Weekend Recap & A Blogger Meet-Up.

Wow!  I had quite the weekend.  It started with a half-day of work on Friday.  And somewhat of a cluster trying to get on an earlier flight.  You see US Airways wanted to charge $50 to go on the earlier flight.  Yes, you read that correctly.  A new "change" to the rules (earlier this year).  However, I've been a Silver Preferred member since 2002...and it should have been at no charge, "a perk".  But, I didn't realize my card expired on 2/28/11.  Uh-Oh!  It was a cluster.  Seriously, it was.  And to top it off I forgot to get the GPS from Bern.  Well, Bern parked his car and came inside to give me the GPS (thank goodness for this).  Super sweet isn't he?  I think so.  Then he tried to work some magic as a Chairman's member.  You see Bern's a bit special with regard to how much he flies.  But, he's special too - to me!  The chairman's distinction is given to those who fly 100,000 a year and to boot he's flown over 1 million with US Airways as well, a special certificate for that.

I stayed with my girlfriend, Kirsten and her two daughters, age 2 and 11.  We ate pizza and watched For Love & Other Drugs.  Neither one of us cared for the movie.  A little too much nakedness.  And I wasn't expecting that from Princess Mia.  Anyhow, it was fun regardless.

I got up early on Saturday morning for my photo shoot.  And it was sooo much fun!  My girlfriend, Kirsten, has just launched her new business - Mia Stella Photography.  And I want to do all that I can to help.  So, of course, I was more than happy to do a photo shoot or two with her.  We decided on 2 shoots.  The beach and a boudior session.  I was a little bit reluctant at first for the boudoir session however, I am very pleased with the results and think they look fabulous.  So, Saturday morning we headed to the beach for roughly 40 minutes.  Again, the results are fabulous.  Really, they are.

After the first, photo shoot I met my step-sister, Kat, for coffee at The Coffee Bean and had the most delicious iced coffee.  And to think I'm a Starbucks girl.  I had plain regular iced coffee, added half and half, and added 2 packets of splenda.  Delicious!  On a side note, there is a Coffee Bean right by my office and it is closer than Starbucks.  Hmmm...  Anyhow, it was a lot of fun to catch-up with Kat in-person.  I always make it a point to see her when I come into town.

After coffee with Kat I headed to meet my lunch dates.  My very first blogger meet-up!  I was pretty excited and part of the main reason for my trip to California.  My lunch dates were Kori from Blonde Episodes and Leeann from Join the Gossip.  It was really great to meet these two lovely ladies in person!  And I can't wait to see them again.  Here's a picture of us and I must say that my hair was seriously out-of-control.  You see "my" hair is used to the dry heat of Arizona and not the humidity of Southern California.  I already know that my hair has a mind of its own but, in California it is in over-drive and super curly (of which I don't mind unless, I want it straight).


Kori, Leeann, and Me (with the crazy hair)

 I headed back to Kirsten's for my second photo shoot.  The boudoir shoot.  I was skeptical of "how" they would look and "if" I would let her post them on her website and blog.  Really, it was how "I" was going to look in them.  I very much want Kirsten to have a full portfolio so I asked her what she needed...and here we are.  I will say that I am very pleasantly surprised with the boudoir shots.  I'm going to do another post on this and provide pictures so I don't want to spoil it.  Needless, to say they turned out great and they are not too revealing either.  The photos turned out fabulous!  Kirsten really knows what she is doing with her Nikon.  And I must say for being a "natural" light photography all of my photos rock.  You can visit her blog for sneak peaks of the beach shoot and the boudoir shoot.  Also, I plan on doing a separate post for both with the pictures.  And a lot of details for how "you" can do your own boudoir shoot.  And to think the shoot was roughly about 45 minutes and a ton of fun.  A lot of laughter too.

On Saturday evening we had a yummy dinner of salmon, butternut squash, rice, and salad.  Dinner was delicious.  Oh, and after dinner we had a little vino.  We watched several episodes of Blues Clues and I had no idea Blue was a girl -- thought it was a boy.  It was amazing to me to see how mesmerized Kirsten's youngest daughter was by Blue.  Absolutely, positively mesmerized.  And another awesome milestone was this was night #2 with no binky!!!  Kirsten was extremely excited.  On a side note tonight the binky is till "not" being used.  Yay!  After the 27th episode of Blues Clues we watched the movie Takers.  A pretty good movie.  It was an action flick and definitely kept our attention, more so than the night before. 

It was a leisurely Sunday morning with Kirsten and the girls.  It's always fun to see them and relaxing.  You see we don't do anything wild, we just hang out.  To round out my trip I had lunch with my Aunt and Uncle at the Long Beach Airport before I got on my flight.  Who knew there was a restaurant on the second floor?  Well, I must say it was pretty good.  And it is always a fun visit with my Aunt and Uncle and full of laughs too.  I'm looking forward to seeing them next time I'm in Cali.

I also forgot to mention an absolutely, amazing part of my trip:  the GPS!!!  Yes, I'm serious.  This was my first time completely relying on GPS and Bernie's worked fabulous.  I seriously do not understand "why" Bern waited so long to purchase it.  Well, I must say it is a "must-have" for anyone who drives a car and especially those who live in California and/or those that are visiting.  It was super easy to use and extremely clear on my directions.  No confusion whatsoever.  Sorry, I had to share my excitement.  I told Bern several times I thrilled I was that he let me borrow it.  Kirsten thought my excitement was a bit funny too.  But, hey that's me!  Too funny, I know.  My point is this:  GPS rocks and I'm glad I had it and I'll never leave home again without it, period.

I was sad to leave California because I always have so much fun.  And I love, love, love the ability to go to the beach.  The Saturday morning beach shoot made part of the trip.  Anyhow, Bern picked me up and we headed to dinner.  And then we headed back to my place and viewed the photo shoot pictures.  Bern loves all but one (don't worry I'll let you know which one, in another post).  We hung out and watched tv together for a few hours and Bern went home.  On a side note, we completely forgot to go to my office and pick up my car.  You see, that's where I left it on Friday afternoon...  I didn't realize until Monday morning that my car was "at work" already.  Nice, huh...?!

It was a perfect weekend.  The trip was fabulous as always and I can't wait until next time.  In a month or two I'll head back.  I hope you had a great weekend.