Awesome Packages

I received this awesome package in the mail from my Aunt in Milwaukee this week. How cool is all this stuff!!!! My Aunt is brillant beyond belief! :) The Brillance of the Moon book is on loan as I have been reading the series, but the libraries here do not have great copies of the series, so it will be nice to have a book that I do not have to worry about missing pages with.
I just started reading the other book I received, called "The Tattooed Map" - by Barbara Hodgson. The book itself is a piece of artwork.
The apron that you see in the back gave me the urge to bake a cake this weekend so that is exactly what I did. I baked a Madagascar Vanilla Bourbon cake with homemade vanilla frosting that came out more as a glaze than an actual frosting....the result was delicious, even if the cake was not all that visually pleasing.
Last night we had dinner with friends at Frito Misto in Hermosa Beach. I had Thai ravioli which was good, but spicy hot, which made me drink more wine. We took a cab back and stopped at the Redondo Pier to meet up with friends who were out for an evening stroll at the beach, we chatted with them for a little while and then saw some friends at Najas so we stopped in there for a beer before heading home for the evening.
Today, I purchased a new HUGE dresser, which can actually hold all of my clothes as the last dresser was being held together by tape on the bottom of drawers and was not cutting it. The whole afternoon was spent putting it together and moving furniture around the bedroom. I think I like the set up and it is nice to have a change. :)
I am ready to crash tonight. I am just sitting in front of the screen listening to KCRW our fabulous public radio station. I have a full week ahead so hope everyone is doing well and had a great Father's Day.

I need a weekend to recover from this weekend

My weekend was a full one! On Friday after work, took the bus down to Hermosa Beach where they were hosting the AVP volleyball tour. Friday evening was the start of the festivities with a free concert by Ozomatli. They are such an energetic band...it was great!

After the concert I met up with friends at the Comedy & Magic Club...I think I am becoming a regular, and then went over to end the night at Hennessey's Tavern. They had a free drawing that evening and I ended up winning two passes to the Cuervo suite at the AVP tour for the next day.
Unfortunately, no one was available to go with me on Saturday and I knew I did not want to be out partying too late on Saturday, because I had planned a hiking trip on Sunday. So, my second plan was to try and get someone to take the tickets for themselves, but I could not find anyone who wanted them...so unfortunatley they went to waste. I had a day of panic on Saturday as I tried to go out and do some grocery shopping and my car would not turn over. I was so sad because I thought my car was on it's last legs. I was so close to also canceling the hike with friends the next day, but my hiking friend was kind enough to come all the way over and pick me up in the morning so I made the hike.
We headed up North to Altadena to hike the Dawn Mine Trail. The morning was misty and wet and seemed almost like rain. We hiked up the canyon from the parking lot and signed in at the beginning of the trail.

We did not have much of a view
There were a lot of plants that were in full bloom along the trail including a TON of poison oak that we are all hoping we did not brush up against.












Here is pic of our crew that a couple of nice hikers took before they split from our pack and took a different fork in the trail

Our stop before we descended into the canyon was once a trolley stop for resort guests in the area. Now the train tracks have been paved over for a fire road, but they still had the covered bench stop.
As we descending into the canyon, the trail got a little more hairy...as in side of the cliff hairy.

Once we reached the mine, we stopped for lunch on the creek rocks and rested before we made our trek back through the creek bed. The area was still misty and rainy and the camera lens finally fogged over to the point where I could not take any good photos. :(
But, as we made our way down the creek trail, we finally came into the light.
Here we are traversing the rocks and doing a LOT of creek crossing.

At the end of the trail on the way back to our original starting point we finally go to see the view that we missed in the morning, we were SO happy that it was sunny on the way down instead of on the way up the canyon. :)

Seven miles round trip, it was a great hike! I did not even wake up with sore muscles...only one sore knee from climbing down all those creek bed rocks. Today, I went into work and then carpooled up to the valley to volunteer in a golf tournament as a witness on the green. It was four hours of sitting and watching people tee off. I wish I had remembered to bring a book or a card game or something to keep me occupied, because it was the longest four hours EVER. At least the sun was out and I was happy because my car started and seemed to be doing fine today....we will be taking it in to the mechanic anyway, but at least now I do not have to worry about towing it from the house.

Humidity

So, this past weekend was a slow one. On Friday, we went to the Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa with some friends that had won tickets...and thank goodness they won tickets because we spent what seemed like a month's rent on food and drink (they have a 2 drink minimum).

Saturday, I woke up to something I could not explain. The sun was so bright and there was no marine layer in the morning to cool off the beach area. We went around and did some errands and I looked down at my arm and saw something sparkling....what is this? what what....AHHHH sweat...we have humidity down here. It felt like the kind of humidity you get in the midwest where everything is sticky. We immediately opened all the windows in the apt so we would not bake ourselves and put the fans in full motion. Of course, we lost all ability to do anything besides sit around and hope that a friend would drop by with popsicles. I ended up spending the afternoon reading "Marley & Me" by John Grogan.
Very cute book!
That evening we watched Good Night & Good Luck, which was ok, but I am not sure I was in the mood for a movie that you had to give all your attention to. I was very antsy at that point because it was now cool outside and I had spent all day escaping the heat in the apt. On Sunday, it was more of driving around and not seeming to get anything done at all. I am in the process of finally trying to find a real dresser instead of the Ikea piece that I have that is made of MDF and I have strong opinions regarding MDF. No new dresser this weekend.

On Sunday night we went to a friend's house for BBQ and had a nice dinner on their balcony while the sun went down.
Today, I walked home from work and had my trusty ipod to keep me company. I need to get some new playlists for walking home though because I am starting to fast forward through most of the songs as I hear them over and over again. Right now this is my playlist:

Band - Song Title
Sigur Ros - Saeglopur
Editors - Munich
Phoenix - Long Distance Call
Black Eyed Peas - Don't Lie
Buena Vista Social Club - Hey Caramba
Bob Mould - See a little light
David Bowie - Queen Bitch
Guster - Amsterdam
The Police - Canary in a Coalmine
Replacements - Alex Chilton
They Might be Giants - Ana Ng
Wilco - I'm Always in Love
Fountains of Wayne - It Must Be Summer
Iggy & the Stooges - Search & Destroy
The La's - There She Goes
Sinead O'Connor - Mandinka

If anyone has any ideas on what songs I could add to my list for a good upbeat mix, please let me know!!! :)

What a weekend - Summer is here!

I could not ask for a nicer weekend! On Saturday, we headed out early to get some shopping done and my mother would be so proud because I got quite a few nice pieces for work. I stopped by the banana republic and picked up some sweet silk shirts (one in white, one in black) and a sweater. Also picked up some classy shoes and had enough time to get home and get ready to grab the bikes and head for some fun at the beach!

We hopped on the bikes and rode down to Hermosa Beach, where Festival Hermosa was already in full swing. We met friends at the beer garden after taking a long time to find a place to lock the bikes up...we ended up finding an old phone booth that no longer had it's phone and locked the bikes there. If we had brought the car down...there was no way we would have found a spot. It is best to leave the car at home on a vacation weekend like this one when you live near the beach. Here is a pic of the madness in the beer garden.

We did not spend too long in the beer garden, it was crowded with some rowdy people and the band that was playing was called "The Silly little Twits" ...they were a cover band that played a lot of 70s. I have no idea why they came up with that name. They seemed to be in the spirit of the beer garden though as they would play one or two songs at a time and then take a break for a beverage.
We moved onto the main pier area in Hermosa after the garden and we were lucky enough to get a table on the roof at Hennessey's!!!
That right there is major!!! You usually have to wait forEVER for a roof top table, as they are in high demand on such a beautiful weekend. It pays to be nice to the bouncer!!! :) We could see out all over the beach from our spot.
We also had a nice view of the pier street in Hermosa where they had a David Bowie cover. I like Bowie, but this guy went a little too far with a white mullet wig and stretch pants. You can sing the songs, but you do not need to dress up like that and make a joke of it all. Here are the people below at the concert level as well as the festival Hermosa.

We stayed and hung out until it was starting to get chilly and breezy and then we headed back to our friends place for a BBQ and to hang out on their balcony with some ice cream sandwiches....which is exactly what we did.
Something that I did not write about before was that on the pier in Hermosa, one of the most popular spots for the cool young kids to hang out, Sharkeez, burned down. It has left a big hole in the pier avenue area. Luckily the fire wall between the two buildings on either side was enough to keep it from spreading to the whole street. They were really lucky that no one was inside at the time...it was 4am when it happened, because that bar was always so crowded it was a HUGE fire hazzard to begin with.
They are going to rebuild soon, which is good because then it will keep the crowds out of the other bars.
Sunday, we watched the Indy 500 and then part of the Coca Cola 600. It was a huge race day. :) More BBQ at our friend's place and then we crashed in the afternoon. I made sure to call my sister before we left for the race watching as it was her B-day. :)
Today, we went down to the beach in the morning and stayed ALL day long playing beach volleyball. I think I did a pretty good job on keeping on enough sunscreen to not get burned, but I am definitely exhausted after a long day in the sun. I am glad to finally relax at home even though I wish the weekend was not over.
P.S. Here are the shoes I bought on Saturday. :)