Last month we had the pleasure of spending the weekend at the lovely apartment complex of Astoria at Central Park West. At this point, we were really coming down to the homestretch of this pregnancy, as our due date was 2 weeks away. We obviously couldn’t travel anywhere by plane, nor did we want to risk driving more than a few hours to take a mini-vacation, but we needed one. What we decided to do was spend a weekend right in our backyard of Irvine, and get some R&R in before baby girl arrived. Astoria Apartments are the epitome of Luxury living, as you find out immediately when you pull into the complex. They offer Valet parking, which was awesome since we had some luggage and lots of groceries, and on top of the valet parking, they have fantastic staff that greet you at the door with a smile. The doorman provided us with a cart to bring all of our belongings to the room, so we loaded it up, hopped in the elevator and made our way to our room for the weekend.
We entered and were immediately impressed with the beautiful kitchen and wide open floor plan. They even left us a little gift basket on the counter which brought even more joy to our lives (Who doesn’t love a surprise gift basket?!) We then proceeded to tour the rest of the place, and just like the kitchen, everything was beautiful. Tasha couldn’t wait to soak in the massive bathtub and have me rub her feet–like all 9 month pregnant women deserve. Elliot (our first born) loved that this apartment complex was dog friendly, and that he had so much space to run around inside.
One of the things that got us most excited about staying at Astoria was the location. These apartments are walking distance from a foodies dream, Trade Food Hall. If you haven’t heard of this place, I feel sorry for you and you need to head over right away. We loved getting to wake up, have complimentary coffee in the lobby and then head over to Trade for lunch. The great thing about food-halls, especially this one, is that you have so many fantastic options which are perfect for when you go out with friends. Everyone will be happy when they can choose whatever food they are in the mood for. After you order everyone can sit at the same table and enjoy their beautiful outdoor space. This trip we decided to try three different spots to get appetizers, main course and dessert. The places we picked were Dos Chinos, Ground House Burger and Sweet Combforts for their amazing waffle pops. 
Following that amazing lunch, we headed back to the apartment complex and decided to check out some of the amenities and laid out by the pool for a little while. We loved how easily accessible the outdoor lounge, and pool were. We also loved how secluded we felt while we were relaxing, especially in the cabanas that lined the pool 🙂
For our next morning at Astoria, we decided to hit up another local spot that was about 2 miles away to grab some tasty Diner food. Farmer Boys was exactly what we needed, and we decided to order more than we should, but hey, we were on vacation. We also figured we would order enough to take back to our room and enjoy it for lunch with the drinks that were waiting for us. We went with a variety of items, which included, pancakes, burgers, a chicken sandwich and a massive breakfast platter. We felt really good about our choices, and everything came out picture perfect.
Fun fact, Tasha was not drinking an alcoholic beverage, but a virgin Bloody Mary. We recently came across this amazing product LAVA from an article that a friend shared about Best Non-Alcoholic Drinks for Athletes and were immediately drawn to one in particular as we thoroughly enjoy a Bloody for brunch. We decided to give it a go, and by we, I mean Tasha, because I still put a generous amount of Tito’s in mine 🙂
Overall, this trip was better than we planned. We were super comfy and ate way too much yummy food over the weekend, but we are team #NoRagrets and felt good about our choices. This is a place we would absolutely love to live in full time, and it was exactly what we needed to get recharged before the baby arrived. 
Until Next Time!
-Buddy
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PS. The baby is here, check out the last post.
PPS We need another staycation ASAP **Sleep deprivation is a real