The other day I went down to Metro Pointe with a small group of friends to get dinner and I was pleasantly surprised. Typically I don't spend a lot of time in Costa Mesa, but tonight we felt like giving it a chance. Metro Pointe was clean, attractive, and surprisingly laid back. I'm used to pushing my way through massive crowds at similar shopping centers *cough* Irvine Spectrum *cough* so Metro Pointe was a nice surprise!

We picked Finbars for dinner and we were seated promptly. The atmosphere inside the restaurant was very relaxing…dimmed lights, music playing softly in the background, and reasonably comfortable seating. I've been in far too many Italian restaurants where the design focus is on beautifully decorated interiors, but uncomfortably cramped seating for patrons. Finbars was different. The restaurant is small, but it has a home-like feel to it. So what it doesn't have the statue of David in the foyer pouring wine into an elaborately hand painted ceramic amphora, but makes up for its lack of interior design with that more casual/relaxed feel that I really dig in a restaurant. There is nothing I hate more than feeling like the staff is trying to push you out of the door as quickly as possible to make room for the next set of guests. However, I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn't the case at Finbars, the service staff was prompt, friendly, and I never felt like I was being forced out the door.

The food was surprisingly easy on the wallet. I was expecting to pay $20+ for my meal, but I found that most of the dishes were in the $9-$16 range. There were a couple dishes that were more expensive, but that's what you get when you want a dish with seafood. The wine list was pretty good for such a small restaurant, they even had cabernet sovereign! (Not that I could afford that! :P)

Over all I would say that it was a good experience, I would definitely visit Finbars in Metro Pointe again!

PS: Wednesdays they have 50% off bottled wines!!! Ohhhh yeah! :)  

Master Greg and his friends joined Brandon and I last night out on the hard stone grounds of the Orange County Performing Arts Center for “The Muppet Movie” under the stars. The movie was free, however the parking was $8 a car. Brandon and I had to drive separately so it wasn’t too “free” for us. But if I didn’t leave early like I did, we wouldn’t have any place to sit down. And thanks to a tip on Yelp, we did bring enough cushioning to sit comfortably for the hard floor.

The grounds was packed with both outer and inner children of all ages. Everybody STILL loves the Muppets!

I remembered watching the Muppet Movie a long, long time ago. Again, one of those I saw before I understood English properly or any of the humor. What I remember most is the fact that I was freaking out at seeing Kermit’s legs! Him riding the Schwinn terrified me for a few moments. And then I remember the “Fork in the Road”. I didn’t know what that means, but I remember seeing that fork on the road and wonder, why was there a fork in the road? Americans are so funny.

Being there with 3 gay guys, of course, any mentioning of “bears” was hilarious. “Patriotism swells in the heart of the American bear,” got the most giggles. Added, predictably by our band of chorus, “Guess what else in the American bear swell?”

More giggling ensues at Dr. Bunsen’s lab in the ghost town outpost.

Floyd Pepper: [about the growth solution] What else do these pills make big?
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew: Oh, they work on anything, but the effect is sadly temporary.

The adults in the audience cracked up all over the grounds. More importantly, it took grandpa in front of us a few seconds to get what all the other dirty minds were thinking, then he started laughing. That set us off into an entirely different giggle.

Throughout the show, we were singing along and interjecting our own sound effects. There’s nothing like the crowd going “Hiiiii-yah!” when Miss Piggy went kung fu on the baddies or “A-ni-mal! A-ni-mal!” growls at any time Animal was on.

Good fun for everyone last night.

Visit Oakley's blog at www.oakmonster.com

Mom said she'd come home early today so we could go to the Fair. We were supposed to go 2 days ago, but my brother was sick, and mom said we couldn't just leave him with a babysitter and go anyway.  He's only 7 months old, would he have even noticed?

I have been bouncing off the walls all day long.  Isn't it time to go yet? 

Finally, Mom came home.  We're all packed up and out the door to the fair.

Mom and Dad said we could go on rides first.  Let's hurry up.  Why are there so many people in line?  Lines to get the tickets to get in; lines to get on the rides.  And, to make it worse, Mom had to stop and take pictures of the sand castle.

Can't we look at that later?  I want to get to the rides.  They might go away if we don't get there soon enough.

Finally, the rides.  Oh no, wait more lines to get tickets so we can get in the lines for the rides?  Will it ever stop?

Well, I talked Mom into taking me on the ferris wheel and Dad will keep Dylan.  He's too small to get on the ferris wheel, maybe next year.

Here we go.

Hey, Mom.  We're getting kind of high up.  This is very cool  Hey, look at that ride in the sky.  There's a gorilla on it.

You can see everything from up here!  Are we going to get food soon? Are we going to have funnel cake for dessert?

Mom and Dad are going to let me ride the bee ride by myself.  It's like Dumbo at Disneyland and then the helicopter.

Then I get to go on the boats.  Oh boy - Mom's going to ride the fast ride with me first.  Wheee!!!  That's fun. Wait - now we're going backwards.  Mom, isn't this fun?

Dad and Dylan waited in line for the boats for me so I'd have time to ride before dinner.  Thanks!!

Dylan gets to see his first goats and pigs and everything today. That's where we're going next.  I'll show him how to feed them and pet them and everything.  I'm the big brother, and I have to set a good example.

What do you think Dylan?  Aren't they neat?  And, I'm not even scared at all. Watch! I can even feed them. Okay, maybe they are just a little bit scary, but they're pretty cool.

Now, we get to go to dinner.  We're having corn dogs, and then Dad says later we're going to get a funnel cake for dessert.

Boy, could it get any better?  Rides, animals and now junk food!! Oh boy!! Thanks!!

Wow, dinner was great!  Now, we're going to go do adult stuff.  We're going to go look at pictures and then Dad wants to go look at the woodworking.

Hey, Dad!  What are they doing behind the glass?  They're making things?  What's a canopy bed?  Right, but what kind of bed is it?

Now, Mom's spending way too long looking at the guy drawing pictures.  She says he's an artist, and she wants him to draw our picture.  She's going to pick it up later this week and can't wait.

While you do that, can I go look at that guy with the big metal stick with the glass on the end?  What's he doing?  Blowing glass?  How do you do that?  Why's he's sticking it in the fire?

Mom says I can go bananas, and she'll take a picture of me.  What do you think?  Have I gone bananas for the Orange County Fair?

We had so much fun.  Mom says there are just a few days left, so if you haven't gone, why don't you check it out and see how much fun it is?

If you have any questions about Costa Mesa, or buying a home in Costa Mesa or Costa Mesa Home Values, you can reach my mom at 714-319-9751.

I hope you have as much fun at the Orange County Fair as we did.

Visit Christine Donovan's blog at http://activerain.com/blogsview/615865/A-Four-Year-Old