January 12th-Paseo Miramar

Dead pelican- so sad
View of Santa Monica
One of my favorite things about living in Santa Monica, is the hiking. I try to hike about 4 times per week, switching it up between Paseo Miramar (photos above), Temescal Canyon, and Topanga Canyon. Paseo is usually reserved for a weekend because it is a longer hike (2hrs), but Shauna B. and I had some time today, so we decided to hit the trail. It was a gorgeous day and there were not too many people hiking. This trail is great because not only is it a great workout, but the trail is wide so you can hike side by side.

After hiking, we headed to my favorite lunch spot, Huckelberry (Lemonade runs a very close second). I love the burrata and marinated peppers sandwich. As most of you know, I abhor “American Condiments,” so I rarely eat sandwiches, but these sandwiches don’t have mayo, mustard etc… on them. They are amazing. I ended up ordering the Trio of already made salads. We debated getting one of the amazing desserts but we decided against it.

January 7- January 11-Babies and Weddings

I headed up to San Francisco for a weekend of weddings and baby showers. I went directly from the airporter stop up to Comforts, to meet up with Abbie S. and Yael M. Comforts might be my all time favorite lunch place ever in the world. The Chinese Chicken Salad is so good and we have been having lunch here since high school. We had a nice, long lunch and a good "catch up."

That night was dinner at Bungalow 44, with Justine W. We went from wanting to pick up salads at Whole Foods to somehow sitting at the bar at Bungalow and drinking champagne, eating oysters, and sharing some other dishes. The food was amazing and quite a step up from our proposed grocery store dinner. After dinner, Katie came to join us at my parents house where we watched a scary movie and they both slept over- just like Junior High... although we didn't crank call anyone.

The next day started with an awesome hike, in Mill Valley, with Lisa K. It was time to work off some of that food! Of course the hike was followed by brunch at the Dipsea Cafe. The Dipsea is one of my all time favorite brunch places. It was freezing and foggy outside and we enjoyed our brunch by the fire.

I continued to eat my way through Marin by having dinner with Stewart H. at Picco, that night. Picco is now my new favorite place to eat, in Marin. We started out with Gin and Tonics made with "Indian Tonic water." We didn't know what that meant, but it sounded fancy. All of the food was amazing but my favorite was the ahi tuna tartare with sticky rice cakes. We also liked how there was a "silent c" in the restaurant name.

After being a bridesmaid 12 times (seriously), I was excited to go to a wedding that I wasn't a part of. Not that I don't love being included in my friends' weddings (I do!), but it was nice to not be behind the scenes, for once, and to pick out my own dress. Katie's sister Meghan got married at the St. Francis Yacht Club, in San Francisco. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a great time. We headed to Balboa afterwards to meet up with some friends for a few drinks.

The next morning I went back to Marin for Johonna K's baby shower! Yael and I were two of the hosts and Yael had it at her beautiful home in San Rafael. It was a very mellow shower with lots of crafting, gift opening, and of course eating (I picked up salads from Comforts).

January 1st, 2009-Happy New Year!

I am not a “New Years Person.” I don’t like the expectations and pressure placed on that night and would be perfectly happy doing something low key with a few people. However, with Eva, Julie, Hilarey, Brian, and Katie G. flying in this year, I know that I needed to plan something fun. I also desperately wanted to replace the memory of last years semi-disastrous New Years and start the year out right. In order to do this, I knew that I would have to take matters into my own hands and throw a party. My neighbor Joel made the set list, Meg’s boyfriend Tim also brought one, Julie and I picked up some alcohol and snacks, and I sent out an evite stating that L.L. Cool J would be “playing a small set.” I figured that would draw a larger crowd and once they got here and saw how fun it was, I would break the news that LL had to cancel. Everything worked out well and there was a surprisingly great turn out of about 50 people! There were around 40 women and 10 men but there were still some New Years Eve kisses and lots of fun. A little after midnight, when it was clear that no one was really sober, an older man walked in and walked directly to my kitchen. I had a feeling that he was a random off the street, but it was possible that someone had invited him. He showed up with some alcohol and asked if my party was an “AA” meeting. That was our tip off and Joel had to throw him out, but not before he had given Joel his card in an attempt to “hang out” sometime. A little while later a, clearly angry, neighbor came up and asked me to clear out the party. She seemed very disgruntled for someone who was completely dressed with make-up on- it wasn’t like we had woken her up. I quickly turned off the music and most people cleared out. I would say it was one of the most fun New Years to date!

The First Post

For those who know me, I am basically a magnet for hilarious happenings and fun adventures. The fact that I also love to write makes me a good candidate for a fairly amusing blog (I hope). Even if no one reads it, I will be able to have it as a little time capsule of my early 30s. I have wanted to start one for some time now, but it never seems like the right time. I wish that I’d had one when I lived in Paris (not even sure if they existed in ’98), or that I had documented my “crazy” 20s in NYC, or all of my travels in SE Asia (I did write about Vietnam & Cambodia). I definitely don’t want to think that my best years are behind me, so I guess now is as good a time as any to start. After living in Santa Monica for a year and a half, I now have my favorite places but am still exploring the area and always finding new things that I love about L.A.

My friend Meg has a really fun blog: http://megtaylor.blogspot.com and was kind of the inspiration for me to start my own. I always love to check her blog after we have a fun outing and I would like for my friends to be able to do the same with mine.

Every time I take photo lately, I say it's "for the blog." It has become a running joke because I have yet to start this blog, until now...To quote actor Steve Martin, in his intentional misquoting of Shakespeare, at the start of LA Story:

"This other Eden...

demi-paradise…

this precious stone...

set in the silver sea of this earth,

this ground... this Los Angeles.”