Fun with the Critter

Window Shopping on Rodeo

In addition to sharing the sights above that I have for you today, I would also like to add a couple of things I learned last week:
* Social media has power and Moms need to wield it wisely, thank you Jessica Gottlieb
* The Coldwater Canyon Park stream is NOT slippery – it’s FUN!
* I can multitask exercise, dog walking, and sharing the Rodeo Window Shopping experience with y’all if I wait until midnight after the boys have gone to sleep – special thanks from my perfect Husband goes out to Alfred for bodyguard duty!
* My theory of “just showing up when I say I will” still always pays off.

I am now going to prepare for a contest that I really want to win – for the World’s Most Perfect diamonds! You’ll be able to vote for me to win or add your own entry… I don’t mind the competition 😉

I grew up in a landscape of lush green grass and towering trees – the climate would allow a few nice flowering plants, like azaleas, camellias, hydrangeas, and gardenias, but the Southern gardener would have to work really hard to get roses to bloom as rampantly as they do here in my neighborhood. I took every photo of the roses you see above while taking the daily constitutional with the Critter. I have to knock on the doors of some of our neighbors’ houses and introduce the Critter and myself so that we don’t get arrested for trespassing. Some of the yards are so inviting – if I were the Critter’s age I would be certain that there were a few fairies and trolls hiding on the petals. I was once interviewed for a very interesting article on roses in Beverly Hills Design and Life by Patricia Lamkin, and you can read it here.

See the whole broadcast!

As I mentioned in my previous post, My Perfect Husband and the Critter had boys’ night last night so Mom could go check out this Chris Mann person as the final event of the 5 Minutes for Mom Ultimate Block Party ’10. Immediate reactions? He is disarmingly charming, smolderingly handsome, and seriously talented. I was thrilled to be able to sit about two feet from him while he performed a live stream concert for the blogosphere – and he can really work those tunes. He clearly is a person who embodies craft – the music and rhythm flow naturally from him, as easily as his conversation. I think if he didn’t have the keyboard and the tracks it wouldn’t matter – he could just snap his fingers along with that voice and we’d love to listen.

Over dinner after the show Chris and I discovered that we attend the same church (when I attend, that is), and that he went to Vanderbilt and that he lives in a Melrose Place type apartment building with lots of the young creative types supporting one another. He says he’s not much of a clubber, but he has his two gal pals to clue him in when it’s cool. All you Glee fans, get ready, Chris is coming – watch out!

Thanks so much Chris, for sharing this with me, and thanks to Barbara of One2One and 5 Minutes for Mom Network for sponsoring such a cool event!

Tonight I am going to Genghis Cohen, a place I have been many times to eat firecracker shrimp, to drink cocktails, and see live music. The first time I went there was for a private party with one of my fabulous vendors from NEWH when I was a newbie designer in town. I wasn’t sure of what to expect, but it’s pretty self explanatory – it’s a Jewish / Chinese Restaurant with a rocker bar music venue. All good things! I have memories of a terrific night when I took my husband to see Sean G. play at Genghis when we were dating. That was the first time my friends met the man I would marry about a year later, a man I met on the internet, who I now refer to as my Perfect Husband (he really is – I have to remind him of that tonight). So today I ponder this whole Genghis Cohen – meeting people for the first time paradigm as I gear up to go to there tonight to meet people I’ve never met.

In four short hours I will be attending a special performance by Chris Mann to the women of the Ultimate Blog Party. I can’t begin to explain how this all worked out, but I am strangely excited to meet these gals – it reminds me of internet dating! No doubt there will be more to report on this…

Video from my fave local singer/songwriter, Sean Galuszka‘s band at the Dakota Lounge. This is my favorite song from his new cd Gravity.

Ariste, one of my coolest CityMommies hasn’t been able to have cocktail time with us since the New Year. This is because she has been working her already svelte tail off co-chairing the annual gala for her rocking son Alex’s school, Laurel Hall. The gala will have a cool “passport to the world” theme this year, and costumes from the partygoers heritage are enthusiastically encouraged. Also encouraged – bidding on the terrific auction items that are available – everything from Disney resort packages to autographed copies of CSI and Melrose Place scripts – not the average school auction! If you can’t make the gala, bid on some of the cool stuff – it’s for a great cause, and maybe once this event is over, Ariste will relax and have drinks with us again!

It’s mornings like these that I am happy I went through the hell of remodeling and moving – I can work peacefully and the Critter can enjoy his “projects”. His work is very important, you know…

I had two celebrity experiences with her. She gave me the “peace” at All Saints Episcopal Church one Easter; and another when she pulled out in front of me on Bedford Drive and I honked at her and she shook her fist at me. I also heard her husband talking to her on the phone one day at Dalton’s Books – he was so sweet to her, they were really in love.

Long Live Joolya Sugabaker!

Cintra Wilson’s account of her visit to the new Lilly Pulitzer store is truly priceless. I laughed out loud plenty of times at her apt descriptions of My People.

I think I’ll let the photos tell the story – around here it’s pretty much been great weather, fun playdates and beginning Easter traditions…