california vacation

a couple weekends ago chester and i spent 4 lovely days in southern california - orange county & los angeles to be exact. our friends denny & krystina moved out to orange county in april of 2012, and we were really excited for them to show us around their "new" area. my good friend tim moved out to LA in july of 2012, and it was nice seeing his new 'hood too.

we checked out the thousand step beach in laguna, an awesome brewey (called the bruery) in the OC, the hollywood walk of fame in & the griffith observatory in LA (where we met up with another good friend Dan), and the elliott smith wall in silverlake. the wall had recently been touched up, and it was really cool to see.

we had such a fabulous time, and we are already planning our next trip out there! hopefully we can escape the midwest winter for a few days next year. :)

1,000 step beach in laguna // hollywood walk of fame // legit moscow mule // at the beach // at the griffith observatory

view from griffith observatory // driving in LA // krystina & i // chester & i with denny & tim

hot tubbing // elliot smith wall in silverlake // photo booth at the bruery tasting room

currently.

watching: the third season of the killing ended a few weeks ago, and i think i liked that season the best out of all three. i'm really loving this season of the newsroom too! the whole genoa storyline is fascinating to watch unfold. and i love how i like don so much after he and maggie split. after browsing hulu's suggestion on series i should watch, i started watching durham county. i'm liking it a lot so far, and i've noticed quite a few actor overlaps with the killing. there are only 3 seasons of the show, so i'll probably finish that up in time for boardwalk empire!!!! i cannot wait! chester and i have also been watching deadwood. he and his dad watched the series when it aired on hbo, so it came highly recommended. i'm diggin' it so far.

reading: so i ordered even more books since last posting a currently post, and i haven't finished anything yet, haha. i blame amazon now accepting my credit card points directly. i've started "island of lost girls", and while it's interesting, it's not as gripping as i was hoping it would be right off the bat. but i'm not giving up just yet. i'm also reading "the spectacular now" and i really like it so far. i'm hoping to finish it soon and see the movie before it's out of the theaters.

listening to: chester sent me this video of the staves's crypt session, and i was blown away. so i've been listening to them a lot, along with rosie june & folly and the hunter (first band that spotify suggested and i actually clicked on, haha). chester and i have tickets to see lucy rose in october, and i cannot wait to hear her sing this!

thinking about: just how incredible this summer has been. chester and i have been lucky enough to take a couple long weekend trips, and had some really fun times with our friends. plus, this summer was kicked off with the trip of a lifetime with my family. i've been so lucky to have had the time and resources to make this summer one for the books.

looking forward to: going to the beach with friends this weekend, hopefully getting one last pool day in before it closes, goose island's belgian fest & of course the renegade craft fair!

hope you all are having a great week! until next time...

mumford & sons for the win

i've mentioned on here before that i'm a pretty big mumford & sons fan. their latest album is fantastic, and i've really liked the music videos that they have released along with it. this is probably my favorite though, and you'll know exactly why when you see it. absolutely brilliant.