Hoops, High Scores, and Huntington

Wow, 2 weeks without a post? Crikey. Well, here's some random excerpts from my life over the past two weeks to sate your reading appetites:

HOOPS AT THE BEACH - A SUCCESS!
The "Jack in the Box Hoops at the Beach" basketball tournament my work put on went outstanding. We had an excellent turnout, decent weather, and there was a real solid vibe going around the whole weekend. Team numbers were up a bit from the past 5 years, so definitely stoked about that. Now I don't have an event of my own to plan until September...(there will be a post sometime this summer about my unique summer schedule)

BOWLING - A NEW RECORD?
Last week I went bowling with the old bowling team (sans 2 regulars) at East Village Tavern, and in my first game, had a chance to bowl my best score ever. Prior to last Monday, my best score was a 179 (nothing to puff your chest out about, but nonetheless, it's good enough for me!). After not bowling for two months or so, I came out roaring, bowling 3 straight strikes, opening with the coveted "Turkey" (and immediately followed by a turkey dance). I tapered off in the middle frames a bit, but kept up with some spares, and came to the final frame at a 170. Just need a spare to pick up the new high score. And on my first ball, I roll an 8, with the '7' and '9' pins standing. Not the easiest pickup, but do-able. Took a deep breath, did my normal routine (complete with the over-exaggerated arm-dangle after the release)...and watched my ball roll way left...and miss everything. Not only did I end on a weak note for the game, I finished with a 178...ugh! Bowled 2 games after that and never broke 155. Epic Fail.

HUNTINGTON BEACH - A TRUE VACATION!
After the rough-and-tumble nature of the past month of work for myself and Julie, we decided to get away for Memorial Day weekend. Actually, Julie took it upon herself to book a mini-vacation-getaway for us, and so I was informed that we would be spending Saturday-Monday at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Hotel in Huntington Beach. It was such an "official vacation" that Miss Julie even put up her "Out of Office Assistant" on her e-mail...unheard of! I don't even know where to start on how amazing our weekend was...so I guess from the beginning will have to suffice:

SATURDAY - Left Del Mar around 10:30am and made our way up the coast. This is Day #1 of not seeing a single cloud in the sky. As some of you know, I have recently decided to try and put together some material to publish a photography book centering around those coin-operated telescopes and binoculars that you find at random piers and lookout points on the Southern California coastline. Well, we spent the majority of the day Saturday driving the coast and stopping at some pre-determined spots that I had researched and found that had those scopes. We stopped at the San Clemente Pier, Dana Point Ocean Institute, Laguna Beach, Lookout Point (Corona del Mar), and Huntington Beach Pier. Got some great shots, and will post some after I edit them this week sometime. Stopped for lunch at Avila's El Ranchito in San Clemente for some awesome Fresca Burritos and excellent margaritas (highly recommended). After our little telescope scavenger hunt (a fun game in itself to try and spot them) and a wonderful drive on Pacific Coast Highway, we arrived at our beautiful hotel, dropped our stuff, and made the first of many walks down the boardwalk to Main Street for dinner at Huntington Beach Beer (which was swamped due to the Lakers/Suns final game). After dinner, we decided to hit up the slightly over-crowded spa, and then called it an early night in the hotel.

SUNDAY - Day #2 of not spotting a single cloud in the sky. Our hotel room was amazing. Top floor of the hotel with a view of sunrise and the long strip of Huntington Beach. Absolutely gorgeous, and had the effect of relaxing both of us as soon as we set foot on our balcony. We ventured back to the main strip for breakfast at Sharkeez (yes, the bar). This place has a "Make-Your-Own Bloody Mary" deal where they pour vodka into a pitcher for you, and you do the rest at a buffet style Bloody Mary bar. While Julie and I did not take part in this apparently normal breakfast ritual, it seemed to be quite the rage. So after some french toast (and plenty of hungover customers surrounding us), we made our way to the beach, got ice cream on the boardwalk, met some friends at Fred's for drinks (POWERFUL MARGARITAS....), then took a much-needed power nap back at the hotel, down to the spa for some relaxing, then back to the main strip for some awesome sushi at "Sushi on Fire" (where Julie made a new dog friend named "Guinness"), and then on to Longboard Bar for a quick nightcap (a.k.a. another excuse for us to consume beer). Needless to say, we passed out within minutes of getting to the hotel room.

MONDAY - Slight marine layer, only to burn off by 9:30am and all clouds disappear. Breakfast in the hotel restaurant on the pool deck (Yes, I had french toast again, but it was actually made from a cinnamon roll!). Decided to pack up, and make our way down to Newport Pier to check out the scene (and hit one more pier telescope that was too packed for us to find parking on the way up on Saturday). We had trouble finding parking again, but right as we were contemplating the merits of paying the $30 (yes $30!!!) the weird man was charging to park in his private lot, Julie spotted an open metered spot and we exhaled. We breathed an even bigger sigh of relief when we found that the meter still had over an hour and a half left from the last car (major high-five moment)! Anyway, beautiful day with a bit of wind, lots of people fishing on the old rustic pier, and plenty of umbrellas out on the beach! We had some more ice cream on the beach (we heart food), then finally decided to cruise down to San Diego. Stopped at the Carlsbad Pizza Port for some pizza and beer (the Marc and Julie calling card), and finally got home around 4:30pm, just in time to settle on the couch, watch SuperBad, and then kick Julie's ass in Tiger Woods golf on the Wii (Marc as Jim Furyk...can't lose).

AWESOME WEEKEND. Pictures to come (I promise).