Hollywood Christmas Parade

Elmo looks like he's going to eat all the people, but don't worry he's tied up. Many an inappropriate joke was made about Elmo coming for the kids...

Thanksgiving Day as I was working with my house guests to prepare our delicious turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, corn bread casserole, etc etc etc we discussed the fact that the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is often referred to as the Macy's Day Parade. Cudos to Macy's for having a whole parade on Thanksgiving be one of the biggest and most interesting forms of advertising in the holiday season.

I went to see the Hollywood Christmas Parade, the equivalent of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, only it's smaller and not on Thanksgiving. A friend's sister was in town as an assistant director for a band from Indiana, Pennsylvania (represent!) to march in the parade and we went out to support her! It was fun to see the floats and bands go by (plus all of the "celebrities" we didn't know in fancy sports cars waving like Ms. America).

super cool band "banner"

I happened to be standing near a wire that crosses Hollywood Blvd (by the Popeyes if you know where that is...nearly across the street from my church) for no apparent reason. I'm sure there is/was a reason at some point but it just complicates things for those marching with big balloons, all of then had to almost touch the ground in order to pass underneath it holding up the parade for a bit.

Dukes of Hazard

In any case, it was a fun evening cheering on the side of Hollywood Blvd and, because I took the metro, I didn't have to deal with parking and/or driving in that mess :)

Scoobie Doo!!!

Who ya gonna call?

In other news. Last night I was able to attend a screening of some shorts up for the Oscars this year. None were particularly stand out but it was fun to watch them and learn about the voting process. There are even little pens with flashlights and glow ends used for voting to turn off the short if it's really bad (note to filmmakers: make sure the first six minutes of your short are good, and don't spend all that time on opening credits).

Oh CA

It is still amazing to me the power of music to evoke a sense of atmosphere. This was something I pondered very deeply when creating a Road Trip playlist for my trek out to California this past summer. What songs evoked a sense of, "here we go, out on the road, leavin' what has been home for 22 years" and then "mountains", "plains", "desert", "new coast", "new home?" Watching the movie Take Me Home on Netflix and discovering the band Bootstraps (put together for the movie but now a full-fledged band) makes me wish I had the album for my journey out here.

So, I suppose I'm making up for it now, driving around LA on these partly cloudy days thinking of the open road and driving along the PCH (see the movie credits to understand).

Come One Come All!

I started out at my last day of internship by going to the Post Office and then Trader Joe's for some groceries for the week. Then I was taken out to a wonderful lunch at The Hungry Cat where we started with oysters on the half shell and fresh cherry limeade. Then I had some kind of fresh fish (similar to sea bass) with chanterelle mushrooms, figs, spinach, and a creamy potato base on the side. Finally we finished beignets dipped in a dark chocolate sauce and a fresh pressed coffee. It was scrumptious!

Then, I went to the Circus! Yes, Circus Vargas was in town, complete with big top tent. 

Kids Hula-Hooping in the ring

The Juggler was pretty amazing, he did up to 8 balls and only messed up a little once. I think that I was most impressed by him and the 10 year old kid who did the motorcycle globe/cage thing. craziness...

Don't forget the HUMAN ROCKET at the end! Wouldn't be a grand finale without it!

Westwood

Last Wednesday was the second time I adventured to Westwood, the heart of UCLA territory. I had been wanting to see Cloud Atlas, a movie that most people seem to know very little about except that Tom Hanks is in it. I was looking forward to seeing this movie as the trailer was incredibly epic and wonderful with great music and editing (although a little long, like the movie) and ultimately I was happy I went and saw it in theaters. Click HERE for a review of the movie by Alex Barker.

What made the day even better, though, was after a nice buttery popcorn in a cold and nearly deserted theater I was finally able to try out Diddy Riese! This place is an institution in Westwood Village and many UCLA students live off of their ice-cream cookie sandwiches (just under $2 for any combo of cookie and ice cream!). I think it was worth the search for parking to be able to say that I've finally been there (I had cinnamon sugar cookies--aka snickerdoodles--with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, quite tasty).

The rest of Wednesday was spent celebrating Halloween! I baked some amazing cookies from my favorite baking blog! Then I went to a friend's place in Silver Lake and we had rye Sidecars, Trader Joe's appetizers, delicious guac, mashed potatoes, and ratatouille with sausage (plus a few other potlucked items) while passing out candy to trick-or-treaters. It was a ton of fun and exactly the low-key evening I was hoping for.

Plus, Friday I was able to go to a Halloween party that was Christmas themed, a weird and yet awesome way to combine two holidays that all the retail stores have been mushing together for years.

San Diego Adventure

This past Friday was my first day off of both internship and Anthropologie in 20 days straight. Yes, that includes weekends. My busy schedule had left me with a small cold, but I had made plans to visit San Diego and I did not want to miss out swapping an epic (yet not too long) road trip for sitting on my couch/bed/floor (whatever area was closest and easy to lie down on) feeling sick and sorry for myself. So, Friday morning we headed south.

This was my first time driving down to San Diego. I suppose I had technically been there when I was a toddler but I don't recollect anything from that trip so for all intents and purposes this was my first time visiting the birthplace of California.

I got my first taste of the commonfolk in Orange County, not on the ocean vacation variety, when we stopped at a gas station and I had to use the restroom. I asked if they had one and the man pleasantly replied "Yes, it's around the corner outside." To which I responded "Can I have the key?" and he raised an eyebrow and stated plainly "There isn't one."

Also, the roads are very nicely paved. If you've ever driven in LA (or ridden for that matter) you will thoroughly appreciate this, I know my car did.

Once in the city the first stop was the Fish Market area by the harbor. It was about lunch time so it was out to Edgewater Grill where we sat on the outdoor terrace that overlooks the harbor. It was quite lovely and the ceviche, a dish I'd been craving oddly enough, was delicious. I highly recommend it.

Ceviche: A mexican seafood salad of sorts cooked by the acidity of lime juice. 

After lunch we strolled through the park near by; watched elderly women walk leisurely past joking to a passerby about how their husbands were in a meeting and they were out on business, kites of various shapes blow in the wind, children play in the grass, and watched the sunlight filter through the (still green) leaves.

We then ventured over to Coronado, the island that's just across the bridge from San Diego. It was lovely walking around the small shops and the Hotel Del Coronado. We even passed a sand artsist who was designing "Congratulations" images on the pavement for a birthday and a wedding that was happening on the beach later that afternoon.

On the way out of the city we made a stop in La Jolla where we caught the sunset off some (small) cliffs. There were even seals playing on a rock just out from shore. A woman photographer was so intent on capturing that image that she was wading out into the rising tide towards a curious seal that had swum close to shore. That on top of the girl doing a scorpion with the sun behind her made for some interesting viewing in addition to the sunset.

The trip was finished up by some mexican food (soup, in my case but it was delicious none-the-less) and an americano from starbucks. And, as fate would have it, Taylor Swift's RED album was on sale at Starbucks and it just so happened that I had been given a substantial starbucks gift-card. I doubt the gifter knew that I would be buying music instead of coffee with it but it was a good use for the money in my opinion. I am very happy with my purchase and listened to it all the way home to LA.