california beach bums.

each time we arrive in california, it goes something like this. 

roll down car window, breathe in fresh air... 

"ahhhh... it's so nice." 

"remind me again why we don't live here?"

don't get me wrong, we love our life in arizona, but there's something special about the california air. 

it's cool & crisp. the energy is buzzing. the coast is littered with awesome little towns.

we're surrounded by so many family and friends that there never seems to be enough time.

i long for the summer weekends where i can park myself in sand from sunup to sundown. i love it. 

we had a fantastic long weekend in california. 

it was the perfect pace. a sprinkling of family, friends & couple time.
all i wanted was to park the car and be on the beach, so we stayed at the ocean park inn in pacific beach.
nothing swanky, but it was right on the beach, walking distance to everything & had a hot tub.

{the view from our room}


{couldn't be any closer to the water}

the morning after the 4th, we woke up without an agenda and just started walking. 

we landed at Tower 23 where we stayed for a long brunch while waiting for the morning fog to burn off.

{our table view at brunch. succulents for days.}

{danny supposedly loves this photo b/c he said this is his typical view of me. not sure if that's endearing or rude.}

just as the marine layer burned off (totally so cal speak, right?), we walked to the local grocery to buy a  cooler, chips, cocktails and headed to the beach where we stayed until the sun went down.

we napped, read magazines, took a long walk along the water & played a game of smash ball (you know, the paddles & little ball). 

... that is until danny got a serious sports injury when his toe got stuck in the sand. 

bah! 

{i spy a bag of cool ranch Doritos (vacation, obvi) and ting's awesome new beach cooler}

good thing we had a cooler full of ice for his toe's "smash ball injury"

i didn't stop laughing, even hours after he limped off the sand.