This May, Wiley and I will have been a couple for 11 years. For almost 5 of those years we’ve been parents to two wild, wonderful children – Henry and Vivienne. Being parents has been the greatest adventure and we love (almost) every second of it. I spend almost all my time with them – day and night – and sometimes I miss it being just Wiley and I for a bit. The kids are so distracting and they often keep us from truly focusing on each other as much as we’d like.
So we started every few months taking 24 hours away to just have fun. 24 hours to pause being “mom” and “dad” and just be each others’ “babe”. Our day alone starts off with lunch – we always head to Kazu Nori for some quality, simple hand rolls and sake. Next time we will probably try something new but this spot never disappoints.
We always stay at JW Marriot at LA Live because it’s just such a gorgeous hotel and we love the proximity to everything (plus the views are insane!) They also have a fun pool area but we usually just spy on people down there from the comfort of our room. They also have the best customer service of any hotel we’ve stayed at. Everyone is so nice and helpful and on it.
We usually spend the entire time in our plush robes in the hotel room leaving only to murder a few cocktails and entrees at some amazing restaurant we’ve been eyeing. Our usual spot is Bestia but this time we hit up Faith & Flower (so good but didn’t dethrone our fav). My lobster pasta was delicious, but missing that special omg-ness that I love from Bestia’s Uni Pasta. And Wiley’s just happy as long as he gets his steak dinner (which is a very rare treat for him since I don’t eat or cook meat!). Overall the art deco ambience was stunning, I would love to go back and explore the menu a bit more.
After dinner, we rushed back to our robes and plush bed, ordered I, Tonya and called in some room service – a chocolate cake and ice cream scoop trio that was to die for and lasted maybe 4 seconds before we demolished it. Another thing that I love about JW Marriot at LA Live so much is there room service – everything is ah-mazing including the breaskfast in bed we had the next morning. Poached eggs, sourdough toast, potatoes, fresh orange juice and coffee. Perfection. Wish I could have room service every morning.
If you’re able to swing it (I know not every parent is in the position, we are lucky to have a lot of family nearby to help with the kids) then I highly recommend taking a day (or two!) to just get in some robes, order some room service and have some quality husband and wife bonding time. Go to fancy, no kids allowed restaurants, stay up late watching movies, order bowls of ice cream in bed, sleep in late, drink your coffee hot, enjoy the silence. It’s good for your relationship and your soul and it helps make you appreciate your kids that much more when you’re able to miss them a bit. On our drive home we talked the entire time about how excited we were to see them and while the house is usually a total disaster it’s a small price to pay for keeping the love alive in our marriage. 11 years later and I’m more in love with Wiley than ever.
Where We Eat:
Where We Stay:
