Our First Labor Day in CA

Our first Labor Day weekend in California was awesome - mainly because we got to spend the weekend with some good friends :)

On Thursday, our dear friend Thea (who can always be counted on to come and visit!) landed at LAX and we promptly took her to to our very favorite wine bar (Le Cellier - it is awesome!) and then to turtle races at Brennan's pub.

First, let me tell you guys about our favorite wine bar. One of the guys here lives at our apartment, is super friendly, gives us big smiles and a loud welcome when we walk in, and takes real good care of us while we are there. The owner, a very french man named Bernard, loves wine and will talk to you all night about it, as well as have you smell/taste the wine, then smell something else or taste something else, then re-smell/taste the wine to see how it changes your experience. All in all - an awesome place. We had some fun wine flights before sharing some small plates. My wine flight was a rose flight - loved it :)

Afterwards, we were off to Brennan's pub who is 'famous' for their live turtle races. I was super excited about these turtle races until I realized the race was more about sexy, young girls dropping the turtles into the ring than about the actual race. But, the actual turtle race is pretty fun to watch and they are surprisingly fast.

The turtle drop, which pretty much required a female with her butt sticking out as shown above. Later on, dropping a turtle into the start bin somehow included booty dancing and topless women ... whatever. 

They're off!

On Friday, we explored the MdR area and what it has to offer. In the morning, we kayaked around the marina and out a little ways into the ocean.

Kayaking around the marina

Thea rocking the kayak

Out on the ocean

Then we headed out to Culver City, which has a very cute little downtown area, and had lunch at LYFE Kitchen. I love, love, love this place as they have an entire gluten-free menu of things I usually can't eat (pizza, pasta, sandwiches). Plus, they have other healthy, natural food and drink items as well. I had chia-infused water, which was pretty good, along with BBQ chicken pizza and  kale salad. It was all so good! After lunch, we walked to the beach by our apartment and soaked in some of the warm, sunny California day.

At night, we headed out to Santa Monica and enjoyed a lovely dinner at Ma'kai Lounge and enjoyed beers and trivia games at a bar called The Commons Ale House.

Yummy hand roll

Really yummy duck :)

On Saturday, we got up real early to fit in our long run before a day of exploring other parts of LA. First, we head out to The Getty Center. It was awesome! This is the prettiest museum I have ever been to. You don't even have to look at the art exhibits and you still feel enlightened - the architecture, gardens and all-around ambiance are beautiful, peaceful - just amazing.

After The Getty, Whitney arrived in town and we met up with here and another friend for brunch/lunch at Gjelina in Venice. The food and brunch cocktails were super good.

If you haven't noticed - I LOVE food shots :)

Our afternoon involved heading out to West Hollywood where we strolled the Hollywood Walk of Fame and then settled into a nice little bar, District 13, to enjoy some college football before our big night out.

Me and Marilyn (a little hard to tell with the shadows)

Thea's really cool "Islands in the Stream" collage

Some hands and feet :)

Saturday night we had a true "LA night" (at least what we think of as a true "LA night") with dinner at SUR and drinks by a swanky hotel pool to end the night. The food at SUR was very good, and Thea and Whitney caught us up on all the drama between the waitstaff; the restaurant and lives/drama of the owner and staff is featured in Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Vanderpump.

Starting the night ;)

After dinner, we walked around Sunset Blvd trying to find a good place for us to enjoy the rest of our evening and ended up at the pool at The Standard Hotel. It was very chic, very white, very cool. Then we headed to The Grafton, the very funky, chic hotel we were staying at on Sunset to complete our "LA night" ;) All in all, a great evening.


After all of that, we managed to get up bright and early on Sunday morning to hike Runyon Canyon. I have to say, this was probably my favorite part of the weekend (or tied really close with The Getty). This was something you don't do everyday, was fun, was challenging and provided great views of the city.

Half way through the hike (though the second half was the hard part!)

The Hill

The views were worth it :)

After all of that work hiking up Runyon Canyon, we cleaned up and had a boozy and yummy brunch at Fatty's Public House.

Afterwards, we headed back out to Marina del Rey for some regrouping and very lively conversation at The Pharrs' pad before heading back out to Santa Monica for one last dinner together.

It was such a lovely, lively and fun Labor Day weekend, and I am so glad we got to spend it with good friends :)