Back to Cali

I've always said that moving to Los Angeles in 2007 was the best decision I've ever made in my life.  LA is where I spent some amazing years in my early 20's, it set the stage for some of my professional growth, I spent three unforgettable years living in Santa Monica with two amazing room mates, and of course....I met the man of my dreams in LA!  For a place that was so special to my personal life, my career, and ultimately my future, it's unfortunate that Mike and I have not spent much time out there since moving to New York.

I started thinking about moivng to LA when a very dear friend from my first job & a friend from my Texas high school started heavily recruiting me to pack my things and move north on the 405 freeway.  Within two weeks, I had an amazing apartment with one of the best closets I've had in my life, a brand new job working with my spunky soon-to-be-roomie and fully booked social calendar to take in all that LA had to offer.  The three years I spent with Tiff & Deb in our crazy 8 apartment are years that I reflect upon fondly and years that make me smile. I'll never forget the rock band parties, crawling into each others beds for weekend snuggles, the accessory trading, the Christmas cookie decorating parties, early morning carpooling to the gym, the late night post-date recaps, and the parties....oh the parties!  The three of us really were a little family in those years at 1310 Barrington.

 So when one of our very own from the apartment was getting hitched, Mike and I knew we wouldn't miss it for the world.  Of course with all of the recent vacations Mike & I have been taking, I didn't have the luxury of more vacation time when we headed out to LA for Deb & Gavin's beach wedding in Santa Monica.  I flew out the day of the wedding to spend a total of 28 hours in LA....and boy did we fit a lot into those precious hours.


First on the agenda - lunch with two of our favorites....Brendan & Frank the Tank.  We were just minutes from the 3rd Street Promenade where we immediately called the boys and couldn't wait to see both of them.

Frank is a ridiculous beast of a pitbull/bulldog mix, and he couldn't be more ungraceful. But we love him...almost as much as we love Brendan.  Each time we see him he tells us about a new outrageous tattoo that he's added to his collection.  We haven't seen Brendan since our wedding, so even though we spent a whole 1.5 hours with him, it was SUCH a treat to see them both.

Then it was time for the main event - Deb & Gavin's beautiful Gatsby themed wedding. In my almost 30 years of life and what feels like at least 50 weddings that Mike and I have been to together, I've never been to a true beach wedding, and it was gorgeous.  Everything about it.  Deb was absolutely breathtaking in her dress with a matching beaming pearly white smile that lasted all day.  Gavin's sister sang a beautiful rendition of 'Fools Rush in' that left the entire party a little misty-eyed - or sobbing, if you're me. They both wrote their own special vows with a personal touch.  In the three years I lived with Deb, and the 40+ hours a week I spent with her working in the same office, I have never seen her so absolutely elated.  She was sparkling from head to toe - inside and out.  And after seeing the crowd of attendees sitting among us watching the couple say their vows, it was evident that the reception would promise to be a great time.

The first thing we saw when we entered the elegant reception site, the Buffalo Club, was Nyght Ryder - the same band that played at the epic Mobley Wedding back in 2011. Mike and I were over the moon to see them again. Every wedding that they've played at has been unreal.  And it's not surprising that Deb & Gavin - a couple who have been known to frequent every music festival possible, would have the best music on their special day.  It was such a perfect night.  A night that was topped off in true California fashion - a late night In-n-Out truck right outside the reception venue!


But our California adventure did not end there - despite the champagne headache that I woke up with the next morning.  With a 1p flight, we had just enough time for a patio breakfast with one of my favorite people in the world - Jen!!!  Last year, Jen made arguably one of the best purchases in her life when she bought her sweet puppy - Eddie. Being an avid dog lover, I couldn't wait to meet her sweet baby boy - And she brought him to brunch!!!  During our early 20's, Jen and I spent many Sunday mornings nursing headaches and splitting plates of eggs Benedict & French toast, so it felt JUST like old times sitting outside with her while we sipped coffee and chatted about the night before - I only wish I had an entire day with her.  But I was thankful that the stars aligned and we were both able to fit in an impromptu visit with each other.

I've realized that since starting my blog, I've been adamant about how much I adore New York & how happy Mike & are with our lives in the city - but if it weren't for the city of LA bringing us together, we wouldn't be where we are today.  I'm so grateful for my time in LA & for each person who was a part of those golden years.  Next time, we'll have to stay longer than 28 hours!  

Escape to Sun Valley

I'm ashamed to admit that since my in laws moved to Boise last fall - Mike and I have yet to make it out to Idaho for a visit.  The beginning of the year got away from us with it's various travels & by the time we realized that we were due for an Idaho escape - it was almost the end of summer!

For my husband and I, it's very difficult to separate ourselves from work when we take vacation days. The temptation to "check in", or "call in remotely" has plagued every trip we've taken thus far (until my husband had his phone stolen in Europe...or as I refer to it, Karma!) this summer.  We both had a combination of unfinished business coupled with the fear of coming back to a barrage of urgent requests that had Mike & I peeking at our phones on those cherished vacation days together.

All of that went out the window when we headed out to Sun Valley earlier this month...all of it.  After 3 flights and several hours in airports, we arrived at Greenhorn Gulch in gorgeous Idaho, where there is absolutely....no cell phone reception.  As soon as we were within about 1 mile of our luxury log cabin for the long weekend, all calls and emails ceased.  There were ZERO reception bars on our devices....and it was an amazingly liberating feeling.


The tech-free high was quickly outdone when we walked into our home for the trip - a quaint log cabin at the base of a gorgeous purple mountain, surrounded by acres of water colored sage brush!  It was the perfect setting for daily morning coffee and nightly happy hour cocktails.  But the best part was the quiet....the loudest sound I think I heard the entire trip was when the wind picked up and the breeze blew through the alpine trees.

Similar to our 2011 trip, we had a lot of nature filled excursions and family time to fill into our very short time in Idaho.  Here are few of our favorite moments from our 5 fun-filled days in God's Country.

1.  Our triumphant return to the Payette River for round 2 of the white water rafting excursion.

Last time we went river rafting, my husband took a most unfortunate tumble out of the raft which resulted in two years of amusement for me every time I told the story.  This year, he and our guide were determined to throw me from the boat - but my grace and agility kept me in the boat during the 5 hour tour! :P  We had a blast out on the water during a 90 degree summer day, and this time, a few dunks from the rapids and a 20 foot jump off the rocks felt refreshing!

2.  The Sun Valley Arts & Crafts Fair

This has always been one of Mike's favorite Valley events so I couldn't wait to see what all the buzz was about - and it was an event that the whole family was fired up about!  So we all slathered on the sun screen and grabbed our hats to walk through what felt like one hundred booths full of beautiful artwork from all over the area.  There was jewelry, hand carved wood crafts, water color paintings, oil paintings, big paintings, small paintings, stunning photography, hand-crafted pottery, and leather goods made with care.  We walked out of the fair with an adorable little oil painting and a larger than life photograph of an all-American buffalo. I'm fairly certain that we don't have anywhere to put him, but we can't wait until he gets here.

3.  Hiking through Nature with my Love!

Each day, Mike & I made a point to do some sort of exercise outside.  During our trip, we took a 2 hour hike through the National Forrest, we went on a run together, and we walked along the Big Wood River.  With "real nature" being so far away from our every day lives in the Concrete Jungle, it was so lovely to make sure that we spent at least a few hours getting some fresh mountain air in our lungs & some peace in our minds.  It's unreal how therapeutic nature can be for the mind & soul.

4.  Lunch at the top of the Mountain

I think I've now officially been on the mountain more in the summer than I have in the winter!  This trip was the first time I had ever taken the brand new gondola that just opened up on the mountain.  Unfortunately, Idaho had experienced some pretty devastating fires from the summer heat shortly after we left.  So when we got to the top of the mountain, it was incredible to see how the early sign of smoke was creeping over the mountain into the valley, like eerie little fingers.  Despite the slightly smokey haze, the breeze was lovely & our little lunch was such a sweet little escape.

5.  A necessary visit to Grumpy's

I'll be the first to admit, Grumpy's is best when you're still in your ski gear and are returning from a long day on the mountain.  But an ice cold Grumpy's schooner & one of their famous burgers is always a treat - and always a must do whenever we're in Idaho.  The walls are covered with bumper stickers, there is paraphernalia hanging everywhere, I won't go within 5 feet of the bathroom, and the bartenders are...well....grumpy, but it's a staple - and I could eat their special french fry sauce for DAYS!


6.  Family dinners with a view

The best part of our trip to Sun Valley was absolutely our nightly family dinners.  Every day, we enjoyed an evening cocktail in the comfort of the back porch while watching the sun (and on some nights, the smoke), set behind the mountains.  Drinks were followed by delicious home cooked meals, stimulating conversation, many many laughs, & many bottles of wine.  It's only once or twice a year that all 6 of us are together, and it always promises to be an eventful meal!

I love Sun Valley for so many reasons.  I love that it provided us with a family retreat that brought everyone together.  I love that Idaho forced us to disconnect from the stress that we left behind in New York.  For the first time in a while, Mike and I returned to New York feeling refreshed, well rested and clear headed.
I love that Idaho provides never-ending views everywhere you turn as a constant reminder of how great God really is.  I love that you can stumble upon a herd of sheep walking along the highway on your way to the mountains.  I love that it's the only place in the world where I can get a delicious "bowl of soul" from Java . But mostly, I love that it's the opposite of New York...in every way.

As I mentioned earlier, the Valley was pretty severely burned during the fires the week after we left and it breaks my heart to think that the gorgeous setting that had provided us with a summer retreat was a different sight just a few days later.  Thankfully, the homes were spared and no one was hurt, but it's a sad thought, and I couldn't be more grateful that we chose to go to Sun Valley when we did.  Despite the fires this summer, I hope that we can continue to return every year to this very special place that has quickly become a destination full of family memories.    Winter or Summer, ....Sun Valley never disappoints!

Family, Friends & Rock & Roll

Every year or so, Night Ranger makes a special visit to New York for a show - and Mike and I go nuts...absolutely NUTS.  The last time NR was in New York, they played at BB Kings - an intimate venue right in the heart of Times Square and a convenient 5 blocks from my office. It was also probably one of the highlights of Mike's life when he joined his Uncle Jack on stage for Sister Christian.

So when we heard that NR was coming, Mike sent an email out to everyone we know in the tri-state area to reserve the date and block out their calendars.  This resulted in a Mobley-friend ticket list over 35 people long for the 2013 Night Ranger show at BB Kings!  When we arrived at BB Kings straight from work and met the doorman with the line I was told to recite, "I'm on the 'Mobley' list", and asked where we could be directed to meet our party...he replied "you'll see your group".....and what a group it was!


I don't think I had seen this many people I knew and loved in one place since our wedding, and they kept coming!  I'm fairly certain that 25% of the crowd was a friend of the Mobley's which only made show that much more special.

We made so many friends on the Monsters of Rock cruise last year, and this was the first time we got to see everyone since we were cruising around the open seas last February.  But the cherry on top of the whole night is that we got a little bit of family time too! It's always amazing when we get to see Mike's Uncle Jack & go backstage for a few hugs or a beer before or after the show.  And even though he was a busy little bee working his hiney off at the show, we got a few precious minutes with our cousin James!

If I had to think of my three favorite things in life - they would be as follows: Family, friends, rock n' roll...in that order.  We had just a wonderful combination of all three on this night - and I couldn't have been more elated.  Of course a few of our favorites were missed - but there will be a next time, and each one is better than the one before!  What a special treat it was to have Night Ranger in our city and to be able to rally such an awesome crowd of our friends to enjoy the show with us.  Mike didn't get his moment to hop back on stage this time, but at one point in the show - the NR crew took a moment to thank Michael Mobley for the shots he bought for the band and toast a Patron shot to 30 years of rock & roll.  Now if only we can get them to come back a few more times a year! :)

A Very Cape-y Christmas

We've been looking forward to our annual Cape holiday celebration all year.  When the weather outside was frightful, and it seemed as though we'd never get a break from the winter blues, Mike and I find ourselves anxiously longing for our yearly trip to the Cape, and the festivities that follow.  So whenever Cape Christmas is finally upon us, the three of us (yes, Winston is always included!) can barely contain our excitement as it always promises to be one of our favorite weekends of the year.

We were smarter this year, and decided to extend the Cape Christmas celebration to one extra evening - rather than a 3 day stay, we added another evening of festivities to the itinerary.  As always, each night had it's designated themes and corresponding wardrobe assignments.  We rallied the same crew as last year, with our cars packed full of costumes, hats, decorations and beach accessories to meet up at the Keohane family's beautiful beachfront property in Old Silver Beach to commence the 3rd annual Cape Christmas weekend.

While we maintained some of our yearly traditions from the previous two years, we started a few more traditions this year.  Rather than outlining each of the day's activities, I thought it would be more fun to share with you some of the new rituals we started as part of the 2013 weekend, and finish up with some recaps of the older traditions that we've maintained over three years now.

Hats have always been an integral part of Cape Christmas weekend celebrations as you can see from our past posts.  So this year was not much different - however; this year, we kicked off the weekend on our first night with a crazy hat game of poker.  Yes, that means that once we were all joined together from our perspective drives from the city, we made a few cocktails, poured a few glasses of wine & donned the most ridiculous headgear you could find.

Beach activities have also always been a large part of our weekend entertainment, and fitness (if you can call it that), but we added a little twist to your normal beach ProKadima this year.  We still had our competitive, cut-throat paddle ball sessions, but this year, we invented a more lazy solution that included beach chairs and large rakes (so that you didn't have to leave your chair should someone miss the ball...it's genius).  As you could imagine, this kept us entertained for the better part of 4 hours!

New to the costume themes this year was "Weekend and Bernie's tropical" that replaced last year's American night...which was perfectly timed for the Opening ceremonies at the 2012 Summer Olympics.  This crew can't just do "tropical night"....no, we had to put our own little twist on things, which resulted in aggressively festive 80's themed tropical attire.  The guys ended up looking almost identical to each other & while it was somewhat more difficult to the ladies, Weekend and Bernie's tropical night proved to be an excellent addition to the weekend themes.  This night also provided us all with the most spectacular sunset I had ever seen in my days at Cape Christmas, which was the perfect backdrop to our nightly friend photo shoot.

This year, we also agreed that we'd go all out with decorations.  Before we headed out to the Cape, we had a shipment from Amazon sent to the house so that it could be there in time for the weekend (gotta love Amazon Prime).  So new to the weekend was our brand new hot pink, pre-lit Christmas tree trimmed with ornaments of tropical fish, palm trees & parrots.  And what Cape Christmas isn't complete without tiki-shaped hanging lights?

But what makes the weekend so special are the traditions that we've kept up year after year.  Just like we had done quite a few times in the past, we continued the tradition of taking the ferry out to Martha's Vineyard on our "rainy-weather day" because there is no better place in the world to enjoy a dark & stormy, when the weather is....you guessed it....dark and stormy!  This year the five of us had lunch in Edgartown and huddled under umbrellas with our hoods pulled up in an effort to keep ourselves and our lobster rolls safe from the rain.

We continued quite a few of our other Cape Christmas traditions as well.  We made our yearly visit to Wood's Hole where we had steamers & bloody Mary's at the Landfall.  We continued the tradition of the themed "nautical night" where we dress ourselves in anything we can find with an anchor, sailboat or a nautical knot on it & had a friends dinner at one of our favorite North Falmouth landmark, the Silver Lounge.  We snacked on a smorgasbord of quahog clams, clam chowder, lobster mac n' cheese and rum cocktails while taking in the novelty decorations of the restaurant which is decorated like the inside of an old, old wooden ship.   And just like the past few years, we all took a few dips into the ocean for a sunset swim.

But our favorite tradition that we've kept up, is the main event...the evening of Cape Christmas.  Each year, the costumes get a bit more elaborate & the playlist gets a bit longer.  We spend the evening cooking together, boiling lobster, singing tropical Christmas carols, toasting to our friendship, dancing around the kitchen island, recording silly videos, and sitting on the back patio wishing Merry Christmas to the neighbors. Yes, it's a made up holiday, but every year, Cape Christmas reminds us how happy we are to have these friends in our lives.  Friends who aren't afraid to look ridiculous - but embrace it.

Whether we start new traditions or continue the same ones, the reason for the weekend remains consistent every year.  It's a weekend of care-free, serotonin-filled summer days.  It's four full days of happiness in the purest form, a kind of happiness that can only come from having life-long friends.  It's a vacation from the real world and an opportunity to not take ourselves so seriously.  And it's a trip where we make memories that we'll be re-living with each other forever.

And one last thing that's consistent every year....it is never easy to leave.  The five of us all suffered from a little bit of PCD (post-Cape-depression).  Even Winston was devastated to make the trip back to the concrete jungle.  But we do find comfort in knowing that we'll do it all again next summer - and we've all started brainstorming themes for costumes.  Thank you to the Keohan's who graciously hosted us and tolerated our shenanigans and thank you to our friends who are are as committed as we are to continuing the tradition every summer. Merry Cape Christmas to you all and here is to Cape Christmas 2014!!!