came home after long day of shopping (bought awesome dress for arden’s end-of-year party), eating (korean place in the mall, yogurt from boba loca), laying out by the pool and driving (los feliz exit backed up, find a parking spot). after unpacking the day’s spoils i relax with tivo’d ‘burn notice’ and my favorite couscous salad from trader joe’s. then – an error in judgement regarding balance. and…couscous everywhere. EVERYWHERE. a rain of delicious couscous all over me, the floor, the ottoman, the couch. it’s in my hair. it’s stuck to my feet. i freeze in shock then stare at the floor where most of the couscous detritus has settled. it’s a pretty big pile. briefly consider eating a couple mouthfuls; you know, the part that has only touched couscous and hasn’t touched the floor. file idea away under ’embarrassing things for roommate and possible guests to walk in on’ and ‘possibly unsanitary’. clean up couscous with paper towels and omop, hoping that the lime juice will at least condition the hardwood floor, so it isn’t a total loss. weep quietly.

yesterday in brief:

• morning: go for a run around the neighborhood. discover the pretty houses north of franklin and accidentally stumble upon the barnsdall art park when i’m jogging down new hampshire and see a big staircase ahead and wonder where it goes
• noon: walk to skylight books to check out their expanded store. buy a new release of jason’s early comics (YAAAAY), DMZ vol. 3 and the ‘walking LA’ book i’ve been wanting for awhile.
• cool off at home (longer walk than i thought and hotter out then i thought) and flip through ‘walking LA’. discover that the los feliz walk includes…the barnsdall art park!
• drive to arden’s place downtown and then head to LACMA
• all streets to the north of LACMA are closed. wtf is going on? is there a dinosaur on the loose? finally, almost by accident we make it to the page museum parking lot where we discover a bunch of booths set up on the lawn. see signs for the underwear affair 10k run/5k walk and the lightbulb goes on re: street closures. we grab some free infused tea and clif bar samples.
• ride the awesome huge elevator at BCAM, then head over to the photography exhibition. see santino rice. see the japanese pavilion and spend a lot of time in the netsuke gallery. conclusion? bring back the inro.
• on the way to the car, realize that the race wasn’t over, it was being set up. now there are people in costume everywhere! tons of photo ops and great energy in the air.
• drive to culver city and at arden’s friend’s recommendation, eat at beacon in the art district. it is amazing. peach infused sake, dessert bento box, green tea soba noodles with the most delicious shrimp i’ve ever had. definitely will be going back.
• skip across national to the scion/giant robot gallery opening for insiders, outsiders and the middle. the art is fun, the dj is good and the giant paint-by-numbers is pretty fun.
• drive back downtown and spend the next few hours helping arden plan her artwalk photography show. it’s going to be fantastic and i’ll post more info about where exactly she’s showing when i get the details from her.
• collapse into bed and manage to read a few pages of goldfish before i pass out.

today: return items to crate & barrel, home depot, target. get groceries. see ‘barbarella’ at cinespia with arden and klaus. hopefully find out that ‘mad men’ disc 2 is on the way.