french

i have been very good at taking breaks this week. it's been really nice having the opportunity to relax a little bit. unfortunately some of the relaxing has been forced on me. i had an IUD inserted yesterday morning, and holy crap that hurt! i really had no idea how painful it would be. i think it might have been the worst pain i have experienced thus far in my life...i'm now dreading childbirth even more. i'm such a wimp. anyway, i've had consistent cramps (the worst of my life) ever since 9:00 yesterday morning. they've subsided a bit today, so i'm hoping they're mostly gone by tomorrow.

sorry if that was too much information....kinda....eh, not really. if you haven't caught on yet, i am very very open on this blog. ;)

anyway, this was my favorite break this week:

levi took me to la crêperie for breakfast on wednesday morning. i had hot chocolate and belgium waffles with strawberries, cream, and maple syrup....surprisingly, i finished it all. it was so nice going out for breakfast on a work/school day. i could get used to this...

i hope you all have exciting, fun, & relaxing weekends lined up. i will (hopefully) be studying for my big scary french midterm on tuesday. procrastination, please stay far far away from me this weekend.

why we love our neighborhood reason #1

i'm starting a new little series here at AEiP (i'm really into this new acronym - can you tell??) to share some of the reasons why levi and i love long beach so much.

reason #1

la creperie

la creperie is where levi and i started our relationship. we shared a crepe and a bottle of pinot noir, and the rest was history!

on monday, we had a reason to celebrate (levi reached a HUGE milestone in his career) so we walked over to la creperie for dinner. we ended up spending 3 hours there on the patio.

it was divine.

the manager of la creperie, fern, is SO cool. and randy is the best server in the WORLD (don't let the fact that he is a good friend and was my first boyfriend lead you to believe that i am biased - he is the best, i promise.) they were so genuinely happy for us when we told them we were there to celebrate. so what'd they do??

they presented us with a bottle of champagne and some appetizers on the house.

this is what is so cool about our neighborhood. it's fairly tight knit so people get to know each other. and when people get to know each other, they start to care about each other.

and that is the kind of place we want to live in!

we're not big drinkers, but we do enjoy some red wine from time to time. we kept posing with the bottle because it's the same pinot noir we shared on our first date, and this was literally the last bottle la creperie will ever have since they are no longer carrying it.

i think it was kind of special we got the last bottle. we took it home as a keepsake.

the romeo and juliet crepe - bananas, strawberries, nutella, delicous.

if you're ever in town, you gotta check out la creperie!

A little bit of luxury.

One of the things I have missed most since my entrance into poverty is going out to eat. I love good food, and I LOVE restaurants. It's something I've enjoyed since I was a little girl. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy a homecooked meal too, but there is just something so special and celebratory about eating a meal and drinking a glass of wine in a restaurant. It's extravagant. It's frivolous and luxurious. And I love it. Especially since moving to Long Beach. There are so many amazing, locally owned restaurants here. I love supporting business owners within my community and patronizing a business to the point where the owners and other regulars know you by name. There's something so community building about it. That's probably my favorite thing about Long Beach - the community spirit and abundance of locally owned, non-corporate, non-chain businesses. It's something that I've been pretty bummed about missing out on for the last few months. In order to not feel like we're completely missing out on life and the things we love, Levi and I have figured out a few ways to get our restaurant fix (he loves eating out as much as I do) without completely going outside of our budget. The best way to do this is to split entrees. Unfortunately, Levi has the world's fastest metabolism and the huge appetite that comes with it, so this can be difficult sometimes. We've found a couple different places that have menu items that are large enough and rich enough to satisfy Levi's appetite and both of our tastes. We had the most delicious lunch at a little place in Belmont Shore today. The restaurant is called La Creperie.

I borrowed this one from someone's flickr.

I love the contrast between the gilt framed mirrors and the brick wall.

I want one.

It's a yummy little bohemian, French bistro specializing in its namesake - crepes! La Creperie is actually pretty special to us - it's the place where our friendship went from just friends to something more while splitting a bottle of Pinot Noir and our favorite crepe. Today we shared the Croque Madame. Mmmmm.

It's a sandwich layered with French bread and turkey (it's supposed to use ham, but we substitute turkey because I prefer it), covered with bechamel sauce, and topped with an over easy egg (take off the egg, and you've got yourself a Croque Monsieur). It's very very rich and very very delicious. La Creperie serves theirs with a side of garlic and parsely French fries and a mixed greens salad. Look at how large my half of the serving is! I can't imagine eating the whole thing...especially for lunch. I'd explode! After lunch, we walked around 2nd street and popped into a couple of interesting shops just to browse, read some magazines at Devynn's Garden (an outdoor magazine/flower shop whose shopkeepers never seem to get annoyed if you don't buy anything), and then scored free traditional cappucinos at Peet's, our preferred coffee retailer.

borrowed from Long Beach's Press Telegram

It was such a nice day. And it only cost us $13.21 plus tip!

We'll have to skimp on our dinner tonight to make up for it, but it's not too bad for the couple with no disposable income!