July Round-Up - 2012

July seems like a lifetime ago. Of course, the highlight of July was my annual trip to Palm Springs with the gals, and as always, it was fantastic. But since then, so much has happened! In fact, I went back to Palm Springs for three days just last week! And I start a new, full-time job this week!

Life is changing! For the better! Finally!

But this Round-up is shamefully late, so I'll have to speak of all that at another time...

Movies Seen: Only six, with two in a theater. Click to read my reviews of The Amazing Spider-Man and Total Recall.

Books Read: Seven! Bless vacation! Click through to read my brief reviews.

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Columbine by David Cullen

Good Enough To Eat by Stacey Ballis

Postcards From Palm Springs by Robert Julian

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

The Walking Dead – Vol. 15 by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore

Palm Springs Holiday by Peter Moruzzi

Fancy Dinners Out: Six, with the majority in Palm Springs.

We ate at Melvyn's again, where we basically had everything flambéed. And really, the food isn't the point there. It's the spectacle and the fun.

We tried a new (to us) place called Spencer's, and I really enjoyed it. They had a great prix fixe deal and one of the choices was softshell crab, which I love, and they also had some really great cocktails. And! A tiny piano.

We decided to try a place called the Tropicale, because they have a Wednesday happy hour that lasts all night, and the decor looked kind of tropical and kitsch. But I won't be going back. The food was fine. The decor was fine. But we definitely weren't made to feel welcome. I've been to plenty of gay bars and restaurants, and have never been shunned, but here, the waiter basically looked at us, and then went and got a female waitress to wait on us instead. Which, really?

Of course, we also went to the Falls again, for steak and smoking cocktails. Can't go wrong with that.

And finally, a return to Citron. I had a delicious cold soup, but am drawing a blank on what I had as an entree. Doh!

Back in San Francisco, another lunch at the Leatherneck Steakhouse, an excellent bargain as far as steakhouses go.

Live Shows Seen: One! A presentation of music from Pixar movies at the San Francisco Symphony. It was a lot of fun, and yes, it made me cry.

Shoes Bought: Two pairs. Some gold flats from H&M, and a pair of Easy Spirit flats that look kind of like this, but in all black; got them for a bargain at an outlet store outside of Palm Springs...