Food Filled Fun - Post by Alex AND Amy

[Alex wrote some of the blog post this time :) ]

Real Valentine's Day was spent working long hours and hearing about Amy and Sunny move from KC. So, I decided to have a nice Valentine's Day dinner the Saturday after Amy got here. I wanted to take her downtown. I didn't tell her where we were going until we pulled into the parking lot of Ruth's Chris Steak House.

Since we had a reservation for two, we were sat in these huge private booths in the middle of the restaurant. 

We started off by ordering two very up-class glasses of wine that were recommended by the waiter. We ordered the Ruth Chris classic entree meal. It came with a salad, entree, family side, and a desert. They cook their steaks in a 1000 degree broiler. All they do to the meat is salt&pepper it to cook, and then garnish it with some melted butter and parsley on top. The highlights of the meal were OBVIOUSLY the steak for me. Amy really liked her pear and spinach salad with toasted walnuts in a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. All in all, it was one of the best meals that I've ever had. It was a great night.

 [ Alex has been working really late hours so I'm going to help him finish the post. :) ] 

Well Ruth's Chris was amazing. I told the waiter that it was the best steak that I had ever had and I really think it made his day. We had a bit of a language barrier but between the accents, I caught what he was getting at. ;)

We had a great time there. Talking about our year to come and what a great experience our California year would be!

So to cap off our weekend of delicious treats, Alex and Grear decided to check out one of the locally recommended spots. They kept hearing of this place called The Hat. So we took a Sunday drive and checked it out.

World Famous Pastrami sandwiches ....apparently...

And they were!!!!! 

 oh and I almost forgot to mention the fries with gravy on them...Yeah, it was a really healthy meal.

OMG they were huge!

The boys really like the sandwiches...so much that they had to finish 1/2 of me and Hannah's!! (Hannah is Grear's girlfriend)

 

All in all, a great weekend for FOOD and checking out the city. :)

Lots more fun weekends ahead. And no matter how many we have, I'll never get used to walking out of a fast food resturant and seeing mountains in the background. Unbelievable! 

We have a couple weekends to catch you all up on. So stay tuned this week. :)

MOVING!!! - Part II: The Couch Incident

I think I'm a professional mover at this point. If you are thinking that I'm disillusioned based on the previous post, you are sort of correct. But I'm talking about the logistics of it. There is a lot that has to be done for a move!

• throw out ugly clothes
• pack dishes that should retire to the college-aged sister
• cancel all utilities by waiting on the phone on hold FOREVER
• convince DirectTV that, yes, I really DO NOT want your service anymore...even if you DO give me a brand new car or whatever else you are offering.
• Lots of STUFF....

Well I never expected the Couch Incident:

Our company hired "professional movers" and while I am really thankful; the men that arrived in LA to unload my stuff were ...difficult.

Long story short: they couldn't get the couch in through the front door of the house. Being a former construction engineer, I suggested the optimal solution of the large window. The movers weren't in the mood to lift a couch up to the 2nd floor window but kindly offered to take my couch and put it in their house instead of charging me with $1000 in storage fees.

NO DEAL!!

So I told them to leave it in the hall of the apartment complex. "I'll cut the couch in half and bring it in myself!"  [jerks]....***So all my neighbors now knew, if they didn't know before...This girl is definitely from the midwest! Couch in the front yard and all! Sooo Classy! haha***

Well Alex got off work and talked me out of taking a saw-zaw to the center of my sofa. So we headed off to the company team building event to recruit some REAL "professional movers". We threw some bowling frames and after a two game collaborative total of 186, .....

I was ready to go do something I was good at....lifting couches??

This is the view from up in my apartment, out the window. Notice the couch bottom is a little exposed. I was SERIOUS about cutting it in half. I had already removed the linen along the bottom! It came in handy when we needed to tie the tag line to something. BIG YELLOW has taught us so well! Alex and Grear were doing some last minute safety discussions on proper lifting techniques. :) Meanwhile, Katie and I were taking a break and watching out the window...pretty standard union operation.

hahah, just kidding Holzer family!! :)

Okay: Work Plan:

1. Grear and Alex [Ground Crew] throw the tag line rope up to the girls [Sky Team]
2. Sky Team catches the rope after the 2nd try...eek
3. Ground crew lifts and pushes with all their might to get couch up to window elevation
4. Sky team pulls on rope and guides top of couch until a hold on couch is attainable
5. Sky team secures the hold and sends a verbal notification to the ground crew. [screams: "Oh my gosh, its so heavy....HURRY!"] 
6. Ground crew turns into just Grear on his tip toes solo, while Alex scales the 8 foot tall privacy masonry wall, enters the back of the apt complex, runs up stairs, runs in the front door of the apt and joins the sky crew for the heavy lifting portion. 
7. Lots of pulling, pushing, and yelling. 

(Look at those ladies carrying a couch!! I'm on the left and my new roomie in on the right...Meet Katie! :) )

We got that baby in the apartment! We considered sending these pics to the moving company. hehe 

(And if you haven't met him yet, Meet Alex's roomie, Grear!)

Thank you sooo much Alex, Grear, and Katie for helping me get my BEAST of a couch into the TINY LA apartment!! LA is officially our lo-cal. :) So move-ins are done and we are loving California.

We had so much fun this past weekend and want to update you on the wonderful SoCal weather and happenings in our next post. Missing all our friends and family back home!! See you all soon!

MOVING!!!!!!! - Part 1

.........urgh. I'm going to preface this post by saying that I am the world's WORST mover. You see there are 3 types of people when it comes to moving.

Type 1. Laid back, take on the issues as they come, and deal with them appropriately - the ALEX's

Type 2. Totally stressed out crazy people and everyone knows they are stressed so everyone avoids them.

and then there are those like.....ME...

Type 3. They THINK they are the type 1, happy happy happy....then at a moment when no one expects it, they INSTANTLY become Type 2+ with a vengeance.

You can imagine how this story plays out

I'm relaxed. I'm excited! I'm moving out to Sunny California, in the same city as my boyfriend, and taking on an adventure! Well, it sounded sooo good on paper....

Tuesday, Feb 14th. Happy Valentine's/Moving Day. Alex and I received some news from Alex's family that occupied the morning. But at 9am the packers and movers showed up at the house whether I was ready or not.

I thought they would walk around a bit, see what work needed to be done, and start in slowly. Well they entered the house, shook my hand for introductions, and the house looked like this in about 20 minutes!

It was so crazy!! There were 6 men in my tiny apartment all with their specific tasks. I wasn't allowed to pack or move anything so instead I basically stood in the middle of the house and just spun around in a circle....oh and took this picture. It was crazy but I was living it up in Type 1 mode... happy happy happy...

So 4 hours later, the van pulled away with everything that I own, including my car. All that was left was a suitcase, a mattress that I was giving away, and Sunny and I. (see him over there on my pillow??....kinda creepy kitty...kinda cute?)

A couple rides to work later from my friend Lindsay (shout out), Abby showed up at my sooo inviting apartment on Wed night. She actually had an interview with BIG YELLOW on Thursday. I'm pretty sure that when your sister visits from college, you are supposed to make her a nice, warm, home-cooked meal. But I had no plates, cookware, or utensils. So Carrabbas it was! :)

We ate dinner, went over typical interview questions, and talked about life.

The next day it was time to go to the airport to actually MOVE to LA. I sent Alex this picture on Thursday to show him how excited Sunny was to get on the plane in his harness! He REALLY likes his harness......haha....poor little guy!

Abby got back from her interview, Sunny got a sedative (Thanks Alicia!), and Abby took us both to the airport. (Thanks Abby!!!) My suitcase grew from Packing day to Flying day. I'm not sure how...but my suitcase was 64 lbs when I got to the airport! Also, I had a backpack on with 2 laptops in it, stuffed to the brim. I had my monster size purse, and had Sunny in a carrier. Still in moving Type 1 mode.....for a moment longer....

SIDEBAR: You know those people you see at the airport?...You know the ones I'm talking about! They have WAY too many bags, usually 2 kids acting up in the airport and running around, they keep yelling at them in public, and then they apparently haven't flown since 1990 because they get to security with 3 bottles of water and nail clippers in their suitcase? Yes, those people! Sadly, I was most definitely that person on Thursday. It wasn't kids and water bottles....it was a cat and too many carry ons.

Keep in mind, i called the airline ahead of time. I told them that I had a cat and asked all the appropriate questions! Made NOTES! Made a P-L-A-N!!!

Somewhere in between realizing that a cat counts as one of my 2 TSA designated carry ons, sunny meowing like crazy, my bag being over the 50 lb weight limit, having to repack all my bags in the middle of the airport, some stressed-out gorilla tears, and a sympathetic old man working for the airline.... The "PLAN" got chucked out the window and I landed my self in INSTANT Type 2 mover mode!!!

Yep!!! It happened and it happened in front of one of the nicest old men ever who thought it was all his fault that this CRAZY woman was tearing up at his ticket counter....

Sunny and I finally made it through ticketing, security, and we took a couple minutes to collect ourselves before the flight. I sat down the in the terminal, looked over at sunny, who was sleeping. "Looks like the sedative kicked in!" At that moment, I realized that I had one more cat sedative in my purse and was tempted to try the thing out. Looked like Sunny was enjoying himself! ;)

***Got to LA at 9pm Thursday night. The move wasn't over yet.... More to come. :)

Visiting Home, I mean L.A., ....Whatever

Everyday, the count down is getting shorter for my move to L.A. Alex has been living there since Thanksgiving but I have stayed back in Kansas City finishing up some work stuff back there. Well the count down has begun. I officially get on a ONE-WAY flight to California on Thursday the 16th.

So before the big move, one last trip to see Alex as a VISITOR is the Los Angeles area! I flew in Friday night and Alex picked me up in Orange County. We checked out a delishious mexican resturant in Santa Ana while we were there.

This place was really cool. Authentic (or what I think of as authentic), good music, fire pits outside, really fresh tasting, and really enjoyable atmosphere. Very cute. We were comparing it to our favorite KC mexican resturant, Mi Ranchito. I don't think Alex is ready to break ties yet to our fav KC spot but this was PRETTY close!

On Saturday we checked out this new place Alex and a friend found called Waba Grill Teriyaki House.

Their menu is all about protein, rice, and teriyaki sauce. What's not to love?! It is delish and healthy. We loved it!

Then it was back to the house for swimsuits!! We went out to Santa Monica Beach. What a great day!! It was gorgeous outside....Do I even need to say that? I mean, it seems like no matter when I visit, its gorgeous. I bet the weather men there are so bored!! "Well, residents of Los Angeles, looks like we have another Sunny and 80 degree day. Enjoy it."

Parking down at Santa Monica was pretty intense. Then we found the best spot ever. 5 ft from sand. We really lucked out. So we hit the beach! First stop, Santa Monica's muscle beach.

There were some odd birds out on Saturday. I guess thats basically everyday there though. Everything from climbing ropes, to weird fake fighting, to people lifting other people in the air, 8 guys running and doing flips off structures in the park....It was an eye full. :)

We walked through muscle beach and hit the beach. Now THIS is the perfect Saturday! I can handle the beach scene for sure! We layed out a beach blanket and just vegged out in the sun.

Alex carried our covert cooler. We weren't really sure if drinks were allowed but we just did what we wanted. Out of all the crazys that were on the beach that day, I doubt WE were drawing any attention. :)

You can see the Santa Monica Pier in the background which was our next stop. It was packed on a Saturday but it was fun to look around and see all that the pier had to offer. Carnival food, rides, art booths, and of course....crazys! :) Gotta love it!

The sun realy took it out of us! Or it could have been the traffic on the way home. Either way, we were BEAT! We went out to dinner with our friend Grear to a sushi place that was good but nothing impressive. Definitely not worth a blog shout out.

Sunday was go-home-day. We chilled at Grear and Alex's apartment, talked and hung out. Then went to IHOP for some brunch/breakfast. How can you go wrong there?! haha. Oh and we watch some TV favorites of the Grear/Alex household. Gold Rush and Bearing Sea Gold. These boys LOOOOVE these shows.

So funny but I think I'm hooked too! They made 75,000 in one day! So interesting! :)

Then it was off to the airport. Funny thing is that last week my boss decided to send me to the job a week early to give a training. So I left on Sunday and will be back Wed night. Not sure WHEN I'm going to get my house ready for the move. As Alex always says, 'it will all work out.' :) And he's right. It always does.

This is slightly...okay, totally unrelated to the post however I have to leave you with a flirty wink from my nephew Ethan. It sure does make my day better when I see that cute little face! Hope it works for you too! :) Later all!

A New Reason to Visit Home A Lot!!

Congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law and their new family!! On Wednesday, February 1st, 2012, Ethan Thomas entered the world at 8:15am. He's one handsome fella! Baby girls everywhere, watch yourselves. This little-big man is weighing in at a football potential of 9lbs 5oz. His doctor reported, "We have a boy and he is deliciously full-bodied."....Sounds more like a cup of coffee than a baby! :) But then we saw him....and he's perfect. :)

He's not only a looker He's tall too! At 21.4", he's in the 99th percentile. I'm sayin'!!! NBA scholarships!!

And HAIR!!! (he is about 3 hours old in this one...i think....there were a lot of pics going around....I think I know what song was in Michelle's head at this moment...None other than Ms. B-Spears 'Paparazzi')

There's not much newborn hair in the family. We were all a bunch of baldys. Thank you so much Ethan for bringing baby Mohawks into our lives!!

Mr. Ethan Thomas has a VERY large fan club! Lots of loving family members were there. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and Grandpas and Grandmas!! :)

(Abby will get a pic here if she ever sends it to me)

Mom, Dad, and Baby are doing great. All the nurses and doctors kept going on and on about what a labor BEAST Michelle was. Michelle is changed in my mind forever. Don't let her cute hair cuts, girly dresses, and photography artistic flare fool you. This girl is a Natural Childbirth Champion! Sounds like she was REALLY hardcore in there. She didn't even show up to the hospital until 2 hours before Ethan arrived. Although, lets be serious....Did we really expect Adam and Michelle (the famous non-planners) to arrive early? I think she even surprised Adam with how tough she was about it all. I have an adorable picture of her and Ethan but if she ever posted a pic of me in a hospital gown on her blog, I would probably delete her blog from my favorites bar. :) So instead I will just tell you that she looked awesome. Kinda sickening how great her hair,skin and new Mommy smile was after 14 hours plus of labor. None of us looked that good and all we did was sit in a waiting room. She rocks. PERIOD.

I think it was a little shocking at first. I mean, Adam and Michelle's TO-DO list for the last 9 months has been 1 item. Get baby Ethan into the world. Well CHECK!! Its like I can read what Adam is thinking in this picture..."Okay, He's here!!!......No what?"

Just kidding! :) In truth, I've never seen my brother be so comfortable with a baby. He was all about the info on the pregnancy, labor, and all the medical stuff they do post birth. But then again, its not surprising. Adam was born to be a Dad. Even when we were little, people would ask us what we wanted to be when we grew up. Adam would always answer, a Dad. Well sometimes he answered 'a slide so that rabbits will hide under me when it rains'. But turns out one of his childhood dreams has come true yesterday and I'm so proud of his new family. I can't wait to see Ethan grow up. Getting to know him is going to be so fun. :) He doesn't even do anything yet except sleep, potty, and coo and I already can't stop starting at him.

Ethan, we are all in love. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to finish thanking God for making you and adding you to our family. You are so precious. God has placed you perfectly with a Mom and Dad that prayed for you, love you so much, and are going to be such great parents.

Its Always Noon in Newport

One of the things that I'm most excited about in moving to California are the new people we will meet. Everyone has a story.

Sunday of my weekend visit to LA, Alex and I decided to go down to Newport Beach before my flight back to KC. 

Our first stop was not so much a California tourist stop, as it was more of an Amy obsession. :)

Alex actually ordered something this time. He's being converted!!!!

We got our coffees and walked up and down the streets of Newport Beach. Its easy to catch the culture in Newport. Relax and enjoy your ..... Sugar Daddy's hard work. ;) haha Everyone seems to have the secret to financial success. 

We past a clock that had 12's in the place of all the numbers of the clock, with the phrase, "Its always noon in Newport". I loved it! The perfect slogan for a perfectly relaxed day. :)

I can't get over how comfortable I see us in this city; loving life, loving relaxing, and L-O-V-I-N-G the palm trees! Alex looks like he belongs in this picture. I love it. The palm trees, the building geometric shapes, and Alex smirking that I made him take this picture.. :) Love everything about it!

We continued down to the port where there were hundreds of yachts docked. The day was breezy and we relaxed watching the water and enjoying our coffee.

Just after taking this picture a man popped out of this boat. I felt a little creepy gawking at the boats so we said hello and told him that we liked his boat. His response was...surprising. "You mean my home. I live here." 

His boat's name is Little Drummer boy. He found it a little after his wife was taken by a terminal disease. He knew he had to have it. He sold off all of his belongings, gave the money to his children and charities, took a sailing class, and began to refurbish the boat. You know, you ask someone one or two questions about their life and its surprising but refreshing when they respond super honestly. 

He plans to rename the ship Second Star after she's complete. His wife always looked younger than she was. She claimed that after everyone was asleep, she would follow 'the second star to the right straight ahead til morning' for NeverNeverLand. This was her anti-aging scheme. :) So when her time on earth was ending she told her husband to find his way back to her following the second star from the right. So after she passed he found a passion for this boat and feels like it is where he is supposed to be; that she guided him here. This boat makes him happy and we had a nice time talking about the changes he plans to make to it.

It was a sweet story. So for all those out there that said that LA people are cold, shallow, and crazy, I think you are wrong. Crazy, maybe. But so far, I find them kind and interesting. :)

So we parted ways with our new friend and it was time for goodbyes and for me to head back to reality in Kansas City. :) Alex slipped 2 of my favorite things into my hands just incase I got sad on the drive to the airport...

and I headed off to the airport. Can't wait to move to LA and I don't have to head for the airport anymore. Until then, I'll be running up those cell minutes and frequenting Skype.
I'll see you soon Los Angeles!!! Can't wait for the big move!!!

1st Trip to L.A. with Tour Guide Alex

Last weekend I made my first trip to LA for some work, some apartment hunting, some tourist fun, and mainly to visit Alex. :)

First things first. I had to check out this place that everyone raves about. The infamous IN & OUT Burger

Delish! Check!

Now off for Apartment hunting.

Moving to LA is going to be so glamorous! I envision the perfect space that feels like home and has the beautiful warmth from the California sun, shining through the window.... Ah, yes...something like 

Well, after running the numbers of my budget, the perfect LA apartment for my budget looks more like

 

But the good news is that I think I found a nice place that hits somewhere in the middle. So with all the business of the weekend taken care of, it was time to see some sites!

One of the biggest surprises of the city for me was how it seems like everyone is living on top of each other. The highway is packed, apartment complexes are packed, restaurants are packed!

Okay! Sounds like its time for some open spaces. Off to hike up to the Hollywood sign.

And we made it to the top!!

Okay the exercise was great but guess what we found at the top of the mountain??!! That's right!!....

CELEB SITING!!

Yes, none other than the C-list Celeb, Alan Tudyk. He was hiking with some cute thing and his dog Raisin, that is smaller than Guinto. What man names his dog Raisin? Nevertheless, COUNT IT!! Celeb count officially at 1. Alex was a whole lot less entertained with the celeb siting...

and way more entertained with trying to catch the perfect shot as I kept slipping and falling on the way down the mountain

Yes, I fell twice. Whatev. You just gotta look good doing it...Fail and Fail...Oh well.

We came down off of the mountain and headed to the Chinese Theatre.

Turns out Alex has the same size hands as Matt Damon!

And I own Ms. Monroe Hands

We even saw a future star in a street show. What a little stud :)

There were a ton of crazies out there but with my stares at every single one of them, I was lookin like a crazy too I guess.

We had such a great weekend! But that was just Saturday! More from the weekend later. :)