What have I been up to?

Getting into the Christmas spirit and enjoying myself:
This is my first year in Los Angeles that it has really felt like Christmas to me. Maybe because it is colder and rainier this year or I am just used to a brown Christmas.

I have been to three white elephant parties and was happy that I scored a tambourine.

Supporting my man: (not financially)
As I had mentioned Asher had a film accepted in a film festival. He has submitted to some other contests, keep your fingers crossed. He was also featured in a comedy show and helped put a comedy show on.

Seeing movies:
I loved Slumdog Millionaire, thought Quantum of Solace did a good job at being entertaining and I thought Twilight was like a modern version of "The Lost Boys" I hope to see more movies during the holiday break.

I haven't seen the stars out and about, but have another notice that Kath and Kim are shooting on my block.

That is it basically what I have been up to.

Attention Online Shoppers

The big thing this year is that people are stealing Christmas packages off of front porches and stoops while people are at work. One local news station did a story on it this week in fact.

When I spoke to Target customer service about my stolen packages this week, she told me that it is happening a lot and that customers are also calling to complain that packages have been cut open to reveal their contents.

My advice is to send all of your holiday packages to work.

What I have been up to

Eating wheat free has been a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. You really need to read labels. So I guess that what I have been up to is reading labels. which is not very exciting. I did find this blog Gluten Free Girl which I think will help keep me motivated.

Private Practice has set up shop a block away. I didn't see them today, but that is probably because I had a day off. I did see a production set up on Larchmont, but couldn't tell what it was.

Good news for Asher

One of Asher's short films has been accepted to a film festival. I am not sure if you have checked out his website, but you can find his movie here scroll down to piece(s) and watch it. It is my favorite.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Today let's pause to think about all of the things we are thankful for.

Stars

Lately I have seen:

Emily Rossum- You might know her from Phantom of the Opera and Mystic River.
Russel Brand- You might know him from the really funny Forgetting Sarah Marshall and hosting the last MTV Video Music awards that was filmed across the street.

I would have seen another celebrity a week or so ago, but due to disorganization of a movie sneak peak, I missed seeing Benicio del Toro's Q & A after seeing Che. I was really looking forward to this but will see it as soon as it is out in the theaters

You can look up these two and all of the people I have seen on imdb.com

Notice of a Filming

Last Friday, while I was at work of course, they shot an episode of Kath and Kim outside my house.

I haven't really gotten into the show. I think the characters are good, but I don't really understand what the purpose is.

The guy who plays Craig, Mikey Day, is/was part of Groundlings. I think I have mentioned them before, but it is an improv house that has started the careers of Will Farrel, Pat Morita and many of the current SNLers. If you want to see funnier work of Mr. Day check out David Blaine Street Magic You Tube Edition. Click here Watch for the language.

California on Fire

This weekend dozens of fires broke out in California starting with the Montecito Tea fire on Thursday. (see picture above taken from the KTLA website) There are several fires burning right now and although not close the Santa Ana winds brought the smoke this way. The sky in LA is very pink gray and you can smell the fires.

Please think good thoughts that these fires are over soon. Thousands of homes have been lost. Not too many injuries or deaths, but 5 people have been arrested for looting.

Halloweeeen!

Halloween is by far my favorite holiday. I don't know why, maybe because of all of the seriousness of being an adult, it is nice to do something different and non-serious.

People in my neighborhood are really into it too. Every year the mansions of Hancock Park become haunted houses and safe havens for the trick or treaters. They really go all out and probably spend thousands of dollars in decorations, just for this holiday. I think they spend more on this holiday than Christmas. Next year I hope to have pictures.

I was excited this year because I was home early enough to give candy to the trick or treaters.

By far the biggest pumpkin racket is the pumpkin patch on Fairfax and Third across from the Farmer's Market. I saw pumpkins for $30. I did not end up paying that much, but more than I thought I should. The picture above are the pumpkins my friends and I carved, before having homemade pumpkin pie. I guess we were really into pumpkin slaughter.

The highlight of my night was doing a Skype call with Evan in his Batman costume. He was really into it, which was really cute. He showed me his wings, ran around and with the help of his father flew through the air. It is great to be able to call via Skype. I get to see Evan on the weekends for free.


Asher and I went to a friend's party. Here are our costumes. Last year we were Cleopatra and a Transformer, this year an old school rapper and the Bride of Frankenstien. I spent a lot of time teasing my hair. Maybe next year we will do a couples costume.

It's been a while hasn't it

I don't know what happened to be honest, but I am back to writing and I hope to write a lot more.

First of all, I would like to say how happy I am that the election is over. I am very happy that Barack Obama will be our new president. After losing two jobs to a horse-pocky economy, I am happy that Change is gonna come to this country.

By the way voting at McDonald's was fast and painless. See Asher's video:



I was done in a couple minutes, then got a number 2. The line to get McDonald's took more time than voting. Alas, it wasn't free.

This was my first West Coast election and I was really surprised how fast it was over. I am used to not hearing who the president was until at least 11:00 p.m. Here it was over at 8:00.

Many of you might have heard about Proposition 8. Which eliminates the rights of gay/lesbians to get married and other additional civil rights. It did pass in California, which shows you that there is a lot more to California than LA and San Francisco. A lot of people here are really angry about its passing and there has been many protests. In fact one is going on right now at city hall. Their hope is to get it overturned in the 2010 California election.

All in all I am happy that the election is over.

So I am back to writing again and couldn't be happier.

3-4 four days

It is nice to know that in 3-4 days all of this election stuff will be over. It has been a long campaign and I am happy that at least on Wednesday this will be part of history. No ads, no conspiracies, no crazy New Yorker covers.

Please remember to get out there and vote!

I put a friendly little poll on the left hand side of the page. If you would like to answer you can. If not I understand. Voting can be a very personal thing.

the yummiest website ever

Now that the temperature has dropped a bit, you may have a hankering for some comfort food. I know I have mentioned this website to a few of you before, but in case you haven't tuned in, eat something first and go to The Pioneer Woman Cooks!

The author of this blog was once a city girl, but fell in love with a cattle rancher and now spends her days at home with wrangling her kids, doing photography and posting on the most mouth watering website I have ever seen in my life.

What inspires me is her step by step photos. It looks easy.

Now that I found out that I am allergic to Wheat, Soy and Eggs, I will be looking for how I can alter some of this stuff.

Lost to fire

Yesterday Asher and I went to see a movie at the Arclight for Fire Day. I was saddened to learn that another fire claimed the life of a great L.A. spot called Off Vine . Off Vine is where I celebrated my 30th birthday with my family when they came out to see me in 2006. (See June 2006 posts) The food was great. I hope that they are able to come back. So many places do not pull through after a fire. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Fire day?

In Minnesota I loved having Snow days. A bonus day from work or school was always fun and relaxing.

Today I did get a snow day of sorts, I got a Fire Day.

So I am home and safe and watching really bad daytime television.

don't hold your breath

Well, if any of you are waiting to see Asher in the Bud Light commercial, don't hold your breath. Due to time his part was cut.

I guess this happens more often than not, but I was really excited to see him.

Make it work

Yesterday they shot Project Runway at work. It was very exciting and all us girls were in a tizzy. I did happen to glipse Tim Gunn from afar, but didn't stalk him like others.

I guess though that they were shooting the season finale of the season not yet aired on tv.

heaty

Not too much to report other than its hot again.

Oh yeah, and there was a mountain lion siting at work.

Voting with fries

I am now a proud registered voter in the state of California. I was shocked though to learn where exactly I would be casting my ballot for this important and historic election. I will be voting at a nearby McDonald's.

I wonder if I will get a free super-sized fry after? A girl can dream.

Brrr

I am enjoying a very chilly weekend in Los Angeles.

Strange thing happened last night, I was at this great restaurant last night for a bachelorette party and who do I see behind the bar? Someone I used to work with at restaurant in Minneapolis. I haven't seen this guy for over 10 years and here he is at a restaurant I have never been to before.

The world is indeed very small.

not since march, i think

It rained today in Los Angeles. Even though it was only for 5 minutes, it made me really happy.

Speaking of happy. Since I do not have the opportunity to see the changing leaves, will you send me pictures. I miss those too.

Oh no summer is over

I think I commented on this last year, but it makes me laugh when people here say that summer is over. If any of you watched the Emmy's and heard countless times that how hot and how sweaty everyone said they were you know what I mean. In Los Angeles summer can still last for a long time. I guess the nights just get cooler.

If there is a specific end of summer, I guess it would be Labor Day.

For Labor Day, which we both had off for a change, we headed up to Leo Carillo State Beach in beautiful Malibu. I had wanted to go to visit Leo Carillo for quite some time because there is a lot to do. hiking, camping, swimming, caves and tide pools, it really is a place you need to have a lot of time. We didn't get up as early and ended up road tripping up the coast. It was really nice to sit on the beach, the first time all summer for the West Coast. It was a beautiful place, but what disappointed me was there really wasn't any policing in protecting animals in there natural habitat. People were climbing over the tide pools picking up Sea Stars and carrying them around like toys.(They called them Star Fish when I was little)

(Here is a picture of a Sea Star in its natural habitat. You might want to click on the picture to get a closer look)

I definitely want to go back and see more of what Leo has to offer.

After the beach we hit the super popular Malibu Seafood Company for a little fish and chips and fried shrimp. I thought about how my mom would be very jealous.

Not a bad way to pretend to end your summer.

Soy un perdedor

What have I been up to lately?

You may have guessed from the title of this post that I went to see Beck at the Hollywood Bowl last night. (Also with Spoon and MGMT) It was a great show.

What I have been reading:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver was my favorite read of the summer and has really made me think about what I eat, buy and contribute to. I strongly recommend it.

The new David Sedaris book When You Are Engulfed in Flames. It is a lot more introspective and isn't as funny as I had hoped. I am not finished yet.

Movies:
I had the displeasure of seeing the new Coen brother's movie Burn After Reading. I really hated it and thought the whole movie was very unnecessary. Don't you hate when you watch a movie that becomes an un-movie?

I am still recuperating from my sinus/allergy stuff and have been a bit boring.

Not so Mad about Mad Men

I know that I was excited about Mad Men last season and they are definitely deserving of their 16 Emmys, but this season is really lacking.

Has anyone tuned into it? What do you think?

looks too young to drink, but is the face of light beer

Be on the look out for Asher in a new commercial, for you guessed it, Bud Light. I couldn't be more excited for him.

I am not sure what I can say about the commercial since it hasn't aired, but there is a tailgate party involved. I am not sure when it will air, but keep your eyes peeled.

the drought is over

I was looking pretty glum on the celebrity sitings front for a bit. That was until I went to see Hamlet 2 a couple weeks ago.

In the span of two hours I saw:
James Remar - He played the loathsome Richard Wright on Sex in the City
Alexis Bledel- of Gilmore Girls and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
John C. Reilly- I liked Walk Hard and I don't care what other people think.

By the way if you love Waiting for Guffman you will love Hamlet 2, but I have to warn you, it is not for the easily offended.

I love the Los Feliz 3 theather, it is one of the only theaters where you can see a movie for $6 on the weekend, you never know who you will run into and the Paparazzi haven't found it yet.

VMAs

If any of you watched the VMAs you notice that it was taped at Paramount. Due to my being under the weather, I didn't actively search for the celebrities, but I had front stage access to see all of the limos going in. I heard someone announce who was arriving followed by screams and many flashing cameras. Surprisingly, the whole thing was very quiet with the exception of the helicopters. I thought for sure I would be treated to an outdoor Jonas Brothers concert, but alas, just the symphony of helicopters and screaming girls.

like a horror film a sinus infection never dies

I have to apologize again from neglecting the blog. I have been sick for 6 weeks with a sinus infection, that I thought was going away but came back last weekend stronger, nastier and unrelenting.

I think I am back on the up and up, but I am not making any promises. Being sick for so long has really effected my stress level, which was really noticed by my message therapist today.

One thing I vow to never do again when I am sick is to check into WebMD. Why do you ask? Well every symptom on WebMD ends in death. For example, I needed to watch my sinus infection to make sure that my neck didn't get stiff because if it did I would surely go into a coma and die. Pretty scary.

Everything on there ends in death. Go ahead and look.

Oh yeah be careful if you smile too much, it may be a facial aneurysm that will break off in your brain and kill you.

Thanks WebMD if I didn't have war, inner city crime, poverty and the fear that some crazy person coming to my work and cutting off my hair to worry about at least I'll always have you WebMD.

Please Register

Now that we are in between conventions, I would like to remind you to register to vote. I am really not going to tell you who to vote for, but as my father would say:

"You can't (expletive for complaining) if you do not vote."

Many of you probably haven't moved since the last time we voted in a presidential election, but if you have moved or changed names or even changed parties (This applies to some states) or just turned 18 please take the time to register and pass this along to friends.

How can I register to vote?

A great resource to find information about rules in your state please go to The League of Women Voters . (You do not have to be a woman to look at it)

If you are ready to register a great place to go is Rock The Vote . You can just simply type out your information, they fill that out in a printable registration, you print it and send it. How easy is that?

Please do this soon. Many states require longer periods before election day.

Please pass this on to friends an family.

Note: If there are other bloggers out there who just want to copy this information and use it in their blog I really welcome it.

What are they wearing-not exactly the best role model

I Amy Winehouse's music. I really do. I know she has personal issues and I really think she is a horrible role model, but as any of you have ever watched VH1's Behind the Music or any Bio-pic you know that drugs are not new in the life of music.

I find myself guilty of following this latest trend. Amy Winehouse hair.

Here I am on my 32nd:



From Chanel's 2008 Fall Paris runway show to the streets of Los Angeles the mini-bee hive has now become the new staple.

Get out your Aquanet ladies!

What happens in vegas Stays in Vegas

I don't think one should pose such and existentialist dilemma on the Vegas crowd. They might just believe you.

Since my trip to Vegas was over a month ago I think it would be best summed up in a picture post.

Double birthday happiness

I wonder who I got my style from?

Pre-Bette

I miss my sisters

Maybe I should have used a better setting

Cousins

One for the fridge

Bette

Sorry it took so long to update this post. It was really overdue.

Not a star sighting exactly

It isn' t a star sighting I guess, but more of a interesting tid bit about a tv show.

If you do happen to watch the new 90210 show, the exteriors for the Peach Pit was shot at a restaurant called Kokomo Cafe on Beverly.

I pass by it on my way to work and thought I would share.

Happy birthday mom!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday!! I wish I were there.

I can't believe I forgot

There were a few things that I waned to accomplish during my unemployment. When you are employed there are a lot of things you can't enjoy because they are open during the time you are working.

• Ride the subway. CHECK (The Hollywood and Vine Station is covered with film canisters. see pictured)
• Go to China Town and eat dimsum.CHECK
• Set foot on the Paramount Lot. CHECK. Which I did once because I had an interview for one of the 17 jobs I applied to there.

There were actually a few things I didn't get the chance to do like go to the new addition to LACMA called BCAM. I did do a tour of the outside installations but didn't go inside. I also wanted to learn a new language but didn't get to that either.

The one thing I had to do before I started working and made a point to not forget. Do you know what is coming?.......

I had to get eat a hot dog at Pink's.
Here is me enjoying a simple ketchup and mustard. I say simple because there are some crazy gut busting creations offered at Pinks. click here . Being a Chicago girl I had to scoff at their attempt at a Chicago style dog.

Any one who has ever had a Chicago dog knows that it comes on a poppy seed bun, has relish, mustard, pickles, onion, tomato, sport peppers and my favorite celery salt. This didn't have half the toppings and it was a Polish not a dog.

I thought Pinks was fine. A hot dog is a hot dog is a hot dog, but I will always have a special place in my heart for a Chicago Style Dog.

back in the action again

I have been back in Los Angeles for almost a week and I am happy to say that I am not leaving town for quite some time. I met Asher's extended family in North Carolina last weekend. It was very quick and I wish I had more time visiting. It really felt like planes, trains and automobiles.

I did get the opportunity to see my grandparents as well and spend some time in the projects and visit my favorite bookstore.

Before I go back in time and catch you all up with my life this summer I did want to let you know that speaking of time machine I saw Rick Springfield a couple weekends ago. I would love to know his secret, he doesn't look a day over 30.

Now we go back in time to before I got my job.

i am here

I survived my very first earthquake today. It was more disorienting than anything else and it took me a while to register what was really happening. On the way home, I realized what I felt was not very much unlike riding down Sunset Blvd. Bumpy with a big pothole.

People were quick to comment that "they" say the big one is coming, which isn't very comforting.

With this event and the bridge collapse in Minneapolis and how it crippled the cell phones in that area, it is very important that you choose an out of state emergency contact as well. Mine is the Amazing Mandu. No one could really reach me for a few hours today, but all I had to do was email her from work and she was able to spread the word.

With the over dependence of cell phones today and how temperamental they can be in an emergency, it is a smart idea to choose an out of state contact. Put it in your cell phone as OUT OF STATE EMERGENCY. Publish it with the HR people at your work and let others know.

It saves a lot of headache for your loved ones and it helps to free up lines so that people can get through to 911 and other emergency hotlines.

They only shoot things when I am gone

Both of the times I have been out of town they have been shooting TV shows on my block.

San Francisco: Entourage
Las Vegas: Monk and Private Practice

I guess they know when I am leaving.

A New Recruit?

I love Los Angeles, as I am sure you can tell, and I love sharing that love when people come to visit. One person I really do not have to persuade is my cousin Brandon whom I think will be joining the cult of Los Angeles soon.

I think we covered a lot of ground, hit Venice Beach (pictured below), many street wear shops, did rodeo drive, did lunch at Tiffany's and hit many of the Entourage spots. Like Toast where we saw Tony Parker and Eva Longoria having lunch with friends. Paparazzi are like vultures by the way.



Brandon, the billion dollar pancakes at Fred 62 are calling your name.

Congrats

Congrats to Asher! He was a semi finalist in the Watchmen contest on YouTube and won a high definition camcorder and his name is on the webpage. click here

Maybe you will see more of our adventures together via video instead of my digital camera.

I am lame

I know that I got you all excited to read about my adventures and then I disappeared again, how lame of me.

I will get you caught up quickly with these next few posts, which I will try to space out because I am leaving town again.

Regularly scheduled broadcast

I interrupt these regularly scheduled highlights to bring you a fashion police moment.

As I was crossing the street from the Beverly Center the other day, which is the pinnacle of trendy fashion, I saw a girl walk across the street in a Gucci t-shirt. It was only after I minute that I realized that it wasn't a G but and an H.

My new job

A lot of people have been asking me how I like my new job. The answer to that is that I love it. It is quiet peaceful and they really allow me to be creative, which is all I could ever ask for really. I think I am going to start putting together some training programs, which is cool. I am a huge unabashed nerd and love to learn new programs and software.

If there is a certain golfer in Pacific Palisades who is reading this blog I want you to know that I am doing a lot more accounting than I ever thought I would. You can laugh.

Working here just made me realize how much I hated my last job. It is hard being a problem solver somewhere where they don't want to solve problems and would rather just sit around and talk about others behind their back or get their undies in a twist because they want a certain cake flavor. It was the most Devil Wears Prada than I ever want ever again.

There is more to life really.

So in summary my new job is so completely and wonderfully different, my boss is great and seems more like a mentor than I have ever had before.

I did have another birthday

I am having my pretend birthday tonight with friends. Thai food and international '60's night. Nothing like Japano pop that says birthday. It reminds me though that I never talked about turning 32.

Frankly it doesn't feel different.

Asher is the best birthday partner. I love birthdays with him because we get to do what ever I want. Sad, to sound so much like a diva, but it is nice to be treated like one every once in a while. I do the same for him. What is the male form of diva?

Of course here is a picture of us at the French Crepe Company. I'll never get sick of that place.


I did a little bit of shopping for an interview I had at a travel magazine, but found that after I bought stuff that I was offered a job at where I am currently working. Hired on my birthday, what a present that was.

I also bough David Sedaris new book, which I am dying to dive into very very soon.

Then it was off to my favorite tapas restaurants called The Courtyard for tapas and more tapas. I had to try the dates wrapped in bacon, even though I can't eat pork. It was worth it.

So that was 32.

Ready

I have been in town out of town back in town had visitors seen celebrities shopped till I dropped and now I am ready to stay put.

Life has been a whirlwind and the next few posts will be highlights.

I said highlights!

Happy 4th

It has been a long time since I have posted and I will work on that this weekend.

I just wanted to pause and wish everyone a safe and happy 4th.

No drinking and driving.

Windy City Guest

I wont have the chance to post because I am getting a guest today, my cousin Brandon. I am excited, I love guests.

lull

Sorry about the lull in posts, last weekend was unbelievably hot and then I got unbelievably busy. I have a day off Friday, and hope to store up some posts. In the meantime I wanted to let you know that I saw the following:

Alfred Molina
Jeffery Jones-the Dad from Beetle juice
Natalie Portman

until friday.

In the meantime

While the amazing Mandu was is meetings I did have the chance to visit the fake purse ninjas in Chinatown, Matisse's early drawings at the SFMOMA, and lunch with a former bookclub member and to Ghirardelli Square to get Asher a trolley car full of chocolate.

Nice person alert: (I know that is a strange thing to say)
Someone at one of the chocolate stores gave me a 20% off coupon, because she couldn't use it and I thought that was nice.

So?

I guess you are all wondering about my new job. I love it!!

It was hard to adjust from the unemployed lifestyle to getting up at 5:40 a.m., but I think that it is worth getting up that early to be where I am.

The blog protocol for mentioning your job is that you should never mention it by name or give too many details. Quite famously people have been fired from their jobs due to blogs. Expect an email from me with more details.


Sorry I have to be so cryptic.

Birthday Part 1

After all of that walking we worked up a very big appetite. We celebrated my birthday at Thai restaurant that shares its name with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that way you know its healthy. oshathai



Mango sticky rice is nice, but not as nice as celebrating your birthday with family.

North Beach/Little Itly

After the almond cookies and cappuccinos at a cute little cafe we decided to take the walk up to Coit tower. Which everyone seemed to imply was really far, but you have to understand that people in California do not walk.

Here is a play by play of our Coit Tower adventure.

The entrance to Coit Tower is hidden in the North Beach neighborhoods.


You cannot tell but there are a lot of stairs



The top of telegraph hill



Golden Gate in the distance

Due to my intense fear of heights, I did not join Amanda at the top of the tower, but she took some great pictures.




Then we walked about 3 miles back to the hotel. We like walking

drop me a line

What is everybody up to? Summer is starting, what are your plans?

The Fisherman's Warf

We never had the time to make it to Alcatraz but here is a picture of Mandu looking at it.



Now it is my turn.



Fisherman's Warf may very well be San Francisco's most touristy spot, but hey we were tourists and wanted to check it out. Mostly because we had a hankering for some crab legs. Mandu and I are often at a loss with seafood places because throughout our lives we have both lived with people who do not like seafood or just find it plain scary. So we took one look at each other and went to the nearest bar offering crab by the pound. Here is a picture of us post crab legs and crab cakes.



We ended up watching a Deadliest Catch marathon that night, after eating sushi. I guess we had seafood on the brain and had to get it out of our systems before heading back to the arms of our non-seafood lovers.

I am betting mom is sad she missed that night.

But....

Before I get to that Happy Father's Day!!!!

Sister, sisters

I was so happy to hear that the Amazing Mandu would be venturing off to the Golden State for a Big Girl Business Trip. At that point I was kind of sick of the unemployment waiting game and decided to meet Mandu in San Francisco.

San Francisco! So much to do and see. It is only 7 miles across, but so jammed packed with things it was hard to decide what exactly we wanted to do. The next few posts will feature some of the things we did and had time for.

Get ready for more pictures!

D'oh

When you do not have a job, it is hard to remember those nice day off on Monday holidays and that is what happened to me this Memorial Day. My friend Judy and I had planned a visit to Universal Studios for a few months and I found out the day before that I was going. Surprise!

I love having company and being able to do all of that fun touristy stuff every once in a while.

Another surprise is that she is engaged. We had to get one last kiss with Matt Damon before it was official. I wish he looked happier about it.



I will be the Maid of Honor. I am excited. If anyone has Maid of Honor tips, let me know.

As many of you know part of the Universal Back lot burned down including a lot of what I saw on the Studio Tour. This happened exactly a week later.

the pools

I have already posted a picture of the Neptune Pool, but that is not the only pool at Hearst Castle. If it is possible the Neptune also isn't the best pool on the grounds.

This one is:

See the shiny tile. Its gold. I guess they couldn't find the more expensive stuff

This pool is hidden under the tennis court. I guess they were ashamed of it.

Casa Grande

This is the main house. I would never live here in a million years.

By the way

These statues are 3,500 years old from Egypt. (Not too shabby)

are the stars out tonight?

Just a break from the vacation posts.

I wanted to let you know that I saw Kanye West at the Grove last week at well as Soleil Moon Fyre. She is really very pretty in real life. Many of the celebs wear so much make up that when they are out and about getting groceries or whatever, they don't really look like themselves.

Casa Del Sol

Keep in mind that this is not the main house, but a guest house.

Even the ceilings are detailed to perfection

I think I might stay in town, these accommodations are terrible

Hearst Castle

Ever since seeing Citizen Kane in college, I have always been interested in seeing what Hearst Castle looked like.

Although it wasn't the reason we stayed in San Simeon, it was definitely something we wanted to do while we were there.

What the heck is Hearst Castle and Who was William Randolf Hearst?
To make a long story short he was a media tycoon and Hearst Castle was originally built so that people could be accommodated while camping. (Now that is my kind of camper) See information about him and the "projects" he built on the mountain. What I think is even more super cool is that after all of these architects turned him down it was finally a woman, there were not many woman architects those days, who built the castle. Read about her here.

Hearst had a very interesting life and surrounded himself with interesting people. Like Charlie Chaplin, Delores Del Rio, Cary Grant and Joan Crawford. And his very public relationship with Marion Davies, who is buried around the corner from me at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. On the tour we saw some silent home movies of Hearst and his guests.

I will give you a photo tour.

(Pictured above is the Neptune Pool. Just to give you an idea of how picky Hearst was, that pool was re-designed a few times and ripped out and re-designed at least a few more times)

Day 2

Day two was a jam packed day. First we started our day going to a vista point to see Seals. Here is a video, of the seals. They don't really do too much and it kind of looks like a seal massacre.

One thing I noticed about Northern California by the beach is that it is extremely windy. Please mute this.



After watching seals laying there we decided to get up and go and drive to Ragged Point, which is the gateway to Big Sur. Which is where the 1 runs teetering between the ocean and mountains, here are some pictures.




Now it is off to Hearst Castle.

Crazy!

My life has been a bit hectic lately. I have been preparing to start my new job next Monday. Yes you heard it right, I finally got a job. The one I wanted.

One of the most frustrating experiences in my life has now finally come to an end, and I hope that it is something I wont have to do again in a really long time.

Now back to the ocean, seals and San Simeon.

San Simeon

We chose to stay in San Simeon because of it's proximity to 3 places.

1) Big Sur
2) Hearst Castle- which I will inundate you with pictures later on
3) Wine country

San Simeon is a mere speck on the coast, but is quiet and cute. Mom and pop places abound and be careful, because everything closes, by 9:00-9:30 p.m. Which is strange to this city girl.

Our hotel The Orchid at San Simeon was super cute and reasonable and walking distance to the ocean. Here is an ocean video:

Note: It was really windy so mind your speakers.

Coffee Break

Pit Stop: Morro Bay

Morro Bay is this cute seaside town that looks like it landed on the wrong coast. It is most noted for this gigantic rock. I wish I could have said more, but we just stopped for coffee.

Today Is my birthday

Happy Birthday to me.

Blogger has this new feature that allows you to schedule posts ahead of time so even though I am out and about enjoying my birthday princess day a la Asher, you will still get posts like I am sitting in front of the computer.

Neat huh.

I don't know what we have planned yet, but I hope to blog about it later.

You've got to fight... for your right.... to polka!

Pitstop: Solvang

I have wanted to stop at Solvang since the ladies at my ex-work talked it up as a romantic getaway spot just on the edge of wine country. Solvang sits on the one side of the Santa Inez Valley, which is a great wine region that isn't as far away as Napa or Sonoma. Solvang was founded by Danish settlers who were escaping the harsh winters of the midwest ( I am there with you settlers)

The entire town is modeled after a Danish village windmills and all. Here is a picture of Asher doing a windmill impression. This town is very cute and does not have a single Olive Garden, Starbucks and McDonalds. Many restaurants offer smorgosbord, aebleskiver and wine tasting rooms. I didn't do any of those things because there was still a long drive ahead of us. In fact the title of this blog comes from a bumper sticker on the window of the one German restaurant in town called the Heidelberg Inn. I had the Heidel Burger.

Everyone should fight for their right to polka, I think that the world would be a much better place.

Here is a picture of me trying on shoes.