Okay, I’m finally getting around to post photos about my Floridian and Tennesseean visitors’ weekend in SoCal on Feb 5-8. To read Chad’s rendition, see here.

Friday morning started off with a little scare, because bad weather had grounded a lot of planes and for Jordan’s flight, an announcement came that they were reducing the passengers to a mere 49 for weight considerations, and that they were going to call out the names of the lucky 49. She texted me through this, wailing that they weren’t calling her name. I immediately started looking up alternate flights as she was stuck in Vegas at her layover. I found one that left an hour later and asked her to see if she could be standby for that flight, so when she went up to ask, turned out, they HAD called her name, and fifth, too, and she didn’t hear! I threatened to kill her. She had the gall to text back, “Sorry! Want me to get off the plane?” *shaking fist*

Early afternoon, I excitedly picked up Jordan and then swung her by James’ work (a mere couple of miles from the airport) to say hello. This was the most high-security friend visit I’d been to. James had to come out to the Taco Bell parking lot where we were parked to get us and escort us into his building. It was raining, there were puddles everywhere, and the bottom 2 inches of my jeans got soaked. (Mr. W said that it rains in SoCal like 10 days out of the year, and these two choose 2 of those 10 days to visit.) I hopped around, trying to avoid puddles while balancing an umbrella with one hand and trying to pull my pants up with the other. Once in the building, James had to “okay” us to the front desk security; the guy checked our IDs, printed our names on visitor badges we had to wear, put a special sticker on each badge that would change colors if we overstayed our welcome (so that we can’t return the next day). Then we visited James’ lab and then his window office on a different area of the building. We only stayed for 20 minutes or so because James had a meeting (and I was bored), and Jordan and I went back to my house so she could settle in. Soon it was time to pick up Chad from the airport, so off Jordan and I went. Chad was already waiting curbside and hugged us hello while he wisecracked something about the awful gray weather, and then we blasted old school hip hop on the way back. Mr. W had asked me to call him if we were not going back home first, so he could meet us at the sushi restaurant, and so once Chad got all offended that I asked if he’d preferred to eat first or go back so he could drop off his stuff and change or “freshen up,” we called Mr. W and told him to meet us at our favorite all-you-can-eat sushi joint, Minato Sushi.

Jordan was queasy about eating “real sushi,” so we didn’t make her (which turned out to be a good thing for a few reasons, one of which was that the roll she ended up getting was surprisingly HUGE). Chad, however, came with an open mind and an open stomach, and let me just order whatever I felt like. This is a pretty inexpensive restaurant considering the quality of fish they serve, and I told Chad that there were only 2 sushi restaurants I’ve been to which served better fish, but those prices were triple what it cost here. Chad ate everything with gusto and exclaimed enthusiastically that he’d thought he’d had decent sushi before, but he had no idea it could taste like THIS. Yay! Well, now I know why I found the sushi in Florida so sub-par. Apparently it IS sub-par, but people don’t know any better. Until they come to California and hang out with us. Mr. W is slightly concerned we may have ruined Chad to all sushi at home now. Guess he’ll just have to visit again.

Dwaine joined us for a beer at the sushi place and although he didn’t really eat, he did try his first piece of sushi. Salmon. He said it was surprisingly good, and not fishy like he’d expected. Chad grabbed the bill and paid for everyone, which was what I’d planned to do. He said he was happy to do it, considering the entire bill for everyone, including the sake and beers, were less than what he’d paid for his last few dates. So ladies, apparently Chad’s the guy to date if you like expensive outings.

After sushi, we went back to our house to hang out a bit before going out again to BJs Brewery. We ended up never leaving the house. Dwaine said he didn’t know how he could’ve forgotten I’m certified in bartending, as I made Jordan an apple martini. The guys mostly had beers. We discussed social theories on dating for awhile.

Below we see Dwaine schooling Jordan, and she’s SHOCKED at his knowledge base.

A sisters-shot.

We ended the evening around midnight, which was 2am for Chad and 3am for Jordan. They’re troopers, after a day of traveling!