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Happy Birthday Hubby!

Whoops... I just realized I forgot to publish this post.  It's just been chilling in "draft" status for 2 months!  Whoopsies! :)

I mentioned in a previous post that the hubs and I were going to get away for a weekend to celebrate his big 40th birthday.  It was a whirlwind trip, but SO much fun!

We stayed at the JW Marriott at LA Live.  It was amazing!  Such a great hotel!  It's located in the heart of downtown LA, next to the Staples Center & lots of restaurants. 

Please forgive the not-so-great iPhone photos!

We went to dinner the first night at Rock'N Fish.  There was a hockey game that night, so everywhere was pretty packed & insane. Rock'N Fish appeared to be a choice place for the after work happy hour... so there was some uh.. interesting people watching to be had.  After dinner, we headed back to our hotel & had a couple cocktails in the lobby bar before retiring back to our room for the night.

Friday (Sam's birthday) we got up, had lunch at the hotel, and headed out for the day.  We went to the Citadel outlets, and did some shopping there.  Really, it WAS his choice to go shopping!  I didn't hijack his birthday ! :) After our shopping, we headed to Amoeba.  It was quite entertaining watching Sam dart all around the huge store looking for hard-to-find CDs.  He was truly like a kid in a candy store.  We left Amoeba, and drove around a little bit.  Sam loves showing me different parts of LA/Orange County.  Telling me stories of times him & his friends did this or that.  It's always fun listening to them, and seeing what his life was like when he lived there. 

Grabbing some iced tea to re-fuel for the Ameoba adventure!

 

I posted this on FB, but you can see the inner battle that was going on in his head... "should I get this one?  But I really want that one too..."


We finally made our way back to our hotel.  It was a bit of a nightmare, as there was another game going on that night - this time it was the Lakers.  I think it took us about 45 minutes to go 2 blocks.  Sam was not a happy boy.  But, we made it.  We both got glammed up, and then took a cab to Samantha's loft for that evening's festivities.  We had a wonderful time with everyone that came.  I was able to meet several of his friends that I hadn't met before.  We poured ourselves into a cab to head back to the hotel around 3:30am.

Sam and Will

Sam & David, an old band-mate/friend of his that he recently reconnected with thanks to Facebook!

We LOVED the 40th post-it

Sam, Alli & Samantha

Me, Alli & Mantha

Kris & Rob

Fun with streamers.  He's sober.... yaaaahhh.  right. :)

Sam & Craig - they've known each other since they were kids. 

Rob & Craig

Craig doing a hilarious impression... we laughed so hard at him!

Sam & I

The next day, we got a bit of a late start.  For some reason, we were all just a tad fuzzy headed. ;) But, we rallied and soon we were climbing into Samantha's SUV with Alli, and the four of us were off to have our next adventure.  After stopping for breakfast at Fred 62, we headed to the Getty Center.  We saw the museum, had tons of laughs, and took lots of photos.  We were all pretty wiped from the previous evenings festivities, so we grabbed a bite to eat, and then headed back to the hotel.  Samantha & Alli hung out with us for a bit before they headed back to their homes.

Sunday was the day we had been waiting for.  The highlight of all our trips to California... A visit to the happiest place on earth... the House of Mouse.  That's right, folks, we enjoyed our 3rd trip to Disneyland in less than a year.  And to think I hadn't ever been up until 3 years ago!  Sam & I got there right around 11am.  Went straight to one of our favorite attractions, Pirates of the Caribbean, and started the round of Disneyland fun.  It was pretty busy that day, so we were dealing with not so friendly wait times, but it was a lot of fun.  And so much more enjoyable to not have the 110* heat we had the last trip to Disneyland.  Later that afternoon, Samantha, Alli, Ginny, Alex & Wendy met up with us, and we explored California Adventure together.  I finally got to go on The Tower of Terror.  Sam refuses to ride that (and California Screaming is also on his no-way-no-how list --boo!). We had a great time with the ladies, and closed the park down, as we usually do. 

Monday, we headed back home - completely exhausted & spent, but so many memories tucked away.  It was a wonderful, busy, fun & memorable weekend.  Couldn't think of a better way to celebrate my love's 40th birthday!

Amococo

Wow, once again I've neglected this poor blog. :(  I have a few posts in the works, so hopefully I'll get around to actually finishing & posting them before another 2 months go by!

First up:  Amococo

One of the blogs I subscribe to is I Heart Mesa.  They always have a lot of different things to do posted.  We've gotten quite a few ideas of things to do in our area from that blog.  Anyway, they had posted about Amococo being at the Mesa Arts Center for a limited time.  I thought it looked interesting, and tickets were cheap, so the hubs & I decided to go.  We were SO glad that we did.  It was AH-MAZING.  Seriously.

This is a blurb from their website, giving a brief description of what it is:

"Amococo is the most labyrinthine luminarium, featuring as it does 86 triaxial domes and 71 pods that together create a complex of pathways where the visitors may happily lose themselves.


Built in 2008, Amococo’s common visual motif is the ‘oculus’ – an ovoid window that allows light to gently diffuse into the domes. This is most strikingly effective in the cupola of the central dome where the ceiling resonates with iridescent rainbow hues.


Amococo is the luminarium with the potential to be set up in a very long narrow configuration approaching 80 metres in length."

I think the photos we took speak for themselves. 

This is what it looked like from the outside.  The material is really thin... as thin as your t-shirt.  And the colors are all from the light shining in through the fabric.  It was ll hand cut & glued together - no stitching!

There are several domes in it.  This photo is taken looking up at one of them.

  

I highly recommend seeing it if it comes to your area!  It really is a unique experience.  We were in awe the entire time we walked around it.  Very very cool!

Hello? Anyone out there still?

Whoops... I didn't mean to take such a long hiatus from this lil' blogitty blog.  Can't believe it's been over a month since I posted!  And, yes, I realize I didn't finish the challenge.  What can I say?  I suck.  Naw, not really.  I just got bored with it, and couldn't bear to do the last two.  Not because they were difficult, I was just so totally over it.   Shawna + posting consecutively for 31 days = no bueno. 

Anyway... not a whole lot is new around these parts.  I've maintained contact with Bio Dad.  We've emailed back and forth since Christmas time.  It's gotten a little more sporadic lately, but I think we're both kind of running out of things to say.  He wants to come visit.  Last we talked about it (which was sometime last month) He was thinking the last week of February or the first week of March.  I haven't heard anything new, so I'm thinking it's not going to happen.  But, who knows?  I'm a little apprehensive of the visit, but overall I'm okay with it.  He's planning on coming with his girlfriend, and they'd be staying in Tucson, with her brother.  So I feel like that kind of takes the pressure off.  Anything we do, I'll have Sam with, and he'll have his gf with, so they'll kind of be buffers so to speak.  And with them staying in Tucson, it means I'm not solely responsible for entertaining them.  I think it'll be good.  That is, if it happens.  Either way, I'm really okay with it.  As I've said, I'm not looking for a Dad.  I have one, thankyouverymuch.  But I would like to get to know, (as well as allow him to get to know me) my biological dad. 

The only other fun thing in the works (gosh, I make it sound like we're totally dull and have nothing going on, huh?)  I'm planning the hubs 40th birthday get-away for next month.  It's all starting to come together, and I have to say, I'm getting pretty excited!  He knows we're going to California, but everything else, I'm keeping under wraps until we get there!  He doesn't read this blog, so I know I'm safe spilling the beans here! :)

It'll be a very busy weekend (as most of our California trips are).  We fly in on a Thursday afternoon.  We have the rest of the day (as well as most of the next) to do whatever we want. Hopefully we can manage to get some relaxing in. 

We will be staying here:

Photo from the JW Marriott LA Live Website


Friday night (Hubby's actual birthday) one of his friends will be hosting a party for him at her downtown LA loft (thus the choice to stay downtown, vs in Orange County as we usually do).  Saturday, we're hoping to go The Getty Museum.  Of course, that depends on how we're all feeling after Friday night's festivities.  Saturday night is time for round two of the birthday celebration.  We're going to this bar in Hollywood, where we have the birdcage reserved.  Sounds a bit odd, right?  I think it'll be fun though!  Thank goodness I have a TON of help from a couple of Sam's friends.  I'm pretty clueless when it comes to nightlife in LA.  Luckily, they are not. 

Of course, no trip to Southern California is complete without a trip to the House of Mouse.  (well, at least not in this household)  We'll wrap up our trip with a quick (just the one day) trip to Disneyland before heading back home on Monday.

Like I said, it'll be a quick, busy trip.  But it will be oh-so-very fun!  Can't wait!



Day Twenty Nine: Make me smile

Day Twenty Nine: A photo that makes you smile

My nephews.  I miss them SO much, it's a little ridiculous.  Aren't they just the cutest kids?  Gavin was 5 in this photo, and Austin was 9.  This was taken a year and a half ago, so they've grown up quite a bit then.  Unfortunately, I haven't seen them since shortly after this was taken. :( 

Tomorrow: A photo of someone you miss (only two more days!!!)