Julie's California Blog - Day 25

Julie's California Blog - Day 25, Wednesday, April 24, 2013

It's a cloudy day in Southern California.  I felt a few sprinkles this morning when walking the dogs.  Scruffy doesn't like rain. He thinks water is cryptonite and he's Super-dog.  He avoids it at all costs.  So he did NOT enjoy the walk this morning.

I had lunch at USC today with the Assistant Dean of the School of Cinematic Arts.  Just as we were finishing, Jeff joined us.  What a treat!  He got out of class late and couldn't find us at Morton Fig, an upscale restaurant on campus frequented mostly by faculty and staff.  Jeff's USC "dining dollars" don't work at Morton Fig, so that's probably why he wasn't familiar with it.  The Assistant Dean had to leave, but I stayed and had a nice time with Jeff as he scarfed down a steak sandwich.  

Later in the evening, I went to Santa Monica to meet my cousin, Diego and his fiancé, Katie, for dinner at Ivy at the Shore.  I arrived early, and since the cloudy, rainy weather had moved out,  I decided to walk down to The Pier at Santa Monica to kill some time.  The Pier is a very active place with crowds of tourists and  hawkers selling everything from tee shirts to iPhone covers, as well as artists sculpting people's faces from clay and artists sketching caricatures.  It's a carnival atmosphere complete with a ferris wheel and various other rides.  From the pier, I could see south all the way to my California home, which was easy to find.  I just looked for the smoke stacks at the Nuclear Power Plant located just a few doors away from my condo.  The visit to The Pier was a great diversion and something that I wanted to do while visiting California.  Done. 

I met Katie and Diego at 7:00.  Katie is delightful.  She's a social worker in Santa 

Monica, and Diego is doing his residency working toward his ultimate goal of orthopedic surgery.  We had a great time catching up and talking about their upcoming wedding.  I was planning to go to the wedding in Chicago until I found out it is scheduled for Father's Day weekend.  So unless I can round up Jac and Jeff in Chicago, I'll be somewhere else with them.

This is my last week in California.   I still have a few things on my "to do" list.  I'm also hoping Jeff and friends will come back to the beach this weekend.