Sunday Funday

Even though Sunday started off with chores, we managed to squeeze in some fun stuff. After a run to the car wash (first one this year...of course it rained today :-/ ), we hopped in the clean car and went to the Farmers Market on Ivar, bought a bunch of veggies, fruits, bread, ran into my friend Gina's mom who's family has an orange grove and she gave us a ton of oranges, blood oranges, tangerines, tangelos (yum!), and then we walked to Go Burger for lunch. I haven't taken pictures of my food in a while, and I should have taken pictures here. The Philly smashed burger was possibly one of the best I've had in my life. They also have "adult" milk shakes  spiked with various booze and ice cream floats, like Guinness with a scoop of vanilla. I'll have to try one next time.

Then we dropped off Cary at home with the groceries, and Layla and I headed to Hannah's house for some swimming. I would have taken pictures, but would have risked dropping my camera and phone in the jacuzzi. So no pics till after we got dried off.

Rolling around being silly

Exhausted from jumping on the bed

 Layla and Hannah just ran around screaming and laughing. It was so sweet. Layla would jump on the bed and say "boing! boing! boing!" and Hannah would say "I'm gonna get you". You can't have that kind of fun when you're not a kid. It's so fun to watch.

Then Layla and I went home. I opened the fridge and Layla saw the strawberries and started saying, "a-strawberries? a-strawberries?" everything starts with an "a" and is asked like a question. Recently, everything is plural as well,  "a-Elmos?" or "a-Hannahs?"

Turns out that the Farmers Market strawberries were extremely sweet and delicious. Layla smeared some into the couch to remember them by.

We were all exhausted that night. Unfortunately, Layla coughed so bad that night in her sleep, that she vomited all over us in bed (our bed). We hopped in the shower around midnight to wash the chunks out of hour hair as Cary changed the sheets. Poor Laylie was so out of it, she just gripped my neck in the shower with this wide eyed dazed look on her little face. She coughed all night. Hopefully she'll be better today.

A little walk about

It's been raining a lot in these parts. And Layla has been under the weather. So we haven't gotten out of the house. I don't think babies are immune to cabin fever. So Cary and I dressed up little miss thang and planned to just go up the street to Milk for an ice cream treat, but kept on going all the way to Melrose. I love unplanned Sundays that turn into nothing special, but are just low stress and peaceful and fun. These days that means a lot and is rare.
We both thought that Layla reminded us of Aly Sheedy's character in Breakfast Club when she gets the makeover at the end of the movie and wears a headband on her head that pushes her hair out of her face.
It just happened that the Bull Kogi truck was on Melrose so we got a beef taco and chicken taco. Pretty darn good for street meat.

First audition ever!

I haven't been writing much about the Groundlings classes we've been taking since I first posted about it in January (here and here). I took a 6 week improv class ("Improv Workshop A") during the first session in January/February with Cary, then I stopped because I was still nauseous from the first trimester nausea. Cary took the next class level ("Improv Workshop B"). in February/March. Then Cary repeated this class and I joined him for the most recent session of "Improv Workshop B" from April-May. Cary also took the sketch writing class, but I did not.

In order to advance to the next level of classes, called "Basic A", you have to audition. So Cary and I (and little girl in my belly) had our very first audition this morning. We went with 3 other of our friends from class, which was comforting. Normally the auditions are held in one of the classrooms and include exercises very similar to the ones you do in class. Since the main theater was not being used, the instructor decided that we would audition on the actual Groundlings stage. Needless to say, it was slightly intimidating...but AWESOME!! I even got to use one of the fake doors on the side of the stage.

Of the 5 of us that auditioned, I messed up the most, I felt. Everyone else got to do at least one scene with someone from our class, except me. I don't know if it would have made a difference in my performance or not, I was really nervous. Cary did awesome, I was so proud of him. Everyone from our class did really well and we were all rooting for each other. All of a sudden, it felt like we were a mini-family. I was really proud of everyone.

Afterwards, Cary and I drove around in a daze looking for somewhere to have lunch. We drove by Lemonade off of Beverly. It's always closed on Sundays after class, so we've never been.

I got the corned beef with Gruyere and a side of shaved fennel and sun choke. Fancy. Cary got the turkey and avocado with a side of sugar snap peas and edamame. I also got a cucumber mint lemonade which was freaking delicious. We ate in silence because our thoughts were deep in our audition. Every once in a while one of us would bring up something we noticed and then go back to eating in silence.

We don't find out till Monday if we passed or failed. If you fail you can't audition for 6 months and you only get 3 chances to audition. I've been anxious all day. The suspense is killing me. I want all 5 of us to make it. Mostly I want Cary to make it so he can continue moving up the ranks for the sake of his writing (and sanity... advertising isn't leaving him with much sanity). Finger crossed!! Or is it break a leg?

Largo on Monday night

Last night Cary and I and a few friends from the Groundlings classes went to Largo to watch the Benson Interruption. We had dinner and beers at Ronin across the street - love that place. There were 6 "surprise" stand ups and Doug Benson sitting in the wings interrupting them (that's what the show's shtick is). I gotta say, it was totally worth the 20 bucks. I laughed for most of the 2 hours. By the end, baby girl was kicking my full bladder into a nice frothy foam and I had to get out of there, made laughing more uncomfortable.



Cary and I are trying to get out more and do and see more things as often as possible before becoming parents in August. We went to the Upright Citizens Brigade on Franklin last Monday for long form improve (Herald?), which was quite different from the Groundlings "Completely Different Friday Night Show". We went to a Groundlings show a week ago Friday for time since we began taking classes. It was really impressive seeing what they do and knowing how much skill and talent it involves.



I started Workshop B at the Groundlings school last Sunday with Cary. He already took B, but I sat it out since I still had morning sickness. I was a little rusty, to say the least. I bombed on one of the exercises, but am not as entirely embarrassed as I thought I would be.

Grateful

Monday was one of those days that we'll talk about for many years to come. The day started out miraculously. That's the only way I can describe it. We got to hear the baby's heart beat for the first time and got a video of the ultrasound. I didn't go to work today and was basking in the the glow of excitement, hope, and happiness. My baby was safe and snug in my belly, jumping around and moving. I've watched the DVD of the ultrasound 11 times already.Mom, Dad, Sher, Jack, and Sheila came over for dinner to watch the video of the little jumping bean. Cary had to work late. He called that he was on his way home, around 10. Then two minutes later he calls to say he just got jumped by 4 guys in a minivan and they took everything he had: his wallet, laptop, checkbook, iPhone, iPod, Bose headset, laptop bag, keys. One of the neighbors near by hear Cary yelling and let Cary use his phone to call me. Cary is fine, we're all very grateful he is OK. I went and picked Cary up after he gave the police a report, and then had the apartment security search our apartment because they had our keys and address. We had our locks changed that night. We slept with the lock, deadbolt, and chain on. I added the chair for good measure. Today was a great day, possible the best day, and I really mean that in every possible sense of the word.

Learned my lesson.

After my severe morning sickness during the first Groundlings class, I decided to come prepared for the next one. I packed a peanut butter sandwich cut into 3, an apple cut into pieces and a banana. Its all about finger foods and small quantities with this nausea. I can't eat a lot at once without feeling sick, but I have to get some food down or I'll feel sick. I also had a Sprite and a granola bar not pictured below. I just hope I don't vomit, especially in public, that my biggest fear.

After class we've been going house hunting. Sundays end up being my most active day because of class and house hunting. I'm so tired when I get home. And a little grumpy. Poor Cary.

Improv at the Groundlings.

Cary decided to take an improv class at The Groundlings theater on Melrose. I decided to copy him and take the class too.Here's the main theater. The classes are down a block and across the street, upstairs in this dingy space that looks like it was once a boarding house. Its kind of cool. Our teacher is great and made the class really fun. I wasn't feeling too great and got really low blood sugar before we got our 15 minute break. Next time I'll pack a lunch or two and snacks.

Deutsch Holiday Party

This year's holiday party was at the Edison in downtown L.A. If you've never been, it is totally worth the trip.

After you've walked down a short, dingy alley, and escape into the small, dark, chic entrance you immediately get the feeling that there is more to check out in this place. You make your way to the stair case that sinks you down below into what used to be the first privately owned L.A. power plant. The entire venue is a mix of industrial artifacts and old boys club, smoking room style furniture. With different sections named The Tesla Lounge, Ember Parlour, and The Lab, you can't wait to go around each corner and see what's next.Here's a shot in The Generator Lounge. The leather seating stretches as long as the steel generator behind it.There were old 1930's and 40's movies projected on different walls in each area. Here we are with Jen and Erick after gorging on some dessert. Here's the absinthe collection in the Ember Parlour, complete with antique paraphernalia.
This was some sort of old mechanical part, that was restored and had leather chairs around it. You could put your drinks on the metal ring on the outside, but there is no glass to set your drink on in the middle where the machine and the lamp stick out. That's a fun accident waiting to happen.
The lovely Monica. Though she doesn't work at Deutche, somehow she managed to get in to the closed party, and grace us with her presence. I hadn't seen her since our wedding, how sad.
My shoes were hurting my feet, so I found a really comfy leather couch to rest on while Cary made his rounds and said goodbye.

It's just a game...

Yesterday we spent the day at the Rose Bowl, enjoying a magnificent tailgate followed by the USC-UCLA football game. Say hello to our not-so-little friend. Huck was kind enough to put forth the effort of buying the 70 lb pig, arranging and assembling the pit to roast it in, spending the night at the Wilmarth's to get the slow cooking process started the night before. There was a knife incident with the pig that resulted in a minor casualty.
Megan likes beans.All I know, is that this stance represents the "triple threat" in sports. But I have no idea what that really means even though it was explained to me more than once. I think its when an athlete can sing and dance in addition to being able to excel at a sport. No?It was a big day for all Trojans. Not so much for O.J. Megan and I are neither Bruin nor Trojan, so we represented UCR and I.E. as best we could.
We were lucky enough to get our tickets from Kenny who has 24th row seats on the 40 yard line and reserved parking right next to the Rose Bowl entrance. Megan and I were totally ballin'.
It was a good day. More to come from Parima's birthday/holiday party later that night

My Birthday Well Spent - Part I

I had the choice of sleeping in on Saturday morning, but I decided to hit the ground running on my 35th. The night before Cary took me to Osteria Mozza for a lovely dinner. So so good. I have too much to write about to get into it, but definitely worth a try. We got home around midnight and hit the hay because we had to be up at 5:30 am. Here's a picture out of our bedroom window at sunrise:

Cary had to work all day, so I went with him to downtown LA for a commercial shoot. Here's a shot on our parking garage with the moon in the corner.

I was not fully aware that the shoot was on the 51st floor of one of the tall buildings in downtown LA. Little scary on the way up. Beautiful view once I got over it.

Cary was super busy with the shoot, so after a couple hours of hanging out and watching a couple hilarious takes, I said bye to Cary and took the elevator down 51 floors (yeeesh), alone, and went to the nearest subway station on Fig and 7th.

There was a protest rally at City Hall at 10:30 regarding the passing of prop. 8. I felt it was important to attend and show support for this very important injustice. I campaigned for Obama this year, but I didn't do anything to make sure that prop 8 wouldn't pass. I really felt that it was a no brainer and that California was better than that. I think a lot of people that were against prop 8, didn't think that there are so many ignorant, hateful, bigoted, misinformed people in this state. We were so wrong.

The subway was PACKED. Usually I get on a car, and maybe a couple other people are in it. This car was standing room only. Everyone was carrying protest signs. People of all walks of life. Straight families with their children, gay couples fighting for their rights, and people like me who prop 8 does not effect but can't stand by and watch this nonsense without doing something.

There were a few thousand people there. Police were there to make sure everyone was safe.

This is the group that got off the subway with me crossing the street to get to Spring and 1st.

I left around 11:15 because I had to get to the subway to Hollywood and Western to go to mom's for my birthday lunch. Coming up, Part II

Feeling Lucky

You know when something happens that you wish hadn't happened, and you replay the event in your head and notice the many possibilities that could have lead to avoiding it from happening?

I think I was able to narrowly avoid something from happening Saturday night.

I went to an art gallery, where a friend of a friend of my parents had some work on display. My Dad still has jet lag. So his nap went a little too long. So they picked me up a little later than they would have. We got to the gallery a little later than we had planned to. Who knows what would have happened had we showed up when we planned to.

On our drive to the art gallery, we kept having to pull over because police and fire trucks with sirens were whizzing by us. So when we get there, all the streets we need to turn onto are blocked by police cars and yellow tape. Finally we get to the gallery and it turns out that a shooting across the street from the art gallery had just ended. Two people were shot, one of which was killed. We would have had to drive right by the shooting to get to the gallery. Had we arrived a little sooner, who knows where the cross fire would have ended up. So scary that I can't even wrap my head around it.

We decided to have dinner far from the scene of the crime. So we went to Amalfi on La Brea. Always good. We were really hungry. Everyone loved their dinner. Cary liked his pumpkin ravioli with braised short rib so much, that this morning he slaughtered a pumpkin and I'm looking up recipes.

There was a movie prop store near where we parked our car.

I couldn't help myself.