The month of April was full of reunions with friends, our two year anniversary, and lots of walks through our little neighborhood — marveling at all of the beautiful flowers in full springtime bloom! It’s been spent riding bikes in the morning and taking in beach sunsets in the evening, and soaking in all of the afternoon sunlight that pours through our apartment windows. We had a couple of slow weekends throughout the month, which we used to explore some new places in town and to also revisit some of our favorite spots. We’re nursing a pretty gnarly back injury over here on Al’s end, and so we’re spending lots of time just relaxing (or *trying* to relax, in his case), but at the end of the day, we’re together and happy and happy together! 😉
A LOOKBACK TO APRIL
READING:
I read a great memoir this month that was recommended by a friend, called Educated. If you’ve read Glass Castle and enjoyed it, then you’ll probably enjoy this one! It’s written by Tara Westover and it chronicles her life growing up in the mountains of Idaho … raised by Survivalist parents, the first time she ever set foot in a classroom was at 17 years old. She goes on to study at both Harvard and Cambridge. It’s truly an amazing story. Give it a read!
WATCHING:
If you’re looking for a great “Girls Night In RomCom night,” I recommend Someone Great, available on Netflix. It’s about three friends living in NYC, one of which breaks up with her longtime boyfriend when she accepts a job offer in San Fransisco. Her two best friends take her out for one last girls night out on the town. It will make you laugh *a lot, cry, and hold your best friends a little tighter the next time you see them. I’ve been very impressed with Netflix’s original content these days! I mean, when was the last time a great RomCom was released in theaters?? It’s been years, I think! Thank you, Netflix!
MAKING:
My little weaving side business has been picking up so much lately, I need to schedule in blocks of time to actually sit down and get them done! This month I finished three commissioned weavings, which probably could not be anymore different from one another. One was similar to the last two I have done, only a little larger! The second, I was given full free-reign on, from colors to design…and so I had a lot of fun creating something totally different from what I normally tend to be drawn to. And the third one, I was asked to create a landscape of the Harrisburg Riverfront at sunset…which I totally took to, and it has turned out to be one of my very favorite pieces to date … it both challenged me and made me feel right at home every time I sat down to work on it. I’m heading into May already with four commissioned pieces on the drawing board!
COOKING:
I don’t really know what happened to our cooking game this month, other than that we’ve been making a lot of repeat recipes, meat on the grill, and big giant salads. Two new recipes we did try this month, though, were 1) Veggie Chili in Bell Peppers which we both agreed were a litttttle bland in the peppers, but when we scooped the leftovers into tortillas, we liked it much better! and 2) this Coconut Rice Salmon Bowl from TheModernProper, which is a super refreshing meal, I think because of the added mangos. We loved it!
DRINKING:
We took our visitors — Laur and Pags — to one of our favorite Southbay Breweries, CommonSpace. And we spent the afternoon of our 2 Year Anniversary at The Strand Brewery when our camping plans fell through due to Al’s back injury! We love supporting our local breweries, and we try to keep them in good rotation, so that they can all receive our business!
LOCAL EXPLORATIONS:
As I just mentioned, we had plans to go camping for our Two Year Anniversary this year, but when Al got word that he has a ruptured disc in his back, we knew that those plans were off the table, so we opted to stay local this year. We took the opportunity to finally drive south a half hour to Balboa Island in Newport Beach, to simply walk around the island and look at all the beautiful homes, bright flowers, and fun boats. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we immediately fell in love with the place as soon as we crossed the bridge onto the island. It’s about a two and a half mile loop around the island (Marty was in actual heaven, here), and then there’s one Main Street with lots of cute little local shops and restaurants. Of course we had to stop for one of their famous frozen bananas… I’ll share more photos in another post! It was a lovely, slow morning spent together. I was surprised by how much Al took to the island … he wants to Air BnB a home with some friends for a weekend and spend some time out on the water kayaking and SUPing! I think that’s a great idea 😉
GOING:
I finally made it down to San Diego to visit California’s Newest Residents — Zach and Alicia! Some friends of mine from college. The two moved to the West Coast in late March, and so I was more than ready to zip down and see them. From our front door to theirs was an easy hour and a half drive, which makes things even better! We had so much fun exploring their new city … zooming around on scooters, walking on the beautiful SoCal beaches, eating an amazing breakfast, and drinking lots of delicious wine! The Golden State is definitely happy to have them here, and I am SO happy to have some fellow east-coasters here on the west coast with me! I’m also super excited to explore more of SD with them !!!
In honor of California’s Superbloom this spring, we snagged one of the last weekends of blooms, and planned a camping trip with a bunch of friends to the Carrizo Plain in San Luis Obispo (or SLO, for short). The trip was made even sweeter because Laur and Pags came out for it, as did Zach and Alicia, so it was like a little East Coast Reunion. We spent two nights out in the Plain on BLM land, which basically means you drive out and find a spot and don’t have to pay any camping fees. We found the most perfect spot with nobody else around for miles to set up camp, and we stayed out there for two nights. We took one day to drive around the Plain a bit and see tons of beautiful wildflowers, the San Andreas Fault line, and some salt beds! I love a good camping trip — with cold beers, food cooked over the fire, and overall just sitting around the fire with your best friends reminiscing together. More photos to come!
CELEBRATING / LOVING / FEELING:
This month we celebrated two years of being parents to the best bully in the world — Marty Party! April 11 was Marty’s Adoptaversary! We reminisced on just how crazy he was when we brought him home, and on how far he’s come since then. He’s definitely not the perfect pup, but he’s perfect to us. Not a day goes by that he doesn’t make us laugh (I’m not kidding), and overall, that’s all you can ask for in a dog — for them to make you smile. In the past couple of months we’ve definitely noticed that he’s becoming even more affectionate and is starting to wag his tail more when he sees us! (Showing emotion isn’t really his strong suit … unless it’s throwing shade 😉 ) We’re so thankful for our little Martin — he’s made us better people, for sure.
And as I’ve already mentioned, we celebrated our 2 Year Wedding Anniversary late this month, on the 28th! It’s hard to believe that we’ve been married two years already … our wedding day feels like it was just a few months ago, the memories are so vivid! Even though our plans didn’t quite pan out this year, driving around town with Alex, watching him drum on the steering wheel and sing along to the radio, put me right back in time to when we took our road trip out to California together … that was when I knew I really stinkin’ loved this guy of mine. It’s the little moments, that really make up a marriage, I think. It’s not always about the big vacations or momentous occasions (although those are pretty awesome too, don’t get me wrong)…but I think it’s more of the in-between moments, that you really fall in love with a person. When you watch them fall asleep on the couch while they watch one of their favorite movies they’ve seen a million times, or when they reach over to hold your hand over the center console in the car. When they order you a latte at your favorite coffee shop and remember to ask for almond milk and then surprise you with it at work. Or when they pick you up something at the grocery store and say, “I remember you saying you liked these a couple of weeks ago and so I picked them up.” Or maybe it’s just eating breakfast together at the table while listening to an old Beatles album. I don’t know. But I do know that two years later, we feel stronger together than ever before…and I’m so thankful for someone who does the little things without even thinking about them. Happy Anniversary to my love!
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And there we have it! I know I have lots of catching up to do on the little blog of mine this month … I’m going to try and be better, I promise!
LAUREN LIVES 