I love Cheesecake!

Kaleb and I have a credit card with Discover, every time we use it we get 1%-5% cash back. We can then trade that in for a gift card to wherever we want. We decided we wanted to trade it in for a Cheesecake Factory gift card! Since we are a one income household we don't eat out at fancy places, so it felt like we were getting a free dinner. 

We decided to go on a Saturday night, there is a Cheesecake Factory at The Grove close to our house. I get off work at 6:00 on Saturdays so it would be a later dinner. Wow what a mistake! The mall was crazy!! We literally drove around the parking lot for 20 minutes and could not find a spot! I decided to go in and put our name on the waiting list while Kaleb tried to find a spot. The waiting time at the restaurant was an hour and a half! But we didn't give up! Kaleb drove around for another 20 minutes before finally fighting his way to a spot. 

We still had quite a while before we could eat so we just walked around to the stores. They had already started with the Christmas decorations and they were unbelievable!!! 

The tree was HUGE!!! And they had a Santa Sled with the reindeer "flying" over the courtyard, and it was actual size. I can't even imagine the work that went into it. They also had Santa's workshop which was ginormous! It was so awesome!! 

After walking around for a while we decided to go and check on our time. They said that we were close so we just sat inside. At this Cheesecake Factory the restaurant is on the second floor and the desk to check in is on the first, so they actually call your phone when they are ready. Well after another 15 minutes we asked again if they were ready for us and they said that they tried calling us. I know that I put the right number, but I guess it "didn't work". We were far past the starving phase! Luckily they just sent us on up and got us to a table.

Since we were so hungry, we got loaded nachos as an appetizer. They were delicious!!

We probably could have just ordered these because they were so big. As soon as our main course came we were already full. 

We were able to get a few bites in before we had them pack it up for us.

Of course we had to get cheesecake! Kaleb isn't a big fan of it so I let him pick the flavor so that it would be sort of fair. He Loves cookie dough so we cookie dough cheesecake, which we also had to take home to enjoy later.

It was such a LONG night!!! But it was enjoyable! We vowed NEVER to go to The Grove on a Saturday night again!!! Next time it will be on a weekday!

Halloween!

One day during my break at work we were talking about Halloween and what everyone is doing. Kaleb and I weren't sure yet what to do but thought maybe watching scary movies would be fun. Everyone at work was warning me about traffic in Hollywood on Halloween, how a lot of roads are closed and you pretty much can't drive anywhere because of the WEHO Halloween party.

As soon as I got home Kaleb and I started looking up this Halloween party. We found out that it is labelled the most unique Halloween party in the world. Once we read that we knew that we had to go. They blocked off about a mile stretch of Santa Monica Blvd and had lots of concerts food and a few activities and was supposed to end a little after midnight.

We weren't really sure what to wear and didn't want anything too expensive. Kaleb is a big animal lover so he found some animal hats and we ordered them on Amazon. He got a husky hat and I was going to be a panda. They were expected to arrive the day before Halloween. Well one of the hats said it was delivered but we didn't get it. We were freaking out and mad that someone had stolen the package. After our "rage" was over I told Kaleb to text the landlord to ask if she had it by chance and sure enough she did. So then we felt bad for getting angry and just laughed it off.

The party was in West Hollywood, about 2.5 miles away. We didn't want to drive because of crazy traffic, but we didn't want to walk either because it would be night time. We researched it a little more and found out that there was going to be a trolley that would start about 1 mile from us and take us the rest of the way. So we decided on that!

We got all dressed up and did our makeup. 

And then started on our journey!

It wasn't a long walk at all, at first we were the only ones dressed up but once we got a little farther a lot of other people joined us. We finally made it to the first trolley stop and only had to wait a little while before it came to pick us up. Already I was seeing the craziest costumes! Mermaids, the three blind mice, bananas, and some costumes that just didn't make sense.

The trolley wasn't the best idea.... of course since there was traffic it didn't go very fast. However, it started to rain a little bit so we just stayed on board to see if it would get worse or stop. It did end up stopping and only sprinkled a little bit later. We rode the trolley for about 20 minutes and only made it a few blocks so we started walking again. Walking was so much faster! 

Once we got to the start of the party there were hundreds of people! So many amazing costumes! I tried taking some videos but they didn't turn out so great. It ended up getting way to crowded to get any great pictures but I got a few that turned out great.

And these weren't even the best ones! There were costumes that I swear people spent hundreds of dollars on. It made me wonder if they wear the same one for a few years or every year they spend a ton of money on their costumes. There was one guy that dressed up as a nurse, had a fake syringe and was labeled "Ebola Virus". It was hilarious and creative! There were a lot of Mario and Luigi's too. I learned very fast that Halloween is a big deal to people here.

We walked for quite a while just looking at everyone's costumes but then we started to get hungry and tired. We had a hard time turning around because there were so many people! It was like trying to swim up stream. 

After a while we finally were out of the party and on our way back home. We were trying to catch the trolley, even though it was really slow, we were tired and wouldn't mind riding it for a little while. But I guess we were walking faster than the trolley because we never ran into one. 

We did end up stopping at Astro Burger to split a cheeseburger and just ate as walked so I guess that was the upside of walking. 

After we got home we figured we had walked about 7-8 miles! We were super tired but way glad that we got out! Definitely need to start working on our costumes for next year!

Yogurtland!

Kaleb had a random day off from school, which didn't happen very often, so we took the opportunity to spend the morning together. We had received some coupons in the mail for Yogurtland so that is where we went. 

The parking for Yogurtland is absolutely ridiculous, just like anywhere else, really. But we made it work out. We had to do a couple U turns but were able to find a spot around the block. It was a beautiful day, like always, so we didn't mind the walk.

The yogurt was delicious! And we ate every last bite!

Mine is on the left and Kaleb's on the right. He LOVES cookie dough!!

Even though we spend a lot of time together already,especially in our studio apartment, I can never really get sick of him! We know that we each need our alone time and then make sure to get out of the house and do small things like this! 

Zuma Beach

I had heard from several people at work that Zuma Beach is an awesome beach to visit. Kaleb and I had planned to go for quite a while but the first couple of times we planned it the weather was crappy. Finally a day came where the weather would be descent. 

Zuma Beach is in Malibu and it would take us about an hour to get there. There is a canyon that you have to drive through to get there called Kanan Canyon. I have taken this canyon on several occasions to get to different catering events and it is so gorgeous! There are vineyards and it is so incredibly green! I have always talked about it to Kaleb and we always talked about driving it together.

I was so excited to get to the canyon, but when we got there everything was dead! I was so disappointed. Of course, in October that is when things die off, I just didn't really think about it. It was still a pretty drive but the vineyards were dead and it wasn't nearly as green as it normally was. 

The parking was a little bit crazy but after a couple U turns we were able to get a spot. The Ocean smelled amazing and I loved the sand between my toes. It was too chilly to even touch the water so we just sat on our towels and enjoyed watching the waves. 

We sat on some higher ground because the waves were pretty big and we didn't want to get wet. A few minutes after we settled down a lady sunbathing in her leopard cover up and sun hat got hit by a wave and all of their stuff got wet. They weren't even that close but there were some waves that just went out of control! It was absolutely hilarious!!! After that Kaleb and I moved a little farther away from the shore. A couple of girls on the other side of us were gossiping like Crazy!! I couldn't hear a lot but they were talking about their boyfriends. One was talking about how she controls him and he better do what she says. The boyfriends came around later and she was so bossy to him! Kaleb and I just laughed it off and tried to ignore her. 

Later a dad and his two kids came a long and they sat right up close to the shore. Everyone around us was wondering if we should tell them not to sit close, but they were the type that were brave enough to get in the water so we didn't say anything to them.

 It was fun to see the kids playing in the water and the dad sitting in his cowboy in his lounge chair. But then the little boy starting running around with the shovel shouting annoying phrases that didn't even make sense. That is when Kaleb and I decided that we enjoy our peace and quiet!

 We took the Pacific Coast Highway on the way home so we could enjoy the view a little bit longer. 

I always love when we get to go to the beach. It is so relaxing!