Californian Birthday

Hi Everyone!

It is sad to say that today is our last day here in sunny California. It has been an amazing week. Outside of a few days of conferences, Kristin and I have seen some incredible sights, relaxed and spent some quality time together.

My Birthday yesterday was great. Kristin gave me a card and surprised me with tickets to see Alison Kraus, who is going to be playing at Mohegan in June. Ever since Jared introduced me to her music, I have been wanting to see her in concert. Unfortunately, she does not seem to tour much in the East.

Kristin, in an attempt to decorate the room while I was sleeping, had brought a Happy Birthday sign from home with her. Not having tape to hang it, Kristin improvised by chewing a piece of gum at 4am and then proceeded to take the gum, rip it into two pieces, and stick it on the bathroom mirror to attach the sign. Her creative effort did not last long, but nonetheless, it was funny!

After getting up, we did our morning ritual, which has consisted of a walk down the beach to the Huntington Beach Pier. From there, we walk down Main Street and grab a coffee and people watch. As I mentioned earlier this week, Starbucks out here seems cheaper than home. I also found out that if you save your paper cup or bring you own mug, they only charge you $.50 for coffee. Back home, they only take $0.10 off the total price. I do not know why the difference, but you cannot beat a $.50 coffee. In fact, I do not recall seeing any place that only charge you $.50! After our coffee, we walked back to the hotel. I went to a couple of meetings while Kristin hung out by the pool. I joined her mid-afternoon for a little while before we headed up to our room to get ready for dinner.

Last night we drove into Newport Beach, which is a wealthy section of Southern California, but beautiful. We went to the Blue Coral for a drink before dinner. We sat outside in front of a warm fire enjoying the sun setting over the pacific. I had some cured salmon, which was cured with vodka. From the Blue Coral, we walked next door to Roy's, which is where TaTa made reservations for my Birthday.

Roy's is a Hawaiian restaurant that specializes in its fish. There were so many varieties of fish on the menu, some I had not even heard of before. Our waiter recommended that we start off with a sushi roll appetizer. I cannot remember the name of the roll, however, it consisted of seaweed wrapped around avocado and salmon. They then rolled it in white rice and topped it with a shrimp, a scallop and topped with some special sauce. All I can say is that I thought I had died and gone to heaven!!! It was that good. In fact, Kristin seeing my reaction (and also thinking I needed to be at a table by myself with the sushi roll) tried it.....and she liked it!!! I was so proud of her that she tried sushi. For dinner, Kristin got steak and I got Hawaiian swordfish. After dinner, the waiter surprised me with a dessert with a candle in it for my Birthday and Kristin had chocolate souffle, which as I think about it, she never let me try!

Once sleeping beauty gets up, we are going to go for our walk and hang out by the pool for a while. I think this afternoon we are going to go tour the Crystal Cathedral and maybe head up to LA and Hollywood to site see and grad something to eat. I have been wanting to go to Caiote Pizza Cafe, which is a restaurant Giada had gone too and recommended. If you get a chance, check out their menu online. Pretty inexpensive, but some interesting pizza concepts.

I hope everyone is doing well and thank you all for your Happy Birthday wishes yesterday!!!