Errands, errands and more errands

So, it's hump day! I believe that I now have 2 more remaining until summer ends. I know, I know, I can't complain, so I'm trying to blithely enjoy the waning days of August. Apparently, the newsfolk are calling it "FAugust" here because of the lower-than-usual temperatures. I almost didn't even write that because that might tempt FATE in a big way. You know, the Santa Ana winds will bite us in the ass in a big way come September and October.

Despite not being at work, I am actually trying to stay productive in one way or another. This week, since Michael has returned to work, I am attending to different errands. It's great to take care of some of this stuff now when I have more free time, and it almost makes me feel like a model wife. You know, running errands and tending to household matters.

On Monday, I braved the traffic to the West Side, made it to Venice and then waited while the RackSolid guys performed their magic and fixed our rack. Yesterday, then, I spent hours in the dentist's chair, as they cleaned my teeth and dealt with two small fillings. Half of my face was numb for an hour or so afterwards, but it definitely wasn't a deep filling so I didn't drool all over myself too much. I did make Michael take me out for a Happy Hour beer - we were at our 'favorite' local well with all the over-sixty-year-olds. Welcome to my life.

Today was MUCH more eventful however! First of all, I went to an 8:30 spin class that is taught by this really awesome instructor, Rod. He has to be in his 40's or 50's, and it's obvious (to me, at least) that he actually BIKES. Like rides outside. Because of that, he makes the spin class feel like a real bike ride which I love, love, love. He even uses visualization to motivate people: "You're going through a light and it's changing so you have to sprint through it!" or "There's a big dog chasing you up the hill!". Talk about motivation! The only down side to Rod's class is that I usually want to puke at a certain point in the class, especially when he makes us do lots of wicked intervals. Like today, of course. It was brutal, and then we ended the class with a sprint interval, high cadence but with resistance, and from there we went right into a climb - no recovery from the sprint! It was a brutal class, but I survived. I am definitely going to miss Rod's classes when school resumes.

The 'to-do' item up for today: Get the car detailed!

I swear, we've been talking about it for months, and once we returned from Colorado with our dog-hair infested interior and dead-insect covered exterior, we decided that it was time. Again, since Michael is actually working these days, the onus fell on my shoulders to take it to the car detail place in Pasadena and sit around for a few hours. Rather than sit on my butt the entire four hours, I meandered down to Colorado, where there were a few business establishments. I ended up at Starbucks (or Starfucks, as I sometimes like to call it) and ordered some frothy thing.

The best part about the Starbucks experience? I was wearing a t-shirt from Intelligentsia Coffee, a much less ubiquitous coffee purveyor that prides itself on the high quality of its coffee and on the experience that it gives its employees and customers. So, I ordered my frothy drink thing, and the barista took my order and then asked me "Do you work at Intelligentsia?!" I'm sure she was surprised that an Intelligentsia employee would slum it at Starbucks - it's probably forbidden in their contract. I must have ruined her day when I said "No." For me, it was a funny episode, and I thought about the headline "Intelligentsia employee secretly loves Starbucks".

But, if she had really LOOKED at me, she would have immediately known - I'm way too old and I have zero tats.

Still, it was nice to think that someone might think that I'm cool enough to work there!

As much as I'm not a Starbucks fan, I did enjoy hanging out there instead of the auto-detailing place. They did, however, clean and polish our car, so we have an almost-new looking, super snazzy Toyota Camry. Oh yeah!

On tap for tomorrow: A Costco run. I hope that I survive the experience and that I don't cave and buy 10 packages of potstickers!

Weekend update: Old familiar favorites and few new finds

This weekend, for me at least, feels a bit like the "last hurrah" as summer winds down and the school year shifts from neutral to fifth gear. Fortunately, we stayed close to home and planned few activities, which I needed after a quick trip to South Texas last weekend and then a week full of meetings at school. Despite no "major" structure, the weekend, per usual, has taken shape, and we have taken advantage of the three-days as a chance to really rest and relax while being somewhat social. We've delighted in a few "new" discoveries and have returned to some old haunts on the Westside, which is always a treat.

First of all, we met a friend-colleague for drinks and snacks on Friday night in Pasadena at a new place called Dish Bar and Bistro. I do sometimes despair that we live in a rather stodgy and boring area (seriously), and Pasadena offers some good options but also a lot of chain and mall-like places. So, this was a pleasant find for us! I'm not confident that it will survive in the long run, since there weren't too many people there, but I liked the atmosphere -low-key with pretty decent food and a great happy hour menu!

Yesterday included a run to the Pasadena Farmers' Market, a nap, and a new dish for dinner, "Shrimp and Grits" although it was more like "Shrimp and Polenta". It is a keeper - fast, easy and tasty!

TODAY, then, has been the banner day. To escape the heat of the Pasadena area (triple digit temperatures!), we headed west to Venice, CA for the morning. I do believe that if I were rich and really cool, I would totally pick Venice as the place to live. Since I'm neither rich nor

cool, I just visit the area and pretend that I don't care that I'm poor and kind of lame. Anyway, we arrived in Venice, and I thought that we might have to come all the way home since it was a BRISK (to me) 63 degrees! How does that happen? First, we stopped off at Intelligentsia for a latte and a pain au raisins (ALMOST as good as those that we had in France - you could definitely taste the butter!). There are all sorts of crazy people who frequent Intelligentsia, as you can see from the photo below:

From there, we wandered down to the beach and the boardwalk and spent some time ogling surfers and gawking at families and other people hanging out. If I had a family, I would definitely be packing the kids up to spend a day at the beach! Fortunately for me, I don't have children, so I don't have to force fun on myself or them.

Finally, we walked back to Abbot Kinney, one of my favorite places to poke around, especially places like Surfing Cowboys, where we picked up a Christmas present for a family member - total score!

Source

We also saw a few of our favorite obsessions: Classic VWs!

Is it kind of sad that a VW van is my dream car? I'm seriously obsessed.

I can't say that the morning was entirely without "incidents". I stepped RIGHT INTO a big dog poop. I'm unsure whether it had been a "pile" before my foot squashed it, but you can see me trying to get some of it off below. I cursed myself and the dog, but then I decided that it was fortunate that I had on my Chaco sandals which I can just wash off. Imagine if I had been wearing some designer sandals?! Or flimsy little flip-flops? Ewww!

Finally, I made a purchase as one can see below. Sorry for the crappy photo quality,

but what can I do? Anyway, I'd been looking around for a casual but funky and very functional black purse for ages and I found one at some random store. The price tag was right and so is the look, and now I've sworn off any purchases for the next few months. Seriously! But I do like that it isn't a "brand". I don't know - I don't mind buy clothes that are from the usual suspects, but I really prefer purses and jewelry that are more unique. Maybe it's because I don't buy those pieces very often for myself?

And the grand finale will be tonight: Lotería Grill, one of my favorite Mexican food places in LA. I'm so psyched! It's been ages since Michael and I have eaten here. We are meeting up with some friends of his and gave them a few suggestions, and they opted for Lotería. Mexican Food Nirvana, here I come tonight!

Now, a few random questions for you, my random one or two reader/s:

• Any random and non-utilitarian car obsessions or am I alone in that?
• Purses, jewelry, shoes and other items that you prefer to NOT buy from a 'typical' store?
• Have you ever stepped into a pile of dog shit?