Martina and Mark visit the OC

This past week my dear friend Martina and her boyfriend Mark visited Nick and I in California and we had a great time! Martina and I share close birthdays so we thought there was no better way to celebrate together (and we did lots of celebrating).

It started out on Friday with dinner, drinks, and dancing with friends as per the last entry. Mostly I danced the night away and had a great time!
Then Saturday we decided to take a trip down to Laguna Beach and enjoy the lovely scenery and weather. Walking along the beach we saw some cute little tidepools with creatures in them and just took in all the scenery. Then after walking around for a few hours we worked up an appetite so Nick and I took them to one of our favorite resaturants - The Brussels Bistro! I love this restaurant for the delicious food, and introducing me to the delicious Belgian beer, Leffe. Martina and I decided to split a pot of fabulous mussels cooked in garlic, butter, white wine, celery, and onions.
That evening, we went to celebrate another friend's birthday at his house - Mark. It was a fun little house party and it seems everyone had a good time.

Sunday was our March for Babies walk in Newport Beach around Fashion Island and the surrounding neighborhoods. Martina and I headed out very early to do our walk and what a beautiful day it was. Together we raised $1150 for the March of Dimes!
After the walk, Nick and Mark met us in Fashion Island to spend the day in Newport Beach. First was lunch at the Yard House (a California original - used to be you could order a yard of beer, now just a half yard - which is still more than I drink). After lunch, we headed over to Balboa Island and walked along the water to the ferry. While walking along the harbor, we came across an open house and decided to see what the other half lives like. The house was gorgeous! There were so many features that are so nice (and really kind of unnecessary), but I would have loved to live there. Too bad it was $6 million dollars - we don't have enough down payment for that! :-)

Then on to the ferry over to the peninsula of Newport and the pier. We walked down, enjoyed the sun and showed Martina and Mark where the original Ruby's dinner was at the end of Balboa pier. While walking back along the boardwalk, we came across a surrey and decided it would be fun to rent one and ride along the boardwalk for a hour. It was fun! Too bad we let Nick drive :-)
After the surrey we decided to stop in Cabo Cantina for a margarita because it was 2 for 1 happy hour. Too bad they didn't tell us that if you order one, they bring you 2 of that same drink! They were tasty though. After that we headed back on the ferry to the Island, walked on the Island a little then headed back home for some dinner.

Monday was Los Angeles. Martina, Mark, and I woke up gradually and then headed up to LA to have lunch with Lisa and see the La Brea Tar Pits. Lunch was tasty and hanging out with Lisa was fun again, but the tar pits were nothing too write home about - fortunately we made our own fun there anyway. :-)
After that we headed down to Long Beach to meet up with Nick for sushi at our favorite place - Sushi of Naples. After a quick stop and walk around seaport village (we were going to go to the aquarium, but it was closing too early), we headed down and had another fabulous sushi dinner at sushi of Naples. We even got Martina to try and enjoy a few sushi rolls!

Tuesday Martina and I headed to the spa for my brithday (next blog)
Wednesday, Martina, Mark, and I headed down to San Diego to spend the day with Max. We had a blast in Balboa park just walking around, enjoying the beautiful scenery (and free museums), plus having a little fun wherever we went. For dinner we headed over to the Gaslamp district and enjoyed a delicious Italian dinner at Chianti, followed by fabulous gelato at Chocolat. MMMMM, great day!
Then, Thursday Martina and Mark headed home and I began to clean for our next guests - Nick's dad and step-mom who are joining us on Sunday. Look forward to another fun-filled week for my blog. :-)