiter for her birthday!) of drinks later it was off to dinner.

I love this picture so much.

I have nothing but good things to say about Stella's. The service was phenomenal. The food, excellent. The company was sublime. We drank some more (read: A. Lot.), ate until we wanted to puke, and had the time of our lives. The video in the car on the way home is proof. Buuuut...you don't get to see that ;)

I will share this picture though. It should be explanation enough.

Sunday was our last day together. *sobs* Breakfast was going to be at The Griddle Cafe on Sunset at my request (OMG their french toast!!!), but who wants to wait 2 hours for breakfast?! Not us. Especially after the copious amounts of liquor we drank the night before. Aroma cafe again it was. After filling up, we hit up the Hollywood sign, where CC lost her phone to a post in the ground. Was anyone surprised by this? Not at all.

Goodbye forever. (but not really...a kid with a tiny arm saved the day!)

Dinner was at Joan's on Third. OMG. Mushroom soup. Pulled short rib sandwich. My mouth waters just thinking about it!! We ended the night watching the sunset over Los Angeles from Griffith Observatory. This is one of my favorite places in L.A. You can see everything from here.

And the building is beautiful too!

Are you kidding me?!

This trip could not have ended with a more beautiful setting. I was in awe. I fell in love with this city all over again. I stood and looked out over all the lights, all the buildings and wondered what it could possibly be like to live there. To have THIS as your playground. It's something that I strive for. Something that I think about constantly. It's something I want to do for myself before I die. I'd prefer for it to be sooner rather than later. After taking lots and lots of pictures and hanging onto every last minute together that we possibly could, we headed back to Kim's to watch some Friday Night Lights (it was a prerequisite for this trip) and pack up (while we cried).

And just when we thought the night couldn't get any better, these little beauties popped up all over the internet.

OHAI

Get it, Rob....er, Edward!

I'm sure you can imagine what these pictures did to us. Sorry Tim Riggins. In the middle of all the excitement, we decided to take a break and run out for one last In-N-Out feast.

Mmmmmm!!!

We ate our food at Kim's while looking at more pictures of our favorite couple before we had to say goodbye to Iris and hating that the trip had to end! CC and I finished packing and then lights out.

Monday morning we were up bright and early for our trek into LAX for my flight home. I hated every minute of it (and it was quite a few b/c traffic was a bitch). And that's were it all ended. Said goodbye to CC and Kim at the curb and into the airport I disappeared.

I seriously had one of the best times of my life during those few days. CC, Kim, Iris, KJ, you four are simply amazing. Words cannot describe my feelings for you. Thank you for being who you are. Thank you for welcoming me with open arms. For being crazy hilarious and awesome. Thank you for the best time ever. I love you and miss you all madly!!!

Off With Their Heads!

I know it's a little late, but that's what happens when you fly across the country the week after Halloween ;) And then time just happens to get away from you.

More to come on the most epic trip ever to Cali in the next post.

But for now, here's Halloween.

The Red Queen + The Mad Hatter + Alice = The best costumes EVER.

The Friday before Halloween we hit up 8Traxx Disco with a blow pop, Katy Perry, Doug and Patty Mayonnaise, Snookie and Pauly D, and lots of others that I can't recall at the moment.

Who's been painting my roses red?!

A gathering of a majority of us took place where @AndreaCArtistry so kindly applied the most awesome makeup ever to each and every one of us. Mad skills, that girl!

Dancing in a cage with Alice herself. Be jealous.

There was the drive there which was interesting enough what with all our costumes. I'm pretty sure there still a few remnants of Katy Perry's balls in my car. Some drinks, lots of dancing, and a late night stop at Steak 'n Shake later and I was crashing for a full three hours of sleep before I had to be up for work. It was worth it though. I had a blast. And I'm pretty sure this was by far my best costume ever!

And this might have been the best conversation of the night:

Travis: "Who are they supposed to be, anyway?"

Alison: "Haven't you ever seen Jersey Shore?!"

Travis: "I mean, I've seen it, but I wouldn't just be like that's Snooki and Paula Dean."

What were YOU for Halloween? If you can remember back that far ;)

Dog Days Are Over

Whaaaaaat?!

Another night out in Carrollton. This time to celebrate one of the favorite’s birthdays.

Happy Birthday, Alison!

First up, dinner at The Corner. Om nom nom nom. Have I ever talked about The Corner here? I don’t think I have. All you need to know is it is amazing. When you first walk in, you might be a little thrown off by the “décor,” but one bite of their bagel chips and spinach dip or the “Rosemary’s Baby’s Daddy” sandwich and you will understand. The food is absolute heaven.

Brittney Oooooo!

After dinner, it was to Alison’s to get ready before heading out to Uncorked. You’ve probably caught on by now that this is our go to place. There isn’t much left to say about the night. Good times were had by all. We sang. A lot. With the whole bar. They were playing pretty decent music Saturday night. We shut the place down. Where everyone else went is beyond me. And we descended the stairs (from hell) to Florence + The Machine. Love. Anyway, here are some pictures from the night!

C-Rock.

Sam!

"And we're the three best friends that anyone could have."

Kisses from the birthday girl! Wait, shouldn't it be the other way around?

And that is absolutely where the night ended ;)

Hope you all had a great weekend!

The Greatest

So, I rented The Greatest two weeks ago. This movie is not only full of win as far as the actors are concerned, it’s full of win in general. It's sad. It's funny. It's heavy. It's refreshing. It's honest. It's inspiring.

I adore Carey Mulligan. Absolutely adore her. She hasn’t made it to the level of adoration I have for Kristen Stewart yet, but really, no one ever will. Sorry Carey, nothing against you, she’ll just always be my number one. Just know that you and your dimples are a close second. But I feel like Carey and Kristen share a lot of the same qualities.

Susan Sarandon, she’s been around the business for a while. I love her. In my opinion, she’s one of the better actresses out there. And I haven’t really seen her in anything lately so it was good to see her in this. And she did a wonderful job playing a mother who is grieving the loss of a son, of a family really, all the while having to accept an addition, or two, into that crumbling family. I couldn’t really figure out if I should love her or hate her or just feel sorry for her character.

And Pierce Brosnan is really a pretty decent actor. I last saw him in Remember Me, but really, before that, nothing really sticks out about him for me. Except for obviously Mrs. Doubtfire! I thought he was great in Remember Me. And he didn’t disappoint in The Greatest either. He does anger well. He does intense situations in general well. And I thought him and Susan’s chemistry together was pretty good.

Aaron Johnson. I don't know much about this kid. Except that he’s 20, married to a 43-year-old, and just had a baby. What? I’m not jealous at all! But seriously, have you seen those eyes?! Ridiculous. I love that there were flashbacks with him before the accident because it really would’ve been a shame to not have him in the film. I loved the quirky interaction between him and Carey. I loved the way he looked at her (with those eyes). And I loved the way they loved. If only for a day. A few hours really. It was real. It was honest. And it was heartbreaking the way it ended. There are so many what ifs with their situation.

Michael Shannon. Can this man do no wrong?! Honestly, he’s pretty brilliant in everything he does. I last saw him in The Runaways where he played eccentric (crazy?) music producer Kim Fowley and these two roles could not have been more opposites. But of course, he rocks them both. It was kind of strange though seeing him in such a subdued role after TR.

Overall, it was a great little ensemble of a cast. They all had great chemistry together. And it was a great story of first love and the loss of love and the battle to piece a family back together after a tragedy.

If you haven’t yet checked it out, I’d definitely recommend it.

Have you watched any good movies lately?

Weekend with Reese

Friday night after work I headed to my sister's for the weekend. I was sad Reese was already out for the night, but got to wake up to this the next morning:

"You're silly, Aunt Jamie"

After showers, baths, breakfasts and naps were all said and done, we headed downtown for some Georgia Tech tailgating. It was a perfect fall morning for such an event.

Mini-me was out.

Seriously.

Oh, now she's awake!

I wonder how many pictures they'll have like this by the time she's 18.

About an hour before the game, Reese and I packed up and headed back to the house so Jess and Joe could go to the game. First time babysitting the niece! Woo-hoo!!!

After only sleeping for about 20 minutes after we got home, we just hung out. Oh, and we got a free viewing of the air show going on at Dobbins.

Try getting in infant to sleep with this flying over the house...

Soon, it was time for a bottle. And baby girl was HUNGRY!!

Milk coma.

With all the noise going on, it was really impossible for her to get a decent nap in. Eventually we both crashed on the couch for about thirty minutes.

I could hold her like this forever.

After we both woke up, it was bath time, her favorite time of the day! Seriously. This kid loves being in the water. It's so funny. And even more than bath time, she loves if you fill the sink with water and let her just splash around after her actual bath.

In heaven.

She was supposed to take another bottle after her bath, but she wanted nothing to do with it. All she wanted to do was sleep. So, I put her down at 7 and she slept until 3:30 this morning. Pretty good.

And I crashed from about 10:30 until 9 this morning! Amazing. And when I woke up, my sister was making pumpkin pancakes that were out of this world. Seriously. So. Good. And to top it off, when Reese woke up from her morning nap, I got to cuddle her for a while before I had to head out.

Red hair twins.

Such an awesome weekend. Wish they were all like that. And to top it all off, I did some much needed (ok, not really) shopping! Lots of new things to pack up for LA!!!! So. Excited.

Hope everyone else had a fabulous fall weekend!

xoxo