I'm going going, back back, to Cali Cali.

I think I'm totally going to move to Cali, bro....maybe even Orange City, brah.

Yeah, what a whirlwind week this had been!!  I apologize whole heartedly to my 4 readers for not blogging while in California.  I was just waaay too busy soaking in the sun, and living the dream.

But anyway, now I totally want to move to Cali.*  It was soooooo refreshing and laid back out there.  There's soooo much to do.  There's a different beach for every day of the week, and there's a neighborhood and area for everyone!!

 * - DISCLAIMER:  Everytime I've visited a major city for the first time, I've come home ready to make the move.  This is true for San Diego, NYC, Boston, Toronto, Chicago, and even Columbus....so there's really not much credibility to my claim.  Ehh.

I ended a fast, but worthwhile trip to the L.A. area with a MARATHON day of expedition Friday.  I woke up in Rancho Santa Margarita, and ended the day on Sunset.

While my buddy Pete was busy contributing to the economy, I utilized the Orange County public transit to the max.  My first stop was Laguna Beach.  Oh my.  In short summation, Laguna Beach LIVED UP to the hype.  Gorgeous!  Picturesque views, well manicured beach, beautiful weather, fun shops, and a plethora of beautiful people.

I stopped into the Ocean Avenue brewery for lunch.  Not surprising, everywhere out there carried extensive seafood options.  I had a Prawn BLT, that was absolutely fantastic!  I paired that with their signature Ocean Ave. Pale Ale (which was, coincidentally, the only draught brew available).  I think I ate fairly well there.  The BLT was actually light, but still very tasty.

I dined on their outside patio, which was pretty much across the street from the beach.  It was essentiually perfect.  Great food, great service, and a great view!!  Be jealous!

After a quick walk around, I boarded another bus line and headed north to Newport Beach and Huntington Beach.  It's noteworthy to mention that I pretty much felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb everywhere I went.  This was paramount in Huntington Beach, which is the prototypical surfer beach hangout.  Let's just say that there were a lot of Brah's.  I couldn't muster the motivation to go into the original Billabong, Quicksilver, and Hurley stores...though it would have been gnarly to buy a t-shirt...

My buddy Pete picked me up there after work, and we quickly dressed to head to L.A.

We took in a film at the fabled Arc Light theaters on Sunset Blvd. and had dinner at a nice mod cuisine type place called Magnolia (great movie, btw.).  The food was actually very clean, and very fresh (the place reminded me a little of Southside in Tremont).  We shared hummus, and I had a marinated flank steak I believe, which came with garlicky mash, and asparagus.  Everything there went off very well.  Again, great atmosphere, good food, and good service.  I suppose the only down side was the creme brulee that the 3 of us shared.  It was topped with obnoxious sized slices of banana that clearly overpowered the custard.  You can't win 'em all.

We saw The Ghost Writer over at Arc Light.  TGW is Roman Polanski's new film.  Apparently he has the time to finish up post production on a film despite facing international criminal chages and extradition.  The movie was decent.  It was a bit slow, but Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan showed why they are amazing actors.

All of the aforementioned fun almost made me forget that I WAS out there for business.  I condcted all of THAT in Ontario, Ca.  Ontario is like an hour or so due east of Los Angelas, right next to an apparant mountain range (Big Bear, etc.).  Funny enough....since I got in late, and worked all day in a conference room, I didn't notice THIS view from the parkin lot of the Ontario Double Tree.

AMAZING!!!  A freakin snow capped mountain.  You just don't see this in Ohio.  I was literally taken aback, and had to grab my camera.

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Anyways...I could ramble on an on of my fun findings in Cali.  Here's how the past few days have gone down, from a food consumption standpoint:

Wednesday:
Lots of travel.  IU was delayed for 2+ hours in the Goerge H.W. Bush airport in Houston, so I grabbed a nice hanger steak wedge salad from the Double Tree bar.  It was actually freakin amazing.

Wednesday Grand Total: 1560 Calories.  Not too bad, considering all of the travel.

Thursday:
Thursday was a work day.  Very stressful, and very fast.  Lunch was provided by the hotel....your garden variety booo-ffett of food.  I don't even really remember what I had, but there was chicken, beef, pasta salad, bread roll, and diet cola thrown in there somewhere.

For dinner, we checked out a local Rancho Santa Marg. Mexican joint.  This place makes their own high end tequla...how the F cool is THAT??  I had a house margarita, and then chased it with this house resposado (tequila, for the lay person). 

Thursday Grand Total = 2030 ish Calories

Friday:
I've pretty much already detailed my food conquests.  I did stray from the plan with some 'in between meal' chips and salsa.  I stopped into a Cantina on Huntington Beach to await my buddy, and the Brah behind the bar INSISTED that I try their salsa du jour.  It was spicy, and WELL WORTH my brief diet betrayal.

Friday Grand Total (you may want to sit down for this): 2300 or so big Calories.  Yowzers.

See, the worst part of this week was that I just couldn't squeeze in a workout.  I'm really bummed, but I just couldn't seem to shake the east coast time.  I was up each morning at 4:00 am pst. ready to hit the shower...lol. 

I basically slept like crap all week, and just didn't have a workout in me.

I PROMISE that I'll be getting after it Monday.

All in all...not too horrible.  I have to give a huge shout out to my boy Pete, and his g/f-bff Marie for putting me up at their place.  Thanks, brah!  I flew back Saturday (all day it seemed)...but I'll leave that for a weekend recap tomorrow!!  I know, you can't wait!!

BK out