Puerto Vallarta

Dear, Sweet, Peurto Vallarta.

Oh how I miss you.

You were my favorite.

Oh you...

Posting these pictures while surrounded by piles of laundry and our impending move (more on that later) hoovering like an annoying hoovering-thingy over my head is kinda torturous.

Sigh.

Just for a minute, I'm going to pretend that the laundry doesn't exist and enjoy the memories...the beautiful memories...

On our official anniversary, David and I took a boat out to John Houston's private getaway.

And evidently, I'm not a "small boat gal".
The choppy waves were mean.
Really mean.
And my breakfast may - or may not- have protested in a tiny, rocking, stinky bathroom at the bottom of the boat.

But truly - I would have done it again to see this:

And have lunch here:

And take cheesy pictures with random animals:

And take a guided walk through the tropical forrest.

It was...dreamy.
And totally devoid of laundry piles.

That evening we went to dinner on the ship.

And for dessert, the waiter brought us this:

The perfect ending to the perfect anniversary day.

Now... on to laundry.

And hunting down a few million boxes.

mazatlan, mexico

Our second stop on our anniversary cruise was Mazatlan, Mexico.

The Cruiseship Director described Mazatlan as a "Sleepy little fishing villiage". Since this wasn't our first cruise, we knew that "Sleepy fishing village" is Cruise Code for "Lame Cruise Ship Stop".

With that valuable information in our back pocket, we decided to take that day to buy a few goodies for the kiddos and family.

There were loads of cheesy trinkets. Everywhere.

And even a K-Mart. Of sorts.

After some browsing, we stopped for lunch at a place on the beach.

The view was so lovely from the restaraunt.

Which turned out to be the perfect place to spy on the C-R-A-Z-Y, and completely relentless vendors.

Want a carved fish?

Nope.

Want your hair braided?

Absolutely not.

Want some fake Ray Bans?

I'll pass.

Dora T-Shirt in Espanol?

Absoutley. Because that's HILARIOUS!

This made me smile a little:

And this just made me happy:

Banners and Garlands - in any country - are just plain happy, don'tcha think?

cabo

After 2 super fun days in L.A., we boarded our ship and set sail for Mexico.

We've taken a few cruises before (Dave and I are total suckers for relaxing and doing NOTHING on vacation) but never had a room this nice. It would definitely qualify as a room with a view.

We went to sleep here...

And woke up here...

Coffee on our ---- balcony.

In Cabo.

Yes.

Yes Sir.

We got of the boat and went to this place to have some lunch:

Yummy.

Yum.

Yum.

Lunch with our toes in the sand... lovely.

Followed by an afternoon of reading.

Strenuous day, but we made it through.

california love

On June 10, David and I celebrated our 10th anniversary.

David  has been planning our anniversary trip for over a year.

Planning vacations is serious business for Dave - and this was a super special one.

He out-did himself for sure.

Our big trip included a cruise to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerta Vallarta (sp?) and a short 2-day stay in L.A. before the cruise.

As an added bonus, our friends Josh and Maribeth joined us for the L.A. part of our trip.

When I think of L.A., I think of movie stars, palm trees, huge houses, Rodeo Drive, and tons of cheesy tourist attractions.

I'm not opposed to cheesy, touristy things.

In fact, the Big 'Ol Nerd in me loves them immensely. 

And if we're being real honest here, I would have been seriously pumped to take a Tour of the Stars in a dorky bus. I would have relished checking out the Brangelina exhibit at the Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum. I would totally have totally loooved putting my hands in Judy Garland's handprints. It's true.

I'm a nerd.

Josh and Maribeth, however - are a little cooler than I - and enjoy doing what the natives do when they visit a new city.

Things like shop at this place:

Where all the pretty fabrics live.

In one place.

Turns out the natives do some really fun stuff.

Maribeth and I were in looooove with Michael Levine.

It's safe to say that David and Josh didn't feel the same way.

At one point, Maribeth and I left Josh and David on their own while we sifted through the bins in this place:

That's when Josh  looked at David and said, "You know that everyone thinks we're together."

To which David responded, "Yeah. I'm pretty sure no one cares."

And it was true.

They may have been the only hetero people within a 2 mile radius of the store. 

Possibly more.

Make that definitely more.

We hung out at the Farmer's Market where I saw this guy riding a bike:

And I almost peed my pants.

Cause I'm a total nerd.

Mr. and Mrs. Coolness did acquiesce when they went with us to the very touristy Santa Monica Pier.

I have my suspicions that Josh was just scoping out spots for his engagement shoot on Sunday, but whatever. Let's just pretend they were into the cheesy tourist thing for a minute.

We saw Zoltar...

And rode the Ferris Wheel.

And saw the fattest pigeons I've ever seen.

And stared at the crazy people swimming in the freezing cold water.

Then we went shopping and saw Harvey Levin from TMZ interviewing some people for The People's Court.

I think I did pee myself that time.

And I managed to snap a picture -

We saw some seriously interesting fashion choices at the mall.

Just take a look at what the middle guy is wearing.

Wowza.

The next day, we went to breakfast where I overheard a guy at the next table talking about the scene he was writing for 30 Rock.

FANCY.

I managed to control myself during that conversation.

But only because I was busy eavesdropping.

Later, we went to Firefly (a restaurant so cocky that they don't even have a sign outside.) to eat dinner. And - umm - Kirsten Dunst was dining there.

At the same place where we were dining.

Yes. That's right.

She walked right past us on her way out the door.

I didn't see her, but Josh and David did.

It was probably best that I missed it.

Because I'm pretty sure I would have been asked to leave the restaurant on account of my obnoxious behavior.

Come to think of it, I'm wondering why I was even allowed to enter the establishment in the first place - since I wasn't wearing stilettos and a mini dress.

By the way - Firefly has one bathroom.

One bathroom for the ladies AND the gents.

To use at the same time.

Let me just say that standing in line to pee with a guy is a little strange.

Overall - L.A. was fantastic.

Beautiful weather

Beautiful food.

Beautiful people.

Beautiful company.

i'm a model, you know what i mean...

Avery has become quite the - ahem - model lately.

When the camera comes out, the drama begins.

We call this one "The Tyra"

And then there's the standard, "Work it, girl" pose:

And we can't forget the infamous "Tiger".

Rawr.

And the "Heeey, Girl"...

-

She's coy. So very coy.

This one looks suspiciously similar to the "Blue Steel".

http://www.benstiller.net/

The photo session was in full swing when Charlie decided to join in the fun.

Much to my suprise, Little Princess Mine-o-saur graciously allowed him to sit for a second.

Just as I was beginning to feel quite proud of her for sharing "the precious" - and just when Charlie was truly beginning to really enjoy himself...

She decided he was done.

Denied.

Looks like no one bothered to tell Charlie that models can be real Divas.