Califonia Sun

For Mother's Day Dustin decided to send me on a trip to California.  He called up my friend Kristin's husband, who then called Molly's husband, who in turn called Maren's husband, and before we knew it we had a lovely foursome.  Except it was suppose to be a surprise so none of us talked about it to each other, only to find out that none of our husbands can keep a secret for long.

It had been in the 100's here in the valley, so we were excited for some cooler weather.  Only our husband sent us over Memorial Day weekend, which happened to bring a 20 degree drop in temperature.  Great if you were staying in Arizona, not so fun if you were hoping to hit the beach.  I texted Dustin, "Less time at the beach, means more time to shop."  He then told me it is never too cold for the hot tub.

We started out adventure with the brilliant idea to take a picture everywhere we went. It lasted a day and a half. ..so as this blog progresses, you will see less and less.  The first thing we did was go to the bathroom.  Seriously.  It's a trip of 4 girls.  We spent a lot of time peeing.  No picture of that, but I did think it would be funny to go in the exit and surprise Maren, and in my haste ran into someone actually exiting the bathroom.

Actually, the first thing we did was irritate everyone on the plane around us.  The take off had really bad turbulence and Molly might have been freaked out a little which might have left all of us in hysterics (what kind of friends think being scared is funny??).  And we had a stack of People magazines that we couldn't stop discussing.  And that's the last details I can give you on any of our discussions and inside jokes because what happens in California, stays in California.

So once we landed, peed, got our rental car, we headed for Javier's.  It's a rather swanky Mexican restaurant where Molly ate a toothpick.  There were actually 4 of them hidden inside her chimichanga.  But never fear, we got free dessert out of the whole thing. 

Next we hit up a home decor warehouse that Molly's friend loves.  We are not allowed to divulge the name, but it was HUGE. For example, there were 3 entire Costco rows of just ribbon.  And an aisle of creepy elves.

  There was also a lot of really cute, well priced stuff too.  It was the most confusing selection of prices and items.  Like these beautiful headbands right by the checkout.

Once we freaked out because we had already bought enough stuff to fill an entire suitcase, we went to unpack at the hotel.  They might have written 1724 on the cards and we might have spent 5 minutes trying to break into someone else's villa until we called and they told us that we were in 1721.  I really hope the people in 1724 were not home.  In the middle of unpacking, I discovered that I had brought two left running shoes.  This prompted another shopping trip!!

We headed over to Fashion Island and ate at True Food Kitchen.  I have been dying to eat there since they opened one in Scottsdale, but hey, why not travel all the way to California for it.  It was actually really good and I'd eat there again. 

Then Maren used her Nike hook up to treat us all to new Nikes.

Finally we hit the grocery store, rented a movie, went back to the hotel, made pizookies, and snuggled on the pull out couch while we watched 30 minutes of We Bought a Zoo before I fell asleep.

Saturday I woke up long before everyone else, strapped on my new running shoes and ran up the California hills.  It was brutal.  I did the first 4 miles straight uphill, though, so the last 4 were gorgeous.  We all showered and headed to Laguna for brunch at Las Brisas with my really good friend, Michelle, and Molly's friend Kristen.

Then we stopped taking pictures.  We went to Tai Pan Trading and then South Coast Plaza for lots more shopping, dinner and a movie.  We still managed to finish of the last of the cookie dough and ice cream with another round of pizookies when we got home.

Sunday we went to Church at the Stake Center across from the Newport Temple.  We also took the ferry out to Balboa, put our feet in the sane (because I touched that water and it was freezing), and then back to the resort for some relaxing by the hot tub.

We realized we still had to finish We Bought a Zoo, so we decided to change into our PJs and get take out.  Somehow in our driving around using our cell phones, we happened upon Pasta Pomodoro, which is one of Molly's favorites.  It is, however, sit down.  Oh the horror as we walked through the restaurant (at least mine were yoga pants) with Kristin in her silky hot pink leopard print pajama pants.  Our waitress was really cute about it though, "Oh!  It's a slumber party!"  And then she shoved in the back corner.  Thank you waitress.  But seriously, the bread there and the pesto dipping sauce were so delicious.

And then we woke up and went home.