Hermosa Beach

Trading binge drinking for an ice cream binger – happy 4th of July! Plus, check out my 38-week baby bump!

by Courtney on July 4, 2011

Oh how life can change in the span of a year.

<——This time last year I was down in Hermosa Beach celebrating our nation’s b-day by binge drinking for 3 days straight. It was so fun. I’ll never forget that weekend because my hangover on the ride home officially ranks in my top 3 worst of all time. But you don’t get into those high ranks without it being a memorable time, so you gotta take the good with the bad! To read about my super fun binger, read this: “Happy B-day America, let’s binge drink!”

But this year, I’m trading in binge drinking for an ice cream binger – or food binger, whatever you wanna call it. Hey, I wanna have fun too! Instead of doing an all day “crib crawl” with friends starting at 9am like last year, tonight we had hot plans to go to the local family park and watch the fireworks show. We packed a cooler filled with 3 beers for Jeff and a Wendy’s Frosty for me. No joke. Fifteen minutes after we arrived, the fireworks show was over and we were on our way home! Now that was worth the 365 day wait!!! But what else are you supposed to do when you’re two weeks away from your baby’s due date and you’re praying to God that he’ll have mercy on you and send you into labor early? Too bad the fireworks didn’t scare the baby out – it probably scared her into staying safe and sound in the womb. DAMN! My plan backfired.

Finding “family friendly” ways to have fun

These days I think about all the new things Jeff and I will have to get into doing once the baby arrives. Like, going to family parks to watch fireworks on the 4th of July, or going to the farmer’s market and listening to some silly Frank Sinatra cover band. These are great family friendly activities. Basically, you have to think of new ways to have fun that don’t necessarily involve alcohol. Not that it has to be like that all the time, I know you can drink when you have kids. But binge drinking – not a good idea. So we’ll need to get creative. I’m totally making us sound like major lushes but we’re not. Well, Jeff is but I’m not. (Ha, let’s see if he reads my blog and comments about that one!) No really, we’re just like everybody else who likes to relax with a few cocktails on the weekends!

Anyway, I keep thinking about how fun our first family vacation is going to be. I picture us in some tropical locale with the baby in the water because we’ll have put her through Water Babies at this point, and she’ll be doing laps around us! Yesterday, Jeff and I went to the beach and there were TONS of families with babies and it made me excited for next summer when baby girl will be a year old and freaking adorable in a tiny bathing suit and likely walking and playing with a little shovel in the sand. A few years from now, I am SO excited to take her to Disneyland and see all the Disney characters. Maybe it’s something about experiencing the world through the eyes of a child again.

So ya, life is definitely changing pretty soon for Jeff and I, but I’m honestly looking forward to what’s to come and doing new things we haven’t done before. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut when you’re married and just do the same things over and over again; so this will be a whole new set of activities for us to get into and I think it’ll be fun! And can I just say I haven’t missed drinking at all throughout this pregnancy, but with the weather being 100+ degrees these days, knowing an ice cold beer is literally in my future within the next few weeks is like the greatest thing on earth. Well, like waaaay behind having my baby that is…you know what I mean! :)

Baby bump watch continues –week 38!

According to Babycenter.com, the baby weighs almost 7 lbs and is about 19 ½ inches long. Her organs have fully matured and she’s ready for life outside of the womb. Man, I wish someone would remind her of that….hey little girl, there’s a whole new world out here just waiting for you to see it!!!

I would so love for this to be my last baby bump watch picture! It’s been fun to document this pregnancy for my friends and family and whoever else cares enough to follow, but I’m just so ready for it to be over. My aunt told me she’s going to miss these bump watch posts, but hey, I’ll be blogging about life with a newborn and that should be loads more interesting, right? Everything will be new again and I’ll have lots to say! In the beginning of pregnancy I had a ton to say about how things were progressing, but after a while it’s like; “yep, another week, more pounds, more back pain – nothing new!” Anyway, I’m officially on maternity leave now, so let the waiting game begin! Here’s to hoping for a 4th of July baby!!!!!!

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Happy b-day, America! Let’s binge drink!

by Courtney on July 9, 2010

Hiya! I know I’ve been on a bloggy hiatus from this blog address since mid-June, but I promise I haven’t forgotten aboutcha. I’ve just been thinking of a game plan for blogging on Life at Thirtysomething, as it’s my secondary blog behind Pop Culture Junkie. And I’ve decided that I’m not going to give myself a hemorrhoid trying to squeeze out a blog that just isn’t there. I’m just gonna let it flow. If I have a topic, I’ll blog…and if I don’t, well, *crickets*. 

SOOO, I thought I’d update you on my latest trip to SoCal… 

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This past weekend, my husband and I went down to Hermosa Beach near LA to hang with our friends over the 4th of July holiday. We had a great time, but now, I need another vacation. There’s nothing more exhausting than binge drinking all day and all night. It can really wipe you out when you’re 30(+).  But when in Rome, you do as the Romans do. And while celebrating our nation’s b-day in SoCal, we drink like we breathe – nonstop. 

On Saturday, we did a “crib crawl” where we hopped around from house party to house party, socializing and you know, drinking. I even enjoyed a little bit of college nostalgia when I was peer pressured into doing a beer bong! I mean, why waste time being sober? My friend reasoned with me, this will just get us to the ultimate goal faster.  Ok, well, like I’m really going to look like a puss here – gimme that nasty germy thing and let’s get the party started.  Fuck watery eyes and beer running down my chin – there’s nothing to be ashamed of here. Everybody’s doin’ it.  

After a long day of boozing, we slid into comfy seats in an IMAX theater and watched “Eclipse” and swooned like it was for our health. Well, the guys didn’t, they slept with their mouths WIDE open in the seats next to us, but my girlfriend Ashley and I def cried happy tears during the chaste but oh-so-sexy love scenes. 

The next morning, Ashley and I went out to the beach to support our signif others who were in the process of completing the “Iron Man” competition. But really, all we were doing was standing there watching the guys pound the required minimum of six beers at the end of the event, in which they both admitted to half-assing the actual competition.  But oh no – there will be no half-assing the beer chugging portion of the event! Geez. It doesn’t matter how old they get, guys can always channel their inner meat head. 

Later in the day we had a BBQ and I realized that I should never pour my own margaritas. I tend to over-serve myself. I mean, it was fun, from what I can recall… except for when I sort of had a freak out moment when I woke up at 3am on the couch and found my foot standing in a puddle of someone else’ upchuck. YUM-MAY! Apparently I was running around the room in hysterics shouting, “I can’t believe this, I’m almost 31, I’m almost 31” – like this shouldn’t be happening to me because I’m almost a mature age of “31”. The problem with this rant is that I’m not almost 31. I’m barely 30 and a half, please. Drinking can make you say crazy things. 

It goes without saying that for the next two days I had a wicked hangover. But despite this, I had a blast. 

Now, I should be clear that this is NOT my normal lifestyle. This is a slice of life I like to dip in and out of on rare occasion. It’s the SoCal life. Well, in all fairness, it’s the 4th of July SoCal life. If there was a theme song for the weekend, it would’ve been Katy Perry’s new gem “California Gurls”. Like the song, this place is light, fun, and definitely not how life really is. And I can’t wait to go back! But next time, I’ll definitely be putting a little less “ta-kill-ya” in my margs, like,  for realz.


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My “Us Weekly” birthday weekend

by Courtney on March 24, 2010

My So Cal friend, Ashley, and I have always talked about me coming down to LA and having an “Us Weekly“ weekend in which we hit up all the celeb hot spots that we read about in our fave goss mag! Of course being the Pop Culture Junkie that I am, this is right up my alley! So to ensure that my 30th birthday is forever engrained in my memory, my husband Jeff drove me down to LA this past weekend for one last birthday hoorah!

Needless to say; Ashley didn’t disappoint as we had Friday night reservations at one of the hottest celebrity hubs in Hollywood – the Chateau Marmont!

Act like you belong

Upon arriving at the shabby historic Chateau Marmont hotel, we were immediately ushered next door to Bar Marmont. Wait – whaaaaat? Perhaps they direct the “common folk” to the Bar next door so the celebs can eat their salads in peace. One thing we realized is that the name of the game around here is: “act like you belong”. So as we drove to the Bar valet Ashley’s fiancé, Jon, said; “We have reservations at BARMAMA”! To hear him flub the name as one word trying to sound French was the absolute funniest thing on the planet! As soon as we were out of site from the valet we died laughing! This still cracks me up!

Once inside, we were in awe of the Bar. It had the coolest ambiance ever with hip hop and jazz music playing in a gothic, darkly lit room, with candles and an open skylight. The meal and martinis were superb! Before leaving the restaurant we made a quick trip to the restroom where Ashley had to politely decline an offer of drugs from a fellow restroom attendee. You know you’re in LA when…you’re offered acid in the bathroom at dinner.

We made one last attempt to see the Chateau Marmont hotel but we were once again stopped dead in our tracks by the same woman with a clipboard in hand. She spoke to us in a French slash bitch accent and told us to come back tomorrow during the day when it’s less busy. As we walked away Jeff commented that he kept tripping on his tail between his legs. Of course I felt somewhat deflated as I was reminded of how ordinarily civilian I am, as in – not famous, so PISS OFF! Jon reminded us that at least we don’t have her job. YA, she can keep her silver clipboard. (P.S. We did go back and see it the next day – and we got in!).

Next up: bar hopping in Hollywood! At this point I texted my friend who’s a producer at one of the nightly celebrity magazine/news shows and asked him to take us to the celebs! He made sure to let us down gently by telling us there was not a chance in hell that we’d see celebs on a Friday night. Of course I’m thinking; F*CK, $HIT, DAMNIIIIIIT! But whaddya gonna do?

We spent the rest of the evening bar hopping between trendy little bars with velvet ropes and bouncers in black suits deciding on our entry fate. Being that we’re in the land of pretty and prettier, I had scary visions from a scene in the movie “Knocked Up” when older sister Debbie (in her late ‘30’s) tries to get in to a club and the bouncer tells her: “It’s not cause you’re not hot, I would love to tap that ass. I would tear that ass up. I can’t let you in cause you’re old as fuck. For this club, you know, not for the earth.”

Thankfully, I heard no such thing. I mean, I’m barely 30! C’mon!

Let’s go somewhere, like, really high profile

We woke up on Saturday morning to a gorgeous 80 degree day and OH F*CK, our reservations at The Ivy in Beverly Hills were in 20 minutes! NOOOOO!! Ashley called to see if there was a later reservation, and since God loves us, there was one at 12:45! Relief! We got all gussied up for lunch and headed down to the place where we swore we’d see at least one celeb lunching on the outdoor terrace.

This place is very interesting. It’s where you get a real sense of what it would be like living in Bev Hills. First of all, any time a person gets out of a car in front of the restaurant, walks up the steps, or enters a room – EVERYONE looks up. It’s because everyone is a possible celeb. This can really play on your insecurities. It’s truly the essence of where you go to “see and be seen”. And I’ve never seen more plastic and Botox in my life. Eeks!

The Ivy was utterly adorable in its French country décor with an endless array of fresh flowers on every table or ledge in sight. The food and drinks were stellar too and my husband even commented that this was the most memorable lunch he’s ever had! If I ever go back to BH, I will definitely return to The Ivy. But next time, I better see a freaking celeb – Hmph!

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping around at big name boutiques such as “Kitson” and doing map of the stars! We saw Jennifer Aniston’s house, the Playboy mansion, Madonna’s “block”, and the creepy home where Michael Jackson died. We ended the evening dining and bar hopping in the laid back setting of Hermosa Beach.

On Sunday, after lunch and a super cute bike ride along the Hermosa Beach board walk (where we passed the original “90210” beach house) we were on our way home. AHHHH – what a weekend!

I’m glad I got to taste a slice of LA life. I can see how one can overdo it in Hollywood. I can see how one could overspend in Beverly Hills. But hell, it’s a badass place to visit!

You should know that despite all the dramatic blogging I’ve been doing lately about exiting my twenties, I’ve been having the time of my life in the past few months! This trip to LA marked the final event in a month long celebration that started with a surprise trip to Palm Springs to see Adam Lambert in concert, and a girl’s trip to Cabo San Lucas. This is one birthday that I will never, ever, forget. And it’s all thanks to my uber thoughtful husband, Jeff.

So it’s official; I’ve hit the big 3-0. The “dirty DIRTY thirty”! And TA-DA: life has never been better!

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