The staycation officially started that Sunday night which was Valentine’s Day and we’re not big celebrators of it, just not our thing. We should have avoided the crowds that day, but we had our tax appointment that afternoon and Socorro and Ubaldo came along since we go to the same accountant. The office is in Rancho Cucamonga so afterwards we headed to Victoria Gardens (she had never been!) and her and Ubaldo loved it, of course. We did a train ride with Ubaldo and took him to the playground, that’s it as simple as that. We had already taken him earlier to Boston Market for some dinner while Socorro had her appointment, he was so funny because of course his favorite activity is dining, just like his auntie. He was so funny in fact that I wish I would of had a video camera. This was my favorite shot of them both (a little blurry, but gotta love that bokeh), I think this is their signature pose because I have so many photos of them in this exact pose.

The rest of the week was spent doing fun stuff throughout LA. Starting with a day at Santa Monica Beach, one of our favorite spots in LA! We explored their downtown on Main St. for the first time, window shopped and checked out a few boutique shops. Made a stop at the 3-story Barnes & Noble on 3rd St. Promenade, can we say heaven? After a few hours there ( yes I said hours, we love reading the magazines and checking out books before we buy) we headed to our favorite wine bar for dinner, 4th & Jane and tried some of their crawfish boil. Very yummy and fun, a great way to end the day there.

Thursday we had booked massages at Burke Williams Spa in Pasadena courtesy of a gift, this is the perfect way to end our staycation… I felt 10 pounds lighter and refreshed and Kris loved all the pampering, who wouldn’t? It was still early so we headed to Silver Lake Wine to do a tasting and try Let’s Be Frank , a gourmet hot dog truck with %100 organic products that parks at their wine shop on Thursdays – foodie & wino heaven! We’re already planning another tasting on a Sunday when they do it in a group format with a local chef doing cooking demonstrations which we get to try, all for only $20! We both had such a great time talking with the workers and mingling amongst other winos. I love LA, there is so much to discover and explore, but I love that they have some of the best food and wine in So Cal.

All in all it was a wonderful staycation. Sorry for the lack of photos, but although I love capturing all the lovely moments I didn’t carry the camera while exploring. I really wanted to just ignore the phone, all my normal “doings” even stayed off of Facebook and Twitter and you know what? It felt very liberating and I enjoyed every minute.