Sunny Side Up

Yeah, it's a scorcher alright and with no relief in sight. I got a call from Natalie this morning from her landline as her cell went to work with her hubby to get charged because her power has been out since Saturday!! As I write this I am wondering if it is back on by now? She said her 90 pound dog also went to work because he hadn't stopped panting and when we spoke she was about to call a cab to a friend's place with air because her car was trapped in the garage, so not good. I guess it could be worse, like if we were in the super humid south. Lori pointed out that there were some places around Universal City that had no power but of course Universal was all lit up, I guess they are a higher priority...lame. Natalie aka Pioneer woman, I hope you are back in your home in air conditioned bliss and I will be right over!
I really feel for the little critters. My cats just lay around all day, nothing new but now they just look at me like, help...I brush the hell out of their fur coats and could stuff a couch with all the fur but they continue to shed. You would think we had lived in Antarctica over the winter!
I actually went to the valley (on purpose) Friday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon. I was dog sitting for a friend as they went to Disneyland for the weekend. (replace happiest with sweatiest place on Earth) I basically stayed in their air conditioned apartment, swam and took the dog out for quick walks just as he was starting to cross his little legs. It was so gross out and I could see the lightning that was going on over the hill but no rain or storm made it to Sherman Oaks. I pretty much felt like Arizona in monsoon season and I was again so glad that I moved back to LA 9 years ago. By the time I made it home my place had power but was super hot so I took a shower and headed to the Hollywood Bowl for the Flaming Lips concert, meeting up with Mark, Michele, Tristan and Lori. Now I love the Hollywood Bowl and I love that it cools off at night and I have to bring a sweater to put on by the night's end but last night was sweater free and sticky, so disappointing. If we weren't having so much fun with our fellow concert goers it would've sucked. Both opening bands were fun and we were so excited that there were free glow necklaces and by the time the Lips went on we had gotten about a 1/4 mile chain connected that stretched about 6 sections. It was like hands across Americal or something! Well maybe not but the show was being filmed for a DVD and there were all kinds of big balls bouncing all over the crowd and confetti flying and onstage were a bunch of Santas and Aliens and chicks that were topless but had their boobs painted, so crazy. It was hysterical when head Flaming Lip, Wayne told everyone to toss those glowrings and around 18,000 people tossed them all at the stage! He remarked that he thought there were only a few hundred out there, haha that must have been a surprise! We started to head out before the masses and stopped as the band broke into War Pigs by Sabbath and on the big screens flashed pictures of Bush and Cheney and bloody carnage. The crowd went wild! Great job guys but next time would you do something about the heat or maybe pass out popsicles too!

Rockstar popsicles

After a week of dealing with losing my cell phone and having to find all the numbers to re-input, and the sleep deprivation from job hunting stress and the icky heatwave, I went across the street to CBS to see the taping for Rockstar Supernova with Mai. We had the VIP treatment, which means all the free snacks and drinks (no alcohol) and we didn't have to stand in the heat in line but rather sat in the sub-zero sound stage. The seats were behind the band but facing the contestants and the guys goofed around between takes so we got to see them up close and personal, not like the picture of me and Tommy Lee from way back but close enough to laugh at his funny faces and the guys joking off camera. The contestants all sounded pretty good and I am convinced that the winner will be Dilana but I really like Lukas and Magni too. The house band is great and for the most part all the songs the contestants chose were good. Brooke Burke is about the worst part of the show as she is so boring but she is pretty so there you have it. The 3 hour taping will be condensed down to the one hour show so check it out tomorrow night at 9:00.
Friday I went downtown with Natalie and Carla for most of the day. We started at the flower market followed by a great lunch at the Grand Central Market (love this place and has been around since 1917) and ended up at Michael Levine's for sewing/yarn stuff. We ended the day over Natalie's for some flower arranging and snacks and Natalie prepared "Santino Slings" for us as we watched the new Project Runway on Tivo and did some knitting. If I had a job, I could do this more often...maybe not on Friday but more often. I better go send out some more resumes. Cheers!

Not so Royal Flush

I managed to have all kinds of fun over the holiday weekend and not get burnt or lose fingers! I to got my new roommate in the nick of time and he moved in Friday and I am happy to report that he is normal, friendly, has a good job and it gets better, he works at a hotel so he is going to get the cleaning ladies over for next to nothing, the hotel repair guy to fix the dryer and paint for next to nothing, he has connections at hotels all over with amazing discounts should I have a job soon and can travel again AND his Grandfather has a store like Home Depot in Downey and he gets a giant discount!! Now that is exciting, I can't wait to waste more money on this apartment that I don't own....So what does this apartment have to offer this young lad, you might ask? Let's see, he moved in as it was hitting one bazillion degrees and after settling in he used the toilet for the first time and as he flushed it, it blew into pieces! Welcome to your new apartment dude!! Truth be told, that toilet had a drip from the tank for eons and the slum lord tried to fix it and it still dripped and he lives in Australia so I just put a jar under it to catch the drips and as a result the ceramic was compromised and viola! Toilet broke, water gushed. Luckily I have 2 bathrooms so we waited until after the weekend and have a shiny new one in there as of today....what next??

Back to the fun, I got a call Friday from a friend who was going to play conga drums for an acoustic duo who play rock covers, if you can imagine that and it was the first time I had gone all the way to Burbank for something other than a trip to IKEA! I was really surprised to see so many restaurants and little bars in the place of all the old shops. I remember when my Grandma used to take me to Burbank to get my Patton leather shoes when I was 6. Years later I only remember Bobby McGee's, Bicycle Club and Black Angus as the places to go...yeah, it's been a while. I have to say that I really liked the Burbank Bar & Grill and they had a terrific patio to relax and have cocktails and watch the band. I even had an order of calamari that was great. I will definitely have to do BBG after the next IKEA trip!
Saturday I tried not to move much and later I was invited to be my friend Scott's beard for the night! I love him, so funny. We met the 3 other couples for dinner at a great Columbian restaurant on Melrose called LaFonda Antioquena It was amazing, so amazing that I ate meat! (chicken) and there was nothing without meat on the menu so it was that or starve...as if. I had the Milanese and the gang had pork, beef, some fish stew thing (It didn't look good to me but D said it was amazing) everyone was pleased and full and mine was so huge that I took half home with me. (Be sure to go check it out soon as their landlord is kicking them out. Booo) Afterwards we headed back towards Weho and stopped at Lucy's El Adobe across from Paramount Studios. This place has been there for years and click the link to see which stars would mingle at the El Adobe. We were going to have a margarita in the patio bar but decided that we would skip possibly being infected with West Nile Virus as the swarms of mosquitoes were everywhere, guess that would explain why we had the whole place to ourselves! We went inside and enjoyed the margaritas and conversations. I will see the peeps again this Friday for C's going away party.
Sunday I pretty much stayed in my room with my air on and I actually got the whole room almost organized, almost. M&M picked me up after work and we went to visit the Belmont. (I know they missed us) Some of their co-workers met up with us and we had a great time and I had my pound of snow crab legs for $7 so I was content indeed! I love that happy hour!!
The 4th of July was spent with M&M eating, big surprise and swimming in a perfectly refreshing but not too cold pool. Mark's co-worker Anna had a party and I must have eaten about 10 of these Russian cabbage filled and friend dough things, I forgot what they are called but I can assure you I will find them at the Russian market ASAP. The food was all great and so was the company down to the 4 month old shitzu. Now those are truly the only wrinkles that are cute. I got home and had to nap before watching fireworks out my back window. I think I was watching Culver City and then Marina Del Rey displays but it wasn't too bad for not leaving the house. And that was all I could squeeze in and if my camera would allow me to unplug it from the wall I would have photos of all the festivities but it thinks new batteries are old so it looks like you just get to read and click links and count how many spelling mistakes I make. Thank goodness Mrs. McDougal (RIP) doesn't read my blog!