coast to coast

John and I spent four wonderful days in LA and Riverside this past weekend.  We celebrated with  John's brother Paul on his 21st birthday and experienced his life in LA.  And then we got to see Joy and Joe (John's sis and her husband) in their home in Riverside.  My little niece Noelle turned 1 recently and so we got to be there for the big celebration.  Of course our camera did not have any juice in the battery the whole time so we are pictureless except for a pic of Noelle covered in chocolate icing at her party.  But I will share some staples from our sweet Cali time, most of which involve some great food, but that is not new.

yummy brunch at Urth Cafe across from Rodeo drive in Beverly Hills while ritzy people with small dogs munched around us . . .

watching Noelle get more comfortable around us and we knew we made it when she offered her dolly for us to hug and kiss as she giggled and sang . . .

walking around the Mission in Riverside with the Maschy clan on a cool night with a tea latte in hand . . .

walking around Westwood with Paul on his birthday, eating some sushi, and trying the most delectable espresso drink with orange peel and cinnamon . . .

grabing a pinkberry frozen yogurt and perusing Santa Monica's promenade . . .

John spotted Maria Shriver in Anthropologie so I quickly grabbed a book so I could stare without being obvious, although it was obvious . . .

I was told on Santa Monica pier by a cart vendor with a british accent selling skirt wraps that "it would be ok if the skirt blew open and you showed the world your knickers, its california . . . you could walk around naked and no one would notice . . ."

back in Riverside Joy and Joe had cooked up some steaks and twice baked potatoes in celebration of Paul's day . . .

we got to watch Noey eat her first cake, (the first time she had ever tasted chocolate too) and watched as she quickly decided she liked it, mom and dad were not stopping her and everyone thought it was so funny so she kept getting fistfuls of the icing and eating some while smearing the rest all over her face and ears . . .

From the Maschies front yard we were able to make fresh grapefruit juice, lemonade and my favorite: orange juice . . .

To top it all off John and I got to spend a couple of hours enjoying LA again by ourselves.  We ate at a Egyptian Hookah Cafe . . . sipped coffee and read our bibles in between people watching (hoping that one of those peoples was famous).  Paul joined us for $1.50 cookie ice cream sandwiches at Diddy Reise and after much debate over dinner and  trip back to Santa Monica we decided to eat some In-N-Out . . .

we had such a great time!  Thanks to Paul for being the best tour guide and for turning 21 . . . thanks to Joe and Joy for hosting us and letting us watch Noey while you dated . . .  thanks Tsangs for letting us stay with you in LA and giving us some upcoming travel tips . . . and thanks to Frontier for the almost free tickets, free checked bags and free TV.  We couldn't have made it without you.