Visitors in L.A., baby!

By the time my parents landed in L.A. last Thursday afternoon, I was literally acting like a child about to be given her much anticipated puppy. I was so looking forward to showing them my life. The life that they are very removed from out in Chicago. I wanted them to see our favorite restaurants, our neighborhood, and basically see why we like living here so much. 

Our first stop was lunch at The Restaurant located at The Getty museum. We aren't huge museum people, but the Getty is so relaxing and has beautiful gardens to walk through - it's such a nice welcome to California. 

 

Saturday night we had dinner at Tavern in Brentwood. It's normally the perfect place to spot a celeb, but we didn't have any notable catches. It was just so nice to catch up with my parents in person. We reminisced about what we miss about Chicago and got excited for the huge year ahead of all of us.

 

  

Friday Joel had to work so I had my parents all to myself. My mom and I needed to do some major shopping damage, so the three of took to the streets of Santa Monica. My dad was much happier bringing his Kindle Fire along, sitting a bar, and watching a movie - which I found to be really hilarious and cute.

 

I have serrrrriously missed shopping with my mom. She definitely has me try on things I would normally not try on, and let me stock up on shoes, dresses, and FINALLY the J.Crew Puffer vest!

 

We had lunch with our friends Brent and Dawn - who my parents knew before we did - at the same place that I met them for the first time. They're such dear friends to us, and my parents love knowing that they had a hand in setting it up. A few bottles of wine at lunch - and we were all having a great time. 

 

 

 Friday night, Joel linked back with us and we had dinner at my favorite Italian spot in LA - Cecconi's in West Hollywood. My girlfriend Shelby joined us so that she could meet my parents too and the five of us laughed the entire way though dinner. 

Which was good pre-gaming for the after show at The Laugh Factory.

Saturday we took the drive up to Malibu to spend some time at Malibu Wines. If you live even somewhat close to Los Angeles/Malibu - you need to get to this place immediately. 

 

 The drive is long, but you walk into this winery and your mouth will literally fall open. Hundreds of people are picnicking and partying - listening to the band of the day - simply just enjoying life. It can be hard to grab a seat, but we found two patio chairs, brought a big blanket, set out the food and "kicked it".

Our favorite restaurant in all of California (so far), The Hungry Cat, is on our way home from Malibu - so we stopped there and had the best meal of the weekend. 

We all spent Sunday exactly how we wanted to: The boys watching football at a bar, and the girls shopping and lunching.

  

The shopping on Abbott Kinney in Venice, is pretty unique. There are tons of art galleries, head shops, and handfuls of boutiques for all of the rich hippies that populate the area.

 

It was hot, and we spent about 3 hours walking around, so we grabbed a perfect lunch at Lemonade and headed to our mecca - Marhsalls - for just a little more.

We found absolutely nothing on Abbott Kinney that looked even remotely good on either of us, but, at Marshalls - we scored. I picked up a few dresses for my upcoming trip to Mexico and all of the wedding festivities in the future - and we headed back home.

I had made dinner reservations for all of us to dine in Manhattan Beach, but we decided it would be way more fun to cook at home.

 

My dad and Joel manned the grill and bought great wine, and my mom and I tested out the dish I'll bringing to Thanksgiving - which turned out amazing. 

We cheers'd to a great trip together, and I drove them to the airport bright and early Monday morning.

 

The house feels really quiet, and our dog is seriously attention deprived, but it was so nice having them visit us for the weekend. The next time we see each other we'll all be lounging on the beach in Punta Mita, Mexico. Diet and Countdown start now!