Today was a perfect mess of work and old friends and new friends and relaxation and sunshine and red red wine (stay close to me). I woke up in time, theoretically, to have breakfast with Ritu and Bill, but I promptly texted them to say I hated them and wanted to keep sleeping, so I curled back up and slept for another hour. And then I took a quick shower and had breakfast on my own while doing some work - parts of breakfast were mildly disgusting, but it's free, so whatever. And they had coffee and wifi, which is all I really needed.
After breakfast, I sat in the courtyard and worked in the sun for three hours or so - I didn't get much writing done, but I had some business stuff to take care of (which I'm glad I did - some of it was totally material to some promotional activities I have coming up next week, and if I hadn't done it today, it would have been too late). And it felt good to be productive while traveling - I need to prove to myself that I can do that while traveling if I'm going to allow myself to go on as many trips as I want to go on in the next couple of years.
But eventually I met up with Ritu and Bill and we walked downtown and had a delightfully leisurely, extremely delicious late lunch at Luna Red, which serves a combo of tapas + global dishes (which seems like a weird combo, but we loved it). We had ceviche and bacon wrapped dates, and Ritu and I split the seafood paella and the beef green curry, and Bill had some lamb rolls, and we all had a lot of wine, and we talked about life and work and weddings and romantic disasters (in other words, everything we've missed in each others' lives in the last few months). And I could have sat on that patio forever...
But all good things must end, often to make way for better things. We wandered back to the hotel (with a stop to buy olive oil products - Bill is in the food oil industry and actually tastes oil plain, which I find a trifle bizarre), and then we bought a bottle of wine to drink in the lobby because we couldn't wait another thirty minutes for the free happy hour to start. Jared, my new favorite person and favorite wedding guest, walked in as Ritu and I were attempting to open our bottle, and I think it sealed our relationship because we looked so ridiculous. Also, clearly we're going to be friends because he has a son named Samson and he hasn't yet punched me in the face for calling the kid Samsung all night, so I think we're cool.
sssanyway. Ritu, Bill and I took a uber to the wedding venue, where we partook of a lot of tasty food for the 'rehearsal dinner' - they had a food truck with a pizza oven, so there were a lot of delish-looking pizzas. Luckily there were also a lot of delicious meatballs, so I ate like eight of those plus a lot of a tasty salad, and I drank a lot more wine (provided by Spencer, who is dating one of Steph's sisters and works at a winery), and I generally had an amazing time. Basically, I can have fun at any wedding if I put my heart into it, and I'm putting my heart into this one, which means I've befriended a ton of people and Steph's parents have started calling me the daughter they never had, so I think that's a good thing?
Eventually, though, I needed to get some sleep, so I called an Uber - and somehow someone showed up who had space for six, so we brought back Ritu, Bill, Kirsten (she's awesome), Jared (again, always awesome - he apparently did some comedy stuff for Second City at some point, if that says anything), and Kirsten's cousin (who is also cousins with the groom). Jared went to rejoin his wife/son almost immediately, after asking me to smell his hand (you had to be there), but Ritu, Bill, Kirsten and I bought another bottle of wine from the hotel and sat out by the firepit for an hour to drink most of it And I comprehensively insulted Kirsten's Hungarian boy-toy, but I think she's okay with it.
But now, it's one a.m. and I need to sleep if I have any hope of being functional tomorrow - more fun awaits, and I am determined to be as charming as possible to seal the deal with Jared and Kirsten and some other people in terms of being friends in the future, so wish me luck with that. Goodnight!
After breakfast, I sat in the courtyard and worked in the sun for three hours or so - I didn't get much writing done, but I had some business stuff to take care of (which I'm glad I did - some of it was totally material to some promotional activities I have coming up next week, and if I hadn't done it today, it would have been too late). And it felt good to be productive while traveling - I need to prove to myself that I can do that while traveling if I'm going to allow myself to go on as many trips as I want to go on in the next couple of years.
But eventually I met up with Ritu and Bill and we walked downtown and had a delightfully leisurely, extremely delicious late lunch at Luna Red, which serves a combo of tapas + global dishes (which seems like a weird combo, but we loved it). We had ceviche and bacon wrapped dates, and Ritu and I split the seafood paella and the beef green curry, and Bill had some lamb rolls, and we all had a lot of wine, and we talked about life and work and weddings and romantic disasters (in other words, everything we've missed in each others' lives in the last few months). And I could have sat on that patio forever...
But all good things must end, often to make way for better things. We wandered back to the hotel (with a stop to buy olive oil products - Bill is in the food oil industry and actually tastes oil plain, which I find a trifle bizarre), and then we bought a bottle of wine to drink in the lobby because we couldn't wait another thirty minutes for the free happy hour to start. Jared, my new favorite person and favorite wedding guest, walked in as Ritu and I were attempting to open our bottle, and I think it sealed our relationship because we looked so ridiculous. Also, clearly we're going to be friends because he has a son named Samson and he hasn't yet punched me in the face for calling the kid Samsung all night, so I think we're cool.
sssanyway. Ritu, Bill and I took a uber to the wedding venue, where we partook of a lot of tasty food for the 'rehearsal dinner' - they had a food truck with a pizza oven, so there were a lot of delish-looking pizzas. Luckily there were also a lot of delicious meatballs, so I ate like eight of those plus a lot of a tasty salad, and I drank a lot more wine (provided by Spencer, who is dating one of Steph's sisters and works at a winery), and I generally had an amazing time. Basically, I can have fun at any wedding if I put my heart into it, and I'm putting my heart into this one, which means I've befriended a ton of people and Steph's parents have started calling me the daughter they never had, so I think that's a good thing?
Eventually, though, I needed to get some sleep, so I called an Uber - and somehow someone showed up who had space for six, so we brought back Ritu, Bill, Kirsten (she's awesome), Jared (again, always awesome - he apparently did some comedy stuff for Second City at some point, if that says anything), and Kirsten's cousin (who is also cousins with the groom). Jared went to rejoin his wife/son almost immediately, after asking me to smell his hand (you had to be there), but Ritu, Bill, Kirsten and I bought another bottle of wine from the hotel and sat out by the firepit for an hour to drink most of it And I comprehensively insulted Kirsten's Hungarian boy-toy, but I think she's okay with it.
But now, it's one a.m. and I need to sleep if I have any hope of being functional tomorrow - more fun awaits, and I am determined to be as charming as possible to seal the deal with Jared and Kirsten and some other people in terms of being friends in the future, so wish me luck with that. Goodnight!
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