sex and the O.C.

i was totally excited to meet up with a group of fun girls, from L.A. and the O.C. we were getting together for an early showing of "sex and the city" and then having lunch afterwards at irvine spectrum.

after leaving the bean and the hub with a bottle, pureed baby food, and hugs and kisses, i hopped in the car and stopped at starbucks for some caffeine before getting on the freeway. i was pleased to note that there wasn't a bit of traffic on the road, and even with my ten-minute-wait at the 'bucks, i managed to pull into a parking spot at the spectrum right at 10:30 (our designated meeting time).

i found the girls - kim, claire, tater, ashley, aline, and ruth- waiting in front of the theater. a few minutes later, FGD and liz joined us, and we trooped up the steps, got our tickets, and headed inside.

we didn't quite occupy an entire row, but close - and i was excited when the lights finally went down, got through about 329784698237 trailers, and the movie began at last.

i loved it. i knew it was a long movie (2 1/2 hours-ish), but i didn't care, and it didn't feel like it. i was a fan of the show, and so i'd been looking forward to seeing how it played out on the big screen. the only thing i'll say about the movie itself is that even if you didn't watch the show (i only really got into it after the DVDs came out. i'm too cheap to subscribe to hbo), there's a nice little recap at the beginning that'll catch you up enough to understand what happens.

btw, for anyone who lurks on the O.C. nest board, the sniffles and giggles that came from our row of happy viewers proved that we DO have hearts. and they're not cold and black ones, either.

afterwards, we gathered outside and discussed where to eat. we were all hungry (having bypassed the theater's concession stands), and somehow it was left up to the L.A. girls to decide. aline piped up, though: "i have a gift card to cheesecake factory. i'm just sayin'."

we laughed our asses off as we thought of how horrified the monkey would be at our choice, and headed inside to be seated. as we got settled, ashley and i both put our movie ticket money on the table for kim, who'd helpfully provided us with $7.50 tickets from costco, and we both giggled at our quarters. when kim saw these, she pushed two of them towards FGD and the other two were left sitting on the table, sad and forgotten.

until the server arrived.

he was overly cheerful - probably excited over being the lucky server to wait on a table of hot girls. heh. and he gleefully scooped up those quarters, saying "oh, i see my last table left me a tip, great!"

i could. not. stop. laughing. holy shit. it was so fucking funny - and as he forgot my coke and brought me a water instead, and then left poor ashley sitting there waiting for a good 15 minutes after the rest of us had been served, it wasn't hard to believe if he'd gotten stiffed for a tip by the previous patrons. heh.

i ended up ordering a giant belgian waffle, topped with chocolate chips and chantilly cream - but only because aline said "oh good, i won't look so bad ordering strawberry shortcake." yup, that's right. there's not a lot i won't do for a friend. that's just the way i roll. of course, i threw in a side of bacon, which made the table giggle. i don't know why it was so funny. really. hmph.

tater's strawberry french toast tower:

claire's chicken hash:

kim's crab hash:

liz's vietnamese spring rolls. and her iced tea - which seemed to be freshly brewed. this is a good thing, except that it was served to her with about two sad little melting ice cubes. and we just found it hilarious when the server said "um, would you like some ice for your iced tea?" i cracked a lame joke when he left - "yeah, because right now, it's just tea.":

ashley's monte cristo sandwich, which was STILL wrong even after the long wait:

and FGD with her delicious salad - and you can see how excited she is to eat it, being in the first two weeks of the lovely south beach diet:

i was a little leery of asking server boy to take a group picture, and from the blurriness of it, you can see why:

oh, well. outside, there were hugs all around, and then everyone split up to either shop, meet up with ILs, or head on home. i was in the latter group, along with tater, liz, and kim. on the way to the parking structure, i sent wistful, longing glances at the pinkberry i had to leave behind:

after that waffle, there was no way i could possibly have any of that tart, creamy goodness. sadness.

i managed to get home pretty quickly, and found the bean and the hub playing in the living room. i love how she lights up when she sees me after i've been gone for a few hours. it just makes my day. and i cuddled her after nursing for a bit, and we both fell asleep until it was time for tip-off - game 2 of the celtics-lakers finals.

i made a lovely pupu platter of trader joe's goodies, and then we dined on bbq'd steaks with roasted corn and asparagus risotto for dinner.

those damn lakers. i didn't lose faith (although the hub did) until the very last ten seconds.

"where the hell is that mvp?" i asked.
"not in boston," the hub replied.

on to game 3! hopefully the home court advantage'll kick in.