Yesterday was Loz's 25th birthday and we had such a random, full day that it definetely deserves its own special post...
I started it at Gary's box aerobics class in order to balance out the badness I knew I'd be doing to my body later on, the music playlist was dedicated to Michael Jackson (of course!) and 9 minutes of skipping to Billie Jean was hardcore but fun.
After the class Chris, Loz and I picked up some crisps and wine and set off for Lizzie and Albert's pool party in Newport. It's really heating up here in Cali so the idea of lounging around on lilos all day was very appealing and we had an awesome day messing around in the water and munching BBQ food. A highlight was the amazing bomb I did in the deep end, really tucked myself in!
At around 6pm we brought out some mini frosted cupcakes, sung happy birthday to Loz and watched the ridiculously drunk (Lizzle and Albert) try to break their necks doing handstands on the diving board. At this point the rest of us were all sober so i've no idea how they got into that state...probably had something to do with Jack Daniels on the rocks.
By 9pm it had already felt like a really full day and we all had that post sun drenched tiredness about us. There was no room for sleep though and we drove down onto the peninsular where all the bars are. We were supposed to be staying at this guy Jim's house so dumped all the bedding there and started walking to the action.
We had been warned not to go to 'Sharkees' but were rejected from the first bar we walked into for not having a passport with us (ridiculous!) so went to...Sharkees. It was pretty bad, filled with arrogant teenage clones and smelled of sick.
After drinking a glass of almost pure vodka, we ran to the nearest emergency exit and found our way to a much better venue called The District. With more Michael Jackson drowning out the American accents around me I got the second round in and we started taking the obligatory 'night out' photos, good banter!
There seems to be a bit of a blank space in the memory now but I know it involves Loz buying me drinks I didn't need and lots of shouting and meeting new faces.
The next thing I know it's 2am and me and my new American buddies are being ushered out of the bar and onto the sidewalk. Everyone was feeling in need of some grease and we took the last 15 pieces of pizza off the guy selling them out of a hole in the wall, haggled 15 slices for $10!
Some more stuff happened like talking to an arrogant guy about his oversized truck and running into a coffee shop to blag a free quadruple espresso and just when I thought the night had ended it got really weird.
I was walking back along the ocean boardwalk, the guys 200 meters behind me, when I noticed some kind of party happening in a big house right there on the beach. The next thing I know the owner (Doug, 50ish, overweight, greying) comes running out and invites me in to his house...everyone else had suddenly dissappeared and the situation screamed 'DODGY'!
I waited for the other two, much to Dougs disappointment, and being spontanious we went in to check his pad out.
Oh....my......god. This guy was loaded. He had a 60 gallon fish tank above the fireplace in the lounge, I think there may have been some kind of baby shark in there and the mercedes SL 600 in the garage was very shiny. Then he cracked open a 2002 $160 bottle of wine and gave us a grand tour, It turned out he'd designed and built the 4 storey place himself as well.
When we got to the roof we found a steaming hot jacuzzi waiting and music blaring away, the opportunity was too good for Chris and Loz and they stripped down to boxers and jumped right in! Being accutely aware of Dougs probable intentions and creepy stares I stayed in full clubbing clothing and just got soaked. Chris, loz and I chatted for a while about how the hell we'd ended up in a complete random's hot tub on a roof in Newport and then....the piece de resistance........Doug appears on the roof top, framed and backlit in the doorway by his designer lighting.........completely NUDE.
I am NOT even joking. He seemed to think we were all going to strip off but oh no, he was definetely the only one.
He climbed in next to Loz and Chris (thank god) and I spent the next 2 hours avoiding his wondering wrinkly toes. EUGH.
As the sun began to rise we hot footed it away from Doug and ran straight across the sand and into the sea. It was one of those still, calm mornings and as I stared out into the cloudy horizon it felt like it was just us and nature right there and then. (If you think my writing's taken on a cheesy undertone it's because i'm watching Independence Day)
There's nothing worse than going to bed when the sun's come up so we went to Jims, got the bedding and drove straight back to our flat in Long Beach to recover. Today I feel as if I have half the brain cells I did yesterday :/ Oh well, what's life if it isn't random!?
Monday 29 June 2009
Friday 26 June 2009
Sunsets, Palms and Kiting
I've got it! The bug is caught!
Today was my third day in a row in the sea with my kite and i'm up and riding the board :D....sort of! I've had a face full of American water a number of times but i'm getting the hang and totally buzzing from it! There's a strange vibe down at Belmont Beach, it's very cliquey (like all sports) but I seem to have found myself in amongst the right locals. Hank (who sold me my kit) has been watching over me and giving guidance and generally all is very exciting and well. Woohoo, bring on the 30ft jumps....not!
We've had a really great week, we were both in need of some serious snooze time after our recent mayhem and its been nice lying in till 10am most days. Last Friday when Spence and Christina were still here I finally managed to pick up my board from Nudge down at Huntington and spent the day admiring and stroking it. It wasn't the nicest of days so after mooching around a little crafts market in the area we began the long and tedious wait for the number 1 bus home.
Less that 10 minutes later a mini cooper convertible comes zooming up next to us and it's Ashley (who lives in our building) offering us a lift, score! Thank god the journey was only 20 minutes because we squeezed 5 people, 6 bags, one bodyboard and one kite kit into that mini and were completely overflowing and very illegal at the same time.
Not much happened in the evening but thought I should mention that we indulged in a bit of Kevin Bacon in The River Wild. What a classic.
On Saturday Ashley took me to her extremely fancy and expensive gym in Newport for a pretty tough yoga class. Apparently this is where all the celebs go but I'm yet to be treated to a star sweating it out on the cross trainer. Equinox is 100% the nicest gym i've been to and if I lived here i'd probably end up with a membership too. Everything was just sooo plush, even the changing rooms had a spa feel to them with hand laid mosaic tiles, spotless glass and polished chrome everywhere.
After our morning sesh Chris, Loz, Spence, Christina and I packed our bags and headed out the door to Hollywood for our one big night out. Being on a budget we decided we'd only do this once so we checked into Le Parc, a boutique hotel on the edge of Beverly Hills (just about affordable between 5 :/) and got into the white fluffy robes provided to make us feel more expensive than we are.
The hotel had tennis courts, a pool and jacuzzi on the roof which was pretty bling but we arrived fairly late in the day so just a mini dip as the sun went down before getting ready for the night ahead. We'd brought half of Chris's liquor cabinet with us to save on buying booze out which was a good thing as the drinks on Sunset Strip were not cheap, trust me!
We'd decided to make Chateau Marmont and The Villa our destinations for the night and all was good. We even met Kimberley Walsh (Girls Allowed) who was friendly although I felt I had more in common with her boyfriend as we got deep in discussion about 24.
The next day we hit Venice beach which was a cross between Brighton and Soho on speed. Loads of weirdos, loads of artists, loads of stalls and shops, very cool. We found a fashionable juice/panini retro type of bar on the beach and sipped sangria while people watching and topping up the tan. On the way back past the freak shows and muscle beach workout pit I even found a wig stall and saw what i'd look like with jet black hair and a fringe. Answer = not great.
Everyone was knackered by the time we got back to Belmont but we happened to drive past a random hippy festival going on on the beach and what's life without spontaneity so took a detour to check it out.
There were a few different open air tents (gazebos with floaty coloured muslin attatched) playing different types of music. Some had small stages with bands on and others Dj's playing to the dreadlocked barefooted type.
That night as Chris, Kerin (his boyfriend) and I sat on a rug on the sand watching the sun setting and silhouettes of palm trees getting darker I thought how can life get much better!
Today was my third day in a row in the sea with my kite and i'm up and riding the board :D....sort of! I've had a face full of American water a number of times but i'm getting the hang and totally buzzing from it! There's a strange vibe down at Belmont Beach, it's very cliquey (like all sports) but I seem to have found myself in amongst the right locals. Hank (who sold me my kit) has been watching over me and giving guidance and generally all is very exciting and well. Woohoo, bring on the 30ft jumps....not!
We've had a really great week, we were both in need of some serious snooze time after our recent mayhem and its been nice lying in till 10am most days. Last Friday when Spence and Christina were still here I finally managed to pick up my board from Nudge down at Huntington and spent the day admiring and stroking it. It wasn't the nicest of days so after mooching around a little crafts market in the area we began the long and tedious wait for the number 1 bus home.
Less that 10 minutes later a mini cooper convertible comes zooming up next to us and it's Ashley (who lives in our building) offering us a lift, score! Thank god the journey was only 20 minutes because we squeezed 5 people, 6 bags, one bodyboard and one kite kit into that mini and were completely overflowing and very illegal at the same time.
Not much happened in the evening but thought I should mention that we indulged in a bit of Kevin Bacon in The River Wild. What a classic.
On Saturday Ashley took me to her extremely fancy and expensive gym in Newport for a pretty tough yoga class. Apparently this is where all the celebs go but I'm yet to be treated to a star sweating it out on the cross trainer. Equinox is 100% the nicest gym i've been to and if I lived here i'd probably end up with a membership too. Everything was just sooo plush, even the changing rooms had a spa feel to them with hand laid mosaic tiles, spotless glass and polished chrome everywhere.
After our morning sesh Chris, Loz, Spence, Christina and I packed our bags and headed out the door to Hollywood for our one big night out. Being on a budget we decided we'd only do this once so we checked into Le Parc, a boutique hotel on the edge of Beverly Hills (just about affordable between 5 :/) and got into the white fluffy robes provided to make us feel more expensive than we are.
The hotel had tennis courts, a pool and jacuzzi on the roof which was pretty bling but we arrived fairly late in the day so just a mini dip as the sun went down before getting ready for the night ahead. We'd brought half of Chris's liquor cabinet with us to save on buying booze out which was a good thing as the drinks on Sunset Strip were not cheap, trust me!
We'd decided to make Chateau Marmont and The Villa our destinations for the night and all was good. We even met Kimberley Walsh (Girls Allowed) who was friendly although I felt I had more in common with her boyfriend as we got deep in discussion about 24.
The next day we hit Venice beach which was a cross between Brighton and Soho on speed. Loads of weirdos, loads of artists, loads of stalls and shops, very cool. We found a fashionable juice/panini retro type of bar on the beach and sipped sangria while people watching and topping up the tan. On the way back past the freak shows and muscle beach workout pit I even found a wig stall and saw what i'd look like with jet black hair and a fringe. Answer = not great.
Everyone was knackered by the time we got back to Belmont but we happened to drive past a random hippy festival going on on the beach and what's life without spontaneity so took a detour to check it out.
There were a few different open air tents (gazebos with floaty coloured muslin attatched) playing different types of music. Some had small stages with bands on and others Dj's playing to the dreadlocked barefooted type.
That night as Chris, Kerin (his boyfriend) and I sat on a rug on the sand watching the sun setting and silhouettes of palm trees getting darker I thought how can life get much better!
Monday was a chill day and Loz and I went to Best Buy to look at getting this damn computer fixed. They said they could....for $200. No way, see you later Best Buy. That afternoon we sunbathed on Belmont and bought some 'all american' burgers from our local take out, they're good value and fairly healthy!
Tues, Weds and Thurs I have been kitesurfing everyday. The wind has been fairly strong and I'm getting over my fear of looking like an idiot infront of the other 40 kiters on the water. It's a bit like being in spaghetti junction on the water, with no control over your vehicle. I try to stay in the slow lane but I'm all over the place!
That's about it for this week, It's Loz's birthday on Saturday so I think we're going down to Chris's friends house in Newport for a pool/bbq party in the day and then out in Newport that night. Sunday we're going to rent some kayaks and potter about in the marina.
I hear the UK weather will be getting hot in the next week so have a lovely time out in the sun :D
Thursday 18 June 2009
Do Opposites Attract?
Helloooo!
We're back from our 4 day vacation within a vacation and I'm writing this overdue post on a virus ridden laptop in safe mode...not ideal but it'll have to do. I've got a feeling Loz and I may have got a bit keen on the downloading front and invited the bug onto Chris's property with a golden invitation, oops.
A lot has happened in the last week, the days are flying by but we're ticking off things we've wanted to do and that's all good. Last week was a bit of a mish mash of beach days and downtown exploration. I've discovered how hard it is to cycle with a 9m kite, wetsuit, beach bag, board and harness on my back and look like an overloaded Mexican donkey.
I also experienced some nasty sun burn that looked like Picasso and Pollock had an argument on my right leg and threw the results down in angry abstract red splodges, that wasn't too cool either.
On a better note Loz and I have pinned down our movements between July 19th - July 24th when we'll be driving to San Fran on costal road highway 1, road trip time! We decided we wanted to rent something inconspicuous and understated so have gone for a Ford Mustang convertible to cruise around in :D.....We'll be leaving LA on the 19th and spending the following two nights up the coast in Pismo Beach and Monterey Bay (in the cheapest motels possible).
Last Wednesday and Thursday we spent the evening getting our camping things together and going to budget food stores to load up on snacks and just generally nasty food for the body and then on Friday it was bon voyage and off to three separate canyons and Las Vegas via California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah (really backward serial killer type state). It took around 4 hours to get to our stop over in Vegas and we were all knackered so bundled into the Mexican style motel and collapsed in front of the film Chuckie. Not ideal viewing but oh well.
Saturday's early morning start began with a coffee hunt and then the second 3 hours of the drive began. This time we were off to set up camp in Duck Creek, a site close to Bryce Canyon in the wooded hills of Utah. Once we left the desert and started climbing the tree lined mountains the scenery got spectacular. Jagged horizons, rocky overhangs and splashes of green surrounding lakes in the crevices.
Chris had just had his satellite radio connected for the trip and we had over 400 music channels to choose from so I chose 'Cinemagic', a station playing classical film scores which really completed the filmic experience I felt we were getting. There's nothing like the feeling of pretending to conduct the Batman score while soaring over the skyline!
Eventually we arrived at Bryce Canyon. Not many people have visited this one as it's a little off the radar so we impressed the local nature enthusiasts as we roamed around. Bryce is made from bright red rock and from above looks like a Crystal Maze game formed out of thousands of stalagmites. I thought I had done well dressed in my jeans, trainers and shell jacket, but obviously not well enough as the rain storm ten minutes earlier had turned the downhill foot trail into a steep, thick red muddy bum trail which it turned out I was not suitably dressed for.
We had loads of fun though and attempted to jog the near vertical uphill mile on the way back up. Notice use of the word, attempted!
There's loads more I could go into but this is a blog not a novel so after Bryce we returned to camp and successfully lit a massive bonfire to do voodoo dances around and burn marshmallows. I was really pleased with our pitch, it was nicely hidden from others by a circle of pine trees and came with a picnic bench and fire pit.
The temperature dropped fast after sundown and I prayed I wouldn't have to break the 'heat seal' of my sleeping bag in the middle of the night for a bathroom break...but I did, damn. Loz also had an almost entirely sleepless night by visualising all the ways an axe murderer would capture and torture us, or a bear rip us apart. Nice!
Sunday was utterly chaotic, we packed up and drove the miles and miles to the Grand Canyon as it's something you've got to do! It was great, fantastic views and sooooo huge. I don't think we had gone to the 'best' viewing point on North Rim but it was still totally amazing :)
Then on the way back to Vegas we took quite a large detour and went to Zion. 'What? The capital city in the Matrix?' I hear you say. No, a third state park in Utah which was also mind blowing. I really felt like I was in Jurassic Park, all gigantic, oversized rocks with pinky red tones.
Getting back to civilization (if that's what you can call the madness that is Vegas) was a relief and we got straight into the spirit of things by meeting up with Spencer and Christina (friends from the UK) and out into a club. Spence and Christina had been extremely kind and let us crash in their hotel room for a couple of days for free...what we didn’t realise was that they were staying at the 'Paris' hotel right in the heart of the strip, an amazinggggggg blag!
We found a tout offering heavily discounted entry into all the big high end clubs and managed to get passes into Pure and Jet for $5 each when it would have been $30 each on the door, woohoo. So that night we headed out to Pure club in Caesars Palace and as I stood on it's roof top bar listening to some tunes and sipping a drink I felt pretty damn good!
The next day (being Monday) was spent at the Paris pool in the morning and then the Hard Rock Hotel pool in the afternoon. Paris's offering seemed a little tame and we were after some Vegas action so after hearing Hard Rock was for the 'younger lot' we taxied down their way. I don't really know how to explain what we found there...it was just nuts. The pool itself was GREAT, kinda tropical vibe with palms and a fake beach leading into the water. There were cabana beds for hire ($500 upwards just so you know!), poker tables under waterfalls and a stage with DJ's pumping out house. But i've NEVER seen anything like the clientele there was at this place before. I would say 99% of the girls had silicone valley implants and a serious case of tango body (fake tan) and 99% of the men were complete meat head posers checking themselves out every 30 seconds.
The whole afternoon was spent checking everyone out while they checked everyone else out while they checked themselves out before checking some other people out. It was exhibitionism to the max and not a place to go if you're insecure!
That evening we went to the Jet club, our passes meant we had to be in by midnight so we arrived at 11.30pm thinking we'd be ok. The line was virtually out of the Mirage door and the bouncers were smirking at us so knowing action had to be taken asap I attempted blag number 3 by strolling straight to the front of the guest list queue saying the concierge had called ahead to put us on the list and if we weren’t on it then there was a mistake. Obviously we weren’t on it but I managed to get 5 free entry passes with a wink and a smile. I then spent the next two hours on the podium dancing and being filmed for MTV haha!!
By Tuesday to say we were struggling was a huge understatement. We popped into the Bellagio where Oceans Eleven was filmed and suddenly felt very poor, it was beyond luxurious. Then we went to the most amazing all you can eat Sushi buffet which had unlimited choice and was sooooooooooo gooooood. Love it :D
After lunch we needed some urgent chill time and made our way over to the MGM Grand pool to check it out. We happened to walk into blag 4 by picking up some random guest passes that got us into their pool party called Wet Republic. It meant free entry and was awesome, a much better vibe than the pretentiousness of Hard Rock. We just chilled on chairs in the water listening to good music and feeling the sun on our skin. That evening we said our goodbyes to Spencer and Christina (till Thurs when they're coming to Long Beach to stay) and began the long drive home to LA.....via Carl's Junior, the best burger and fries joint in the world.
That brings us to yesterday where we slept for 11 hours straight and went to The Library in the evening, our local coffee house for a frappucchino. And today where Loz and I took the bus down the coast to Laguna Beach for a day in the sun and waves. Spence and his sis have just arrived so we've lit a fire in the pit and are sipping some wine before things get crazy again. We're off to Hollywood this weekend.
So after two days camping and two days in Las Vegas I guess it's fair to say opposites really do attract!
We're back from our 4 day vacation within a vacation and I'm writing this overdue post on a virus ridden laptop in safe mode...not ideal but it'll have to do. I've got a feeling Loz and I may have got a bit keen on the downloading front and invited the bug onto Chris's property with a golden invitation, oops.
A lot has happened in the last week, the days are flying by but we're ticking off things we've wanted to do and that's all good. Last week was a bit of a mish mash of beach days and downtown exploration. I've discovered how hard it is to cycle with a 9m kite, wetsuit, beach bag, board and harness on my back and look like an overloaded Mexican donkey.
I also experienced some nasty sun burn that looked like Picasso and Pollock had an argument on my right leg and threw the results down in angry abstract red splodges, that wasn't too cool either.
On a better note Loz and I have pinned down our movements between July 19th - July 24th when we'll be driving to San Fran on costal road highway 1, road trip time! We decided we wanted to rent something inconspicuous and understated so have gone for a Ford Mustang convertible to cruise around in :D.....We'll be leaving LA on the 19th and spending the following two nights up the coast in Pismo Beach and Monterey Bay (in the cheapest motels possible).
Last Wednesday and Thursday we spent the evening getting our camping things together and going to budget food stores to load up on snacks and just generally nasty food for the body and then on Friday it was bon voyage and off to three separate canyons and Las Vegas via California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah (really backward serial killer type state). It took around 4 hours to get to our stop over in Vegas and we were all knackered so bundled into the Mexican style motel and collapsed in front of the film Chuckie. Not ideal viewing but oh well.
Saturday's early morning start began with a coffee hunt and then the second 3 hours of the drive began. This time we were off to set up camp in Duck Creek, a site close to Bryce Canyon in the wooded hills of Utah. Once we left the desert and started climbing the tree lined mountains the scenery got spectacular. Jagged horizons, rocky overhangs and splashes of green surrounding lakes in the crevices.
Chris had just had his satellite radio connected for the trip and we had over 400 music channels to choose from so I chose 'Cinemagic', a station playing classical film scores which really completed the filmic experience I felt we were getting. There's nothing like the feeling of pretending to conduct the Batman score while soaring over the skyline!
Eventually we arrived at Bryce Canyon. Not many people have visited this one as it's a little off the radar so we impressed the local nature enthusiasts as we roamed around. Bryce is made from bright red rock and from above looks like a Crystal Maze game formed out of thousands of stalagmites. I thought I had done well dressed in my jeans, trainers and shell jacket, but obviously not well enough as the rain storm ten minutes earlier had turned the downhill foot trail into a steep, thick red muddy bum trail which it turned out I was not suitably dressed for.
We had loads of fun though and attempted to jog the near vertical uphill mile on the way back up. Notice use of the word, attempted!
There's loads more I could go into but this is a blog not a novel so after Bryce we returned to camp and successfully lit a massive bonfire to do voodoo dances around and burn marshmallows. I was really pleased with our pitch, it was nicely hidden from others by a circle of pine trees and came with a picnic bench and fire pit.
The temperature dropped fast after sundown and I prayed I wouldn't have to break the 'heat seal' of my sleeping bag in the middle of the night for a bathroom break...but I did, damn. Loz also had an almost entirely sleepless night by visualising all the ways an axe murderer would capture and torture us, or a bear rip us apart. Nice!
Sunday was utterly chaotic, we packed up and drove the miles and miles to the Grand Canyon as it's something you've got to do! It was great, fantastic views and sooooo huge. I don't think we had gone to the 'best' viewing point on North Rim but it was still totally amazing :)
Then on the way back to Vegas we took quite a large detour and went to Zion. 'What? The capital city in the Matrix?' I hear you say. No, a third state park in Utah which was also mind blowing. I really felt like I was in Jurassic Park, all gigantic, oversized rocks with pinky red tones.
Getting back to civilization (if that's what you can call the madness that is Vegas) was a relief and we got straight into the spirit of things by meeting up with Spencer and Christina (friends from the UK) and out into a club. Spence and Christina had been extremely kind and let us crash in their hotel room for a couple of days for free...what we didn’t realise was that they were staying at the 'Paris' hotel right in the heart of the strip, an amazinggggggg blag!
We found a tout offering heavily discounted entry into all the big high end clubs and managed to get passes into Pure and Jet for $5 each when it would have been $30 each on the door, woohoo. So that night we headed out to Pure club in Caesars Palace and as I stood on it's roof top bar listening to some tunes and sipping a drink I felt pretty damn good!
The next day (being Monday) was spent at the Paris pool in the morning and then the Hard Rock Hotel pool in the afternoon. Paris's offering seemed a little tame and we were after some Vegas action so after hearing Hard Rock was for the 'younger lot' we taxied down their way. I don't really know how to explain what we found there...it was just nuts. The pool itself was GREAT, kinda tropical vibe with palms and a fake beach leading into the water. There were cabana beds for hire ($500 upwards just so you know!), poker tables under waterfalls and a stage with DJ's pumping out house. But i've NEVER seen anything like the clientele there was at this place before. I would say 99% of the girls had silicone valley implants and a serious case of tango body (fake tan) and 99% of the men were complete meat head posers checking themselves out every 30 seconds.
The whole afternoon was spent checking everyone out while they checked everyone else out while they checked themselves out before checking some other people out. It was exhibitionism to the max and not a place to go if you're insecure!
That evening we went to the Jet club, our passes meant we had to be in by midnight so we arrived at 11.30pm thinking we'd be ok. The line was virtually out of the Mirage door and the bouncers were smirking at us so knowing action had to be taken asap I attempted blag number 3 by strolling straight to the front of the guest list queue saying the concierge had called ahead to put us on the list and if we weren’t on it then there was a mistake. Obviously we weren’t on it but I managed to get 5 free entry passes with a wink and a smile. I then spent the next two hours on the podium dancing and being filmed for MTV haha!!
By Tuesday to say we were struggling was a huge understatement. We popped into the Bellagio where Oceans Eleven was filmed and suddenly felt very poor, it was beyond luxurious. Then we went to the most amazing all you can eat Sushi buffet which had unlimited choice and was sooooooooooo gooooood. Love it :D
After lunch we needed some urgent chill time and made our way over to the MGM Grand pool to check it out. We happened to walk into blag 4 by picking up some random guest passes that got us into their pool party called Wet Republic. It meant free entry and was awesome, a much better vibe than the pretentiousness of Hard Rock. We just chilled on chairs in the water listening to good music and feeling the sun on our skin. That evening we said our goodbyes to Spencer and Christina (till Thurs when they're coming to Long Beach to stay) and began the long drive home to LA.....via Carl's Junior, the best burger and fries joint in the world.
That brings us to yesterday where we slept for 11 hours straight and went to The Library in the evening, our local coffee house for a frappucchino. And today where Loz and I took the bus down the coast to Laguna Beach for a day in the sun and waves. Spence and his sis have just arrived so we've lit a fire in the pit and are sipping some wine before things get crazy again. We're off to Hollywood this weekend.
So after two days camping and two days in Las Vegas I guess it's fair to say opposites really do attract!
Sunday 7 June 2009
Celeb spot number one....we think...
It's been an eventful few days in Belmont Shore and after two weeks in tinseltown we've finally been to Hollywood and spotted our first real life celebrity, and it's a good one. More on that later.
So I think I last left the blog at 2am on Weds morning right? It's hard keeping track of the days and activities and as a list addict i'm finding myself writing mini-blogs to remember what I need to write for the actual blog!
On Wednesday I ventured out alone for the first time and made my way down the coast to Huntington in the hope of getting some lesson time in the water. It's been a bit of an annoying week as i've had to be at Nudge's beckon call but I needed to go and pick up my snazzy new wetsuit anyways so nothing was lost. As it turned out the wind stayed calm and we just had a beer together instead.
There were some bits and pieces we needed to get done on Thurs which included looking into hire cars for our drive from LA to San Fran and blagging more free passes to the gym. We wanted to be quick and it was a nice sunny day and required urgent beach time so cycled into downtown Long Beach and much to our misfortune came across a couple of horrible excuses for the female species in Budget car hire.
I can't be bothered to go into the conversation but I told them not to worry themselves with helping us and swifly left leaving some simpson rage in the air behind me! Our second mission was more successful and we successfully bagged some free passes to the infamous Golds Gym which i'll be using for boxing on Thursday :)
In the evening I had to pour Loz a couple of strong vodka shots as we were going to Ripples, the local gay bar. The drag show started at 10pm so after a few drinks we walked down, paid entry and pushed through the thick red velvety curtains to reveal the costumed delights of Long Beach's finest alternative entertainment. There was quite a variety of acts on offer, one guy that looked like a deformed Cher, another with far to much plastic surgery and hidious cheek implants and not forgetting the 45 stone 'thing' that wore a tight elastic tube dress and reminded me of a whale shoved into a sock. Sorry I know that's rude....but true.
We got into the spirit of things and threw some dollar notes their way but one girl at the front was wasted and must have shoved over $50 down those sweaty fakes clevages. After the show we went downstairs and performed some pretty awful karaoke. (Mum, you won't believe this but Chris turns round to me and says "Have you heard of Neil Diamond?"! Turns out Neil is one of his favourites and we both sung Sweet Caroline to the almost empty room while the tranny working the karaoke machine looked on).
The night ended with some random dancing where Loz was practically clinging to me as two guys were trying to stroke his arm and I moonwalked right into a lesbians lap by mistake. ARGH.
Friday was more chilled, I finally finished up my lessons and got some time in the water with the kite. Yes it is bloody hard and no I am not zipping around on any board yet! Ashley, a girl who lives in the building came round for dinner in the evening and once again we polished off too many bottles of red wine. This has got to stop as you can see from the evidence on Facebook.
I'd only had 6 hours sleep but forced myself up for Gary's box aerobics class on Saturday morning at 8.45am, it was worth the pain and I was chuffed as managed to finish all 9 minutes of skipping this week. I throughly believe that was because he was playing house music and it gave me that extra boooost of energy, love it.
During the day Chris drove us into Hollywood and gave us a great tour of all the sights, horribly touristy but a box to tick off.
It was cool seeing the Hollywood sign and I nearly died when I realised I was standing on Kiefer Sutherland's star, if only he'd been there in person *sigh*. We also drove around Beverly Hills looking for the Fresh Prince's mansion and passed the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and Rodeo Drive in tribute to Pretty Woman.
We were desperate to see a star so starting cruising Sunset Strip (a famous stretch of road where the celebs hang out to eat) but saw nothing except the tinted windows of escalades and lamborghinis....until....we passed a guy in a matching white suit and flat cap with big black glasses and it was Samuel L. Jackson! Woohoo!
That eve we chilled it out and had 8 or so people round for some marshmallow toasting in the fire pit and (more) wine drinking.
So that brings us to yesterday when we tried to feel 'LA' by going to a champagne brunch at a jazz club but failed by not buying anything because we couldn't afford it :( We're on a tight budget here and $10 for a drink is a luxury we couldn't afford, however, Ashley was great and managed to steal us loads of amazing food to nibble on to accompany our water LOL. When we left we saw the number plate 'DRE' on an expensive looking car.......could it have been Dr Dre himself????
So I think I last left the blog at 2am on Weds morning right? It's hard keeping track of the days and activities and as a list addict i'm finding myself writing mini-blogs to remember what I need to write for the actual blog!
On Wednesday I ventured out alone for the first time and made my way down the coast to Huntington in the hope of getting some lesson time in the water. It's been a bit of an annoying week as i've had to be at Nudge's beckon call but I needed to go and pick up my snazzy new wetsuit anyways so nothing was lost. As it turned out the wind stayed calm and we just had a beer together instead.
There were some bits and pieces we needed to get done on Thurs which included looking into hire cars for our drive from LA to San Fran and blagging more free passes to the gym. We wanted to be quick and it was a nice sunny day and required urgent beach time so cycled into downtown Long Beach and much to our misfortune came across a couple of horrible excuses for the female species in Budget car hire.
I can't be bothered to go into the conversation but I told them not to worry themselves with helping us and swifly left leaving some simpson rage in the air behind me! Our second mission was more successful and we successfully bagged some free passes to the infamous Golds Gym which i'll be using for boxing on Thursday :)
In the evening I had to pour Loz a couple of strong vodka shots as we were going to Ripples, the local gay bar. The drag show started at 10pm so after a few drinks we walked down, paid entry and pushed through the thick red velvety curtains to reveal the costumed delights of Long Beach's finest alternative entertainment. There was quite a variety of acts on offer, one guy that looked like a deformed Cher, another with far to much plastic surgery and hidious cheek implants and not forgetting the 45 stone 'thing' that wore a tight elastic tube dress and reminded me of a whale shoved into a sock. Sorry I know that's rude....but true.
We got into the spirit of things and threw some dollar notes their way but one girl at the front was wasted and must have shoved over $50 down those sweaty fakes clevages. After the show we went downstairs and performed some pretty awful karaoke. (Mum, you won't believe this but Chris turns round to me and says "Have you heard of Neil Diamond?"! Turns out Neil is one of his favourites and we both sung Sweet Caroline to the almost empty room while the tranny working the karaoke machine looked on).
The night ended with some random dancing where Loz was practically clinging to me as two guys were trying to stroke his arm and I moonwalked right into a lesbians lap by mistake. ARGH.
Friday was more chilled, I finally finished up my lessons and got some time in the water with the kite. Yes it is bloody hard and no I am not zipping around on any board yet! Ashley, a girl who lives in the building came round for dinner in the evening and once again we polished off too many bottles of red wine. This has got to stop as you can see from the evidence on Facebook.
I'd only had 6 hours sleep but forced myself up for Gary's box aerobics class on Saturday morning at 8.45am, it was worth the pain and I was chuffed as managed to finish all 9 minutes of skipping this week. I throughly believe that was because he was playing house music and it gave me that extra boooost of energy, love it.
During the day Chris drove us into Hollywood and gave us a great tour of all the sights, horribly touristy but a box to tick off.
It was cool seeing the Hollywood sign and I nearly died when I realised I was standing on Kiefer Sutherland's star, if only he'd been there in person *sigh*. We also drove around Beverly Hills looking for the Fresh Prince's mansion and passed the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and Rodeo Drive in tribute to Pretty Woman.
We were desperate to see a star so starting cruising Sunset Strip (a famous stretch of road where the celebs hang out to eat) but saw nothing except the tinted windows of escalades and lamborghinis....until....we passed a guy in a matching white suit and flat cap with big black glasses and it was Samuel L. Jackson! Woohoo!
That eve we chilled it out and had 8 or so people round for some marshmallow toasting in the fire pit and (more) wine drinking.
So that brings us to yesterday when we tried to feel 'LA' by going to a champagne brunch at a jazz club but failed by not buying anything because we couldn't afford it :( We're on a tight budget here and $10 for a drink is a luxury we couldn't afford, however, Ashley was great and managed to steal us loads of amazing food to nibble on to accompany our water LOL. When we left we saw the number plate 'DRE' on an expensive looking car.......could it have been Dr Dre himself????
Wednesday 3 June 2009
June Gloom, What June Gloom?
It looks like our blue skies are back and Sunday afternoon saw our first bit of sun for a few days woohoo!
Loz and I were suffering from minor cabin fever by then (too many dvd's and looking out of the window for the clouds to clear) so jumped at the chance to throw on some sunnies and take a walk down 2nd street.
The good vibes must have made us feel a little spontanious as Loz bought a Jumba Juice (extravagant health smoothie) and I indulged in frozen yoghurt from the aptly named 'yoghurt factory'. It was actually quite fun as it's self serve and there's around 14 random flavours to choose from. You just grab a pot, pull a handle, and watch the multi coloured goodness slither out the nozzle like a mr whippy.
At this point our sugar high combined with the quadruple shot espressos we made back at the flat kicked in overtime and we headed to the beach for an hour of karaoke while lying on the warm sand. For some reason we were going through the entire Backstreet Boys back catalogue with the odd N Sync 'It's gonna be me' line thrown in for good measure.
Yesterday, being Monday we wanted to feel highly productive and seeing as the weather was set to remain grey we planned a trip down the coast to Newport on the number 1 bus....(I think there are only 3 drivers and we know them all now).......(Only one is nice though).
Once in Orange County we headed to 'fashion island', a massive mall complex designed to feed the appetites of the local spoilt kids and rich house wives. It was really nice with great design etc. but the only thing Loz and I could afford was a Subway and then we left again...
Seeing as we finished at fashion island a little early and the sun was trying to poke through we decided to head to the beach for a few hours. However, as we're discovering, to get ANYWHERE in LA you need a car.
Loz and I began a long and boring walk along another freeway until we found ourselves completely by chance on Balboa Island, a really dinky, highhhhly American town with a marina and boutique high street with ice-cream parlours, that kind of thing. We asked a lady how to get to the beach who asked the 'Whatttt??? You WALKED here????' question and then directed us towards a charming, totally unexpected little ferry crossing.
After walking past more amazing houses and paying a dollar to cross the harbour we found ourselves in 100% OC territory, totally awesome. I don't watch the show but it was pretty cool to be exactly where the scenes were shot and it felt just a little bit Hollywood.
We walked into a local surf shop run by this big American woman who was really pleased we visted and kept saying how cute we were lol. She even insisted on talking photos of us to put in her shop to tell people the British had come!
By now our feet were feeling pretty sore and we came to the conclusion that you should not trek all over Newport in flip-flops. However we were just down the road (30 min walk in USA talk) from the wedge, an infamous surf spot which Loz was dying to see and so we pushed the tootsies forward and had a little look at that too. Shame it was a flat day as it can get up to 18ft with big swell.
That evening we went to George's the greek reastaurant and indulged in their half price wine offer, enough said.
At the moment it's 2.15am Weds morning and i'm more that ready for sleep so i'll rush Tuesdays fun....It was a pretty simple day, I had to meet Nudge at 2pm for more kiting and Loz brought his bodyboard to the water for its first taste of the LA ocean. The result is two extremely crispy red and tender Brits. We got lax with the suncream, lesson learned :/
I was hoping to get in the water with the kite but the wind just hasn't been strong enough yet so it's a bit of a waiting game now. The major news for me though is that i've just put the order in for my kite gear and $1500 of equipment is heading my way in the next few days. I can't believe it's finally happening, this is crazy! I've even decided on a wetsuit ($230 down to $150), not cheap but a good saving for a good suit.
Wow...these posts take ages to write. Defo bed time, laters everyone!
Loz and I were suffering from minor cabin fever by then (too many dvd's and looking out of the window for the clouds to clear) so jumped at the chance to throw on some sunnies and take a walk down 2nd street.
The good vibes must have made us feel a little spontanious as Loz bought a Jumba Juice (extravagant health smoothie) and I indulged in frozen yoghurt from the aptly named 'yoghurt factory'. It was actually quite fun as it's self serve and there's around 14 random flavours to choose from. You just grab a pot, pull a handle, and watch the multi coloured goodness slither out the nozzle like a mr whippy.
At this point our sugar high combined with the quadruple shot espressos we made back at the flat kicked in overtime and we headed to the beach for an hour of karaoke while lying on the warm sand. For some reason we were going through the entire Backstreet Boys back catalogue with the odd N Sync 'It's gonna be me' line thrown in for good measure.
Yesterday, being Monday we wanted to feel highly productive and seeing as the weather was set to remain grey we planned a trip down the coast to Newport on the number 1 bus....(I think there are only 3 drivers and we know them all now).......(Only one is nice though).
Once in Orange County we headed to 'fashion island', a massive mall complex designed to feed the appetites of the local spoilt kids and rich house wives. It was really nice with great design etc. but the only thing Loz and I could afford was a Subway and then we left again...
Seeing as we finished at fashion island a little early and the sun was trying to poke through we decided to head to the beach for a few hours. However, as we're discovering, to get ANYWHERE in LA you need a car.
Loz and I began a long and boring walk along another freeway until we found ourselves completely by chance on Balboa Island, a really dinky, highhhhly American town with a marina and boutique high street with ice-cream parlours, that kind of thing. We asked a lady how to get to the beach who asked the 'Whatttt??? You WALKED here????' question and then directed us towards a charming, totally unexpected little ferry crossing.
After walking past more amazing houses and paying a dollar to cross the harbour we found ourselves in 100% OC territory, totally awesome. I don't watch the show but it was pretty cool to be exactly where the scenes were shot and it felt just a little bit Hollywood.
We walked into a local surf shop run by this big American woman who was really pleased we visted and kept saying how cute we were lol. She even insisted on talking photos of us to put in her shop to tell people the British had come!
By now our feet were feeling pretty sore and we came to the conclusion that you should not trek all over Newport in flip-flops. However we were just down the road (30 min walk in USA talk) from the wedge, an infamous surf spot which Loz was dying to see and so we pushed the tootsies forward and had a little look at that too. Shame it was a flat day as it can get up to 18ft with big swell.
That evening we went to George's the greek reastaurant and indulged in their half price wine offer, enough said.
At the moment it's 2.15am Weds morning and i'm more that ready for sleep so i'll rush Tuesdays fun....It was a pretty simple day, I had to meet Nudge at 2pm for more kiting and Loz brought his bodyboard to the water for its first taste of the LA ocean. The result is two extremely crispy red and tender Brits. We got lax with the suncream, lesson learned :/
I was hoping to get in the water with the kite but the wind just hasn't been strong enough yet so it's a bit of a waiting game now. The major news for me though is that i've just put the order in for my kite gear and $1500 of equipment is heading my way in the next few days. I can't believe it's finally happening, this is crazy! I've even decided on a wetsuit ($230 down to $150), not cheap but a good saving for a good suit.
Wow...these posts take ages to write. Defo bed time, laters everyone!
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