Good bye Summer

Just a quick look at what kept me busy this summer besides living life with Sam and Sarah and all the bike rides (remember the first summer blog post).

In July I went to the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. The past few years I have gone with my friend, Shannon, but she was out of town this year so Allison went with me. No pics of us though. Only this pic I thought to take while I was standing outside on a conference call. Benefits of working from home - not really I actually had a vacation day but called in for this call.

Normally I get my eyebrows waxed but have a bunch of friends who get them threaded at this place in the mall so I figured I'd take the opportunity to check it out because I heard it lasted longer and was less painful. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? It felt like I was getting a million paper cuts on my eyebrow area. I survived but did shed a few tears of pain (seriously).

Later that night we celebrated Jen's 30th birthday.

Travis and I were on grill duty.





We had a fun "anything you could possibly want on your burger" bar, but I didn't get any pictures.





Allison found a place in Atwater Village (North of downtown) that offers fun dance/workout classes so we headed up there for a Bollywood class. As rhythmically challenged as I am, I didn't do that bad. I'm definitely not staring in the next Bollywood movie though.

One of the moves we learned.

She's going to kill me for posting this...

Cool "new to me" restaurant in Silver Lake called Alcove after the class.

Biked to Taco Tuesday at Sharkeez in HB one evening with a few of the girls. Yum fish tacos and watermelon margaritas - my choice for the night.

Some of the girls grabbed some Lotus afterwards.

Little bit of hang out time at Starbucks before the return bike ride.

It was a "fun Jen" night with a bit of pole dancing.

Old cell broke so I splurged and got the new iPhone. I LOVE this thing.

For the past year and a half Angela and I would go to In and Out on her RDO Fridays. She lost the RDO Fridays a while back but we continued to find time to go especially February through August when her husband, Adam, was in Afghanistan. Fun lunches - who else sits at In and Out for 2 hours???

We welcomed Adam back at LAX in August.

Went to Shakespeare in the Park at Point Fermin in San Pedro. Such a fun evening - great location and what better way to spend an evening than watching a play outside on a summer evening.

The temp totally dropped as you can tell by the change in outfits.

Only got to one Concert in the Park at Polliwog this summer. The Mo's organized this since this is Lauren's favorite - Neil Diamond cover band.

Found out that the Pantages was having a student special on the play Legally Blonde. Basically students could come and purchase tickets for the play at $25/ticket with a valid student id at the theater. Lucky for me I had Sam, Sarah and Michaela and was able to "use" them and purchase a few tickets at amazing prices. I took Sam and Michaela up there one day and then took them to lunch at Pink's Hot Dogs and then a bit of thrift store shopping. Orchestra seats!!!!

On August 28th, a few of us headed up to Hollywood for dinner at Katsuya, asian fusion sushi bar restaurant that Nickki had been raving about for a while and was on my list to try. It was really cool and they gave us this sort of private area that was a bit separate from the main part of the restaurant.

The non-fish eaters. Their chicken dishes were really good though.

I loved the presentation of the food. This is a MUST have if you ever go to this restaurant - its the creamy rock shrimp appetizer.

and the fish eaters...

Fun picture of us before we headed inside for the play. There were people dressed up in lots of pink.

Got to try The Habit, El Segundo's newest restaurant, prior to the opening. Sam and I were headed to Chipotle and noticed that people were at The Habit on Saturday, August 29th so we decided to check it out. We entered, they were VERY friendly (which hasn't stopped in the subsequent times I've been there), said that all proceeds from that day's sales went to El Segundo's schools, ordered, went and sat outside to wait for the food. Moments later I saw the manager turning away customers. Apparently it was only open for two hours and the real opening was the following Monday.

Got a season pass to Disneyland.

Had a family and friend pasta night on the last Sunday before Sam and Sarah left.

Michaela and Sam posing for a picture. They are such good sports and good at the active shots.

Sarah and a couple of her friends

Shot of the beach on a bike ride on Labor Day.

Disclaimer

So it has come to my attention that the last picture that I posted of Sam and Michaela brushing their teeth could be interpreted to be a morning picture BUT rest assured that Shannon's House Rules stayed in tact this entire summer and that was actually an afternoon picture because both of them for whatever reason really like to brush their teeth. Being raised in a household where my mom, the dental hygienist wanted 3 brushings a day and flossing (which I'm not so religious at doing every day still), I say brush on!!!

For those who weren't privy to Shannon's House Rules here they are in case you find yourself in a situation with teens:

1. No persons of the opposite sex in the house when Shannon isn't home. (Sitting outside on the porch until she gets there and watching the tv through the screen door was okay - they got creative).
2. No persons of the opposite sex in their bedrooms with the doors closed. (It is amazing what they will try with the door open....)
3. No sleepovers of the opposite sex. (Watch out for the parents that do allow it though...)
4. No going horizontal. (I don't know how many times I said "sit up" this summer)

When I was a teen, these rules were outrageous. And look at me now...