So Dani is coming into town this week, which means that I'll get to play tourist for a bit, which should be fun. She already sent me a list of things to do, which include:
Drag Queen Bingo at Hamburger Mary's
Stalking Violet Affleck at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market
Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles
Pink's famous hot dogs
Whimsic Alley, the Harry Potter store
Oh, and classy things like the Getty, and Craft too.
It should be fun!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Living Spa Life
So before moving to LA I'd never had a massage, and I'd only gotten my nails done twice (both times it was only my hands) - once at my cousin's wedding, and once while working at Trinity. But in my first month at LA, during RD training, there was one day when training got out early, so I went with my boss and a handful of coworkers (both guys and girls) to get a mani-pedi. No, seriously, we left work early to get our nails done. This should have been the first sign that this part of my life might change.
I now get a mani-pedi a few times during the summer, because how can I wear open toed shoes with anything other than perfectly done toenails? If you had told me I was going to do this 5 years ago, I'd have called you crazy.
For my birthday that first year in LA, Will got me a gift certificate to a spa, and then let me know that I could get whatever I wanted, but in case I was interested, that the cost of the gift certificate was exactly the cost of a couple's massage. Smooth. We got a couple's massage.
It was pretty awesome, and since then we've had two other ones - once on our honeymoon, and once when I discovered that one of the rewards you can get on our credit card is a gift certificate to Spa Finder. The past couple of weeks have been pretty stressful for me at work, so I decided to do a first - get a massage on my own.
The two massages that I'd gotten before were Swedish massages, but because my back has been hurting some, I went with a deep tissue massage, with a hot stone add-on. I am SO chic, in case you couldn't tell. I went to Beach Massage which is where we'd gone for our Spa Finder gift card massage, and it's not really a fancy *spa* experience, but the massages are awesome. This was no exception - I'm a little sore, but I totally feel like she worked out some of my kinks, and the hot stones were amazing.
After lunch I was all in a healthy mood, so I picked Will up and we went to The Veggie Grill where we had sandwiches that tasted like they were chicken and steak, but they were actually vegan. It was kind of amazing - I could totally become vegan if all their food tasted like this.
Dinner was a pizza place where they have bbq chicken pizzas with french fries, and nacho pizzas with chips. Also amazing.
The perfect day? Quite possibly.
I now get a mani-pedi a few times during the summer, because how can I wear open toed shoes with anything other than perfectly done toenails? If you had told me I was going to do this 5 years ago, I'd have called you crazy.
For my birthday that first year in LA, Will got me a gift certificate to a spa, and then let me know that I could get whatever I wanted, but in case I was interested, that the cost of the gift certificate was exactly the cost of a couple's massage. Smooth. We got a couple's massage.
It was pretty awesome, and since then we've had two other ones - once on our honeymoon, and once when I discovered that one of the rewards you can get on our credit card is a gift certificate to Spa Finder. The past couple of weeks have been pretty stressful for me at work, so I decided to do a first - get a massage on my own.
The two massages that I'd gotten before were Swedish massages, but because my back has been hurting some, I went with a deep tissue massage, with a hot stone add-on. I am SO chic, in case you couldn't tell. I went to Beach Massage which is where we'd gone for our Spa Finder gift card massage, and it's not really a fancy *spa* experience, but the massages are awesome. This was no exception - I'm a little sore, but I totally feel like she worked out some of my kinks, and the hot stones were amazing.
After lunch I was all in a healthy mood, so I picked Will up and we went to The Veggie Grill where we had sandwiches that tasted like they were chicken and steak, but they were actually vegan. It was kind of amazing - I could totally become vegan if all their food tasted like this.
Dinner was a pizza place where they have bbq chicken pizzas with french fries, and nacho pizzas with chips. Also amazing.
The perfect day? Quite possibly.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
BBQ in LA?
Will and I have been trying to find good barbecue in LA, and that's proving to be difficult. Tonight we tried another place, Baby Blues BBQ. Rating? Pretty good (for LA).
I'll give them that the meat is pretty good. We got the sausage, baby back ribs, and pulled pork, and were impressed by all of them. As sides we got their cornbread, mac and cheese, and coleslaw, and those three were all good as well. However, the sauces left something to be desired.
They had an apple vinegar that was pretty good with the pulled pork, but didn't really taste bbq-y, just more general yummy. And their other two sauces (regular BBQ, and XXX BBQ) were both vinegar based. I'm not a huge fan of the vinegar based bbq sauces, but the XXX is good and spicy, so the vinegar-osity isn't as obvious.
We'll definitely go there again, but it's still no County Line, Salt Lick, or Rudy's.
On a completely unrelated note, I've tried (and failed) the One Hundred Pushups program a couple of times before. However, today I'm trying a new, similar, but different program - Two Hundred Situps. I did my initial test today, and managed 11 crunches (when they say situps, they really mean cruches.) So we'll see how long that actually lasts.
I'll give them that the meat is pretty good. We got the sausage, baby back ribs, and pulled pork, and were impressed by all of them. As sides we got their cornbread, mac and cheese, and coleslaw, and those three were all good as well. However, the sauces left something to be desired.
They had an apple vinegar that was pretty good with the pulled pork, but didn't really taste bbq-y, just more general yummy. And their other two sauces (regular BBQ, and XXX BBQ) were both vinegar based. I'm not a huge fan of the vinegar based bbq sauces, but the XXX is good and spicy, so the vinegar-osity isn't as obvious.
We'll definitely go there again, but it's still no County Line, Salt Lick, or Rudy's.
On a completely unrelated note, I've tried (and failed) the One Hundred Pushups program a couple of times before. However, today I'm trying a new, similar, but different program - Two Hundred Situps. I did my initial test today, and managed 11 crunches (when they say situps, they really mean cruches.) So we'll see how long that actually lasts.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The List
So what are the things I want to do while I live in LA? Below is The List, which will likely keep growing as I think of more things, or do things that I later realize can make The List.
1) Disneyland
2) Universal Studios
3) Hollywood Boulevard
4) Rodeo Drive
5) Venice Beach
6) Sunset Boulevard
7) Knott's Berry Farm
8) The Queen Mary
9) Six Flags Magic Mountain
10) Griffith Observatory
11) The Hollywood Sign
12) Watch at TV Taping
13) La Brea Tar Pits
14) The Getty Museum
15) The Getty Villa
16) Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument
17) California Science Center
18) Attend a bonfire at the beach
19) Attend an LA Galaxy Game
20) Attend a Ducks game
21) Drag Queen Bingo at Hamburger Mary's
22) Eat at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles
23) San Diego
24) Santa Barbara
25) Palm Springs
26) San Francisco
27) Drive up the Pacific Coastal Highway
28) Drive down the Pacific Coastal Highway
29) Mulholland Drive
30) Catalina
31) Channel Islands
32) Big Bear
33) Drag Show at Rage
34) Sprinkles Cupcakes
35) Eat at Pink's
36) Santa Monica Farmer's Market
37) See a famous person
38) Volunteer at the Bread and Roses Cafe
1) Disneyland
2) Universal Studios
3) Hollywood Boulevard
4) Rodeo Drive
5) Venice Beach
6) Sunset Boulevard
7) Knott's Berry Farm
8) The Queen Mary
9) Six Flags Magic Mountain
10) Griffith Observatory
11) The Hollywood Sign
12) Watch at TV Taping
13) La Brea Tar Pits
14) The Getty Museum
15) The Getty Villa
16) Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument
17) California Science Center
18) Attend a bonfire at the beach
19) Attend an LA Galaxy Game
20) Attend a Ducks game
21) Drag Queen Bingo at Hamburger Mary's
22) Eat at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles
23) San Diego
24) Santa Barbara
25) Palm Springs
26) San Francisco
27) Drive up the Pacific Coastal Highway
28) Drive down the Pacific Coastal Highway
29) Mulholland Drive
30) Catalina
31) Channel Islands
32) Big Bear
33) Drag Show at Rage
34) Sprinkles Cupcakes
35) Eat at Pink's
36) Santa Monica Farmer's Market
37) See a famous person
38) Volunteer at the Bread and Roses Cafe
Living LA Life
Having just recently signed an intent form to come back to my current job, I realized that this upcoming academic year may be my last year living in LA. Before moving to LA I had a whole list of things that I needed to do while I could, because my plan isn't to live here forever. However, a year and a half in to my LA Life adventure, I've barely scratched the surface.
So I'm starting over again, and this time I'm documenting it. I'm going to make sure that I do everything (or almost everything) on my list at least once. There are a handful I'll probably do more than once, but we have to start somewhere.
So this is me. Living LA Life.
So I'm starting over again, and this time I'm documenting it. I'm going to make sure that I do everything (or almost everything) on my list at least once. There are a handful I'll probably do more than once, but we have to start somewhere.
So this is me. Living LA Life.
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