Balboa Village, Newport Beach

I'm in a "posting old posts before I forget" mood. So, this is the second to the last post of our President's weekend trip...from LAST YEAR.    Wut!

(pictured above is the gold dome of the Ali Baba Motel, right off the 55 freeway in Costa Mesa; home of the 1 and 1/2 stars on yelp)

The previous night we enjoyed a Cambodian feast at Siem Reap in Long Beach and would be heading home, but before doing so, passed by the beach side town of Newport Beach...

It still works! The return of our record player...

When I got home yesterday, I was greeted by the sight of this relic...

But oh, what a welcome relic it was...

Nomad Donuts 3x

It was nice having TC with us this morning. After finding a few items (a pair of jeans which she converted to shorts plus early 2000 pop-punk bands cd's for her)...

I noticed that Nomad finally got some signage...

Seafood Friday 2015 week 1 - Fish Fry

Lent has begun and for us that means, Seafood Friday.

This was a local church's fish fry that we wanted to try...

Return to Bean Bar

I didn't quite like (okay, I hated it) my iced coffee from the new Meshuggah Shack so I asked Bert if we could dp a return visit to Bean Bar...

which was just a few steps down the block...

Bert was keen on trying a pourover...

Kettle & Stone

After our hearty breakfast at The Huddle, we headed over to a fairly new coffee shop...

over in the tony West Lewis Shopping district of Mission Hills...

which shares space with a cute gift shop...

Valentine's Breakfast at The Huddle

Bert and I are SO OVER going out to dinner for an overhyped holiday...

Instead, we went out for breakfast in this here neighborhood...

The new Meshuggah Shack, East Village

After our dismal breakfast (well, mine at least) from Bottega Americano, we walked up Park so TC could see the murals on the hArt Lounge building...

On our way there, we saw this bright lime green shipping container serving coffee...

It was the new location of the Meshuggah Shack (the original location is on Goldfinch in Mission Hills)...

Silly Love Songs - Valentines Playlist 2015

Happy Valentine's Day....

Like last year, I put together a playlist, once again  using songs with the word "Love" in the title...

Breakfast at Bottega Americano

We all had the day off (yay for 4-day weekends!) and thought we'd go out as a family for breakfast...

It's nice having TC with us during our morning excursions. We recalled seeing this place during our trolley adventure, Bottega Americano...

and despite our not so great first impression a few weeks ago after we visited Bean Bar...decided to give this place another chance...

The mandatory stop at Cream Pan - LA Roadtrip Day 1

See the window? And it's already February...

Can you tell I'm a bit behind in my posts? Oh well, this was the storefront next to Starbucks off the Red Hill exist in Tustin...

It's our first pre-stop for Bert's coffee (and a much needed bathroom break) before we head over here...

Cream Pan is almost always our first stop whenever we make any trip up north and this trip was no exception...