los angeles living.

Once upon a time, about a week ago while Zeke was out of town I got to house/dog sit for a family in our ward. It was a dream. I have always been so curious and so intrigued and fascinated with the homes here in Los Angeles. They are all so grand and beautifully manicured and their backyards have always been a mystery to me with gates of tall and lush hedges blocking my view.

I have always enjoyed looking at old photographs of Marilyn Monroe in her backyard of her Brentwood Bungalow and thinking how Los Angeles it looked. The vibe it gave off, the tall skinny palm tree stetching so high reaching for the sun, and of course everything was so vibrant and bloomed with rose bushes. That's how I had always envisioned the backyards of these Los Angeles homes.

On Vogue's website, they have these 73 question interviews where they interview random celebrities and they did one with Reese Witherspoon who also lives in Brentwood and the interview was located in her home which was so fun to see the interior and not only that but she led the viewer out into her backyard, which of course was surrounded by hedges. But her Los Angeles yard was just like Monroe's - perfectly pampered to Los Angeles' standards. It was a vision.

Last weekend, I was finally given an open invitation to get a taste of what it's like to live like a true Los Angeles local, and I must say, it was very nice. Yard perfectly manicured? Check. Rose bushes? Check. Pristine Pool? Check. Hedges for security? Check. It was the best leisure I had consumed in one afternoon since I can remember. It was heaven on earth and my girlfriends and I (Whom they said I was allowed to have over, mind you) were just like giddy 15 year olds the whole time. Needless to say we were having so much fun. Oh. And then that's a random photo of Zeke at the beach here in Santa Monica yesterday. The weather has finally gotten back to its 80's self so we had to take advantage.

"i love you, california."

(i'm not boasting or anything, but I love this photo I shot today above. It reminds me of a botanical landscape painting from the Hudson River School.)

 (I can't take credit for this photo above of the Bougainvillea. My friend Alex took this photo in West Hollywood and I loved it so much, I had to save it to my computer. Shes talented.)

It is there I would be in our land by the sea, 

Every breeze bearing rich perfume. 

palette inspiration for future paintings.

I love when my latest pins come together and form the best color palette that inspire me for future paintings. I instantly just want to paint right now. So, I'm saving this color palette for future references.

ma & pa in town for easter weekend.

I am so thankful my parents were able to fly into Los Angeles for the long Easter weekend. They were with us for a good five days and it was absolutely perfect. The last time both of them were out here together was last February and Zeke and I had only been living here for about two months, so we didn't really know our way around, nor did we have our favorite restaurants and must see places to go see and do.

This time was a little more different filled with so many places to explore and things to eat and I was so excited to show my parents around Los Angeles. There are two things I love to be in life. 1.) A tourist 2.) A tour guide.

My dad had some business to take care of while out here which is nice that he's got to do that because it brings him across the US more often than not and its such a blessing to even be able to randomly grab supper with him one night out of the week he is here. I feel so blessed to be able to see my parents as much as I do since moving out here. That was one of my greatest concerns with the move to Los Angeles. I mean, it's not a cakewalk flying from coast to coast!

They do love it out here though, and luckily for them, a visit out here can somewhat count as a vacation due to the warm weather and sunshine year round in Los Angeles. And we've got some perks living on the bluffs of Santa Monica that overlook the Pacific so they LOVE coming this way.

We kept busy all week and weekend, eating our way through each meal, treating ourselves to Sweet Rose Creamery just about every night, shopping, going to the Getty Villa in Malibu, taking late afternoon drives through the neighborhoods of Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and Beverly Hills picking out our favorite homes, spying on the celebrities and getting lost off Sunset Boulevard. We spent a day riding beach cruisers down the boardwalk towards Venice, parked and grabbed some sandwiches and coca-colas, and the weekends were spent basking in the sun & watching March Madness. It was an all around party. I love that Zeke loves spending time with my parents too. We all just had so much fun enjoying each others company and I feel complete when my parents are with me.

The weather was perfect & I couldn't have asked for a better Easter weekend. I am so grateful to my Savior & Heavenly Father for blessing me with the most outstanding parents I could have ever been given. They are truly incredible human beings who I strive to be like each and every day. I don't know what I have done to have been giving such amazing blessings. I am a lucky one and I can't wait to see them at home in June.

it's funny the memories that music can hold.

Just a quick thought before it slips my mind. It's funny the memories that music can hold when you have forgotten to take picture. Zeke and I were on a 45 minute drive home tonight and somehow, someway Zeke always loves to go through his very much outdated ipod and play for me every Tupac song and explain over and over again the full blown history of rap music; how it was born, the war between the West coast and East coast, how this guy was shot, how this rap song calls out this guy, and how P Diddy is a girl and it just goes on and on and on and on. Basically, I have a full knowledge of the rapping wars of the late 80's & 90's.

Tonight's topic was Bone Thugs N' Harmony and I laughed and said, "my sister was so obsessed with them back in the day, she could probably sing every lyric to every song, unfortunately." The thought made me laugh a bit. And then a familiar song came on, "Crossroads" and I instantly became nostalgic.

My mind instantly took me to a specific place and time and it was Panama City Beach, Florida, on spring break in middle school with my friend Ines & her family. I specifically remember burning playlists on CD's for our trip and I loved this song "Crossroads" because I knew it had to of been cool because my sisters were always listening to it. I burned it on the CD and Ines and I learned all of the lyrics. I remember thinking how "cool" I felt. Middle schoolers... walking around in Panama City with collage kids all around and I knew the lyrics to Bone Thungs N' Harmony's "Crossroads." I was going places.

It brought a smile to my face in the car and aside from the song, I remembered that trip, and how much fun I had as a kid who was trying to grow up too fast and cared about being cool. Either way, I thought "where are those photos I took from that Spring Break trip?" Then I remembered that I don't believe I took a single one and all that I had left for the reminder of the memories was the sound of a Bone Thugs N' Harmony song, and I thank those boys for reminding me of a memory I didn't want to forget. Sadly, if it wasn't for hearing that song tonight, I don't know the next time I would have remembered that trip. It feels so distant from me. It's funny the memories that music can hold, when you forget to bring your camera.