Santa Monica

Well we went California specifically to go to the Sounders match but we decided to make a whole weekend out of it. We stayed in Manhattan Beach and besides the match our plan consisted of two things:

1.) Go lay at the beach like a couple of lazy beach bums.

2.) Visit one of my oldest friends, Jill.

But it was sooo cooold in California over the weekend. Seriously it was in the 60's. I had to buy a sweater because I only packed tanks.

I'm not sure if I'm just used to the desert now or what. But 60's is too cold for me to sunbathe next to the ocean.

But I really wanted to see Santa Monica. It's been on my list of must see romanticized places since I first listened to Everclears album Sparkle and Fade in junior high. Sparkle and Fade is one of my Top 5 of all times and I can sing every word of that album verbatim. And Santa Monica is my favorite Everclear song of all time. ( My second favorite is Glorious off their little known album Welcome to the Drama Club)

(Side note: I have been to Nehalem Oregon too. So if I can get to Summerland California, I will have been to all three places mentioned on the album Sparkle and Fade. This is a 90's teenager dream.)

( Side note 2: I put Sparkle and Fade on to listen to while typing this blog and it's taken me 36 minutes to write this so far because I'm just sitting here singing my little heart out.)

So we headed to Santa Monica for the day. And it was everything I dreamed it would be, except warm.

The Santa Monica Pier

The Beach. (Le Sigh.)

The walkway up to Ocean Avenue.

See that cute blue necklace? It would later be sunburned in to my chest.

My dream of visiting Santa Monica complete!

Well almost... I never got near the sand or the ocean.

But there will definitely be a next time!

We spent the day walking around the 3rd Street Promenade and visiting the little shops. One of the shops had the most beautiful french macaroons. I didn't want to eat one in front of Chris since they are made of pure egg white. "It's not fair for me to eat it in front of you", I said.  To which he replied, " Well it's not fair that you will be in a wheelchair someday." Chris won. I ate three of them.

Then we headed to Venice Beach to see my friend Jill. We had dinner at this place called Larry's right next to the beach and it was fantastic. Jill is just as funny, charming and magnetic as she ever was. She seemed to know everyone at Larry's that night, which she swore was coincidence. Last time Jill and saw each other was about 8 years ago.  A group of us went to a book signing for the now disgraced author James Frey ( author of A Million Little Pieces, the man who duped Oprah) and we went out to dinner with him after the signing. I place all of this on Jill and her friend Bernice's hotness but it was still an incredible night for all of us.

We stayed out all night at a bar in Venice Beach with Jill and her friends. It was a total blast.  I didn't take anymore pictures. I wish I would have taken a photo of the stuffed badger that was on display at this bar. It prompted the line " I wonder when they got that. Honey Badgers didn't exist before YouTube."

We slept until 30 minutes until check out. But we are scheming to go back. As long as we live in Las Vegas and the coast is 5 hours away, we need to make more of a point to visit it. Lake Mead is a sad substitute for an ocean or the Puget Sound. And it smells like wet dogs.

...But on a sad note. I'm really frustrated with my body right now. One of the symptoms of MS is fatigue. And lately it's been really hot out and it's getting to me. I can hardly stay awake some days. I have honestly caught myself putting my head on the counter at work and starting to doze off bag of frosting in hand and everything.  Monday was bad because while I am naturally a carcoleptic, I try to stay awake on long drives and entertain Chris. While I slept 9 hours before we even got on the road I could barely stay awake while we were driving. I kept josteling myself awake and trying to focus on something but soon enough I was blinking myselft awake again because I was thinking myself to sleep. :( When we got home, I crawled right into bed for few hours. I didn't even feel like I had the energy to move. I just layed there. I fell asleep around 11 and woke up at 9:30 in the morning.

This is bad. But I implemented the last phase of the plan this week: getting back into the gym. This will be the subject of a whole other blog because I have been going to the "ladies only" section at the LVAC and frankly, it makes me embarrased to be a girl. I'm going again tonight, hopefully there will be fewer ladies reading 50 Shades of Gray on the treadmill.