Dan and I were both in Southern California this weekend, although we arrived separately and were in different parts of SoCal and didn’t see each other for much of the time. Dan and his film buddies were in Pasadena to shoot a short, and they drove down on Friday night, whereas I flew down on Friday morning and stayed in Irvine and Torrance to spend time with my friends from college — our plans just happened to fall on the same weekend, so we ended up both being down there but ironically separated until it came time for us to drive back up to the Bay Area.

Dan may blog about his shoot a little later, but this post will be all about my adventures this past weekend. πŸ˜›

My good friend Mariko lives in Irvine, and I hadn’t seen her since last June, so I was really happy to have a chance to go spend some time with her this time. Our friend Shun from Virginia Tech is moving back to Japan, and he was stopping by SoCal for the weekend before flying to the other side of the world, so it was a good chance to see him as well, before he left the U.S.

We spent most of Friday in the Los Angeles area and Saturday in San Diego. Here are some photos from Day One in Manhattan Beach and Irvine….

prosciutto mozarella tartine
Prosciutto & Mozzarella di Bufala tartine with sun-dried tomatoes & basil pesto from Le Pain Quotidien at Manhattan Beach. Delicieux!

lunch with Mariko at Le Pain Quotidien
Mari had a warm organic turkey and cheddar tartine. Also very yum.

after lunch in Manhattan Beach
Outside Le Pain Quotidien. We were pretty stuffed at this point. Thank you for the lunch, Mari!

me at Manhattan Beach
We decided to walk it off with a stroll along Manhattan Beach.

Mariko on the beach
Mariko being her usual adorable self.

Mariko and Misono
Mari and Misono on Manhattan Beach!

goofing off
It was such a gorgeous day to be at the beach!

Mariko in the distance
Amazing sky, sand, and sea... stretching far into the distance.

me in the distance
We started getting a little giddy with the gorgeous beach and the lovely weather and started taking some silly photos.

my turn to take a photo with tiny Mariko
What are we doing? I'm not quite sure myself... but they are amusing, no?

the promised land!
We hit up Pinkberry, the original tart frozen yogurt.

Mariko and I at Pinkberry
I love froyo, and it was my first time having Pinkberry. I liked it! πŸ™‚

original froyo with mango and mochi toppings
Original tart with mango and mochi toppings.

Mariko and Shun
After we picked up Shun from the LAX, we drove to Irvine to have some late dinner at BCD Tofu House.

dinner at BCD Tofu House in Irvine
Quite a feast!

bulgogi!
I don't like tofu, so instead of soon dubu, I had some of this bulgogi goodness. I hadn't had bulgogi in a few years! I used to have it all the time when I lived in NoVa.

Shun having his first taste of froyo
Shun-chan eating froyo for the first time! Must capture moment...

At Yogurtland, having our 2nd froyo of the day!
Mari and I at Yogurtland, having froyo for the second time in six hours...

Looking at the photos, it looks like all we did was eat, scamper around the beach, and go eat some more… and more… and more…. which I suppose is essentially the gist of what happened. There’s just so much good food in the area, I end up wanting to eat everything I see. It was really nice to spend time with college friends and reminisce on our days back at Tech — sometimes I wish I could just go back and experience it all over again. (I believe I suffer from a bit of Peter Pan Complex.) But it’s comforting to see that your close friends from those days have never really changed that much, and that you can always pick up right where you left off with them. It really makes me grateful for the friendships I made and have been able to carry with me.

Stay tuned for Part II, in which we encounter giant sea creatures and scale treacherous rock cliffs. (Sounds so epic!)