Weekend Recap

It feels remiss not to take a second to recognize that hundreds of families are waking up in Florida with the worst weekend recap imaginable.

The unthinkable happened again, and these families truly have to bear the unbearable. I'm so, so sorry. My heart breaks for them, the victims, the survivors, us, them.....This is a scary world and with each passing day, seems to get scarier. 

The fact is that we are not safe. We are not safe at school, we are not safe at the gym, we are not safe at church, we are not safe at dinner or at a club. How are supposed to stomach that? 

I know we cannot live in fear, so I will try hard not too - and I hope the same can be said for you too.

My goal for today is to try give an act of service for my neighbors. I'm going to finally donate that bag of clothes that has been sitting in my closet. I'm going to let someone go ahead of me in line tomorrow. I'm going to buy a drip coffee for the homeless man that sits outside of Starbucks. I'm going to say hello to every person I walk by on the street.

It has to count for something.... and as President Obama said yesterday in his speech:

 "To Actively Do Nothing is a Decision"

So let's do something. 

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 This past weekend was exactly what our little family needed before all chaos breaks loose on Wednesday (we leave for a month in Chicago)! 

Friday morning we started off with swim lessons, which I've shared before, is my favorite activity of the week.

Not only does Leo love it, he's getting better each and every week and he also takes the most amazing afternoon nap! 

 

When he woke up, him and I walked into our little downtown area, Westwood Village. We picked up some groceries for the weekend and then met Joel at a fun and fast taco spot, TLT Food. 

I really like taking Leo out to restaurants but we do have to choose wisely! We like to go somewhere that's loud (or outdoors) and allows us to get in early and get out fast! 

 

And if you follow me on snapchat (tshields622) you probably saw that Leo realllly likes to scream at restaurants! Thankfully the couple sitting next to us thought it was hilarious.  

 

Recently the best part of taking Leo out to dinner with us (minus the fact that someone else does the dishes) is that he gets to try all of the food we order. It's been fun finding out what he likes (avocado, any cheese, bread) and what he doesn't (chicken in sauce).

Leo and I won't be with Joel on Father's Day, so we had our own Father's Day on Saturday.

 

I set this little table up while Joel loaded Leo into the car for a quick day trip up to Santa Barbara. We left the house about 8:30 which timed up nicely with Leo's morning nap.

 

We got up to Santa Barbara at 10am and walked through our favorite antique shop. We were on the hunt for a few things (a leather ottoman and new art for above our couch) which we didn't score, but we found a really cool vintage globe that we had to scoop up. 

We took a breakfast break in the car for Leo and then took a long walk along the water.

It started to drizzle, which felt like a sign from above to find a wine bar. 

We popped into our favorite shop "Corks'n'Crowns" and had the entire place to ourselves. To me, there is nothing more perfect than a chilly, gloomy day when you are in wine country. It honestly makes me giddy.

I set Leo up on the floor with a blanket and toys, the staff put on the James Taylor pandora station, I had a glass of champagne (Joel a delish Pinot Noir) and we just hung out. 

We were happy hanging alone, but eventually two couples strolled in - both from Chicago! - so we had fun chatting with them, re-joined the Corks wine club, did a little wine shopping and then made our to lunch. 

We went to Les Marchands which I would highly recommend if you find yourself in Santa Barbara. They have a tiny but knock out (and always changing) menu with walls and walls of amazing wine. 

(Sidenote: Did you watch Somm or Somm 2? One of the guys Brian McClintic is the owner!)

 

We had an outstanding lunch - we split the chicken sandwich and brussels spouts salad and we basically licked both plates. 

After lunch we made one necessary stop - picking up sandwiches for dinner at Metropolis - before driving back home to LA.

It was Joel's perfect day, and he truly deserves nothing but that. He's an amazing, amazing Dad (and husband) and we are beyond proud to call him ours. 

Sunday morning, Joel and I each got in long runs, Joel (11) and me (4.5), and then spent the rest of the afternoon packing for our trip to Chicago! 

LONG gone are the days of light packing. 

I'll be gone for a month, and let's just say, it truly looks that way.

I snuck out for a mani/pedi during an afternoon nap, and then we made this cheese fondue in the crock pot! 

We had it with a bottle of Chard that we bought in SB, and cheersed to weekend very, very well spent.