Day 7 - LA County enters Red Tier for the first time
Casa Del Mar…
3/21/21. Sunday.
It’s official! L. was accepted to Otis College of Art and Design and awarded a $23,000 annual [per year] scholarship!!! I think L’s 4.0 GPA over the past 60-units she has taken probably contributed to the scholarship amount. Also the fact that the portfolio she submitted was stunning.
11:00 – 11:30 - Up and I go downstairs to take the dog out. I rub her tummy three times and she grabs her toy and goes outside. That same pigeon is still hanging around and the dog keeps jumping on the retaining wall trying to attack the bird. She does her business and we go inside – pieces of salami for her treat and coffee for me. I do the last of the dishes, then go upstairs.
11:30-12:30 – L. and I are scheduled to leave for our mini-vacay at 1:00, but she emerges from her bedroom to tell me that check-in is actually at 4:00, which means we can leave at 2:30 instead. L. goes back to bed.
-I take my braids out and get dressed in a rust-colored turtleneck, jeggings, and my thigh-high boots. Light make-up. I finish packing and I’m ahead of schedule –I can’t believe it. I bring everything downstairs, put my luggage in L.’s car, take the trash cans out. Then, I go online and make sure, one more time, that my Monday classes are ready.
12:30-1:30 – I have some time so I decide to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes and parmesan cheese. I read Strangers while I eat and share some of the eggs with the dog. I add a few more snacks to the lunch bag that I’ll be bringing with me.
1:30-2:00 – Last night’s laundry is done so I fold and put it away.
2:00 –3:00 - L. comes downstairs but says she is leaving to run some errands. She also has to go to the car wash. I’m so exhausted from last week and the hours I’ve been working – it’s been crazy – that I go upstairs and try to take a nap. I can’t seem to fall asleep, unfortunately, and end up reading a Money Diary. It feels nice to do…nothing.
3:00 –3:30 - We’re off!! L. and I leave and drive 10 minutes before I remember that I forgot my lunch bag at the house. We turn around, I get my lunch bag, and now we’re off.
3:30-4:30 – Driving.
4:30-5:30 – We arrive at Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica!! This hotel is gorgeous and the sister-hotel to Shutters at the Beach. The lobby is so beautiful – it’s like walking into a huge atrium. Perfect customer service and the staff is masked and gloved. Our room is on the top floor – 7 – and white, light, and airy with glass lamps and silver mirrors all over the place. There is a king-size, 4-poster, bed on top of dark hardwood flooring. The entire bathroom – floors, walls, counter-tops – is comprised of beautiful, white marble. It’s like floating inside a rectangular cloud. Everything is so elegant – I collapse on the bed and let out a huge sigh. This week has been soooo exhausting and I know L. is completely worn out, too.
5:30-8:30 – L. and I have dinner reservations at Casa Del Mar’s restaurant, Terrazza Beachside Patio, which faces the ocean. The food is amazing, but the service is on the slower side. All of us are sitting inside a huge bubble – a clear tent – with the flaps pulled down in strategic places to allow for airflow and good ventilation. I order the octopus for my appetizer and fish tacos for my entrée, with two excellent glasses of brut champagne. L. has something??? Towards the end of dinner, a long line of bicycles rides by on the bike path, their tires lit in flashing neon colors. It’s beautiful – kind of like Disnelyland’s electric-light parade several decades ago. It must be a bike club of some sort – everyone is laughing, playing loud music, and having fun on their bikes. I love it.
8:30-12:00 – L. and I finish dinner and return to our room. We have access to Netflix so I suggest we watch Broadchurch. We watch the first three episodes and L. is hooked.
12:00-1:00 – I read for a little bit, then nighttime routine and bed.