Monday, January 18, 2010

Home from beautiful Santa Monica

Just got home from a quick trip to Santa Monica. Flew down on Friday night (hooray for cheap Southwest tickets!), and Julie picked me up and whisked me home. Leisurely morning with her and Michael and then a nice 30-minute walk to the beach for the ultimate tournament (Lei Out). Perfect weather - t-shirt and skirt weather, not too hot, not too windy. We lost all four games but didn't worry too much about it. I'd forgotten how good it feels to play on soft sand under a warm sun. A few of us jumped in the Pacific afterwards - big waves, setting sun - hard to beat. Went out for amazing kimchi quesadillas for dinner. Spent the night with J&M again. Watched Up in the Air before bed - liked it, especially with the un-perfect ending.

Sunday morning started with oatmeal a la Julie, and some modeling of a vintage dress she's thinking of wearing for her wedding. Walked to the beach, played three games and won one of them! Another jump in the ocean, then off to Melody's parents' house for a very Swiss evening. The highlight was a dinner of raclette - slabs of special cheese, melted on a special grill and served with special sides (boiled potatoes, pickles, radishes, sausage & salami). The wine flowed generously and the traditional mountain music (yodeling!) rang out loud and clear.

Up early this morning to catch a flight home. Tough to come home to a cold, empty apartment. The dreary weather didn't help. I spent the afternoon putting our wedding photos in an album, and I got to go for a nice sunset walk in the afternoon when the skies finally cleared up. And I got to catch up with Scott - he presented some of his research at a conference in Capetown on Saturday and said he got great feedback and generally had a nice time down there. He keeps talking about how beautiful it is there. He's back in Kampala now for one more week. It's going to be a long week for both of us.

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