today...

Today is the first day I've used the oven in my new apartment. It's off by 50*!! YIKES!

Thank goodness for my stand alone oven thermometer.

A day in the life in photos... by my niece.

The Lake...

All photos by my niece.
Veggie burgers after the lake... yum! Extra pickles please!

Wowzers...

Holy cow!
Won't need to do cardio today. I had a little nap this afternoon (it's so hot today I feel sick) and I was woken up by the fire alarm. YIKES!! I could feel my heart pounding through my head as we ran down the stairs with the dog. Luckily it was nothing serious and we got back inside pretty quickly. I'm still quivering a little... I never want to wake up to that noise again. Yeesh.My niece is visiting me this week and Gerry and I gave her a digital camera for her birthday... I think she's an excellent photographer in the making.I also think we've created a monster... I now have my own personal paparazzi following me around. *laugh*
Last night we went for a nice walk with the dog and then down to the inner harbour to take a mini-ferry boat tour. I've lived here almost 18 years and I've never done it. *laugh* It was really cool to see downtown Victoria from a different perspective. Fergus had fun... and so did we. It was a really pretty ride right at sunset, a perfect thing to do after a hot muggy day.Today we went to the wax museum. Wax figures freak me out on a good day... but this place has a chamber of horrors that was so scary that we were sweating and freaking out about EVERYTHING by the time we got through it.Thank goodness Hitler is behind bars... yikes. What a perfect way to beat the summer heat...

Happiness is...

Closet space.
Our old apartment had one tiny closet. ONE! So that meant my clothes, my dress up clothes, Gerrys stuff and our jackets ALL had to fit in ONE closet. Ugh. It was a nightmare...

Our new wardrobe was delivered yesterday and let me tell you... I'm stoked. This is Gerry's closet.... Is it mental of me that I like all the hangers to be one finger space apart??

This dude...

This dude came into the tattoo shop yesterday to see if we were interested in purchasing any art.

Usually these types of people are either selling something they've stolen or bad 80's tribal art that they think tattoo shops want to buy. What a thrill it was to actually have someone come in with some art that is lovely to look at. We ended up purchasing 4 of his line-drawings.

Check Stefan Thompson out.

Dear people of earth...

I've said it before but it appears I need to say it again.
DO NOT WEAR THESE SHOES IN PUBLIC.I repeat...DO NOT WEAR THESE SHOES IN PUBLIC.

These are great shoes. Sure. Who am I to say they're not great shoes? But please only wear them when you're gardening. That means mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, planting trees etc etc.

Do NOT wear them to the supermarket.
Do NOT wear them with a dress.
Do NOT wear them out for dinner.
I don't care how comfortable they are or how you're just running out for a quick something...Just don't wear them any time... unless you are gardening.

**EDIT**
Lifeguards may also wear them... but ONLY when working.

Thank you
The Management.

And then we flew home...

Woke up early.
Had breakfast.
Headed to the airport.
Checked in. Sat around waiting trying to pass the time by reading trashy magazines.

So I'm sitting in the Air Canada waiting area (Wendy is in the bathroom) and I'm reading in my trashy magazine about Sienna Miller breaking up with Jude Law to date James Franco. They are filming a movie in Toronto and apparently have become a little "close".

I look up as the flight to Toronto is boarding and one of the attendants gets on the loud speaker and says "James Franco to Gate 28. James Franco."

My wheels start turning. James Franco? Couldn't this be a coincidence? The flight is leaving for Toronto. He's filming in Toronto. James Franco??

NOTE: For those of you who don't know who James Franco is... rent the 1st and only season of Freaks and Geeks and be prepared to fall in love. He's amazing.

Wendy scurries over to me and says in a breathy whisper "Did you hear her call James Franco? Do you think it's James Franco?"

I point over to the staircase by the bathrooms and down walks this vision of a man. HOLY COW! He's shorter then you would think (they all seem to be) but he is soooo incredibly beautiful in person that my heart actually skipped a few beats.

I was going to yell "I love Freaks and Geeks!" or walk over and say hi... but he was late for his plane and was gone before I had a chance to get on my feet.

Yowza. What a way to end a trip.
But wait...

So I end up going pee-pee before our plane starts loading and I walk by those stairs James Franco walked down. I look up to see a sign that says "VIP ROOM" and it all makes sense. That's where the famous people hang out. As I'm looking up I see a woman standing on the balcony looking down at me. She's wearing a black baseball hat and sunglasses but I immediately know who she is. Why its Cybill Shepherd! I smile and wave at her and she waves back... she boards our plane and is sitting in business class. She must be filming in Vancouver.

Plane ride was easy-peasy. Home in a flash. As I walked out the elevator I see Gerry and Fergus running up the hallway to greet me... Someone got a haircut and it wasn't my husband!!

So glad to be home.
Good night James Franco.

Day three... the sleepiest day ever!

This was our day.
Woke up around 10:30 am. Had a bath. Ate breakfast. Turned on The E-Channel. Had a nap. Woke up. Got some lunch stuff (fruit, potato salad, mineral water). Watched E-Channel. Had a nap. Woke up. Got dressed again...

What a day. :)

As I was waiting for Wendy to get dressed for dinner I watched a beautiful sunset out our hotel room window.Across the courtyard from us is a BEAUTIFUL art deco hotel called The Sunset Tower Hotel.
I'm talking to Gerry on the phone and looking out my window at this magnificant building...When I notice something. What? Is it? Is it REALLY??A man standing naked in his hotel room showing off his penis. My word. We quickly got in the car and drove quickly away from The Penis and headed to The Newsroom Cafe (no website) for dinner. The Newsroom is right across from The Ivy (where the starlets like to be seen).And also right across the street from that antique store where Lindsey (I need some sunscreen) Lohan hid when she got into her car accident a while back. The food was ok. A little expensive for a veggie burger that was kinda flavourless. But they had pretty good "chicken" wings. Not as good as Red Bamboo in NYC or Vegetarian Haven in T.O. but pretty good. Wendy had a blue cheese dip (don't judge her) and I had a faux sour cream dip.
My biggest complaint about this place is the menu. It's very veggie friendly... but not really. I wanted to order the Vegan Ribs (which came with mashed potatoes) but the mashed potatoes weren't vegan. That sort of thing... if you're going to offer a vegan dish... make the entire freakin thing vegan. Ya dig??

I was peeking at the local paper and noticed this ad that seemed very LA to me. SUMMER SPECIAL "Change your lips! Just for fun!" Yikes.I took a photo of the patio for you ... only to realize that I accidently also took a photo of the songwriter Diane Warren eating her dinner. I don't know how I know what she looks like or how I know her name... but I guess I've seen her on tv before or something. Wendy and I went back to the room. Turned on the E-channel and packed for our trip home the next day.

Good night Diane Warren.

Day two... another long day. Probably longer than the day before!

Wendy and I woke up and on our hotel doorstep was the LA Times with a 3 page article on The Go-Go's. Weeeeeeeeee! Tonight is the show!!

We got dressed, had some food and headed to The Beverly Center to do a little shopping. I found a store that had some really great retro-ish polka dot dresses for under $20 each. I LOVE AMERICA!

Then we hit RFD for some lunch. We didn't see any famous people...But we did eat some good food. Wendy had a grilled tempeh salad with a vegan caesar salad. YUM!I went the healthy macro route and had a giant plate of YUM! Beans, rice, kale, seaweed, roasted veggies, raw coleslaw. YUM! YUM! YUM!Then we met my buddy Carol from The Twisted & Jaded Go-Go's message board and she took us on a "History of The Go-Go's " tour.

First we hit the fountain that The Go-Go's dance around in for the video "Our Lips Are Sealed" We also drove through Beverly Hills just to look at houses. Yikes. Brandon Walsh's Dad must have had mad cash to live in this area.
Swimming pools... movie stars...Then we hit Hollywood Blvd for more of a Go-Go's tour.
Carol took us to The Canterbury which was the apartment the ladies lived in when The Go-Go's first formed.The apartment was just a block and a half away from The Masque which was a punk hang out where they shared rehearsal space with bands like The Motels and X. The Go-Go's debut performance there was in 1978. It was down a little alley off of Hollywood Blvd and smelled a little like urine. :)Then we headed back to the hotel for a snooze before the big concert. On the way back to the hotel we drove by The Kodak Theater. It looks much smaller than it does on tv...

Got back to the hotel and ended up going for a swim rather than a nap. Got ready and then headed to Truly Vegan for dinner. I was a little weary when we walked in... it looked clean but the decor was kind of yucky and I thought it might end up being a yucky hippy food type place. Was I ever wrong...

I had pancakes and "chicken". Only in America can you order pancakes and fried "chicken" as a dish. YUM! Probably the best fried "chicken" I've EVER had...Ever. EVER!!Wendy had the Pad Thai ... which was delish. So the lesson for today? Don't just a book by it's cover. Met some of the T&J kids for drinks and food before the show...Drove up to The Greek and went to Will Call to get our tickets. Standing behind us was Jeff MacDonald (husband of Charolette and other half of Red Kross) and their daughter Astrid. Too cool!!

Wendy and I found our seats and I was TOTALLY overwhelmed by how many people were there. It was nuts. I'm pretty sure the theater was almost sold out. The Greek Theater is an outside venue and by the time we sat down and started watching Morningwood (the opening band) the sun had gone down and the temperature was perfect. A perfect summers night... Morningwood KICKED ASS! We only caught the last 3 songs (parking was hellish) but man are they ever a wicked band. I hope I can see them again soon...

While waiting for The Go-Go's to come on, Wendy and I went to buy some merchandise. While standing in line we saw Sarah Gilbert from Roseanne. Wendy thought she was shorter than me but I didn't believe her so I walked over and stood beside her (didn't introduce myself) and Wendy said I was taller. NUTS! Is everyone in Hollywood shorter than me?? It seems like it... Umm... I'm 5 foot 1 inches tall just to give you a scale to imagine with.

Our seats were decent. They weren't pit tickets (le sigh) but they were good... I don't think there's a bad seat at The Greek. I've been pretty spoiled the last 6 or so times I've seen them play. Every show I've been to I've been able to be right up front... close enough I could touch Belinda if I wanted. *laugh* So seeing them from this far away was a totally different experience. Sadly I was far enough away that I couldn't get any decent photos...But we had fun anyway.
The show was amazing. The band was TIGHT! They've been touring all summer and it showed. They played Beauty and The Beat from start to finish plus a bunch of other songs. They didn't play my fav song "Throw Me A Curve" but who am I to complain? A fantastic sweaty dance all night show... so fun.

I managed to score some "after party" passes from a friend and we hung out after the show for a while and managed to meet Gina. What a sweetheart... I can't believe I'm taller than she is!! We also saw Belinda (who disappeared after a few minutes), Wendy saw Charlotte and we also met Belinda's hairdresser who was VERY loaded and lots of fun to talk to.

Also at the after party was Chi-Chi LaRue and Clem Burke (the drummer for Blondie). My favourite overheard comment of the night was from Clem. Heart of Glass was being played during the party and he said "I can't believe they're playing this shit again." *laugh* Too funny.

Wendy and I went to bed at 3:30am. I can't even remember the last time I stayed up this late. I fell asleep before my head hit the air around my pillow.

Good night Jane.