Today's Favorite Song

Local LA band!! Airborne Toxic Event -- Somewhere Around Midnight

Simply Scripts

I watched, "Last Chance Harvey" the other weekend and I was so struck by one super depressing scene where Emma Thompson delivered a speech that reminded me why she's won 2 Oscars.

In the scene, ** SPOILER ALERT ** she was talking to Dustin Hoffman. He had stood her up the day before. She told him:

I think it's actually easier for me to be disappointed. I think I'm actually angry at you for trying to take that away.

Oh Emma! It was perfectly heart wrenching and utterly morose. I sobbed!

The actual cheery reason for posting this is because I found the quote off the script here. This website has the scripts of dozens of movies, so if you would rather read the latest flick instead of heading to the movie theater, I've made it easy for you! I fell asleep during Milk, so now I can just read the ending. Fun times.

Innocent Meal

Who knew a sweet little dinner party with dear friends whom I haven't seen in years and years would end with me waking up with cat markings drawn on my face? Meow.



Needless to say, I'm a little sluggish today. . .

Small Triumph!

Tumi, Tumi, Tumi. Everyone worships Tumi luggage. I couldn't tell you how Tumi soared to the top of the luggage world, and for that reason, nine years ago when I was buying a new set, I passed on the Tumi. I decided on a brand that screamed durability, reliability, and inventiveness -- Swiss Army Luggage. Their pocket knife gizmos have fans aplenty, thus, their luggage should be on par, right? Plus, Swiss Army had a lifetime warranty.

Well, over the holidays, I stuffed my suitcase with so many presents that a large hole ripped through the bottom of the piece. Normally, I would bring the bag to the amazing Beverly Hills Luggage where they would send it out for repair and I could browse all the new luggage patterns and colors and the endless supply of accessories. By the way, why do people belt their suitcases? I understand that it may distinguish theirs from the others, but yesterday when I returned from London, around the carousel was a hot pink flowered suitcase with a rainbow belt. . .NO ONE else is going to have a hot pink flowered suitcase, plus when that suitcase pops, no frilly belt is going to save it!!?

Anyhow, this time I brought my suitcase to a Swiss Army Luggage licensed repair center, LAX Luggage. Slightly far away and serviced by older, grumpy fellas with names like Marv, this place was the antithesis of BH Luggage. However, after having my suitcase for 2 weeks, they called me in, told me the frame was broken, handed me a brand new one and wished me a nice afternoon. That's it. No charge. No paperwork. No showing of a nine year old receipt. Just have a nice afternoon! Take that Tumi. Everyone should buy Swiss Army!

Hey hey, hey goooodbyyyye!

Thanks for sending this Adeeb -- very funny!

Soundscan

More tunes for you. These are this week's top Digital songs.

1. Lady Gage Feat. Colby O'Donis -- Just Dance
2. All-American Rejects -- Gives You Hell
3. Kanye West -- Heartless
4. Pussycat Dolls -- I Hate This Part
5. Beyonce -- Single Ladies
6. Taylor Swift -- Love Story
7. Kevin Rudolf Feat Lil Wayne -- Let It Rock
8. Britney Spears -- Circus
9. Katy Perry -- Hot N Cold
10. Jason Mraz -- I'm Yours
11. Kanye West -- Love Lockdown
12. T.I. Feat. Rihanna -- Live Your Life My favorite song on this list!
13. Britney Spears -- Womanizer
14. The Veronicas -- Untouched
15. The Fray -- You Found Me

New Record!!

According to the very snazzy Google Analytics, in the past 30 days, my blog has been hit 1000 times! A new high for a 30 day period. What is really fun is that Analytics tells me the city where you, my lovely reader, reads from. That is, unless you are like Jason Bourne or 007 and have somehow scrambled your location, which would actually make sense since I have dozens of visits from places where I didn't know I had friends -- Brazil, Sweden, Mongolia, Egypt, Iran. . .?

Big thanks go out to my nearest and dearest who live where the majority of views come from -- the good ol' U.S of A. Fonzie agrees -- ayyyyyy!

Hollywood Sign

Winter in Los Angeles, unlike anywhere else in the world, is the best time to hike. It is not too hot and the sky is so clear that from the hills, you can see the downtown buildings to the east and all the way to the beach to the west.

Below I am at the tippy top of Runyon Canyon in front of the distant Hollywood sign in a self-portrait-style picture taken by my friend Li'l Mark.

Sybil & Art's Birthdays

Just like Becky and Ziad, Art and his wife, Sybil, share the same birthday. Theirs is January 19th -- as Art says, "last day of Capricorn on the cusp with Aquarius." They had a gathering on Sunday, so Kraus and I headed over to their swank pad to join the celebration. The always appropriate Art was generous enough to personally introduce us to his large group of friends, and it felt a little weird being the "college" friends from 1996. Doesn't that sound so long ago?

Alas, the two ex-roomies, Christian and Art



How easily they revert back to their silly, immature ways!



Also, check out two things. 1) Click the link to the left to see Art's webpage. 2) Look at the trailer below -- doesn't that villain at :36 and 1:42 look familiar?! Go ART!

Double Happiness

Bless the drinks inventor at 8 Oz on Melrose. Two of the greatest gifts from god combined to make one super drink. Voila the Smokey Bacon Bloody Mary. Described as:

Bacon-infused vodka, our bloody mary mix, house smoked tomato sauce, and a bacon stir stick.

Yes, a bacon stir stick. I never knew something was missing from my bloody mary! So smokey, meaty, spicy -- my euphoria is beyond words.

Walking or strutting?

Missing Persons were wrong. People DO walk in LA!



Promenaders Christine, Kim (in her new boots -- sexy!) and Mike

Tennis anyone?

I can pose that question in about 4 weeks. Right now it's more like "wanna hit me a tennis ball so I can send it over the fence into another court?" With Beverly Hills Tennis Club Pro, Jason Hughes, giving me lessons, I'll be acing, lobbing over your head and driving you to the baseline soon!

Jason's three major principles are smooth, balanced and graceful. . .boy, he has his work cut out for him with me. I'm not too worried -- Jason really is THAT good. Anyhow, I just need to get decent enough so I can prance around in those cute tennis skirts and not feel like a phoney. FUN!

If anyone wants to take classes with me (or with Jason alone), let me know!

Big Head Todd

Heard this song on iTunes Radio Paradise today and enjoyed a flood of rosy memories.

Surprise Poppie!

Amos threw a surprise party for Poppie at Palihouse for her birthday. Here are some snaps from the merry, raucous evening.

Palihouse

Kraus and I caught up on holiday news at Palihouse, a hotel that I have driven by a thousand times, but never knew what it was. I had been missing out! Inside and down the stairs is a cozy, high ceiling-ed room filled with cozy couches and a faux fireplace. Here we are in front of the caviar / raw bar.

Poppie's Dinner

Olanna & I took Poppie out to Il Sole for a birthday dinner.



We're bringing cropped jackets back!

KBBQ

The evening can be summed up in four simple words: I love grilled meat.

Although by this picture, I'm not sure Kraus did. And it looks like Andrew has a secret? And why is Justin appearing unsure?




Now us three posers.

Elephant Seals

Ziad is a ranger at Ano State Park and therefore can offer his friends and family private VIP tours of the elephant seals mating. In this video, you'll get educated on elephant seals.



Some docents (people who lead guided tours - I had to look the word up) have worked there for five years and have never seen an elephant seal give birth. This was my second trip and what do you know? Becky spotted a bloated female making grunting sounds. Seven minutes of video later. . .



And here is the bundled up group at sunset.

Kiwi Picking

It is kiwi season, so Beck, Bella and I went to a local farm to grab some juicy treats. Blessedly, the experience was insect free unlike this trip.



Bella was a skilled kiwi picker - fortunately many of the branches were her height and our bucket was full in turbo time. The only bummer -- after we collected the kiwis, we needed to store them in a dark place for 10 days, then leave them on the counter for a few more days until they soften it up. Bella kept asking if she could eat one and the concept of waiting for 2 weeks wasn't so simple to grasp. Honestly, I barely understood it. I wanted one THEN & THERE!



I forgot to mention that Neck, Bella's giraffe, joined our picking party.

Today's Favorite Website

IHOP, hoagies, leftovers, foreign meatballs. . .Would you eat it?

San Francisco

I knew I would be a little cranky pants after the fun Tahoe trip ended, so what better way to perk me back up than to have a weekend in Santa Cruz? If I had a therapist (I probably should!), when asked where my "happy place" is, I'd answer that it would be riding shotgun of Becky's car with the Pacific Ocean to my right, Becky to my left and Bella dozing in her car seat.

Before driving to Santa Cruz, Beck and I had dinner with Michael and Lalaie at Beretta for Italian tapas. It's a throbbing, popular place, so to avoid the 2 hour wait for a table (and too many of their tasty inventive cocktails on an empty stomach -- oops), I suggest reservations. And if you are really lucky, you'll get the winking waiter. . .




Me, Feol and Beck

Bowling

A bit down the way in Truckee, we joined the locals to drop some pins.



Top scorers of the night -- big winner Shawn, 2nd up Austin and turkey girl Kim.

I rock the slopes. . .or do I?

For Christmas, I got a snazzy HD video camera from Santa (thanks Dad!), and lucky for you, you can catch my incredible skiing skills in the video below.



Thanks to Mark for narration (and the rest of it, too)!

New Year's in Tahoe

Bless the Rufers generosity with their ridiculously beautiful house, Fleur de Lac, in Tahoe. Kim and Andrew invited a group of us to join them to ring in the New Year.

This is the bland, regular view from my bedroom window. Seriously, talk about waking up blissfully happy!



Austin, Kim, me and Shawn after a intense, exhilarating day of skiing at Homewood.



The happy hosts. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!



The whole group on New Year's Eve .



Hotties Molly, Kim and Becky



The Cranium champs! Team 1 KILLED it -- Shawn's awesome answers, Molly's intense acting, Tim's concentration in the zone and my whistling skills.



Apres ski beverages at Plump Jack's after a day of Squaw -- Mark, me, Austin & Shawn