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September 3, 2018

Our Trip to New York

It has been over a month since we took our birthday/anniversary trip to New York and I’m already feeling the withdrawals and counting down to my next trip to the Big Apple. This was my fourth visit to NYC, but my first with just Matt, and my first in a while that didn’t include a bunch of junior high and high school students. Obviously my main draw to New York is Broadway, but I love so many things about the city. I love being able to take the subway and walk everywhere. I love how much there is to do and see during the day. I love how Matt and I can both have fun by exploring our individual hobbies. Basically, it’s the perfect vacation and if I could afford to go once a year, I would. TBH, I’m a little sketch on some of the exact details of our July vacation (you do know that we up and moved to Orange County all in the last month, right?) but here is our trip to the best of my recollection!

Aight, so we took a red-eye in to JFK. Not ideal. But Matt had to work on Monday (my birthday) when we had originally planned to leave and a red-eye was the best way to not totally miss out on two days of our trip. We left Monday night and arrived around 8:30 Tuesday morning. The hardest part of the red-eye was the fact that it was humid and hot AF in New York so by the time we got our luggage, got to our hotel in Times Square, and walked to get breakfast, we were sweaty, disgusting messes. Who hadn’t slept. After we ate these delicious bagel breakfast sandwiches, we sat in the blissfully air-conditioned lobby of our hotel until our room was ready for check in (luckily, it was ready an hour early).

After a super cold shower and a nap, we headed out to visit baseball stadium #12, Citi Field. Citi Field is one of the better stadiums we have been to, and I will be detailing our experience there in its own post soon. And since the Mets suck this year, tickets were super cheap!

On Wednesday, we spent the day seeing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which was the main reason for our trip in the first place. If you want my full thoughts, go listen to the HP Drink Talk Fangirl episode. Suffice to say, the show is a must for any Harry Potter fan and it is, if nothing else, the most brilliant technical theater I have ever seen.

The way we saw HPCC was both parts in one day, so we saw Part One at 2:00 and Part Two at 7:30. That meant we had time in between parts to eat dinner and get a martini at Sardi’s, something I’ve wanted to do forever and hasn’t been possible since I have been traveling with teenagers. Sardi’s is a pretty famous restaurant in the theater district that you may have seen because they have caricatures of famous Broadway peeps on the walls. I wish we had more time to spend there (or more money to eat a meal there).

On Thursday, we spent the day doing some of my favorite New York things: shopping and exploring. We went to Forbidden Planet and Strand, which are two of my favorite stores in the world. And then we hung out in Union Square for a couple of hours, did some reading, had some drinks, and all in all, had a nice, calm, relaxing day. Thursday night we went to see a jazz show, which was fine. Obviously not my thing, but Matt liked it and since I made him sit through five hours of Harry Potter, it was the least I could do.

On Friday, we spent the day exploring some more. We walked around Times Square and then headed over to the Met. Matt went into the museum on his own because I was feeling kind of bleh and wasn’t super into walking around for hours. I spent my time at a swanky Starbucks on Lexington trying to spot real housewives (no luck).

We had to fly out Friday night because I had a wedding on Saturday, and lo and behold, our flight was delayed for three hours due to weather. It was a tense situation, and we ended up getting home at 3:00 am on Saturday, but we made it home in time for a shower, sleep, and a couple of hours with Squirt before I had to go to work. All in all, it was an amazing trip, and I only wish we had had more time to spend in New York. I miss you already.

Thank you for sharing!

August 30, 2018

Monthly Recap: July and August 2018

Falon My Life 2 Comments

Well folks, some shizz has gone down in the past couple of months. After a pretty fun and exciting summer beginning, I spent the past few weeks preparing our house to go on the market, apartment hunting (so not as fun at age 35 as it was at age 20), and moving the fam from LA to Orange County. Honestly, everything happened so fast I haven’t even really processed it all. We haven’t sold our house yet and it’s only been a few days in the new apartment so I am still adjusting, but I’m starting to settle in to our new normal. However, I have had zero time to do any kind of writing or blogging or anything not related to packing and cleaning and organizing. I’m really looking forward to getting back on the writing train in the next couple of weeks. So obviously the big recap for the month is the whole moving sitch, but some other stuff went down to so here’s the deets!

On the goals front: Bahahahahahaha! Seriously, if it didn’t have to do with moving and prepping the house for going on the market, it literally did not happen. The good news is that the major goals of house prep and moving have been accomplished!

On the writing front: So yeah, that mostly didn’t happen, but I did manage to get in a couple thousand words on my new YA manuscript before madness really settled in.

On the reading front: Reading is the one area of life that I have managed to keep pretty close to my normal pace. So I’m going to break down my books into July and August. In July I read twelve books: Star Touched Queen, First Comes Love, Our Dark Duet, From Twinkle with Love, Heart of Iron, Outward Blonde, Queen’s Rising, Station Eleven, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Crazy Rich Asians, War Cross, and Boy Meets Girl. My favorites are linked below:

In August, I read ten books (and yes, I might finish book eleven by the actual end of the month, but I’m not counting it yet). I read: Falling Kingdoms, Playing with Matches, Aristotle and Dante, Identicals, My Plain Jane, New World Rising, Kiss Quotient, Last Tudor, People We Hate, and Six of Crows. August’s favorites are linked below:

On the movie front: The biggest revelation here is that I cut ties with Movie Pass after three weeks of not being able to check in to a single movie and rapidly declining customer service. I signed up for AMC’s A List and so far have really been enjoying it. By far the highlight of my movie-going the past couple of months has been Crazy Rich Asians. It was pretty much a perfect film and I loved it from beginning to end.

I’m hoping that September is going to bring about a return to some kind of normal life, including more regular blogging and a return to social media. It’s been an insane two months, but I am excited to see what the rest of 2018 has in store!

Thank you for sharing!

July 20, 2018

10 Things I’m Obsessed with Right Now

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This post contains affiliate links.

It’s been a while since I did an obsession post, and well, to be completely honest, it’s my birthday next week and it’s always a good idea to give people an idea of what kind of gifts you want. Despite the fact that I’m a grown up so birthday presents are basically a thing of the past (except for those from the parental units, thanks guys!). Even if you opt out of sending me one of each of these things (psshh), maybe you will find something cool for yourself. And you know what they say, sharing is caring.

One: The My Favorite Murder podcast. If you listen to my podcast, Drink Talk Fangirl (plug) you’ve heard me talk about this before. But based on our dismal download numbers, I’m assuming you don’t listen to Drink Talk Fangirl (jerk) and so let me tell you about MFM. MFM is hosted by Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff, who are both in the entertainment industry and share a love of true crime. Each week they give the details on a different murder, and they manage to make it funny-not the murder part, but the podcast as a whole. I’m so obsessed with it, I have basically stopped listening to all other podcasts so I can listen to every single episode of MFM.

Two: Kiehl’s Blue Herbal Acne Cleanser Treatment. My skin has been acting cray cray lately and so I took it upon myself to make sure I accompanied my mother to Kiehl’s so she could buy me their acne face wash. That might be one of the most millenial things I’ve ever said. So far it’s working really well, but I have now dug myself into a hole (as happens with every Kiehl’s product I have ever tried), now I don’t want to use anything else so I’m gonna have to fork over the cash for that shizz myself.

Three: The Bold Type. Guys, The Bold Type is without a doubt the most underrated show on TV right now. On the surface it’s Sex and the City for millenials, but it is so much more than that. In less than twenty episodes, they have covered everything from the Muslim ban to the #MeToo movement to white privilege. And all of these SUPER IMPORTANT issues are dealt with in a way that makes them relatable and interesting.

Four: Outlander (the series). This may have been on my last obsession post. If I were a professional, I would go back and check. But I’m not so I’m not going to. I’ve already watched the entire Outlander series, but I recently went back and started season one again, and it’s even better the second time. It’s very Game of Thrones esque in that there is so much happening I could watch it again and again and still find new things each time. And I will say AGAIN that Sam Heughan and Tobias Menzies were ROBBED of Emmys for season one because they both give some of the best performances ever.

Five: Owl Crate. This is nothing new. I have loved my Owl Crate subscription boxes from the very first one I ever got. But the past few boxes have been so cool, and I feel like each month the contents just get better and better. For YA fans, this is the subscription box to invest in.

Six: L’oreal Air Dry It Wave Spray. I originally tried this because Target was out of my usual wave product, but I actually think I like this stuff even better, especially for summer. I pretty much never blowdry my hair, I always let it dry naturally, so this is the perfect setting spray for me. It gives a little body without being too stiff or crunchy and it lets my hair do its own natural, wavy thing. In fact, when I was searching for this image, I ordered another bottle from Amazon. So it’s legit.

Seven: New York City. This is also not a new obsession, but since we leave for a quick jaunt to the Big Apple next week, NYC has been fresh on my mind. I have spent more time than I would like to admit trolling Pinterest for the best the city has to offer. I now know all the best Instagram locations and the coolest hipster bars in every neighborhood. I can’t wait to visit my second favorite city in the whole world (LA, you always be my number one boo).

Eight: Sandhya Menon. I finally got around to reading Menon’s first book, When Dimple Met Rishi, a couple of weeks ago, and then was super stoked to see her new release, From Twinkle with Love, in my last Owl Crate box. I am so in love with Menon’s characters because they are just the cutest and the sweetest. It’s not often I long for high school days, but her stories make me nostalgic for first love and petty drama.

Nine: T-Shirt Dresses. Ugh. The weather lately has been disgusting. Hot and humid and the kind of bleh that we don’t usually get in Southern California. I need dry heat, people. Luckily, I have said peace out to any remaining concerns about presenting a stylish front and have succumbed to a life of t-shirt dresses. T-shirt dresses allow you to wear your pajamas in public and pretend like you are dressing up. They are my summer staple and I will love them forever.

Ten: Kiehl’s Lip Balm #1. This shit is bomb. It’s the only lip stuff I’ve ever used that lasts me through the night. I put it on before bed and when I wake up, my lips are still moisturized. I am particularly fond of the cranberry one, but they are all awesome and if you have chapped or dry lips, this stuff will cure all your woes.

Okay, so I totes understand if you don’t want to send me a bunch of Kiehl’s gifts for my birthday, but at the very least, click on these links and buy some of my favorite things for yourself. I am such a giver.

Thank you for sharing!

July 18, 2018

Summer Bucket List Part Two

Falon My Life, So Cal Life, Travel 0 Comments

So the good news is that I have checked off eleven boxes on my Los Angeles summer bucket list. The bad news is this might be the end of the list. For reasons I cannot disclose at the moment ;o) More info to come, promise! But I do have some other cool events to share with you, and they are all things that you should do whether you are an LA native or just visiting on vaycay!

One of my all-time favorite summer events in Los Angeles is the Independent Shakespeare Company’s summer productions. This group stages FREE Shakespearean productions in the old LA Zoo (part of Griffith Park) and they are always so good. I went to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream this past weekend and I loved it. Midsummer is a great show, super accessible (even for kids) and the production as a whole was really well done. I am REALLY looking forward to going back later this summer to see Titus Andronicus because it’s one of the few Shakespeare shows I’ve never seen. Also, there’s lots of murder in it so it’s gonna be fun!

If you do a Google search for “LA brewery kid-friendly”, Golden Road is going to be at the top of every single list you find. We love Golden Road, but we had never been there with Squirt, so we headed over one afternoon for dinner, beer (obvs), and play time. The best part about Golden Road is their large outdoor space with lawn games and plenty of space for the kiddos to run around. Did I mention there’s beer?

I won’t say too much here about the Natural History Museum because I wrote a whole blog post about it. Suffice to say, we had a great family day and Squirt keeps asking to go back to the “moozeeum”.

Matt and I had an epic date night last weekend where we checked off THREE bucket list boxes in one night. Our first stop was the Upright Citizens Brigade for an improv show. I had actually never been to a show there before, but after reading Yes Please by Amy Poehler (one of the founders of UCB) I knew we needed to check it out. We went to the earliest show, at 7:00, and it was hilarious. Plus, tickets were $7 each. So for $15 we got an hour of quality entertainment and in LA, that is a steal.

After our improv show, we had dinner, and then headed over to the Dresden. The Dresden is famous for two things: its appearance in the movie Swingers and its two superstars, Marty and Elayne. Marty and Elayne are a couple in their eighties (???) who play jazz standards five nights a week at this bar and lounge that has not seen a remodel since the 1960’s. I imagine that to many outsiders the appeal of the Dresden is questionable at best. The place is old and quite frankly, the music is not great. But the kitsch and the charm are off the charts, and honestly, it’s a must do if you want the real LA experience.

After the Dresden, we hit up House of Pies. For pie. I wish we had eaten dinner at this classic diner, but honestly, it’s totally worth it to go just for dessert. Also if you watch Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, you will recognize this spot from the Kristen Wiig episode. The pie is bomb y’all. ‘Nuff said.

I’m hoping to check off at least a couple more boxes on the list, but life is about to get crazy so I can’t make any promises. Stay tuned for some very interesting life updates to come!

Thank you for sharing!

July 16, 2018

My Top Ten Reads of 2018 (So Far)

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This post contains affiliate links.

Guys. Shit just got real. I have already read 54 books this year. FIFTY-FOUR. It’s July! And yet, I still have like three shelves full of TBRs that I need to get through before the end of the year. In other words, I need to STOP BUYING BOOKS. Oy vey. Obviously, in those 54 reads I have come across some awesome books, and well, I love me a top ten list, so here is one with all of my favorites from the first half of 2018:

10. Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston: I just finished this one, and I really liked it. It’s a little more sci-fi than I usually lean to, but it was in an Owl Crate box so I read it, and enjoyed it. It kind of gave me some Star Wars vibes, so I was into it.

9. Asking for It by Louise O’Neill: I never would have found this book if I hadn’t abandoned my no book buying in 2018 rule (to be fair, I was on vacation so it was a special bookstore trip). I haven’t seen this one available many places, but every teenager should have to read this book. Shit’s important y’all.

8. Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir: I’ve read some disappointing series books this year, but overall I really enjoyed the third book in this series. However, I kind of wanted it to be the last book and now I’m low-key annoyed I have to wait for book four.

7. How to Break a Boy by Laurie Devore: I loved the characters in this book, even the ones that were kind of crappy people because they were so well written. It’s not easy to make me love an asshole, but I did.

6. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli: Okay, so I was way behind the times on this one, and yeah, I totally saw the movie before I read the book (blasphemy!) but I still loved this one nonetheless.

5. Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young: This was another Owl Crate book (they’ve been killing it lately) and the heroine was just such a badass that I couldn’t help but love this book. I also loved that the setting was different from what I’m used to.

4. To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo: MERMAIDS. But like super badass mermaids who kill princes. Oh, and they’re actually sirens. UNDERWATER ADVENTURES.

3. When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon: If you don’t fall in love with these sweet baby angel characters, then you have no soul. This book made my heart warm and squishy. Oh and I learned stuff about another culture so also cool.

2. The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton: Some of the best world-building I have ever read. I didn’t know I needed cupcake dystopia in my life, but apparently I do.

1. Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills: A book about a high school Shakespeare production? Be still my former president of my high school drama club heart. I literally cried in a Starbucks finishing this book. Sigh.

I would think that would be enough book recommendations to get you through the next couple of months, but if not, check out below for some more of my highlights from the first six months of 2018 reading!

Thank you for sharing!

July 13, 2018

A Day at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles

Falon Family Travel, My Life, So Cal Life 0 Comments

As part of my summer bucket list AND my 18 things to accomplish in 2018 challenges, a trip to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles (NHM) was on the docket. And since it has been ridiculously hot the past few days, the museum was the perfect place to escape! I put the NHM on both of my lists because I know how much Matt loved it as a kid, and given Squirt’s penchant for all things dinosaur, I knew he would love it as well. And we picked the best time to visit the museum because one of their exhibits is called Becoming Los Angeles, and it was something I really wanted to see. So the boys got dinos, and I got LA history, and everyone was happy. Here are some of the highlights of our visit!

I really responded to a lot of the displays in the Becoming Los Angeles exhibit. I’ve always felt a close connection to LA, especially in the past ten years or so when we have spent a good amount of time living in the city proper. Even though we are now technically in the ‘burbs, we are close enough to experience all the amazing offerings of Los Angeles, and the city will always feel like home to me.

This display was one of my favorites. I could look at this for hours. Lots of different LA landmarks are represented, and I love the Dia de los Muertos vibe (lots of Coco reminders in this one!).

And I of course can’t go anywhere without finding some Disney reference somewhere. Disney is responsible for a lot of growth and development in LA, so it’s only fitting he have his own display in the Los Angeles section.

This was another favorite display of mine, a model of LA back in the day. It’s cool to look at all the landmarks that have been a part of downtown for decades.

Of course, we spent the bulk of our time exploring the animal and dinosaur skeletons and displays in the museum. Squirt was pretty into all the bones!

I also enjoyed these sections of the museums. As much as you know, logically, that dinosaurs were huge, there’s something about seeing the fossils in person that is a little bit mind-blowing. Look how long that neck is!

We had a really fun (and educational!) day at the museum, and Squirt has already asked to go back. I’m sure we could spend many more hours there and still not see everything. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to go back soon!

Thank you for sharing!

July 11, 2018

Summer Bucket List Part One

Falon My Life, So Cal Life 0 Comments

Guys, I don’t want to alarm anyone, but summer is almost halfway over. How the eff did that happen and how can I turn back time? So far, this summer has been pretty awesome. With the exception of the past few days, the weather has been mild, the temperatures warm during the day and cool at night. Matt has been off work so we have been doing all kinds of fun things, and I have been taking all kinds of solo work/coffee excursions. Life has been good. Now it’s hotter than hell and Matt is in rehearsals for basically the remainder of his summer break so glorious summer has mostly come to an end. Luckily, I still have many items on my summer bucket list to keep me busy. Oh, and a sweet ass trip to New York coming up in just a couple of weeks! So don’t feel sorry for me, I’m going to survive ;o)

And speaking of my summer bucket list, I’ve already checked off quite a few boxes. I am kicking names and taking ass. (If you still don’t get the reference, get out. Jk. Please stay!) And so far on my list, everything has been super fun and exceeded my expectations. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

The other day Matt and I had lunch downtown at Grand Central Market. How have I never been here before?!?!?! Seriously, this is like a food lover’s paradise. And I am a food. lover. Inside of GCM you can find everything from a deli to a coffee shop, with everything from tacos to Chinese food. There’s a Golden Road Brewery and a McConnell’s ice cream. I could pretty much live there. Sadly, we only had room/time for one meal, review of which will be coming soon, but I wanted to eat all the things.

If you’re going to go to Grand Central Market, you might as well hop across the street and take a ride on Angel’s Flight. Built in Los Angeles in 1901, Angel’s Flight is a piece of LA history. And yes, it’s where they filmed part of the dance number in La La Land. No, there is no choreographed dance waiting for you at the top (sadly).

Matt, Squirt, my brother Zach, and I all hit up a mid-week Dodgers day game, which was awesome, except for being in the sun most of the game. But tickets were cheap, and sweating so much meant no desire to spend a small fortune on beer, so I guess it was mostly a good thing.

I wrote a whole blog post about my experience on the Proper Sightseeing bus tour, so I won’t say too much about it here, other than to reiterate it was tons of fun and everyone should go at least once.

Another item checked off the list is outdoor movie night. This is actually one of the first things we did, because I just happened to find a screening of Incredibles at my alma mater, CSUN. Yay Matadors. The only downside to the screening was that it didn’t start until about 8:30, which is already past Squirt’s bedtime, so we didn’t make it through the whole movie, but we still had a fun family picnic, and it was a gorgeous evening.

Even as I write this, I’ve already checked off four more events in addition to these, so stay tuned for another bucket list recap post, coming your way soon!

Thank you for sharing!

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