I love you Loooong weekend!

Phew- just got back to work after an AMAZING 4 day weekend! Albeit most of it was spent getting the apartment/ life back in order, but it was a very therapeutic effort. I can now check the following of my "to do list"
1. 7 loads of laundry (gasp!)
2. filing taxes into binders from their boxes (space saving)
3. Research and applying for heath insurance (scary)
4. Taking care of bogus "right on red" ticket (on going - but my next step of paper work is done)
5. New Cable box (even though don't have cable - just for network TV)
6. New TV wall mount ordered (hurrah - will get the damn thing of the credenza once and for all)
7. LP to the vet to get nails trimmed - yeah right! Also ended up that he had a chest infection, ear infections and a paw infection!
8. Steam cleaned carpets throughout apartment
9. Worked with Little Pig on his audition for "Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2"
PHEW!

Now that I have bored you to death with that I shall share some of the fun from the weekend! My very dear friends Alia and Sabrina have finally come to their senses and moved to Los Angeles (hurrah!). Therefore, I decided to introduce them to 2 of my favorite things...

On Saturday nights during the summer, the "Forever Cemetery" hold screenings of movies on a grassy patch with the film being projected on the side of a Colosseum. All the proceeds go to restoring/ keeping the grounds and it is an overall great time!



We dined on Trader Joe snacks that we purchased and although froze to death...had a great time!



Then Monday, we took an afternoon drive up the coast to "Neptune's Net" for fish and chips on the beach and to give Little Pig a bit of a romp (even though he hates the beach)...









Ryan tried to teach Pig to be a dog and "dig"...



Little Pig was not amused!

All in all it was a lovely weekend - hurrah!!

The end of a very long adventure...

**Please note that because the photos are so large - they have all been cut off in the middle! I am working on fixing this issue but if any tec peeps out there know - give a sista a shout out!!**

As mentioned in the last post - I have saved the best of Morocco for last...(PS the photos are also larger now due to the constant nagging of my more mature readers...)

The night before we left, Dan, Stacey and I went on a mini adventure to the Casbah! We initially went on a mission to shop, I blame the heat, but we should really have known better (having been in Morocco for 9 days already) that everything is closed from 7pm - 9pm - sigh.





This was a guy spooling the thread to sell in his shop...

Therefore, our mission statement quickly shifted to "Lets Rock the Casbah" (and this we did)! On the way we discovered some interesting local graffiti...






not to mention some tasty delights (as well as some not so tasty delights)...




Anyhow, perched atop the hill we finally made it to the Casbah were I tried to shut down the street to get a rocking photo shoot (I am pretty sure that we managed to perpetuate the idea that all Americans are stupid, but damn was it worth it...). Just look at the photos...





Once in the Casbah, the houses are all white washed and the streets much cleaner than down in the Medina. We walked along the little streets...






Came across a doorway that had the flags of the countries that we had just visited...



and then finally come to the secret little door to the ocean...



I wish that I could romanticize it, but it was indeed a pile of rubble and trash that overlooked the harbour. Yes the sun was setting. Yes there were birds silhouetted against the orange sky, yes there was a cool breeze but Yes it smelled like trash, yes it was dirty and yes I felt as though some creeper was going to push me over the edge of the cliff. Relaxing? No not really. Interesting? Yes a little.




Afterwards it was time to get our grub on. Stacey pretended like she had better things to do and left Dan and I to fend for ourselves. Being Ramadan, nothing was open but...



That's right - the good old golden arches! Boy were we in for a treat!




Not only does McDonald's in Morocco have an array of different treats on their menu, but it may also have the best view of any place that I have been in the whole of Morocco. That being said, who is looking at the view when the interior of your McDonald's looks like this...



Yup - we literally ate like Kings!




Even though the food was less than mediocre...


Deep fried Mac and Cheese...

The ambiance gets an A++ (after 10pm they even have Karaoke??!!) and I wish that I had been able to take spy pics of the workers as they had the most AMAZING skin tight, fluro shirts on that I have ever seen... truly a wonder and sensory delight!

Anyhow, we then had to call it a night as we were leaving the next day to go back to the UK...

We all managed to get to the airport... only to find out that our charter was an hour late (we are all still confused as to how a charter can be late - but it was!). This left ample time for everyone to chill in the lounge...









I put in a quick game of Backgammon with Ed...



Then it was all aboard...





I was the very last sardine to get on - yay me!



Then it was 2 LUXURIOUS nights in London (have I mentioned enough times how much I LOVE the Langham hotel in London??!!)...



Hana (my sister) happened to be in town that weekend looking at apartments so she came and crashed with me. She discovered my secret (or obviously not so secret) stash of per diem money that I had been saving and decided to roll around in it...



Then on Saturday, Carlo, Hana and I went on a trip to Selfridges to get Carlo's glasses fixed and to get some food. We got the glasses fixed, did not get food but we DID find these gems...





This was followed by an exciting discovery - the cutest little candy store...




We purchased pop rocks and sour candy...





Then it was off to dinner at Yauatcha (did I mention that Hana and I love a good feed??!!)...



This place was something that work husband Carlo had discovered last time we were in the UK - must have been one of the nights that he cheated on me with someone but I will let it go as it was SOOOOOO YUMMY!!




Not only that, the food is presented in such a beautiful way it is almost a shame to eat it - specially the desserts...





It was sad to leave the UK, but I was SO ready to get back home to my little pad, my Piggy and funnily enough my damn car! I really missed driving. Speaking of which... I arrived back at LAX only to be picked up in a stretch limo! Strange - yes. Embarrassing - a little. Weird - definitely. Luxurious - yes. Fun - yes.