Santa Monica, oh gorgeous Santa Monica. You with your beautiful beaches and pier and palm trees. Kisses!

Last week was spent at coffeehouses, using their internet while we still didn’t have our internet or cable connected at our new apartment in Austin. It also rained quite a bit, but it was lovely to hear and to discover the lovely noise the creek makes (when there is water in it) that runs behind our apartment. We also went to the library and got Austin library cards (a first for me!).

Thursday we had a lovely evening at the Austin Cocktail Throwdown, tasting the five finalist’s cocktails made with Tito’s Vodka. And our favorite drink won! Saturday we had a (very hot) walk along Shoal Creek from around 27th street down to Town Lake and then back. That walk is HIGHLY recommended. So neat to walk through the city and not really even feel like it. I told Josh I want to go out there some morning this week and do it again.

All photos from my Canon Elph, so please excuse the less than stellar quality. I hope to break out the nikon d90 for next week’s pics.

Note:  Inspired by this.

When we were in Los Angeles, Josh’s mom was nice enough to drive down from San Luis Obispo on Friday to meet us for a fun day at the Getty. We got there and walked around and were just in awe of all the amazing art and architecture of the buildings. If you haven’t been there before and are in the Los Angeles area, I highly recommend it. The museum is free, you just have to pay for parking. It’s on a hill and you can see a lot of the city, even downtown off in the distance. We were there when the LA fires were going on, so the sky was a bit smoky, but it was still beautiful.

Photos below! All taken by me except for the one of me and Josh which was taken by Josh’s lovely mom.

This building is amazing. So many different angles, I just couldn’t stop taking pictures! If you’re familiar with the Experience Music Project in Seattle, this is by the same architect, Frank Gehry. (All photos by me except for the one of me, that one is by Josh).

Union Station is simply beautiful. Beautiful architecture, beautiful benches, a stunning floor. It’s a place I would just want to take a book and hang out and watch people. When I go back to Los Angeles, this is definitely a place I am stopping back by to take more photos. Just take a look at these ceilings, walls and floors!

Photographs taken at the California State Fair in Sacramento.