Date night, shanghai.

after a long week at work (and by long, I mean 12-hour days teaching and lesson planning),

i needed a break.

 so husband and i spent this past Friday night having drinks (their mojitos are good) and giant nachos on our fave neighborhood patio at the Shanghai Brewery. 

we strolled around Hengshan Lu and stumbled across an organic shop/restaurant/bakery that reminded me of two of my LA favorites, Farmshop and Joan's on Third.

after a slice of some yummy chocolate cake, we headed back to watch Revenge,

a show that I'm now addicted to.

we plan on spending our Friday nights and weekends exploring the city,

but sometimes, it's just really nice spending time in your own neighborhood.

our town.

this past saturday, dave and i had the chance to see one of my absolute favorite plays, our town. it's a play about life and moments, and without fail, i think about anything thornton wilder writes for days afterwards. helen hunt was great, of course. her voice has so much presence, and all the actors were right there. and, probably because santa monica in general is just so wonderful this way, the concession food was good. as in, i actually enjoyed the sandwich that i bought five minutes before the play.
afterwards, we stopped at the 3rd street promenade, because i have missed it so much.
our first official date night of 2012 was complete with strawberry nutella crepes from cafe crepe and a stop at LUSH to pick up some bath bombs.
nights like this one make me even more thrilled about this new year. i really think it will be full of special moments.