new year's eve day

the 31st turned out to be a great day. it started out like the other days of my vacation. i got up late. had breakfast (my brother-in-law cooked pancakes, eggs, & sausage). after breakfast, my niece was somehow wanting to clean her arts & crafts area. since i've been trying to clean the last few days, i was glad that she wanted to do that. so, we culled & organized, and it was good. unfortunately, i couldn't say the same about the top of the desk (which was full of my stuff).

while we were cleaning, my friend susan called. i had texted her earlier to see if she wanted to do lunch (i was sick of eating leftover ham from sunday evening, and i wanted to eat something else. plus, i really needed to get out of the house. since my vacation started on the 24th, i'd only been out on the 24th & the 26th, and i hadn't been out since.)

susan picked me up, and we went to sushi sumo, a small, cheap hole-in-the-wall type place that my family & i go to. we sat at the rotating bar. as usual, i ate too much. i had two plates of my favorite--the flaming joy (basically shrimp tempura roll with spicy sauce). also had a plate of tempura roll, half of the dragon roll (the one with the avocado & eel), half a shrimp/crab/roe dish. (i actually don't like fish, hence the absence of sushi in my selection).

we were really full, so i was glad when susan mentioned going to the beach (i had always told her and my other friend at work that they should come over and we could eat & walk on the beach, but i actually wasn't thinking about it on this day.). so we went back to my house, so i could change shoes, then we headed off to the beach.

we just drove down the street until we hit redondo beach, but i didn't really want to go to the harbor or the promenade, so we drove to torrance beach. it was a foggy and cold day (good thing i changed into a sweater when we went to my house, though it was still chilly.) there were a couple of surfers on the water, and a few others on the beach.


as soon as we got close enough to the water, susan saw some movement. and guess what we saw? dolphins! we could see mostly their fins as they came out on the water. there were at least half a dozen of them, and they pretty much stayed in place. (they were still there when we left about an hour later.) unfortunately, they were still too far for me to take pictures. (i took a video, but that's far, too, and you can really only see fins.) but it was so unexpected, so i was excited about it.

when we started walking, i saw these funny little birds--they looked so comical with their quick little steps. i had never seen them before. susan thinks they're sandpipers. i think she's right.

later on, we saw the more common seagulls. there were a lot of them, and they sure looked fat.

as we walked, susan began looking at the shells, and i continued to take pictures. here are a couple pics of shells and squishy seaweed.

on the way out, took pics of the bird prints.

after the beach, we stopped by the cheesecake factory so i can by some new year's eve dessert for my family. i spent $40 on cheesecake! and i only bought two small ones. that's crazy!

we also stopped by the 99 cent store. i hadn't been to one in years. i didn't really buy much, but i did get some poppers to ring in the new year.

it was dark by the time i got home (well, it was actually quite gray when we headed out in the first place). we had a great time. i don't know why i don't go to the beach more often since it's such a short drive. i always think i should go there and walk there, but i never do. it's so hard to get me out of the house once i'm here. so, good thing susan came out.