Christmas in LA

This year, we had our first chistmas together as newlyweds. It was lovely. We worked on fixing up the apartment - got rid of a lot of unnecessary clutter, got some new furniture from Ikea, and reorganized almost the entire apartment. It was very tiring but really worth it. We still have a few more piles to sort out but once we do I'll post some photos of our new, little home.
The first photo is of Kelly on Christmas eve. We went to our favorite Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, Yang Chow, and got the slippery shrimp and orange peel beef - yumm, lightly fried, sweet meat! There was a bit of a wait so Kelly got a half a duck from a restaurant down the street and ate some while we waited to get our food to go from Yang Chow.



On Christmas day, Kelly made a turkey and we worked on the house some more. We both called our families (who we can't wait to see soon!) after we ate and then went to see The Waterhorse (it was great!). That night Snoops and Athena played tug of war with Snoops' Eeyore toy and there was much rejoicing in the O'Hare house.

The day after Christmas, we went to the movies again. This time we went to see the new Daniel Day Lewis epic, There Will Be Blood. The time we wanted to go turned out to be sold out so we went to The Hungry Cat, one of Kelly's most frequented restaurants in West Hollywood - they have lots of fancy fish dishes. We have since gone back to work but enjoyed our little break and look forward to coming home to Texas in a few weeks!

Kimmy in LA

The day after her 23rd birthday Kimmy flew into Burbank. During her stay: we did a lot of eating out, went shopping on Melrose, walked around The Grove and Beverly Center, went for a walk with Susan, Mindy, Macarthur, Basil, and Mr. Snoops in Elysian Park, watched The Golden Compass and Juno at the Arclight in Hollywood, went to the Silver Lake Dog Park, had dinner at Beth, Steve, and Athena's house with Kelly and Hawk after which we saw I am Legend at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and we went to Disneyland. We ate at a lot of great places including Pinkberry, Elf, Agra Indian Cafe, The Backdoor Bakery, Baskin Robbins, The Urth Cafe, and Flore. It was great just having Kimmy here to hang out with.

First Anniversary

For our first anniversary Kelly got us tickets to see the musical Wicked at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. Afterwards we went to eat at the new, highly recommended restaurant on Melrose called osteria mozza. It was a total surprise and we had an amazing time.

Friends Forever

Over the Thanksgiving holiday we did have one guest. Her name is Athena. She is a dwarf jack russell terrier. Her family, Beth and Steve, went to visit Steve's family for the holiday weekend so she got to stay with us. Whenever we go out of town Beth and Steve watch Snoops. Snoops and Athena have become friends and Athena has become like part of our family.

New New Glasses

I decided the other pair of glasses I showed you earlier was too boring and plain. So, I returned to Old Focals and this time I looked at the truly vintage pairs (the others were from the 90s) and found some I like a lot better. They are still not the perfect pair but they are definitely more fun. The guy from the band the Antarcticans who works there helped me choose them and gave them to me for an exact exchange (still only $60) even though they are older and more unique. You can't really tell in the photo but when the light shines through them they look blue and sparkly.

Thanksgiving

This year it turned out to just be me, Kelly and, Mr. Snoops for Thanksgiving. We had a very nice stress-free time. Kelly cooked a turkeyand made mashed potatos and I made stuffing from a box and baked a pre-made pie. Snoops thoroughly enjoyed his share. We fell asleep much earlier than usual and so got up early the next day with enough time to go to the Arclight in West Hollywood to see a movie before Kelly had to go to work later in the afternoon. We saw the new movie very loosely based on Bob Dylan's lifea dn fashioned after Fellini's 8 1/2, I'm Not There. It made for a fun morning. We got to see the kind of crowd that goes to the Arclight at 11 am instead of 11 pm (which is when we usually go). Later I went to visit Kelly at Edendale. It was quite slow in the bar so I stayed for a long time and studied my anatomy book, talked with Kelly about the movie, and drank a wonderful hot toddy that Kelly made special just for me.

Big Bear Lake

We loved our visit to Big Bear last weekend. It was nice to get out of the city and just take it easy. Most of the hikes we chose to do were more "walks" than hikes so Snoops got to come with us almost everywhere. We stayed two nights at the Black Forest Lodge where we had our own little cabin with a fireplace and a jacuzzi tub. My lovely friend Debbie had us over for dinner with her and her family at their home. Our favorite restaurant was definnitely the Tearoom - very surreal and interesting experience. We did a lot of window shopping in the little village section of town - my favorite place was the candy shop where I got peanut butter and vanilla fudge - yum! Big Bear is definitely a place we will visit again when we need a restful weekend break from LA.

My New Glasses

Haven't yet got lenses put in but here's a few photos so you guys get the idea:

Chico's Angels

The best show I have seen since living in LA has to be Chico's Angels at Casita del Campo in Silverlake. The lovely Beth Leckbee-Makler, who I most recently saw performing with her improv musical theatre troupe Hit and Run - also fabulous, was featured in the last few weeks of the run of Chico's Angels part three. I am looking forward to part four next year! Seeing the show was extra special because I got to go with Alexis, Kate, Anastasia and Jenn.

Belated Halloween

For Halloween this year Kelly and I went with Hawk to the Knott's Berry Farm Halloween Haunt - very scarey! One week later we went with Bill and Stacey to the Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights - even more scarey - lots of loud chainsaws! The four of us waited in line for an hour and a half to go through the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Maze and I must say it was worth it. We plan to go back again next year.

The Go Healthy Challenge

Recently my friend Beth Leckbee-Makler and I taught dance to K-5th Graders at Gratts Elementary school in downtown LA. We were volunteers for the Go Healthy Challenge - an initiative started by the American Heart Association to get kids physically active in spite of state funding cuts that have eliminated PE classes in most schools. After an hour or so of searching around for the perfect music/idea, Beth suggested we do The Time Warp from Rocky Horror Picture Show. We agreed this was the perfect thing and found a cleaned up kids version on a halloween cd on iTunes ("but it's the way you shake it that really drives you insane" instead of "it's the pelvic thrust"). The coolness of doing The Time Warp was lost on the kids, but maybe one or two will someday watch Rocky Horror and realize how cool it really was.

First Post

Hello friends and family! Having a rare Saturday afternoon with no work or coursework. Snoops and I just went to the dog park and now it's time to go to the mall to buy gloves for our trip to Big Bear next weekend!