Autumn is a time of harvest, a time of gathering together.

This past week, we were blessed with a visit from Mimi. Despite my parents living some fifteen hundred miles away, we do have a lot of time that we get to spend together. It is always such a treat and life really is easier when Mimi is around. We headed up to Auburn on Saturday for the Fall Festival. There were pumpkins that weighed in at eleven hundred pounds. It was crazy how big these pumpkins were. My mom and I were in awe. Gia wanted to climb around on them. Especially because they were covered by blankets and being waxed by their growers.

Coloring, painting, tumbling, crown making and even a puppet show. All in an amazing outdoor setting. There were these GIANT scarecrows that covered the grounds. It was really a great day for girl bonding.


Sunday, Ralph headed to Oakland for the Raider game....and they won!!!! Oh, the trials of a Raider fan wife. Those poor boys are having a hard go of it this season. So we were happy that they pulled it through for a big W.
Mimi, Gia and I boarded the Spookomotive. We got to sit across from a little boy Max and his grandmother. Max is four and wants to be an engineer. He is very quiet and was a little overwhelmed by Gia's enthusiasm.
Three generations.
The rest of the week was spent doing a lot of this. Dressing up. Eating treats. And just hanging out.

Loving it.

La-La-Land & Lucy's wedding.

Friday morning, Gia and I set off for the lovely Los Angeles. Kari picked us up at LAX and we stopped by her house to say hi to Uncle James, Winston and Marco.

Marco is Aunt Kari and Uncle James new dog. Both Marco and Winston are is a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. And they are so precious and perfect for Miss Gia. We are seriously contemplating this addition to our family. After we said hello, we headed to Surfas. Surfas is a cooks paradise. Kari is one of LA's acclaimed personal chefs and I love to cook. We bough more cheese, bread and pate than any three girls could handle and we headed back to Kari and James and devoured it with gusto only two foodies could.

Gia and I headed back to LAX to pick up RT. Ralph had been in meetings in Saint Louis for eight days. He was certainly exhausted.

We decided that Mexico City fit the bill for dinner and traveled from West LA to Los Feliz. It was such a lovely drive with great conversation and very little traffic.
Ralph and I have been eating at Mexico City since we were dating and it was so great to share one of our favorite LA spots with Kari, James and of course Miss Gia. I think all enjoyed the food and I know we all enjoyed the company.

Saturday morning Gia walked Winston and Marco (with the help of Uncle James and Aunt Kari) and then we all headed to the Santa Monica Farmers Market.

"The ULTIMATE community gathering place in Santa Monica. Great for family, food and fun!"

Of course, Gia ended up with all of the bags and her stroller. Strolling around Santa Monica like so many, bums, people and celebrities alike. With bundles full of delicious goodies!
Gia has really been fighting me on ponies lately. I am not a mom that is willing to fight whether or not my child does her hair, but I DO NOT want her to look un kept. So, we decided to take Gia to Floyd's. Floyd's is just a walk in barber shop, but the cool factor is through the roof. The walls are adorned with old school band and magazine posters and the music is pumping through out.

Gia had her hair bobbed by Alexandra and she did a fantastic job. Gia is walking around telling everyone about her new haircut.

That night, we went to a birthday BBQ at a friends house. They have such a lovely home and Kari made the most fantastic bread pudding ever. And I do not even like bread pudding. It. Was. Sinful. Sinful. I tell you.
Sunday morning, the girls headed to the beach for a brunch picnic while the guys watched SPORTS. The beach breakfast was glorious. The sky was overcast and temperatures a bit cool. We ate fresh Quark from the farmers market and sipped fresh squeezed OJ.
Gia spent the morning playing in the sand, the water and ultimately ended up skinny dipping in the Pacific. Watching Gia take such pleasure and fun in lifes little pleasures brings me a new level of happiness. I want my child to forever find that as long as she lives.
Everytime she experiences that. It brings me back and makes me savor the little moments.
We said goodbye to Aunt Kari, Uncle James, Marco and Winston. Which was tear inducing for both Gia and me. Then we headed up to Malibu for the night.

On our way, we stopped at Malibu seafood. A local favorite. Not nearly as famous as Neptunes Net, but just as delicious. It is both a seafood market and a place to grab a quick bite. The clam chowder is warm and comforting and the fish and chips is flaky and fresh. The views from the balcony are breathtaking and it certainly makes you feel that you are in a small secluded beach town. Not just seven minutes outside of Santa Monica proper.
We then checked into the hotel where Ralph and I stayed on our second LA house hunting trip when I was pregnant with Gia. This provided for endless, "When you were a baby..." stories for Gia.

We headed to Calamigos Ranch for Lucy and Jim's wedding. The wedding was elegant and perfect. Such a great celebration of a fantastic couple.

It was so much fun to see so many LA friends at such a celebration. Gia was one of three little girls invited to the wedding. They danced and danced.
Kiara was Lucy's flower girl and God daughter from France. Kiara came to Gia's first birthday party. So sweet to see them grow up.

They had a little language barrier, nothing that precious toddler hood could not overcome.


Our night ended early with a little girl fast asleep on her daddy's shoulder. She had so much fun and so did we.
Congratulations Lucy and Jim!! Thank you for sharing your special day with us!

Monday morning we got up and went to Gia's old school. Ralph and I spend hours telling her stories about this school and all of her amazing teachers. Gia was squealing with excitement to see Miss Barb, Miss Mercedes and Miss Shannon.

On our way to the airport, we stopped at Tico's Tacos and got out yearly fix. It was just as good as we remembered it being. Oh how we miss you Tico's.

Our fantastic La La Land weekend was ended by a not so fabulous four hour delay at LAX. We are back home in NorCal safe and sound and so thankful for our dear southern Cali friends.

The fairy festival.

This weekend I took Gia to the annual fairly festival. She is really just now getting into dressing up, but she has always been quite girly. When I told her that we had to put her tutu and wings on before we left, she thought that this was the best day ever. Before we could leave, she needed to have her picture taken by the front door. I guess after taking her picture here on the first day of school she thinks that this is the perfect background. So sweet.

The fairy festival did not disappoint. However, I did laugh when Ralph asked me if I was sure that it was for little girls. I guess this is a product of living in northern California. There was a fairy band, face painting, hair dos, manicures, fairy story time, jewelry making, wand making, fairy name, just to state a few.

Gia was in squeals the entire time. One of the drawbacks to moving as frequently as we do is that we do not have that large of a group of people that Gia gets to spend time with. All of the little girls running around doing fairy things was such a treat for our little one.

Gia laughed and laughed the entire time they painted her face. She insisted that it tickled, but wanted more, more makeup!

Fairy story time was a big hit. I was thinking the entire time, what a great and easy thing to do for a little girls birthday party. They were all so happy, innocent and sweet. I had such a good time sitting back and watching Gia develop her social skills from toddler to little girl. She has such a sweet spirit and social soul. Needless to say, after all of the excitement she was tuckered out. It took about three minutes before Mr. Sandman came to her on the ride home.

Mi-Am-I a lucky girl.

While Gia was busy playing at Mimi and Popa's, Ralph was treating me to a birthday treat in glorious Miami. We departed on the red eye Tuesday night, made a stop in Houston to pass the football (Gia) to Mimi and Popa and were headed off to Miami. Ralph did an excellent job of planning a great trip and we both enjoyed some much deserved, rest, relaxation and good food without two year old interruption. We stayed at the Mondrian on South Beach. It was really more Miami Beach, but I am sure that a great PR person along with a marketing master mind convinced someone to call it South Beach to give it more allure. All the same to me, I am not that into the night club scene. It is owned by the same owners of The Mondrian LA, The Clift in SF, and the famous Delano on South Beach. There is an Asia de Cuba in the hotel and (as the locals informed us) it is the hot place on Friday night because it is new.

Needless to say, there was lots of pool, beach, reading and resting time. Side by side with great conversation and a healthy dose of comfortable silence. As parents of a two year old, this is welcomed with open arms. I remember when Ralph and I were dating one of the things that I enjoyed so much was that we could talk for hours and never run out of this to say while simultaneously sit in silence in complete comfort. I believe this is one thing that really is a healthy balance in a relationship.

The first night, we stayed in. Had dinner in our room. Watched movies and recovered from the jet lag and red eye. So after our first FULL day in Miami, we traveled over to the famed Blue Door at the Delano. The mojitos were amazing. Just the right mix of rum, sugar, mint and lime. Followed by an excellent crab appetizer, a sauteed red snapper and followed by the most amazing dessert I have ever had.....dulce de leche spring rolls with fresh cream. Oh. My. Goodness. Divine. Simply divine.

We decided that opposed to renting a car which is so easy, conventional and something that we do with Gia all the time, that we would rent a mo ped. Actually, we wanted a motorcycle, but neither of us has a motorcycle licence. Ralph affectionately named our tiny, puny little mo ped "The Hog." We both agree that this was certainly one of the highlights of our entire week. We took this bad boy all over Miami (never getting on the freeway thanks to GPS and the Venetian Causeway) and loved every minute of it. I don't think it went over forty five miles an hour, but the wind was blowing through our hair, and we felt like member of Hell's Angels.

The first thing we did when we got the hog was headed over to Little Havana. I have a huge affinity for Cuban food, Cuban coffee and just Cuban culture overall. We made our first stop at the world famous (to Miami's Cuban restaurant scene) Versailles. A very unassuming little diner for lack of a better word. But a diner where you are greeted with pan cubano and enjoy some of the best Cuban food I have ever tasted. We lingered over our late lunch savouring every bite and just observing the Cuban American culture that Miami has to offer. From two to one hundred and two they are at Versailles. It was such a treat to get into the "heart" of Miami and escape the tourism of South Beach.

After lunch we hopped on The Hog and found Ramon Puig's La Casa de las Guayaberas. Ralph had one made by Senor Puig himself. We also grabbed some off the rack for the rest of the world. I think I am the only one that now is not the proud owner of a Guayabera. Senor Puig made his way to Miami after the Cuban exodus, in 1968, as he claims, "without scissors, measurement or money." He is now in his eighties and going strong. It was such a pleasure to meet him and do business with such a legend.

The hog brought us to "Cigar Row" (my name for it) along Calle Ocho. In the 1100 block of Calle Ocho, the street is lined with numerous cigar shops. Roller are rolling and people are smoking. Ralph grabbed many cigars for himself and my dad. It was so interesting to talk to the owners and learn about there trade.

There was lots of dressing up and lots of date time. It was so nice to have extended periods of adult conversation. Not worrying about time or potty training, but there was also a healthy dose of missing and talking to a certain little toddler that was in the best hands in the world.
Miami is a very beautiful city. A very warm and muggy city, but very alluring. It makes you yearn to experience Havana in its hey day. When in lieu of night clubs bumping vulgar rap songs and ripping techno were the days of dinner jackets and big brass bands.

The sand is white and the water crystal blue. We had showers every afternoon that lasted just long enough to cool things off and leave behind a fantastic, just rained by the beach smell.

Thank you handsome, I know you must be exhausted after planning this great celebration for my birthday. Please know how much I enjoyed every minute of the great city of Miami and every moment with you.

Happy cakes play date.