House Guests
I've been pretty lazy about blogging lately, but it's not all because I'm a notorious procrastinator. Recently, Guillaume and I have had some very nice company come through our little auberge in Long Beach, which has been (happily) occupying my time off.
Guillaume's friend from school, JB, came 2 weekends ago by way of the Pacific Coast Hwy from Berkeley, where he's also doing an internship. He brought his sister along who was visiting from France, and they pretty much lived like beach-bums during their stay here. I got to see Santa Monica and its beaches for the first time, which I had mixed feelings about. The beach is pretty crappy, with people's litter all over with a bunch of snot-nosed, dirty-diapered kids running wild, but Santa Monica, especially the Promenade, is seriously nice. It's definitely a place I could find myself wandering to occasionally. We discovered Cafe Crepe, a hidden treasure of an eatery there, too...it's the best little Frenchy cafe we've found in the LA area so far, and it's cheap, too!! We've taken 4 French people there (not including Gui), and they've all raved about how great it is! So, besides Santa Monica, we took them to our fave beach, Huntington Beach and got to see the place during a surf competition. I also got super-duper sun-burned while there (pics below), and I'm still peeling from that burn.
Last weekend, we had another pair of visitors, our friend Ber's little sis Steph (and by little, I mean super tall and gorgeous) and her beau, Yves. I'd met Steph in France last summer during my first visit with the kids, but we otherwise didn't know eachother. Their stay turned out to be so much fun...we really enjoyed having them around and it was even cooler that they brought video and pictures from their earlier trip to Texas. It was good (albeit a little sad) to see everyone back home hanging out (and little Oak is soo big!!!), and we got to hear some stories about their visit and what they'd been up to while they were there. We all got (re-)acquainted over a few pints of Foster's, Shiner, Fat Tire and Strongbow at one of our little Irish pubs in Belmont Shore. I finally got to visit the Getty Museum, which was absolutely awesome; the Manet was cool, but I was much more impressed with the Zoopsia exhibit and the museum itself. I'll definitely recommend it to everyone who visits the LA area! Unfortunately, while we were having lunch there Steph came across a nasty bay leaf in her turkey chilli, which nearly killed her (no joke). Luckily, Yves swooped in with the heimlich maneuver and saved the day. But, seriously, she gave us a scare and afterwards, I thought of how Bertrand would never talk to me again if something had actually happened to her! We made sure she chewed her food thoroughly thereafter, and spent the rest of our time on the beaches of Malibu and walking around my favorite place in Venice Beach - the canals. We really enjoyed having them here, and they treated us to a nice dinner at one of our favorite places in Long Beach.
So, a jam-packed last few weeks and now Gui and I are ready to chill this weekend. We've got a lot of laundry to do, too.
Here are some pics of recent adventures with friends - new and old. Good times.
JB left his hat behind...look who's taking care of it now.
Walking....trying to be a photographer.
Our typical liquor store stop (for beer) on the way to HB.
Mom & Joe would be happy ... lots of fishing in SoCal.
A tourist in Santa Monica...there were tons of French peeps!
JB happy in the sun.
Time for a swim.
Santa Monica from the beach.
Santa Monica bridge to the pier.
Pier in Huntington Beach...that's a Ruby's Diner at the end...mmm...shakes.
A sponsor for the surfing competition at HB...so, free energy drinks for all!
HB from the beach....I love this beach.
Cute.
JB & his sis, Matilde.
A nice sunglass tan.
We're brown, man.
And, a little red.
Our dessert from Claim Jumper (we went here instead of the OC Fair which was charging an arm an a leg). I think we made a good choice. :)
Good thing we shared it (and brought it home to eat with Steph & Yves).
Yves & Steph arrived with gifts...flowers & champagne. I love French folks.
Straight to the beach. (Long Beach)
After a pitcher of Foster's and a Strongbow, we finally had dinner.
Mmmm...sweet crepe with lots of CREME ;) (Steph hates cream.)
Guillaume snapped this mid-blink, so I look trashed.
Too bad it wasn't true (I was driving). Hehe.
Yves & Guillaume - La Creperie, Long Beach.
Santa Monica...on the other side of the pier.
Santa Monica.
Santa Monica from PCH coming from Malibu. So nice.
Ah, our new spot when in Santa Monica.
THE best coffee in the world.
Striking a pose.
Looking at the wrong camera.
Looking at the wrong camera :)
We were all so tired at this point...I'm surprised Guillaume's so smiley.
Back to the car....
Guillaume under the pier in Malibu.
Malibu pier
Steph & Yves
Trying to get to the other side of the beach....
A little help, please? :)
Pfff...rocks, schmocks.
Malibu
Yay, we love having visitors!
Guillaume's friend from school, JB, came 2 weekends ago by way of the Pacific Coast Hwy from Berkeley, where he's also doing an internship. He brought his sister along who was visiting from France, and they pretty much lived like beach-bums during their stay here. I got to see Santa Monica and its beaches for the first time, which I had mixed feelings about. The beach is pretty crappy, with people's litter all over with a bunch of snot-nosed, dirty-diapered kids running wild, but Santa Monica, especially the Promenade, is seriously nice. It's definitely a place I could find myself wandering to occasionally. We discovered Cafe Crepe, a hidden treasure of an eatery there, too...it's the best little Frenchy cafe we've found in the LA area so far, and it's cheap, too!! We've taken 4 French people there (not including Gui), and they've all raved about how great it is! So, besides Santa Monica, we took them to our fave beach, Huntington Beach and got to see the place during a surf competition. I also got super-duper sun-burned while there (pics below), and I'm still peeling from that burn.
Last weekend, we had another pair of visitors, our friend Ber's little sis Steph (and by little, I mean super tall and gorgeous) and her beau, Yves. I'd met Steph in France last summer during my first visit with the kids, but we otherwise didn't know eachother. Their stay turned out to be so much fun...we really enjoyed having them around and it was even cooler that they brought video and pictures from their earlier trip to Texas. It was good (albeit a little sad) to see everyone back home hanging out (and little Oak is soo big!!!), and we got to hear some stories about their visit and what they'd been up to while they were there. We all got (re-)acquainted over a few pints of Foster's, Shiner, Fat Tire and Strongbow at one of our little Irish pubs in Belmont Shore. I finally got to visit the Getty Museum, which was absolutely awesome; the Manet was cool, but I was much more impressed with the Zoopsia exhibit and the museum itself. I'll definitely recommend it to everyone who visits the LA area! Unfortunately, while we were having lunch there Steph came across a nasty bay leaf in her turkey chilli, which nearly killed her (no joke). Luckily, Yves swooped in with the heimlich maneuver and saved the day. But, seriously, she gave us a scare and afterwards, I thought of how Bertrand would never talk to me again if something had actually happened to her! We made sure she chewed her food thoroughly thereafter, and spent the rest of our time on the beaches of Malibu and walking around my favorite place in Venice Beach - the canals. We really enjoyed having them here, and they treated us to a nice dinner at one of our favorite places in Long Beach.
So, a jam-packed last few weeks and now Gui and I are ready to chill this weekend. We've got a lot of laundry to do, too.
Here are some pics of recent adventures with friends - new and old. Good times.
JB left his hat behind...look who's taking care of it now.
Walking....trying to be a photographer.
Our typical liquor store stop (for beer) on the way to HB.
Mom & Joe would be happy ... lots of fishing in SoCal.
A tourist in Santa Monica...there were tons of French peeps!
JB happy in the sun.
Time for a swim.
Santa Monica from the beach.
Santa Monica bridge to the pier.
Pier in Huntington Beach...that's a Ruby's Diner at the end...mmm...shakes.
A sponsor for the surfing competition at HB...so, free energy drinks for all!
HB from the beach....I love this beach.
Cute.
JB & his sis, Matilde.
A nice sunglass tan.
We're brown, man.
And, a little red.
Our dessert from Claim Jumper (we went here instead of the OC Fair which was charging an arm an a leg). I think we made a good choice. :)
Good thing we shared it (and brought it home to eat with Steph & Yves).
Yves & Steph arrived with gifts...flowers & champagne. I love French folks.
Straight to the beach. (Long Beach)
After a pitcher of Foster's and a Strongbow, we finally had dinner.
Mmmm...sweet crepe with lots of CREME ;) (Steph hates cream.)
Guillaume snapped this mid-blink, so I look trashed.
Too bad it wasn't true (I was driving). Hehe.
Yves & Guillaume - La Creperie, Long Beach.
Santa Monica...on the other side of the pier.
Santa Monica.
Santa Monica from PCH coming from Malibu. So nice.
Ah, our new spot when in Santa Monica.
THE best coffee in the world.
Striking a pose.
Looking at the wrong camera.
Looking at the wrong camera :)
We were all so tired at this point...I'm surprised Guillaume's so smiley.
Back to the car....
Guillaume under the pier in Malibu.
Malibu pier
Steph & Yves
Trying to get to the other side of the beach....
A little help, please? :)
Pfff...rocks, schmocks.
Malibu
Yay, we love having visitors!Itchy feet
I'm starting to get a tingle in my feet to do some traveling. I have plans to head back to Austin for a visit in August, along with a quick trip to NOLA (Gui's never been), but I'm ready to take a jet-plane across an ocean. I made a new year's resolution to visit my good ol' friends back in London before the end of the year, so I really hope to follow through on my plans before the new year begins. I was lucky enough to vacation in France twice last year and spend a few months in Italy the year before, but I think I've been spoiled now and feel a little sad that I may not be able to take my yearly trip across the Atlantic. The year isn't over, yet, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll still be able to make it abroad!
The lovely Nottingham crew in Texas - 2002(?)
The lovely Nottingham crew in Texas - 2002(?)Eye Sty
I don't know if it's from all the dust and dirt I've been around at work or just from random bacteria in my eye, but I've come down with a sty and it ain't pretty.
I'm applying a warm compress to it as recommended, so hopefully it'll be gone in a couple of days.
I'm applying a warm compress to it as recommended, so hopefully it'll be gone in a couple of days. Valley Girl
I've recently discovered the true meaning of a "valley girl" since I started working in the valley last week. There are quite a few differences between the valley, the OC and LA. I haven't yet figured them all out, but I've noticed a few. The biggest difference to me, though, isn't necessarily the people so much as the weather! I need to get my A/C serviced, so I've been rolling down the windows lately, and just as I make my way from the 101 in the Valley to the 405 heading toward LA, the temperature drops about 10-15 degrees around one curve! And, just as I leave the 405 toward Long Beach, another burst of cooler air hits and the temps have gone down 20 degrees from the time I left work to the time I get home! It really is crazy to experience. As pretty as all those mountains are in the valley, I'm much happier being near sand and ocean, profitting from the cooler temps.
Dangerous working conditions
So, this week I was able to see for the first time where I'd been training to work for these past few months. Although the store's not quite ready yet (and it's going to be SO awesome when it's ready), I've determined that the mall we're in is absolutely a dangerous place for me to be working in. It's home to 2 of my favorite places (besides the store I work for), Pinkberry & Target...yes, TARGET inside the mall! Not to mention, the foodcourt at this place is incredible; they've got Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French, Greek, a NY deli, a gourmet sandwich shop, burgers, and any kind of food you could want to have for your 1-hour lunch break, not to mention a creperie and gelateria for dessert. I was stoked when I realized how close we were to the Starbucks, but little did I know I'd have far more temptations to fight around the mall. They have an entire section dedicated to cosmetics...Sephora, Bare Escentuals, MAC...and shoe-stores galore! But, it's going to be only window shopping for me for now, at least until my commute to work stops costing me $140 in gas every week! Gotta love the California cost-of-living....boooo!
Much more than meets the eye
So, Gui and I checked out the Transformers movie today after hearing Melynda rave about it, and we were suprisingly surprised at how good it was! Of course it has its cheesy parts, but how can you possibly make a movie from an 80's-inspired action figure without a little cheesiness? There was more violence than I would normally like to see, but it all suited the movie well, and kept my full attention the entire time. The violence, however, would be a little much (in my opinion) for a kid under 7 or 8, but the effects are really cool. The storyline's not bad either, and it always helps to have a little comedy with so much action going on. So, my final review is 4 out of 4 stars for the movie! 
Low fat, schmo fat
OK, I understand that this country is in an obesity crisis and we sell too much processed food in our grocery stores, but it's really frustrating when you're trying to find an ingredient to cook with that calls for a "regular" chicken stock or "whole milk" yogurt, and all you can find is the sodium-free or low-fat kind! If we're going to make a difference in the way we eat, take the Oreos and Snickers off the shelves, but don't "reduce" all the good stuff so people can go around eating a candy bar and still feel good about themselves because they had a "low-fat" yogurt.
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