I want to start this blog by wishing my Mom a happy birthday, since today is her 79th! I don’t know how happy she would be if she knew I was telling her age, but if you saw her you’d know she’s FABULOUS at 79!
I spoke to Eric and he was excited that I was going to spend two days with our friends from Los Angeles. Eric loves Joe and Miguel and he told me to tell them he misses them.
Here's our darling Joe.
I spoke to my Mom, wishing her a wonderful birthday and a great weekend, and then got packing! I just wore jeans and a t-shirt with a little jacket, but I brought along a casual knit dress that I thought I’d change into for dinner. I also packed my leopard velour pants and a black t-shirt for Sunday. I packed pajamas (leopard!!) and my pillow, and my toiletries and I was ready to go.
And here's our sweet Miguel!
I felt bad leaving Conrad for the night. I always cover him at night, so he doesn’t feel a draft (drafts are bad for birds), but I didn’t want to leave him covered all day, so I just put the thermostat lower, so the heat wouldn’t come on as often and left him uncovered, so he could enjoy the sunshine during the day.
The boys called at around 1:30pm to say they had just gotten off I-5 and were driving up Clairemont Drive. I left the apartment and crossed the street, so they wouldn’t have to make a U-turn. We drove down Clairemont and got back on I-5 South on Balboa. The hotel was just 7.36 miles from my apartment and we were there in a jiffy. It’s actually above Symphony Hall (duh! I guess that’s why it’s called the Sheraton Suites at Symphony Hall!). You actually go to the 12th floor for registration and check-in, and then take different elevator banks to the rooms. We were on the 17th floor.
Joe asked at check-in if we were in a suite (which was what he requested). The girl said, “They’re ALL suites!” – hence the name (Sheraton Suites). We got a lot of laughs out of that one. We didn’t realize that the Baseball World Classic was in SD this weekend, so there were a lot of sportscasters, reporters, and baseball fans staying at the hotel.
The room was beautiful, but not really very fancy. I can only say that because I was recently at the Grand Del Mar. Believe me, it was a lot nicer than a lot of places I’ve stayed in my life, but when you have the Grand Del Mar in the back of your mind, it’s hard for ANY hotel to seem fancy!
Anyway, there was a blue velvet couch (that folded out to a queen bed), a comfy chair, a flat-screen TV, and a desk with a big window in MY room, and then – behind frosted glass French doors – there was a king-size bed with night tables, a dresser and another TV with another huge window. Our view was of the Coronado bridge, which was really nice –especially at night.
There was a sink with a triple mirror and a closet and then a pocket door that led to the toilet, tub and shower. There was a door from the bedroom and from the living room, so we could each access the bathroom without seeing each other. It was really very nicely done.
We just put our stuff down, and then went back out to go to lunch. Miguel had heard about a great place in Hillcrest which is really a wine bar, but they also serve food. It’s called WINE STEALS ("relax, explore, enjoy"). It’s kind of set up like CENTRAL PERK on the sitcom FRIENDS, except instead of coffee there were wine bottles everywhere, but they had lots of couches, comfy chairs, regular tables and chairs, etc. We sat in nice chairs around a big wooden wine cask with a glass top on it. Joe and Miguel ordered a nice merlot, but I had a guava mimosa, which was fruity and delicious!
We also ordered an Artisan Cheese plate, which was a large platter of cold cuts, fruit, cheese and toasted bread, and some olives. It was the perfect lunch. We caught up on what’s going on with each of us, enjoyed the ambiance, our drinks, and our light lunch.
After lunch, we decided to go to the movies, in FASHION VALLEY MALL. It was a short drive, but I got us lost! I guess even after 1-1/2 years here I still don’t know my way around that well!
We managed to get in just as the movie was starting (I hate to miss the previews, but it was MY fault!). We saw GRAN TORINO, which is another pretty depressing movie. I usually never see anything but comedies, adventures and musicals, because usually I go to the movies so infrequently, but in the past month I saw THE READER, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD and now GRAN TORINO, which are all depressing.
Clint Eastwood is really great (as usual), but it’s kind of violent and stressful. There WERE a lot of laughs in it, I guess because it’s such a tense situation and they have to have some stress release, so I did enjoy the comic relief – and really needed it!
After the movie, we drove back to Hillcrest, because the boys wanted Thai food and I told them that Eric and I had found a great place the first day we were in San Diego called TASTE OF THAI. We had taken Ilene there when she was in town and she loved it!
Joe suggested that we open a Thai restaurant/bar and call it “THAI ONE ON.” Get it? I thought that was SO funny, but I am a huge fan of a play on words!
We started with an appetizer sampler, so we could try everything. That included chicken and beef satae served with peanut sauce, goyoza, shrimp sa-rong (marinated shrimps wrapped with egg noodles, golden fried, served with palm sauce), and vegetarian spring rolls.
As an entree, I had the scallops in peanut sauce (I love that sauce). Joe had steak in peanut sauce (he loves it, too!) and Miguel had chicken with broccoli in some sauce (I forget which!).
We were too stuffed for any dessert, so we walked around Hillcrest making our way back to the car. We drove around a little, but we were all tired (Joe and Miguel had been up early and driven all the way from Los Angeles). We headed back to the hotel and decided to go into the lounge to have dessert and coffee there.
We soon realized that there had been a symphony that night and we first saw lots of people all dressed up (the guys were mostly wearing tuxedos!) and then saw the actual musicians with their instruments! I guess they either stop by for a drink, or they actually are staying at the hotel. Anyway, it was pretty exciting!
Up until then, most of the other guests we had seen were obvious sports enthusiasts and they had either attended the game that day, or were attending the next day. It was Cuba vs. Japan on Saturday.
Joe and I had decaf coffee. Miguel had a beer and he and I shared a piece of my absolute favorite cake – red velvet. It was SO good! Then, we went upstairs and got ready for bed. The boys opened the couch for me. It was very cozy and I had my pillow, which is all I need for a good night’s sleep! We were all fading fast, so they retired to their room and I watched some of SNL with Tracy Morgan hosting.
Unfortunately, there were a bunch of young people making a LOT of noise in the hallways. They must have had 2 or 3 rooms and they kept going from room to room and were not only very loud in the hallways, but the doors would slam SO loudly. I had to get up and call the front desk TWICE! Miguel and Joe didn’t even know. They were fast asleep. I finally fell asleep around 1:00pm and slept pretty soundly. It was a really fun day and I was looking forward to Sunday with the boys!