Done Over

Last f&^kin request

Originally uploaded by black_mane1

At this point on Sunday Allison was pretty drunk, but obviously having a super good time for her birthday party at Do Over. I took a bunch of great pics that night but nothing beats this one taken by Al Myers.

Incidentally, I try not to bug Al when I see him taking pics (although I definitely wave when I see him taking a crowd shot and know I’m going to be in the background, haha) but that night he spent a good few minutes standing right behind me and Allison snapping shots of the crowd. I tried to ignore it but Allison couldn’t resist and asked him to take our picture. I apologized and said I was sorry, that she was drink but he brushed it off and said “no it’s okay” and actually took a second pic after he didn’t like the first one, but when he put this one up on Flickr he put it up with the title “Last f&^kin request”. Haha, love it.

Anyway, thanks Al for the cool picture!

April Fools

Last night I parked on Los Angeles Street around 5th.  I knew that I might end up regretting it later as I walked back alone after 10.  My DTLA experiences recently have  included persons offering to sell me drugs, creepy guys in vans driving slowly behind me and of course the famous incident of the man exposing himself and asking me to suck his “cock” (for dope no less!).  Anyway. . .  I was meeting one of my “Tweeple” who I’ve been exchanging tweets with but have yet to meet despite the fact that we are always pretty much within the same square mile of each other.  We met up at Las Perlas and I had the very tasty and beautiful “400 Rabbits” which the bartender garnished with a flower he told me he had been saving all day, a white rose.

I only had time for one drink last night before I had to head off to the Afro Funke/Root Down mash up at Zanzibar.  I said my goodbyes and headed down 6^th.  As I rounded the corner onto Los Angeles Street I put my glasses on so I could be better aware of my surroundings, I took in the scene.  A large and intimidating woman was walking towards me right in the middle of the sidewalk, she had no intentions of moving to the either side of the sidewalk to make room for little ole’ me so I stepped to the right so as to avoid her as I walked past.  I finally crossed the street in one of those mid-street crosswalks over to the East side of Los Angeles Street where I had parked.  No sooner did I do this that 5 men dressed in black walking side by side came down the street.  I pulled out my keys but otherwise felt pretty safe, despite my recent experiences people pretty much leave me alone in Downtown.

Perhaps thinking that I might be one of those “scared white lady” types who sometimes venture into downtown and cry wolf the guys stepped aside to let me pass.  One said hello and I smiled and nodded back, as I passed them one of the other guys said “Have a Happy Easter!”.  I chucked a bit as I got into my car and drove to Santa Monica.

Today was a good day.

It’s been a pretty great week for me.  In fact every week has been pretty great for me for months now, but especially in 2010. Things have been so great that 6 weeks in to the year I’m starting to feel like I’m going to burst if things just keep getting better, but everyday things are better than the day before and I haven’t burst yet!

Today I went to lunch with my best gal pal Libby which was a super treat because not only do I love her but we never get to go to lunch together.  I went all out and had a Framboise Lambic and a cheeseburger, it was divine.  Yesterday I said I might give up cheeseburgers for lent but obviously that was unrealistic.

Afterwards I went to get a mani/pedi.  I’m pretty low maintenance appearance wise, I don’t dye my hair or use $50 lotions (I mostly stick to all natural stuff which is cheaper anyway) but mani/pedis are my one luxury personal care item.  I can’t even remember the last time I did my own nails.  I am actually really only into getting pedicures because my nails always chip because of all the typing I have to do but my nail salon gives you a FREE manicure if you get a pedicure Monday through Thursday.  Score!  I usually always get the same color, a fun red called “Million Dollar Red” but this weekend I have a date and the dress I picked out would look better with a darker red.  The new color I picked is called “High Maintenance” by China Glaze, hehe.  I think I’ll go and buy a few bottles and make this one my new signature color.

On Tuesday I went out with my dear friend to The Yard House in Downtown.  As luck would have it we got to LA Live just as the Lakers game was getting out, phooey.  BUT we were able to find FREE street parking right across the street (what are the odds?) and spent our super short wait time exploring the new JW Marriott/Ritz Carlton that had just opened the day before.

After we parked I didn’t get out of the car right away because I had to change out of my casual sandals (rubber flip flops) into my “fancy” sandals (silver patent thongs), haha.  Anyway at one point when were climbing the stairs in the hotel lobby I slipped a little and my friend told me that I should have worn my grip sandals instead.  Bwahahah!

My name is Amanda and I’m a dreamer.

I’ve having trouble focusing today.  I’m working on this big project that I’ve been dreaming about, scheming about, gathering content for and designing for months now.  It’s a website that is supposed to “launch” this week but I’m just not feeling up to do the work today.  I have very little time for procrastination today because in 1 hour I am supposed to go and get my hair cut, then I have to run an errand, then I have to host a tasting menu dinner for 12 people.  Oh and it’s 1pm and I am still in my robe.  Doh!

I was doing really great for a while there, really productive and really working hard non-stop.  I even found time to clean my whole house!  But then I started hanging out with people that do their dreams for a living and the way they talked about what they do was so inspiring and made me so hopeful for my own project that I left feeling excited, hopeful, and exhausted at the possibilities the future could hold for me.  It was SO inspiring in fact that I’ve spent the last few days with my head in the clouds dreaming about what could be instead of focusing on what I need to do to get there!

Anyway, I gotta go take a shower before my haircut appointment.  Maybe sitting in that chair for 2 hours (I have waist length hair) will be the boredom I need to get all the dreaming out of me and then I can get back to reality and be “on” for my dinner.  I hope so!