Warning: Vacation pictures ahead

The boy's impressive, albeit very odd, sandcastle.

A room with a view. An ocean view.

The hotel had a great pool, where one could sit and have drinks. Correction: Could sit, have drinks and smoke. Yes, folks, we had to go to LA to have a cocktail and a smoke at the same time. They even had ashtrays on all the tables out there.

My sister and her boyfriend took us to a great sushi restaurant in east LA.

And, although it rained one day we were there (apparently it never rains in Santa Monica in September, except while we were there), we did get lots of nice beach time on Friday.
And now I'm back at work. A little tanner and very envious of those who live on the beach. My new fantasy: A $4 million home along the boardwalk in Venice. The pricetag isn't my fantasy, that's about what it costs to live there.