Birthday Weekend!!

Last Friday my MOM came to visit us in Malibu!  We had the BEST time celebrating my birthday!!  Since there are so many things I have never done in L.A. I thought it would be fun for us to go to the "Farmer's Market" dowtown that I have heard so much about. There is a good one here in Malibu every Sunday, but I have read so many great things about the one in L.A. that I thought we had to check it out.  Well...it wasn't exactly what we expected.  :)  I so wish we would've taken a picture...there was only ONE tiny tent of someone selling fresh fruits and the rest of this place was a full blown outdoor mall.  It also had a plethora of unique restaurant options.  I think some people really enjoy this kind of food/atmosphere but to me, it felt like we were at the county fairgrounds so I was unable to get too excited about the menus!  :) After this experience we were in serious need of something sweet!

We hopped over to Beverly Hills and stopped in at Sprinkles Cupcakes.  Now these definitely met and exceeded our expectations!  Their famous red velvet cupcake was our favorite and although we only ordered one, they threw in an extra cupcake when my mom told them she had flown in all the way from Kansas JUST to taste one of their cupcakes! :) We also tried a carmel cupcake that was good, and got a chocolate one...unfortunately Charlie devoured this one along with his red velvet cupcake so I can't comment on how delicious the chocolate tasted!

We delivered the cupcakes to Charlie while he was at school so he took a quick study break and gave us his tour of must-see spots on campus.

The next day Charlie spent studying which left ALL day for Mom and me to shop, shop, shop!  First, Joel took our picture on the beach then we were off.

We had such a successful day shopping that the sales ladies started asking us if we wanted to put our bags in a dressing room while we looked around!! Haha that has never happened before!

Of course an intense shopping day is only complete by coming home to a delicious meal!! We had mom's famous fried chicken, strawberry pretzel salad, mashed potatoes, and salad!  Plus, she brought some special edition dark chocolate and mint chips which we used to make Charlie's favorite cookies.  Not only did he love them, but the cookies also helped calm him down from the intense LSU/BAMA game.  Thankfully they pulled out a win...we won't even talk about this Saturday.  So sad.  (I had to give Charlie the 'It's just a game speech' so he could get back to memo writing.)

Sunday we heard a great lesson at University Church at Pepperdine then went to eat at Tra Di Noi in the Country Mart!  We ordered at the to-go counter and got to enjoy the gorgeous weather outside!

That afternoon we went to Zuma Beach before my birthday dinner at Geoffrey's which was AMAZING!

For my birthday breakfast Monday, Mom made my absolute favorite thing in the world...coffee ring!!  Not only does it taste like a slice of Heaven, but the smell lingers in your house for hours!
I'm sad to admit we consumed the entire thing by Tuesday morning.

A big thank you to everyone who made me feel so loved and special on November 5th! :)  I can't imagine a better family!!!