Vegas, Baby. Vegas!

The Hubs and I are back from a kick-ass weekend in Sin City. Although, can I really call it that knowing that I went specifically to catch The Fresh Beat Band in concert? Hmm.

No. I'm not a crazy lunatic. I know I don't have kids. So why on earth would I be SO FREAKING EXCITED to have tickets AND VIP passes to The Fresh Beats show? Well for one, the hilarious looks we kept getting from parents thinking The Hubs and I were weirdo adult fans of the Nick Jr hit.

But really because our dear friend IS Marina! We're so damn proud of and happy for her, it's crazy. I'll admit, I totally teared up when I saw her on stage. And again when I looked around the room and saw literally thousands of kids cheering for her. And again just now as I typed that. Sheesh! Ball of proud friend mush, I am. Love you, Tara.

Since our gal was playing a huge gig at Planet Hollywood, we decided to make a weekend of it. Vegas, baby. Vegas.

Stellar view from our Aria room.

His & Hers

 

Jean Philippe Patiserrie ~ gorgeous!

A completely edible creation

 

Good morning, Vegas.

Aria. Perfection.

Yes!!

Can you spot the celebrity fan?

"It was a great day!"

The Fresh Beats meet a very important fan!

Beauchamps & Fresh Beats!

Luck be a Lady B?

Lucky in love, anyway.

Family Day with The Macs

I heart the Macs. I heart my pool. I heart my fam bam. I heart The Hubs. Put all of those together, combine with one perfect summer afternoon, and you've got the recipe for a lovely Saturday.

{ Sweet Maddie }

 

 

 

 

 

 

{ She melts all the boys' hearts }

{ Maddie's Masterpiece }

{ Who's THAT?! }

{ A cat! }

{ Toby lovin' }

{ Not digging on her cooler boat }

{ Besties }

{ Music lessons with The Hubs }

Follow the adventures of Miss Maddie, her super-cool brother Dylan, and the fantastically fabulous Mr. & Mrs. Mac at The MacFamily Blog!

Party by Pinterest

Are any of you as addicted to Pinterest as I am? Recently inspired by all the pinners with much better style than yours truly, I was having a helluva time narrowing down all the pins I wanted to try! How would I find the time to attempt all of the pinteresting pins that were pinspiring me?  And who would I share all my Pinterest interests with?

So I came up with an awesome solution. Throw a party! The Hubs could hardly hide his eye-rolling and sighing at my surprisingly expensive Pinning Spree. "But honey, it's a bunch of DIY yourself projects! It SAVES money!" I said, attempting to justify the large pile of Micheal's shopping bags I lugged into the kitchen and reminded him, for the fortieth time, that I needed him to go pick three dozen oranges out of our tree and blow up the blue pool floaties while I made orange and aqua cake stands out of wooden candlesticks.

But when I walked into the backyard to greet our guests with a tray of orange slice jello shots (like these), The Hubs had to admit that it was the best party we've ever thrown. Pinterest, FTW.

{ Beauchampions' World Famous Liberating Liberty Lemonade }

{ Sno-Cone Station! }

{ A fresh spin on the waffle cone }

{  Dessert buffet in our summery orange & aqua color scheme }

{ With bevvies to match! }

In true me style, I was having far too much fun in the pool with our besties to take any pics but you get the gist. I did snap one at the very of the night, as our dear friend Dave (of the crazy talented David & Devine) showed me just what a huge hit my dessert buffet was.

Pretty Spring Things

Yes, I know I broke my own promise and skipped two days of blogging. I could make excuses. Or I could distract you with pretty, springy things in honor of this gorgeous May Sunday.

I think I'll pick up a bunch of ranunculus today.

Dying to wear this Philip Treacy hat to the Derby this Friday.

But I'll settle for making these mint juleps instead.

Pretty frocks from Posh Girl Vintage.

Balboa Lake turns into a cherry blossom wonderland each May. Must go this week.

Happy May Day!

Saturday is for champions.

Yesterday kicked ass. A lot.

Nom.

Woke early to enjoy my cherished weekend morning alone time. As The Hubs snoozed, I sipped coffee, read the interwebs, and leisurely cleaned the house while Kelly battled her cocaine addiction on the 90210 reruns I let play in the background. Once The Hubs rose from his Rip van Winkle-esque slumber, we headed to the Hungry Fox for our favorite Saturday morning diner delights. As we nommed on our eggs, The Hubs looked at the clock and asked "Do you think we can make it home in 20 minutes?" "Why?" "Cuz Leland's singing the national anthem at Nascar at noon. On ESPN." "Hell yeah we can make it home!!" I said as I shoveled hash browns down my throat in record time.

Leland on TV!

We made it home with seconds to spare, just in time to see one of our dearest friends in the whole wide world sing The Star Spangled Banner. Live. On ESPN. In front of millions of people. I was so proud, I cried. You should check out his new band, The Line. He and Hailey kick some serious alt country behind.

Once we finished texting our gushing messages of love and pride to Leland, it was time to get down to business. Under The Hubs' direction, I searched my closet for the most...ahem...cleavage-y dress I could find. After all, we were headed to the SoCal Renaissance Pleasure Faire to witness our friends Bob and Chelle get hand-fasted. And what's a Ren Faire without some cleavage, right? We jumped in the car and headed to Irwindale, which had been transformed to a land of queens, kings, wenches, maidens, knights, and, of course, mead. This was only the second time we'd been to a Ren Faire (the first being on a lark when we stumbled upon one on Hwy 5, driving home from my grandparent's.) and I wasn't entirely sure what to expect.

I had the BEST TIME! And I actually want to go back! With a real costume! Who knew? Huzzah, indeed!

Looking upon my decolletage, one of the craftsman cried out, "My regards to your tailor, m'lady!"

Bob & Chelle are members of the peasant's guild. Every morning, they churn butter to make a sculpture to present to the Queen. Whoa.

Merlin begins the ceremony.

Tying the knot!

The Queen stopped by to bless the union.

Look, Ma! It's me and Da Vinci!

The Hubs throws knives. Bad ass.

The Hubs developed a crush on this adorable elfin violin player. Can you blame him?

After sharing a sausage on a stick and some grog, we hopped on the 605 and headed to the Great Western Forum for...

PRINCE!!!!! Best. Concert. EVER!

Chaka freking Khan was the surprise opener. And she slayed it!

Uh huh.

The man himself. Amaze-balls.

Cell phones waving during Purple Rain. I cried like a baby.

A Little Romance

I love The Hubs. So much.

After getting in his convertible and realizing it was top-down weather in January, I received a text at 9am Friday morning. "According to my calendar, there's not a single thing going on this weekend. True?" Nine hours later, we were on our way up to Santa Barbara for some off-season (and therefore CHEAP!) coastal romance.

We checked into the oceanfront Santa Barbara Inn. Yes, oceanfront. Seriously y'all, a room on the beach in January is so cheap, it's like they're kidding.80 degree weekends and swarms of Angelenos aren't typically expected until at least March. Upon our concierges suggestion, we hit Holdren's for some plate lickin' deliciousness. Bacon wrapped filet, taters, and our absolute favorite Chianti made for a very happy LadyB. And while sitting at our candelit table, we realized we had actually eaten there once before. Our first ever weekend away together. The weekend we fell in love. And sat at that very table. Cue the "awwww"s or "barf"s now.

We meandered up State St. and wandered into Wildcat. At first glance, an empty little bar that 20 minutes later transformed into a kick-ass dance party. When our feet couldn't take anymore, we hailed a taxi, in which a sign read "If you puke in the cab $100 cleaning fee." That seemed fair.

Saturday morning we awoke to the kind of picturesque California day postcards are made of.

 

So we proceeded to have the most perfect weekend possible. Great food, exploring, much needed relaxing, and beaching, all capped off with French goodies at Renaud's Patisserie, made for some content and romanced Beauchampions.

Bloody Mary the size of my face. Nom.

Zoo!

I guess if you gotta be stuck in a zoo, get an ocean view.

Hit the vinyl jackpot in Just Play Music. Their $1 bin is a treasure chest.

Some of my loot. I finally replaced the first record I ever owned!

My Hubs.