Saulemander

it's been awhile 
08 June 2010, 5:49pm

hello avalantern, i'm back! new profile picture and all

so friends, it's been awhile. and now im back with my no spell-check crappy blog posting ways, i even have a new profile picture. the past 5 months have been insanely busy for me, so when my client decided to postpone the second half of my project, so i took off to la for a week.

last week was great. i got into la friday night just before memorial day weekend. lisa and i stayed in and had "the business"...it's a delightful drink not an act of sexual touching. two shots of gin, some honey and a whole lemon...it's delicious and dangerous. we also started to watch it's always sunny in Philadelphia, which is sexual intercourse* hilarious. i know im a little behind and maybe everyone is already bored with this show, but i think its great. after that we went straight to bed.

saturday! the day my true vacation started. friends of mine met up at lisas place, and we were going to leave at 11 am for big bear lake (lisas parents own a cabin up there). well "the business" delayed our depature about 45 mins...not bad though. once up in big bear the fun started. there were 9 of us there for the weekend. the weather was perfect. mid 70's cool breeze. once up there we went out gathered food and drinks for dinner and the ensuing weekend. for dinner we grilled huge steaks and brats and whiskey sours and dark n' stormies (side note: my friend makes a hell of a whiskey sour...freezes it so it's almost a slushy...perfect) after dinner we chilled for a bit, then every squeezed into the hot tub...great wat to kick off the weekend. the next day started off with a great breakfast and then we went hiking up castle rock, a short 1-2 mile hike up the mountain side, followed by bouldering up some large rocks for an incredible view. once we got back we all attempted to play tennis..well a few had played in high school. so, while they played...the rest of us attempted to play. oh i almost forgot. since lisa and i couldnt be together for my birthday, when i got back friday night she gave me my gifts. once was a rad shirt the other, a wicked tennis racket. she also suprised me on my birthday by having cupcakes delivered to my work...woot! anyway, back to the weekend. after tennis we were hoping for sip on whiskey sours and lay in the sun...but my friend failed us and they werent ready in time. so we chilled...all thoroughly exhausted. later that night, one of the most epic games of pictionary i have ever participated in...we won, naturally. though the other teams had to battle some language issues. lots of fun. more hot tubbing. on monday we departed back to the la area.

monday! not exactly sure what happened...i think we watched hockey..or i watched hockey and she worked. actually, that monday doesn't deserve the previous exclamation point

tuesday! went down to torrance, ate at rascals! had a pastrami sandwich, quite good. then went back to lisas parents house, were i beat her relentlessly.....in ping pong. after ping pong we went out to eat with her parents, sister and sister bf. after dinner we met up with lisas friends. one was in town from new york...the next 3 hours was girl talk...gah..

wednesday! we went to the beach! we were originally going to wake up and get down to the beach early and possibly run by the beach...that didnt happen. but the beach was great, met with lisas friend from new york. it was completely desserted but the weather was great. i didnt want to burn so i made sure to cover myself with sun screen. it was the spray on kind. after the beach we stopped by lisas parents place, we didnt want to leave back to pasadena during rush hour. once back at lisas parents, i noticed my stomach had started to burn...i removed by shirt to find out that the sun screen did not work...i looked at my back and there was a huge "Z"...lisa is not the greatest at applying spray on sun screen. anyway life was good. once back to pasadena we cleaned up and took off to meet friends at a bar dubbed the thirsty crow. once we got there, my friends gf was all a twitter...apparently THE don draper from mad men was over in the corner having a drink. once lisa heard about this she decided she need to look for her friend in that area of the bar. after the girls settled down i was treated to an amazing drink "the thirsty crow" (clever how they named the drink after the bar) it was a rye whiskey with ginger beer and bitters and i believe a little lemon. delicious. on the way home i hit some funny freeway that made the car vibrate...stupid road

thursday! disneyland!!!! my friend used to work at disneyland designing and building the rides, so he had connections to get us in for free...i wasnt going to pay 120 bucks for a day to sit around with over weight kids. this time we left on time. promptly at 845. 5 miles from lisas place her car starts to vibrate...uh oh, maybe last nights vibration wasnt the road. i pull off the highway and the car smells like burning, just like ralph's berries tasted. we take it to the nissan dealership and go back to lisas place...sigh...no disneyland. nissan calls, says the car can be fixed by the end of the day and they will send a shuttle to pick us up and bring us back tot he dealership around 5. works out perfectly, game one of the NBA finals starts at 6. 5:40 rolls around...the dude isnt here...lisa is getting anxious..fast forward a little, we get the car and make it back in time to catch most of the game.

friday! i think we laid around most of the day. we went shopping a little bit. hockey game was on...except lisa didnt have versus channel s i had to stream it and had it blown up on her tv...it was just colored blocks moving around..hawks lost too. friday night we met up with some of lisas friend in ktown. ah, my beloved ktown how i missed your dirty crowded korean bars. we get there...whats this...oh wait...i forgot, friday night after th hockey game lisa took me out for my birthday dinner at arroyo chop house. it was fantastic. i had ribeye and she had king crab legs...after that on to ktown. so we get to ktown and the bar..is brand new...empty...nothing like what i wanted..oh well, it was fun having a beer and chatting.

saturday! im getting tired of typing...lots of driving, hanging out in santa monica...more driving...ended up at douchebag central bar...went home..slept.

sunday! stayed the night in torrance at lisas parents because we didnt want to drive back to pasadena. we went out got delicious sandwiches and today was sports day! nba finals and stanley cup finals, woot! hawks killed! what an amazing game! lakers lost though...lisa not happy. after that went to bed early to catch an early flight and head right into work monday morning

great week, was a blast, here are some pictures!

update
[08 June 2010, 5:53pm]