Ciudad

We friends met up downtown at Ciudad after work on Friday: Agata & Anthony & Misti & Kristen & Anashe & of course the ever super-hot David Michael. If you've never been there it's lovely - the walls are all covered with cool abstract paintings, here's a shot of the ceiling.
They have a lovely happy hour menu and I had scruptious fish tacos and white sangria.

After the hour of happy, we trecked all up and down and around the Walt Disney Concert Hall looking for a Barry McGee exhibit opening Anthony fortold of. When we finally found it, we were tantalized by his grafitting sculptures and crazy bright patterned wall installations. It was colorful and lovely. All hipsters were out in full force, and I could only take it for so long though, boys ought not wear such tight pants.

Capital One

I have recently opened a savings account with Capital One. I have since received almost daily mail from them regarding said account, but yesterday took the cake. I got 5 individual letters in 5 respective envelopes. 3 of 5 were identical, confirming my address. What a waste of paper! Elwood, who is not environmentally conscious in the least, was simply tickled.
In more lovely news, I finally made it in to the Mood Designer Fabrics store on La Cienega and Pico - right where Pearl is. I was agog at the lovely fabric prints within, and bought some yards of this one here, I plan to make a skirt or top or handbag, or maybe a matchy matchy skirt and handbag! Wouldn't that just make you want to slap me?

We Love Oktoberfest

Last night David took me to my first ever Oktoberfest in the Alpine Villiage in Torrance - and it was the first fest of this year so it was a pretty special night. He and his David have been going since the beginning of time, and they are big time Oktoberfest fans. David is German, and takes special pride in this beer-drinking festival wich happens every weekend until the end of October. David got me a tiny stein, which was heavy enough for me, and I think holds half a liter. There were lots of men in lederhosen and peter pan hats with long feathers. I liked this very much. More with the dressing up, I say. I didn't drink all that much but I had a great time. There is a real German Oom-pa-pa band performing popular favorites you can sing along to like this little ditty:

"La-la-la-la-la
la-la-la-la-la
la-la-la-la-la
We love Oktoberfest!"
(Repeat several times.)

There is tons of dancing and lots of adults actually skipping down the rows of tables. This was a grand party, and I would like to go again. Christine and I mastered the chicken dance, and hope to make our own chicken hats in the future. All in all, Christine and I concluded, this was a very happy, wholesome dorky time. I love the general unabashed enthusiasum of all in attendance, of all ages, perfectly overjoyed to prance, chicken dance, and hug and sway and sing out loud. What follow are a series of blurry drunky picutres of our night.

Largo - Jon & Fiona

Last night Christine invited me to join her at Largo to see John Brion perform. He plays there every Friday and the shows sell out almost immediately, so it was really exciting that she got a reservation. To learn about the genius that his Jon Brion check him out here, he's worked with a million people and created music for I Heart Huckabees, Magnoila and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The show was spectacular, he moves from the drums, the piano keyborad and guitars, recording loops of each instrument and playing the loop back while playing the next instrument until he's built this very complex song, and then plays another istrument over it all while singing. I've never seen such creativity pour out of one person. He had 11 different kinds of guitars on stage, and moved through them picking whatever he needed for the next song. And he had no set list, he just took requests screamed from the crowd, and when they asked for a song he sort of knew but didn't know that well, he'd just sort of figure it out, on ALL instruments. Amazing, and even more than that, everything he played was potent with creativity and full emotion. I was really blown away. At the end, Fiona Apple came out and sang to 4-5 songs, and that really made the night spectacular. We paid $15 to get into this little place and saw the most amazing show with a Fiona Apple appearance, and we were sitting 5 feet from her. She has a truly beautiful voice, and it's so warm and rich and alive when it's happening right there spontaneously in front of you. She is so tiny, and such big, sweet, bold sounds come out of her. I was so glad I go to go and hear and see all that incredible talent.

Pie

Last night I was very industrious.
I came home and baked my first ever apple pie. I used my grandma's recipe to make the crust pastrys and they were tricky but the pie came out so good, I was really proud of myself. Then I did a mountain of dishes then I made cous-cous chicken vegatable stirfry for David Warren and myself. I was so tired after dinner I fell asleep. Warren is staying with us for a weeks so I've stocked up on food, and the fridge is brimming with meals waiting to be made.

Concluding Labor Day...

So after the Saturday night visit to mom and dad's hotel, we met them again in the morning for Crepes at Cafe Crepes at the 3rd Street Promenade. I had my favorite delicious Nutella + Banana crepes, flavor gallore! Who should be seated at the table right across from ours but Adam Sandler and his wife and baby. It's weird seeing Adam Sandler hanging out and holding his baby and eating crepes for breakfast, but now we know he has excellent breakfast taste.

That evening we went to a fun BBQ at Joel's with a suprise appearance by Mr. Warren himself, who was thought to be already settled down in New York now. He's in town for a couple weeks tying up the last loose ends and will maybe be staying with us for some of that time. It was a good party, but sadly my fourth beer was a bad decision, and i felt ill. The tropical heat of the night didn't help, and we spent a fitful night in our oven-like apartment, unable to get cool enough for peaceful sleep.

Today we went to another BBQ hosted by Mark and Tiffany at her folks house. We lounged in the pool all day and has some very rousing games of pool badmitton, though after hotdogs, my tummy was displeased prolly due to the beer of the night before, and I did not get back in the pool as the games continued into the afternoon. We saw a slideshow of their trip river rafting in Sacramento, and trecked on home to our slightly-cooler-than-the-night-before oven. It was a quick weekend, and I already long for the next one.

Loews Hotel

Mom and Dad were in Santa Monica this weekend for dad's cousin Claire's wedding. They were put up at Loew's Hotel were David and I visited them to make use of the swimming pool while they wedding-ed. The pool area was filled with Europeans on vacation with thier little European chil'ens. We sunned on deck chairs and I ventured into the the Euro-child fraught waters. Then when the sun was fading we went to explore Mom & Dad's room and change to have dinner. I discovered Dad's large moon-boot like shoes.Then we discovered these guys on the balcony below us. They were gargantuan snow beasts - the poofiest poofs I've ever seen. I took their pictures and they barked at me.
Before walking down to the Promenade for dinner we examined the contents of the night dresser drawer, and in addition to the Holy Bible we found a copy of the Teachings of the Buddha. Only in California we decided. But more shocking, this large toenail that I've circled in red! Gross!!!!!