Okay, I admit it. I’m a bit of a control freak, but also a people pleaser. I thought about it quite a bit and then wrote on here what I was going to do for my birthday. I decided Blue Eyes could come with me, and he did. A few days before my birthday, however, my son, who was supposed to stay in Ojai and take care of Bernie the dog, voiced “their” desire to want to go with. Now, my son is not 8 years old, he’s 31! But I still felt that tug at my heart. He’s such a great “kid” and I enjoy him immensely, but Shutters on the beach in Santa Monica (my birthday hotel of choice) only allows small dogs, under 25 pounds, and the old Bernmeister, Barky McBarkerson, is a whopping 42 pounds. I’m not really a teeny dog person, it’s all good. Instead of just saying, sorry bud, no dogs allowed, I frantically searched for a dog friendly hotel near Shutters. And I found the Sandbourne Marriott super close. I booked a dog friendly room for the two of them and the decision was made. And this changed everything.

I actually still wanted some alone time with Blue Eyes, so I extended our trip, just the two of us, to Malibu for the weekend. The kid and the dog would drive home.

We needed two cars anyway, so I decided to drive from Ojai to Santa Monica by myself to get my celebration started early. I added our son to the dinner reservation I’d made then drove to the hotel and got settled in to our beautiful room with a view of Santa Monica beach and pier.

Dinner was wonderful. I chose a well reviewed restaurant in downtown, 1212 Santa Monica, about a mile from our hotels. The weather was beautiful. We walked both ways.

The next day, I had planned a day to myself with room service breakfast, two spa treatments and time by the pool. With The Peacemaker there, however, plans changed. Blue Eyes ended up working from The Marriott with Bernie by his side and the kid and I walked to get lobster rolls, oh how I love them. I did get my Shutters room service breakfast, which was a serious test for my blood sugars:

My spa treatments were glorious. CBD Massage, and a hydra facial. I had never had a hydra facial before and it was AMAZING!

Instead of time by the pool, we walked along the beach and ventured to Lobster & Beer Santa Monica, the rolls were delish!

Instead of a romantic dinner for two, we opted for a Spanish tapas restaurant for three plus a long walk after dinner to Venice Beach. The Peacemaker loves his food and his walks!

Friday is when everything really went awry. The plan was for The Peacemaker to drive home and Blue Eyes and I to leisurely drive over to Malibu. Well… turns out our older child (son turned daughter) The Pragmatist, was arriving LA that morning. Her girlfriend was running a book fair in Pasadena, which we had not planned on attending, but I had also heard about The Pasadena Showcase Design House (from the dreaded sister in law-one good thing she has done in the 40 years I’ve known her), which I really wanted to see, so I begrudgingly (ha ha) agreed to detour over to Pasadena. If we were going to be in Pasadena, The Peacemaker wanted to go to The Huntington Library (art museum/botanical garden). So a leisurely Friday turned into a whirlwind of rushing from one place to the next. First I had to navigate the hell that is LAX airport to pick up The Pragmatist, then we rushed to The Huntington (timed tickets), and spent way too little time in their gardens, then Blue Eyes met us to go to the design house, also prepaid timed tickets (while The Pragmatist diverted to the book fair). Ack!!!

Then we went to the book fair and also spent way too little time there, but I did bring home some treasures like this one of a kind little book:

What a crazy busy day! By the time Blue Eyes and I arrived our “motel” in Malibu, it was dark and we were exhausted. We spent two days across the highway from a famous surfing beach, and did basically nothing but eat and relax and watch surfers.

It turned out to be an awesome birthday celebration! 🥳