As I promised, I’m back! And before the month of May slips by just as quickly as April did, I owe you all an April Lookback List!
April was a crazy busy month for us – I had a friend visit for a week, we adopted a new puppy, and we spent a good bit of time in Pennsylvania before WE GOT MARRIED!! I am anxiously awaiting wedding photos, and when I receive those I’ll get a post about the day up here, but in the meantime, Alex and I just wanted to thank everyone who took some time off from work or life to spend a very very special Friday evening with us, as we professed our love to one another and read our vows aloud. It meant so very much to us both to have you all there, and we are eternally thankful for your gifts and well wishes, but mostly for your presence and love.
APRIL’S LOOKBACK LIST!
READING:
This month I read an awesome murder mystery thriller entitled The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. I was recommended this one from one of my brother’s friends actually! I checked it out at the library and I think I finished it in a week. If you love suspense and murder mysteries, you will love this! It’s a very easy read, but be prepared to stay up super late finishing it because the last few chapters are so.good. The long and short of it is that there is a murder on a cruise ship that a young journalist witnesses, but no one believes her…but the murderer has to be on the ship somewhere.
I started a second book, Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult, and so far I am loving it, but I’ll save that review for May, as I’m not finished with it yet!
PLANNING:
It turns out that there is a lot of final planning to do the week before your wedding! Especially when you live across the country so you have to jam a ton of things into five short days! But we got everything done, and Alex and I are happy to report that there is not a single thing from our Big Day that we would have changed. We are so full of love and gratitude towards everyone who contributed in one way or another! It was the most magical day of our lives 🙂
WATCHING:
I hadn’t had much time to sit down and watch tv this month, but never fear…hockey playoffs have pretty much been on nonstop in the Lewis household!
COOKING:
I don’t have much to report on the cooking front for this month either! But I did make these easy BBQ chicken sliders in the crockpot while my friend, Caroline, was visiting! The best part about them was that I already had all the ingredients!
EATING:
Our neighbors, Laur and Josh, hosted this month’s World Cup Dinner Night and this time it was….drumroll….Thai Night!!! Josh the Master Chef cooked up lots of chicken, shrimp, veggies, rice, and curry! Thai curry is one of my favorite dishes ever, and he did a fantastic job. And of course it wouldn’t be World Cup Dinner Night without a couple of Thai beers! We had a really great time and a really big turnout for this one!
I also took Carol to In N Out Burger for the first time! Needless to say, she was a big fan. Especially after a warm hike at Runyon in Hollywood. I always recommend getting your burger Animal Style 😉
DRINKING:
Like I mentioned before, we had lots of Thai beers! We also tried these beers that are in Buddha-shaped bottles! They were so cute, we couldn’t resist! They were actually really tasty too… Another of our favorites is The Dude’s Brewery, Bohemian Hopsidy. I’ve been thinking about writing a post highlighting our favorite breweries in the Southbay area, so stay tuned! And of course, it wouldn’t be a trip home to PA without a visit to our favorite brewery, Troegs! I tried the new Freaky Peach and Alex had the Crimson Pistil!
PINNING:
Since all of the smaller wedding details of my wedding were already implemented, I’ve spent the month pinning ideas for my friend, Lauren’s, Bridal Shower! (Don’t worry, I made it a secret board, so you can’t peek Laur!)
CRAFTING:
I posted this post earlier in the month about the linen cropped top I made. Has anyone made one yet!? Unfortunately there hasn’t been much time for weaving lately, but now that I’m back to reality, I’ll be weaving regularly again! Sometimes, I think, it’s nice to take a little break from the things you love, so that you can come back to them feeling refreshed. I also repurposed this plain grey pot with a little bit of macrame chord…we don’t have windowsills in our apartment so all of my plants that need lots of sun have to be hung from curtain rods!
GOING:
I was all over the place this month! I posted earlier about our day spent at the Anaheim WonderCon. You can read about it –> here if you missed it!
Alex and I spent a nice afternoon hiking in the Rolling Hills of the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve. We hit it at the most perfect time too, because it was overflowing with these beautiful yellow wildflowers!! I had never seen anything like it before. We had a really great time making our way through the tall grasses, and were happy to have our neighbors’ dog, Banjo, with us! He’s the best hiking buddy ever 😉
As I mentioned before, my friend Carol was visiting for a week! So we were all over LA…we hiked Runyon Canyon in Hollywood, visited the Roundhouse Aquarium in Manhattan Beach where she got to hold a starfish and kiss a sea cucumber! (They say it’s 7 years of good luck!) We meandered about Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice and checked out the Venice Canals while we were there after downing gigantic sandwiches at Cows End Cafe. And then we went Downtown for a day, where we checked out the new Bloc area. TheBloc is awesome, although it’s still in the very beginning stages of construction, so I think I would give it some more time before making a special trip of it. But there’s tons of fun street art, small shops popping up, and a fun grassy area with tables and benches and a DJ spinning all day long! After checking that out, we walked through DTLA’s public library (which is awesome, by the way), and then made our way to SkySpace LA, which is this super tall building in the heart of downtown…they recently built this clear slide at the top that goes down to the next floor, and there’s two 360 degree lookout areas. It’s a pretty cool experience and we had a blast! We went in the middle of the day and it wasn’t crowded at all, but they told us that it gets super busy around sunset, and that they’ve even witnessed a couple proposals up there! If you want more details on SkySpace, visit their website –> here.
And then Alex and I spent a week in Pennsylvania! It was really fun to explore Lancaster more with him, and we both love that little town now! It was a week full of lots of preparation, but I still managed to squeeze in some wine tasting and a day at The Hershey Spa while I was there 😉
LOVING:
I am so incredibly in love with my new HUSBAND, Alex! We both still can’t get over how full our hearts felt the entire week leading up to the wedding, but most definitely on the day of!
And now we’ve grown our family and have adopted a 7-month-old Bull Terrier who we’ve named Marty! Everyday I feel as if I’m growing to love him more and more. He’s like a little toddler who is discovering everything for the first time, and it’s been so much fun to watch him grow and learn the most basic of things…like how to go up and down stairs, or learning how to sit or stay off the couches 😉 We’re researching a couple of different puppy classes to start him in, and we’d be more than open to hearing if any of you have any recommendations!
FEELING:
Just so loved and happy and full of optimism! And of course, so very very thankful.
LISTENING:
John Mayer released his third wave of The Search for Everything, and I have been loving it. My favorite song on the new release is “In the Blood.”
I’ve also been swooning over Ingrid Michaelson lately. Her rendition of Can’t Help Falling in Love is just beautiful. You and I is also one of my favorites.
CELEBRATING:
Aside from celebrating our wedding, we celebrated Easter this month with the First Annual Redondo Condo Easter Egg Hunt, thrown by Leah! Leah is probably the best party planner on the planet, and she put together the most fun egg hunt for all of us on Easter Morning, that included lots of candy, travel-inspired prizes, mimosas, and bunny-shaped sticky buns! Not only that, but she put together the cutest baskets for all of us too. There is seriously nothing that this gal can’t do. I am forever grateful for my Redondo Condo family, but especially on holidays that we can all spend together ❤
And there you have it! More posts to come this month!
LAUREN LIVES 