Mother's Day. Los Angeles. Birthday.

The last two weekends have been non-stop and so much fun!  Two weekends ago we had a baby shower in Bellevue so my mom, sister and I left at the crack of dawn and spent the morning in Seattle.  We had a long, relaxing breakfast at Macrina Bakery (it was SO delicious, gotta try when in Seattle)!  After that we walked through Pike Place and then headed to the baby shower.  It was a wonderful shower and I can't wait to meet little Miss Staples!  We were at the shower until evening so of course we had to eat dinner.  We had dinner at Barrio Mexican Kitchen & Grill.  Another must-try when in Seattle.  Can you see the food theme with this Seattle trip yet?!  After that we had to go Cupcake Royale for dessert.  They make their own ice cream now.  Heavenly!

After that, my mom and sister dropped me off at my in-laws, where Joe and Liam had spent the day.  I spent the night and we spent Mother's Day morning in Seattle again.  All of us girls explored Volunteer Park.  It was a gorgeous day so it was a fun morning to see the park.  Can't wait to take Liam back, they had a huge playground!  Went back to Cupcake Royale after, I was feeling guilty for not bringing a cupcake back for Joe the day before.  It was our lucky day, free ice cream sandwiches for Mother's Day.  Yum!  We headed back home after that and had an amazing lunch waiting for us when we walked in.  Steak, chicken, potato casserole, salad, fruit, homemade creme brulee and apple pie.  I wish I would've taken a picture of the spread.  It was so pretty, so well put together.  We can thank Uncle Jack for that!  The guys stayed home to make dinner but we all know it was mostly (or all) Jack.  Pretty impressive!

The next morning Joe and I took off for Los Angeles for my 30th birthday!  Our flight left at 6am on Monday and we came back on Tuesday at 7:50pm.  Two packed days but it was the best birthday ever.  As soon as we landed on Monday we went to Six Flags. Record breaking heat, 102!  That was a shock to our systems.  The park was empty though so that made up for the heat.  The longest ride line was about 5 minutes.  Amazing!  We were tuckered out by the end of the day, the heat zapped us!  We checked into our hotel, freshened up then headed out for dinner.  I had grand plans of going somehwere new and exciting, spent a lot of time getting recomendations from LA friends, but by the time dinner came we were too exhausted to care.  We went to an old favorite, C&O Trattoria.  Delicious as usual!  To prove how tired I was, I dozed off giving Joe directions back to our hotel.  I don't think I've ever been that tired!  I was asleep by 8:30 that night.  So much for living it up on my 30th! ;)

The next morning we slept in until 8!  That's late for us.  Really late.  It felt so, so good.  It also felt good only having to get ourselves ready.  This was the first time we've ever left Liam.  It felt so weird at first but we quickly adjusted.  It's amazing how much ground we were able to cover with just the two of us.  If we got hungry, it didn't matter.  We could power through it.  If we were tired, there were no meltdowns, etc.  It was a much-needed getaway for the two of us.  ANYWAY, after we got ready we headed to Venice Beach to walk around.  Joe had never been, I still can't believe that.  It was too early for any of the crazies to be out so we ended up just walking on the beach.  It was gorgeous and warm, it felt so good.  We ended up eating breakfast at around 11 (something else that would never fly with Liam), then headed to Burbank because I got tickets to Jay Leno.

We got to Jay Leno an hour before we were supposed to but we were still #151 and 152 in line.  I knew we would get in, but figured we'd be near the back.  WRONG!  We were selected for the front row.  It was amazing.  I was giddy!  I had a perma smile on my face that I couldn't shake.  I thought they'd probably edit me off thinking I was fake smiling!  Lol.  We got to go up and shake his hand at the beginning.  Joe gave him a high five, I got nervous and didn't stick around on stage long enough.  He smiled at me a few times during commercial breaks though.  I know he was smiling at me.  I was staring so intently, it was probably distracting!  I love Jay, what can I say!  This was the 4th or 5th time seeing The Tonight Show taped but our first time in the front row.  It was definitely the highlight of my birthday trip.  Yep, I said it.  Even more exciting and more of a rush than the CRAZY roller coasters (I don't remember them being so scary)!

There's no way we should've made our flight that night, we left Burbank at 5:30.  The Traffic Gods were looking out for us the entire trip.  We didn't hit any traffic at all!

Last weekend was another busy one.  I won tickets to see Paula Poundstone at the Columbia Theatre on Friday.  She was hilarious!!  I love supporting local events like this, hopefully they'll keep bringing funny people.  Saturday I had another baby shower then on Saturday night we had a big LCC event at the Red Lion.  It was the "Horns & Halos Gala."  It was fun getting dressed up, don't do that very often!

Sunday we celebrated Joe's birthday since we were busy all day Saturday.  I was sad for the fun to end.  It's been busy but a great month so far!  Here's to squeezing the most out of the last few days of May.

Happy Memorial Day!