Lifestyle
What you missed
Oct 13th
Why has Natalie been so M.I.A., you ask?
Oh, no reason… except of course for the fact that I planned a wedding, had a wedding, and went on a 3-week, tri-country honeymoon vacation since we last spoke. So, no big deal really.
Here’s some snapshots of what you can expect from life, if you choose to get married in Southern California and then fly to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia for almost a full month of alone time with your hot-cake husband.
To fully understand the magnitude of this story, you must first 
meet my dream dress.
Oh look, there’s me, in it… staring at a lighthouse in the distance. See? It’s pretty magical already, isn’t it?
Here’s my handsome husband, being the gentleman that he is.
And here’s us days later, escaping reality in our overwater bungalow on Tahiti’s Moorea island.
What did we do next? Did we go to New Zealand, to dig into the sand for a natural geiser’s hot water to soak our feet in at sunset?
Yes. It appears we did.
And after that, did we go to Australia and meet a Koala in Sydney named Mo?
Yes. We did that too.
Traveling the world with the person you plan to spend your whole life with is as good as it looks people.
Viva la adventure.
I’ve missed you. But I’m back.
Katrina’s Christmas goes to SB County
Nov 1st
I know it’s terrible, but I skipped Halloween this year. Totally skipped it. Didn’t even awknowledge it. But, I did have a good reason. Instead of Trick-or-treating, I sold over 75 books to retail stores and bookstores up the California coast. Which is so much more satisfying than eating tons of snickers while wearing the same purple wig I wore last year <again>.
Here’s how it happened: The bf and I got in the car Friday night and headed north up the coast, hitting Santa Barbara, Montecito, Santa Ynez, Santa Maria, Solvang and San Luis Obispo on the way.
We brought a box of 120 Katrina’s Christmas kids books and a surf board, and visited the most adorable gift shops, indy bookstores, Christmas specialty stores and bakeries, peddling my book old-world style the entire time, and spreading the Katrina’s Christmas love!
Check out pics of some of the awesome stores that are supporting Katrina’s Christmas.
The Mighty Trees
Sep 29th
In the “Sunny” series, you may have pegged me as a beach-dweling, cat-hugging, cupcake-eater (which is true), but trust me, there’s more to me than that.
I love to be in nature, camping, with friends.
There’s really very few things I like better.
Check out the amazing crew that accompanied me to Sequoia National Forrest. I am the one wearing the white hat, on the far Right.
We went to see the giant Sequoia trees. (Look how small my boyfriend Igor and I compared to this mammoth tree)!
I mean, this is pretty crazy stuff. Me and 3 of my fully-grown, adult friends fit inside the mere cracks at the base of this tree…
We sang by the campfire (many of my friends are very talented musicians, so it was more like a private outdoor concert than a “kumbaya” type of campfire singing); saw Jupiter through a telescope; hiked 11 miles; and went inside a marble cave.
So glad I could share this with you!
Sunny (Part 2)
Sep 28th
As promised, here is Part 2 of my photo tribute. So let’s pick up right where I left off…
Remind me. We left off with the llamas, right?
Hmm. No.
No, we didn’t.
Okay, well, no matter.
We walked to Manhattan Beach the next night…
Bought cupcakes from Cupcakes Couture on Manhattan Avenue
Did math at a bar (It looks like we might just be figuring out the bill, but we’re not. Igor [my boyfriend] and Adrienne [my sister] really wrote math problems for eachother to solve–for fun).
Had a brunch cookoff the next morning (Justin [my sister's boyfriend] challenged me to a Bobby Flay-style Throwdown, and I WON!) *I made the dish in the middle, a Bananna Macadamia Nut French Toast made with Godiva Liquor.
And played board games by the campfire we made in our backyard, until we had to say “Adeui!”
It’s always sunny in California
Sep 27th
Let me just start off by saying: I love my family.
My amazing sister and her amazing boyfriend recently paid me a visit in LA, hailing all the way from the East Coast!
Here is an amazing photo tribute (Part 1):
Early on in the vacation, my sister proves that she cannot be weened off of caffeine, even though she is claims to be “relaxing.” (In her defense: She is a college student).
All hopped on coffee, we headed to the Hermosa Beach Pier.
And it wasn’t long before we started to shop! (Notice that my boyfriend is hugging not me, but his football)…
*First person to accurately guess what the writing on my shirt says, gets a $10 Starbucks gift card! [submit your answers to: natalieingerauthor@gmail.com]
Then, it was time to play on the beach. (Here, my sister [Adrienne] and her boyfriend [Justin] look decievingly like real Californians!)
And in the normal SoCal fashion, we continued to play on the beach until sunset. (No, this photo has not been enhanced. Sunset on the West Coast is ACTUALLY this awesome!)
Oh yeah, and somehow, in between it all, we also made time to meet some newborn kitties and Sponge Bob.
In short: It was just another average day in sunny California!
“If you’re a bird; I’m a bird.” (Be the first to name the movie that this quote is from and I will send you a FREE copy of my book: Gingerbread Masks!) [submit answers to: natalieingerauthor@gmail.com].
Stay tuned tomorrow for Part 2!