Weekend Report

I felt like this weekend was the perfect and quintessential California weekend I've had in a while.

After Joel got home from work on Friday - and I had finally indulged in my very needed tequila - we decided to grill out chicken on the deck.

I love that we have this little patio off of our living room, and we are honestly the only people in our building that take advantage of it....which probably means we are the only people in our building who aren't from California.

I have been making this Mexican Corn salad and it is seriously the bomb. I've made it for everyone who claims to like corn - and I'm telling you - people are obsessed, myself included. It is the perfect BBQ side dish.

I work off of this recipe, but you can add and eliminate as you please (I don't use cheese).

Our neighbor stopped over after dinner for a few more drinks and finally at midnight I dipped away and got into bed.

I woke up the next morning a little fuzzy, but I had promised Joel that we would do the "Drake Snake", so I put on my big girl pants, and laced up my tennis shoes. The Drake Snake is the Drake Track stadium at UCLA and it about 2 miles from our house. We jogged there, and then did the 2400 stairs, and then ran back.

My calves still feel like they are bleeding, but it's a really fun workout so I'm going to try and keep at it once a week until D-Day.

My California girlfriends organized a happy hour and dinner to celebrate the upcoming nuptials at Primativo Wine Bistro in Venice. In true bride to be fashion, I had nothing to wear. I ran to the mall and literally scoured every freaking store with NO luck. I had forty five minutes to get home and get ready before I needed to leave, so I went back to Ann Taylor Loft for the 2nd time and told myself I wouldn't leave until I walked out with something.

I finally found this  darling tank- and love it. I think it will work really well for my honeymoon too, and since it was 30% off so I walked out of the mall for under $40 bucks.

These girls are so special in my life and I had so much fun with them on Saturday. They are friends who have become my family in this state and I couldn't be more thankful to have each and every one of them.

They also showered me in the most generous gifts and lots and lots of champagne.

After our 5pm start time - we left the restaurant around 8:30 and the majority of us decided to keep the party going and headed to The Otheroom on Abbott Kinney. We ordered a lot more champagne, had a private room, and played Never Have I Ever for a good four hours!

About fifteen bottles of champagne later, I got home a little after 1 am and fell on the grass as soon as I got out of the car. It was seriously one of those nights.

I managed to get a hike in a sweat it out Sunday morning, and even though it sucks, working out and a few cups of coffee is the best hangover cure I've found to actually work.

I have a seriously long to-do list for this week, but I'm feeling so much happier and refreshed than I was last week so here's hoping I make some major dents into wedding planning!!