Weekend Report

This weekend was just perfect. My cousin Amanda came into town on Wednesday night for business and was able to extend her trip and stay the entire weekend. We both had to work on Thursday, but we managed to sneak away in the late afternoon for a trip to the Farmer's Market and then met up for dinner with Joel and our other cousin Erin.

We had a great dinner at Scopa in Venice. It was our first time trying it out and we all really liked it. It's Italian small plates, and while the waiter did forget to bring out one dish (he made up for it with a comped dessert which was really nice), we found the overall experience to be really fun and delicious. I would definitely go back. 

Friday morning we woke up early and got a hike in at Runyon Canyon. The weather forecast for the entire weekend was a little on the cold and cloudy side (for LA), but it actually turned out to be far sunnier and more pleasant than we were expecting.

After hiking, we headed into Santa Monica to spend the day. We hit up the promenade since every store  was having major Memorial day sales but neither of us went too crazy. I did find this super cute blouse at Anthropogie for a steal and I'm pretty sure I'll be wearing it all summer long.

We had lovely lunch at The Misfit and after a walk to the water, headed back home to chill out. We ordered in Thai food that night, hung at home, and watched the third Hunger Games movie before Amanda and I crashed on the couch.

Saturday morning all of us walked into downtown Westwood to get coffee and pastries at Profeta.

Joel and I have been wanting to go to Profeta for years, but of course it took a guest to come into town to finally take advantage of the cute little coffee shop. It's a great place to enjoy a cup of coffee so I'm hoping we make it a regular weekend spot.

Later that morning we went to Erin's to hang out, and then had lunch  lunch at Baltaire in Brentwood. The first thing the waiter commented on was that there was no way we were from LA since we all looked very "Memorial Day".

Guilty as charged. 

We left Erin and the three of us headed to Manhattan Beach. We honestly just wanted to hang out in a beach town, shop, see the water, have a great dinner - and Manhattan Beach fit that bill perfectly.

   

          

 It can be a hike from our house, but it's such a great beach town, I was really glad we spent the day there. 

We met up with friends for a few minutes and after we were done shopping, we put our names in at Fishing with Dynamite and got lucky enough to score a table at 7:30.

 

Fishing with Dynamite is easily one of our favorite spots in LA. Everything is just spot on and our dinner there was no exception. 

 

 

I played DD and got us all home around 11.

Sunday morning, even though my energy was starting to fade hard, we made it out for an easy hike on Westridge, and again, the clouds just seemed to part for us.

   

We took it easy that afternoon and then we hosted my cousin Erin and a few of her friends that were in town for a BBQ at the house.

Erin brought over a bunch of wines from her work so everyone had a really fun time tasting different whites and rose's and Joel whipped up ahi poke, ono fish tacos, and we ended with SusieCakes for dessert. It was the perfect kick off to summer.

Monday morning showed up way too quickly and before I knew it, I was driving Amanda back to the airport for her to head home. We had such a fun, quality weekend and it was just so nice to have her part of our life for 4 solid days. There is never enough time for my family, but we have 4 trips lined up to see each other between now and October, so that really helps soften the blow of the departure gate.