I went to the Pageant of the Masters with 47nite (Alejandro) last Thursday.

As we often do, we spent pretty much the whole day together and it was a nice one. We ate at the Spectrum (not too far from my home) at the Cheesecake Factory.


I got the little margherita pizza there and (obviously) ate the white piece of bread we were offered. (I took the brown/rye ones home to my parents, who seemed very happy with them the next day). Alejandro ordered some hot water and poured it into his soup (he found the soup a bit spicy even for his tastes), which made me smile. (He also ate a salad)

So, the story of the Pageant of the Masters goes like this. My mom has a really old friend she met while working at Doheny [Beach] (in Dana Point), Sharon, who sends her a few dress rehearsal tickets every year. Usually she sends, four or so, but this year she sent six. I had been looking up a few things in the area that I didn't have the money for and this would be free [insert glowing sparkles here]. "Do you think Alejandro and I would enjoy that?" I wondered.

"Yeah," she replied, "You probably would."

I went along with her to bring the tickets to Uncle Donnie (and his second wife, Heather). They gave us all kinds of advice about where to park if we wanted to park for free (in front of Ganahl's Lumber (these are very common in my area)) and how the dress rehearsals are noisier and more loosy-goosy than the actual show. He also told us about how the shows usually have a sort of 'theme' and obviously this years was 'gold coast,' relating to all the museums up and down the coast of California.

It didn't start up until about 8 pm or so (though entry began much earlier at 6 pm) after Alejandro and I had wandered some of the streets of Laguna Beach and gone through several cool little shops. Ha, I think I would up spending more money than Alejandro that night! I even wound up buying a program, ha ha.

Anyway, we finally wound up seeing the Pageant of the Masters, and it was amazing. We mentioned how many of the museums that they showcased we had visited in the past (the Hilbert, the Getty, the Bowers, etc).

I couldn't make it past the intermission though, so we wound up going home at that point (it was already past 10 pm...!).