faboo mama

I’m the #2 Plurker in Los Angeles.

[applause]

Thank you, thank you…I still need to get SamProof out of my life. There was a day back in June when I was the #1 Plurker, but it must have been a glitch because Sam was nowhere to be seen. But as you can see, I’m gaining on him in the supremely stupid Karma category.

I want to thank my plurkbuddies for being such wondering and interesting conversationalists. They keep me laughing and sane throughout the day. Feel free to drop in on my plurk page and join the fun.

This is odd.

Yesterday, for the 4th time this year, we went to the Natural History Museum.  This means walking through the rose garden as Exposition Park.  As usual, I fully charged my camera’s battery the night before.  I can usually get about 300 photos on one charge.  Inside the museum, I took about 12 photos and the battery indicator read ‘full’.  Step out to the rose garden and it’s red.

This has happened to me all 4 times this year and 3 times last year.  I even take an extra camera that takes AA batteries, making sure the batteries are new.  When I whip out that camera, the batteries are dead.  My phone, which is fully charged also reads low battery.

It’s the strangest thing.  I’ll try to shoot a photo and the camera will just shut down.  Once we leave the rose garden, everything is back to reading full.  It matters not, where in the rose garden I am.  And to make it worse, it only seems to happen to me.

Mysteries of the universe…

Vlog on a recent LA Times article regarding red light camera tickets:

Enjoy!

Today I ran AND completed–thank you very much–my first race. I ran the Santa Monica Classic 5K/10K. I did the 5K.

First off, everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong; I over slept (both alarm clocks did not go off), I couldn’t find my shirt, the kids woke up, the batteries in both cameras were dead, I waited in a long line for parking only to find my permit was for the lot a mile away…and I had to walk back that mile to the start line. The race was to start at 7:30am, I got to the start line at 7:28, and was amazed by the crush of humanity for such a small race. I…uh, didn’t get the race was starting and watched all these people move forward. Some guy told me, “Yeah, that’s the 5Kers.” OH! That’s me! Where was the gun? I wanted a gun!!!

There was no way I was running with all those people around so I started walking. Once we got onto Main St. and the major group of Runners were gone, I started on a small jog. I guess I should mention at this point that I hadn’t run or walked in almost a month because of my knee. My relationship with the gym had dropped to something closer to a booty call. I had been smoking abut a pack and half a day. I also neglected to eat anything this morning becasue I thought that there’d be time to get something before. Oops. For a moment there, I thought I was just going to have to die. Then I saw the mile marker and beamed. That wasn’t too bad. I can do this!

As we turned left onto Colorado, we can see the mass of Runners hitting the finish line. Show-offs. I kept trudging up Ocean Blvd. mainly to get away from this couple running with their two dogs (WTF!?!). As I headed back down Ocean Blvd. we saw the leaders in the 10K coming up with a police escort. Ha! I thought, I’m going to finish the 5K before the 10K people show. Whoo-hoo!

I didn’t do too bad. I was finished around 8:20, so that means I walked/ran 3.2 miles in about 50 minutes. I was banking on completing the race in 1:30, so that was very good time for me. Not bad for an out-of-shape smoker with a bum ankle.

UPDATE: My time didn’t get posted. I didn’t know that the bottom of my race bib was used to scan my results. It looked like a receipt for the t-shirt I got in the mail and I didn’t need an extra t-shirt, so I removed it before I got out of the car. So, beyond my watch (49:53) there’s no record of me even running the race, short of my photos and my aching legs. Sniff. I’m pretty upset over this now.

I’m more than a little excited about attending the Festival of Books this year.  See the last time we went to the Festival of Books was in 2002.  We had big plans on going in 2003, but Ilia was born the first day of the event and I spent the weekend in the hospital.  Every year after that, it was either not looking forward to pushing a stroller on the grass, morning sickness or just too damn hot.  Ilia is tickled that the festival starts on her birthday and she’s excited about seeing Julie Andrews, though we’re not going that day.

Contrary to popular belief, Los Angeles is home to a lot of readers.  Attendance is always high and it’s so much fun meeting people who can give you new tips on authors or books to check out.  Many of the booths have authors there signing their books and you can chat with them if the line’s not too long.  Sadly, this past year has seen the passing of several LA bookstores.  Their presence at the Festival will be missed.  It will be odd not to see their booths at the Festival.

There are several panels and speakers this year, but not that many or appealing to me so I’m only attending one this year (got my ticket!).  Check the link above for panels that will interest you.  You can also see what exhibitors will be there and which authors will be signing their books.

Hope to see you there!

We headed over to the Wilshire Center’s Earth Day street fair yesterday and I got a lot of great shots of the area.  I haven’t shot Koreatown in ages and I usually avoid Wilshire Blvd. if I can help it.  But I was happy because we parked on Oxford Ave. which is home to The Coolest Lights in Los Angeles:

This lights are around the entire building in the arches.  I call dibs on them if the building ever closes down.

That’s the sign outside Chronicle Wine Cellar. I wouldn’t know anything about the prices though. They’re only open “when the flag is out” and I’ve only seen the flag out 3 times in the past year and all 3 times we either didn’t need wine or the kids were acting up, so the thought of going into a wine shop was far in the back of our minds. One of these days I’m going to take $40 and go there and get a bottle of wine. One of these days they’ll be open when I need to get a bottle.

The Chronicle Wine Cellar is located at 913 East California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91106. We are hidden just behind the Pie N’Burger shop. Cellar hours are Monday through Friday 11:30am - 6:30pm, Saturday 10:00am - 4:30pm, and Sunday 11:30am - 5:00pm.

And our clients wonder why I want to charge for mileage.  At $4.29gal (and I do use premium), it’s almost not worth it for me to shoot one site a day.  I’d much rather wait and pile up sites, shooting an area in batches.  I never thought I’d pine for $1.49/gal gas.  Of course, I’m slap-happy we didn’t go with a diesel engine car.  We’d have to sell our firstborn in order to fill up the tank.  The price of diesel is killing everyone. I can barely afford to eat now, since everything is that much more expensive.

This gas station is on Alameda, next to Olvera Street.  One of the most amusing things about this gas station is watching the prices rise on a Friday afternoon.  I’ve seen the price of gas go up 20 cents in a space of 45 minutes.  The workers there deny it.  The oddest day was right before we moved here, I had driven past there, on the way back to the apt. and sat on Alameda for about 20.  The price of gas when from $2.19 up to $2.49 (keep in mind I only look at the premium price) then down to $2.09.  It dropped to $1.99 for a heartbeat, and 4 cars swooped out of traffic to get gas.  Then it was back up to $2.29

Wow.

Just wow.

I’ve gone to opening nights before and the act is always good.  Ernie Andrews just blew them all away.  I listen to a lot of blues.  I like the blues.  Jazz…it’s great, when it has a more blues infusion.  Otherwise, that vocal jazz or the smooth jazz crap make me want to slit my wrists.  There are times that I’m listening to blues and in my head thinking, “Gosh, this sounds the same.  Boring.”  Every once in a while, I hear a singer who makes your heart break just listening to them sing the blues.  Ernie Andrews is that man.  Even the funny lines, and there were plenty, made you want to laugh through tears.

The opening night of the Friday Night Jazz series at LACMA is never to be missed.  I’ve been going since ‘ 95 or ‘96 and it has always been one of the best ongoing series in Los Angeles.  Back then, it was truly a cross section of the city.  They used to have about 3 or 4 rows of seating in the front.  Then a few tables in the middle.  People would bring picnics to eat there.  I remember these two guys would come with lawn chairs and a cooler and sit there all evening.  That was back in the days when you could show up at 5pm and start getting served a drink and stay until 11pm without the security guards harassing you.  You could smoke on the patio, until 2002 when they banned smoking cigars and then in ‘04 when they banned cigarettes too.  Times have seriously changed.

It’s always strange, since I’ve seen the same group of people at LACMA, off and on, almost every Friday night for 7 months of the year for the past 12 years.  I still have never spoken to most of them.  But we smile, nod, wave hello.  When I started going there, I was single.  now I’m married with two kids!  We were joking that next year they’ll probably institute a dress code, the year after that, they’ll ban kids, then by 2012-ish, they’d have a cover charge.  Times definitely change.

Ernie Andrews plays at LACMA

We arrived pretty late, thanks to my lameass husband.  Seriously.  If I tell him, I have to be somewhere at a certain time, guaranteed, he’ll find some reason to linger.  I had planned on leaving the house at 4pm.  I told him that, repeatedly.  We didn’t leave unil 5:30pm.  When we finally got to the museum, it was almost 6:30 and he was like, “Wow!  It’s packed!”.  Ya think?  Needless to say,  we didn’t get a table.  Not that it matter anyway.  The stupid museum only set up like 4 tables.  They used to have between 12 and 15 tables set up.  I counted 4.

Oh, and as for the other bloggers…I got 12 emails from people.  Unfortunately, none of had considered doing the obvious thing of sharing phone numbers.  I didn’t even know what blogs some of them wrote for!  So, I didn’t get to meet any bloggers.  There were a few people that my husband insisted looked like blogger (?), but he was being such a tool, that I thought it better he wasn’t around people.

At any rate, if you were there, I’m sorry I missed you. If you weren’t, I’m sorry you missed a pretty awesome show.

Well, you know it’s time to see half-naked people in the City of Angeles just based on the events happening. This weekend is the unofficial kickoff to Spring in LA. So many things to do, I’m wondering how I’ll sleep this weekend. The best part: Most of them are free.

Obviously, we’ll be at LACMA celebrating opening night of Jazz on Friday night. I heard that Les Claypool is also playing tomorrow night. Who knew he was still around?

Oh and the Getty’s Friday off the 405 series also starts on Friday night.  Since my idea of fun doesn’t include being anywhere near the 405 on a Friday night, I won’t be here, but I’ll try to make it one day.  It’ll be like me cheating on LACMA.

The Brewery kicks off their spring ArtWalk on Saturday, April 5th. If you haven’t been, you’re missing out on some kind of wonderful. The restaurant onsite is overprice, but the last times we went they also had someone grilling burgers.  We’ll be doing this on April 6th and grilling afterwards.  We live nearby, so if you’re willing, come on by.

The Brewery ArtWalk is a twice annual open studio weekend at the worlds largest art colony. Each artwalk, over 100 resident artists participate. During this event, you will have the opportunity to see new works, discover new favorites, speak with the artists and purchase artworks directly from the artists at studio prices.

The Brewery Art Walk takes place:
April 5th and 6th, from
11:00 am - 6:00 pm

Admission is free and so is parking. Come support LA’s finest artists, take home some great works and and dine at the onsite restaurant. If you have questions or require more information, please contact us via email (click here)

The Brewery is home to over 100 artist-residents and the art you see is usually for sale.  So if you see something you like, feel free to ask a price.

Over in Little Tokyo is the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.  It’s going on all weekend too.  Parking stinks so plan ahead.  The event is free to enter.  We caught the tailend of this a few years ago and have sworn we’d go back to see the event.

Descanso Gardens is having A World of Good Weekend.  It’s $7 for adults, $5 for kids 5+.  You get to enjoy all the festival happenings and the gardens.  The happenings:

APRIL 5 & 6: A WORLD OF GOOD WEEKEND
This is your personal invitation to enjoy acres and acres of spectacular
Gardens, health-conscious salad-making demos, kid’s crafts, world music and fun
for everyone.

Salad Days: Salad Making Demonstrations
Saturday and Sunday, April 5 and 6 - 11 a.m. to noon
Magnolia Lawn
Chef de Cuisine Tiana Driggins tosses in her knowledge and celebrates Descanso’s 2008 Center Circle Edible Estates Demonstration Garden with a delicious and interesting salad demonstration.

Kids’ Veggie People Craft Table
Saturday and Sunday, April 5 and 6 - noon to 3 - Main Lawn

Music: Robby Longley
Saturday, April 5 only - 1 to 3 p.m. - Under the Oaks Theater
A beautifully orchestrated fusion of neo-classical/flamenco world music will be here for your enjoyment.

Music: Banshee in the Kitchen
Sunday, April 6 only - 1 to 3 p.m. - Under the Oaks Theater
Don’t miss the combination of traditional Celtic music, spiced jazz and rock.

That’s just a few of the big and interesting-to-me things going on.  If you’re in LA, I hope you can make it even just one of these events.  Otherwise, stay tuned because you know I’ll have pictures galore!