Roses and Magic

Talk about a dream come true! I joined Bachelor Nation in 2021 (remember The Year of the Bachelor?), and I since dragged in my mom and Kathleen to be citizens as well. We all signed up for alerts and it's actually happened more than once that we got the email invites to put our hat in the ring for tickets to the tapings, and we even actually finally secured tickets, but I ultimately had to back out because I was just too pregnant with Summer to be able to commit to their 7 hour days of mostly sitting.

Well, thanks to Kathleen, we finally officially scored tickets when we were both available and got to go watch Grant's live finale taping! My goal was not just to end up on TV with my reactions, but I wanted to straight up become a meme so that I could strike it rich and stop working LOL. We practiced our facial reactions for weeks, giving each other different scenarios to react to. The meme part hasn't exactly come down the pipeline just yet, but Kathleen and I both got some great screentime, so... Mission Accomplished! (I also have only had ONE friend randomly text me to say she saw me on the TV taping, darn I thought I was cooler lol)

It was a long day. Getting screen ready (yeah that's probably still debatable), getting up to Studio City, checking in, going through security, staying in the holding tank and signing NDAs (seems weird considering it was live but okay), having their provided lunch and coffee, and then finally getting into the audience and ready.

I will say, there is clearly a method to their seating madness (took much longer for them to assign everyone somewhere to go) but I'm happy to report that Kathleen and I were Second Row Hot.

It was actually really cool watching the finale live together with the audience, Jesse Palmer and the other members of Bachelor Nation, but oh my Lord it is EXHAUSTING having to clap and cheer every intro and outro, and, as they remind you - the camera is always on. It is doubly exhausting to constantly being conscious about your face - it wore off quickly.

We were exhausted by the end and still had a long drive home. We collected our swag and on the drive home, the west coast airing was starting, so Kathleen was getting texts from friends about seeing her and my mom was sending our reaction clips which were cracking us up - I'd go so many more times to do it all over again! (Assuming we're not blacklisted lol)

Kathleen's great recap of most of our screentimes

My swag the morning after... oh yeah

Then... the magic!! I am obsessed with magic, like, I really love it. I still haven't found a way into The Magic Castle (one of these days. Sigh) but not too long ago I found another magic place in LA, called Black Rabbit Rose. At first I was going to make AJ take me there for my birthday dinner, but then San Diego came along and I didn't want to drive up to LA Friday night and down to San Diego Saturday morning, so I tabled it. But then I mentioned it to Jessica and we insisted that we make it happen, and do it in March so it will still be for my birthday.

And that's what last Saturday was! And it was AWESOME. AJ and I had the best night out that we've had in a long time, I feel like we're still enjoying how much fun it was.

My mom and Kathleen came over to watch the girls. AJ and I headed up and met Jessica and Doug in Hollywood. AJ had a magic trick done for him while he was getting my dirty martini at the bar, and then we got seated extremely close to the stage in a very small setting.

I was approached before the show by one of the performers, asking me to think of a personal item I could share later on, but not to tell her or show her anything. (Well, she approached Jessica first but Jessica asked them to do me since I love magic so much).

The show was fun, and there were definitely some wtf moments, and the trick that I took part in included 4 people putting personal items into velvet bags, collected by someone, and the performer then took them out one by one and guessed who they belonged to "based on our energies." She said the more personal they were the better, and I happened to find an old ultrasound of Summer in my purse and made that my item. (Funny story - my doctor with Summer gave me dozens of ultrasounds every appointment - I have so many of them all over the place, I still find them in unexpected places lol) and long story short - she guessed mine!

The last trick was kinda wild. We all had 4 playing cards at our chairs when we arrived. They led us in a whole method of bending the cards, ripping them in half, choosing one 'secret' half to hide away, throwing half the cards, keeping half the cards, then taking the last one and seeing if it matched the secret card you hid away to have your wish come true - and it worked!! Well it worked for everyone I knew and everyone I saw except AJ haha! Poor guy. He's either bad at directions or doesn't believe in magic enough for it to deliver. Maybe a little bit of both.

After the show we decided to visit a nearby hookah lounge, where we had the entire place to ourselves because it was only 10p and as they told us, people don't really show up until about 2a, so we had the place to ourselves, a VIP table, and they let us choose our music. It was awesome.

When it was time to leave, AJ and I got pizza from a window on Hollywood Boulevard and then had a car karaoke fest on the long drive home.

Now if only I could get into The Magic Castle!

Birthday Fun

It happened again, my birthday came and went super fast, and I guess they technically get less eventful (did I ever used to spend long weekends in Vegas with morning shots??) they sure get more fun as the girls get older and I get to spend it with them.

It was also the first time in a long time that I had a rainy birthday. I didn't mind - I had my morning birthday donuts and birthday Starbucks cozy in bed, until I met Iris at Fashion Island for hair blowouts and lunch. It was the first time in a long time we got to meet without kids and have an uninterrupted conversation. Then I got to take a nap and Gangy and Auntie KitKat came over in the evening to watch the girls so AJ and I could go out to dinner. We were having so much fun with them that evening and got to sing and do cake and presents before we went to dinner.

The best part of gifts is that Sophie now picks some out - and what great gifts! A Bluey shirt that she requests to be my pajama shirt (already started in on that last night) a cute cherry-printed hair bow that matched and I put in that night, and then some Reese's mmmm. Sophie has also started openly showcasing her French (as opposed to us prompting her) and she sang Joyeux Anniversaire for us all before AJ and I left and had a great dinner at Five Crowns in Corona del Mar. 

We then spent the weekend in San Diego and I feel like we can never go back to a 'normal' weekend trip and instead do the early Saturday morning through Monday schedule, because it was amazing how quick and painless the drive was without any traffic!

We started with brunch at Mission Beach for mine and Rafael's birthdays before taking the girls to Belmont Park.

After that we went to dinner with Aunt Judee and Uncle Doug while everyone else went whale watching (and thank God we did not go - it was rough seas and I never would have survived). It was so nice seeing them and catching up on their home turf for once! The girls struggled a bit at first after the busy day and the buzzing environment of Corvette Diner but get them a milkshake (Summer's first - she was hooked immediately!) and they loosened up and we had a nice meal together!

I think I might have collapsed asleep before the girls that night, and the next morning we got up, had breakfast at the hotel and then met everyone at the zoo.

Rafael had gotten the girls little gift bags that they were playing with at the brunch and the temporary tattoos included were wild animals so we all decided to wear them to the zoo that day.

She asked me to take pictures of her
with her tattoos

Summer fascinated with her tattoo

On the way to the elevator

Hippo!

Flamingos!

My birthday gift from Rob and Raf - a
beautiful, interior-lined kimono-style robe
with dry pocket, champagne pocket, drink
koozie, sunglasses loop and bottle opener

It was a warm day but kinda perfect for beers at the zoo. We had a great time and it's clear Summer recognized flamingos from you know, everywhere around her since they're her bedsheets and lunchbox and bed stuffy and photos and whatnot - and went crazy when she saw them! Yelling and stomping and dancing around, it was cute.

Charlie and Sophie had a great time riding in the wagon together and seeing all the animals, and we all just had so much fun together in general, it's crazy it was such a last minute arrangement (relatively I suppose).

I'm also realizing how crowded March is getting for birthdays as, among others this month, today is Enzito's 4th birthday!

It Belongs to Big Bear

It was our 4th year doing the Big Bear cabin, and while the attendees may vary slightly, we've been a regular fixture since it's always been over AJ's birthday weekend and it's exactly what he wants to do.

This felt like the first year we got a little break in the sense that we got to let Sophie go rogue - didn't have to stress about her going down staircases (it's a five-story cabin) and she plays with others and they can entertain each other with their games and fun. Of course, we had to worry about all of that with Summer, and chase her around, and every year, more kids are added to the mix, and the bigger ones are getting bigger and crazier so it's in no way relaxing and we often remind each other "we're doing it for the kids!" To give you an example, Greg made eggs to have for the kids and adults for breakfast one more and he used 36. And we still had tons of eggs and people still ate other things. But that's the chaos we're faced with.

That being said, it was a super special year because of all the fresh snow and the face that we got to be there while it was snowing as well. Sophie was in Elsa heaven.

We drove up Thursday night which was right in the middle of the storm. It was a horrendous drive. AJ was fine, since he's lived in Canada and was a mountain regular for snowboarding, but I was having a panic attack and was very relieved that the girls were asleep.

We were the first ones up there and one of my favorite memories was within those first few hours, when we had the full cabin to ourselves, Summer was asleep, and AJ, Sophie and I sat on the couch watching Frozen with popcorn and the snow coming down outside. Not your typical California evening!

The Star Wars drive up

Sophie seeing the snow for the first
time since she slept on the drive up

Chris and AJ seasoning the meat for the weekend

Mah babays!

Snow fun in the morning

Bryce had a shovel and Sophie wanted
something and she was fine with a broom haha

Snow snacks

I made the mistake of turning the tub jets
on after having put in a lot of bubble bath
and Sophie practically drowned in the 
bubbles lol

Building their snowman

Chris was a great project manager

Making daddy's birthday cake

Happy Birthday AJ!

A calm evening lol

We are all so thankful for Dave and
his energy to play with and entertain
this growing group of kids

Summer became obsessed with pushing
the cooler around

Sophie's Elsa braid

The babysitters that came with were great with hair and did a braid for Sophie (which isn't super easy since her hair is pretty short) and she was just in love.

When we were down the mountain, her blue hair tie came out and she was beside herself upset saying "Oh no! My hair tie! It belongs to Big Bear!" and while I appreciate her honesty and integrity, it took awhile to calm her down.

The girls did great both up and down the mountain since we drove at good sleeping times, and AJ and I actually did a great job unloading and unpacking and laundering when we got back so we started the week off pretty fresh, so that's something I guess.

Glad we have another year of memories.