Happy Holidays!!!

I am off for a planes, trains and automobiles holiday. Fly to Denver, drive to Minneapolis (think happy no blizzard travel thoughts) and then drive up north to Minsk.

I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday, be safe and happy.

We are all excited for Coey and will be on baby watch 2009.

50th

Last month I joined my grandparents out east to help them celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. I think they needed a lot of help, because there were so many people there. Unfortunately not all of the ugly sisters could make it, but the Queen and Duchess of Ugly were able to represent. In fact I think that the only pre-requisite to attending was that you had to have a crazy nickname.

So, I was invited.

The weekend was full of eating, laughing, more eating, a rainy trip into Manhattan. slightly more laughing and a bunch of crazy stories that involved many sheets of notebook paper.

It was really great to see everyone and see all of the people touched by my grandparents. The people around you are indicative of the people you are and the people you have become.


So I guess maybe lovely, funny and long in the tooth?

photos

While you are waiting for me to compose my thoughts about my recent trip out east, take a gander at some photos.

click here

scratch that

I would like to make an amendment to my post yesterday. I had posted how I hadn't seen anyone in a long time.....

Guess who saw Dustin Hoffman yesterday??

It was a great sighting.

Star sightings

None.

Not a single one in the last month.

Halloween

Halloween is my favorite holiday. Here is me trying to do my best Elizabeth Taylor, Cleopatra impression. I think it went pretty well.

Here is why I love my neighborhood:
You can go into a neighborhood bar dressed as Cleopatra, play trivia, win a t-shirt and come out with really great friends who you have never met before, one of which has gone ice fishing in Northern Minnesota.

That is why I love LA.

last day

The last day of the visit was spent saying goodbye to the beach. This time Santa Monica, which I offer as a quick consolation prize to my guests, because Santa Monica is very touristy and quite frankly very dirty.

Here is a picture of a good shot of Coey's belly. It has since progressed, but this is all I have for photos (Maybe there will be another blog in the works?? No pressure Coey)

We did some people watching, ate some gelato, and then it was time to say goodbye.

Brunch of a lifetime

One of the things I have wanted to check off of my list as an Angeleno was have brunch at the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel , yes the pink one. Luckily I had some willing participants.

Even though we rode up in our rented Chevy Impala (Yes, the one cops drive around in) we were treated like princesses. Doors opened for us, a nice chaperon to the Polo Lounge and a chorus of "Goodmorning Miss" The BH Hotel is all about service and hardly a no is uttered.

You have seen the Polo Lounge in movies (The Way We Were, Shampoo, Beverly Hills Cop II) and it has a very moviesque quality. Pink and Palm trees and Bougainvillea, white table cloths, and waiters in uniforms.

The food is fantastic, I had the vegetarian benedict w/ Hollandaise added. (Come on how can you eat benedict w/o it) It was buttery and the spinach wasn't so garlicky that it would stop a vampire in its tracks.


We pocketed their french jams with the Beverly Hills Hotel lids. Don't worry everyone does it.

We walked around the hotel grounds, saw the cabanas, took photos like real tourists. I love the opportunity to be a tourist in my own city.

We then headed to the Getty Center to see picturesque views, 16th century art, bibles as old as dirt, Van Gogh's Irises and tried to attend a garden tour, but skulked off because it was a bit boring.

Great task

Now begins the great task of summing up the past few months of my life in blog form.

Sometimes you have to live life instead of writing it down. Especially now that my life feels more like living , than existing. Living is much more fun.

We last left off with a visit from the Minnesotans, which I will finish. I have moved into a lovely apartment (will post photos), I won an award, I traveled to NJ/NY to celebrate an anniversary, I am dating (will not post photos) and am experiencing LA again with someone who wants to experience things.

Mostly I am just happy which is a good, good change.

Next up the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

This is just a quick note to say Happy Thanksgiving, dankfest, kalkuna paivaa to you all.

I promise to do a post a thon this weekend.

Sometimes you just have to live life and not write it down.

Day 2

Off to Manhattan Beach!

But first of course there were crepes.

My quest to finally take family to Hermosa (or Beautiful) Beach was dashed once again by another festival. We will get there one day. So it was off to Manhattan Beach.

I take people to places like Manhattan Beach because these beaches have a lot more to offer than sand, sun and water. I feel like the beaches above Santa Monica and below Seal Beach are just a strip of sand and a public bathroom. ( I could be wrong) Manhattan Beach, on the other hand, has a great downtown area that has a lot of mom and pop shops, plenty of places to eat and drink and walk around. And best of all the beaches are clean unlike Santa Monica and Venice. (ick!)

I think MB was a hit, especially the mom and pop restaurant called the Kettle. Oh and laying in the sun and wading in the chilly waters of the Pacific isn't bad either.

the ladies visit LA

I had some visitors over the labor day weekend. Some ladies from Minnesota. I always love the opportunity to be a tourist in my own city.

Day 1

"The Walk of Fame", the Kodak theater and Pink's

I am always unsure whether or not I should take people to the Walk of Fame or the Kodak theater. I guess it is because your idea of it is so much better than what it is. When I take people there I always wonder whether or not I ruin that idea.

The "Walk of Fame"- I think people are expecting to see a velvet roped off area with very clean well kept sidewalk spaces and a museum-like atmosphere. Well, I hate to disappoint you but the walk of fame is just a sidewalk, like the one outside of your house, just stick more gum on it. You can almost miss it if you don't look down.

The Kodak theater, I feel is equally disappointing. It is nestled within the Hollywood and Highland center, next to Aveda. You can just imagine them clicking their manolos up the stair case and stopping by the Bread Papa for a quick bite. (Not really, too many carbs) Not very exciting. Not the majesty of old Hollywood that I think people are expecting.

Having had people visit a few times it was nice to venture out and see something new. My new places for this trip both involved food. Tonight's venture was getting a hot dog at Pink's. The line at Pink's is long. We waited 50 minutes to get our hot dog's. Pink's has a great menu from the cringeworthy (Chili, Patrami, cheese, or heart attack) to the splendidly surprisingly good as Alice found with the Martha Stewart which is:

Martha Stewart Dog
10" Stretch Dog, relish, onions, bacon
chopped tomatoes, sauerkraut & sour cream

I tried a burger this time which was pretty good.

After Pink's it was time to go back to the Farmer's Daughter, the LA hotel of choice, where I squeezed into a full bed with mom and Coey.

What I have been up to-September

My time lately has been spent looking for apartments, which can be very time consuming. Driving around, writing down numbers, calling people getting no answer, being stood up for appointments, etc.

We did find a great 1920's apartment. Two floors, iron warmer, hardwood floors and for the first time I feel like I have room for guests, hint hint

In blast from the past news, my very first boyfriend was in town last weekend with his band. It was great seeing him and it is great when you have people in your life that come and go and you can pick up where you left off like not a day has passed.

I saw an extremely minor celebrity from a show called "Rock of Love" who had a spin off show called "Daisy of Love" Wow our definition of celebrity has changed.

Now back to my original task of documenting the labor day trip.

Star sighting-stars on her face

I haven't seen much of anyone lately. There aren't a lot of celebrities looking for apartments.

While I had company in Los Angeles we saw...

Kat Von D, who has stars tatooed on her face. You may know her from her show on TLC called LA Ink .

We also saw Tim Bagley who I only know from Will and Grace.


And this leads me to my days of company in Los Angeles.

photos

While spending time with the nephew, I learned that he is an aspiring photographer. Here is a few of his best.

The sky series





Mommy with take-out container



and

antlers



Fin

Denver trip

I went to Denver to see the Amazing Mandu and fam last month for a well deserved and perfectly timed visit. (although probably not for her, she had just moved) It was great to see Denver at a much less snowier time. It was nice to just laze and swim and hike and take in the local ambiance.

Here are some photos of the trip:

Evan using his birthday gifts. I think he likes to be over-prepared.

Garden of the God's- the kissing camels

Guess Who?

My artsy mountain shot

Evan discovering dead dandilions

cheesy aunt and nephew shot

The area they live in is very cute and has tons of family activities. I saw a family movie in a park and supported a new library by buying books.

I had a great relaxing time and can't wait to see the rock that Evan kept to show me the next time I visit.

part time model

One thing I have always wanted to do, but never had the confidence to do, is modeling. (I am sure some of you have seen the photos I leaked on facebook) One day the stars happened to align and here are the highlights for my one and only day of modeling.







It was really fun, and I doubt that I'll ever get the opportunity to do it again, but at least I can say I did it once.

Where have I been?

Part of choosing me has been experiencing things I always wanted to experience in LA and wasn't ever able to. Like going to the beach, going to Little Tokyo for some great Sushi, going to concerts. I have been able to be a tourist in my own city again. I also had to travel to Denver to get a nephew fix.

If I learned anything in my travels it is that KOI IS VERY EXPENSIVE.

I choose me

As many of you may or may not know, I broke it off with Asher about a month and a half ago. It has been hard, hence the not keeping up with my blog. I realize that a lot of this blog is/was dedicated to our relationship together.

We really had differing ideas of what it meant to be in a relationship and how you treat the person you are in a relationship with. I believe that a relationship is about give and take. I believed that if I gave when he needed me to give, i.e. supporting him in all of his artistic endeavors, his health, etc. he would give to me when it was my turn. i.e. my desire to finally get married. After 5 years, it was never my turn. I gave and he gladly took and there was never a foreseeable time when he ever would stop taking.

So I chose me.

Choosing yourself is hard. Especially when you are such a giving person, but sometimes you just have to. My life was starting to make me miserable.

I guess everyone comes into your life for a reason, maybe his was to get me here. I still love L.A. I am very fortunate to be able to stay here and I hope to give you more of an update now that I am feeling more healed. I actually feel relieved if you can believe it.

Thank you to all of you who have been extremely supportive of me. I am very lucky to have family and friends like you.

Love.-k

Happy Father's Day

If any of you know me well, you know that I am my father's daughter, minus the bad jokes.


This is what I got from my dad:
work ethic
razor sharp wit
contemplativeness
the ability to feel equally happy alone as with a bunch of people (but maybe slightly more happy alone)
hidden intelligence

Thank you for all of the things that make me me. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Father's Day!

saturday

I hope that everyone is enjoying the pictures and posts about France. It has been fun writing about that trip. The next post will be my last France post and then it is back to Los Angeles.

Speaking of Los Angeles, we are in the midst of June gloom. This is really the only other season in LA that is not hot and sunny. It is raining more than usual this year. This is the season where it is hard to get out of bed, and the passage of time seems slower because it looks the same at 6:am as it does at 6:pm

I just switched departments at work. It is going to be a lot of work since I am support 7 departments by myself, but I am excited for the adventure.

I just finished celebrating my birthday for the 3rd time this month last night. It was back to the Palihouse for drinks.

Back to Nice....

I am sorry, but I only eat gelato in Italy

After Cannes we decided to do a little exploring of the south of France and Italy, as long as we were so close.

First stop La Turibe, a village high above Monaco. A website describes it as a medieval village, it clearly looks it, but before that it was a Roman settlement after the defeat of 35 tribes of Alps people.

Pictured is the Trophy of the Alps, or the Trophy of Augustus , the reason we trekked to Turibe in the first place. It is a quiet place, surrounded by poplar trees and native plants, with a spectacular view of the Mediterranean Sea, Monaco and Beausoliel. You can get a better idea of the scale of the place on wikipedia, linked above.

It is hard to describe being in a place that is that old. (built in 6 or 7 BC) It kind of makes you speechless. Normally I am a person who is afraid of heights, but I squelched it, because how often are you able to climb an over 2,000 year old monument. If your answer was hardly ever, you are right.

This also my first experience using a Turkish Toilet. Let's just say that I wished that it had directions.

Our visit at the Trophy was quick, because we still had to hit Italy. So it was off tho Sanremo, for Gelato. Not really just for Gelato.

Mainly in Sanremo we did a lot of exploring. Walking up and down skinny streets eating Gelato, checking out architecture, churches, and random Roman monuments speckled throughout the city. (I will post pictures on Flickr)

Angels and Demons was playing there and I saw no protestors.



Here is a picture of Asher and I enjoying a drink at a seaside restaurant. I think that I am so concerned with keeping my eyes open that I look a little miffed.

Then it was of to Monaco. This was the same day as the Gran Prix, you may say to yourself, you are crazy for going the same day as the Gran Prix. My answer is yes we are. If you only have one chance to do one thing, you have to be uncomfortable sometimes.

We drove the Gran Prix track at about 5 miles per hour, dodging the crowds of techno-loving Europeans. I saw a lot of Finnish flags.

The highlight of this trip was seeing the Casino Monte Carlo. You might remember this casino from quite a few James Bond movies. I didn't go inside, you have to have at least half a mil to walk through the front door. Which I didn't, but stayed outside and watched all of the Ferraris cruise the casino loop.

So, three countries in a day, not bad. The rest of the trip was much more leisurely.

Next up, more exploring in Nice.

2nd day

This is me.
This is me after thinking we would go back to Nice on Friday night, to be properly ready for my red carpet debut.
This is me in front of the Gran Palais, no deodorant, no brush, hair not cleaned in 2 days, going into a premier of a film called "The Map of the Sounds of Tokyo"
This is me on the Red Carpet in Cannes!

I felt a tad bit uncomfortable, but to be honest I was one of the most dressed up people there. There were a lot of jean wearers, t-shirts and birks w/ socks. I think maybe people thought they were going to Euro-Disney not Cannes which I thought was a bit disrespectful to the Cannes experience, but hey, it looked like I combed my hair with a porkchop.

What was I wearing?
I was wearing a borrowed dress from Martinique. Thank you Mandu!

The film was okay, but had one of the best movie soundtracks I have heard in a long time. (I thought the movie failed at doing a Wong Kar Wai impression, but he is my favorite director, so I am extra critical. And I am a movie snob)

It is still hard to believe I was there. On flickr there will be more photos of the inside of the theater.

This marks the end of my days at the 62 Annual Cannes Film Festival. I wish that I would have had the chance to see Asher's film in Cannes. I wish there would have been a way to sneak inside of the Short Film Corner, just to watch it. He got a lot of great response from his film and made some contacts. Keep your fingers crossed.

(This is him after the movie in front of the golden laurel)

We spent the rest of the day exploring the streets of Cannes. We had a great dinner at a cafe with this flamboyant rock and roll mama dressed owner who really knew how to hustle. The place was full and she was the only server, but no one cared. By the end of our dinner, they had dragged all of the inside tables outside, people who didn't know eachother were packed together at tables like sardines. Our dinner was two hours long and we were sat at the same table as a man from Detroit, who we talked to the whole time like we had been friends for years. That is what traveling does.

After, we packed up our teenie apartment and headed back to Nice.

To be continued.....

Technical difficulties

It seems as though blogger has had some technical difficulties. My Cannes part 2 post was lost and I will need to recreate it.

I hope to have what I can remember up as soon as I can.

check out Cannes part one photos on flickr.

avions, tranes et autos

To get to Cannes, you must have a brilliant filmmaker boyfriend, you must fly 17 hours, enlist the help of a local village woman, travel an hour and a half by local public transportation with a screaming teething baby and get out and walk due to a traffic jam.

First let me say that going to the Cannes Film Festival has always been a dream of mine. Never in a million years did I ever think that I would be able to go. (Let alone see a movie in the Gran Palais, which I will talk about later)

Being in Cannes was a very surreal experience,I don't think that I could have dreamed it, not to mention I was still suffering from jetlag. But I was a misty all the same.


We began Cannes day 1 strolling along La Croisette. It was packed with tourists, photographers snapping pictures of girls walking down the street, men in tuxes and tents as far as the eye can see. (Here is a picture of us in front of the Hotel Martinez, where we later saw Dita Von Teese. I would put a link to who she is, but many are not appropriate for younger viewers)

We were crossing our fingers to get to see the new Terry Gilliam film, but it wasn't meant to be. Getting tickets to movies for the festival is such a game of being in the right place at the right time. We did however get tickets for the next day.

We spent the rest of that day sitting at a cafe, resting and listening to an accordion duo playing an extended version of you guessed it....

"Besame, Besame mucho!"

We had the use of a friend of a friend's apartment in Cannes. It was very cozy, i.e. the size of a walk in closet, with a bathroom you couldn't close the door to use. It was above a row of cafes and it was great to look out and see everything.

We did go out to try to get into a party for the Short Film Corner people, but we never found it. We had a $25 drink at the Hotel Martinez, chatted with people about the movies they saw, ate pomme frites and called it a night because we had a movie to see the next day and no alarm clock to wake us up.

To be continued......

33

Sorry for the break in the action, but I needed some time to celebrate my 25th birthday.

(pictured is what Asher prepared for me when I came home. It is the new Starbuck's Gluten-Free Valencia Orange Cake. Please buy one or ask your local starbuck's to carry it. It is very tasty and it is nice to finally have something to snack on w/ my coffee)

It has been a week long celebration, starting with a work celebration where everyone brought in some gluten free goodies for me. I feel so loved.

I spend my last hours of being 32 at Lucy's El Adobe drinking margaritas.

Finally dinner at my favorite restaurant, the Hall, which I have mentioned before.

I am finally ready to get back to Cannes.

First you must know where I come from

Wait a minute.

I don't want to go to Cannes yet, I think it is first important to let you know where I was staying first. Plus that is the order my pictures are in, and Asher has more Cannes pictures than I do and I think his camera is still packed.

Our friends we stayed with live in the village of Gilette (pronounced like the razor company). I am not exactly sure how old the town is, but I can tell you this, when they were remodeling the house they found a coin from 1579 wedged between the beams and when we were walking to the nearby town of Claves, there was a plaque above a meadow describing that in Roman times it was used as a community garden of sorts.

Saying it is old is an understatement.

This picture was taken from the balcony of our friends house. You get a good view of the village, the village square and the ruins of castle Gilette. The castle is one of 3 destroyed monuments in the area. (The others are the Fortress of Nice and the Trophy of the Alps, the later I also explored.) They were destroyed by Louis the 14th, who had decided that once he won the territory from Italy that he would destroy the monuments in case the territory (piedmont) would ever fall back in Italian hands, which it did. (Our friend Fabrizio is a walking wikipedia and makes a really great tour guide.)


There is a small business area including this patisserie that was hard to deal with because we were so close, and they would start baking baguettes at 3 a.m. I wanted to break the doors down and eat all of the bread in sight, but contained myself.

We spent two relaxing days here, walking around and exploring the castle and the two bars there. There aren't a lot of tourists. They do have a tourism office, but it is never open. I heard that was on purpose.

Gilette is a half hour to 45 minute drive from Nice down a windy mountain road. There is public transportation, but often times a ride down the mountain from a fellow villager is the most reliable. (Merci Francoise!) There are 3 buses down the mountain, but coming back up the buses are few and far between.

Nice is 45 minutes to an hour from Cannes, depending on traffic.

Next stop Cannes. I mean it this time.

I am back

Did you know that the flight path of all LAX to LHR flights goes directly over my parents house? I didn't, but when we flew over the Leech Lake Indian Reservation and Hibbing, I wanted to turn to the guy next to me and say we were flying over my home town, but decided against the dorkiness of it.

I do have a way of putting my foot into my mouth.

Did you also know that all gluten free meals on airplanes involve fish? Airplanes and fish do not mix. They are polar opposites. (Feh!)

As I am working on keeping you all updated to my week abroad, I will also be starting a flickr page with all of the pictures I will not be posting online, because there are so many.

Pictured is the approach to Nice over the Mediterranean Sea.

I will be posting the pictures as I blog and you can see all of the photos that are missing by going to my flickr photo stream click and go.

Next stop Cannes.

back home tomorrow. Boo.
I promise to give the full details when I get back. Maybe not tomorrow night. This weekend for sure with illustrations

today we are spending a relaxing day in Gilette, the mountain town where we are staying. There was a castle here, but it was ordered to be destroyed by Louis the 14th. The ruins sit high above the town. The house we are staying in is 400 years old. I have pictures.

today i was in 3 countries. I had a gelato in Italy, did the Gran Prix route after the race was over and saw a monument to Augustus Ceasar in France.Not bad for a day.

Did I see Brad Pitt? No.
I did see Dita Von Tease. Who is a famous burlesque dancer. Asher said I should say hi, but I was too shy.

I just got back from cannes. Yes, I know it is 2:30 in the morning here. I have not gotten used to the time change. I wish I could post pictures from my iPod but alas you will have to wait. I have some great pictures, including one of me going up the red carpet to see a film in the Gran Palais.

I am here. I wish i could have kept you updated en route. I would have told you that there was an Elvis impersonator on the plane and that heathrow is like a mall. I don't have too many characters left so I will post this now and write more later.

thanks

Thank you for all of the well wishes on my journey.

I am very glad to get out of here with all of the earthquakes happening lately.

I will try to keep you posted, but it all depends on how accessible the internet is.

love you!

Happy Mother's Day!!

I would like to say Happy Mother's day to all of you moms out there. I would like to take a moment to tell you some of the things I have learned from the moms in my life.

Grandma Magoo- The best advocate you have for you is you. No one else will be an advocate for you.
Gaga-Always think happy thoughts, and always have a good moisturizer.
Mandu- It is possible to have a broken foot, an active toddler and still get employee of the month.

And finally from my mom I learned- If you love someone let them know, to be supportive of the ones you love and if you are out in public it is always best to be friendly. I also learned a new language, that only my mom and my sisters speak.

six of one......

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!

today

My computer is back from the spa. I am very happy. Trying to post from my ipod proved a bit harder than I thought. Not a lot of free wireless in Los Angeles. I hope Europe will be a bit more liberal with free internet.

Today I tried an amazing and strange thing, Green Lemonade, from M Cafe De Chaya. You might remember me talking about that place before. You know the macrobiotic place around the corner from Pink's. I thought that it was green lemonade because it was infused with green tea, but no it was infused with........KALE JUICE. Weird huh? It was actually pretty good and a great way to get in your greens. If only I knew what to do to make kale juice.

I have been preparing for my trip. Less than two weeks, I can't believe it. I am slowly planning what to bring. I am not sure if I will be able to get into any of the events, so I am not sure how fancy I should get.

The rest of this weekend I am helping Asher with his one sheets and prepping him to go.

it looks like my computer will be at the spa for 3 to 5 days. I am now posting from my iPod. It seems to work pretty well. If only my fingers were smaller.

computer

I am dropping off my computer today to get fixed. I am not sure how long it will be in the shop.

It will be fixed for free, which is nice for a change.

Some of us were joking about how your expenses expand to meet your income. For example, you get a raise and your tv breaks.

That is just the way it is I guess.

I will try keeping you posted still. I really want to try to post from my ipod, which I will be doing while I am away.

week

This was a really hard week. Wondering if I would be laid off, if I would be able to still take a trip of a lifetime, if I wasn't laid off , which of my friends would go?

People I really liked working with are gone, like they disappeared into thin air. Layoffs are a strange thing, there is no closure process. People are just gone.

I tried to take the impending doom the best that I could by doing the following:

I had my first Karaoke experience (pictured) at a local Korean Karaoke house called Feel. It is one of several karaoke houses in Koreatown. Read more about Koreatown here . I love places like Feel, there are several in the area, because it's you in a room with your closest friends, singing away WITH NO STAGE. Think the karaoke scene in "Lost in Translation".

I have always been too shy to sign the karaoke, but I figured hey, why not? I sang Oasis' "Wonderwall", "Sweet Caroline" by Mr. Neil Diamond and back up on "Twist and Shout" I thought it best to start with the classics that everyone will sing along, so they could drown me out. Next I'll try the hard stuff.

Karaoke is good for stress.

I also attended a comedy/music show put together by Asher and some friends. I'll save that for another post, as this post is getting a bit long in the tooth.

What is your favorite song to sing at Karaoke? You know where to email me at.

Safe

Well, I am safe. I still have a job to go to. It was a very hard day. People I grew close to were let go. I feel very thankful to still have a job that I love. It is weird being on this side of layoff/budget cuts. The last two did not go so well.

It was a very stressful four months of waiting and I hope to get back to normal soon.

Speaking of normal, what is acting abnormal is my computer. I will be taking it in to apple tomorrow. I hope the problem is this fluke thing that they are going to cover and not just another story of modern appliance planned obsolescence.

I my laptop is still hobbling along and if my computer and I are separated, I hope to keep you updated somehow.

Amazing Mandu's blog

You may notice some technical difficulties with the Amazing Mandu's blog. I guess after seeing an episode of Oprah about child predators, she decided to make her blog for family and friends only. Which is smart.

You should be able to see it soon.

cross your fingers

Layoffs are this Tuesday at work. Keep your fingers crossed that I am not one of those people.

my eyelids are sweaty

It has been 100 degrees here for the last couple days. We beat a record on Monday.

Hard to be a Californian

Los Angeles has become a strange place since the beginning of this year. It seems like there are a lot less people around.

This is because contrary to past statistics, this is the first time that people are leaving. U-Haul rental in LA is up 30%.

2 Million people are unemployed today in California and they are leaving to find work.

It seems like every other store front on Melrose has a for lease or going out of business sign. Traffic has become lighter.

A lot of people I know are laid off or in danger of being laid off.

It is hard to be a California these days.

what I have been up to

Things have been hectic lately and I haven't had the chance to blog as much as I would like.

Hot Hot Heat:
It has been a strange weather week in LA. Today it was 94 but I also had to turn the heat on Tuesday night.

Stars:
You can't see stars in the sky, but you certainly can on the street. I saw:
Peter Deluise-of 21 Jumpstreet fame-I loved that show
Rachel Harris
Kate Walsh

Tourism:
We had guests in town and did Santa Monica, I missed the sunset while I was in line for the bathroom.

What I am reading:
John Stienbeck's "Travels with Charley". It was my first Stienbeck, and although it ended up not being my favorite, I would love to read more. I was recommended "East of Eden" What do you think?

Coey and I were talking about how at our high school we never were made to read a lot of the classics that all the other high schools did. I am not sure why. I am not sure if that was a disadvantage or not. I would like to go back and read some of them. If you could build a list of must read classics what would be on that list?

So that is what I have been up to lately.

Happy Easter

I hope everyone is having a Happy Easter.

et vous?

To prepare for my France trip I am learning a bit of French via Podcast. I figured that I didn't want to go there and just expect that everyone speaks English, because they hate that I am told. Or speak English loudly and annunciate, like that makes all the difference.

I also do not want to sound like the women in the "Southern Gals in Paris" sketch from Saturday Night Live. "Do y'all have Cinq Alive"

I tried to find that sketch online so that you would get the reference, but I can't. I think only Coey will get that one.

I am doing Coffee Break French a show on radio lingua by a Scottish couple. I have to admit though that I am also practicing my Scottish accent as well.

I have some help at work. Between all of the people in my office we speak 20 different languages. One girl is helping me w/ phrases I shouldn't say. The same with Spanish, you should avoid saying "I am hot" because depending on which sentence structure you use, you would be talking to a complete stranger and revealing something very personal about yourself.

Learning French is going okay, pronunciation is hard going. The glottal r is killing me and I practice saying "merci" all of the time.

So wish me luck or bon chance!

Status on We are Here

If you notice, We Are Here has not been posting for a bit. That is because the Amazing Mandu fractured her foot and Evan has croup. So, she hasn't been up to it. I hope that she gets to it soon, but be patient.

into thin air

It is hard to play sports and run around when the air is thinner. While I was in Denver I tried really hard to play the game Evan and I invented called soccasketball, but I just got tired out so we had air hockey tournaments.



Then the winner would play coey.

80

It is 80 degrees here today. I just got back from the farmers market and loaded up on fruit. No one of interest was sighted.

Did you know that the birds in Los Angeles mimic the sounds of car alarms as part of their mating calls? You should listen it is funny.

The gangs all here

A lot of work people and friends asked me that since I was going to Denver, if my family and I were going skiing. I said nope, that we aren't really outdoorsy and mainly we eat and stare at each other. Which they thought was strange, but that is what we did.

(Go ahead and imagine me skiing, you can laugh, I do)

Evan was excited for us to be there and told us that "Tomorrow I am going to show you my whole town" He was a good tour guide. Here is a tour of gumball machines at a local restaurant.



Here he is modeling the fine sunglasses his "whole town" has to offer.



The "whole town" is very cute and very picturesque. Evan is a good tour guide.

That was the staring, now for the eating.

I had my second pizza experience since becoming "nutritionally traumatized". It was good and worth it.

What we were all excited for though was for a burger at the Counter. You may remember the Counter, from either visiting me in Los Angeles or from a past post of mine. (There is one in Chicago now by the way.) I think it has to be the best burger joint on the planet, the sweet potato fries and chocolate, peanut butter shake is so good.



The weekend was all together too short, but it was great seeing family.

I made it

I did end up making it to Denver last weekend. After calling the airline twice and getting frustrated , going to the airport, going home, sleeping, calling the airline at 4:00 in the morning to see if they were flying, getting up, hardly able to stay awake in the car, seeing a Big Blue Bus on fire, waiting for 40 minutes in security, not being able to get on plane 1, being able to get on plane 2 but not knowing if I would be stranded in Vegas and finally getting and plane 3. I made friends with some of the 15 of us waiting. I hope Pam made it in time for her son's college graduation.

This was my first standby experience and it wasn't my idea of a good time. I have never had a bad experience with Southwest, but now know why so many people call it SouthWorst.

I wanted to keep you posted via my blog on my ipod, but it isn't exactly compatible with blogger. I am glad I found this out before my trip to Europe. I will be keeping you up to date with Twitter.

Next stop Denver.....

:(

my flight was canceled.

tomorrow

Cross your fingers that our flights to Denver are not canceled tomorrow due to snow. Keep track of our adventures at ajeindenver.blogspot.com

LACMABCAM

One of the things I wanted to accomplish while I was unemployed was a visit to LACMA/BCAM. I didn't get there though and decided that it would be one of the stops on my tourist re-birth tour of Los Angeles.

I was very excited to see the Vanity Fair portraits show. (Sorry this show ended March 1st, so you are unable to see it) It was interesting to learn the history of this ahead of its time magazine. Dorothy Parker! I had no idea.

BCAM:
The new wing of LACMA opened last year and this was my first visit. It is all modern art. Some of it is strange, but a great collection. Yes even th gigantic balloon animal.

I hope to see more of Los Angeles, but before I do that I am off to Denver.

Traveling is Nice-catch up 2

I am so excited, I bought my plane ticket to join Asher in Cannes. I will be joining him later in the festival since I do not have the credentials to go to a lot of the events. Even if you do have credentials, you have to be invited to premiers to go.

I will go to the last 3 days and then travel down the Riviera and off to Rome. It is a lot to accomplish in 8 days. I will try to keep you posted on my comings and goings as much as I can. I will probably do that via twitter. I will have my ipod, which is hard to type with even with my minuscule hands so big blog posts will be hard to do.

Shockingly this will be my first trip to Europe. Do you have any tips for me? You know my email eyemheer2 at yahoo dot com.

catch up-1

Things have been crazy lately and I haven't had the chance to type it all out in a blog.

Las Vegas:
I just fly back from Vegas and boy are my arms tired.

I am very honored to be the Maid of Honor in my friend's wedding. I flew to Las Vegas to help her make sense of the nonsensical world of weddings. It was a lot of appointments and a lot of running around. Weddings are expensive.

The thing I like about going to Vegas with my friend is that I get to experience the Vegas of locals. It just isn't "The Strip", there is a more laid back, come as you are Vegas. I went to the newest casino called "M" The people watching was great.

The one lame thing though is that there isn't a lot of Non-chain places to eat. It is a vast sea of IHOP, McDonald's, Jack in the Box or the ever popular buffet. If you are really hungry, like you just got back from being stranded on a deserted island, I would strongly recommend eating at Hash House a Go Go. The food is great, but it sure is big. I watched a nine year old girl struggle with pancakes as big as a hubcap.

Pistol Packin'Mama:
One of the highlights of the trip was going out to Sloan Canyon and shooting guns in the desert. What a great stress reliever and I guess after all of these years of not shooting a gun I am still a pretty good shot.

I didn't take a single picture. I can't believe it. I was assured that I will be sent pictures of my Annie Oakley day.

nothing is that funny

Although I did not see him, Mick Jagger visited where I work last week. I just heard about it, even in doors word travels fast.

If you are not sure why I titled my blog "nothing is that funny" my dad has a great joke for you. If you haven't heard it yet or more than five times.

golden laurel

Some of you might have heard, but Asher's short film Piece(s) was accepted into the Short Film Corner of CANNES. It is very great news since he has been working so hard for so long on his films. We do not have too many details about when it will be showing, but this is what I do know:

• His film will be shown as part of the festival. Out of those films shown (not sure how many) the top 10 or so will be shown as part of a contest/awards show.
• Cannes is May 13-24th this year

Maybe there will be blog posts from there?

If you feel like sending him a congratulatory note, send him an email at asherglaser@yahoo.com

I don't get it

I am not sure why, but comments aren't publishing to my blog.  I am trying to fix it.

What did you think?

What did you think of shorter "more surprises" Oscar ceremony?

To musical or not to musical:
To Musical:
I must say that Hugh Jackman was a lot better than I thought he would be. I thought it couldn't be done without a comedian. I guess I was wrong. I am not the musical type, but thought that the the opening number was funny. The set design made the number. (We have had a few of those sets in the house recently) Ann Hathaway was a great Nixon.

Not to musical:
Why is Beyonce at every award show? Is it a prerequisite? I want to start a movement to ban her from performing at all award ceremonies for at least a year. Say it with me "No more screamy singing for a whole year! No more screamy singing....." Did you see the number she did at the Independent Spirit Awards?

Slumdog cleaned up the joint, which I was very happy about.

I loved Ben Stiller, but realize that a lot of people might have missed the reference. If you had no idea, compare the two:






Slave to Fashion:
The dresses weren't all that spectacular this year. I know that they were supposedly scaling it down due to the recession. I almost forgot that they were rich for 3 and a half hours. I am not a big fan of the new style of dress that looks really pretty, but has all of that extra material like an afterthought. I like to call it the puking dress or the Bob Ross (see Oscar's Jessica Biel, Amy Adams and Reese Witherspoon and Grammy's Katy Perry)
Amy Adam's and Melissa Leo (matched her jane fonda hair) dresses :(

The Oscars are what they are. I missed quite a few on my ballot and Asher reminded me that I need to vote for not who I want to win, but who I think that the academy will vote for. Sometimes it is not about talent, but who should win. Who should have won before and didn't, who "we" like and for work that might have been.

Feel free to leave your comments. I changed my comment filter to allow anyone to comment. If I start getting some "adult" comments, I am going to turn on the filter again.

Today in LA

It is the day before the Oscars, Larchmont seemed deserted,sightseeing tours are buzzing every which way, the line at Pink's is very long and there is a fleet of Star Waggons outside of Paramount.

Do you know why there are two gs in Star Waggons? Do you remember Wonder Woman's "friend" Steve? Well Lyle Waggoner after Wonder Woman and the Carol Burnett show started the trailer business. Now you know.

It is a good day to avoid the traffic, sit at home and fill out your Oscar ballot.

Oscar madness

So what did you think of the films this year?
Who do you think will win?
Which was your favorite film?
Tell me what you think.

I can't believe that the Oscars are already next weekend. We decided against a party this year, which is actually nice. I can relax and watch at a friend's house. I am pulling for Slumgog Millionaire, it would be nice for a sweet film to win out of all of the gloom and doom that was out there this year.

I did get to see a lot of the films that were nominated. I didn't see Milk or Benjamin Button. There is still time.

This year Oscar is going more interactive and you can play along by following this link

(pictured is Olivia de Havilland's Oscar for "To Each His Own")

tourist rebirth

It is never too late to be a tourist in your town, especially in a town as big as Los Angeles.

This was my second jaunt to Chinatown. Last time I went I forgot my camera, so I thought it was only right to go back and snap some photos and to explore more of the shopping that I didn't get to do last time.

Our biggest adventure that day was to find the elusive Empress Pavillion the dim sum place that I went to last time and have been having dreams about ever since. This is not listed in English, so it is even harder to find. Follow the website and do not forget to write down the address if you ever think about going there. The food was as good as I remember it. Now that I cannot have soy, I dipped all of my dumplings in siracha and chinese hot mustard, which is even better.


Chinatown is a great walking town. There are great murals, bridges and temples. It is fun to peek into the shops to see where you can find the cheapest paper lanterns and jade jewlery.

We spent the rest of the afternoon looking around in shops, grossing each other out with salt dried squids and perusing the chinese remedies.