Chris’ Birthday Weekend
Chris
turned the big 3-2 this month. He is the pickiest and most indecisive person I
think I know…
Me: So
what do you want to do for your birthday?
Chris: I
don’t know.
Me: We
could go to Disneyland, or maybe Universal Studios, I know you wanted to go on
that new Transformers ride.
Chris:
Nah.
Me: Do
you want to go somewhere for the weekend? Maybe San Diego or up to Santa
Barbara?
Chris:
No.
Me:
Well, what do you want to do?
Chris: I
don’t know.
(Sigh…)
His
birthday was on a Friday and he finally decided he wanted to go to Wurstküche,
this exotic sausage grill restaurant that is up the street from us in Venice
that serves nothing but sausage sandwiches, Belgian fries (too die for!) with
homemade dipping sauces and over 24 imported beers on tap. Here's a direct link to their menu. It gathers a real
“hipster” crowd after dark so we made sure to get there in the early evening
with my sister, Katy, who joined us.
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| You can purchase sausages to take home and cook yourself |
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| View of the dining room - Bar in the back |
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| Bottom to top: Chrissy's kielbasa with sauerkraut, Katy's sun dried tomato + mozzarella, Chris' duck + bacon with jalapeno peppers; assorted dipping sauces, regular Belgian fries, fries with white truffle oil glaze |
Saturday
we drove down to my parent’s house in Lake Forest. Chris had decided on seeing
an Angels baseball game as his “birthday activity” of choice. We had lunch at
BJ’s Restaurant in Laguna Hills with Kelly, Katy, and Cameron. Chris celebrated
by ordering the beer sampler that came with eight different selections of their
crafted brews. Then he had a cheesecake back at the house for dessert!
Our game
didn’t start until 6:05pm in Anaheim. We made the obligatory stop at the
grocery store for his sunflower seeds and we were off. TIP: We park across the
street near Carl’s Jr. for only $5. That Saturday was so hot!! Our seats were
blocked from the late afternoon sun, but we were still sweating buckets – there
was barely a breeze :/ TIP: For late afternoon games if you don’t want to sit
in the sun, pick a seat along the third base line. Chris’ friend, Nick who he
met while working at Office Max when we lived in Las Vegas, was at the game too
so he was able to go over and say hi for a bit. We also found out later that
Chris’ second cousin (?? I’m not too sure how these classifications work…),
Julie, was also at the game and she was sitting in the section right by us!
Angels lost 4-7 against the Mariners. TIP: The stadium doesn’t allow you to
take pictures with your camera (like Chris’ big Sony camera), so don’t bother
bringing it in, you’ll have to make do with your iPhone.
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| View from section 412 |
Sunday
was just a chill day back home. We didn’t stay the night in Lake Forest; it was
way too hot to spend the night in a Queen Size bed in my parent’s bonus room. On
Sunday we turned on the Wii to actually play a game (not to watch Netflix,
gasp!), and discovered you can download old-school video games like Super Mario
Bros.! I’ll have to brag, I’m pretty good at Mario – I even remember most of
the tips and tricks I used to know! It’s funny, it was like I had muscle memory
and I felt I could play the levels with my eyes closed, hahaha!!
This is
what I got Chris for his birthday: a Dexter's Victims Infographic Poster “this
chart illustrates the kill tally of Dexter, the infamous vigilante serial
killer. Dexter’s victims are listed chronologically, including kills prior to
season 1, and are broken down by kill type, weapon used, blood slide count, and
the victim’s kills.”
It took forever to arrive and I
also had to have a custom frame built (I didn’t realize the odd size of it when
ordering it, oops!), so it actually came a few days after his birthday. Sorry
Chris!
Ikea/BBQ
Our
kitchen table was on its last legs (heh heh, get it?) – we’d had it for a
couple of years, but it was made from that cheap Ikea particle board stuff. The
funny thing is that we NEVER use it for dining. Its purpose is as a catch-all
for our stuff and to make it look like we eat dinners together at a table like
civilized beings, rather than slouched on the couch, shoving food into our
mouth while keeping our eyes glued to the television. So off we were to Carson (back
to Ikea, c’mon, it’s cheap!) we went.
First
stop was lunch at Back Home in Lahaina, a Hawaiian restaurant that my Dad first
took me to years ago. They have two locations: Carson and Manhattan Beach. I
like the MB one a bit better just because I like the atmosphere more – it’s
darker and has fake trees/shrubbery inside. Chris orders the Loco Moco, which
is two eggs, any style, two seasoned hamburger patties, served over rice, and
smothered with brown gravy. It looks SO gross to me, but he scarfs it down. I
order the Bacon Fried Rice. I never mentioned that this was a healthy lunch,
did I???
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| "Flintstones" style car for sale in Carson |
We found
a replacement table at Ikea, and picked up some more random items that we
probably didn't need. I have a love/hate relationship with Ikea…
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| New table (same chairs); Old table, ruined by the dog whose butt you see... |
Saturday
night we saw “Hope Springs” with Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. It was a
cute movie, not as cute as “It’s Complicated” or “Something’s Gotta Give” but I
still liked it, and I know Chris did too. He’ll probably even admit it if you
ask him!
Sunday
we went down to Chris’ parent’s house in Laguna Hills. His sister Amber was
home from school in Denver for a couple of days so they organized a family BBQ.
It was hot as hell that day and the Gallis’ don’t have air conditioning. Anyone
who knows me knows that Chrissy + heat do NOT mix. I tried to find the lightest
weight pieces of clothing I could find, but lo-and-behold when I arrived…they
had a window air conditioning unit that I suspect was bought just for me! I
can’t be the only person who is miserable in 90+ degree weather, can I? But
thank you Dawn and Joe :) We didn’t take any pictures, but the whole gang was
there to see Amber. I don’t think she’ll be back until Christmastime so it was
nice to visit her for a few hours.
Oh yeah,
Bruce Goose got a haircut yesterday from his favorite groomer, Erica!
Next
weekend we have an actual trip planned somewhere, so there should be a better
(more entertaining than Ikea) blog that will follow!
xx,
Chrissy
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