A Fun Week and a Half

So the day after we were scammed downtown, Charlie had to work the Hermosa Summer Concert Series again (3 Sundays down, 1 to go!). This time, I decided to come out for the show. After lounging by the pool for the majority of the afternoon, I took a margarita to-go, and headed towards the beach. Because I had blisters on the bottoms of my feet from walking around downtown LA the night before, I decided to drive rather than to walk. It took me 40 minutes to find parking!!! It was ridiculous, but I made it to the beach with about 2 minutes to spare before the music started.

The opener was called James Clay Garrison. They were an upbeat jam band, much like a show you'd see at Summer Camp. They were great! We skipped out on a little bit of the show to take shots of Patron at The Lighthouse and to put our feet in the ocean. After getting soaked by a wave, we went back up to the beach to watch the show. After James Clay Garrison, The Spazmatics came on. The Spazmatics are an 80's cover band who frequently play at Saint Rocke. Charlie and I had seen them before, but they're a can't miss show! They all dress up as nerds (suspenders, neck brace, high waisted pants, black rimmed glasses, etc.) and play some of the most upbeat 80's tunes that you can think of. Every show they play is different, but you can always expect a good time! Some of the songs they played during this show were Sweet Dreams, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Pour Some Sugar on Me. We danced on the beach (in a huge, unexpected crowd) for the majority of the show, but we also ran over to Hennesseys to take Vegas bombs and ended up on the back of the stage at one point.

James Clay Garrison

           The Spazmatics

 The large crowd ...8,000 people!

 Sunset after the show

It was an incredible show, the weather was great, and the sun setting at the end of it was beautiful! I got Pita Pit on my way back to the car, Charlie met me back at work (we were still house-sitting), and we had a relaxing night of doing nothing!

Monday was our last day of house-sitting. I hung out at the pool for a few hours, Charlie met me on his lunch break, then I packed up all of our clothes and food and headed home. It was nice being back at our place after 5 days of being gone. I went grocery shopping, cooked us dinner, and we relaxed! Tuesday I went to my dad's to wash my car and help him get a forum up and running. Afterwards, I met Charlie for an unexpected lunch date at a place called Chinese Cafe in Manhattan. I had driven by it hundreds of times but never actually stopped to eat there. It was cafeteria-style Chinese (much like Panda Express), but it was pretty damn delicious! After lunch, I came home to lay out (go figure), and then got ready for dinner. We walked over to El Torito on the Redondo Pier to meet my dad and Lisa for dinner. We each got a margarita and split the chicken and steak fajitas (sluuurp!). After dinner, the four of us walked around on the pier. It was a chilly but beautiful evening.

I can't remember what we did on Wednesday (besides me going to the pool), so it mustn't have been very memorable! Oh yes, Charlie had ordered me a surprise gift and it came in the mail ...we got an ice cream maker :) I'm sure I'll be making lots of fro-yo and sorbet with it.

Thursday after dinner we played a few games of pool ...we usually play best out of 3, and I won for the first time ...how exciting! After pool, we came upstairs for a little ice cream dessert.

Friday was Charlie's last day at VOX DJ's. He only worked til 10am, and when he got home, the Time Warner guy was here. After 9 months without it, we finally got cable and internet. It's nice to be civilized, but I have loved not having cable or internet. It gives us so much time to talk and spend together...maybe that's why older couples stay together for 50+ years ...back in their day, they didn't have electronics to keep them busy and distracted from spending quality, uninterrupted time together. Anyway, while the cable guy was here, Charlie was busy mixing up margaritas, and Mike showed up! The three of us were headed to San Diego for the day. Once we finally got on the road, it took us about two hours to get down there, because we hit some traffic.

Once we finally got to San Diego, we headed straight to Old Town. I am in love with Mexican food, and Old Town is my absolute favorite place to get it. I haven't found anywhere in LA that even comes close to the food in Old Town. The first place we stopped was Fred's...for some of my favorite chips, salsa, and margaritas! After two rounds of each, we walked down the street to grab some lunch. Before we got to lunch, we hit up Hot Licks. Hot Licks is a store that has over 150 hot sauces ...which you can sample. Mike and Charlie were each given a toothpick with a little sauce on it. Their mouths were still burning when we got to the restaurant, Casa de Reyes. We ordered up a pitcher of margaritas, the boys had ceviche, and Charlie and I got carne asada burritos while Mike had cheese enchiladas.

After we were all drunk and extremely full, we got in the car and headed to Del Mar racetrack for the Michael Franti show. Once inside, we headed straight to the concert stage where we got front row 'seats'! With less than 10 people there (we got there about 2 hours early), Michael Franti came out to say hello! He played his acoustic guitar and sang 'Life is Better With You'. It was probably the coolest Franti experience I've had in the now 5 shows that I've seen. After some more waiting and multiple beers, the show finally started. Usually racetrack shows last about an hour, but we played for two hours. As always, it was a great show, and I danced like a fool!

 "Whoaa, whoa, life is better with you..."

 Charlie & Michael, Me & Jay Boogie (guitar player)

The next day, Sunday, was the final day of Hermosa Summer Concert Series. On the bill were Common Sense and The Aggrolites, both reggae/ska/rock bands. Charlie had to work all morning again, so I hung out poolside until about 4PM. I mixed up some margaritas, put them in water bottles, and headed to Hermosa on my bike. We watched some of Common Sense, and then Luke joined us. The three of us headed to the bars for some Patron shots then headed back to watch The Aggrolites. Both shows (from what I can remember) were great! After both bands had played, Charlie had to tear down, so Luke and I walked up Pier Ave. to grab some dinner. We decided on Thai Top, a place I had always wanted to go to but had never been. We split some delicious veggie egg rolls, he got salad while I got a not-so-tasty soup, and then we each ordered a plate of the chicken pad Thai. The pad Thai wasn't as spicy as I like it, but it still tasted great. By this point, I was full and not ready to do anymore drinking, so we all parted ways.

Common Sense

Shots, shots, shotsss

"Thanks for a great year of summer concerts, Hermosa Beach!"

Monday and Tuesday I hung poolside, did some cooking, and winded up my two week vacation. Tuesday night I attempted making homemade ravioli for the first time. It's something I've wanted to do for a very long time. It was actually a success! I filled them with a mixture of chicken sausage & ricotta, and they were topped with a garlic wine cream sauce.

             Making the dough, rolling it out, and cutting out ravioli shapes!

Filling ravioli & boiling it

Taa-daa! The finished product!

Wednesday I came back to work! Wednesday night Charlie and I had a date night. We made wet beef burritos for dinner followed by a playing a round at Putting Edge. Putting Edge is glow-in-the-dark, indoor mini golf. After tying on the first 9 holes, Charlie ended up beating me after 18, so I had to pay my debt. We had bet on fro-yo, although, we couldn't seem to find a fro-yo spot on the way home. We settled for gelato at Paciugo in Hermosa.

♥♥♥

It's been a fun quick week, and now I'm babysitting the girls after my normal nannying hours tonight, and then Charlie and I are going to Saint Rocke for Fishbone. His dad and stepmom Giann will be in town for the weekend ...we are both very much looking forward to it! This weekend is also the big volleyball tournament in Manhattan Beach -- the US Open....always a fun time. I'm sure I'll have lots to write about next week!

Until then ...toodles!

Scammed.

Oohh boyy, where do I begin?!

Well, Friday night Charlie and I grilled a chicken alfredo pizza. The original recipe I had called for Lawry's Original Marinade. I couldn't find the marinade anywhere, so I substituted with alfredo. We grilled chicken breasts and a Boboli crust. Once the chicken was done grilling, we chopped it up. We put alfredo, chicken, tomato, red onion, fresh grated mozzarella, and parmesan cheese on the pizza ...grilled it for about 10 minutes to let all the cheese melt. It was pretty damn good! We had a relaxing night of kicking back with beers and catching up with Luke.

Saturday morning Charlie had to get up early for work. He was home by 11, and I was ready for a day by the pool. We had a nice little spread of two types of cheese (Bon Chaume & a smoked gouda), cut up pineapple and strawberries, crackers, and a bottle of red wine. We snacked all day while we had a blast in the pool together. We had squirt gun fights, played "target practice" with the squirt guns, raced on our rafts, and just had the best time playing around in the pool. After swimming for a few hours, we worked up a real appetite, so I made us grilled potato salad and chili dogs.

Around 3PM, we decided to head inside to shower and get ready to head downtown. After arriving downtown, we got some drinks at Hotel Figueroa, walked through LA Live, and had to go meet Tony. If you read my last post, you would know that we were going to meet with Tony to buy all access passes to the sold out Red Hot Chili Peppers show. We finally met up with him at the Hooters near Staples Center. We did our research on this guy, and he seemed extremely legitimate. He has a photography business, and he has all of his information advertised online. So, we got the tickets from Tony, and before we headed to Staples Center, we decided to have a meal. I haven't been to Hooters in years, and it was always one of my favorite places for wings. We got a pitcher of beer and ordered wings and cheese fries. The wings were luke warm, the fries weren't seasoned properly, and the service was horrible. I will never return to the LA Hooters ever again.

LA Live official olympic headquarters

Drinks at Hotel Figueroa

Anyway, after we ate and drank our pitcher, it was the moment of truth. We got to Staples Center, went through security, and then we were stopped. The people working the door told us we had to go to 'gate 18' aka the media gate. We thought it seemed very legit, since they knew exactly where we needed to go. Eventually, we found 'gate 18', and we were immediately stopped. The doorman had to call security, because they didn't recognize our passes. Soon after speaking to security, the police came. Oh shit. The doorman was polite while doing his job at the same time, but these cops were complete assholes. Yes, neither Charlie or I are fans of cops, but these cops were seriously rude. One cop was talking to Charlie while the other cop pulled me aside so that he could talk to me. After being extremely rude and trying to accuse me of things (which including lying ...and if you know me, you know I don't lie ...even to cops!), I was half drunk and NOT happy. I told him he was being extremely rude and attacking me for no reason. He said I lied to him, and I told him that he was not being thorough enough with his questioning. After putting him in his place, his attitude changed 100%. [As a side note, I was extremely proud of myself. I don't care if you're my parents, a policeman, the president of the United States, or God. There is absolutely no excuse for begin so rude for no reason, and I will not let you walk all over me.]

Okay, all of that aside ...we ended up not getting in to the show! We gave the cops all of Tony's information that we had (name, phone number, address from his website, and email address). We knew that even if the cops were to find this guy, we would never see our $150 again. WRONG. To make a long story short, Charlie kept trying to call the guy, and after threatening him with a text that we were going to the police, he actually answered. He 'felt horrible' and claimed that 'he was set up'. We promised him that we wouldn't bring the cops with us if he just gave us our money back. After multiple phone calls and a few hours of waiting around, we finally met up with Tony and got our money back. Although it was a stressful and very disappointing night, we couldn't help but just laugh at the end of it all. He is the worst scam artist on earth. As Charlie put it, if you're going to scam someone Rule #1: No refunds, Rule #2: Don't give out your real information. This guy was a complete fool. So in the end we got our money back, and I'm hoping the cops end up catching the guy! We're totally bummed that we missed the Red Hot Chili Peppers show, but it's definitely a night we'll never forget.

As I type this, Charlie has already left for the day to work the Hermosa Summer Concerts. Today is the Spazmatics show. They're an awesome 80's cover band! I plan to head down for the show later this evening. It's actually been warm the last couple of nights. If you live in California, or you've ever been here, you know that California nights are COLD...even in the summer. The past few nights have reminded me of Illinois nights (my favorite!), so I'm really looking forward to the show!

Until next time ...Adios!