Julie's California Blog - Day 19

Julie's California Blog - Day 19, Thursday, April 18th


I'm sure you've noticed that I've been a little slow with my blogs lately. I seem to have developed writer's block. Just don't seem to be able to think of anything cute and creative to write about even though I'm doing really fun things.




Like today, Sharon and I had lunch with a new friend of mine, Connie Seay. I met Connie this winter at Old Memorial Golf Club while playing a round of golf with Paul Rousselle. Connie, one of the four female members at Old Memorial, is from Tulsa, a very good golfer and great fun on the golf course. Connie was in LA on business and I was delighted when she called and we were able to schedule lunch at the Ivy in Beverly Hills.

The Ivy is a beautiful place with really good food, but the tables are very close together, so our waiter found it easier to check on us by going outside the restaurant, on the other side of the adorable white picket fence to tend to us. Kind of startled me at first.



While sipping champagne and enjoying my salad, a deep, very sultry voice from behind us asked if there was anything we needed. Well hell yes! Anyway, getting back on track. We had a great lunch and now Sharon has a new friend in Connie as well. We look forward to her next visit to Tampa.

After lunch, we dropped Connie at LAX for her flight back to Tulsa and Sharon and I went back to the condo. The weather was finally warm and the wind had relaxed a bit, so we enjoyed a glass of wine on the balcony until it was time for our next "feeding". We decided to walk to dinner, three miles up The Strand to Manhattan Beach Post. We had one of the best meals since I've been in California. I mentioned MBP in an earlier blog and tried to describe some of the menu items.





They are famous for their Bacon Cheddar Biscuits, which are simply mouthwatering. Tonight, we had the White Oak Grilled Skirt Steak with red chimichurri sauce. Phenomenal!



With "Fee Fi Fo Fum Fries," which are french fries on steroids. In the photo, I'm holding one french fry. The other food photo (above) shows the "Bodacious" goat cheese plate with home dried raisins which were still on the grape cluster atop Marcona Almonds with truffle honey. There really aren't enough adjectives to adequately describe the meal. The walk home burned at least a few of the calories we consumed. It was worth every calorie.

The sun had just fallen below the horizon when we began the 2.5 mile walk back to Hermosa Beach. Low and behold who did I run smack in to? Remember the "Captain Jack Sparrow/Tonto" combo dude? Yup. He was out and about again wearing exactly the same get up.



I had to talk to this character and learn his story. Turns out, he's from Alabama, (the southern accent gives him away) living in California by way of Texas and Las Vegas. He is a self appointed Sagittarius archer who has been appointed by God to attack Satan. He makes religious videos for youth groups and basically walks around in this strange clothing "because he can." While he seems very sincere, my take on him is that he may have done too many mind altering drugs within the last decade. He's a little out there, but God bless him, he's remarkably happy. Maybe there is a lesson here. I'm not talking about wearing four dress shirts, a crocheted skirt with cowboy boots with crazy ponytails coming out of my head from all directions, but rather to be genuinely grateful and enjoy every moment that comes along, paying profound attention to every detail. The over used catch phrase for this is called, "Live in the Moment." My dad's version of this is "Be who you are, do what you can and the rest of the time mind your own damn business."