Soooo far behind

The long weekend in LA was Grrreat!

We arrive Friday night , picked up the rental car and headed to Saladang for Thai food--had their amazing smoked salmon/ginger/lime/toasted coconut/red onion/roasted peanuts appetizer wrapped in a curly lettuce leaf and served with a golden sweet sauce. Mmmmm. Caught up with mom & dad before retiring to the air mattress in my old bedroom turned storage unit.

Saturday, I visit the chiropractor (ahhhh), and Mike and I pick up some fresh raspberries & boysenberries and luscious tomatoes at the Pasadena Farmer's Market. Off then to visit David the Hair God. He's running late, so we make our first of several trips to Trader Joe's.

When David gets to the salon, he's sporting a flesh-colored bandage on the end of his nose. Has he ventured Beyond Botox? The story is this: David's been hanging out with a woman who wasn't quite divorced (he knew the husband and hung out with them both pre-divorce). David is over at her place on New Year's Eve. The not-quite-ex husband shows up, beats the shit out of David and BITES OFF THE END OF HIS NOSE. He wins for worst New Year's ever.

He's still got it with the scissors and gives me a much improved (if shorter) haircut. We pop by home to drop off produce and change clothes before going to Angela's 40th birthday tea.

All the usual living room furniture is gone. Five tables are set up with iced tea, lemonade, finger sandwiches, scones and Devonshire cream--a sumptuous repast. For mementos, we make charm bracelets with various teapot/teacup charms. So cute! We do a round of introductions, as several areas of Angela's life are represented and we don't all know each other. We contribute to the group gift--dental work for Angela's incarcerated pen pal. We linger and chat until it's time to leave for dinner.

Dinner at Yazmin, an amazing Malaysian restaurant in Alhambra. Meet h.s. pal Wendy there, with others straggling in later. We eat and dish and Angela reads palms. Afterward, we head home to finish reading through "As You Like It" in preparation for Sunday night's Shakespeare reading.

Sunday morning, we head to church in the beloved Pasadena Ward, where there are insightful lessons, dear friends, political allies and hymns played at the correct tempo. Sigh. We want to visit cousin Rowan after church, but he's not feeling up to having visitors. We pop into TJ's and head home to get ready for the potluck/reading. More friends there, excellent food and a reading that went quite well by all accounts. Mike and I had the leads, so it was a bit more pressure than in readings past. Kudos to Mark and Angela for putting it together!

Monday we slept in. Tried to see "Sicko," but it was sold out. Went shopping at Vroman's Bookstore, Coldwater Creek, Trader Joe's (yes, again) and Bed, Bath and Beyond where I scored a drapery panel to match the one I bought last year (note to self: buy in pairs next time).

Arrived home in time for dinner with mom, dad, brother John and GF Cristina. Noshed on potato salad, baked beans, Honeybaked ham and mail-order ribs. Was nice to hang out with them after almost a year!

Oh, yeah, we got accused of bringing the triple-digit heat wave with us to So Cal. Geez, you get married on a bloody hot day and no one ever lets you forget it. :)

Monday, we pop my finished editing job in the mail and head to the airport. Of course, it wouldn't be a trip to LA without a celebrity sighting, right? We had not one but two character actors sitting in first class to Dallas. One guy was middle aged, reddish blondish hair, glasses--the actor you know you've seen in something but you just can't place him.

The other guy is more of an on-the-rise dude. He was in that suspense/horror TV show on the WB where some kind of aliens landed in the town's lake and were taking over peoples' bodies? I believe he played the horsey-looking/high foreheaded sheriff with the blond wife-turned-alien. I think. I only saw the previews. If someone can name that show and put me out of the brain-wracking misery so I can look him up on IMDB, I'd appreciate it!

Coming back to Texas after the delights of family, friends and So Cal has, quite frankly, sucked. The End.