Leaving our Lady of Angels

LA Love

LA has been home. For a while... a long while. For Matt, it's been home pretty much always. And like most places we humans call "home", LA is a real character. She's a bitch to get along with sometimes. She's full of bad traffic, and crowded everything. She's not the most intellectual, or most attentive. Sometimes she's so wrapped up in her own drama that it's easy to get sucked into it and think she's the only place in the world. But she's also really easy to love. She's warm and has a beautiful sunny disposition. She's a little zany, and whimsical, and just about anything goes. She doesn't really judge- (unless you are old, or fat or poor, but even then, her judgements are only that you are, indeed, those things). She's industrious in one of the most lucrative and yet creative industries. She's popular. And, she's so much FUN! She's always up for a night out or a brainstorming pow-wow or a movie premiere or a walk through the hills or a day at the beach or some high-brow shopping or a spin through the central market or ... just-have-your-people-call-my-people-and-arrange-something!

And now we're leaving her. Her sunshine. Her crowds. Her lack of seriousness. Her totally unique sense of style. And it's a little sad. So, in the midst of all our tying up of loose ends, we have taken moments here and there, over the last few days, so say good bye to our girl.

We spent an evening hanging out on a private beach at a Malibu mansion (yeah, lucky break... we got hooked up!)

And we said farewell to Hollywood...

Although, truth be told, our Hollywood looked a bit more like this:

We had picnic dinners at home with friends, after we took advantage of the glorious weather and played around Santa Monica

A little stop in here...

We ran some important errands on the West side, near our old neighborhood,

and Matt had a Jewish deli feast at Juniors on Westwood. After he stuffed himself with hot pastrami on rye, latkes, pickles, cole slaw, knish, kraut and a Dr. Brown's Black Cherry Soda (and a bite of my eggless egg salad sandwich), we made our way back to Downtown...

And the freeway gods smiled upon us, allowing us swift passage...

We stopped by Matt's office, and the whole gang was there to wish us well! 

And we devoured this cake!

It was so sweet. Not the cake...well that was sweet too, but the send off party. I can tell these guys are going to miss Matt! Especially the boss ;)

Then, we headed back to our apartment. Started loading up the Penske and took stock of what was left to do. And we said goodbye to the neighborhood strays (with a little Whiska's feast). This girl is preggers... for, like, the third time in the last year. I know, I know... 

We have one more night in LA. We're mostly loading up the truck and finding spots of the last remaining odds and ends, but we just might make a quick run to one of LA's most famous chow spots. But more mention of that later, if we actually make it.

We are going to miss LA. We might even come back to her one day... but for now, Adios mi Ángel, like, totally.

the chaos of moving

Much of our house looks like this these days... well, maybe not most. In fact, given the fact that we have just over a week left in Los Angeles I'd say that not enough of our house looks like this! It's sad to pack. And it's a pain in the arse. But it's finally hitting us, for real. We are leaving! I mean, our apartment is already rented out to another couple! (Who, but the way, happen to seem super awesome and used to live in Edinburgh, what are the odds?) But it's strange. In a matter of days, someone else is going to be calling my home... home. And there's a little part of me that pouts about that.

But, in between the packing and the pouting, there is a lot of fun to be had. We are trying our best to see our people before we go. I enjoyed a wonderful girls night out with my BFF, and a farewell lunch with my Lillikins (who is moving out of LA the same day we are to start her PhD program, whoot!). And we also enjoyed a beautiful balmy day in the park last weekend with our favorite peeps.

And, we couldn't miss watching The Lost Boys in the park...

And who can see the lost boys without wearing fangs?!

And this happened too! Yep, that's Corey Feldman's armpit, for your viewing pleasure! His band, Truth Movement, rocked out before the movie started. It was...unforgettable!

But when we are not partying with child stars of the 80s, and when we're not hanging with our favorite people... and when we're not freaking out over picking up and heading on out of the country... it's business as usual.

I am reading The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox. I've never read a book that I enjoy this much so slowly. I think I started it back in May! It is really interesting, but I think I am too tired each night (from the aforementioned packing and Corey Feldman concerts) to read more than a couple of pages. I am dying to talk to someone who has read it, but I don't know of anyone who has!

Alright... enough with the blogging. I have to go sort through more of my stuff. I have so much of it! Way too much! And sometimes the whole concept of having all this stuff weirds me out a little, but I blame (thank?) George Carlin for that!

PS- Happy Birthday Papa!!

The Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles

The Orpheum Theatre is Los Angeles at its finest! We had a wonderful night celebrating our anniversary here. We wandered around the place, oooohing and aaaaahing at all the ornamentation. Everything, even functional things like "exit" signs, were designed to be beautiful. These photos don't do it justice! It is so... GRAND!

The silent movie we saw, Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood, was a lot of fun. Before the show began, we were treated to a short cartoon called Koko's Earth Control (which you can see here). And then Leonard Maltin took the stage and told us about the theater, the movie and the era in which they were both made.

But classic movies and famous critics were not the star of the evening's performance... the Wurlitzer organ masterfully played by Robert Israel was pure magic. I was impressed that he played throughout the 5 minute cartoon... I was floored that he played throughout the entire length of the feature film. And then, when I thought I could not be any more dazzled... I realized that Mr. Israel actually composed the whole score, ensuring that the music matched the action perfectly. It was truly an amazing thing to see and hear!

Afterwards, Matthew and I got to check out the organ and talk to the musician and the technician. We also climbed up to the projection room and had a snoop around. We really took in the whole place.

Going to a modern day movie is great fun, but it is nothing compared to this movie-going experience. This felt special... Special in a way that is uniquely LA.

Milestones, Motivation & a Massive Move

Milestones...

*photo note

3 years ago today I became Matt's wife. And now he's a part of who I am and how I see myself. Of course, he already was before we actually tied the knot- many of you know that living with your partner for years feels very much the same a being married- but there has been some changes in our relationship brought about through marriage, and they have been good ones. He is a great husband. He's funny and sweet and smart and strong, and I'm always happier when I am around him. I feel pretty darn lucky to be Matt's wife and I look forward to lots more years of wedded bliss ;)

Our wedding was kind of a throw back to "old" Los Angeles, and we are celebrating our anniversary tonight with a visit to the one of our city's most venerable landmarks, The Orpheum Theatre, to see Robin Hood with Douglas Fairbanks. We're also visiting our wedding and reception venues for  dinner and drinks and a little romantic reminiscing. I think it will be a wonderful night.

The Orpheum

And while it's a bit less significant, I get to celebrate another milestone this week. My dreamy little blog hit 100,000 visits. It's strange to me to think that so many people have stopped to see my little spot on the internet (even if a hefty percentage of them have only come through Google image searches... I still count them, right?)

100,000 visits, and I haven't even posted anything since the end of May... and before that, my posting had become few and far between. Hmmmmm. Makes me think a little. I have not had much desire over the last few months to write here or share in all the Dreamy or Happy Things that have been going on in my life.  Maybe it comes down to...

Motivation...

My original reason for starting this blog was so that when life got a little dark, or hectic, or stressful, I had a collection of beautiful, dreamy, wonderful things to turn to give me a dose of Happy. At the time, I was in school. Law school. Which, even for "born lawyers" is a rough place to hang out for three years. I found it a bit soul-crushing. I am not in law school anymore. So, maybe I don't have to remind myself as much to be Happy. Because in general, I am Happy. 

But there are other reasons why I have lost some blogging motivation. I don't really have much energy to post about pretty flowers or lovely sayings from wise old authors, because I am totally and utterly focused on something else. Something big. Something exciting.

A Massive Move.

Matt and I are leaving Los Angeles! I know most of you who read this blog have known for a long time, like, over a year.  Some of you only know about me and my blog because of our plans to move. But for reasons that I still don't quite understand, I wasn't allowed to blab it all over the internet until recently (Matt still hadn't told one member of his family- although every one else that knows us at all had know for ages- and didn't want her finding out here. I can't imagine she'd ever come close to reading my blog though, as I think she is allergic to both Dreams and all things Happy.) But I digress. The cat is out of the bag, and now I get to post whatever I want about it. So here's the big announcement:

Matt and I are moving to Edinburgh, Scotland! He is going to earn his Masters at the University of Edinburgh and I couldn't be more proud of him. He has wanted to go back to school for a while but was very particular about the subject and program (he picked a degree that is only offered in, like, three universities in the world! And while Nashville would have been interesting too, I'm happy he chose Edinburgh) I am going to work, and part of that is facing a job market as challenging as the one here, but I have full confidence that I will find something. We are bringing along our pets- which wouldn't seems too strange if we were talking about dogs (for some reason people assume  when you travel with animals that you mean dogs!) but no. We are bring cats. Three of them! And the whole thing makes for a mountain of paperwork. For us, for them, for the school, for the financing, for everything. And I have never been happier to do paperwork. Because I know that with every form we complete, we are one step closer to starting a new adventure!

source

We've been really fortunate that most everyone we know has been incredibly supportive and excited for us (there has been one exception but I am trying really hard to focus on the positive. There is so much more positive to focus on. Why is is so challenging to ignore that one bad vibe in a sea of good vibes?!)  We already have some friends and family member promising to come visit and we've received tons of good advice- mostly about how to handle the drastic change in weather, and where to get the best single malt Scotch... (as if Matt won't dedicate the first few weeks to that endeavor alone!)

We've also been fortunate to connect with people online we have yet to meet in person who are living in Edinburgh. I feel like we already have a few friends there!

So, I am sure that posts in the future will certainly have a different theme, at least for a while. I don't know if I'll turn this into an expat blog- I'd rather keep it a collection of things that make me happy, and figuring out this move and the adventure ahead is a big happy dreamy thing!


*photo note: You're welcome Matt! I was going to use another picture from our wedding (one that I don't remember ever seeing before!) but decided against it because you were making a Robert-DiNiro-esque fishy face. And I looked really skinny! (Hence me wanting to share it online ;) Who loves you , baby?!

Ren Faire

A weekend or two ago Matt and I spent a day at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. We had both gone as youngsters, but never as adults. It was much how we remembered. The costumes, the food, the music, the merriment. It was all good fun! Truly, a positive vibe filled the place.  My favorite was the maypole!

Of course, there were wares to browse and songs to sing... and even elvish ears to be had-

and one of us ended up in the stockade...

We went to the adults-only section of the place and chimed in on bawdy songs... this one retells the sexual adventures of sailors aboard the good ship Venus-

Fun day in the sun! Gramercy, Matt, for taking me!

friends, flowers, festivals and fun-runs!

Lovely. That's the word I'd use to describe this weekend. Friday night, Matt and I went to our newly wedded friends' house for a BBQ- and enjoyed good food, good wine and good company. The following morning, we took a little walk through our sunny neighborhood... 

and saw these blooming beauties...

and ended up at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.  I could have spent days here-- checking out all the booths and seeing the speakers-- but we just did a quick walk though. Surprisingly, we left for home with only two new books (it was a difficult thing to do, as I am a book hoarder, but we are resolved not to add anything to our already overly-stuffed apartment!) We quickly crossed paths with some friends heading to the Festival for the whole day, and I am eager to hear all the good things they got/read/heard/saw...

Love this quote (I think it works equally well if you leave out the word "child's") 

On the walk back home we said hello to this lady, who was perched so daintily upon a gorgeous iris.

and then came the hard part of the weekend... saying goodbye to the boys. We were going to be back within 24 hours, but still... 

Linus got all cute and flopped on the floor...

OB got nervous and darted away from the camera...

...and Sherpa took his exact place, waiting for his picture....

Then, Matt and I headed to San Diego. We stayed the night with our friends, Marisa and Alex. We walked about their beautiful garden (but like a dumbski I didn't take any photos! Seriously, it is such a precious plot of veggies and flowers and sweet peas and strawberries. I kinda wanted to live there... in the garden...). For dinner they took us the the BEST restaurant, Sipz, which was friendly, quick, tasty and vegetarian...just the way I like it! If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it. 

After a bit of wine for us ladies and a few beers for the guys, we called it an early night, because the next morning, we ran the SDSU Greenfest 5K in honor of Earth Day! Here we are getting ready to run-

You'll  have to use your imagination to picture us 37 minutes later, crossing the finish line triumphantly! We looked just the same, just a little sweatier and red in the face.

After the race, we enjoyed a well-earned brunch at Tiger!Tiger! (everything is homemade from scratch!) and Matt and I headed back to LA, stopping at a great asian grocery store to stock up on sauces, noodles and steamed buns. When we got home, we promptly slumped onto the couch and zoned out in front of the TV and loved on the kitties until bed time.

And today is Shakespeare's birthday! Last year, I wrote him his own B-day post, but this year he'll have to do with this measly mention... In his honor, Matt got this book from the Festival... 

How awesome does this look?! And it's the actual text from the play accompanied with illustration. If he doesn't start it in the next couple of days, I might have to read it first ;)

If you're looking for a bit of Bard-related fun, test your knowledge of his opening lines here.

Hope your weekend was full of fun too!