Another Pleasant L.A. Sunday

Well, really, it was a pleasant L.A. weekend but those lyrics don't fit as nicely in the song.

Friday started out a bit rocky. Mark went into work at 7:15 and didn't take a lunch break until after 4. His day didn't end until after 10 and then he went out with the guys from work for a few drinks. After all, they deserved them after working a 15 hour day! Meanwhile, however, I was home with a mini-migraine. I had my first migraine at the beginning of June and I went to class that night anyway, thinking it would go away eventually. It was so painful that, when the throbbing started on Friday afternoon, I didn't take any chances and spent most of the afternoon and early evening laying in bed in the dark with the fans blowing directly at me. I felt better by 8ish or so, thankfully.

Saturday morning I attempted to go to the lab for my blood work that the doctor ordered at my physical at the beginning of June. I know, I know...I should have gotten my booty there much sooner; however, I have to go on an 8 hour fast which makes it impossible to go anytime except in the morning and, in the morning during the week, I have to be at work. Well, when I got to the lab, the line was about forty people deep outside of the door. I have no idea what it looked like inside. I immediately turned around but then figured since I'd gotten up early on a Saturday to be there, I should just suck it up and wait. But, after moving three inches in 20 minutes, I left. I'm going to go Wednesday morning before work and if I'm late so be it. The blood work is to check my cholesterol and my thyroid. It's nothing life threatening or anything.

When I got back from the doctor, Mark and I went to breakfast and then to price doggy doors at Home Depot and the local favorite hardware store, All-American (the irony of the name is staggering). We had planned on getting a security screen with a door for King in it but it turns out that they are upwards of $500 so we then planned on special ordering a regular exterior door with a doggy door in it but then Mark's dad decided that he is going to attempt to install a doggy door in it. So, we purchased all of the pieces needed and shall see how this endeavor turns out.

We then went to The Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach with our friends Holly and Jake. Holly is a school psychologist in our district and was on my interview panel when I was hired at Cerritos. I knew then that we would be friends. She no longer works at my school but we get together for martinis at least once a month and the four of us get together almost as often. The club is celebrating its birthday and we saw 20 comics, each of which performed for about 5 minutes. It was a great time.

Yesterday, Mark and I were up and about fairly early, around 10 (which is early for the two of us). We hopped into his car, dropped the top, and headed south. We got off of the freeway at Seal Beach and drove on PCH for close to 2 hours. At around 1 we decided to stop at the next beach. We ended up at Salt Creek Beach (pictured above), which is beautiful. We swam for the first time this summer and had a great time. I learned that I just shouldn't try to catch a wave and body surf in. The waves were very large, at least for this Midwestern girl, and when I finally got brave enough to try to catch one, it swallowed me up and spit me out. When I finally had my footing again, I was almost in tears and about to puke. In retelling the story, I swear I was under water for at least a minute. Mark said it was more like 4 seconds! He tried to hold me back and I could feel him grabbing my legs but the wave was too strong and took me away. I hit my shoulder on the bottom and my boobs flew out of my suit, of course. Fortunately, I was able to cover up before I got out of the water. Needless to say, I didn't stay in the water much longer after that. I did, however, laugh about it the entire rest of the day. Before we left the beach, Mark ran back into the water to show me how its done and made body surfing look so freakin' easy! He grabbed a wave and rode it all the way in, I was quite impressed with how easily he did it.

Last night, we grilled steaks with Mark's mom and his sister, Tina and drank a delicious bottle of wine. When we sat down for our meal, I commented on what a perfect summer day and weekend it had been. It was Mark's last guaranteed Sunday off since they will be training 7 days/week from this point on. It was a great weekend.