Reader's Digest Version...

Because I have drawn this out way too long, here is the short version of the rest of LA.

The LaBrea Tarpits. Pretty cool. There is also a museum that shows all the animals that have been found in the pits. It's totally prehistoric and I recommend it.



Hermosa Beach...also known as "two white people from the midwest stand in the ocean."



Muscle (Venice) Beach. It was dirty and full of wierdos.

But luckily they were having a muscle contest...there are so many things wrong with the photo below, but I'll let you find them for yourself since I'm trying to keep this short.

View from our hotel balcony in Century City.

Fox Studios to the left in the photo below.


Two of Hollywood's hippest hangouts. The Roosevelt and the Scientology building.

Probably the most touristy thing we did was go see the hand and footprints at the Chinese Theater, but you kind of have to do it...and it was pretty cool to see how tiny people's feet used to be.

After Sean left, I went to dinner with people from work, in Santa Monica. We took a short stroll down the Santa Monica Pier afterward. It smelled like fish and the only cool thing about it was the way the ferris wheel looked.

That's about it. I worked the rest of the time and never really saw the light of day, except I got away one day to go across the street and try some Pinkberry. I don't get the hype...it's frozen yogurt. I'd much rather have dippin' dots.

good read.

"In the end, hipsters are sold what they think they invent and are spoon-fed their pre-packaged cultural livelihood."

read this.

via Sean, via Adbusters.

All good things must come to an end...

I don't use the word "amazing" very often. I think that it's overused and most often cliche. But I cannot think of any other way to describe my birthday this year. One solid week of celebration, surprises and really and truly feeling loved and appreciated by my family and my friends. Last night I ended the week in a very fitting way by being surrounded by people who made me feel like I was the most important person in that very space and time. Even though everyone I love and miss could not be with me on the day or even last night, I got wishes and thoughtful surprises from near and far!

It made me realize how lucky I am to have so many awesome people in my life--and all in a different way, shape or form. And most of all, I am so lucky to have Sean, who went out of his way to make this birthday the BEST birthday I have had probably since I was in second grade and my Mom surprised me with a huge box of little token gifts that included a hot pink wig so I could pretend I was Jem. He covered it all, right down to the surprise happy birthday serenade over butter cream cupcakes. I cannot remember the last time I had a room of friends sing happy birthday to me.

I didn't do the best job of taking photos, so I only got a few of the people hanging in the garage and missed out on getting a lot of people who were enjoying the nice weather outside. :( Next time I will be more on the ball with the photog-ing. It's hard to man the camera when you are having so much fun!


Cupcakes!

Just a tad bit happy about it...

SK and Ryan--about to crack into the champagne.

Trying to take a cute picture, take 4. I'm jealous of Dre's post-vacation tan. All I get from the sun is a burnt up nose.

Garage hangz. Stephanie, Nathan and Biker Jon came to live it up in the suburbs!

Ryan tells Courteney tales of crazy girls!

Cat Blog, I had to do it.

So, if the greatness of the birthday is any indication of the way the year will go, I think 27 is going to treat me well.

.trouble breathing.

I've had a rotten couple of days. My Grama passed away Tuesday night. I've been fully engulfed in the postmortem since Wednesday. Yesterday was the wake. 7 hours in a funeral home. Today I feel so tired that I swear I could sleep all day. People have been great and really supportive.

She was 91. The last four years were spent in a nursing home. Hopefully she is a lot happier now. My Mom is taking it well, we knew it was coming but she is still sad. I mean, it's your Mom. She was an excellent Grama. She will be missed.

I have to go back to work on Monday. I'm dreading the mess that has piled up since Wednesday.

I'm exhausted.