Sunniest Easter Sunday

It is 9:59am, 55 degrees outside, hazy and rainy as I am nestling  under a hair dryer near the back of the salon where I can hide from my fellow workmates until my next client arrives.  As I quiet my mind, fragmented images of Angels stadium, Universal Studios Hollywood, Katsuya Sushi in Laguna Beach, and  Sprinkles cupcakes all race its way into my thoughts, stirring it ever so lightly.  I realize my Easter weekend was jam packed with unforgettable events and celebrations.   Let's back track to  the most gorgeous Easter sunday one could ever wake up to.  We were granted with an amazing sunshine and impeccable uplifting mood swings. There was no church, no easter egg hunting, just breakfast at JD Schmidt,  the baseball game, a few lolly pops and frozen lemonade, and lots of Angels surround our presence. Our day was blessed with so much joy and happiness.   Following Easter was Dan's first visit to Universal Studios, best known for their unavoidable lines and screaming kids, where we ventured through a couple of rides and a few I unimpressive shows.  Even with a late start, showing up at the gate around 12:30PM, just a short six hours later, our bodies were destroyed of enthusiasm and fun sucked dry from our body, forcing us to conclude our day early with Shrek 4D.  With four extra visits left on our ticket, we were in no rush to complete all the rides or see any more mediocre shows.  We headed home bound.   Fast forward our weekend to Dan's midweek  birthday, April the 11th, marking his second year celebration with me.  Our day started out with the typical work load and Katsuya, a fancy sushi restaurant serving Kobe beef in Laguna beach awaits us sometime in the evening.  Locking ourselves into a dinner reservation would've been too restricting for our liking, so we purposely left it open to feed our free-flowing spirits.  We arrived at the restaurant close to 7PM and and left a little after 8.  We headed for Broadway, a restaurant recommended by a good client of mine, for their signature desserts and coffee. But our timing was off, they had reserved the entire restaurant for a private party, so we were left with a back-up plan that I had intuitively set up - red velvet Sprinkles Cupcakes hiding in the small refrigerator hidden underneath the wet bar.  Dan was thrilled.   It was a long weekend to recap, but it was too significant to not blog about.  It went by too fast. Here I am, the week has propelled to Friday and even though the weekend is starting all over again, it will never be the same as weekend we had before.  

Stuffed men, children & cousins

I turned down a weekly meeting today, to take care of things that prove to be priority in my life this exactly moment in time,  my cousin and her family.  While our house isn't exactly the first reason for their visit to California, where  Universal Studios took top priority in this scenario as the kids are on spring break and costco's 5-days-for-$59-value is hard to pass up, they thoughtfully added us to their chaos schedule to come over and have  a meal with us. For this, I am grateful.  To hold me over, the first part of my day consists of coffee, instant udon noodle, gardening, and Andrew Zimmern's "Jamaica" Travel.  The day travels slowly as I finish up Jamaica and head out to a much sweeter place, Cinnabon!  Half a dozen and nearly three pounds of dough, baked and coated with creamy frosting will be coming back home with me before 6 this evening.   One by one, my cousin Van, Derek, and three kids march into the house, each with either a family pack of OC grown strawberries, roasted chicken, caesar's salad, cheese and salami plate, two loafs of garlic bread and a super size pepperoni pizza.  Throw in a bottle of Pinot Noir and this is one fat feast you wouldn't want to miss.  Even Dan knew to force things at work to finish early so he can join us at a decent time. With Derek's willingness to wait for him  before diving in,  Dan is gauranteed to have a eating partner.   NCAA Finals dominates the house as the two newly acquainted men blab about stuff I can care less about while Chase shows me his white to green belt Kung Fu techniques, Christian and Kellen rests their tired bodies on the coach, and Van rambles in the kitchen - getting things tidy. Cinnabon cleans our palate and fills the sugar tooth, making it another satisfying and stuffed night.  

A fully loaded day

One load, two loads, three loads of laundry, washed and folded, David Tutera's "My Fair Wedding", and Oprah Winfrey's Life Class in St. Louis all took place while Dan was out running an important errand. Coming from a Carribean Cruise,  my brother Nate and his family will be arriving thirty-five minutes earlier than the scheduled time at LAX. Arriving at 5:20 this evening, Dan and I will aim for their house beforehand to snatch the family van before heading to the airport.

 Once, twice and three times, we circle the Southwest terminal, killing time until their baggage is claimed and they are awaiting curbside to be picked up.  After receiving a gestured approval from the airport security, Dan pulls the mini van tightly to the curb and opens the door to some happy-to-be-home faces that have been missed for a week. Baggage and people are all safely loaded into the van, we squeeze our way out of this busy airport and head to a broken rice restaurant in Little Saigon.

 The 405 freeway flowed with great ease like a ballerina performing an allegro, swaying us effortlessly to a restaurant where each person filled their starving tummies with  broken rice and I slurped every once of the wanton soup noodle.  With loaded stomaches, the van becomes snug as we crowd ourselves back inside and head to the final destination - Asbury Circle.

The pick up was a success. Although Dan and I didn't have even the smallest room in our tummies to fit a Jolly Rancher icey dessert from  Tebot, we did have room in our night to cram in a movie - "Boogie Nights".