Rain, Rain, go away.

It's now officially April. It's been raining since the beginning of November. It rained on our Wedding. It rained on our honeymoon. It rains buckets every time I need to haul costumes to my car. Our rivers are all flooded from runoff from the mountains. I'm tired of rain. Even for Seattle, this is excessive.

On a plus side, I'm in the middle of a very busy period. I have 6 shows to open in 7 weeks. I've been diligent to stay on top of it, since I don't have time to get behind this time. Robin Hood opens first, then the Homeschool One-Acts, then the Homeschool Musical. Then the Teen Ensemble added MacBeth to the season. Two weeks after that one strikes, Double-cast Annie opens. In the meantime, Storybook is opening it's third show of the season, Sleepy Beauty.

Alan and I have started apartment hunting. We've seen two so far. Since we have the luxury of waiting until we find a place to move (instead of needing to move at the end of a lease), we're taking time to find a place that's either the right size or the right location. We may not find both in the same move, but at least we can upgrade a bit.

Alan's in hell week, opening a show at Renton Civic called Here on this Flight Path. It's a two-person show, and he's very nervous about his line load. I've been staying at the office as much as I can so that he can spend huge chunks of time uninterruped, memorizing lines. It opens next Friday.

Woman in Black has it's last 4 performances this week. Tonight I'll head back down to Federal Way for the first of them. It's been a very fun show - fun cast, great makeup, and it's been lovely to work at a new Theater. I've also managed to open a reciprocal lending door there, and borrowed some of their Panto costumes for our Princess show.

I'm off to a meeting now. Annie and Macbeth are calling.

Another lovely sunny day! Baxter and I are still hanging out. His owners should be home in a few hours. I'm mustering the brainpower to make coffee.

I dreamed about working last night. I hate those dreams! Just when you get away from it all, suddenly you fall asleep and you're back at it again. This time I was in my costume shop sewing on the costume set that I'm refurbishing. Arabian Nights was completely falling apart. I had to whip up 15 pairs of harem pants over a weekend just so the group had enough costumes for everyone. I finished another 5 in the interim, and bought fabric for more girls' cropped tops, boys' peasant shirts, and a few sparkly veils. I'd love to remake the zillion vests that were made out of snuggie material, but I may not have time this round. They go back out again the 2nd week of march.

I had my first night alone in a while. I don't like it. It's funny that I lived by myself for so long, and now that I don't have to, I don't want to, either. I asked Alan yesterday if that makes me pathetic and co-dependent. He said, no, it's cute. And better than, "O crap,him again."

We went shopping yesterday. I had a show in Auburn, after which Alan and I went to the Supermall. There were a few things we'd been needing to buy. We went to Bath and Body works for new hand lotion (me) and new candles (our house - they alleviate the smell of decaying rat filtering up from the foundation), jeans (Alan), and T-shirts from Old Navy (both of us, on sale, just for fun). Mine is a Guinness tee for St. Patrick's Day. Alan got an A&W Tee - his initials, and an old nickname, and a cute henley for me on the final sale rack. On the way home we stopped for Pizza at Shakey's - Alan's old family hangout, with great thin crust! We stopped at home for a minute or two, and then I went back to the Logsdon's.

I have an audition today for Into the Woods. I'm working on a new monologue hoping to make it work, but if not, I'll go back to my old standby. Usually that's safer.

Back again.

My home computer no longer let's me log into blogger, so I apologize to my family who calls and tells me to update my blog.

I'm on a break for two weeks. I opened the three shows I costumed in January, then I've been running Jack and the Beanstock. Schools are on break for the next two weeks, so we don't have performances gain until March. I still have alterations to do, and office hours to put in at my costume shop, but for the most part -I'm off!

I've been getting up in the mornings and jogging this week. After a fantastic Valentines Day (eating Bacon covered Salmon Fillet, over truffle oil drizzled potatoes and green beans), I've decided that the 10lbs I've gained since the wedding needs to go away. I blame the honeymoon. All we did was eat for 10 days. Which was great! But the fun is over, and the jogging commences.

I've been having fun playing finances! We've finally caught up from out three weeks off - which put a huge gap in my regular alterations pay, which takes 45 days to catch up with me. Then, all of my costuming jobs pay when the show opens, so I spent most of January working my butt off, with little in the bank to show for it. Luckily Alan's income floated us until I got paid again. We had our taxes done on Valentine's Day - which was very complicated with my business, but I was able to write off a third of rent and electricity since I work out of the house -and take up most of it! That was a lovely perk. Now alterations have caught up again. Since last year my alterations money was the wedding budget, we're used to not counting on that as regular income. Ergo, we're shunting it all into paying off the credit cards in the hopes of being out of debt in just over a year! You all know how much I love that! The old 12-column ledger has emerged again so that Alan and I can track our joint checking account, and our little bitty savings! (We have some! Yay!), and we've picked our first three credit cards to pay off. It's fun watching the balances fall...

Woman in Black is in rehearsals right now. I haven't been as an actor yet - no sense going until there are props to move, but I've been gathering costume props for the actors to work with, and out shopping for costumes, hoping to get everything finished by the beginning of March when I have to start attending in the evenings.

At the studio, Singing in the Rain is going up, but I'm not costuming. It's lovely being in doing other projects watching someone else working hard. I'm in the process of rebuilding one of our school shows that had been used so long it was falling to pieces. Later in the spring I have 3 Homeschool Production Shows to costume (Robin Hood, The Girl Who Was A Tree, and The Lion and Mouse Stories), double-cast Annie for the mainstage, and a newly added Teen Ensemble Macbeth going up right in the middle. It's going to be a very VERY busy April and May.

I'm not going to see much of Alan here shortly. He's directing West right now, and just got cast in a two-person production of On This Flight Path. He's also temping all next month running a Mail Room at a Law Office downtown. Which makes him happy!

That's pretty much all for us. I'm hanging out with Baxter for the weekend, as the Logsdons are gone for a few days. And I have one performance of Jack in the Beanstock today - a theater bought the show for one performance to fill out their roster.

Ciao!

Honeymoon Day 10:

Our last day in California began cloudy and dripping. Alan and I were unable to connect to the internet at the hotel, so we begged the front desk clerk to tell us where the nearest Starbucks was. We found one, and discovered that the park had moved to post-holiday hours and wasn't open yet. Alan wanted to go storm the gates, but I vetoed - reminding him of how much fun we'd had outdoors in the rain at Disneyland. So I got to sit for a few minutes happily muching on Vanilla Bean Scones and a latte.

We arrived a tad early at the park, bought an umbrelly on the way in, and waited to enter. Once the gates opened, we beelined to the Universal Tram Tour. It was a really great tour! They've built or left up working special effects sets and backlots. It is a much bigger studio than Warner Brothers, but the tram tour is less intimate - with huge four-car trams and no chance to get out and take pictures. The King Kong 3-D ride was AMAZING, but Jaws was out for repair, and the exploding bridge malfunctioned.







We went on the Simpson's Ride, which Alan loved, but made me sick. Blech. We ran down to the lower portion of the park and went on the Mummy ride, which is similar to Indiana Jones at Disneyland, but not nearly as cool. We ate lunch beneath Jurassic Park, went to the little Movie History Museum, and then went on the Jurassic Park Ride when the sun peeked out. That one is fun! I waited three hours in line for it last time I was at Universal. It wasn't worth it then, but this time we walked right on.

We went back up to the main section with only a few hours to spare before we had to leave for the airport. We went on the Shrek 3-D experience together, then divided and conquered. Alan went to the Horror Movie walk through and the Terminater 3-D Ride. I went to the live trained animal show. Then we met in a little Irish Pub for a drink. We dashed around taking pictures in "Europe," went into a few gift shops, and decided we'd had enough and should head home.








We had a lovely honeymoon. It was sad to leave such a nice vacation and hit the ground running the next day. We're already read for the next one!

Honeymoon Day 9:

Disneyland!!!

We got up with the sun, grabbed our free coffees at the terrible little hotel breakfast nook, and walked to the main gate with a few minutes to spare. All things considered, the crowds weren't that big. We knew there was a good chance of rain, but I layered quite a bit, and we weren't giving up that easily.

The first part of the day was wonderful. We dashed to Adventureland and went into Tarzan's Treehouse and then on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Then we got into a short line for the Indiana Jones Ride, which wasn't open the last time Alan went to Disneyland.





We stayed for a while in New Orleans Square, checking out merchandise to souvenir later, and finding the restaurant that had crepes mentioned on a cooking show on the Food Network. We went to the Haunted Mansion ride next. I usually love that ride, but at Christmas it becomes the "Nightmare Before Christmas" Mansion. I've never loved that movie for starters, and the last time I was on it at Christmas, the ride stopped for ten minutes next to a set of deranged "feed-me-seymore" plants singing the nightmarish theme. LAA la la LA LA LA. LA LA la la LAAAAAAAAA. LA la la LA LA LA. LA la LA la LAAAAAAA! Over. And Over. And Over. I'm over it.

Next we went up to Pooh Corner to go on some kiddy rides before the place packed out. We went on Pooh's Honey Pot, a silly little ride, but a fun one. We bypassed Splash Mountain, opting not to get wet that early in the day.

We made our way to Toon Town, looking for (Please, God!) an espresso stand as we went. We felt like true Seattle-ites wandering Disneyland in an increasing drizzle, searching for "real coffee." We finally found a stand next to Sleeping Beauty's Castle. I got a latte and a gingerbread cookie, Alan had a Mocha. We walked through the castle diorama to get a break from the rain for a moment.



In Toon Town, I love touring Mickey and Minnie's houses! The line for Minny's house was the longest line we saw all day. Minnie was greeting guests at the front door. Little girls with Mouse ears were lined up around the outside. Mickey's welcome sign said he was greeting, too. We went to Mickey's, and pulled the things that said "pull," pushed the things that were meant to be pushed, and sat in the dog bed. At the end of the walk, there was a Disney Cast Member who invited us to meet Mickey. So we did.




We stayed in Toon Town, doing all the walk throughs, playing with the zany cars, and then went on the Roger Rabbit Ride. It's one of Alan's favorite movies. There we hit our first snag of the day. The ride broke down right as we made it past the first corner. The announcement told us to remain seated until a cast member released us. We stayed. And stayed. They had to get the people furthest away, and then walk us all out in a line. We would have made out, but there was one more car in the room with us. I took pictures of the stilled characters.








We opted for It's A Small World. I LOVE that ride at Christmas! All the little bobble head puppets sing Jingle Bells with It's a Small World. YAY!!! Alan would have been happier had the ride been a shooting gallery.

Next we took a left to the newly remodelled "Finding Nemo" Sub Ride, which was our personal longest wait of the day. The Star Wars Ride was being repaired, but we spent time in the gift shop anyway. Then we went into the Toy Story shooting gallery. I sucked. Alan rocked!

Then we went back to Adventureland to take the Jungle Cruise. The second-oldest ride at Disneyland, and still one of the best! Our guide was really quite funny. As we left the boat, it began raining in earnest. We began regretting the Seattle mentality that had prevented us from purchasing ponchos at the first sign of trouble.



We went across the lot to the California Adventure. Alan had never been. It isn't that great, in my opinion, on a good day. Mostly it's a water park, which is useless when it's raining. As the rain worsened, I voted for spending some time in the Aladdin show, which is very good, and all indoors. We dried our coats on the seats next to us as we watched their production, lamenting the size of their budget and the coolness of the special effects. Then we braced ourselves for the outdoors and went to the Muppets, but it was broken down for the moment. We went on the Monsters, Inc ride. We went into the almost identical Toy Story shooting gallery, and this time, I. Kicked. Alan's. Ass.

We made the circle of the boardwalk, which was mostly closed in the rain, and then went into the Bug's Life 3-D show. It was cute, but so scary for a little kid! Outside, there were Bug Musical Posters which were pretty cute. We decided that we were tired of being wet with nothing to do, so we left the park after dashing back to see if Miss Piggy was "over her tantrum" and caught the Muppets in 3-D.



It was dark, now. As long as we were out of the park, we decided to head into Downtown Disney to let Alan have a look around. We ended up eating dinner at the Blues Brothers Restaurant, and watching part of the Seahawks game. We went into a few gift shops on the way back - including the Disney one. I bought some Shortbread with a picture of Mickey in a Kilt for Alan's parents.

We went back into Disneyland. The rain had turned into torrential downpour with sideways driving rain. We barely made it into the park before we had to turn into the Abraham Lincoln show to get out of it. We, and a handful of other people also escaping, watched Abraham Lincoln's lifesize sculpture come to life and deliver a stirring patriotic speech with bald eagles flying across a screen behind him. We gift shop hopped our way back up main street, and then hit some kiddie rides with no waits. Our second snag of the day - Snow White broke down on us as soon as we got into the first room. Once again, we were the last people extracted from the ride.

Wet and miserable, but determined not to wuss out now, we ran to Adventureland. On the way we stopped in at the Saloon and had tea.



At Indiana Jones we could run up and get onto any car, any row we wanted. At Pirates of the Caribbean, they asked us if we'd like to stay on for a second turn. As we left, we decided that we'd eeked out enough fun from the day, and it would be nice to be dry again. At my insistence, we hopped a bus instead of walking, which turned out to be the wrong bus. Which meant we had to take the whole route, then return to Disneyland and catch a shuttle, which didn't go to our hotel, but one down the street. Alan was right. We should have just walked.

We picked up our car and drove to Burbank to find a hotel, found a really shady one, and fell asleep after draping our clothes over the heater to dry.

Honeymoon Day 8

Well everyone, rehearsal was delayed today due to snow, so I have a moment or two!

Day 8 was our last morning in Palm Springs. We woke up early (for us) and tidied up, then dropped by Grandma and Ken's place to give them the keys and garage door opener. We had a lovely time!

We stopped by the Brighton Outlet one more time on our way out of town. I bought a lovey pendant necklace I'd loved, which was marked down to less than $10. Alan won brownie points when he found the same necklace marked down lower in another section of the store. YAY!

Our goal for the day was to hit several of the movie filming sites that Alan had researched, beginning the with Vasquez Rocks, where Kirk fought the Gorn, and more than 500 films have shot. The mapquest directions sent us out and around the back side of the mountain range instead of through the city. Since the Rose Parade and Bowl were on in Pasadena, we thought skipping L.A. is a great idea.

Three hours of driving through the absolute middle of nowhere later, we were wishing we'd risked the town way. Not only were we on a two lane highway where even the scrub brush was giving up the will to live, but traffic leaving Pasadena on highway 2 backed up traffic on the one left turn off my highway. We crawled through the desert for several miles trying to bypass.

Eventually we stopped in Peachtree (population 500) for gas and a restroom. The guy with one eye standing next to the man with no teeth told us that the "bathrooms is broke. You might try the likker store." We passed. I turned to Alan, who was passed out in the passenger seat with a migraine, and told him that these had better be pretty damn cool rocks.

Finally, just as we were worrying about losing the light, we pulled into the Vasquez Rocks. They were cool. Not three and a half hours of driving cool, but cool. After all that driving, it took us 20 minutes to get back into L.A. Stupid Mapquest.





Next we went into Hollywood, but didn't stop, then took the longest possible way to the Pacific Coast Highway to go down to Long Beach. There, we found the bar they filmed "True Blood" - Alan's favorite Vampire drama. We chatted with the bartender about the filming and local area attractions. If we'd had more time, we would have stopped at the section of Long Beach with Vintage Clothing Stores and Restaurants. However, it was late, and we needed to find our hotel in Annaheim.





We stopped at a Starbucks to use our new laptop and find a hotel. Then we drove to Annaheim. After much driving around (Disney Way cuts off most of the streets around Disneyland, leaving us circling the park trying to find our street again), we checked in. Then we went to Dennys for an 11pm breakfast, then went to sleep, dreaming of Disneyland!

Honeymoon Day 7:

Today started low key. I turned on the hot tub first thing and spent the morning reading while drinking coffee. I woke Alan up at 10.

We decided on a plan of action for New Years. We'd eaten at every place that had been recommended to us, plus a few more that we found on our own. We picked our favorite pizza for lunch, and while we were there, made reservations for a late dinner at the Hog's Breath Inn. We'd gone there for appetizers earlier in the week, and thought their menu looked really tasty.

After Pizza we bummed around a bit more, then headed back home to nap and relax.

That evening we got dressed up and headed to Hog's Breath. We sat in the lounge and had a dirty martini and a lemon drop martini and listened to the piano player while we waited for our reservation. We were escorted to our table. Alan was in the mood for steak, and I wavered between the pork chop and the crab stuffed sole - but the waiter sold me on the pork chop over butternut squash with apple au jus. I had a salad, and even that was the best I've ever eaten. Alan switched over to the house wine, and I sipped champagne. We sat watching the glittering restaurant. Literally. The waitstaff had "Happy New Year" tinselly headbands, and most of the patrons were in their flashiest. One young man was wearing a silver paper top hat, and his sister had a sparkly black boa. As our meal came to a close, we decided to splurge and split the cheesecake and a glass of 20-year port. It was a lovely evening and a perfect New Year.

At home, we warmed up the hot tub again, and sipped champagne waiting for the ball to drop. We had our first New Years kiss, and then I went off to bed.

What a great end to an old year.

And a woman stopped me to compliment me on my wedding shoes, and another on my sparkly silver dress. Even better! (And Alan wore his three piece wedding suit with his white tie and a pocket watch, and looked extremely handsome - like an English Country Gentleman out on the town!)

Honeymoon Day 6:

After such a busy day in LA, today was a low key one. I warmed up the hot tub first thing in the morning and spent the day getting in and out of it, reading. Alan went for an adventure to check out Indio - the last town we hadn't been in. He ate lunch at an In-N-Out Burger, and found a Barnes and Noble to buy a book. I napped a bit.

At 3:30 we went over the Grandma and Ken's and got a tour of their housing community, then went to Burgers and Jeans night at their clubhouse. Best. Burger. Ever! Then we went back to their house for ten rounds of Rummycubes over wine and chocolates.

I fell asleep at 10.

One funny picture - the only other place besides Seattle that I've seen one of these:

Honeymoon Day 5:

Today we got up at 7, and left at 8 for our Warner Brothers Backlot tour in Burbank, California. It was raining the whole drive, but let up once we got into L.A.

The studio tour was great! The most raw entertainment for our buck was watching a very snooty, entitled woman raise hell at the manager's desk because part of her large party had shown up late, and their spaces had been given away. We were glad to discover that none of them would be in our group.

The first portion of the tour was driving through the back lots. The studio has built several generic city sets - New York, Chicago and "Midtown, USA" that can be dressed up or down depending on the period needed. The guide pointed out several key filming locations, like the front facade of Mrs. Hannigan's Orphanage from Annie, the alley where they filmed the famous Spiderman kiss, and the theater from the Drew Carey opening. We also saw the last remaining facade from the Casablanca filming, and their "Central Park" which was used in the Phoebe and Rachel running scene from Friends.

The Spiderman Alley
Mrs. Hannigan's Orphanage

The second part of the tour was my favorite! They took us to a museum that housed collections from Hollywood films of the past. The upstairs housed memorabilia from the Harry Potter Films. I was THRILLED to discover a sign thanking Colleen Atwood (among others) for her contribution, but sadly, none of her costumes were on display that day. We did see costumes from Willy Wonka, The Matrix, and the latest Batman. They also had Sam's Piano from Casablanca. We wandered upstairs to check out the Harry Potter display - but having just seen the touring exhibit in Seattle, it wasn't quite as neat. But we did see the statue of the petrified Hermione - which looked GREAT! They had Harry's under-the-cupboard set. We saw several books and letters with greenscreened portions on the cover where the moving pictures would be added in post-production, and the Dursley's fireplace with hundreds of letters pouring out. We also were sorted into houses - Alan into Hufflepuff, and for me the hat said, "Ah, another Weasley" and sorted me into Griffindore. Sadly, we were not allowed to take pictures, but we got to see ever so many great costumes up close.

I looked at the work, and thought the construction wasn't better than mine, but the budget for materials was astronimically cooler. We saw two suits made for the Twins, and they'd obviously paid someone to weave the pinstriped material for the suits. They were exactly the same color, but the two-toned pinstriping was at different widths on each suit. Color on color and multi-layered patterns appear to be the way to go in filming. It was fascinating!

Next we saw the set for Two and a Half Men. For theater people, it was interesting to see how high the audience sits, and how low the rigging comes. The set itself looked like any set, but there were bare areas off the main set where secondary sets could be brought back in, or built if needed. The backdrop was a 30' by 100' poster of Malibu. The studio is the only studio with the machinery to build posters that bid, so most of the building sized billboards in LA are made there, as well.

We were escorted through the props department - where many props were on hold for the filming of "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" beginning in January. In one corner, behind a flat, they'd left the "Central Perk" set from Friends! A pushy German family sat on the couch to take a picture, so our tour guide kindly allowed Alan and I to take our picture there too. YAY!!!!!




Next, we toured the transportation department's display of famous cars from the movies. Alan saw two Batmobiles and the Grand Torino, and I saw the Ford Anglia from Harry Potter.

I asked the tour guide if there was any way to see the costume department, but he said that they don't allow them in there - and he's never even seen it. I bought a postcard at the gift shop, and went online to see if there were any job postings.

After the tour we went to Big Boy Burgers for lunch, then went on a two-hour trek to find the location of the "Batcave" in Griffin Park. After several wrong turns (It's a big park!) we made it, and Alan was made a very very happy man.


We did go into Hollywood for a while, to spend a couple of hours before meeting a friend of Alan's for dinner. We wandered Groman's Chinese, but being a holiday, it was a freakin' zoo. So we ducked into the Hollywood Wax Museum, because I had never been to one. For unexpected bang for our buck, the Hollywood Wax museum is right up there with the Robotic Dinosaur Museum. It was fun and totally chintzy - but we had a great time!





After some more wantdering and getting lost, we met Mark and Sarah for dinner at a Mexican Restaurant in Beverly Hills. It was lovely - no menus - but five courses. Alan played with their son for a while, and got to catch up with his old roommate. After dinner, Alan and I headed for home.

Honeymoon Day 4:


At Cafe des Beaux-Arts

Today was was restaurant heavy. We woke up rather early (for us) and drove back to El Paseo to eat brunch at a lovely French Bistro. I knew I was in heaven when I walked in an the waitstaff were all speaking French. I had a really real Croque Monsieur, and Alan had the ham and cheese crepes. It was the perfect beginning to the day.

Next we popped down the road a bit and went to Boomers to play mini-golf. I was doing very well, coming out ahead after the first nine holes. But an unfortunate 6-stroke hole meant Alan won by four points. And now won't stop gloating, since that puts him ahead 2-1 on our running mini-golf talley. I interjected that the previous games have been on 9-hole courses, so since I was ahead in the first nine, and he won the back nine, it's technically 2-2. He's not buying. There were lovely little houses all over the course to play through or around, and we ran about taking pictures with all of them. (We also spent a really long wait in line to buy tickets checking out the ENOURMOUS rock on the finger of the woman in front of us; and wondering what her husband does for a living.)






That morning, on our way to brunch, we stopped by Grandma's to check in, and she recommended that we take the tram tour while the weather was still nice. The tram is an 80-person lift that goes up the side of the mountains near Palm Springs, and rotates, showing a view of the valley. After mini-golf, a quick trip to the store and some frozen yogurt, we headed west of Palm Springs. (On the way we stopped by a local resale shop and found two Tommy Bahama shirts for Alan.)

We wound our way up the side of the foothills to the named parking lots. We wanted to park in the grey weasil lot, but ended up in the hawk lot. We waited for the bus to the lobby. Upon entering, a driver not chosen for his people skills informed us casually that the earliest we'd be getting on a tram would be 4:30. It was 2:50. We hung in there, and made it to the lobby, walked in, saw the line, and decided that if we were going to wait for two hours in that kind of crowd, there had better be a pirate or Indiana Jones at the end of it. We walked back down the hill and left.

We stopped into a little Antique Mall - the first we've seen in Palm Springs that wasn't so ritsy that we were afraid to go in, and enjoyed our usual routine of bopping around. I bought a stack of outdated decor magazines for some hottub side reading.

With time to kill, and options running out in Palm Springs, we decided to Happy Hour Hop our way back home. Alan had a disastrous "British Pub" experience the day before. (When you walk in, and the bartender had never heard of Smithwicks - and when asked what kind of lagers they have and replies 'Bud' - you might consider yourself clued in) So, for him, we stopped into a "Tilted Kilt" - a Scottish Themed Pub. What we didn't know was - Tilted Kilt is the equivalent of a Scottish Themed Hooters. We walked into a charming pub with stained glass windows of busty girls in mini-kilt bikinis. When our eyes adjusted to the gloom, I realized that both our hostess and bartender were in the same outfit. We did stay, when they had Smithwicks, Harp and Guiness, and had a happy hour black-and-tan and some onion rings. There were some really great posters on the walls and ceiling, and authentic scottish highland dress prints in the bathrooms. I took pictures of all the ones in the girls side. I couldn't muster the guts to walk into the men's bathroom for the others.

Next we drove back to El Paseo for the Tommy Bahama happy hour. THAT one was great. Alan had a mojito, and they made a Strawberry Daquiri for me. All the waitstaff were wearing identical shirts (we were wondering if they let the employees wear Tommy Bahama, or if they mass order knockoffs). The atmosphere was great, the staff pleasant, and we saw some really nice entrees go by. We popped through the Tommy Bahama Store and Anthropologie on our way out.

Grandma and Ken had recommended a place called Jackalope for appetisers, so our last stop was there. It was a huge restaurant that for some unknown reason had giant pig statues everywhere. (We thought they'd fit in better at the Hog's Breath Inn) There was one jackalope behind the bar. I had their corn and shrimp chowder and Alan tried their Potato Skins and the Jackalope Ale. They were advertising for a New Years Menu, so we may be back again.

After all the excitement, we went back home, heated up the hot tub, and had some wine and champagne and another romantic night. And watched the new "What Not To Wear." Poor Alan is overwhelmed sometimes by how many lucid fashion comments he's now capable of dolling out - after several years of forced Project Runway viewing. When the words - "She just needs a belt to accent her figure" came out - he whimpered a little.

Tomorrow, off to Warner Brothers!