Diary of an Adult Runaway

Here you come again (and here I go)

So we’re only 3 days out from NaNoWriMo 2011 and the excitement’s building! I’ve been pinning one-pot and slow-cooker recipes like mad on Pinterest, and last night I did my shopping for ingredients and, I think it’s fair to say, a truckload of Diet Vanilla Coke to fuel me up. I’ve pretty much eliminated soda from my diet, except for November, when I make up for the rest of the year. Bring it on!

The other thing I’ve been doing is building my playlist. I don’t have it all, but I know the main track is The Heavy’s “How You Like Me Now?” And that could only be settled on once I knew which of the 5 ideas bouncing around my head I'd be working on. Would it be the one set in NYC/Paris? How about Seattle or Oregon or San Francisco? Nope, L.A. got the jump on everyone, and I can see the scene with “How You Like Me Now” just like a movie running in my head, along with tight shots and pans. I can see the hazy purple  light as night falls over the Griffith Observatory, illegal taco stands by the side of the road, the Vista Theater in Los Feliz, those awesome bridges that lead into Pasadena. Apart from that, I only have a rough idea of the first 3 chapters and the end, but that's all I ever really have going in and I seem to find a whole plot every time, so once again: bring it on!

Slight problem: there’s a bit of mystery to this one, but what that is is a mystery to me. Part of the fun, but will require some research—which will have to be done after NaNo, or at least during those times when I don’t have Freedom disabling my internet access. Swear to God, I’m like a bower bird, seeking out shiny pins and Facebook updates. Robyn has already vowed to kick my ass if I try to use her WiFi. To that I say: bring it!

Are you in this year? What are you working on?

Oh, oh, I can hardly wait!

So I was talking to Tamara last night when she dropped the most amazing bomb: she has become a vegetarian.

Yes, baseball fans, that's enough to make Mr. Harry Caray haul himself out of his grave and yell "Holy cow!! No more Dodger dogs?! What is this world coming to?!" I know of one Hawaiian/Korean BBQ joint in Studio City that's crying into their Supah salad. And I daren't tell Madeleine and Jean Paul for fear they'll laugh me out of town. "Shuh, right, we saw the way she wolfed down that lobster," they'll say. "Not one morceau left unsucked."

But it's all good, because she also said, "Now we can go to Inn of the Seventh Ray and I can truly appreciate it."

At which point I started hyperventilating and almost passed out from sheer bliss. Because you know what this means, boys and girls?

We're going to Topanga!!!!!

Hell, yeah! My favorite hippy-dippy magical, pirate-riddled mountain hideaway! The place where anything can happen, and probably has--at least 1003 times. The home of blue dragonflies and pigs that fly. Oh my oh my oh my! And we're going to go here:

And I shall eat the crab quiche:

And Tamara might just have the 7th Ray Burger:

Either way, I'm sure we'll both have some of the bread:

I think by far the biggest choice will be, where are we going to sit? Me, I wanna go creekside!:

Although it all looks lovely:

But should we go day or night? Being that I am partial to fairy lights...:

One thing I know is that, although the inside is lovely, I'm sure the magic happens outside. You might recognize the inside from season 1 of 24 when Jack's wife...what happened? Was she kidnapped? And wandering around the countryside and wandered in here then called a friend to come get her from here:

The Inn of the Seventh Ray serves meat and fish dishes as well, but they're well-known for their veggie, organic meals. They're also a fave spot for weddings, so we'll have to plan well. And we'll have to combine it with another outing at the Theatricum Botanicum. They're doing A Midsummer Night's Dream again this summer, which I've heard is magical in the evening. And  we'll have to do more shopping at Topanga Home Grown and maybe a class at Yoga Desa and then relax at Waterlily Café then go horseback riding (ooh! how about full moon rides?) then get a massage from the guy we met last year at Café Mimosa then I want to go down the hill to find the old M*A*S*H set then back up to find some music somewhere then, then, then....

Yeah. Okay. So I get a little irrational when it comes to Topanga. But I always feel so good there. Tamara had to drag me away last time. Good thing she did, too--those pirates were closing in. Not that she didn't enjoy herself with our impromptu drinking companions:

How could she not, after those fab 'ritas:

All hail the mighty Topanga!

As promised

Video from the Hollywood Bowl 4th of July fireworks. And, as you can hear, we quite enjoyed ourselves ;-)

As Randy Newman says, "I love L.A. (we love it!)"

Warning: suuuuuuper long post!

Ok, so let's start from the very beginning, back on July 2:

Had the sweetest ever long-distance flight, courtesy of Air France--who knew?? I had an empty seat beside me, Elvis on the iPod and, thanks to some good sleeping, 11 hours felt like 3. Never flown into California from  Europe, so going over Iceland, Greenland and the ice flows off the coast of Canada was all new. Packed lightly so I bounced off that puppy all full of vim and vigor, and got through customs, etc, in about 20 minutes flat.

"Have a good summer," the immigrations officer said and in my best Carrie Bradshaw impersonation, I chirped, "Why, thank you, sir, I will!"

Then it was out into the craziness that is the LAX white zone. After a quick call to Tamara (she thought I was coming in at 10 that night but was close by in Santa Monica, so no drama), she picked me up and we dropped off my luggage at her apartment (maaaaaassive!!) then headed for the beach where I dipped my toes into the Pacific (ahhh, Mother Ocean) then headed down the Venice boardwalk in search of margaritas. Along the way we found this:

The baby chihuahua's name was Spike and he was six weeks old, had a blue spiked collar, and felt fuzzy like those bobble-headed dash dogs. I was sure I could stow him away in my bag but I took another look at his owner and decided against it. Off again in search of margaritas and found this:

And this:

Closer up:

That's when I started to feel really good. I'd made my escape out of regimented Paris to Freakville/Whatever, Dude and I couldn't have been happier.

A few minutes later we hit margarita pay dirt in the form of the Sidewalk Cafe. It started out as a bookstore (which is still there, and the reason so many of the burgers are named after writers; I had the Larry McMurtry ) and added a restaurant on the patio, which has turned into the place to watch the people and the sunset:

 

Sigh. Happy girl.

Day 2 was spent trying on the dresses I ordered from Coldwater Creek (4 hits, 2 misses) before taking part in the American national pastime (shopping) and picking up supplies for the 4th of July picnic (cherry pie!), which was to take place at the Hollywood Bowl, where the L.A. Philharmonic was celebrating 50 years of the Dodgers in L.A.:

Only In L.A. moment: while we were waiting for the shuttle to take us to the Bowl, I saw Mickey Mouse in full 4th of July regalia crossing Hollywood Blvd. A guy coming from the opposite direction raised his hand, he and Mickey high-fived and went on their ways. These people had cool hats like Mickey's:

Me with Scott, a friend of Tamara's who's a total Jackson freak (IOW, my kinda person! We held fervent whispered Jackson/Bonnie/Warren Zevon/John Hiatt chats during lulls in the entertainment):

Tommy Lasorda was in the house, and so was Jesus:

Then along came Mr. Randy Newman hisself:

He sang You Got A Friend In Me, I Love L.A, a track off his new album, then conducted the orchestra for the theme from The Natural. I was disappointed he didn't sing Short People but he made up for it with his quips. (Conductor introducing Randy: They bred a lot of talent in his family./Randy: They also bred a lot of substance abusers.) And then, the fireworks:

They went on for ages and ages, and if I can piece together some of the video I took of it, I'll post it one day. I left kinda scared at the realization that I could sing The Star-Spangled Banner, Take Me Out To The Ballgame and I Love L.A. in full but only 1 verse of Advance Australia Fair. Hmm.

Saturday, woke up late and lazed around with Tamara and her very mellow and dry roomie, Andy, before wandering off. We had a late lunch at the Coffee Table (insanely good protein salad with turkey/avocado/walnut) in Eagle Rock then took a look through that neighborhood and Silverlake (some parts reminded me a lot of Melbourne) before going by the Greek (fan grrl moment that had me jumping up and down in my seat: one of my favorite ever albums, Neil Diamond's Hot August Night, was recorded here) and ending up here (the Griffith Observatory):

There was a line of people in front of a big-ass telescope, so of course we had to get in on the fun. Turned out we were looking at Saturn and its rings. It was such a perfect image that I blurted out "Come on, that's a sticker," scoring me a "like I haven't heard that before" from the astronomer. Dude totally loved his job and why wouldn't he, working on such cool research in a completely fabulous location:

A view of the sunset over the Hollywood Hills:

And a shot from the cafe terrace:

Totally coming back here one day, there was so much to see and do. The astronomer gave us a few tips so that later, when things were darker, we could pick out Mars and Saturn with our bare eyes. Made us feel righteous and edumacated.

Woke up early Sunday and bugged the shit out of Tamara by screeching every few minutes "We're going to Topanga!" Before we could get there, we had a breakfast appointment with Joni and Frankie at Auntie Em's Kitchen. Lively conversation over a shhhcrummy brekky and endless cuppa joe - every Sunday should begin that way. The Kitchen has a great feel, with really friendly staff and cool stained glass windows:

We ordered some cupcakes and some mango and heirloom tomato salad to go, then hit the road, aimed straight for happiness. You know when a place just feels right and you feel light when you're there? Topanga Canyon does that for me. I can smell the possibilities in the air:

 

A box car repurposed as a private bridge over Topanga Creek:

I introduced Tamara to one of my favorite stores, Topanga Homegrown, where we both dropped a little cash (have you all smelled Pacifica Candles? Mmmm!):

Then I took her next door to Waterlily Cafe for a chai:

Opposite is one of my favorite sites because Elvis was here! (Seriously. He used to buy Pepsis at that market when he was biking through the canyon.):

Sumpin' tells me these guys would have skipped the Pepsis:

We spent a little time at another great Topanga store, Hidden Treasures:

After a narrow escape from the local pirates:

Where you can get vintage clothing and linen, plus tutus in all the colors of the rainbow:

 

And where we met a joyologist, Gemini Ferrie. Friend her here!

2 o'clock, time to head for Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum:

Will Geer, you may or may not remember, was better known as Grandpa Walton. Before he landed that gig, he was blacklisted for refusing to provide information to the McCarthy witch hunts, so he supported his family by gardening and built an open-air theatre, where he could put on Shakespeare plays. He planted every type of plant mentioned in Shakespeare's plays in the garden and was planted here himself after his death in '78. Well, his ashes, at least.

Absolutely gorgeous day, so we enjoyed a lively production of As You Like It and our red velvet cupcakes. A special treat:

Yes! This puppy acted through the whole play. Afterwards he and I had a long chat, during which he told me he's very happy with his lot.

Next we headed for Abuelita's, reportedly the best margaritas in town. Not that we were excited. Much:

There was no room on the patio by the creek so we ate our meal at the bar, where we met people with cool glitter "tattoos":

Dinner over, we took our drinks and went down to the pit where, holy fucking hell, it was just like a scenein my manuscript! Just. Like. People playing guitars, screeching with laughter, hopping from one conversation to the next to the next to the next. We stayed for hours, and I would have been happy to stay all night. In fact, I had 3 offers for beds but we made our getaway. Another narrow escape from the local pirates!

Although I'd had 3 powerful margaritas, I woke early the next morning all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I had a strong dose of Topanga in my blood and was good to go. Again we went wandering and I saw this on our travels:

Alrightee then!

Our plan was to leave Wednesday but first we needed mani/pedis. We roared up for our appointment Tuesday, only to be reminded that our appointment was actually for Wednesday. Obviously too many margaritas and too much sunshine. We headed for a bookstore that revers books in a truly appropriate manner:

A classic L.A. shot:

The view along Mulholland:

The  Hollywood Bowl and I5 from above:

We were trying to figure out from here where the Hollywood sign was and determined it was off to our right. So we came around a curve and what did we see to the left:

This cross followed us everywhere: 

Down to Hollywood Blvd, where--woohoo!--I was happy to see Burn Notice is back:

Got home and lazed. Tamara and Andy are, like me, HGTV, Food Network, A&E and Bravo freaks, so we flipped channels until we found Flipping Out. I spent a good hour making fun of Jeff's lips (which constitutes a break from making fun of Scully in that damned X-Files movie commercial--"Mulder?Mulder? That woman drives me crazy!) then went into the bathroom and screamed because my lips looked like Jeff's. Turned out that the handful--yes, handful--of cashews I'd had in the afternoon were far too salted and they actually made my lips puff right up. Took 2 days to go down--serves me right for making fun of somebody--and during that time I kept staring at my Angelina pout, trying to decide if I liked it or not. So there's the secret: eat highly salted cashews and save yourself the cost of Restylane.

Wednesday was mani/pedi day, then shopping at TJ Maxx (a BCBG dress for $30, score!) and Hawaiian BBQ. Then, game time!

It was the perfect night for a ballgame:

Now, I don't profess to know much about baseball but I love the traditions. The hot dogs, the beer, the singing, catcalling, cheering. I enjoyed how Take Me Out To The Ballgame was sung halfheartedly until it came time for "so let's root, root, root" and the crowd roared "FOR THE DODGERS!" Happily, the Dodgers beat the Braves so everyone was pumped to sing I Love L.A.

Next: gettin' our kicks on Route 66.