3rd Street

Living in Southern California is pretty awesome, we have awesome weather and quick access to the ocean, mountains and desert. Unfortunately, living here comes with horrible traffic that you encounter at all times. As I mentioned in a previous post, my husband and I started to use public transportation and have been a little obsessed. Our Metro/subway system does not cover many cities but recently an expansion was revealed and you can now take the metro to the beach! My husband and I decided to make the trip on what we now call "Subway Sunday". 

On this particular Sunday, it was warm and sunny where we live so I was dressed for summer with shorts and a tank top.  When we reached Santa Monica it was gloomy and chilly, so we technical didn't make it all the way to beach. We stayed on 3rd Street which is known as  3rd Street Promenade. I've been here before but it's been a while since my last visit. I was surprised of the many changes I noticed or maybe I never noticed them. Does that ever happen to you? I noticed that now that I'm older I notice a lot more things that I never paid much attention to when I was younger. Things like plants, birds or architecture are things that I probably didn't notice or took for granted in my youth. 

Anyways, back to Subway Sunday...    

By the time we reached Santa Monica I was on the verge of being hangry! After walking around and looking for a place that served hot wings (my husband was craving wings) I was totally hangry! When we found a restaurant that served hot wings we were told the wait would be 50 minutes! We were too hungry to wait 50 more minutes so we settled for Johnny Rockets and ate burgers and fries. 

Couple on a date. 

Our waitress created these ketchup portraits of my husband and I. Isn't this the cutest?

After eating we decided to head home because it was far too cold to be walking in shorts and a tank top. 

One more of me because I can't get over how cute I look in Ketchup, just kidding that doesn't even look like me!

These photos were taken on my iphone. I wanted to take my DSLR camera but some of the areas you travel to connect to the different subways are a little sketchy and makes me feel a little unsafe so I avoid taking anything of value with me on Subway Sunday. 

Peggy Sue's Diner

If you've driven from Southern California to Las Vegas, you've probably seen Peggy Sue's Diner. I've been going to Vegas once or sometimes even twice a year for the past 13 years and I finally went to Peggy Sue's Diner. This Diner is like no other, it has gift shop, two dinning areas, a pizza parlor, and a Dinosaur park. Such an interesting place, definitely worth a visit. 

Labor Day Weekend

Can you guys believe this past weekend was Labor Day Weekend? This year has flown by! I was caught off guard and had no set plans, however somehow I found myself in San Diego and later at Venice beach. Saturday started with some light shopping and relaxing at home. 

On Sunday we woke up had a quick breakfast and headed south to San Diego. 

With nearly two hours on the road, we found ourselves passing by camp Pendleton, where the soldiers were doing training. 

Our destination was Petco Park for a Padres vs. Dodgers game. I was excited to see one of my ex favorite Dodger player's, Matt Kemp! 

Luckily we did not encounter any traffic and reached San Diego by noon. The weather was perfect, the sun was out and the skies were clear and crisp. Petco Park opened in 2004 and can be considered somewhat of a new stadium. I've been to a few ball parks and I can honestly say it's one of the nicer stadiums. It's so easy to access, it's clean, and in the middle of the city. These are some pictures of the view within and around the park. 

My husband and I try to go to San Diego once a year for the Padres vs. Dodger game. Last year, we took my parents so it was a little bittersweet for me this year. I kept thinking of how the last time I was there was with my dad. I also kept thinking of the road trips to Mexico we would take when we were younger. I tried to enjoy my time there and not  become overwhelmed with emotion. Our day ended with dinner in La Jolla and drove right back home that night.

On Labor Day, we slept in and woke up with a call from my brother in law. He was calling to invite us to Venice Beach. With no hesitation we got up threw on our swim suits and met up with my husband's family. Oh one thing you should know about my husband is, he is an avid handball player. Are you thinking handball?  the sport you played in elementary with a giant ball? Haha! No, he doesn't play that type of handball, it's considered more like American Handball or Street Handball and they use a small blue ball. Now you are probably wondering "why is she talking about handball?" I bring up the sport/game because the whole point we all went to Venice was because my husband, his dad, brother, cousin and some other friends intended to play handball at the beach while the gals and kids played on the beach. So that's exactly what we did.

These are the handball courts at Venice Beach (my husband is not in any of these pictures). 

Monday was a warm day so needless to say, the beach was packed. We soaked up the sun, enjoyed the waves, took a quick walk on the boardwalk and people watched. 

My niece found this huge clam and we were all excited!

The waves were really rough and the poor life guards were on their toes all day. 

In case you guys don't know, Venice Beach is also know as "Muscle Beach, so here are some of the muscles I saw.

With no set plans, this Labor Day weekend was pretty busy.

PS. The Dodgers won. 

PPS. These photos were taken with my iPhone 6.