Around Christmas, Zach asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday.  I told him I wanted to go on a trip with my best friends from high school.  So since December, my friends and I have been planning our girls’ trip to Santa Monica.  We left Thursday afternoon and arrived at the Santa Monica Airport later in the evening.  The 5 and a half of us [Whitney’s baby Jase joined us] settled into our condo just off one of my favorite little streets, Abbot Kinney, in Venice.  We went out for Mexican food and then stayed up wayyyy too late talking about who knows what.

Then next morning we woke up and made our way to the Third Street Promenade.  We shopped for four straight hours, like champions.

I forced my friends to have lunch at a restaurant I have been dying to try – Unami Burger.  It was just as good as I had hoped it would be.  We were all pleasantly surprised!

Jase was a pretty amazing shopping companion, I must say.

After running ourselves ragged, we ditched our bags back at the condo and we ventured out to get food.

We all shared some pizzas from Gjelina – probably my favorite meal of the entire trip – back at our condo.

After dinner we had a post meal yoga sesh.  We as in everyone but me.  Yoga doesn’t bode well with me.  I am SO not flexible.  It was very enjoyable to watch, however.  Kristina is working on getting certified to teach, so these ladies were great…practice.  I laughed 90 percent of the time and totally disturbed their vibe.

The next morning we slept in and decided to jog to the beach.

We stopped mid-way to get some fruit smoothies and then made our way over to Muscle Beach.  Because that is our type of crowd, apparently.  5 Utah girls working out with a 9 month old.  We had a pretty hilarious workout routine going.  Squats, running stairs, and so on.  Even baby Jase thought we looked like idiots…  We also got taught how to do chin-ups by a homeless man.

After we all showered up and got ready, we drove downtown to the Farmer’s Market for lunch.

We spent the rest of the day shopping at the shops at the Grove.

….aaaaand devouring some Sprinkle’s Cupcakes.

The best part of Saturday was the fact that I got to pick up our rental car – a giant minivan.  That’s how you travel with 5 people and a babe.  I would NOT recommend a minivan as your vehicle of choice driving around the streets of L.A.  Just saying…

It was Whitney’s first time in Los Angeles. so we drove around a bit and did the obligatory photo in front of the Hollywood sign!

Sunday morning was our quest for some flea market finds.  We woke up at 6:00 am and all crammed into the van for the drive to Long Beach.  I have been to a few flea markets in my day, and the Long Beach Flea was by far my favorite.

We all scored some pretty great stuff.  Whitney found enough vintage t-shirts to last her all year.  Britt found an incredible fur coat and a vintage Louis Vuitton tote.  Kristina scored two vintage bags, one being a gorgeous black Chanel.  I left…with an H.  A giant metal H that I plan to hang on one of my many blank walls upstairs.

Since this day was the warmest of our entire visit, we made our way just south of the Santa Monica Pier for some beach time.

The weather was perfect and it was so relaxing to do absolutely nothing with our toes in the sand.

Brittney was so relaxed, she didn’t even realize Whitney had buried her legs (and not pictured:  her right arm) in the sand.

We thought our pizza from Gjelina was so great, we decided to go for round two that night!

Our last morning on the west coast we were awakened by a legitimate earthquake!  A few hours before our alarms were to go off, everything in our condo was swaying and moving.  It happened so quick we didn’t have any time to realize what was happening.  I think the noise was what scared me the most.  Kristina and I were in one bedroom, Whitney and Brittney in the one right next to ours, and Whitney and Jase down the hall.  As soon as the earthquake subsided, Kristina and I heard two VERY high pitched (and nervous) voices chattering in the next room over.  I have never laughed so hard!

After vacating our condo we had lunch at Kreation, an awesome and really delicious healthy cafe.  If you are looking for juice, look no further!  Every kind of juice that this planet has to offer, this joint has.

And our last few hours of the trip were spent walking up and down Abbot Kinney popping in and out of the most adorable little shops.  My favorite was Urbanic, the cutest paper boutique you could ever imagine.

Not pictured was our ride to the airport.  The five of us adults and baby Jase packed into a tiny crossover vehicle with our luggage piled on our laps, due to the fact that the back seat could only accommodate two suitcases.  It was a ride we will never forget!  I still feel like my circulation in my legs hasn’t come back 100 percent.

It’s sad, but true, that my high school friends and I really don’t see that much of each other as of late.  We promised after this trip that we would make an effort to all get together at least once a month!  I had such a great time with these girls.  I can’t remember a time where I have ever laughed so hard in my life.  After spending five days with them, waking up the next morning without all them made me so sad.  I can’t wait until our next girls’ trip.  I LOVE YOU ALL!