Lately in LA (and Other Places)

So nobody seemed to care about the circus, haha. It's ok. I still enjoyed it :)

Things of late have included dates, dinners, friends, games (Zombie Fluxx, Power Grid, Zombies, and Bang! of course), and a LOT of LA visiting. I went back to my beloved Versailles, and also got a bit of Red Mango while in Westwood. Saw Harry Potter (at the beautiful Fox Village Theatre, aka Mann Village Theatre) and was underwhelmed. (I'm not a Harry Potter buff, and while I enjoyed the books, I think the casting for the movies is pretty unimpressive and that, ultimately, the movies made me like the books a lot less.)

Over the weekend the boy and I spent a few relaxing nights in LA after attending a friend's birthday dinner on Lido Isle (which is actually in Orange County, not LA). I can't remember the exact name because the restaurant our (too large!) group was at has no website and the only prominent sign I recall was one baring the words: "Mediterranean Restaurant." Which it was. And it was good! The boy and I shared a spinach and feta appetizer wrapped in fillo dough, and a "Yogurt Kabob" which was a beef kabob surrounded by a tomato yogurt (?) sauce on top of a number of delicious crouton type things. The croutons really made the dish. It's hard to describe, but believe me, it was good. I'm looking forward to going back sometime with a smaller group or just the boy. The view is gorgeous (Lido Isle is a small piece of land right next to Balboa Island, so it's surrounded by beautiful Newport Beach/Bay water, complete with yachts and gondolas) and the quaint little restaurant had a lot of romantic charm.

A bit of Italian/Argentinian food, a bit of sushi, a bit of Wing Stop, a bit of fruit, ice cream and dumplings, and a bit of homemade potato bread french toast (my own!) rounded out the weekend. I also grabbed some Lofthouse Frosted Cookies on a whim - they're decidedly terrible for you but OH so deliciously tasty, and thus some of my favorite store bought cookies of all time.

In addition to the above, I've been doing a lot of cleaning (with good help, at times). And I've been enjoying it! My car is clean, both on the inside and the outside. The entire downstairs of my house, including the garage/pool room is clean and organized (which was ideal for having people over). My room is clean, minus my desk, but once my roses die (they make the clutter look quite nice, actually) I'll probably clean my desk as well.

Oh, and because I haven't specified yet, the above pictures were taken while I was on Lido Isle. A quaint little place, isn't it? :)