Mid-week Vacations on the Westside

It's April on the Westside, and everyone knows what that means.... SUMMER!

Okay, so maybe it's not quite summer, but it's starting to get warm, and the Santa Monica/Venice area has no qualms about embracing the season as early as possible.

It's only a short month or two until we have things like Tuesday night bocce tournaments on the beach in Venice, Ditch Days at the Shangri La pool, and concerts on the Santa Monica Pier on Thursday nights to make us feel like we're in high school and it's summer vacation without a care in the world (except waking up for work the next morning).

But if you're like me, and you're impatient for those fun mid-week activities to spice up you're Monday - Friday grind, then here' s a little something I recently discovered to tide you over:

Outdoor movies on the Dining Deck of Santa Monica Place.

First of all, if you haven't made it over to Santa Monica Place, you should really go check it out. It's the brand new mall that just opened at the end of 3rd Street Promenade, and it's gorgeous. Not to mention it has lots of cool stores, and great food, and a Nordstrom's (which I know for a fact one of my readers prayed for every night of her life in college while this mall was being built).

Last week, I headed over with some gal pals to watch Sixteen Candles. This particular movie was neat, because it was sponsored by designer Tory Burch, and they gave out cookies, cokes, and $25 gift cards to the Tory Burch store (before you get too excited, nothing in that store costs under $100. Seriously, I checked). But still, the swag was a fun touch. To top it all off, they had Liane Curtis* there to pass out the cookies!

It was balmy out, but they had heat lamps set up and there were people sitting outside ordering food and wine. It's pretty much the most laidback free activity you could be doing on a warm Wednesday night in Santa Monica as the sun sets behind you.

So here are the details: They show movies on the deck twice a week; on Wednesdays they show classics, and on Mondays they show indie films (last night I saw Vicky Christina Barcelona). The movies start at around 7:30PM. For more information and to see what movies are coming up visit http://santamonicaplace.com/events/event.aspx?eid=34451.

Happy Mid-week Vacay!



*I'll save you the trouble of googling her. She is Samantha's best friend in Sixteen Candles. Obviously finding somewhat out of date celebrities in Santa Monica is not a hard feat to pull off. Exciting, nevertheless.

My New Favorite Plaything.

Anyone who read my most recent post prior to this one probably knows the depth of despair that I was wallowing in due to finding out that I will never be able to own my own petite lap giraffe as a pet, but as a reader of my blog, you should also know that I am prone to extreme highs and lows. Which is why I have completely forgotten about lap giraffes, pets, and sadness, and now want to rave about my new toy. 

It's called picnik.com

Despite what you're thinking, it's not a website for packing tasty outdoor treats; no, it's so much more exciting than that. It's FREE photo editing tools that are on the internet. If you're wondering why I'm excited about this, then it's clearly because you haven't had the experience of thinking to yourself "Hmm, it might be kind of cool to have Photoshop on my computer so that I can touch up some of those pictures I wanted to put on my blog.", and then found out that the latest version of Photoshop costs a whopping $400. Furthermore, if you're like me, and your computer is a Dell-o-saurus Rex, it would probably crash if you put Photoshop on it. Picnik erases that problem, because not only is it all online, it also stores your pictures, and all of the edits you make to each picture on your account. Did I mention it's free?  It's literally God's gift to bloggers. 

So now, credit where credit is due: I found this website through a very cute blog called Kitchen Corners, which is written by an adorable Brazilian mother of two named Damaris. She initially was using Picnik to edit pictures which she then used to make t-shirts for her son's birthday party. Anyway, she's a doll, you can check out her blog here:  http://www.kitchencorners.com/

Without further ado, here's what I've been tinkering with on Picnik, and believe it or not, this is only a small sample of what you can do with the tools and filters they offer. Agh, I'm having way too much fun.

1. Swanky Calabasas birthday parties. Photo cred to the woman who kept bringing us appetizers.

2. The cute people who made me from scratch. Photo credit: Curtis Simpson Photography

3. Da Jabon Market at the Dominican/Haitian border when I visited in 2008.

4. Beach with friends in the Dominican Republic.

5. Busy streets of Monte Cristi.

  

6. B-dub being affectionate at an ice cream shop in DR.

7. Friends at Malibu Family Wines. Photo Credit: Liz Abend (soon to be Navarro!)

8. Roses from my Mom's garden (FYI this was taken on my Blackberry).

9. Droid phones and cuddle buddies. Photo Credit: Sarah D.

10. Co-chairs. Dodgeball. 80's Ladies. Photo Credit: Co-Kelly

This place felt like a summer Friday night, when it was really Thursday in February. UPDATED!

 I posted this at the end of last week, but for your viewing pleasure, I've added more pictures!

Do you ever just have a night in the middle of the week that's so amazing, that you think to yourself "Wow! How is it NOT a weekend?" Well, that was my Thursday night. I said I wasn't going to post until I did something really fun and cool, and then BAM, really fun and cool happened practically instantaneously, and literally 1 block from my apartment.

I'm almost reluctant to post about this awesome new spot that I found, because I'm selfish, and I want to keep it a secret, but seriously, it's so good, I know that lots of people are going to find about it anyway, so I won't hold out on you (plus everyone who reads my blog is pretty cool anyway, so I'd like likely want you to hang out with me at this place).

Here's the scoop: Last night I met up with my dear friend and co-conspirator Annalise Dry for a quick drink after work. We wanted some place laid-back and beachy, but with good food and beer. Enter, Venice Ale House. Now, I love the boardwalk and all of it's craziness, but there's definitely a demand for some better quality food and drink options. Don't get me wrong, cheap street food is alive and well on the beach, but you'd be hard pressed to find anything that's not pizza or a churro in most establishments on Oceanfront Walk. Venice Ale House is filling a big void.

It also manages to seamlessly blend the kick-back Venice vibe with delicious organic food, artisan drinks, and really great service. Por ejemplo, this really neat flight of beer served on a skate deck!

Annalise pointed out to me later that there are art installation on the ceiling that are made out of different parts of skateboards, and I know that this won't matter to any boys reading, but there are skateboard trucks installed underneath the bar as purse hooks. That feature alone is enough to make me come back, but let's get down to the other great things about this place...

Our bartender Allie, was phenomenal. Not only did she carefully pick out the beers in our flight, she was very friendly and knowledgeable about each one, and even let us sample a couple to figure out exactly what we were looking for. Allie hand selects the beers that are on special, as well as the seasonal and featured beers that they rotate through. She picked us out what is bound to be a new fave, Lagunitas Lil' Sumpin.

She also custom made me one of the best cocktails I've ever tasted: Strawberry-lemonade mint mojito. This sounds like something you could get anywhere, but this cocktail has a secret: it's made with Soju (soju cocktails are starting to pop up in certain beer and wine bars, because they don't technically qualify as hard alcohol). It has a very light and delicate taste and the fresh strawberries, blueberries and mint makes this drink flawless.

Although I don't have a photo of it, they also had a wonderful grass fed beef burger on the menu that rivals the burger at Father's Office. The reason there's no picture is because Annalise and I practically devoured it whole before we had the good sense to try and photograph it. Yum.

If all of that weren't enough, I also discovered today that they do occasional wine and beer pairings...Last month they did a beer & chocolate pairing. Yep, I almost died.

I could go on for another 1,000 words about how great this place is, from their great local art and fantastic music selection, down to their organic ketchup (as an aside, I'm not the kind of girl who insists on organic anything, but one taste of this Muir Glen Organic Ketchup, and you will be ruined for anything else. Don't say I didn't warn you). Truthfully though, I don't want to talk about it anymore.

I just want to go back again and again..... I have a crush on this bar.

**Big thanks to the GM, Thomas Elliot, for answering the 100's of questions I asked last night. Also thanks to A-Dry for taking these pics with her magical-beaming iPhone.

Check out their site: http://venicealehouse.com/

You Can Thank Me Later: Fave Raves #1

Yay it's almost Thanksgiving! If you're like me, that's pretty much all you can think about right now, and I promise there will be a delightful post with pictures about my thankfulness for friends and family, and the various holiday gatherings of both, but it's a short week, (which has nothing to do with the length of my posts, usually) and I have something special for you today:

Fave Raves.

You're so excited, I know!!! And you're also wondering "What the heck is a Fave Rave?!"

Glad you asked. Fave Rave is a list of 5 people, places, or things that I am currently obsessed with. Sometimes, I get bored and stagnant, and I need something to look forward to, and the best cure for that is a list of straight up Awesomeness.

So, here's the first of many Fave Raves that I intend to occasionally spice up my blog with, and you're welcome.

1. C&O's Trattoria
 Okay, if you live in LA, and you haven't been to this restaurant at the beach in Venice, you have been deprived, and I'm crying a little for you. I just rekindled my love for this cute Italian bistro because I recently went there on a first date, and also for a group birthday dinner. Besides the absolutely wonderful food and my stellar dining companions, I realized what makes this place so special is the ambiance. You can sit on the heated outdoor patio, the trees are strung with twinkle lights, and at a special point in the evening, everyone sings "That's Amore". It's the perfect setting for a big meal with  a group of friends or a nice dinner date, and you can't go wrong with a big bottle of chianti on every table. If that atmosphere and the singing don't loosen you up, that sure will.

It's like: having dinner in a beautiful backyard in Italy.

2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
This book should come with a warning label: Don't start reading this if you have somewhere to be or something important to do in the next 3 hours, because you will skip it in order to finish this book. Seriously, I stayed up all night reading this book. and by all night, I mean until 11:30PM. Ever since I read the entire Twilight series in 5 days, I've been incredibly a little ashamed of myself and my reading preferences, but this book is written for the exact same crazed teenage girl audience, and has 100 times more literary merit. I don't want to give away the plot, but the heroine in this book makes Bella Swan look like a toenail clipping. I defy you to read this and not be dazzled by it. Thanks, to my good friend Liz for turning me on to this addiction.

It's like: Crack cocaine. In book form.

3. Pencil Skirts
Okay, hear me out on this. I know you're like "Seriously. Pencil skirts?" Yes. They're cute, you can wear them to work, and they're very Fall weather friendly (like I know anything about that), but up until recently, I always thought they were for Other People. Super skinny Other People with no butts. Boy, was I wrong. I just purchased the best pencil skirt from Charlotte Russe in the new Santa Monica Place mall, and I can't believe it, but I don't look like a whale. It's very forgiving,  incredibly flattering, versatile and most of all so comfortable. Plus, it was under $30. I would like to wear it to work every. single. day. Get one:http://www.charlotterusse.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4327874&cp=4078198.4238852.4238872

It feels like: a really, really sexy pair of sweat pants.

4. Movember
Now that I'm done talking about skirts, I can bring up more important topics. Like curing cancer. My good friend Scott recently invited me to a Movember Party, which is basically a bunch of guys with mustaches raising money for prostate cancer research. During the whole month of November, these guys grow out ridiculous awesome mustaches, and put on fun events to raise funds for Livestrong (remember those little yellow bands?). Well this is a kicked up version of cancer research fundraising. There are teams, and games, and galas, and it's a great cause and lot of fun (even if you are a girl and cannot and do not want to grow a 'stache). Check it out here, and donate to team 'Save the Dudes!': http://us.movember.com/

It's like: Tom Selleck asking you to donate to charity. And no one says no to Tom.

5. Smitten Kitchen
This is the food blog to end all food blogs. Deb, the woman who writes this blog is a triple threat: she's a really funny writer, an amazing photographer, and makes the most delicious recipes that I've ever laid eyes on. If this woman wasn't already married (and a woman) I'd marry her. I went through a phase last year where I'd get bored at work around lunch time, and pick something to make for dinner solely based on what was on Smitten Kitchen that day. I may or may not have gained 6 pounds. Seriously, if you're in a cooking rut, or just want to drool for a while at your desk, take a peek: http://smittenkitchen.com/

It's like: porn. Yeah, I said it.

Do you have something/someone/some place awesome you think I should feature in a future Fave Rave? Tell me, because I'd love to check it out.