Christmas Dinner with the Girls

This year we gave up our $5 gifts or gift exchange for an incredible dinner at Savannah. We had such a lovely evening!


After our delicious meal, we went to the stunning California Scenario garden that is tucked behind the restaurant in between a couple high rise office buildings and a parking structure. I have always loved this space and I just found out it was designed by Isamu Noguchi, a modern designer whose work I love! This is an incredible place for a photo shoot and I almost asked Kurt to come down and take some cool photos of us girls. He was taking care of Liv so we made do with our little point and shoot cameras... I don't think we did too badly!



Meghan got this shot of me & Heidi taking the next pic.



You may have noticed it was a party of 6 instead of our usual 7. Alissa couldn't be with us because she is due in just a couple weeks and couldn't travel down from Concord this year. We missed her but can't wait to meet baby Amelia Paige!

Those kinds of friends...

I consider myself to be incredibly blessed in the friend department. I know it is uncommon to maintain close relationships as you move through the various stages of life but I somehow still have a number of wonderful friends from each stage of life... from infancy, elementary school, high school, college, work, church and some random places in between. What an incredible gift! Last night I had the privilege of being with two of my friends from Westmont. I say this over and over, but I can't believe that I only spent one year there. The depth and quality of the relationships formed that year is so amazing to me and here we are 10 years later, at a completely different stage in life, still enjoying each other's company and connecting with each other's souls.

Kurt was going to a photography party up in Santa Barbara and I asked if Cassi, Liv and I could join him for the trip. We sat in horrible LA traffic, and then horrible "overturned big rig" traffic for 3 hours to get there. We dropped Kurt off at the party and then headed over to Liza's house. Liza's husband Dave offered to take care of Liv (in addition to their two kids) so Cassi, Liza and I could have a girls night out. What a guy! We hit up a local Indian restaurant and spent the next few hours enjoying some great food and even better company. I love that there isn't any awkwardness or warming up period with these girls. We laugh as hard and share as deeply as we ever have... maybe even more so because these past 10 years have been full of life - incredible, wonderful things and hard, heartbreaking things - and there is an intimate connection that comes when you honestly share life with others.

We got home at 2 this morning... Liv woke up and was cranky and tired and probably wondered why the heck we had bothered her sleep so much. I hoped she would sleep in this morning but she was up at 7:15. Now I'm tired (and maybe a little cranky) but I would repeat our evening again because when you have those kinds of friends who know you and love you and who you can be completely real with, you don't think twice about traffic and cranky babies. Our time together was worth it.

Monday Night Girls Christmas Party

We have been meeting together for almost 7 years - sometimes more frequently than others and last night we had our annual Christmas gift exchange complete with lots of laughing, a little crying (something about an ambiguous duo...) and plenty of fun. I love you girls! (and don't mock my shirt... I know it looks weird!)

Joe & Lara's Christmas Party

Last night Kurt & I headed up to LA for Joe & Lara's annual Christmas party. Their downtown loft was absolutely beautiful... all decked out with black and white for Christmas! It was fun to get dressed up and be with our good friends.

Sunsets

We have had some incredible sunsets lately. Yesterday was so clear thanks to the rain on Friday & Saturday. We could see Catalina Island all day and the sun was beautiful shining off the water. I'm going to miss this view when we move.

Lunch at Alta

We had a late lunch at Alta in Newport today. The light coming through the window was so perfect!


While we were there it started raining. We love the rain and hope that Liv will too! We saw a beautiful rainbow on the way home.

Laguna Beach Swings

Liv and I hung out with Meg & Wallace in Laguna Beach the other day. There's a little playground at the end of Main Beach and we stuck Liv & Wallace in one of the swings. They were so cute in there!

Liv's bucket of toys

The other day I needed to put some laundry away in Liv's dresser. She was a little grumpy and I knew if I set her down on the ground she wouldn't be too happy. So, I made a space for her in her collection of stuffed animals. She was so cute snuggled in there and happily hung out with her little friends while I put the laundry away!

Long overdue...

We had a very relaxed, chill Thanksgiving. My parents came over and Kurt's aunt Helen was also able to join us from Hawaii. Of course Liv was the center of attention. We are thankful for this beautiful little girl who has stolen our hearts! We can't imagine our life without her!

iPod baby!

While at South Coast Plaza this weekend, we stopped by the Apple store and took a pic of Liv checking out the new iPod nano. The Apple employees were eyeing us closely as we set up the shot. Liv was happy to smile for the picture and show off her new hat! She is getting so big!

December Top Picks

I can't believe it's December already! Here are my top picks for this first week of my favorite month!

1. A new planner - Yes, it's back to orange this year, although I did contemplate pink for a minute. For some reason I just love orange and while I do I might as well go all orange! I love these pocket planners by GLC. You can find them at most Borders bookstores.

2. Christmas music - Kurt will be the first to tell you that I have a slight obsession here. I just LOVE Christmas music and each year I try to find some new, hopefully interesting, if not good, music to add to our collection. This year I bought Sufjan Stevens collection of Christmas EPs. He has some cool takes on the traditional carols and whatnot, along with some fun originals. This is definitely not your typical Christmas album, but if you like to mix it up, I recommend this. My second purchase was an impulse buy. I've always enjoyed Ottmar Liebert and his nouveau flamenco style. He and his band, Luna Negra, mix elements of flamenco with jazz and bossa nova. When I was at Borders this weekend I saw that he has a Christmas cd out. christmas + santa fe is a cool, chill album. Great for background music!

3. Online Christmas shopping - I love getting a box from Amazon with such a random assortment of gifts inside that I would never be able to buy at just one retail store! I am doing so well on my Christmas shopping this year. I guess it does help to not be at a real job all day. My new little "job" can go shopping with me!

3 months old!

Hooray! Liv loves the wind! She was squealing with delight as we crossed the bridge from South Coast Plaza to Crystal Court on her 3 month birthday!