Catalina Island

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It's one of my absolute favorite holidays! This year was quite different as I traveled with my husbands family on a cruise to Catalina Island and Mexico. Catalina is such a pretty little island, right off the coast in California. I've been before, so this time it was fun just to stroll around and soak in the beauty. The main attraction in the little city of Avalon is the 1929 Casino. To this day, they still host over a dozen big band dances in the ballroom {I'm hoping Kevin will take me some time!!}. We took a tour of the gorgeous theater and ballroom, and that was an absolute high light! If you are ever in California, Catalina is worth a little stop over!!

PS- The Calendars are being printed this week, so don't forget to check them out here!! 

I can't wait to start decorating for Christmas!! Happy December!! xoxo 

travel log: much love from Catalina Island

this weekend we experienced the magic of catalina island.

literally, right in our backyard, you would feel as though you are in another country. 

and that may not be far off, as during hollywood's golden age, catalina became the backdrops for landscapes across the world (ie: greece, north africa, the wild west). 

kevin and i decided when we were dating, that we didn't need any more stuff for our birthdays. 

we traded in our gift wrap for weekend get-a-ways, quality time over objects to be stashed. 

in january i found a groupon for a quaint historic hotel in downtwon Avalon (the main city on the island) and a groupon for parasailing. 

you can see i'm really into buying groupons, haha! 

so for his 28th birthday, i surprised kevin with a little jaunt across the pacific. 

with a mystic fog, we sailed in. 

we ate ice cream. 

we frequented Lloyds candy shop for fresh salt water taffy more than we frequented our hotel room. 

we read. 

we ran into some friend (like literally walked through their wedding reception without even knowing it!) that was a laugh.

we drove a golf cart around the island like the locals. 

we sang karaoke. 

we ate a picnic lunch.

and laughed till our bellies hurt.  

notice the ice cream trend? at one point kev told me he didn't want to be the "fat kid" and get a second ice cream of the day. i told him it was his birthday weekend and he was the king. he didn't need anymore convincing. (and like seriously, that boy doesn't gain anything but muscle so Big Olaf's got nothin' on him! i kind of just wanted to use big olaf's in a sentence, cause that is the MOST hilarious name for an ice creams shop. ) 

aaaannnndddd....

we also went parasailing. 

highlight. yes. it. was. 

soaring with my baby in the air. 

just doing my civic duty as an old IC roadie...cover the night catalina island!! 

goodbye island life. 

sooo moral of this weekend is....

 if you are craving the greek isles or italian coast, and don't have the bucks to get there, I would wonderfully recommend this sweet lovely place. very romantic and idyllic indeed. just...watch for groupons baby!!! 

hope you all had a wonderful weekend! 

love Katie