Sunday, June 26, 2011

Mexi-cali Vacation, Part 2

Wednesday morning was a slower start than Tuesday.  We woke up and had breakfast but since I wrote that LONG blog, I lost track of time and missed my morning work out. Darn.  Otto did some laps in the pool and I sat in the jacuzzi and read one of my many unopened mags which I brought along.

After lunch we went to (go ahead and laugh) The Pizza Bakery for round 2.  And don't even think that was the last time I'd see The Pizza Bakery this trip.

After stuffing ourselves, we went to Crystal Cove which is this state park beach between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach.  It's really neat because they are revitalizing these beach cottages and making them into rental units.  It's quite a long walk from the bluff where parking is, down to the state park area.  They have a restaurant, visitor's center, snack shack and  then these cottages where people can stay, as long as they book about a year in advance!  Pretty neat.  It has an old-timey, but cute vibe.  Almost key west-ish to me for some reason.    Otto of course went into the water.  I took a nap and caught some rays despite the June Gloom.  (The sun barely came out at all yesterday and I still got a little burnt on my back side. ) 
 

 


When we left Crystal Cove, we went back to Park Newport to get the bikes.  We planned to ride the bikes down to Balboa and putz around until 5:30 at which point we were going to Otto's friend, Lee's place for dinner.  I was a little nervous on the bike at first 1) because it was too tall for me and 2) because I hadn't really ridden a bike any long distance in quite some time.   Within the first minute of the ride, leaving Park Newport, we had to ride down this gigantic hill.  It was fun, but very fast and again, sort of freaked me out.  We rode along the back bay area, through some yacht club parking lot, across a major street or two, through a neighborhood, and then put ourselves and bikes on the Ferry to go across to the peninsula.   We rode along the boardwalk, in front of all of the adorable houses, and then down to the beach so Otto could body surf some more.  Again, I was photographer and enjoyed the cool breeze and sound of surf.  While Otto was out there, a group of about 5 dolphins swam by, within 50 feet of him.  That was neat. 





































When Otto came in, we rode our bikes to the liquor store and the very talented husband I have purchased a 20 pack of beer and carried it while riding his bike to friend, Lee's apartment on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway).  We pulled up to Lee's door, saw his scooter parked on the street, so knew we were in the right spot.  Lee and his girlfriend came to the door for fear that these two tourists were messing with his scooter.  Once he realized it was us, he goes... "I did tell you dinner was TOMORROW night, right?".  Otto's face was this grin, like.. "No, you surfer flake, you said tonight".  But instead Otto said, "No, I'm pretty sure your text said tonight". (Keyword ="pretty")  So both guys got their phones out and started double checking.  Sure enough, Lee was actually correct.  The text said TOMORROW night.  So, we got a good laugh, chatted for a bit, left the beer with them, and headed back for the ferry on our bikes. 

It was really  fun riding the bikes, but it really is a bit painful in a few areas. haha.

When we arrived back to Park Newport, Connie had finished her work out, so we had some snacks and then hopped in the car to do what were supposed to be the next night's plans.  Connie wanted us to visit the Laguna Beach hotel called La Casa del Camino .  It has a really spectacular view of the Pacific from their rooftop bar.  Although it's the perfect spot to view the sunset, we were a little late for that.  On the way to the hotel, we picked up Connie's friend, Nick who recently moved to Laguna.  After chatting with him, making another stop, and arriving at the hotel, it was already dark.  It was a very nice vibe, however.  Beautiful even at night.  They had heat lamps for a little added warmth.  I ordered a sangria, but had to walk a couple blocks back to the car to get my ID because the waitress said I looked too young. :)  The sangria was delicious, as were the fabulous chips and salsa (with seafood chunks in it). 

We only had time for 1 drink and the appetizer because they closed at 9pm due to some new city ordinance. Boo.  But it was very cool to see and I'd love to go back there sometime.  Later, we picked up Otto's sister, Andree, who was just returning from a visit to New York City.  We headed home, chatted a while about things to do today and the upcoming trip down to Mexico and hit the sack.


Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Mexi-cali Vacation

I will just keep adding to this blogpost as interesting things occur in the next couple weeks on this fabulous West Coast vaca.

We arrived at John Wayne Airport (Orange County, CA) yesterday, Mon. June 20, 2011 around 3pm.  Connie, my mother-in-law picked us up from the airport.  We came to Park Newport where she lives in a nice little apartment on this gorgeous "Back Bay" as they call it.  Click HERE to see how awesome Park Newport is... they have everything in the way of amenities!  Tennis, putting greens, pools, gyms, stores, trails.  Connie's place has a nice view from her little 4th floor patio.  Below is a photo of the view this morning, but as you can see, the photo was taken before the morning "June Gloom" had burned off.  Don't worry, we got tons of sun today-- read on.



So after arriving yesterday, we got to Park Newport and the dedicated athletes (me NOT included) went for a quick swim in the pool.  You see, Connie and Otto are both training for swimming events (Otto- half Ironman tri, Connie- Sprint tri, I believe).  They swam some laps, I sat in a chair and enjoyed the crisp, cool air and Cali sun.  Yesterday, the sun was out and it was gorgeous when we arrived-- but that beautiful summer sun is accompanied in So. Cal with a nice mild temp.  So as I laid by the pool, I pointed out to Connie that I was not sweating! Such a pleasant welcome after leaving 100+ degrees in Tejas. After the pool visit, we quickly got ready to drive a bit north and east to see Otto's Nana for dinner.  This is his father's mother, who lives in Norwalk.  She has a quaint little house painted a lovely blue, which she has lived in since Otto's dad was a child.  It has this small back/side yard that I just love. The size is so cute.  I really like Nana's house.  We got there and I was able to meet for the first time, Cheryl (Otto's dad's cousin), George (Cheryl's dad / Otto's dad's uncle), and little Sebastian, a more distant, 8 year-old cousin.  We had a nice dinner on tables in the back yard.  We chatted and caught up.  Sebastian threw the frisbee over the wall into the other yard and since we ALSO wanted to see the backyard and pool, then we stood on chairs and peered over.  As I was way up there peeking, the big black lab woke up and saw me and started barking like crazu.  Next thing you know, the neighbor walks out, sees us being  creepers and nicely fetches the toy for us. Luckily we had an excuse for several of us to be acting very strange and suspicious!    The dinner and company was delightful.  I always enjoy meeting member's of Otto's family.  See pic below. 

I look as if I have a maternity shirt on-- I don't. Please excuse!


Now, I am very sleepy, so I'm going to skip writing about today and do it manana, after some rest.  There are great pics of beach time!!!

CONTINUED....
Ok, so last night I was falling asleep as writing, so now I'll be a better blogger.  The visit with Nana and fam on Monday night was very nice.   She served this Chinese Chicken Salad from Costco... cannot wait to look for it! It was so delicious.  So yesterday morning, we woke up at 7:30 or so and had coffee and breakfast overlooking the Back Bay view. It's definitely chilly here in morning and evenings.  But it's so nice because we sleep with windows and doors open.  The temp is perfect! Oh how I wish that was possible in Texas or Florida.  California--- +2000 points.   After breakfast, it was fitness time for Otto which made a perfect reason to make it fitness time for me.  He did a bike and run, and I drove Andree's Prius (love) to the nearby 24 Hour Fitness for a weightlift/step class-- how convenient.   All those So. Cal ladies are in such good shape, and do they not have jobs?? I guess not.  Er, maybe they're teachers-- hot ones at that. hhahah.  I didn't get lost back to Park Newport, thankfully. I got back and showered and waited for Otto to get back from leg 2, his run.  Working out during vacation?  Big step for me--- Margot +100 points!  Then we hit the road for the day. 

First stop was Otto's FAVORITE pizza place, The Pizza Bakery, in Newport.  Otto LOVES pizza--- so this tells you something.  I think it's partially nostalgia for him because he went there a lot as a teen, but the pizza deal, including all-you-can-eat Garlic knots is nothing to dismiss.  It's a nice large slice, with yummy crust, just crisp enough on the bottom.   When we came here last December for the Rose Bowl, the darn Pizza Bakery was closed on New Year's Eve.  Otto was not a happy camper. Often, that alone would cause him not to return to a place, but The Pizza Bakery can do no wrong :)  Luckily they were open... see below.
 

After stuffing ourselves with the delicious Italian fave, we drove past Otto's High School, Newport Harbor.  Just like the tv series Laguna Beach, people--- this is a NICE looking public high school.  It's very close to The Pizza Bakery, hence Otto's frequent school day visits.


At some point after leaving The Pizza Bakery, the "June Gloom" burned off and we were blessed with this , sunny, crisp, cool breeze, gorgeous California day!  As a vacation bonus for me, we headed over to Fashion Island.   This place is a female's heaven.  An open-air shopping destination with all the unique, high-end, aesthetically beautiful retail establishments you could ask for.  It's laid out impeccably--- you meander through little courtyards with gorgeous fountains, foliage and seating areas.  They all connect to become, well, an Island of fashion.   The stores are so amazing.  The window displays, perfectly designed to catch the typical sucker's eye.  (ME, even though I was in merchandising and marketing and know all the tricks)   We just went into a couple stores, but I really just enjoy walking around that place.  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to make purchases too.. but as a retail gal, just seeing the new store names and fashions was fun.

We left Fashion Island and decided to ride the Auto Ferry over to Balboa Peninsula to go see if the Wedge was "going off".   If you don't understand that--- you should only be depressed that you aren't an avid beach bum.   Driving around Balboa Peninsula is a wonderful experience alone.  The beach cottages are adorably cute, perfectly proportioned and SO "The American Dream".  Below are a couple pics.







If I coldn't have a house right on the boardwalk, these are a few of my favorites.




 The Wedge is this well-known and bizarre wave break where a jetty juts out and causes this strange wave formation (that was not said in proper surf terms-- ya'll know I'm from Florida-- inferior to California in surf culture)  Otto put his DUCK FEET on and hopped in the FREEZING cold Pacific.  These waves are HUGE.  It's so fun to just sit on the  beach and watch people act fearless with these powerful walls of water.  It's hard in the below pictures to really grasp the size, but trust me, they were big.  Otto did some body surfing and I captured some great "Sports Action Mode" shots with my Sony camera (love).





And self-portrait since I'm not in many pics... hahaha




As we left The Wedge to head to 11th street beach to just sit on the beach and catch some rays, we ran  into Otto's old buddy, Lee.  The funny thing about this, is last summer, a year ago, as we were headed to the The Wedge to ... (complete my sentence) see if it was "going off", this dude on a scooter zoomed past us.  Otto immediately said "That was Lee".  He called him up and Lee turned around and chatted with us through the car window.  Lee loves The Wedge, but I still think it was so crazy that on both of the exact days and times we went to the Wedge, we saw Lee.   I see a pattern--- Lee goes to the Wedge every day at approximately the same time, I guess.  So yesterday, we chatted with Lee a bit.  Otto got caught up on the O.C. gossip and we headed to our next beach stop-- 11th Street.

At 11th street, we just plopped down, played a few rounds of thumb war (I won 1 out of about 8 games) and Otto went back in the water for round two.  I actually fell asleep on my back, catching some rays, and Otto came to wake me up for my 4:30 hair appointment at XO Salon.  We were meeting Connie, who had a 3:30 color appointment.  Selena, her stylist has this great little salon on Balboa Peninsula.  Totally chic, totally OC!   Selena is this blue-eyed, deep red haired, petite, cute lady.    She did a great job on my hair which had not been cut or colored since (cough) November!  She said my hair was in surprisingly good condition for having gone that long.  So I got a trim and she even did this nice curl style.

After my hair was done, Connie still had to be rinsed and dried.  Otto and I walked a few doors down to El Ranchito which (conveniently) hosts a Taco Tuesday event where you pay $5.00 to have all-you-can-eat tacos, rice, beans, chips, salsa, tostados... you get the point.  It's essentially a bar, with tables, and you get in line to be served your choice of shredded beef or chicken tacos with all the fixins.   But this food is actually very good!  These are 'real Mexican style' tacos, folks.  That price is unbelievable.  My favorite from the food line was the shredded beef taco.  Otto liked the hand-fried shell beef taco.   The funny thing about it was, that as we walked up to El Ranchito, I thought it looked very familiar!  Then I recalled partying there one night back in 2003 when I lived in the OC while doing my internship at Volcom in Costa Mesa!  Crazy.  We had a drink and food and then headed back to Park Newport to get jackets.  Otto and I were going to head to Surf City (a.k.a Huntington Beach) for Tuesday Surf City nights.  This happened to be a special one because Surf Champion and legend, Kelly Slater was going to be receiving an award and the "key to the city". 

el ranchito


When we arrived in downtown Huntington Beach (Surf City) it was 7:30pm.  The place was packed, but we were able to get a parking spot in a garage.  They had the streets closed and featured booths with artists, retailers, a farmer's market, restaurant samplings, music, sidewalk sales etc.  At the end of main street, towards the ocean, was a large stage where a reggae-esque band was playing music, overlooking the street fair.   People began dispersing and that's when I knew that I had missed my opportunity to see Kelly Slater receive the city's key.  Oh well.  Otto and I walked up and down, looking at all the vendors.  The farmer's market was really cool.  Any plant, fruit, veggie, jam, jelly or granola you could think of, beautifully displayed.  Otto purchased a couple things from the sidewalk sales of the surf shops.   We then, tackled the awful exit line in the parking garage.  Luckily, Otto spent some cash at the surf shop, so our parking ticket was validated and we didn't have to pay :)

 Surf city, USA



Tacos surely make your sweet tooth come out, which provided the perfect opportunity for us to drive back over to Balboa Peninsula and hit up Dad's.  Dad's is an ice cream/doughnut/cookie/frozen banana/Balboa bar shop.  It's been around since the 1960's apparently.  There's a walk-up window, always bustling with customers.  Balboa Bars are vanilla ice cream rectangles on a stick, hand dipped in molten chocolate and rolled in your favorite topping.  They sell them all over Balboa, but Dad's is the place to be.  They also sell chocolate dipped frozen bananas.  Three doors down is the rivaling Sugar n Spice.  They've been around since 1945!! Before DAD'S!  There is a big to-do about which is better.  Read this entertaining article which gives points for each establishment based on different categories.

Dad's Sign...  Makes you feel a little simian, eh?



I usually get the Balboa Bar or the Frozen Bananas, I mean, we're on Balboa for goodness sake. Otto always gets ice cream, his favorite-- Chocolate Peanut Butter.  So, I had already made up my mind that I was also going to get a scoop (or two) of ice cream instead of a Balboa Bar.  Otto walked in, looked in the ice cream freezer and sees NO chocolate peanut butter!  That was it--- he wasn't getting anything.  I still opted for ice cream-- I got a scoop of Pineapple Coconut chunk and a scoop of Mocha Almond Fudge.  It was delicious.  I loved the Pineapple Coconut.  I mean, can any other flavor be more perfect for an Orange County vacation???





Wednesday, June 15, 2011

New Guest Bedroom, New Office-- Part 1

I LOVE SUMMER! There's all this time to do cool things.  Things that need to be done. Things that don't NEED to be done.   So, I've purchased some new artwork, want to do some painting of the walls in our house, created some artwork myself, and decided that our old "office" was totally NOT functional, the furniture was not-so-good for an office and I want an office that WORKS and is organized.  There will be a looooonnnnggg blog post to detail this office process, the furniture hunt, furniture purchases, the amazing JACKPOT I found while in the process,  the new artwork (which is going to take custom expensive framing), etc.  when the office is more complete.   You'll see where my one-track mind and obsessive tendencies come in...But for the short-term-- here's the new guest bedroom post...

Basically, we decided to switch the office and guest bedroom.  Now, when we have children, I have no idea what we'll do... we will have to give up either the office or guest bedroom and at this point-- after the blood, sweat and tears that this office is causing us (actually, I lie-- it's fun stress), I think we'll give up the guest bedroom!  So visitors, my future blogpost will include my list of preferred FW hotels, motels, Holiday Inns! Hahah.
Back to the point--- we switched the office and guest room.  The former guest room (now office) was like a cave-- long, skinny, and with only 1 window.  Not really inviting.   The former office (now guest room) is HAPPY! Except it wasn't happy as the office because (see paragraph 1) the furniture sucked, it wasn't organized or functional, there was no storage and we hated going in there.   But it was happy because it's brighter, with three windows!  Honestly, when we first moved in, I just chose the cave room for the guest bedroom, because I thought the shape was better for the furniture.  I didn't think the bedroom furniture would fit in the "happy" room-- so it became the office.  But as we started shaping this plan of a functional office, Otto kept saying that the bedroom furniture would fit fine, and it did--- beautifully.  So, without further ado--- see picture of new, happy, guest room below.  I think we did great teamwork on Phase 1-- the bedroom.  Now, together, we'll continue to tackle the office. 

The theme is sort of BLACK AND WHITE, now, the Agave picture which I painted, isn't actually going to stay in this room, but for photographs' sake I had to put it there.  A new piece of art, which is not actually black and white and will be the only one in the room that's not, will be going there. Here's a link to the awesome bicycle painting that will go in that spot once I get it framed.



So obviously, you see the Ansel Adams below.


Photography art credit for photos above the bed--- Christopher John McGee.  He took these on his Peruvian travels in 2008. 

Behind the door is a mirror so that guests can admire themselves. It's brown, so it didn't get prime real estate on the wall.

The last pieces of art are on the wall across from the two windows -- you can't see them in any pictures.  And actually, I lied there is another that is not b&w.  It's this weird TCU cartoon from ??? I don't know when.  I don't even remember where I purchased it, but I gave it to Otto as a gift.  It's vintage.  The Horned Frog mascot is clearly OLD and it's about to eat all the other conference mascots in the bowl which reads "Frog Food".  Totally vintage, totally cool.  The other is just another Ansel Adams.  Not too special.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Happy 3rd Anniversary to us! UPDATED

Today, Flag Day, is our 3rd Anniversary....

We started with a love-bird breakfast out on our new patio (see the love bird plates?? :))  Einstein Brother's bagels -- mine with Sun Dried tomato cream chesse schmear-- my fave, and mimosas in our wedding champagne glasses (Thanks Aunt Pat and Uncle Mark). 

Otto got to open his gifts.  Mine are supposed to arrive today in the mail.  Since 3rd anniversary is supposedly the LEATHER year, he received some new Rainbow Leather Sandals, and a new wallet (since his current wallet consists of a rubberband). 

More later... we have a fun filled day planned.

Anniversary Continued.......

For lunch we went to Tillman's Roadhouse.  This place is simply awesome.  If you haven't been there, it's worth it just for drinks, the atmosphere, the popcorn, and the awesome decor.  The outside patio is so cool.  It's like retro, mod, country-chic.  I'd only been there for dinner or Happy Hour.  It's quite pricey, so it's usually saved for special occasions.  We had a late lunch at 1pm.  So we were basically the only people in there.  The give you this truffle oil popcorn with pepper and salt to munch on.  We easily ate three bowls of that.  Then we ordered fried bread and butter pickles--- those never arrived (thank goodness. the waiter just forgot to put them in, but it was ok, since my belly was stuffed to the max).  For main course we both ordered the same thing.  Usually I'd go out of my way to order different items, but I'm sure glad I got what I got! We both ordered the 7th street burger--- Kobe beef burger, gouda goat cheese, arugula, fried shallots.  It was amazing.  We both asked for medium rare-- in retrospect, we wish we had asked for medium.  It was so good.  I drank this deliciously sweet blood orange mango punch, which our waiter kindly didn't even charge us for.  And as bonus, country singer Pat Green perused the restaurant while we were in there.  I resisted the paparazzi shot.

Here we are outside on the patio after the lunch.  Like a ding dong, I didn't have my memory card in my fancy camera, so I had to take these with phone. Totally does the decor NOOOOO justice.  I am sitting in a Retro Charles Eames Herman Miller bright orange rocker.  There are cacti, and cut logs as a space divider.  Just love the style here.

After lunch, we shopped around with full bellies.  We had a Starbucks, ran some errands together, looked for decor for our NEW OFFICE (post to come soon!).  We went to a Mexican restaurant because Otto wanted some chips and salsa and a margarita.  I could barely finish my drink, but I managed to down some chips and salsa.  We actually had plans to go to Lonesome Dove , another country-chic 5 star restaurant for dinner, but we were so full that we couldn't.  That's postponed til tonight!  Two-day anniversary, how fun!  

So, my LEATHER gifts actually arrived today.  They came all the way from Bali.  Otto picked out two amazing handbags and a gorgeous wallet from an artisan on the Novica website.  These are handmade and impeccable quality.  Not only that, but they're not the designer type that every other girl in DFW is going to be carrying around.  Otto thought of that, because he's thoughtful like that.  He said that I am too stylish and unique to be carrying around a Coach or Louis bag (no offense if you own one, I have a couple SMALL ones too).  He actually couldn't decide between two bags, so he got both, PLUS the wallet.  They are totally cool and ME!!  They arrived in gorgeous packages, with a handwritten postcard note from the Balinese designer.  Otto did so well.  These gifts were purchased with love-- if you know Otto, handbags, clothes, and accessories aren't exactly things he believes in spending a lot of money on.  But to show his love, he did.  <3

See pictures below--- look at the amazing wrapping.  So cool.



Sunday, June 12, 2011

Texas Motor Speedway, VIP style

My friend Courtny is currently living at Texas Motor Speedway (or TMS).  She invited us out to her place for the Friday truck race, which was a special treat!  We arrived around 3:00 pm and went up to the condo for some pre-race drinks and a snack of Babe's Fried Chicken (my FIRST Babe's experience, which was delicious-- fried chicken, creamed corn, mashed potatoes and biscuits).  Another delicious experience was that of this new alcoholic treasure called... Pinnacle Whipped Vodka! This stuff is delicious, folks.  And it indeed tastes EXACTLY like whipped cream.  The funny thing about this is that the bottle states it is "Immitation Whipped Cream Flavored Vodka".  Now why would they point out that it tastes like FAKE whipped cream?? Either way, it's a must try.  Courtny said she got it at the liquor store and it was a mere $15 bucks.  Not shabby. 



After having some drinks and snack, Courtny, her friend, Brandon, Otto and I took a ride on the golf cart to the pits and garages.  It was really neat.  We first walked through the Indy car pits/garages.  The Indy cars had just finished up "Qualifying" for the next day's race, so they were now working on these cars, inspecting them, etc.  We were right in the heart of everything.  We heard lots of loud car noises.  We saw them fueling up, changing oil, inspecting, doing tire stuff.    We picked out cars we liked, snapped some photos and then on the way to the truck garages, Courtny took it upon herself to go really close to Ricky Carmichael's (some driver dude) fancy trailer and take a Monster drink out of the mini fridge.  hahahha.  It was actually meant to be for the pit crew and other hot shots, but our passes said "VIP" and Cournty took it to heart.  Some guy walked out of these sliding mirrored doors on the back of the trailer.  He at first acted offended that Courtny had gotten so close, all up in their business, but then as we laughed it off, he decided to share four of the 800 Monster drinks they had with us. 





How many Dickies logos can you count in this picture????



The condos behind the track!





After touring the garages, we took a ride to the Speedway Club.  Yeah, we're cool like that. haha.  Here's a few pics from there.  The highlight was meeting (AND KISSING) James Buscher, one of the truck drivers.  Look for our puckered lips on a website near you!





Me in 'da club :)  Hey, do you like my vintage Neiman Marcus western dress?  I thought it was appropriate.  Thanks, Style Station!  http://www.stylestationonline.com/

Courtny, James and myself.  This one wasn't quite good enough for Courtny.  He left and came back and that's when we approached for round two.



He looks pretty happy about round 2.  Nice guy, beautiful smile.  Otto was the only one who noticed my hand in the this picture.




So even with our passes that allow us pretty much EVERYWHERE in the track, they wouldn't let us in to the less desireable "Burnout alley" to see our friend.  This is us walking back towards condo after getting denied...


But wait.... Otto just decides to jump the fence.  Boo ya!
Back at the condo...


And then back on the cart to turn 4 for some very up-close and personal action. 



Cool Picture below, yes?






Here's Otto, laughing at Courtny's expense.  Long story.. hey look! She has a Mavs Finals booklet in her hand!! hahah