It's not going to be perfect at first.

After our fun Friday night at Pinz, we had to take a brief hiatus from adventure as our Saturday afternoon was consumed by a make-up class (remember, despite all the fun documented in this blog, we're still students). At least we got to enjoy the sunshine because class was held outside on the grass in Park La Brea. As soon as that wrapped, we wasted no time in taking advantage of the latest 50%-off-everything offer at our favorite bar/restaurant, Henry's Hat. This time, our game of choice was Candyland.

Despite the valiant efforts of Chris, Nick, Lauren and I, Jenn was victorious once again.

After dinner, we headed to the Regal Cinemas downtown for a late showing of the movie Hot Tub Time Machine. I went in with an open mind, especially since I was using a free ticket voucher left over from Christmas, but we all ended up thoroughly enjoying the movie. It was not my usual kind of film or humor, but I cannot deny that I laughed hysterically throughout.

There was only one proper way to wrap up a gorgeous, sunny weekend: Sunday beach day! We initially set out for a return trip to Hermosa Beach, but we were once again foiled by LA traffic and parking. After a 30 minute parking failure, we realized we had driven so far looking for an empty space that we had hit Redondo Beach. We decided to just go with it, and found a cheap parking lot suspiciously easily. Confident this had to be too good to be true, we were proven right when we quickly found the ocean...but no beach.

Turns out we had parked much closer to the marina and pier than the actual beach. We wandered along for a ways, figuring we couldn't be too far off...

This sign pointed toward every possible destination...except the one we were looking for.

Finally, after cutting across the pier, we were greeted by the very welcome sight of a well-populated, sun-soaked beach!

The morning's failures aside, it turned out to be a perfect beach day. It was 85 and sunny, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and we enjoyed a lazy day of sunbathing and reading, with a brief beach volleyball interlude. Chris, Jenn, Lauren and I met up with Nick, his brother, and their friends, making it our biggest beach group yet.

Around 3:30 we reluctantly left the sand in search of food. First, we stumbled upon this gem in a store window on the pier and couldn't resist stopping for a picture

We made a quick stop at "Old Tony's," a bar overlooking the beach that featured a very long, very steep staircase to reach it, which seemed like a remarkably bad idea considering the type of establishment it was.

After parting ways with Nick and his friends, the rest of us stumbled upon an Irish pub that was handing out tokens for $5 off your food. Seemed like a great deal, and turned out to be the perfect choice. Not only did we get a total of $25 off our total bill thanks to the tokens, but we got to enjoy our nachos and sandwiches while listening to an eclectic cover band complete with a saxophone. We headed back to LA with full stomachs and fresh tans, relaxed and ready for another week of internships and classes.

Stay tuned for our adventures at the San Diego Zoo, our unconventional-yet-great Easter, and more!

-Erin