{Party at the Getty? Yes, please.}

For the last few months I have had the amazing opportunity to help plan 

this year's College Night at the Getty, 

an annual event
 {it's free! and  there will be a band, photobooth...etc}
that is taking place April 16th. 

If you are a college student in the LA area:

COME! IT. IS. GONNA. BE. AWE.SOME.
okaythanks.

I am on the Content Planning Committee,
{along with Liz and Carmella}
and over the last few months I have been invited, as well as other students from local colleges who make up the other committees, to go to the Getty and have meetings in "restricted areas" and "authorized personnel only" conference rooms to give our input for the event. très swanky. 

Back in January my committee was given a mini-backstage-tour of the Getty restoration area. My favorite part was seeing the old lamp-post banners from past exhibits that line the main hallway {which may I add, had been painted a bea-u-ti-ful shade of eggplant...basically the underground areas are just an extension of the museum itself}

The exhibits, Herb Ritts: LA Style and Portraits of the Renown, {which are the exhibits featured during College Night and the theme of the event} opened last Monday, April 2nd and all the committee students were invited to attend the opening reception. 

It was a stellar event and I was so grateful for the opportunity to have a wonderfully swanky and fun night at the Getty. 

What a great start to the new quarter! 

And of course, dressing up was a must... 

I never, ever miss an occasion to dress up....

As we arrived at the Getty, Katie aptly shared one of her favorite quotes: 

When we first arrived, we immediately found Tony and China, two of the Getty people who we work with during our College Night meetings. They are so incredibly nice and warm and funny. Tony was making us giggle when he was telling us of his keen positioning of the spotlight on the cupcake table.  

Everyone who works at the Getty has such a nice attitude 

and have been so enthusiastic about everything, 

it makes me want to work there when I grow up. 

 Photos from the wonderful night!

Carmella, me and Katie 

Carmella, Aly, Katie and me just as we were entering the Herb Ritts show

so. much. energy. for. one. room. 

I absolutely loved the night and loved the opportunity to attend 

such an amazing {and grown-up} party!

Thanks Getty!

Can't wait for College Night!!!

{a walk through the woods: Bothe Park}

On Saturday morning it rained cats and dogs and even hailed a bit.... but that afternoon the weather took a turn for the better and cleared up. 

It became such a beautiful day.

My dad and I went hiking in Bothe Park, which is the same forest where I live and I believe that our neighbors property even butts up to it a bit. 

Nonetheless, it is a gorgeous place to go and take a nice walk through the woods. 

Also a great way to support State Parks!

Fallen Redwood

This is a wild orchid {with a bug on it! oh how artistic, haha}

which is only about an inch tall! 

I have seen wild yellow orchids on our property, but not purple/pink ones, and apparently

there are many, many different varietals on the mountain.

Anyone up for an orchid hunt?

Crazy neon fungus... it looked like candy, which means that it's probably 

really poisonous.... oh Mother Nature how you fool us so....

{Granddad}

Granddad just moved from the Catskills in New York to the Yountville V.A. home, 

not too far from our house. 

Willard {Willow} Bond is a very renown marine artist, who paints sail boats in action and works closely with the Hospice Regatta. 

It has been quite a lot of work to get him moved out here and my mom {who is such a power house of a woman!} spent January and February in NY organizing his move and spent months working on his application into the V.A. home. 

Hard work does pay off! 

Though it was both sweet and emotional, 

I had a wonderful time visiting with him while I was home. 

It has been great getting to know him and we will continue 

to get to know him better since we are so close by for the first time. 

The first room he was in faced the Yountville golf course,

where he could watch the hot air balloons land and take off,

a sight he missed now he is in this room.

So,  on Sunday {my last day home}, I stood outside his window

with a bouquet of balloons!

He was so happy, 

which made all of us joyous too.

{back yard, if you can call it that}

Even though it rained most of the time I was up north, I didn't mind 

because the rain just makes

the mountain {as well as the entire valley} lush and the creek run.

When you step outside you can instantly hear the rush of the small seasonal creek 

that runs down the canyon behind our house. It's sort of our back yard, if you can even call it that....  

My dad and I took a walk down there one sunny morning 

just to look and soak up the beauty. 

What a glorious place to live and such a contrast from LA.

We have a family of deer that come and go ... one time we had nine

of them hanging out. 

For a while we had three that would hang out with Stanley, the lone turkey. 

They are beautiful and I love looking at them {often through binoculars} while they are visiting.

Unfortunately, they do like to nibble our flowers quite a bit....

Down behind the house:

 

 

♡

{Chronicles of a Country Girl: Banana Boat}

This last winter my family discovered:

"Banana Boats"

You gather marshmellows {not present in the photos below... we were unfortunately out of marshmellows, oh summertime....} chocolate chips, 

peanut butter and of course a banana!

Stuff the banana with all the goodies, wrap that sucker in aluminum foil and stick it in a fire for a few minutes, 

{you'll just know when it's done}

 and enjoy the melted, delicious, sugary goodness!!!

{one could prob. do it in an oven... but a fire is more fun!}

On Monday of my spring break, I came home after spending a few {cold} hours doing Lifeguard Recerts and just wanted to be cozy and reboot with a sugary snack. 

Making a Banana Boat came to mind,

but I didn't want to build a fire to just make one....

d.i.l.e.m.m.a.

As I was rounding the corner home I noticed smoke, but not coming from the chimney.... so in a little bit of a panic I went to inquire where the smoke was coming from

and discovered the day's burn pile!

d.i.l.e.m.m.a solved.

I then set off to make my new favorite snack. 

Yum. 

{train time}

As soon as I decided to go to school in LA I had been pining over taking the train home- 

at least once...

However, taking the train home is no small ordeal:

First, I have to get myself to Union Station {thank you Lauren!}

Then, it is a whopping 12 and a half hour train ride. 

yeah, a little more than half a day. 

Then, it's still an hour+ car ride from the train station to home.
yikes. 

I was crispy by the end of the day- but I loved every minute of it

 {seriously}

I had a really nice window seat, where I got to look out the

 window all I wanted til the sun went down.

 My seat partner resembled the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. She was all in black, rather gruff and when I asked her where she was going she sighed- as if I was twisting her arm- and explained that she was on a long journey ending up in Copenhagen.... and that really she was a nomad and lived her life in airports. It was clear she didn't want to be chatty, which was fine by me 

{last time I took the train up to SB, I had a REALLY chatty older fellow....}

What on Earth did I do for 12.5 hrs?!?!?

I read, slept, readsomemore and sleptsomemore. 

I stayed in my cozy spot {the train provides pillowz... without an extra fee!!!} 

and  really only ventured out to the dining car- 

where I was seated at the "youngin'" table with two other college aged kids. 

The science nerds' opening line was: 

{he works at a biotech company developing cancer tests....} 

*glimmer in his eyes* 

"If you could choose two animals to combine to make your ideal ultimate pet, which ones would you choose??? I would choose a cat and a tiger.... so you would have a miniature tiger!"

{If you're wondering: I chose a mini lap-giraffe, but then 

discussed how we could engineer it so it wouldn't be super fragile.... 

yeah, two can play that game....} 

Anyway, I had the honor of seeing California- 

beautiful, beautiful California. 

♡