new years eve dinner.

{city walk}

{new years eve dinner @ bamboo in Culver City}

A good meal to celebrate the new year.

I loved the romantic atmosphere of this restaurant.

It's a little on the expensive side, but definitely worth the splurge

since I've never really tried Latin food before.

{12 dates of christmas series: on our 4th date of christmas}

grinchmas at universal studios.

Thanks to a sweet friend of mine we scored free tickets to universal and since they expired on new years, we thought it would be fun to go on new years eve. We didn't arrive there until late evening, so everything was a lit up and christmasy. My sister and I were pretty excited to see grinchmas, and besides the spectacular christmas tree lighting show, the rest was a let down. From the advertisements they made it seem like they had an entire village set up of whoville characters running around. In my mind I pictured something similar to disneyland's toon town, where it feels like your in a scene from a movie. Ah well, it still was a fun night enjoying the rest of the lit up christmas streets and cute shops.

christmas stroll on the beach.

On Christmas day we took little Boo, Ryan's family pup, for an afternoon stroll on zuma beach. Boo Boo is my favorite dog in the world by far. She is such a good cutie pie and having her with us on Christmas day made it that much more special. I can't wait till we have a dog of our own so I can take her or him on daily walks and runs with me.


{12 dates of christmas series: on our 3rd date of christmas}

on our 2nd date of christmas...

We celebrated my birthday, good ole' December 17th! My favorite part is always midnight, when my husband is the first to shower me with birthday love. This year I was so tired I wasn't aware of the time and he surprised me with a HUGE  birthday balloon, pretty roses (my favorite), and a red velvet candle lit cake. He is precious.

A much needed haircut/hydrating hair therapy was welcomed, merry carolers greeted passerby's with their cheery melodies on main street in Ventura, a family dinner outing was enjoyed & bazooki's, courtesy of my sister (the best bazooka baker) were devoured. 

I really love this time of the year, and that I get to celebrate another year of life in this festive season.

on our 1st date of christmas...

My boy & I went for an evening walk at zuma beach in Malibu.

Fresh ocean air & a pretty sunset was welcomed.

And climbing mini sand hills made me very happy!

Then our all-time favorite fish-n-chips shack, Malibu Seafood, filled our tummies.

Food always tastes that much more delicious when surrounded by colorful christmas lights and a beautiful view of the sunset ocean.

12 dates of christmas.

I felt that what better way to celebrate this lovely time of the year

 than with 12 little dates with my husband?

Exactly.

So I joined in on marci's  12 dates of christmas idea, which her friend naomi spread the word on.

Join in! And if you do, send me a link :)

be here now.

for thanksgiving, the husband & i enjoyed 3 different family gatherings. i got to spend sometime visiting with my grandma and grandpa on my dad's side. i made my grandma a batch of chocolate chip cookies (specially for her) since it's her faavorite. then we all went to my mom's side at my nina's ranch and feasted over a delicious meal in a cozy home surrounded by lots and lots of lovely family. we ended the night visiting ryan's family and his grandma who flew in for the holiday, and it was so nice just sitting around chatting.


i used to think it was kinda a hassle to visit all these families in one day, but really, it made me realize how special each and every family is and how many loved ones i am so thankful to have in my life. i love family. 


{oh yeaa, thought i should mention ryan and i saw the muppets thanksgiving night and it was pretty darn cute. minus the fact that i can't stay awake during movies past 8pm anymore for the life of me. i'm old}.