California Recap – Part II

Look at me! Another blog entry! I spoil you, you know. :p

Thursday Morning

Thursday morning was spent working out and then eating burritos bigger than our heads. There was also a further tour of Allison’s school where I bought honey from their farm and picked fresh lemons from their trees. If this is not paradise, I don’t know what is.

Thursday Afternoon

Allison, Dustin and I piled into Dustin’s car and made the long ass drive to Santa Monica. We took a leisurely stroll along the Santa Monica Pier, stopping to get our picture taken in a photo booth, play skee-ball and try on ugly sunglasses.

We rented beach cruisers and took a ride along the boardwalk down to Venice Beach. Well, Allison rented a beach cruiser. Dustin insisted on gears and hand brakes. And I wanted a bike with a basket.

Don’t I look lovely in terry cloth?

I love Venice. It’s a delicious mix of freaks, crazy homeless people, beach bums and tourists. I decidedly fall into that last group! I wish that I had taken more pictures, but I am too accident prone to hold a camera and bike at the same time. I attempted to take a picture of Allison and Dustin riding ahead of me and I almost wiped out. Note to self: next time you go biking, you should probably consider wearing a helmet.

After our bike ride was over, we took a walk through Santa Monica and then went and hung out on the beach to soak up some late afternoon sun. While trying to figure out what to do for dinner, we watched a young tourist couple look in vain for the girlfriend’s purse. Note to young tourist couples: leaving your passports, wallets, credit cards and all of your money in a cute designer purse sitting on the beach while you go for a swim falls under the realm of Very Bad Idea ™. Dumbasses.

Allison finally got the name of the restaurant that serves “delicious little garlic balls” by calling the friend that she had gone there with. I had already figured this out by googling “delicious little garlic balls santa monica” on my Treo, but she didn’t believe me. For the record, the restaurant is the C & O Trattoria, and those little garlic balls really were delicious. They also do a group sing of “That’s Amore,” where the waiters come around to all of the tables and toast with you as everyone sings along. I had so many of those damn garlic balls, I barely made a dent in my Fettucine Limone (fettucince with a vodka cream sauce and lemon zest). Best. Leftovers. Ever.

Friday Morning

Friday was a happy day, because it was Raging Waters Day! Hooray for water-slides and lazy rivers! True, you wait in line for a half hour to go down a slide in thirty seconds. But, hey, every minute spent in line was just another minute of sisterly bonding time. Plus, the people watching at water parks really can’t be beat.

Friday Night

Dustin and I debated whether or not to go to Borders at midnight to pick up a copy of Harry Potter. In the end, we decided that we were too tired from a long day of fun in the sun. Plus, I knew that my pre-ordered copy was going to be waiting for me when I got back to Boston. So, we had internet time and went to bed early. Internet time, BTW, was my sister’s name for Dustin and my annoying habit of getting out our laptops and hanging out while surfing the web. We’d both grab our laptops and she would go, “Oh no, not more internet time!” Then I would get up and give her a hug because a) I love her and b) it annoys the crap out of her. Good times.

Saturday Morning

Not even internet time could deter us from getting our hands on a copy of Harry Potter! Besides, fear of Harry Potter spoilers was cutting greatly into our enjoyment of internet time. So, when Allison said that, if went and got eggs, she would make us pancakes, we were out the door and on our way to Trader Joes and the bookstore! Allison was touched by the fact that I brought her back a copy of US Weekly. She was definitely more touched by the fact that Dustin brought her back a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Damn Show-off.

Allison, in a moment of selflessness and sisterly love, insisted that I be the first person to read Harry Potter. Harry Potter + pancakes = pure, unadulterated bliss. I spent the rest of the day lying on the couch on their front porch and devouring the book whole. Dustin, who was convinced that his favorite over achiever was destined for a green death, came out every now and then to shriek, “Is Hermione dead yet?!?!?” My answer was always, “Maybe.” Unfortunately, I have a tendency to get a little too into books and Allison came outside at one point and found me getting misty eyed. Oops.

I told Allison and Dustin that, at the beginning of the book, Voldemort realizes the error of his ways and buys all of the kids puppies. Then, the rest of the book is just one long tea party filled with petits fours and those little cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off. The part where I was getting all teary, a house elf burned some of the cookies. So sad. I’m a terrible liar, though. I don’t think that she believed me.

Saturday Night

Once again, we piled into the car and set off. This time, we were heading for our “Auntish” Chris’s house. Allison and Dusin attempted to ignore me as I finished the book in the back seat.

Our step-dad’s sister, Chris, is a lovely woman and she and her husband, Mike, are extremely gracious hosts. Mike and I made ravioli for dinner (I had expressed an interest in learning how), while Dustin took copious amounts of pictures. Then we were summarily stuffed to the gills with a delicious meal, fantastic wine and a dessert so scrumptious, I’m drooling right now just thinking about it. We stayed up late talking and then they sent us home with a bag of peaches from their garden.

This is the part where Kristian reminds me that it’s after midnight and I’ve been a grumpy gus all week due to sleep deprivation. So, I should probably go brush my teeth and hit the sack. Tune in tomorrow to find out what I did with all of those fresh peaches!