Carrie – Page 10 – thosecoolkims

Officially a Preschooler

I want to write something, I really do – but I just cannot accurately express my feelings on Ruby’s 1st Day of Preschool! I’m truly very happy — she is SO excited about going to school, and I’m thrilled that she practically ran out of this house and sprinted inside only after we reminded her to give us a kiss. I feel fortunate that she is able to go to such a sweet little school, with a wonderful teacher that Ed and I instantly connected with upon meeting her. I also feel rewarded by seeing that she is becoming the bright-eyed, optimistic and independent girl I’ve always hoped she will be.

We only had one meltdown — it wasn’t at the school because we had to leave her, it was because she had to take off the backback to get strapped inside her car seat.

I convinced her to leave her shades at home so they wouldn’t get lost at school. Of course she had to get one pose in with the sunglasses though, since they are her very favorite accessory these days.

All I can say now is that my heart is exploding over how much I love this this little girl. I feel proud, I feel happy and I feel nervous all at the same time. I am looking forward to seeing that face at 3:30 now more than ever, and I can’t wait to get all the details on her 1st day. Stay tuned. :)

The L.A. French Dip Face-off: Cole’s and Philippe

We’ve been known to do a few foodie face-offs, and today we decided to compare Philippe and Cole’s to see who has the best French Dip Sandwich. They both claim to be the originators (read the rivalry story here) and are about 1.5 miles apart from each other. We’d been to Philippe before, but never Cole’s. While they both are amazing locations, we had to give Cole’s a slight edge on the ambiance. It’s dark and old-timey inside, and even has a urinal that was supposedly used by Charles Bukowski! :) The main difference is Cole’s is a sit-down-and-be-served establishment, with a bar inside. At Philippe, it’s bright and bustling inside, you order at the counter and seat yourself.

Cole’s served their sandwich with the au jus on the side, and it came with one of their “atomic pickles”. The pickle takes things over the top — they are so spicy, but really good! You’re supposed to add the hot mustard (seasoned with horseradish), but Ed and I weren’t big fans of the mustard.

Philippe serves their sandwich “wet”, which means the bun has already been dipped in the au jus. We could’ve asked for a “double dip”, but kept things simple. We didn’t realize you had to order the pickle separately (boo!), so we missed out on the pickle comparison.

The verdict? Ed and I both agreed on this one — it was Cole’s. We thought the meat tasted better, we liked dipping our own sandwich to meet our own preferential au jus to sandwich ratios, and the pickle … that pickle!

Of course, Philippe is still the bomb — it’s a great place to go, and a must-do in Los Angeles. But there can only be one winner of a face-off, and for us, it’s Cole’s!

Saturday Fun, parts 1 and II

Today Ruby went to her 1st full-length feature film. We hopped in the car very early and drove up to the El Capitan in Hollywood to catch the 10:00am showing of Monsters University. We were excited to find out if Ruby could hang with an entire movie, and we couldn’t deny being curious about the latest Pixar movie, either. The verdict? Ruby loved it.(And, she seriously loves popcorn, too.)

We celebrated this first movie milestone by having ice cream sundaes at the Soda Fountain next door.

Later that day, we were feeling a little antsy and wanted to spend some time outdoors. We headed to Belmont Shore, grabbed an early dinner on 2nd Street, and decided to play at the beach a little bit before bedtime. It was gorgeous out there today. I was lucky enough to have the best view around — watching Ed + Ruby play was the best way to wrap up our fun little day.

Happy 4th, 2013!

Today we spent the 4th as a family — just the three of us. We also did three things we love to do: drive, eat and hang out in L.A. With a Fiat 500c convertible that was perfect to cruise in, we were everywhere from Huntington Beach to Artesia in the morning/early afternoon, and then we headed to the Grand Park in Downtown L.A. that evening for some quality time in the best splash pad ever and to catch a fireworks show!

Here are a few snaps from our day:

(more pics)

Fathers Day 2013

We had a great time celebrating the best dad in the world this weekend! Ed woke up and got to enjoy his very favorite Weisswurst sausages for breakfast — with sweet mustard, of course — straight from Bavaria, thanks to Andreas, who is visiting us from Germany. Ed couldn’t have been happier.

After breakfast, we headed out to the Concours d’Elegance in Beverly Hills. Each year, they close down Rodeo Drive, line it with expensive, unusual and exotic cars, and allow for some serious oohing and ahhhing for those of us not in the 1%! It was a blast.

Since we were right around the corner, we decided we had to take an ice cream break, and headed over to Ice Cream Lab. They make the ice cream right there in front of you. Since we couldn’t decide on one flavor, the four of us shared four different kinds. It was perfect!

Afterwards, we decided to head over to Amoeba to get a little record shopping in, and since Andreas mentioned he still hadn’t had an American burger yet on his visit (we’ve been filling him with Mexican food!), we decided he had to experience Umami Burger. As you’d expect, it went over very well!

Ed said it was a great day, so we consider our celebration of the world’s greatest dad a huge success!