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06/01/2004 Archived Entry: "The whole shebang"

Grab a drink and sit back, because this recounting of my birthday weekend is sure to take a while to read :)

Friday, Tabitha was picked up by my mil and I started packing for the weekend. I knew I wasn’t coming home that night, but it was a surprise of exactly where we were staying. After Chris got home and packed we headed out to our hotel. This part of the weekend was arranged by our friend Richard as a birthday and Mother’s Day gift to me. It turns out that we stayed at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Downtown LA. If you ever watched the show in the ‘80s entitled It’s a Living then you know what the hotel looks like as it was the setting for the show. In fact, it’s appeared in many movies in one capacity or another. As we walked from the valet parking to the registration desk, the hallway is lined with movie posters in which the hotel has made an appearance. The elevator we used had a little sign informing us that it was in the movie True Lies. Speaking of the elevator, we rode it to the 29th floor where our room was located. The elevator went very fast because it stops only at every other floor. Also, it goes outside and we could see Dodger Stadium from the elevator. Anyway, I can’t begin to do our room justice. One entire wall was glass looking out to downtown. The décor of the room was non-descript, but the bed was incredible. So many layers of bedding made it very inviting looking and I did lay down for a while just being more comfortable than I’ve ever been before. They call it “The Heavenly Bed” and actually sell all the bed linens (as well as the towels, showerhead and robe) and in the catalog they show your how to make the same thing at home with layer after layer. After we oohed and aahed for long enough we headed downstairs.
There are 4 levels of shopping and restaurants so we wanted to walk around a bit. Many restaurants were actually closed as they cater to the business crowd and all the cooperate offices. But some were open, as were a few shops, and we debated whether or not to eat there. We opted to head to the Dodger Game instead. There was other stuff I wanted to do, so after 5 innings, we headed out.
Next we went to Hollywood and Highland where KROQ broadcasts on Friday evenings. Sometimes they have in-studio guests, but this past Friday they were just giving out concert tix. I’ve been holding out on buying blink-182/ No Doubt tickets in the hopes of winning some but they didn’t have any on Friday. We talked with J, one of the guys that has been working all the KROQ events we’ve been going to lately, and he said they might have them at a later time and to just keep showing up. We were surrounded by 16 year olds, so we didn’t stay long after we chatted with J.
I decided I wanted to get a Build a Bear because Tabitha never gets the outfits I like for her own bears, lol. The place was completely deserted but they were open. I chose my bear and did the ritual and ended up choosing a Snow White outfit.
After Build a Bear, we went to Pinks for their incredible veggie dogs. Being Friday night, the line was a good 45 minutes long, but oh so worth it. We stuffed ourselves silly before heading back to our hotel.
I was exhausted so we went right to bed. We left the curtains open so I could see the lights all night long. The sun woke me at 5:00am, but not enough to make it worth my time to get out of bed and close the drapes. We slept until 8:30 which is a luxury for me considering I’m usually up by 6. I decided to take advantage of their “Heavenly” shower and it really was pretty cool with a dual shower head. While I was showering and getting ready, Chris spent the morning watching a movie scene being filmed in the street below our room which I guess justifies all those movie posters in the hallway downstairs.
The rest of Saturday was rather uneventful. We stopped at home, then drove out to Palm Desert to join my in-laws and Tabitha. Once there, they all went back to the pool and Chris and I went in search of lunch. Relaxation and a Target trip rounded out the rest of the afternoon. That evening, we had dinner at the country club for my birthday. After dinner, my in-laws went to an Indian casino, so Chris and I rented a DVD to watch after we put Tabs to bed. We ended up with Anything Else because the cast sounded fantastic. It was a Woody Allen movie and he was in it along with Jason Biggs, Cristina Ricci, Stockard Channing and Danny Devito. It was a typical Woody Allen movie and we both enjoyed it.
Sunday, we left the condo early and headed to The Living Desert. The last time we were there was two years ago and it was 106º so this time we were more prepared. The temp didn’t break 100º but we still only stayed a little less than 2 hours. By the time we left, Tabitha was showing signs of too much heat despite our best efforts to keep her protected and hydrated. We then went in search of a vegan restaurant that we’d eaten at in Westwood. We found the restaurant, but unfortunately, they are closed on Sundays. So we had a decidedly un-vegan meal (though still vegetarian, of course) at Denny’s.
We made a couple quick stops at a mall and Hadley’s Fruits and then came home.
Monday was my actual birthday. Tabitha started off the morning by handing me the card she made and also a present that she picked out and asked Chris to get me. She chose a charm bracelet from Disneyland and a Z charm. Tabitha has a charm necklace and she liked the idea of me having something similar. I had specifically asked Chris not to get me anything. I wanted to just pick out a couple things for myself and that all I needed from him was acknowledgement which I got from him tenfold. He went out of his way to make my weekend very special.
After Tabitha’s gift, we all got ready and headed out. First stop was Disneyland. I wouldn’t normally go to Disney on a Monday holiday, but I do like to go on my birthday so we compromised by going at park opening so we could beat the crowds. We rode the rides I wanted and did a bit of shopping. I picked out a Mickey balloons charm for my bracelet. We also popped into California Adventure for a few minutes. They give you a free bag of fresh tortillas on your birthday so we got those. Also, Tabitha got to meet Mushu since we missed him last time. By then it was time to head out.
On to the Dodger Game! They were giving away an Eric Gagné H2 diecast car to kids 14 and under. I knew Tabi would never give me hers, so I begged the girl handing them out and she gave me one for my birthday :) My birthday lunch consisted of nachos and cotton candy and was just right to celebrate being 30. We stayed 8 innings before we needed to get home because we had more plans. When we left the score was 2-0 Brewers and the Dodgers ended up winning 3-2 in ten innings, so clearly we are the problem and must not go to Dodger games anymore, lol.
We met my mom and sister at The Elephant Bar restaurant for dinner. There were a couple of small problems, but the meal itself was very good. My mom and sister gave me gift certificates to many different stores and also Disney Dollars all in increments of $30. I’ve always said the best gift in the world is the gift of shopping, lol. I’ll have lots of fun using all my gift cards. The Disney Dollars will be saved for Disney World in January.
Other gifts included the Haunted Mansion DVD from my mom and sis, season one of I Love Lucy on DVD from my grandmother, cash from my in-laws and Chris's grandmother for our Disney World fund, and a basket of flowers with a Happy Birthday balloon was delivered today from my best friend.
And that’s it! Everyone went to a lot of trouble to make it a great weekend and it really was fabulous.