Hummingbird!

We have a little hummingbird friend now, who Josh has named Buzz and I have named Lorna Doone, who is nibbling on our basil plant. I keep trying to take a photo of him/her, but he/she is fast and snacky and has no time for photos. Very LA of him/her.

I must bring the camera back into action. I've been slacking.

Reasons to Live in Los Angeles - #50

The Kodak Theater on Hollywood in #50!

Josh and I went to see Ricky Gervais, one of our favorite comedians and creator of Britian's The OFFICE, crack up The Kodak Theater last night. He was awesome, even though we saw him do some of the same material when he performed at Madison Square Garden. It's still funny material though, and it still works. Ahmet Ahmet opened up for him, and he was quite hilarious.

Josh took this photo of the stage with his camera phone, so it's pretty dark, but Ricky had huge letters that were lighted up (like Elvis) when he entered the stage. It was really funny.

But the winner last night was The Kodak Theater, Home of the Academy Awards! It is modern and beautiful on the inside, with comfortable seating and enough leg room. The acoustics and lighting were fine, and the staff there couldn't be more helpful. If you ever have a reason to see something at The Kodak, I highly highly recommend it. It's just great design, and directs audience flow better than any other theater I have entered.

I was so excited to be there. And I kept wondering if Warren Beatty had sat where I was sitting. I really doubt it, since we were in the mezzanine, but I kept wondering about it anyway.

Reasons to Live in Los Angeles - #51

Runyan Canyon is #51!

I have become a healthy Angeleno!

I went on my first hike yesterday, with Amy and Jordana, in amazing Runyan Canyon, located less than 2 miles from our apartment. It kicked my butt completely- Amy said we were walking the "medium path" up and the "easy path" down, and my ego and I discovered just how winded I can become in a short amount of time.

Runyan Canyon is fascinating. It's got beautiful horn-shaped flowers that greet one at the Fuller Street entrance, free morning and sunset yoga classes (where we saw about 100 people practicing/sweating as we left), and allows Angelenos to let their socially adept dogs off their leashes. We could see outstanding panoramic views of LA, and I felt like screaming, "I'm the king of the world!"

I love this place and will definitely be back again and again and again, trying out different paths each time. Oh my gosh, I am going to be so healthy.

Reasons to Live in Los Angeles - #52

Okay, I am writing about this one because I think I should, not really because it is my most important reason to live in Los Angeles.

On Monday night, Josh and I went to see our favorite drummer, close friend Scott Campbell, play with the band LP at The Viper Room. Some of you may remember The Viper Room as the location where actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose. From the photos of it in the tabloids, I thought of this place as a real hell-hole. It's black and dirty on the outside, and it has no windows facing out onto Sunset. So, I wasn't expecting much.

Well, it may have been grungy at one time, but it was sparkling-in-the-dark, as far as I could tell. The Viper Room is kept almost pitch black, but once the stage was lighted, I could see that the place was really well kept. I'm not sure it was always this way, but the very small club was very orderly, polished...almost gleaming. The waitresses were pretty, and the bathrooms didn't have graffiti. I think I was...disappointed?

I was. I was disappointed. I thought it was going to be really, really gross. But instead, it was kind of like a Disney presentation of The Viper Room. I'm surprised they were not selling t-shirts.

Lastly, Josh and I were on the guest list. When we went to the side door to enter, we had to wait behind on a velvet rope, on a Monday night around 8pm. There were four people in front of us. This was all for appearances, people. When the bouncer let us in, two-by-two, I expected a crowd on the inside of the club. Nope! It was empty as it could be. That velvet rope was for the tourists, for the wanna-bees, for the people who need to think The Viper Room is dangerous, impenetrable, star-studded. I promise you that on Monday night, it was none of these things.

LP is a fine singer, Scott is an amazing drummer, and I'm still happy I went to The Viper Room, as weirdly dull as it was. I had always wanted to see what it was like on the inside and if you are visiting LA and you have the inclination, try it out. You might find it more rawkin' than I did.

#52 seems like a fine number for The Viper Room.

LA Celebrity Beat

Today, at the Melrose Trading Post, Vanessa was the first to point out cute and pregnant Ashlee Simpson and her husband Pete. They are super adorable in person, were shopping with friends, and were generally not causing any attention to themselves...except this one paparazzi dude who would not leave them alone. He stepped on Vanessa, Katie, and myself just trying to get his shots of them. I wanted to trip him and tell him to just leave them alone, but they didn't really seem bothered by him, so why should I? Oh yeah, he stepped on our feet!

4th of July Weekend

Hermosa Beach, 7.5.08

Happy 4th of July, Everyone!

Josh and I celebrated our first LA Independence Day! What we found out was that Angelenos take this holiday very, very casually here, so there are not a lot of pre-planned, huge events. In NYC, it was very much a premeditated day, knowing exactly how and when one was going to take the subway, what routes were best to avoid, and how many fireworks one would see depending on rooftop viewing locations. Ricky figured it out for us, explaining that LA doesn't care so much about a summer holiday, as it's almost always sunny here. The rest of the country is so excited to have a reason to be outside, be in community parks, and be with their neighbors. LA is like that all the time, sans the fireworks. And if you go to the Hollywood Bowl a lot, you will see fireworks more often than not.

So, on the 4th, I went over to my friend Jordana's rooftop pool and chilled out with friends and good snacks. Josh went over to his friend Rob's home in the Hills and grilled with a bunch of his buds. After a long day of being in the sun for both of us, we met up at Rob's, watched about 20 minutes of fireworks, cleaned up the house, and headed home. It was a really easy, breezy 4th of July.

Yesterday, to keep the party mood going, Josh and I drove out to Hermosa Beach to visit friends and get our toes wet. It was super crowded, traffic was tough, and we realized where most Angelenos had disappeared too - the beaches of course! But it was a fun day, and great to smell the Pacific Ocean all day.

Today, we had brunch with Vanessa and Steve and their friend from the UK, Katie, who is visiting, and Jon and Leila. Josh, Vanessa, Katie, and I went to the Melrose Trading Post afterwards and shopped the flea market. Know what's not so fun about the flea market? Getting parked in! Luckily, we only had to wait about 10-15 minutes to get out. We also had a celebrity sighting, Ashlee Simpson and her hubby, which is in the post above.

It feels like a real holiday weekend, taking advantage of LA like a tourist, since we have traveled so much in the last 3 months. It's weird to think that at the end of this month we will have lived here a full year.

Wow, time flies.

Vermont Brings Happiness!