Friday night began with a happy hour date with a long time friend of mine and a relatively new friend I've been drawn too due to the fact that her soul shines.
We hit up Manhattan Steak and Seafood Happy Hour. The place is pricey but the happy hour was rad. You sit in the bar area and eventually a jazz trio shows up. Perfection.
There was a group of elderly folks closer to the band and throughout the evening they would dance. Sometimes couples whisking each other around, sometimes a couple of couples trading off and at one point the whole lot of them got up and did some sort of line dancing looking thing. They were a joy to watch. My favorite was the couple that danced the most. They looked into each others eyes with such love and the floated around the dance floor as if they were the only ones in the world.
This led me into telling the girls about how my grandparents met at a dance in Laguna Beach. My grandma had come with another man, but when my Papa laid eyes on her he was smitten. The rest is history.
At one point the musician announced there was a wedding and the couple was coming into do their 1st dance. We looked around wondering if we had crashed a wedding but it was obvious we had not. The couple breezed in and danced to Unforgettable. It was so beautiful and we were so thrilled to share such a special moment with strangers. It was pretty dark but one of the gals snapped a photo.
The food and wine was delicious! It was the house wine on happy hour and sometimes I worry they can be a little bitter, but this was a glorious red. We shared calamari, french onion dumplings (which completely fascinated us - it was like french onion soup in a bite!), sweet potato fries and sliders. Yummy! The waitress at one point commented on me being very well hydrated. (I was downing water in between wine) and she said "That's why your skin is so beautiful!"
The jazz trio was awesome and I found myself lulled into the music more often than not. It turned out to be a lovely evening of food, music and friends.
Saturday evening me and some of my childhood girlfriends got together for Thai. We caught up on each others lives and shared laughs and concerns for some of the troubled kids. We hit up my favorite Thai place in Orange - Lanta Thai Fusion - and I had the dinner special which includes wine! Again, I was a little worried it not being good but it was delish! Our dinner chat spilled out into another hour chatting in the parking lot. These are my best friends and I love them dearly.
Sunday brought the emotional final clean out of my grandparents house. My mom has hired a woman to do the Estate Sale. How it works is we get out everything we want then turn the key over to her and don't come back until after the sale. Mom still has a lot of stuff she wants to go through so a handful of friends came over and we worked most of the day loading up cars, cleaning out the house, making many trips back and forth, lifting, packing, crying, laughing, discovering all sorts of things. I injured my hand due to an overly heavy stone turtle and all of us had our backs barking by the end of the day. Mom cried often. We found an old stash of my Papa's liquor, which come to find out may actually be his fathers. The boys are actually going to drink it.
It was so much fun to watch them find treasure and get completely enthralled with some of the older stuff. It was a lot like a time warp. I shared many stories of my Papa with the boys and told them how he used to love working with his hands and building things. Everything. I got misty a few times and felt the presence of my Papa throughout the day.
I got a shot of me and the boys with the booze in a sort of goodbye cheer to Papa.
We couldn't have got everything done without the help of these guys as well as my sister in law and my mom's dear friend Deb. Mom and I shared a moment as we cut some roses and left the house.
The week before had been rough, lots of crap happening to alot of friends. Learned of some more crap that morning and my heart just breaks for so many around me going through a rash of shit. Between that and the day at the house I was dirty, tired, in severe pain, over emotional and reached a new point of exhaustion I hadn't been at in awhile. I needed a positive end to bookend my weekend.
Another new friend in my life and I headed to Shiki after I warned him I wasn't all that presentable and shared laughs and stories over too much sake and sushi.
Crawling into bed that night I smiled. I'm so grateful for the people in my life. You never know what kind of an impact people make. It's truly a beautiful thing.
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