#2028 Saturday with Sandy SoCal style

Greetings from lovely LaLaLand. I flew into Long Beach this morning so I could spend the weekend with my mom. I haven't seen her since January, and I was missing her. Lucky for me I picked an absolutely gorgeous day to get here. Southern Californians were definitely getting their money's worth for the weather today.

First things first...down .6 lb at WW this week, which got me down to the next whole number I was looking for. I felt good about it, especially since I didn't plan or track at all and I only made it to the gym twice last week. (I had a week.). It will surely catch up with me next week, but I'll take the loss today and be happy.

The flight to Long Beach left around 11:20 or so. As usual, I fell asleep before take-off and slept through the refreshment service. I was okay with that because I knew that Mom and I were going to lunch. She was there to pick me up at the airport and we drove to Seal Beach to have lunch at The Hangout. Since it was such an amazing day, all the parking anywhere near the beach was full. The restaurant is directly across the street from the beach, so that didn't work out. We headed down to Sunset Beach to the Harbor House Cafe which Mom assured me was a Southern California institution. We found a parking place right in front which I took as a sign that it was meant to be, so we went right in and had a seat. We had a California chicken sandwich and some fish & chips, which we split. The chicken sandwich was delicious. The fish & chips were just meh, but they were hot and fresh. I totally burned the roof of my mouth on the damn things. My mouth is still tender.

After lunch we drove along Pacific Coast Highway to Beach Boulevard, then headed east toward Mom's house. We stopped at the gigantic Portos Bakery in Buena Park for some dessert to take home. We got a few different pastries to sample. Mom was telling me that she read an article somewhere that ranked Portos as the best bakery in the United States, and another bakery that was on the way home, 85C, was fifth on the list, so of course we stopped there, too. I did get a little cheese danish there. I've had a taste of it and it was yummy.

The area where 85C is might be considered Little Korea or something. There were many Korean and Asian shops. We strolled through a fun store, Daiso Japan, that had lots of cute things. I didn't buy anything, but I was tempted by some of the kitchen stuff and of course the pens and papers. We also went to a Korean market that was just across the parking lot. I don't think I have ever been in a Korean market before. The fresh seafood section was fantastic. Mom was delighted to see fresh monkfish, her most favorite kind of fish. I'm sure she will be googling a monkfish recipe soon now that she knows where to get some of that fish.

Exploring done, we came home where I was greeted with great enthusiasm by Lulu, Mom's maltipoo. The dog is very energetic and is extremely happy when people come over. She jumped all over me, trying to lick my face and then flopping herself down so I could rub her tummy, then jumping back up into my face and finally settling down until I riled her up again. She's fun.

Mom and I have had good talks this afternoon. This is my first time back at the house since Dad passed and I wondered what it would be like. Mom has changed a couple of the rooms around, so it is a little different, but still the same. It is peaceful.

Tomorrow Lizzie will come up from San Diego to spend the day. It will be great to see her. For now, I am happy to have my mom to myself. I'm glad to be here.