Over the weekend, Caroline and I celebrated our one-year (dating) anniversary. The anniversary weekend began with my car breaking down and me having to take it into the shop on Saturday morning. Great, car repairs are never cheap. So we scraped the idea of going to the San Diego Wild Animal Park for the day. Instead, we went to The Grove, did some shopping, did some browsing, and dined for lunch at Wood Ranch.
That night, we had reservations at Blue on Blue. This restaurant is located inside the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills. It was remodeled in the 90痴 and the restaurant is located right next to the pool. It is a great place to have dinner, or a dinner party. We talked about the last 365 days and about the next 365, had some drinks, ate some great food, and then headed to the hotel bar at Maison 180.
Maison 180 is another hotel, owned by the same company, Kor Hotel Group, as the Avalon Hotel, with a very different look. Inside, it looks like a David Lynch film is being scouted. The walls are black, the lights are low, and wall and ceiling accents adorn the space. The bathroom was visual and tactile, the kind you see in horror films about old houses. It was a pretty sweet place. However, this place is small. Imagine 81st Street redecorating the front room. That was it. I think most of the living rooms in America are larger then this place.
Jon and Toby meet us for drinks at Maison 180. We talked till 130a, and then headed to Norms for some post beverage delights (Norms on Pico has been completely remodeled, if you stopped going to UCLA three months ago, you won稚 recognize it).
Sunday, Caroline spent the day with her family, I spent the day with football. Matt and The Jung stopped by for some goodbye Halo 1 goodness.
Monday I stayed home, waiting for the diagnosis on my automobile. The disease came back, oil leak, in the 1st degree. The cure, $2200 worth of repairs. I baulked at these results and recommendations. I picked up my car, drove her home and began my search for a second opinion. Solace came in the form of a lower priced cure, $1100. But as it stands, the car is running fine. But she must see a specialist, stat.