Laid-back

I love Friday evenings. Coming home having a glass of wine and barbecuing with my husband. Sitting in our back patio and enjoying the night together. Having good conversation and talking about our week. Listening to music and making plans for our future. Just enjoying each others company.

Just winding down and looking forward to our weekend together...

Cheers!

Some of my favorite things...

Not in any specific order...

Enjoying our outdoor spaces {in the evening or during the day, whenever}

Ted...he has cutest little face!

Watching movies on TCM {all weekend long if possible}

The LA Times iPad App {I wont lie, anything on my iPad I love, but the LA Times App is fab}

My weekly visits to L & G {I can always find a great outfit there, guaranteed}

The Adele cd is constantly playing in my car {and everywhere else I am} Can't wait to see her in concert, hope her show gets rescheduled soon...

Have a happy week!!!

Summer Fun!

This weekend was nice and relaxing, my friend Meghan came over we had lunch and did some shopping in old town Monrovia. Then we came back to my place had some wine and good coversation in my back patio and made lots of summer plans!

Packing a picnic and enjoying a concert at the Hollywood Bowl

Backyard Movie Parties

Girls night in margarita party!

Makes for a good summer...can't wait!!!

Memorial Day Weekend

What a nice southern California weekend! For a little while there Saturday I thought the sun wasn't going to come out and as a matter of fact it actually drizzled Sunday, either way it turned out to be a sunny weekend over all. We had a nice relaxing time, our friends came up on Saturday, we barbecued and made some sangria, had breakfast at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles (Yum!!!), and went to the movies...

Palm Springs Weekend

This past weekend James & I took a little vacation to Palm Springs. We stayed at the http://www.delmarcoshotel.com/, a little 17 room retro hotel in down town. It was just what we needed, a nice salt water pool right outside of our room, with a view of the San Jacinto mountains. 1940s music playing in the backround and at check in they greeted us with iced cold tecate. The weather was perfect. Vegged out by the pool in the hot sun. We lunched at Pomme Frittes and Las Casuelas, dined at LGs Steakhouse, and had drinks at theViceroy. A much needed long weekend.

Williams E. Stewart Room

Pool View from our patio

Margaritas at Las Casuelas

On the way out we stopped by Marylin Monroe's house...such a nostalgic weekend!

Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day tomorrow and since I'm not a mom yet, James & I will be celebrating the mothers in our lives by having a BBQ. It was last minute, so today I'm looking up some recipes and making up my menu which will include potato salad (copy cat of Juan Pollo's famous potato salad), corn on the cobb, and steak, chicken and veggie skewers. Also a fresh fruit salad for dessert. Very simple menu, which will require less time in the kitchen and more time spent with my favorite moms. For beverages I found the recipe for my favorite white wine sangria from La Grande Orange Cafe in Pasadena...if you havent been you must go. http://www.laostationcafe.com/ I searched for the recipe online and found it on the LA Times.

Ingredients:

2 Bottles of Pinot Grigio
1 1/3 c Orange Juice 1/2 c Triple Sec
1/4 c Brandy
1/2 c Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Bean Extract
1 1/2 Sliced Orange
1/2 Sliced Lemon
1/2 Sliced Apple
Large Bunch of Grapes

Directions:
With wire whisk mix sugar, OJ, triple sec, brandy, and wine in a pitcher and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add extract and mix well. Add fruit to pitcher. Serve over ice and use fruit slices as garnish.

Doesnt it sound great! Perfect for summer!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Norma

Music

I'm sitting here listening to music, it always comes back to music, The Clash, Oasis, The Offspring, Pearl Jam, Joan Jett, Blondie, Radiohead, etc...every song I listen to takes me back to the place where I was when I first listened to it. Funny thing is I never thought of myself as having a good memory. However, I seem to remember everything so clearly tonight. Dont know if it's because I'm just so inspired that my mind is opened so widely, whatever it may be, my mind is so receptive to those memories. Whatever it may be, it makes my whole body tingle. It makes me feel so happy, so sad, and so crazy, because I cannot contain that feeling inside of me. That feeling that only music can make me feel, that passion that only music can bring to me, that feeling that makes life stop in its tracks. All I can think and say is Wow! As dense and non creative as that sounds, that's all that runs through my head, because the electricity inside of me is over bearing. I honestly dont even know how I'm typing or thinking as a matter of fact. And wherever I was going with this I cannot even remember...