Well, I dropped off Steven at the airport this morning. I was quite sad over the whole thing, but it was a wonderful weekend. It looks like I'll be headed out there in August for a weekend and also like Disneyland may be involved. I've never been the Disneyland before, so the five-year-old-Ariel-and-Cinderella-worshipping part of me is very excited. The sunshine, beaches, and mai-tai's part of me is also very excited. And lets not forget the romantic and social parts of me too. Both of those are also quite excited by the prospect of spending more time with Steven, and of meeting his friends.

The weekend itself was very nice. We went to two movies, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Both were very enjoyable with some romance and some stuff blowing up occasionally as well as a good adventure. We spent much of our time exploring Tacoma. This was nice since I haven't had a chance to do that much since moving back. We visited both King's and Tacoma Ave. used bookstores. We spent what I think is several hours at Tacoma Ave. on Saturday, but only lasted a few minutes in Kings since I was very very sleepy and wanted a nap badly.

I took him to Anthony's for lunch one day, which was beautiful. We got to sit out on the deck and got quite a bit of sun. I wasn't quite prepared for the heat, but it worked out well regardless. We also visited Tully's once or twice, which was nice, getting to show off my favorite mocha-making place (although the drip coffee has been lacking). We went to a pizza place downtown once which was delightful and reminded me a lot of the hipsters that hang out in Olympia at Old Town Pizza, except perhaps a bit friendlier. We also ate lunch one day at Doyle's, my new favorite bar in town. They show soccer regularly and have delicious food. I had crab cakes and Steven had a Reuben and split pea soup (not a favorite of mine on either front, but he says they were delicious and I tend to believe him). I tried some chardonnay as well, and it was very tasty. I'm not sure I've ever had Chardonnay before, but even so, this was fantastic. The bartender, named Russ, was quite charming with a very dry but witty sense of humor and an impressive knowledge of games in general (and Go in particular). Another place we tried out was the Indian food restaurant on 6th Avenue. I've been there a couple times before and the food has always been delightful and the service very friendly and this was no exception. I was very charmed by the hostess' concern that I didn't like my chai (I was drinking it very slowly). The food itself was delicious and interesting.

And although I've spent all this time reviewing our weekend activities, I don't think I've made it clear exactly how much I miss Steven now that he's back in L.A. It's always fun to explore a new town (even when it's not really new) with someone else, but especially with someone you love. I'm sort of inclined to think that whatever prejudices I may have (had) about L.A. may be insignificant compared to the amount of fun that I'll have there with him in August. It's easier to like a place when someone who knows it well is there to show you all the most beautiful and interesting and generally lovable parts of it. I'm already excited about vegan breakfast at The Vegan Joint and coffee at a place whose name I have forgotten, but whose description I have not.

Back to work now. I'll update more on that later as well. Maybe even post a few full reviews about some of the places that we went to this weekend.