California for the Weekend

Josh and I went to California for my annual Christmas party for my company. It's always great to get away (and even better when we don't have to pay for it!)

We left late on Thursday night, flying into the Long Beach airport. After getting our luggage and our rental car, we headed down to Irvine to our hotel. I took the day off on Friday (I would have had to go into the StrikePoint office to work) so Josh and I slept in for a bit. After getting up and getting ready, we went shopping at a nearby shopping center called Fashion Island. We mostly just walked around, but we did buy a new shirt and belt for Josh. They have this beautiful, big Christmas tree (150 feet tall) so we took a few pictures of it. After shopping, we went to a grocery store to get a few snacks, then headed back to the hotel for a little nap and rest. While we were at the hotel, Josh's back started to hurt, so we decided to just relax the rest of the night, watch tv and order room service.

On Saturday, we got up early and drove up to Santa Monica. The beach was beautiful!! The temperature was perfect, probably mid 70's, so after getting a bite to eat, we walked for a long time - probably 2 to 3 hours just up and down the beach. It was wonderful. It was warm enough that we could walk in the water. We then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the Christmas party. Josh looked so good!! The party was in Laguna Beach. We had dinner (really good food) then there was some dancing and a casino night with fake money. Right as dinner was starting, Josh started to get sharp pains in his stomach - so bad that he had to get up and leave the table. They kept coming, and I could tell that he was really in pain, so we decided to leave the party early before the casino gambling. Poor Josh suffered the whole way back to the hotel.

We had most of the day to play because our flight didn't leave until 7:45pm. We drove up to Hollywood first, but after driving down Hollywood Blvd. we realized how slummy Hollywood actually is. Nothing was really open (maybe because it was early, before 10am) so we just drove through and decided not to stop. Josh wanted to see the Glen Helen raceway, so we headed down the opposite way to San Bernardino. There was four-wheeler racing going on, so it was really fun to watch. We decided that we want to go back when they have the motocross racing there in the summer. The day was dwindling away, so we headed to Long Beach so we could go to the beach again and so we were close to the airport. We walked on the beach again, and took a ton of pictures with the sunset. We were also pleasantly surprised because we saw dolphins swimming in the water. They never really jumped all of the way out of the water, but we saw 3 or 4 out in the water playing. They were out there for a long time, so it was fun to watch. After, we headed to fill up the car with gas (after all of our driving!) and back to the airport. On the flight back, though, I got sick with whatever Josh had the night before. My stomach hurt so bad, I got up to go to the bathroom because I needed to throw up, but passed out right as I reached the bathroom. The flight attendants were great, making sure I was ok and giving me ice to feel better. I headed back to my seat, and felt a little better the rest of the way besides the horrible sharp pains. Just a side note - we flew back on Jet Blue and both of us fell in love. So much better than any other airline I have been on. There is a lot more room, plus your own tv with satellite programming. It sure makes the time go by much faster!!