I love busy weekends! This one was such a blast. On friday I hung with my "brother", Ethan, at his house which was so nice. We just chilled and it was really relaxing. I felt very at home.
That night I had delicious Italian food at Miceli's with my dad and scrumptious self-serve frozen yogurt at Menchie's. If you haven't been to Menchie's, it is time to get your booty out the door and find the nearest one. So damn good.
Two years ago, I was in a Christmas Carol at the Lonny Chapman theater. It was such an amazing experience and I made lots of friends. My nine-year-old friend, Kaylena, who played Scrooge's little sister and Chris, who played Adult Scrooge, were in Wait Until Dark on Friday night. My dad and I saw it, and it was amazing. It's a psychological thriller and the story and writing were amazing. Kaylena was unbelievable! She's so talented and cute and I love her family so much. I hope to see them all soon.
Saturday was the coolest day. It felt like a movie. My mom, Mastin, and I went on a road trip to Ojai. My mom's dear friends, Katie and Gay, live there and we visited them and swam and had a little Easter egg hunt. It was so joyful.
After we left them, we drove around for a bit trying to find this place called Meditation Mount that my mom had been to and loved recently and we ended up on the road to my mom's other friend. So we decided to stop by and say hi. She lives on a farm and it was the craziest experience ever. She had five dogs and they are all small and cute and they were jumping and licking us as we came in. In her backyard, she has a horse, a donkey, many roosters and hens, some ducks, and two goats. They were all mingling and we got to pet them and hang out in the midst of them all. There was this one rooster that looked like an Emperor Penguin; he had this ridiculous crown of feathers and he walked like he owned the whole world. She gave us fresh eggs, avocados, grapefruits, and oranges. It would be so cool to live like that, but I would probably get sick of it after a while. However, I might go up and help with the animals every once in a while. That would be so amazing.
Two of her dogs. The one of the right looks like she's growling but she was the absolute sweetest!
(Left) Beautiful horse! (Right) She doesn't put horse-shoes on, so she has these little boots for long walks.
(Left) Softest ears ever! (Right) She was very shy, but sweet once she let you pet her.
I love the goat nonchalantly sitting on top of the little house. So chill.
Best for last. Mr King Rooster, himself.
We figured out how to actually get to Meditation Mount and when we got up there, my breath was taken away. It was so gorgeous. There are some amazing views in LA, but they all have city in them. This was pure nature. Beautiful blue mountains in the distance and puffy white clouds and green everything. It was so relaxing.
On the way home, we stopped for In-N-Out which was delicious, as per usual. The ride home was super fun cause I made a bunch of mix CDs and popped 'em in. Nothing like open roads and good music, am I right?
That night I drove to my dad's house to make some late night Easter pies. My dad was busy making his famous coconut cake while I made two Strawberry Chiffon pies with Oreo Crust. The process took a little longer than we thought so we ended up going to bed at like 12:30. It was worth it, though. The pies tasted like strawberry lemonade and Oreos, and who can go wrong with that? I learned a lot of things making this pie. I separated my first egg and learned about different stiffening techniques. Chiffon is crazy! It uses gelatin, egg whites, and whipped cream. SO MUCH STIFF. We made two because we had two Easter parties the next day.
My two fabulous Strawberry Chiffon pies. The blue and yellow eggs were delicious malt-ball Easter eggs.
Sunday morning, we woke up and got right back to baking. This time I was making my yummy double-crust apple-pie. I am more of a fruit pie with legitimate crust girl. The chiffon pie was delicious, but I don't see it as really being 100% pie, ya know?
My bunny-decorated apple pie. Before and after baking pictures.
We brought one of the chiffon pies to my step-grandma's house for Easter/my Aunt Brooke's birthday brunch. It was a blast and I love seeing my adorable little cousins. When all goes well, there isn't much that fills me up more than quality time with my family.
Easter egg hunt. Cute cousins and brother!!
Naked babies and wet dogs. Anything cuter?
Mr. Pickles. My favorite member of the family.
After that, we all went over to our neighbor's house. We got there kind of late, so we missed most of the party, but it was still fun to hang out with everyone. Charlie was sleeping when Kendall brought him in and he looked like an innocent little angel.
My cute daddy. This is one of the best pictures I have ever seen of him.
Sleepy Charlie.
I love holidays. They get me so excited. Christmas and Halloween are my favorite, but Easter is also a blast. I am sad that I missed out on coloring eggs this year. Ah well, there's always next year!
Yummy!
Lately, I've been really wanting to get into dancing and I finally started this week! I took ballet on Monday and Hip-Hop and Jazz Tuesday right after one another. I am so sore but I am having a lot of fun. I took a long boiling bath with Epsom salts last night. It was fantabulous.
Wednesday was a lot of fun, because my dad, my aunt Sue and I went to a special Bye Bye Birdie screening at the Academy. Ann Margret (Kim) and Bobby Rydell (Hugo) were there for an interview after. My aunt flew all the way from Chicago for this. (It was also Charlie's second birthday wednesday!!) We weren't even sure if we were gonna get tickets, but we did it! We got in! We are also had a yummy birthday dinner for Charlie at Kate Mantilini's.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!
xoxoleah
Sounds like an amazing week! I love all the pictures. You're right--that is a great pic of your dad.
Posted by: Julie R. | 04/29/2011 at 07:30 PM