San Diego

I'm back! Coming back to the cold Northeast certainly wasn't very easy, especially after having spent eight perfect days in California. The weather was absolutely incredible! It felt so great getting some sun on my face and just relaxing outside... plus, spending time with my very good friend Tom (and John!) was just what the doctor ordered. San Diego reminds me so much of Portugal! I felt like I was back Praia da Luz! I loved it. We took some great walks, spent time on the beach playing horseshoes, went to a few open houses (Tom is a real estate agent and he took me to one home that was listed at $7 million!!!), had some great food, listened to music, sang to A LOT of music, went to a winery, went to a cocktail party at the W Hotel, spent a few days in Del Mar just being lazy (and watched a really freaky movie called The Strangers - whatever you do, don't watch it alone!!), and then spent two very fun days in LA. I'd like to thank John again for putting up with both Tom and I being incredibly silly, giggly, and a bit out of control.

We took John's convertible to LA and, well, I got a LOT of sun on my face and chest. I had a bright red nose that made Rudolph's look dull. We stayed at a funky newish hotel called The Thompson on Wilshire in Beverly Hills, and what a great roof deck bar / pool area. Very hip and cool and with a great view of the city. Our first day in the land of the beautiful, we went to Malibu. I love Malibu. The drive along the water flanked by the hills that were home to these amazing houses... A lot were celebrity homes, but as you can imagine, they were gated so that intrigued individuals, like Tom and myself, wouldn't be able to stalk, I mean gawk. We ate a late lunch at Paradise Cove and enjoyed a few cocktails under an umbrella, with our toes in the sand. Soon after we had been seated, Freddy Rodr�guez and a friend sat down across from us. I LOVE Freddy, so I was pretty excited. Ever since Six Feet Under, he's been one of my favorites. And recently, he's been on Ugly Betty. Needless to say, I was happy he was my first celebrity sighting.

Our second day in LA we drove around a bit and then ended up on Mulholland Drive. I'm not sure if any of you have seen the movie, but it was crazy cool and because of it, I needed to ride the infamous Mulholland Drive. It reminded me a bit of the Road to Hana in Hawaii, but at least Mulholland Drive was a proper two lane road! The Road to Hana was definitely more scary, since it was really only one lane (for two way traffic!) and the twists and turns were completely nuts. We drove by Jack Nicholson's house, but again, gated and very private, so no peeking. I got car sick (shocking!), so we had to pull over at one point and take a breather. But, the drive was well worth it. And, as we were heading out of Beverly Hills, Pat Sajak went flying by us in his blue convertible Mercedes...