A Long Weekend In LA. Day Four: Wandering Venice

Hows everyones week going? I’m just trying to keep on with all the thoughts I rambled a few days ago— you know, doing the things I enjoy, not dwelling on icky stuff, and trying to push health stuff as far away from my concerns as I can (hard, but always working on it). I’ve also been humming and singing an obnoxious amount of Disney tunes— because we’re in that stage where Marlowe asks for  the music she wants often, and I’m like “F it, why not.”

I’ve been away from the computer a lot this week, it’s been pretty nice. Though I do have a lot of things to catch up on– emails, photos, and such, but it can wait, right? 🙂 I’ve been trying to make a new schedule for myself. With M home from school our days look quite differently than before. And by 9 o’clock, I don’t want to be on the computer– especially not until 1 am like I used to, I’m pooped. But I don’t want to be too crazy about it since we’re leaving soon and so frequently. I just gotta find an easy groove 🙂

I’m happy to say that I haven’t had bad dreams the last two nights— interesting dreams, but not bad ones. I’m also happy to say that I love all my friends for engaging in my weird dream talk. In this weeks dreams, I went on a cruise with my friend steph and all our kids (she has ten million). I went to Mexico with Alex and a bunch of college guy friends and then found that my friend Claudia was buying a house down there. And last night I went to an Enrique Eglesia’s (sp?) concert that was on an inflatable stage, before bringing a tray of food to a pizza buffet. I then went to my friend Katies (dream) house where she had a mess of an electrical situation going on in her bathroom. I warned her about it today, she said she would check it out. Thanks, Katie. Haha. So yeah, things are good.

Anyway, I could ramble forever (if you didn’t know) and I probably should just ramble another day and get back to dinner and maybe showering the sand off me at some point today— so let’s get to California posting, ya? You can see my other three posts HERE, if you’re interested. day one / day two / day three.

Day four was our last day— one that we half planned. We woke up bright and early (basically everyday, thank you time change!) and said goodbye to our airbnb and the ridiculous hills and we headed to Venice.

On this day we learned there are two very different parts to Venice. The cute part and the beach part. Heh. The venice boardwalk is not one that I plan to visit again. I mean, in general, I feel like all beach town boardwalks are the same– but this one was intense. And maybe it was because it was actually memorial day weekend, but holy cow the crowds. As soon as you stepped two blocks away from the boardwalk you could smell the fryer oil. Bleh. So if you’re visiting Venice, maybe stay away from the boardwalk and check out all the cute shops and restaurants 3 blocks east, ya? Cool. I just saved you a nightmare, you’re welcome.


We started off at the butchers daughter. This was a great idea. There were a few seats at the bar, so we didn’t really have a wait. The atmosphere was super nice– it was just a nice bright energy. We laughed about the fake succulents– I didn’t even know you could buy fake succulents, haha, but it’s cool, whatever. Off the bat I ordered a turmeric latte and alex got a green juice (proud of him).

I then had the very difficult decision of ordering the buckwheat pancakes or the healthier cauliflower grits. I mean, there were a lot of other choices, but those two called out to me. I was then convinced to go for the pancakes, because it was a holiday. While they were undeniable delicious, I sort of wish I went for the healthier dish. Next time. The coconut cashew cream was mmm mm good.


We then spent the next few hours wandering in and out of shops. We didn’t buy much, some clothes for Alex and gift for M. We don’t really go out and *shop* often, so it was a nice change— especially since so many of the shops were so cute. 

After a while we decided, hey, lets check out that famous boardwalk. We walked down and made it one block before running our butts back east, away from the chaos. So crowded.

It was interesting to see how many stores were partially outdoors. That would never work here in Florida, it rains waaaaaaayyy too much.

We then got more ice-cream. I woke up this day knowing I would get ice-cream. Ever have that? Where you just wake up and say “today will be an ice-cream day” that was me. We stopped by van leeuwen icecream truck with a few vegan options, this chocolate coconut one was mighty delicious.And I again ordered the cone, only to give it to Alex. I definitely asked the ice-cream truck, “am I pushing it by asking if you guys have GF cones too?” heh, doesn’t hurt to ask, right?

We then left the cute shops and things and headed to Sage vegan bistro for dinner before heading out to the airport for our overnight flight back. It was alright. My pizza was whatever, but I’m pizza spoiled. The cauliflower (to make up for me not ordering it before) was pretty good.

to the right, alex snooping in the ice-cream cooler, like we didn’t already have enough ice-cream, haha.

We then headed to the airport, returned our car and got on our overnight flight home. It’s crazy that I hate flying so much but I’m glad jumping back on a plane in one week to fly right back over there. Well, a little north, to The Bay with miss M. I can’t wait 🙂

And if you ever wondered what I might look like at 4 in the morning after a red eye home. It’s like this. Alex says it looks like I just came back from camel riding in the desert. Looks about right 😉

Hope you guys are having a good week! I’m sun kissed from the sun and so ready to shower and crawl into freshly cleaned bedsheets (the best feeling, right?). xoxox
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