Holiday Party Photoshoots

We went to my Talent Agency Party in a great little bar in Hollywood….we felt so fancy getting all dolled up and going out on the town.  I love visiting with the owner of Alvarado Rey, Nikkolas, he is such a great guy.  It was also fun to meet some of the other talent that I have to compete against…no scratch that…I mean, it was fun to meet the other talented actresses in my agency circle.

We had fun taking Hollywood by storm…

But, being fabulous is very hard work (note sarcasm), it tired us out…

We actually ended the evening early to go get burgers and fries from the closest “In and Out”. YUM

The couple that owns the company that Lonney works for, held his Christmas party at their new home.   I was a bit stressed, as we all had to bring a dish to share and there was a competition for the best homemade contribution.  Most of the employees who work for California Green Designs are Persian or Egyptian, and they cook really, really, really, yummy food, so I knew I was out that competition before I even decided what I was going to make.  I took a pretty easy out and made a simple creamed corn dish and two pumpkin pies.  The evening started out smoothly, well…because the party was only a few blocks away, so it was a quick little drive over to the event.  But, once we got there, I grabbed my carefully, oh so carefully, prepared pies out of the car and headed into the house.  On the way, one of Lonney’s co-workers accidentally bumped my arm and down, I mean face down, on the gravel driveway, went one of the pies. I was devastated.  Then, a few seconds later, another one of his co-workers pulled up and ran over my pie, giving it a proper burial.  So, we laughed, because that’s about all we could do. As predicted, I didn’t win a prize for my cooking, but I did win the prize for the best dressed!  $50.00!  I don’t know if everyone felt sorry for me and my pie, or if it was because I looked pretty festive (ridiculously festive), regardless of the reason, I accepted the award and bragged about it all the way home.  I guess the voting was pretty close between Lonney and I for the prize….but it doesn’t matter if you win by 1 or 20, it just matters that you win, right?

Whoa…

Time is flying by…

I was working, unpacking, trying to get our new place organized.  This last month has been packed with visitors, Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, and so we’ve been busy trying to get back into a routine.  We still have at least one moment each day where we can’t find something that we’ve unpacked….which usually takes no less than 20 minutes to find.  But, we are really enjoying the condo, having more space, and living so close to where we….well, I guess just Lonney for now (my gig at the law firm is up)….work.  It’s nice to have the extra hour or so, that the commute home from work took, before we moved.

We attended an evening Tango Lesson & Wine Party. Tango takes a lot of concentration.  This is us before we realized the effect two hours of Tango has on a person.  It was a fun evening though, but I’ve already forgotten my moves and steps!

We hosted Thanksgiving Dinner.  My Aunt Marian, and cousins came up from Del Mar, CA.  It was the first time I had cooked a huge meal like that for guests.  I still don’t know if it was fluke that it all turned out pretty good, or if I am actually learning how to manage a kitchen.

and….to wrap up November, Lonney turned 33.

Moon River

I am working in a law office, again.  I’m doing accounting, again.  I’m not an accountant.  I do know their system though, and it’s just a short term position, so I thought, why not?  It’s actually not a bad situation.  I have my own little office, where I plug away all day.  My co-workers seem nice enough, and it’s quite a bit more organized than the last firm I worked in.

These attorneys love to celebrate Halloween.  I was told I better dress up.  I scrambled to find something to wear, as our new place is a bit unorganized.

It’s probably not a surprise that I own quite a few cocktail dresses and gowns.  I decided to utilize one of them, and make a half hearted attempt at Audrey Hepburn.  I wish I would’ve had more time to work on my costume.  I feel bad not giving her the attention she deserves.  But, I dressed up, thus keeping the law firm from torturing me in the conference room at lunch.  The last thing I needed was to be put on the stand and grilled about why I blew off such an important holiday at Hemar, Rousso, and Heald.

 

Not-So-Smooth Move

a) Our first movers called last-minute, in an earlier move they had wrecked their truck.  We had 10 mins. before we had to pick up our couch…really…it HAD to be picked up and that was it.  Lonney scrambled but remained calm. He figured out how to get the couch, and we got that moved.  Too bad the rest of our furniture had to wait.  Also, it was too bad that we were counting on these guys, because we had our entire fridge emptied into a cooler.  What a mess.  At least we had the couch to sleep on.

b) We had until Sunday evening to pick up our fridge.  We found a mover to hire for Sunday.  He ended up running several hours late.  In fact, too late to be of any help to us.  Lonney scrambled but remained calm.  He figured out how to get the fridge to our new place.  We hired two different guys to move it last-minute.  At 10:00 pm on Sunday night, we have a couch and fridge, but still our furniture was stuck in our old apartment.  At least we had the couch to sleep on and finally some food in our apartment.

c) We scheduled another mover for Tuesday night.  I was to meet them and direct the move.  It just so happened we had a huge windstorm in LA that evening.  I pulled up to the apartment.  The street was closed down, an electrical line had been blown down.  Where would the movers park?  How would they see?  No electricity in the neighborhood.  We’d have to execute the move in the pitch dark.   At least the street reopened, our movers could park near the entrance to our building.  I was at the end of my rope with this stress.  I didn’t care what it took to get it done.  The two movers started hauling out our furniture, and so did I.  My arms were tired, I couldn’t see at all in the stairwell, but I was bound and determined to get our things moved….finally.    We hauled our stuff out, packed it in the moving truck, unpacked the moving truck at the new place, all three of us hauled it all into the new condo, and finally….finally….finally…. it was over.

Did I mention that I started working full-time during this week as well?

 Did I mention that Lonney had a huge Solar conference all week too?  He was out-of-town for most of the week.

But, we got through it.  We are now in the process of putting our stuff away in the new place.   We cleaned out the old apartment last Saturday.  We said our goodbyes, after almost 4 years in that place, we have lots of good memories.  It was our home and as much as I won’t miss it, I’ll still miss it.

So Long Koreatown….

Packing up our stuff.

Moving up to the Tarzana in the Valley, where we’ll be much closer to Lonney’s office.

So like,whatever, I think, like, that totally makes me, like, a valley girl or something.  Sooooooo like, see you all, like, at the mall or something.

Outtie.

Skol Vikings

I picked up a few plants for Lonney’s office, he wanted a little more “life” in his space I guess.

I also picked up a few more flowers for one of my flower pots.  It’s my shout out to the Minnesota Vikings.  Most of you know, that we are both pretty big football fans, and I’m even worse than Lonney.

We usually go to church on Sunday mornings.  The last two weekends,  as the service is starting to come to an end, I find myself plotting out our quickest exit and our fastest route home.  We go to the early service, but we still miss the first 20 mins. of the game when it starts at 10am here in Los Angeles.  I guess that the big guy up in the sky is happy that I am willing to sacrifice the kick-off to spend a few moments in prayer, because so far, the Vikings are looking like a winning team!  Last Sunday, I noticed I wasn’t the only one trying to get out of the chapel pretty quick.  There were two men and myself, speed walking to the parking lot.   I think all of  us had the same purpose in mind as we raced against the clock: get home before the 1st quarter ends.  This would be much easier if our spouses would just be able to keep up!

We Don’t See It….

In the last few weeks we’ve had several people either say to us:  a) are you two brother and sister?  or  b) you two look so much like siblings.

Do married couples start to look like each other?  Are we morphing into each other?

It’s totally weird.

Labor Day Weekend Show

We went up to Big Bear Lake, which is in the San Bernardino Mtns., about 90 miles or so from our home.  What a difference 90 miles makes.  Big Bear is a cute little town.  There are several ski resorts right in town, along with a lovely lake, so it’s the best of both worlds.  We walked down to the “Village” area a couple of times for dinner, hit the beach, went hiking, and we just had to try the Alpine Slide.  We also took full advantage of not having to do anything.  Lonney & I don’t have cable at home, so when we get the chance, we also like to allow ourselves time to soak in all those channels we don’t normally watch.  It felt like luxury to us….and it also felt good to breathe in some fresh air.

Little Cabin with a Little Fireplace

Method #2

Lonney also made some homemade “Anniversary Wop”.  He invented it & he named it.

Fresh Pineapple, cut up, soaked in a little rum, chilled….

A slice of Pineapple in a glass….add some ginger/lemon juice….

Finish off with a bit of champagne….

And you have a refreshing little cocktail…..bubbly with a little bite and with some fresh fruit to boot.

This method is also a tried and true way to cool down.  It makes it easier to survive some extremely hot temps., among other things….

Cheers!

Oven

The air is full of smoke.  I can hardly watch the news coverage on the Los Angeles area fires, it’s just so sad to see the destruction and the firefighters who are out battling in these conditions.  It’s going to cool down on Friday, but for the last week our thermometer has looked like this:

It normally doesn’t get this hot in the area of Los Angeles where we live.  I took this photo at 10:30am.  We did cool off at the beach one day.  One day we locked ourselves in our air-conditioned bedroom and spent a lazy Sat. afternoon reading our books.  We also have been making sure to eat a lot of ice cream to cool off, which meant a special trip to the store to restock our ice cream supply.  Lonney insisted that this method of eating ice cream would help us through these hot temperatures AND horrible air conditions (does ice cream make it easier to breathe?).  We are making it through though, so I guess maybe he was right about the “New York Super Fudge Chunk” & the “Caramelized Hazelnut” mandatory purchases.