It's the F**king Catalina Wine Mixer!

This weekend was mine and Wes's Birthday weekend! Yup. On Sunday I turned the young age of 27 and the old man turned 31. To celebrate our birthdays being on the same day, we took advantage of the free ferry rides to Catalina, (for birthday people only) and spent the night on the beautiful island. It was our first romantic getaway weekend alone and it was wonderful. One of the nicest weekends and definitely best birthday I've ever had.

Our ferry left at 7:45 Sunday morning, which is MUCH earlier than I cared for, but well worth it. After waking up at 5:50am and dropping off little Rox at her puppy hotel, we were on our way to Paradise. Literally.

The boat ride there is about an hour and a half and the waters were a bit rocky, but a couple bloody mary's and we were fine!

When we came in to port around 9:15am, the weather had cleared and Catalina was beautiful.

When we got off the boat we stopped and took a few pics of the town before dropping our stuff off at the hotel.

There were very few "normal sized" cars there. Original Mini Coopers and Golf Carts are the vehicles of choice.

See what I mean?

We stayed at the Glenmore Plaza Hotel. It was next to the beach and right in the middle of town. Very convenient, and it was super cute!

Just look at our sweet little beach cottage room! The magic totally happened here.

Once our stuff was dropped off we headed to the Pancake Cottage for breakfast. 

Apparently Catalina is considered 'Birthday Island' the whole town has special offers for your Birthday and they gave us ribbons to wear. It was extra fun being both our birthdays and getting to wear ribbons!

While Wes was busy planning out our day, I took time to show off his birthday present to me. They're Rayban Wayfarers fold ups. They fold to practically the size of the lenses and fit so cute in a tiny little leather case! I love them!

After breakfast we rented a golf cart and toured the town on our own!

There were so many pretty things to look at. I love this pink hotel!

There were also cactus galore!

The view we got from our golf cart tour. It seriously felt like we were on an island in the middle of the Caribbean and not 40 miles from home.

Another couple, also doing the golf cart tour stopped and took this pic for us.

And this one too :)

Wes wanted to look like he was thinking. 

Showing off our Birthday Ribbons!

Wherever we went someone told us Happy Birthday. I thought it was the locals just being nice but Wes insisted that there was some kind of 'plot' behind it. After some Google research it turns out he was right. The locals are encouraged to wish guests Happy Birthday. Interesting....

Beautiful.

We took a pit stop to watch some people zip line and take in the scenery and ran in to this little cutie. I tried to see what his name was but the only tags he had on were for rabies, so I guess his name is healthy.

After Golf Carting we went to the pier for some lunch. We had booked a tour on a submarine, so we had some fish and chips and beer while we killed time for our adventure.

I'm not a very good double fister.

I told Wes to pretend he was a Pirate and this is what he came up with. Arrrr!

Some of the fish that we saw through our little window. 

After the Submarine tour we did some more sight seeing. I thought this little courtyard was so pretty.

Then we went to Luau Larry's for some cocktails. Wes got his Wiki Wacked with a Wicki Wacker drink.

I went more subtle with a Pina Colada.

I thought it was hilarious that their parking spots were mini for their golf carts.

After Luau Larry's we went back to the hotel for a nap before getting ready and going out to a romantic dinner at Steve's Steak House.

You can use your imagination for how the rest of the evening went.

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The rest of the evening was Fantastic! We woke up refreshed the next day and did a bit more sight seeing before we hopped back on the boat to come home.

Bison are all over the island of Catalina so we had to take a photo in front of this jazzed up Buffalo.

Wes's Dream car....

On the boat to come home.

This is Catalina's Casino. You don't gamble there though. Its more of a theatre/ event center. Inside it is the world's largest ballroom. Pretty neat huh?

The boat ride coming home was much smoother than getting there.

This is coming back into Dana Point.

I loved this dog with his little life vest on, giving us the pirate eye!

On the car ride home I was kind of sad that our trip to Paradise was so short. I would have loved to stay another day. But after picking up Roxie from her hotel and heading back to Wes's, the sun was shining and the trees were glistening and we still had a view of the ocean. I shouldn't be upset. I freaking live in paradise! 

The rest of the day we napped and watched The Voice. A perfect Birthday Weekend!

Mad for Mad Men

I am SO excited for the 2 hour premier of Mad Men tonight I can hardly stand it. Mad Men has been my favorite show since the second it came out. I've seen every season multiple times (thanks to Netflix) and could watch them again because they are just that good. Rolling Stone Magazine did a behind the scenes and on the set piece showcasing some amaze-balls photos of what goes on during the filming of Mad Men. Take a look.

"If Rob Lowe had been cast in the part, it would have been different," says Jon Hamm, on the set in L.A. "There was no backstory with me."

(I love this photo with the apple computer. so cool!)

Aaron Staton and Rich Sommer, who play Ken Cosgrove and Harry Crane, on set in Los Angeles.

Hamm at work on set. 

"You have to be mentally acute for a significant period of time," 

he says, "and that becomes pretty draining."

Christina Hendricks, in full wardrobe, makes her way to the set in Los Angeles.

Elisabeth Moss, who plays the ambitious career girl Peggy Olsen, 

has a touch of pride about the fact that Mad Men's stars were relative unknowns before show creator Matthew Weiner put them to such brilliant use. "Matt always says that he basically hired a bunch of not-famous people,but people that had been working for a really long time."

The attention to detail, from conversational idiom to collar-point widths, is

 evident in every episode. The prop team blows you away. There are stacks of old 

Look magazines, genuine expense-report sheets and receipts from a business trip 

(hotel: $2.80; cab to restaurant: $1.12; dinner: $19.44).

Vincent Kartheiser, who plays the slimy Pete Campbell, 

learning his lines. 

"One of my few vanities," he says, 

"is going to a party and people not realizing I'm the 

person they saw in Mad Men."

Christina Hendricks films a scene in the board room on set in Los Angeles.

Robert Morse gets his character Bert Cooper's signature goatee applied on set in Los Angeles.

A view of the wardrobe room on the set of Mad Men in Los Angeles.

Actor and director John Slattery on set in Los Angeles.

Jon Hamm and the crew of Mad Men film a scene on set in Los Angeles.

Weiner starts each season by having lunch with Hamm: 

"It's a rare partnership. I always scribble something down that 

ends up in Episode 13."

"I need not to think about my character," 

says January Jones who plays Betty Draper, ex-wife of Don Draper. 

"Betty is so blissfully ignorant in certain ways, 

so I feel like I should be too."

"There are all sorts of challenges thrown at her," 

says Christina Hendricks of her character, sexy office manager Joan Holloway. "Horrific things. And she consistently pulls it together, cleans it up and moves forward. Sometimes she's walking through mud, but she does it."

Jon Hamm on the set of Mad Men in Los Angeles.

"I don't really have that much in comparison to the way Don 

holds himself. I'm not that guy. I don't really look like that," 

says Hamm.

"I don't need to relate to her," Jones says of Betty Draper, 

the show's most unsympathetic character. 

"The biggest obstacle for me is not to judge her."

"I fly very low on the radar," says Hamm.

 "Mark Twain said it: 'I'd rather say nothing and be thought an idiot than open my mouth and remove all doubt.' Another Missouri boy, Mark Twain. The petulant, shitty movie-star mentality - that burns out pretty quick."

I am also attaching a little teaser to get you in the mood for tonight!  

I can't wait to see what this season holds. I did read in an interview that there will only be two more seasons after this one. It will be a sad day when the show is over.

(Note: All photos and quotes were taken from  Rolling Stone Magazine. The video is from YouTube.)