The L.A. Dime

Been meaning to update you on things but I barely know what day it is or how to navigate around the boxes taking over Hamlin House. We are down to 1 week before the moving truck arrives and the kiddos & I take off for our last plane ride out of LA (Brad is staying 2 extra days to have the house cleaned and do the transition with our renter). Here’s what we’ve been doing lately:

- Boxed up about 90% of the house…I’ve purged, given away and sold quite a few things so it feels nice knowing that we’re only taking things that we still need or matter
- Have switched addresses on most bills, closed out utilities and are starting the new ones
- Have 2 preK programs picked out which we will visit as soon as get to Baldwinsville and choose 1 to enroll Miss Sophie in
- Hosted a dual bday party for the kiddos and am preparing to host a baby shower for our dear friends Laurie & Gary on Sunday
- Brad returned from his work trip to Italy and immediately got to work on doing another script draft for “Crocked Arrows” which is set to start shooting in about 2 weeks!! And ironically enough some of the shooting schedule includes locations around Syracuse so we might even get to go on set!!
- Trying to see as many of our friends as possible – it’s such a hard process to say good bye….when we moved her 12 years ago, we knew 1 person….now we are surrounded by an incredibly awesome, supportive and fun group of friends that have been there with us through various ups and downs…I’ve moved enough to know that friendships change a bit once you don’t see each other on a regular basis but I really do hope to remain close to as many people as possible
- Had my last day of work – it’s been a great 6 years where I grew a lot as a person and a trainer
- Enjoyed having Manfredo out last week to help with repairs around the house and packing all our pictures and larger sized items
- Looking forward to having Pops here this week to help with painting and moving day
- Thinking a lot about what it might be like to be a stay-at-home mom…..never done that and cherish the opportunity to do so….I just hope I’m cut out for it

That’ll have to do it for today…..but I’ll try to come back soon with pics from the bday party

This 1720 square foot townhouse has three large bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a spacious kitchen, dining room, living room, and French doors that open onto a patio.

There is a balcony off the master bedroom, and unlike any other unit in the complex, it has a finished basement that is perfect for a TV room.  The bathrooms are recently remodeled, and we have installed new carpet and water heater. The house features tons of storage, great lighting, a fireplace, crown molding, granite counter tops, central air and heat, washer/dryer and a two car garage. It’s a corner unit with a door to the street, and there is a gorgeous pool and a big clubhouse to be used it for parties.

Situated on a beautiful, quiet palm-lined street, the house is about two miles from Ventura Blvd, convenient to the 101, 405 and the canyon passes. Costco, Target, Fresh & Easy, Ralph’s, Best Buy and Trader Joe’s are nearby, and you can be at the Sherman Oaks Galleria (Arclight Cinema & fine dining) in less than five minutes.

Available August 1. Will paint bedrooms if requested.

Brad and I love having family and friends come to visit. It’s so wonderful to catch up in person, have the house full of voices and it seems that those are the times we tend to take full advantage of what wonderful sights and experiences LA has to offer. With Mom-Mom and Pops spending the last 10 days here, we had a beach day (Clays’ first and he really loved the ocean sounds and fresh air), a Sunday brunch at the “Inn of the Seventh Ray” to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary, a really fun dinner at Bubba Gump and a whole lot of hanging out at home and the pool just chatting or being silly with the kiddos. Thanks for the visit you two!!

For a while I’ve been wanting to host a bourbon tasting, and since I’ll be heading to Louisville soon to stay at the Brown and give its bar a good workout, I thought it might be good timing to have some fellow aficionados over and sample some of Kentucky’s finest.

Thanks to Jan Kasl for helping cook. We made our own bourbon BBQ sauce for use on slow-smoked pulled pork. The bourbon baked beans cooked for 12 hours. Laurie Perdue, pride of North Carolina, offered her slaw and green bean recipe, and Tina baked Amy Wilson’s Derby Pie for desert. Quite the group effort. We used a fifth of Beam just in the cooking.

Extra special thanks go to Josh Hafer, fraternity brother and Heaven Hill honcho for donating a gorgeous bottle of Evan Williams, and for helping me with the tasting protocols.

Thanks to Sandy, Stu, Shep and Jack for attending, bottle in hand. The Elmer T. Lee won best of show 4-2 over Booker’s. Elmer will defend his title against a whole new slew of brunettes when next the tasting party (not to be confused with Tea Party — though they did come up in conversation) meets again.

We both really enjoy the seasons. Having the weather change into a cool, crisp fall where the leaves change colors and you can see your breath. Followed by a real winter with heavy sweaters, a crackling fireplace and sledding. Starting the new year with the first blooms of spring, thunderstorms and then a summer to enjoy the pool and cook-outs with friends.
Living in LA means that we get a lot of sunshine. A lot. And while most people move here (and continue living here) for that sunshine, we tend to really enjoy those few days where it pours rain or is overcast.
Yesterday turned out to be in the 80′s. Yup. While (most of) the rest of the country is burried in snow and can’t get their shovels working fast enough, we put on a sundress, shorts and headed out to the Japanese Gardens to take in the beautiful scenery, stretch our legs a bit and say hello to spring.

Our neighborhood isn’t the best for trick-or-treating, so we’d made plans with the Shepherds to join them in Santa Monica. After all 3 boys got sick though, we were left to scramble at the last minute to find a new neighborhood to go to.

And so began another “wow – we live in a crazy place adventure”. A few of my work friends had told me about a neighborhood in Westlake Village where the residents goes all out with decorating their homes; setting up stations where several neighbors congregate in one driveway to give out candy and even play music. It gets so crowded that the area is watched by policemen on horses and a team of “Disaster Recovery Officers”.

We’d told Sophie that we were going trick-or-treating that night so she happily obliged the 40 minute drive (I know, who drives somewhere to go trick-or-treating, right?) and put on her elephant costume. She grabbed her pumpkin bucket and headed to the first house. At first she was pretty good about saying “truck or treat” but that quickly changed to “let’s go to the next house”. She loved seeing all the other kids dressed up and got quite a few compliments herself. She did great walking from house to house and was very interested in all the decorations. After about an hour and a cotton candy treat for Brad & I (yup, one house had a cotton candy machine set up as their treat), we left to go home. Wanting to let Sophie enjoy her treats but also not wanting to cause a sugar rush, we decided to give her a lollipop and when asking her what she thought about Halloween she responded with “Lollipop gooooooood”.

To kick off this year’s Halloween festivities, we dressed Sophie in a lion costume (Thank you Wilsons!!) and headed to CA Adventure for Mickey’s Trick-or-Treat event. Sophie tolerated the costume ok and seemed intrigued by her tail but wasn’t too thrilled about the furry mane so we were lucky to get just a few pics of her with it on her head. She was very excited about all the music, lights and entertainment throughout the park and we certainly got a lot of exercise trying to keep up by running after her. She did a few rides, collected some candy and ended the night with watching the parade.

Our destination this past Sunday was the Long Beach “Run Forest Run” Bike Marathon in which Brad, Pops and our friend Gary rode. After not getting a whole lot of rest due to some fraternity boys partying it up next to us in the hotel, they boys got going at 6am. Laurie, Sophie and I had an 8:30am start time for the 5k walk. Everyone had a good time and although there’s a bit of soreness going around today, plans are already being made for what next year’s adventure might entail.

Not seven hours after Tina and Sophie get smashed from behind on the 101 freeway, this happens in our front yard:

Nana & Opa invited us our for a weekend get-away to help celebrate Opa’s birthday and enjoy the beautiful wine country just two hours north of us. We stayed at the beautiful Wine Valley Cottages & Inn where due to some AC troubles with our first room, we ended up in the Executive Suite. After checking in and a yummy cheese & wine lunch, we explored Solvang. This quaint little Dutch town was established in 1911 and was full of cultural attributes from the architecture to the bakeries to the clothing selections. Brad and Opa took advantage of a couple of wine tastings while Nana, Sophie and I checked out this fabulous playground. Although it was quite warm, there was a nice breeze but apparently riding the horses and running through the little wooden village made Sophie too hot to wear her skirt (so she took it off).

Opa’s birthday dinner at Patrick’s Sidestreet Grill came highly recommended by the locals.  Brad started with an Heirloom Tomato Bisque which after one bite, I decided to order for myself as well. It was absolutely incredible – creamy, yet light and bursting with flavor. For a main dish, Brad, Opa and Nana all had prime rib while I had ribs. All our meals were prepared on a grill in front of the restaurant with Patrick (the chef and owner) carefully adding just the right amount of wood, watching the smoke patterns very closely and ensuring nothing disturbed the meat while cooking. According to Nana and Brad, it was the best steak they’d ever had. It was a very lovely evening where the entire restaurant seemed to chat with each other, Patrick would float from table to table sharing his wisdom about life & cooking and the couple sitting next to even got engaged!

Sunday morning was a bit gloomy so after Brad cooked us some eggs (which came from Patrick’s chickens, or as he called them “his girls”) and bacon, we headed back to Hamlin House. It’s been a wonderful 2 weekends of having my parents in town and I know we are going to miss the long talks, laughs, enjoying great meals and mostly – just being together. Sophie has woken up every morning since Nana & Opa first arrived asking for them and has so enjoyed having them around. She’s always looking to see where they are, plays with them for hours and giggles when they are together. Thank you M & M for your visit and generosity!