Neon Lights!

This past Monday I was lucky enough to wind up with some tickets to the Coldplay concert at the Toyota Center here in Houston. Now, I will say that I am not a huge Coldplay fan. I loved the song, "Yellow," but other than that one and maybe a few other Top 40 hits they have, I'm not some diehard fan. But I like concerts, and I had not yet been to the Toyota Center.

So we rolled up a little early and enjoyed some food and the opening acts. Well one of the opening acts anyway. The first up was Wolfgang, a British band who was a lot like Coldplay. They were younger, but had that same sound to their songs. They were having a great time on stage and that made it impossible to not enjoy the performance.

Wolfgang

Then came, Robyn. Now Dirty E was with me and she said something before this gal took stage like, "oh she was on Gossip Girl recently and was really good, I'm excited." Boy was she wrong. Apparently the appearance on the very popular show was much different from her opening act at this concert.

This girl was wearing a grandmother's sports bra with a see-through shirt over it. From the bottom she had a June Cleaver style blue skirt with blue tights and bright green spandex under the skirt that she repeatedly lifted up. To round out the ridiculous outfit she had white tights on with lime green, platform Doc Martin boots. Oh and did I mention her hair? She had two really long pieces on the sides of her face and the rest was a bowl cut.

This girl is...interesting.

Her look matched her performance. She went from bogus, drunk-girl style dancing to some pretty impressive hip-hop moves while shouting awful rap type lyrics. When she finally did sing a few ballads, mixed to club style beats, she had a good voice, but the overall performance was just mind- blowing terrible.

Then came the real show of the night. I'll start by backing up a minute. When we walked in the lady taking our tickets urged us to take and put on a Coldplay wristband. Then as we walked to our seats we saw signs that instructed concert goers to "Be sure to wear their wristband." When we arrived to our seats there were again signs and even announcements to put the wristbands on. We got the message and wore the wristbands.

So when Coldplay was taking the stage the place obviously went dark. The first thing to light up was the highlighter, neon graffiti all over the stage. Then neon lights went shooting across the arena. And finally as the band rushed the stage, all at once everyone's wristbands lit up different neon colors. The place was electric.

Thousands of little blinking neon lights!

About halfway through the kick-off song cannons of confetti shot into the air and covered the place in little neon pieces of paper. And by the time that first song was done I think everyone in the Toyota Center had a new favorite band. 

Confetti cannons!!!

The next few songs were a little bit lower keys but still very impressive. And right when things seem to be slowing down, BOOOM, confetti cannon and blinking wristbands again! This time they added even more when huge balloons fell from the rafters! Everyone was bouncing them into the air and tons ended up on stage. It was awesome chaos with a really great soundtrack playing.

PaRtY!!

The roller coaster then slowed down for a few songs and song extremely well played guitar solos before one final neon drenched finale. We got out of there before the encore but if it was anything like the rest of the concert, I'm sure it was spectacular.

My favorite Coldplay song, Yellow.

All in all it was a great decision to accept the tickets. I have a new respect for the band Coldplay and I would recommend to anyone seeing one of their concerts. Especially since you get to keep that fun little wristband!

xoxo Sara Marie

On to July!

Ok folks, New Year’s Resolution update. In a word, failure. Here's what's up...

My goal was to attend church more often. I had this whole plan to make going to this new church close by my condo each Sunday. Well Sundays are difficult because when I am out of town on the weekend, I miss it. So then I thought I could drop in and do a weekday Mass or two...and it just didn't happen.

Now in my defense I will say this, I like going to church and I don't want that to change. When we are kids I think we dread going to church because we have to wake up early and we are forced to do it. Well, as an adult, we make the decision to attend or not. And when I go to church, I love it. I always come away with a nice perspective and it feels good.

Now with my set goal of attending three times this month it was almost as though I was forcing myself to attend again. And while on Sundays I can go to the 530pm Mass, on the weekdays, it is 7am. So here I am being forced and waking up early to reach my goal.

So I didn't succeed. But I don't feel awful about it because I have found a new church, and I do still enjoy going. I know you shouldn't just give thanks to the Lord when you have time for it, but my relationship with God is just fine. I have a great life, I have him to thank, and I do that daily. I also think I do a pretty good job of being a pretty good person. I certainly am not perfect, and so I do attend church when I can. I always will.

So instead of dwelling on this particular monthly New Year's Resolution, I am going to cut my losses now and look ahead to next month.

And next up... Cook three nights a week! Now this may be really easy for some, but I have this really good habit of buying a bunch of stuff to cook in a week, then all of it spoiling because I work late, or have evening meetings. Not this month though. In the month of July I will succeed!!!

Stay tuned to find out if I do...

xoxo Sara Marie

Love Affair with Water

Ok so if you don't know, the title is from a country song... Brad Paisley's "Water." It's a fun summer song and probably should have been the theme song of my weekend.


It was Father's Day weekend, so the BF and I packed up and headed home where our fathers live within the same neighborhood.


The first stop was my Dado's pool. See both of our dads have pools, and both of our dads spend a lot of time and money making sure their pools are in top condition. However, both dads also don't have children at home anymore to enjoy those fancy lookin' pools. So the BF and I decided to show a little love to the pools and make our afternoon center around them.



And after jumping around in my Dado's pool and scaring my parent's doggies a little, we headed over to the BF's dad's pool. We hung out there for the rest of the afternoon and sufficiently tanned and pruned in the fingers we went to dinner and finished our Friday night. (at Cafe Blue in the Galleria, my Dado is an investor and it is more than delicious!)


Saturday my family headed out to the lake for some boating and jet skis. I don't think I have to describe anything as the pictures can speak for themselves...

Me and the BF in the background

That's me and Dado, he's nuts on the jet ski and it's awesome!

Dado and his gals

Sisterpants and my brother in law and me and the bf, yes I know my hair is awesome, back off.

My BF is a badass.

I forgot my shoes in Dado's truck. Sisterpants to the rescue. (Note that BF carried my up some insanly steep stairs and at this point we were just being goofy.)

And guess what we did on Sunday? Yep. Back to the pool. This time it was water volleyball. The last time I played water volleyball I took a spike in the nose and yah, it wasn't pretty. Now because that was 13 years ago, I decided to let it go and join in the fun. Unfortunately my team did not do so well, but if having a great time was the prize, we did win that! Lots of laughter and sun and we ended with banana pudding served poolside, no in the pool! It was awesome.

Champ

Banana Pudding, my favorite, literally while still in the pool!

being funny, or weird. haha

Happy Summer!



xoxo Sara

Back to Back!

Back to back Bachelorette posts! Really that just means I haven't posted in a week. Well, sorry I was busy having a fantastic weekend with the family down in Austin. More on that later...

But here we are... another Monday. So of course my girlfriend Dirty E came over again and we whipped up (read: "we" as "mostly she") a delicious pasta dish with veggies and watched good'ol Emily try and find her a hubby.

I took two pages of notes, here they go...

Ryan is flat creepy. He has the voice of a pedophile. Yep, he does. The wife-beater shirt he had on early in the episode did not help that image either.

Now Travis, this guy is a sweetheart. He was a big manly-man that I thought Emily would really be into, but alas, no rose for him on the one on one date. I felt so bad for him when he said something like, "my heart is this big..." and held his hands far apart. He will make some gal happy one day.

The group date was interesting. I get the whole movie thing, the plot matching Emily's life, her liking stupid movies because she has a young daughter, but despite all that; I thought it was a dumb date. Until the games began! Then the boys put on some tight fitting tops showing their biceps quite well and.... KILTS, gross. And then they had to ride donkeys! My goodness this girl is really going for that whole, "if you can handle me at my worst, then you get me at my best..." mentality huh?

Anyway the games were fun to watch because, really, what girl doesn't love a little competition? Sean dominated and that was great because he is cute. Minus the bleached hair the guy is put together well.

TIME OUT: Why were they wearing kilts and playing Scottish games when they were in Croatia? I never figured that out. Additionally I'll take this aside to say that the jacket Emily was wearing (while the guys were obviously freezing to death in the sleeveless/kilt combo) was pretty fabulous.

Back to the group date...Chris, poor Chris. That man sucks at sports. But I will give him credit for not making excuses and handling it very well. A guy who can laugh at himself is a very secure guy. Arie is cute. He has good hands and seems pretty confident. These are also good things.

The next thing I noted was when Arie and Emily were walking around on their date... when he put her against that wall to kiss her both Dirty E and I gasped. Fantasy land! Tall, dark and handsome man leans you against a wall in a foreign city to kiss you? Yah that is what dreams are made of...

Oh then we go back to Ryan. This guy is the definition of a tool bag guy... also known as a douche bag... also known as a loser who, spoiler alert, GOES HOME.

His facial hair is atrocious. The delicate design that is obviously manicured into it is just ridiculous. His bright blue suede shoes were a joke at best and this guy thinks higher of himself than men twice as good as him should.

With that said, I'll move on to Jef.

Now Jef I'm starting to feel sorry for because I just don't think he has what it takes. And I think he knew that coming in and played this goofy, fun guy. But now after a few rounds, I think he is thinking things might work out for him and Emily. And he is great, the perfect little brother type, or best guy friend kind of person, but I just don't think there are sparks flying in Emily's eyes when they are together. I do like him though.

Chris and Emily walk in at one point together and I just made the comment that they look good together. I don’t know if it is their heights or faces or what but they would look great on a Christmas card together!

The best part of the group date was when Emily gave the rose to Chris and the camera shot was of Arie and one of the other guys watching on. Their expressions were priceless and made that moment of Reality TV not seem as scripted as usual.

OMG. Then we go back to Ryan again. I have so had enough of this guy at this point, but there he was, shaving again. I swear that guy has got to have the smoothest skin on the planet. I think in one episode it showed him shaving three times!

So Ryan and Emily go through their date and while Emily does seem to have a great time she is blatantly annoyed with the revealing of his 12 point check list for his future bride. And when "encouraging and lifts me up" was #3 on the list, before "faithfulness," I think every girl in America was equally as annoyed. So Ryan gets sent home. Even after begging a little he is declared the loser of the evening and makes his exit. At which point he immediately starts in on the taxi cab camera about his biggest hope is that he doesn't appear to be an asshole. Well Ryan, too bad.

So then Arie shows up at Emily's and while as first I thought it was a little bit too much, in the end she seemed to really enjoy it and they looked adorable hanging out in her bed. They seemed much more normal and the conversation again seemed less staged.

So we come to the Rose Ceremony and Emily's dress is awful. She looked like a confetti cupcake, but her earrings were beyond awesome.

Wolf gets a few minutes with Emily and immediately cries after discussing some funeral cards he keeps in his wallet. Now I'm not trying to be insensitive here, but come on. If I was a guy trying to impress a girl, crying would not be my first move, but strangely enough, it seemed to work.

Emily ends up only cutting the guys on the dates. Travis, the nice guy and Ryan the douche.

I don't think I mentioned Doug, who despite his best effort could not ever put a complete sentence together when he was talking to Emily. That guy literally made me feel uncomfortable and I was a world away from the actual conversation.

So she keeps Sean, Arie, Jef, Doug, John (Wolf) and Chris and they are headed to Prague. And it is here that the Arie drama, which has been blowing up the internet, is revealed! Apparently he dated a producer of the show and Emily gets PISSED. Drama drama drama!

Here's to all of that!

xoxo Sara Marie

Bachelorette is backkkk...

Oh that's right, it never went anywhere I just missed two weeks. Whatever. I watched it last night is what I mean…

I like Jef and Shaun. The whole Kalon thing was insane, and while I think the other guys were a little dramatic about the things he said; I did LOVE the way Emily got pissed and said she'd "go West Virginia on his ass..." That was awesome.

So let's see, I didn't take notes, but this is what I remember starting after the first 8 minutes when I turned it on...

The double-decker bus date with Shaun was so cute. They look like a couple. They act like a couple. And a few times I noticed her nervously twirling her hair when he was asking her something. The pictures they kept stopping and taking were adorable too.

The group date I don't remember a ton of... oh right the play. That was weird but my friend who was watching with me did mention that it is cool that Emily doesn't choose off the charts dates every single time.

With that said Jef's date was pretty off the charts. The whole dessert (of which I don’t think they had a bite) alone on top of the London ferris wheel thing was insanity. Their date bordered on awkward but fell to the side of really great I think. It was almost as if they both wanted to say certain things or wanted the other person to say certain things and they weren't and then all of a sudden they both did. Anyway it ended well with their much anticipated kiss. Like I said the last time I post about Emily and her suitors, I like Jef more and more.

Now Ryan I feel like I have to talk about because he sort of tries really hard. I don't like him. It is as if he thinks he is extra cool and makes it a point to show Emily just how extra cool he is. It is cute at times, I guess, but it is getting old. What was that stupid vest he was wearing too?

So that is all I really remember. Oh, Emily chill out. I hated the way after the Kalon thing she grilled every single guy for "not having her back." In the grand scheme of things they each have had maybe two dates with this girl, who are they to go tattle on one of the other guys? If this was significantly later in the process, I would understand that mentality. It seems like Emily wants the guys to all be madly in love with her right now, so she can just pick which one to love back. It doesn't work like that girlfriend. They too are figuring out if they want a relationship with you.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Next week looks good, as do the scenes from the upcoming weeks, so standby for more of my '"expert" opinions, ha.

xoxo Sara Marie

RPT Convention 2012

The Texas Republican Party State Convention was this past week in Ft. Worth. It was quite the week.

First and fore most my mama was elected by Senate District 25 to be their Committeewoman for the State Republican Executive Committee. Congrats to Mama, I know she will do a great job for those counties.

Next I will offer a few complaints.

1. IT WAS SO COLD EVERYWHERE. I am not complaining about the weather. Inside the convention center and arena it was the Arctic Blast Zone. Seriously, I get that there were 10,000 people running around so you have to keep the air pumping, but it was so cold it was painful in some meetings. Turn the air up a little folks!

2. The arena seating was kind of insane. While it looked fantastic in photos and press shots, it was really scary watching little old ladies climb stairs, steep stairs, up to their designated seating. I'm not sure how to fix this problem and keep the really awesome arena feel, but I literally sat in my seat and cringed when I saw wobbly seniors struggling to get to their seats.

3. The schedule was great, and I know it takes a lot to build such intense time lines, but every year I have attended one of these things we go over the time allotted. The General Sessions run long...every year. So maybe next time, let's schedule a bit more time for these sessions and then nothing backs up and we don't have to return to the freezing cold, dangerous arena for a "finish up session" from 9 to midnight on the Friday night! Just a thought... constructive criticism.

Now for the good stuff...

The speeches were amazing. The good Governor kicked things off by giving a kick ass speech Thursday morning. I am obviously biased, but this may have been one of the greatest speeches I have ever seen him give. It was well balanced, exciting, emotional, just very well done. At one point the Ted Cruz folks booed him for giving his governing partner David Dewhurst an endorsement shout-out, and I think that was sick... flat disrespectful, and I don't want anything to do with people like that. Luckily the SAME FOLKS were back on their feet applauding Governor Perry when he finished giving his remarks.

The other speakers included the mentioned David Dewhurst, Attorney General Greg Abbott, and other statewide officials. I think pretty much everyone exceeded my expectations with their General Assembly addresses. And that is great for firing up the party before a monumental General Election this fall.

The breakout sessions were not just well done, but really well attended. The first I chose to attend was Chairman Smitherman's conversation on the over-intrusive EPA. Now I didn't expect a ton of delegates to be in this meeting because Ron Paul was speaking at the exact same time, but well over 500 people PACKED the room until there was standing room only. The Chairman did an exceptional job and for the millionth time blew my mind at his level of understanding and general knowledge of such a wide array of topics that the Railroad Commission encompasses.

The second breakout session I attended was the one led by Senator Dan Patrick with other panel guests including Representative Jason Isaac. Now I will admit here for full disclosure, and if you know me you have already figured this out, I merely attended sessions with elected officials I already admire greatly.

Senator Patrick and Representative Isaac did not disappoint. In a room of well over 500 again, and maybe closer to 1,000 delegates, alternates and guests the panel did a great presentation. I especially liked Representative Isaac's overview of the Election's Committee in the last Legislative Session. I was with the Secretary of State's office then and sat through many of those hearings. He did a great job and I hope for the people of Texas' future that Representative Isaac returns to the Election's Committee in the 2013 session.

As for the caucus meetings my Senate District meetings went well. I think most of them did. I was really impressed with my Congressional District meeting. Paul Bettencourt is a caucus champion. It was so well organized and ran smoothly. He allowed candidates to speak and stayed right on track the whole time. Kudos to him as I know that can be a very exhausting roll to play.

I think that is about it minus a few random thoughts:

1. The GIANT elephant painted as the Texas flag was spectacular. Would have been a great family Christmas card photo op, but alas my family was a ll over the place so it never happened.

2. Omni Ft. Worth is a great hotel. The valet kind of sucks, they lost my keys twice, but over all a great hotel.

3. Whiskey and Rye bar at the Omni is also pretty awesome. I only took part in one night of "meet up with all your old friends and staffers at the bar" night but it was fun and the drinks were served up quickly!

4. Ft. Worth is a cool town and handled the convention nicely. The surrounding restaurants were prepared to handle the influx of patrons and almost all offered a special deal like a free margarita with your convention credentials! Bonus!

So that is about all for my convention recap. It was a busy 4ish days and I think the party accomplished a ton. Here's to our ticket, may November 2012 be the red wave that '08 was blue!

oh and as a side note: This summary does not include the blowout my little red Rosie Jetta had on the evening of day 1. That is another post to come...

xoxo Sara Marie

Batting .500

It's time for another monthly new year's resolution update. And I'm slacking. May's resolution was to send cards, or letters, via snail mail to friends and family. And while on literally the last day of the month I did think about it twice, I totally failed. I did not send one.
I will take this opportunity to blame the election. But really the idea is to make it a habit despite all the distractions to not do it. One thing to focus on and I couldn't do it.
I'll be ok though. I will eventually go buy a few cards and make it happen. It may not be a habit, but the drinking water and working out (and obviously the attention to this blog) is still going well.
I'd say for the year, accomplishing the monthly resolution and making it a little bit more of a habit, I'm sitting at about .500.
Next up is attending church 3 times in a calendar month. Now this one will be interesting for a few reasons. 1. I have found a new church in Houston that I like, so it will be nice to attend a little more regularly (not that I need an excuse to do so, but it will be nice to get into that routine of going). 2. Because of my schedule I don't think it will be the three consecutive Sundays we have left in this month, so that means I'll be hitting up a weekday Mass. All things considered I should be able to handle this one easily because obviously it should trump most distractions. It will be the making it a habit that takes a little bit more work. I'm focused.

Happy New Year (Resolutions)!

UPDATE: I actually typed this up early in the weekend and today I did not attend Mass. Thus now I will definitely go to the weekday Mass at some point, and I will have to a few times to be successful.

Additionally, I bought FIVE cards to mail out to address last month's resolution, so I'm catching up!
xoxo Sara Marie

Food and Drink

There was so much food on this trip and probably a few too many drinks too, but all of it was fantastic!

It actually started Wednesday night at a little place the BF and I found by my new condo still in Houston. Ragin Cajun is the name, and cajun food is obviously their game. And it is a game they win. The food is delicious, and both times we have gone  there we have been stuffed full and used a groupon! Awesome food and an even more awesome price. I think less than 30 bucks for...

BF:
Salmon with grilled veggies and potatoes
Cheesecake
Sara Marie:
Grilled Tallpia with grilled veggies and sausage and chicken jumbalya
Brownie with ice cream

I don't have pictures of this one but check out their website here. It is always packed, but they have great service and delicious cajun food.

Now Thursday we headed for the Golden State, and upon arrival we did what most tourists and locals alike do, drove directly to In N Out. I freaking love burgers of any kind, and this is seriously close to the jackpot of all burgers. I get a #3, a hamburger with pickles and ketchup only, an order of fries and a drink. The BF goes Double/Double Animal Style. If you are American, and have not had In N Out, your citizenship should be revoked at some point.

I don't have pictures of the burger heaven, but here is a sample of our meal, click here.

The next meal was at some place in the harbor in Santa Barbara. We have been here twice and for some reason I cannot remember the name. Oh well. We had crab pasta with crab cakes as appetizer. I also had a glass of a local Santa Barbara wine called Endless Summer Chardonnay. Everything was exceptional. And upon googling, I found it! Chuck's Waterfront Grill!

Following that meal, the BF and I headed to the beach. It was well after sunset, but we had a celebratory bottle of our, or my, favorite champagne, Freixenet. We found this particular Cava last time we were in SB, so what better way to kick off our vacation there than to have a bottle of it on the beach?

The next morning it was a homemade breakfast at the Eagle Inn. Individual egg quiches with asparagus and a bowl of fresh fruit was on the menu, and minus some not so great coffee there were no complaints.

For lunch the Original Freebirds (Aggies read here if you don't believe me) was planned, but given that we were all the way up in Pismo Beach area, we had to grab a snack. A roadside stand with fresh veggies and fruit was just the ticket. And as we drove down the PCH 1 to UCSB where that original Freebirds is, we enjoyed cherries and some guacamole sent from above!

When we made it to Freebirds it was just how I remembered last time except warm enough to sit outside and enjoy the weather too. Burritos and sunshine!

That evening is where things really take a turn for the out of control. While getting ready the BF thought a bottle of Andre would be fun, and he was right. We had a glass or two under a lemon tree at the hotel while we waited for our cab.

We headed to dinner...in a limo cab... and arrived at the very restaurant, Holdren's, that we discovered the Freixenet a year before, so natually we ordered up a glass. For dinner I had a Halibut steak with red peppers and grilled veggies after a salad with homemade balsamic vinegrette. BF had some peppered steak also with veggies and a salad. I will admit here, his steak was better than my halibut, but not by much.

Then came dessert. Now BF and I like to play the "its her/his birthday" game as often as possible to satisfy the fat kids in us. On this night it was my birthday, and before I ran to the ladies' room for a minute I told BF that he could choose one of three desserts I had narrowed my choice down to. It was either the Sampler with peanut butter pie, flourless chocolate cake and cheescake; the homemade cookie and ice cream sandwich; or the smores. Well as I returned from the restroom our waitress delivered the ice cream sandwich with HAPPY BIRTHDAY written on it. I was thrilled and laughed when they also put down the sampler in front of the BF. Then they also set on the table the smores!!! BF said he couldnt decide either so he got all three...which was really FIVE desserts because of that sampler plate. We had a good amount of the Sampler, probably half of the ice cream sandwich and one smore each. To say we were full and the dinner was an massive success would be quite the understandment!

The following morning, as if we could possibly eat anymore, we did just that. And this was one of the meals, much like the night before, I had literally been dreaming about... Cajun Kitchen on de la Vina in Santa Barbara. We sat at the counter, one of my favorite things to do, and both ordered up Chilaquiles. They were devine. They have some secret in keeping the chips crispy in them while still using some kind of spicy sause. It is a mouth watering combination.

After breakfast we hopped in the Jeep and headed to Santa Barbara Wine Country. Our first stop was Mosby Winery. This place had Italian wines that varried in taste. I loved two and didn't care for two. And then there were two I could live with or without. The Rosata was one I liked and it was really yummy.

From there it was down the road 4 miles to Alma Rosa Winery. This place looked like it could be in the Texas Hill Country and all 6 wines we tasted were fabulous. I am not a huge fan of fruity or reds of any kind, but the three whites and three reds were all exceptional. I even bought a bottle of the Chardonnay. The setting was beautiful and the wines were worth it, so if you are ever in Santa Barbara County, stop by Alma Rosa.

From there we hopped back in the Jeep and made our way all the way down to Manhattan Beach. We went to a local Brewrey for the Spurs game. Brewco was packed, but the Kings game was on so the 12 hockey fans in the LA area were out in force. I had fish tacos, of which I only ate one. Not because they were not good, but more because, well, the massive amount of food intake at this point I guess. We boxed up the half of the Club sandwich BF couldnt eat and headed out.

The next day we googled some breakfast spots and came up with two possibilities, Uncle Billy's or Ocen View Cafe. The reviews for both were great, but there was something about the wait time that kept popping up for Uncle Billy's. They were right next to one another so we decided to go and see for ourselves. And what do ya know? Uncle Billy's had a wait, and there was only one other person at Ocean View. We picked our own seat on the patio and got ready for what would end up my second favorite breakfast. (Come on you cant beat those chilaquiles) Anyway, I ordered the Ultimate Breakfast with a waffle, fruit, sausage and scrambled eggs, and the BF got a breakfast burrito and fruit. The whipped cream was homemade and everything was incredible.

For lunch on this final full day of vacation in California we went to Rock N Fish on Manahattan Beach. We were thinking of going light, but that in no way panned out.

We started with a lump crab sandwich and sweet potato fries. We split this delicious dish and were still a little hungry when we finished. So we ordered up the Mahi Mahi Sliders. They were out of this world, and I was finally getting full. That is when the table next to us had their dessert delivered. And because we were on vacation we ordered the crazy huge treat. It was chocolate, vanilla and coffee ice cream layered with butterfinger and oreo crumbs, topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. It was so filling, but wonderful.

Now because we were entering the 7th ring of hell as gluttons at this point, we took it easy on dinner and just split an order of truffle fries after enjoying that bottle of Chardonnay I got from the winery earlier in the day.

Our final food outing was on the way back to LAX and was none other than the glorious In N Out again! We had our normal order and headed for the plane. Another fantastic food and drink filled trip to the Golden State was under wraps. I cannot wait to go back... after I lose 10 lbs.

xoxo Sara Marie

Back to Life, Back to Reality...

Vacation was unreal. So unreal that I cannot possibly do it justice with a blog post. Thus, I will do two, maybe three... the first up will just be a picture roll. Most of these are on facebook too, but there are a few that are not, enjoy!

In the Jeep on the way to Santa Barbara!

On the pier in SB. The picture is taken by this old local guy named Tom, who I think might, or at least should be, the mayor.

After riding ATVs in the Pismo Beach Dunes for two hours! YouTube video to follow...

Being fabulous in the limo on the way to dinner.

The most out of control dinner ever... standby for my next post for the details...

Mosby Winery

Alma Rosa Winery

A MASSIVE sand hill on the side of the PCH 1that we decided to change clothes and run up.

LEGS BURNING!!!!!!!

Manhattan Beach, CA!

BF comparing hands with his favorite guitarist at Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd

Santa Monica Beach, CA, beautiful!

xoxo Sara Marie