Weekend whirlwind...

You know those weekends where Sunday evening rolls around and you think 'Gosh, I could use another weekend to recover from this weekend!'? Well, this was one of those. And it was a long weekend, thanks to Good Friday and Chris' birthday, but the extra day was so full of celebrating that we barely noticed it :P Thursday night we kicked off the weekend with tapas on the go, Mamma Mia at the Pantages and midnight quesadillas. The gods of traffic were kind to us, and we arrived with time to spare (always a concern on weeknights after work, but half priced tickets from Goldstar can't be beat!), nibbling on a selection of cheeses, crackers, baguette and fruit (I hate that achy empty stomach feeling that can be so distracting when it's 10:30pm, you haven't had dinner and you're trying to enjoy the final musical number :P So I took matters into my own hands, bought a tapas cheese sampler from Trader Joes, sliced some apples and brie, and packed it all up for the car! Not one tummy grumble all night long!) all the way there. It was a great way to spend the night, and we capped the evening off with midnight quesadillas!

 

Friday we slept in a bit (in honor of Chris' birthday, observing his favorite pastime :P), then headed out for a relaxing birthday brunch where the seals in the marina loudly serenaded the birthday boy! Then we headed up the coast (making a few pit stops along the way, including one to find and take pictures in front of Bob Dylan's Malibu residence :P), checked into our little inn in Carpinteria, and headed out for dinner in Ventura. After dinner, we wandered around downtown for a bit, found a grocery store to buy hair gel and other little things that we hadn't thought to pack, saw a lady in line to check out with a mustache (one of those stick on ones!) and commented on the interesting little place that we had decided to spend the night visiting! When we got back to the hotel, we sat out in the dark overlooking the ocean, which was lit by the full moon, and listening to the waves. By the time we got around to singing happy birthday with a yummy little cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes, we were both too full to have more than a few bites! Saturday morning we enjoyed breakfast by the pool, overlooking the Pacific, then headed up to Santa Barbara for a party. On the way home, we enjoyed the beautiful view driving down PCH (more about that here, it really is breathtaking), had dinner in Malibu and the birthday boy proclaimed that all of his birthday wishes had come true! What more could we ask for than that?! So no wonder we were a bit exhausted by Sunday night, after a day spent with family and a lovely Easter lunch at Mum's! It was one of those weekends... But when my head hit the pillow, I was smiling with the memories of the past few days!

Saturday morning breakfast by the pool