Note: This post is part of an ongoing blog series called #costamesa365 where the author is striving to shop only* in her city of Costa Mesa, for a year.
My relationship with rainy days is… complicated.
Some mornings, I throw open the blinds and welcome the soggy sight with a big AHHHHHHH, I LOVE RAINY DAYS!
I crack the window to listen to the pitter-patter.
I celebrate all the good the rain can do. After years of drought and miserly watering schedules, it’s nice to watch my grass grow emerald green, fueled solely by Nature’s sprinkler.
Rain = life! Rejoice!
String too many rainy days together, however, and I’m emotionally waterlogged.
No jogging for me. (Or worse, mud jogging.)
Canceled plans. (No parks. No patios. No beaches. No bike rides. ‘Nuff said.)
Cabin fever. (My house is waaaaaay too small to be spending this many days indoors. We sort of rely on the yard to give our lives the air and space we need. Without it, we’re like rats in a cage around here.)
So as a sanity-saver, we’ve been doing our best to get out of the house, each rainy day, even if we don’t get outdoors.
The Habit Grill off Harbor and Adams often saves our grits when we’re at each others’ throats. A tasty, little peace-treaty I like to call, “books and burgers.”
Grab some books off the shelf, find a cozy, window booth, and let the good food fly.
The veggies burgers are stellar! (Pro tip: order it on the grilled sourdough instead of a bun… yum!)
Normally, we eat pretty healthfully around here. But sometimes, you just gotta go for full treat mode.
Get enough afternoon milkshakes, french fries and Garfield comic books in front of the kids, and you’re guaranteed at least an hour of bicker-free bliss. Throw in your own, trashy novel and you, dear parent, are in Habit heaven.
Works just as well, kid-free, my friends.
There’s just something about real books and burgers that works on rainy days.
It’s got me hoping the new Costa Mesa library has a burger-rific snack bar or cafe.
Hamlet? Habit? How ’bout it? ♥
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*We will always start by shopping / looking in Costa Mesa, first. But if we really need something and an alternative is nowhere to be found in Costa Mesa, we’ll stray. Also, as parents, we’ve decided that certain kid-related things (mainly educational) will need to remain baked in.
