Weekend Recovery

Yesterday morning, I met up with my brother and sister-in-law for breakfast at Blue Daisy Cafe (let's just pause here for a moment to admire how delicious this food was:

), and we agreed we all felt like we had hangovers--except we didn't have any alcohol last night. We just completely exhausted ourselves on Sunday, and I'm certain it'll take another day to recover.

But let's back up. Obviously, I took the weekend off from blogging to spend some awesome quality time with my bro, Chris, and his wife, Ashley. They live in Northern California and haven't been in LA in several years, so I was thrilled to have them visit. They arrived Friday and stopped at our friend Nick's house to drop off their things. (Our apartment is too small for overnight guests to be comfortable, but Chris's best friend, whose family we grew up with, lives with his wife Jocelyn about a mile away from us in LA.) Then we met up for some sushi to kick off the weekend.

Friday afternoon was mellow, and Terry joined us at Nick and Jocelyn's, where we played with Cali, their sweet three-year-old lab mix. For dinner, we all went to Upper West, a new favorite of ours. We made it there in time for happy hour, which allowed us to order some delicious drinks and food for pretty reasonable prices. I definitely recommend the burger! Next up, Ashley (the non-local) recommended Urth Caffe, and none of us locals had ever been. The cafe is famous for its desserts, and we all ordered cheesecakes, which were phenomenal. Unfortunately, Terry wasn't feeling great after dinner, so we headed home after that while the others went to Mom's Bar.

Saturday, Terry felt better, and good thing because we had plans to host a whole bunch of people for the UCLA-Stanford game! While it was a great game, we ultimately lost--our first loss of the season. Next week against Oregon will be even tougher. Anyway, the day was still a blast. We invited the same group from the night before plus two of their friends from college who were up from San Diego, and we also had to increase the Bruin spirit so we also invited our buddies Heidi, Ed, Corey (Katie and Ainsley couldn't make it), Jenn, and Justin. Terry grilled burgers, I threw together a quinoa Greek salad, and everyone else brought something to share: puff pastry with cream cheese and jalapeno, amazing beer, cocktail mixers, fruit salad, bean dip, and more. An amazing day with amazing friends!

After the excitement (and agony) from the game settled down, a group of us headed to Santa Monica for a few drinks at Copa d' Oro and then to Wahoo's for some tacos. We ended up back at Nick and Jocelyn's for games, which was a blast.

And on Sunday we hit up Disneyland!!! This trip was just Chris, Ashley, Terry, and me, and we had a fantastic time. We arrived at the park around 9 am and stayed until almost 10:30 pm, hopping back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure a few times, trying new-to-us rides, and dominating the food scene. We ended up walking around 11 miles (25,000 steps)! Crazy! Some highlights:

• Corndog Castle, recommended by Ashley's friend Maggie--a wise woman
• French Market Cafe--Terry and I used to eat here whenever we went to Disneyland, but it has really stepped up its game. I ordered a gigantic Caesar salad, which came with a ton of deliciously moist and seasoned chicken. At $11, it felt like a steal, especially when most meals at Disneyland feel ridiculously overpriced.
• For dinner, Chris suggested pizza, and we found a tiny place just across the street from the park (not actually in the park or Downtown Disney), which turned out to be incredible! Pizza Press impressed us all--delicious crust, awesome and creative options for toppings, make-your-own salads, made-in-front-of-you pizzas, and friendly service. Plus great prices and a nice reprieve from the lines and chaos of the parks.
• A stop at In-N-Out on the way home, which made my taste buds dance with joy.

As far as the rides and park experience, we hit up a bunch of rides and had so much fun. Our favorites were California Screamin', Tower of Terror, Haunted Mansion, and the new Cars ride. It was such a fun day!

Chris and Ashley headed back to Nor Cal yesterday, and I'm cleaning and recovering from the weekend. I bought way too many tomatoes, so homemade marinara is happening today!