BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

After our trip to a winery last year for my 25th birthday, I think Taylor and are going to make it a tradition of going on a mini-vacation every birthday if we can!

I've been itching to go to Palm Springs since New Year's but something always comes up so that it's not practical to go.  This time around, we realized that Coachella was happening the same weekend (which would explain the $150 price tag for 2 star motels 20 miles outside of palm springs!).  I actually half considered attending for  minute or two- seeing Radiohead perform live was an experience I would be willing to brave my fear of cool people and crazy traffic to go see- but with tickets ranging from the high $300's-mid $1000's... we quickly decided to opt for plan B! (Although I wonder if I would have changed my mind had I known about the uber realistic Tupac Shakur hologram ahead of time)

One thing I love about living in LA is that you are pretty much always within an hour's way from the beach, the mountains, the desert, (ok maybe a little bit longer than an hour for the desert), the lake, the fields, or the city.  If you are itching to get away, you can transport yourself to a destination spot relatively easily if you know where to look.

So, with that in mind, we headed out to the beach!

After having so much fun biking in San Diego at Tiff's bachlorette , the one thing on my to-do list was to rent bikes and do it again in Newport.  Aside from that, we kind of played everything else by ear.

Here are some of the highlights if you ever find yourself in Newport:

• The Fairmont Hotel: Found a great deal on hotwire and stayed here for two nights. It was definitely an upgrade from some of the hotels we've been staying at lately. I wouldn't say it was an unforgettable, but you definitely couldn't go wrong staying here, and the staff is very friendly.
  
• Fukada: (This is actually Irvine, not Newport, but close to our hotel) We braved the long lines to eat here for dinner on Saturday, and let's just say it tasted nothing like the packs of defrosted udon I'd boil in chicken broth for lunch almost everyday in my college days. Definitely worth the wait, but might check out their to-go location if I'm ever in town again.
• Akropolis: I was too busy being lazy to plan stuff, so Taylor actually found this place on his own, and it was a great experience on so many levels.  The food was great, it's located 5 steps from the pier, and the staff is beyond friendly. I actually left my purse here for a whole day without knowing it, and when I went back the next morning to get it, they were super sweet and gave me my purse with everything in it.  (The same could not be said about the McDonalds in Diamond Bar)
• Boomers:  I still can't believe we spent part of our getaway mini golfing.  However, if you're married to someone who loves it as much as Taylor, you need to distract them from the view of pink windmills and mini waterfalls while driving past it on the freeway.  Otherwise, they will discover it and not be able to stop thinking about it the whole time you are within 15 miles of it.  That being said, some interesting things to note about this location are: 1)this place are that this is the first time I've ever seen people our age sans children mini-golfing, and 2) I actually tied with Taylor this time!

And finally at the end of our trip, we headed over to Ben and Ruby's who also prepared an AMAZING dumpling dinner party for us and John and Linda!  They also made us strawberry and blackberry shortcakes to celebrate my, John and True's birthday.  We had a lot of laughs and good times, and it was definitely the perfect way to end our trip!  :)