Thursday, September 22, 2005

photos from my trip to LA

Photos from my trip to LA have been posted! Here's a few details:

I cruised in early Friday morning (I drove down most of the way Thursday night and stayed at a hotel about an hour or so outside of LA) and headed to the WB Studios to meet up with a friend. Crossing my fingers I'd see some E.R. stars we cruised around the lot in a go cart & checked out the E.R. sets. Amazing how different they look on TV! ha! In the end, I only had one small star sighting of Freddie star, Brian Austin Green, walking with his back to me, but hey - I was like 15 feet away, so there! Big news, dude.

After the WB tour I headed to WACKO, which my friend had raved about, so I had to go. It's this huge, awesome store with all the books, toys, and uber fun things you can possibly imagine fitting into one place. To boot, they've got a gallery (La Luz de Jesus Gallery) in the back that, while I was there, was showing SHAG! It was great to see his real paintings in person. Here's one of my favs:

"The Amoralists" by SHAG
24"x 48", Acrylic & Vinyl Paint on Panel

I like to think she's talking to her kitty about how she's going to crash the party & make herself a drink. :)

:::::

By the way, Friday I had 2 of those lovely LA "oh crap, I missed my exit" adventures. :) Luckily I was in no real rush to get anywhere on time, so I didn't freak out too bad! I had another one the next day, however, that got me caught in an accident backup that took me an hour to get through. Do'h! So don't miss that part of LA at. all.

:::

Friday night after getting myself to Dee's place way up in Topanga Canyon, we got ready & headed down to Santa Monica, where we met up with Renee, Chris & Steve at the World Cafe.

Me & Renee!

Renee & I grew up together in Steamboat, CO, but we haven't seen eachother in over 11 years! We got in touch again about a year or so ago after my 10 year reunion and I promised I'd call her when I went to LA next. :) It was so fun to have her join us for drinks and get to know her a little bit as an adult! :) She's a sweetie. Come visit me in SF, Renee!

Me & my girl, Dee Money out on the town (Santa Monica) Friday night!

Dee graciously hosted me at her sweet little Topana home. Here's the view out of her big sliding glass window doors:

Beautiful!

Dee & I again, partyin in a local bar in Topanga Canyon Saturday night!
awww yaaa local bars. So fun!

And because I can't resist, I have to post this hottie pic of Dee at one of our luxurious brunches at Pat's Topanga Grill:

aww yaa, baby. this girl rolls right!

Other highlights of the weekend:

• Meeting Steve of theSneeze!
  
• Meeting Chris of ChasetheLight! Read his account of the night here. That's pretty funny... Just for you, Chris: It was awesome meeting you in person finally! Happy Birthday!!!!!! :)
  
  I love my internet friends! :)

• Seeing my dear friend Aletha, who I haven't seen since her wedding, five years ago! (look at that wedding link for a few photos of me with my natural blond hair!)
  
  Ten years ago my friend Paula introduced me to Aletha & we became fast friends. To the tune of my sharing a bed with her for a couple months when we were both broke and needed the break on rent while we were living in a teeny 1 bedroom in West Hollywood. :)
  
  Aletha introduced me to the joys of Del Taco and the beautiful hikes at our fingertips in the Malibu hills. A few years later we met up in Spain & traveled for 10 days together! We've been through a lot and even lost touch for a few years recently, but Aletha is an amazing person and I am so happy she's in my life.

Overall the weekend was so relaxing and it was good to get out of town! Here's a link to all the photos, again.

Coming home I got to see Karrie & Wayne for a bit while they hopped in & out enjoying their last 24 hours in SF. I had gotten Karrie a little surprise for her bday, but to my surprise they had gifts for me when I returned! so sweet! Their gifts couldn't have been more perfect for me: A beautiful little necklace, which on one side has a little fish drawing with blue & orange (love those colors) & the other, some sweet little flowers. A reversable necklace? I love it! And the other was a Nara book of postcards! yay!!! I love Nara! But I'm afraid none of these will ever get to see the light of day, I can't bear to part with even one of them! haha!

I'm so glad I was able to skip town & offer up my home to them while they were visiting. Plus it was so helpful and wonderful they took such good care of my Kazoobie, too! Thanks guys! Can't wait to see all your photos from your visit here! xoxo

::::::

As I said Sunday night I cruised back & caught the Arcade Fire w/ Wolf Parade show at the Warfield and LOVED it! < that link is to the few photos I took from our balcony seats. Enjoy!