Meghan, Maria, Elaine and I had dim sum in Chinatown then walked around the arcades and plazas. We got coconut bread and boba smoothies and saw a dragonfruit plant.
Meghan, Maria, Elaine and I had dim sum in Chinatown then walked around the arcades and plazas. We got coconut bread and boba smoothies and saw a dragonfruit plant.
…wasn’t that scary. but it WAS a lot of fun. we (kristina, pat, andrew, morgan, meli, stefan) rode rollercoasters and other rides (ghost rider: best rollercoaster EVER; riptide: not so much fun, since meli lost her phone into the pool below during one of its crazy barrel-rolls), plus went through haunted mazes. stefan’s main complaint, shared by all, is that the mazes were all too brightly lit. i’m used to the haunted houses back in the qca where it’s pitch black the whole time and you actually can get lost. the haunted mazes were more about looking at the creepy tableaux and having people in costume jump out at you. or kick you in the face.
seriously. this one dude in the clown maze (yeah, i don’t know how i got convinced to go in there either) kicked and his foot was about two inches from my face. and i just froze. or kept walking forward, depending on who you ask. in retrospect, i should’ve just let him kick me in the face so i could’ve sued someone. oh well. but as pat pointed out, and i don’t know why he didn’t believe me the other 10 times i’ve told him this, in a survival situation i’m going to be the first one that’s taken out. i have some sort of adrenaline deficiency or something!
we ended up being at the park for over six hours. the park itself was pretty cool – lots of halloween decorations, fog machines and creepy lights everywhere, and hundreds of people in costume waiting to scare people. this one ghoul had a fake dead rat in his mouth and followed pat, then andrew, around for a solid five minutes. just making sniffing noises and wiggling that dangling tail at the backs of their heads and necks. surprisingly, watching people get scared (or really uncomfortable) was probably the most fun of the whole night. well, that and ghost rider.
ordered some thai from the vegetarian place that’s sort of expensive, but WHATEVS the papaya salad is amazing and what do i find in the bottom of the bag? a little packet of napkin and utensils – but this is not a normal packet. this is not a napkin and a knife and fork. this is a napkin, a SPORK and a STRAW. amazing. congrats, sort of expensive vegetarian thai place. you’ve scored a loyal customer.
today i work up early (6am) to meet arden, her mom and friends at the nordstrom fall makeup trend show. it. was. fabulous. we got lots of samples and tons of expensive things were raffled off (arden’s mom won a whole set of dior skin care products – the biggest-sized bottles and pots too! after the runway show we had appointments for individual consultations – i think everyone else did chanel (maybe one person did bobbi brown?) and i did shu uemura. levi did a great job – i received a lot of compliments – and was a sweetheart. i bought some products (actually got pretty good bang for my buck at shu) so i can hopefully replicate the look levi gave me – but toned-down, because this is not an everyday sort of thing. purple eyeshadow, false eyelashes, waaaay more blush than i would wear normally (which would be none), etc.
after our consultations we had lunch downstairs at the cafe. i’d never eaten there and my chicken artichoke salad was shockingly generous with the chicken and artichokes. i had more time to get to know arden’s friends and they’re fantastic.
now to preserve this makeup until terry’s birthday party tonight. except that…i woke up at 6am. and it feels like 6pm. i guess i’ll wedge some pillows around my head while i watch ‘angel’ and hope if i fall asleep (i will totally fall asleep) i don’t roll over and smear everything. that, or i’ll be hitting the red bull and vodkas pretty hard tonight.
i would like everyone to know there is only one reason i gave my money to ‘an american carol’s opening weekend box office, and it’s that morgan was in it, and it marked his feature film debut. we took up a whole row in the theatre and every time he appeared on screen we went wild, to the extent that according to andrew, the couple sitting in front of him whispered to each other, “did we miss something?” anyway the movie was, i think, 83 minutes and it felt like three hours. do not see it.
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tonight i saw tony bennett at the greek theatre and it was completely magical! his energy and showmanship, his voice – amazing! i met up with arden, klaus and the rest of the group at the tangier for drinks and snacks beforehand, then we hiked up the hill to the theatre. his daughter did a few numbers as his opener. priceless moment: during the intro for ‘the best is yet to come’ tony bennett shouts out “vote for obama!” and the crowd goes WILD. the band was also incredible – count basie’s favorite drummer, and amazing pianist and an insane guitarist. afterwards we went to the derby for a nightcap and it was an absolutely fabulous night. now – early to bed (ok, lies – will probably watch tivo’d ‘mad men’ or read some more comics) so i can run before driving half of our group to the cabazon outlets tomorrow morning. already this weekend is great!
this morning i went up to my new orthodontist’s office in burbank and got braces. again. approximately 15 years after i first had them. admittedly they’re only in the back on the right side. and only for five months (and then 9 more months of invisalign). but still. this is kind of lame right? i’m writing about it here to get it out so hopefully i won’t have to keep explaining why this has come to pass. i’m 27 years old and i have braces. ugh.
originally i had checked into invisalign because i wanted my teeth to look better. i’d never been happy with how my teeth turned out after braces in junior high – front teeth didn’t match up, bite felt funky – and then once my 12-year molars fully erupted they were all sideways (chewing surface faced my cheeks) and messed things up even more. as time went on, even though i’ve always been a faithful retainer-wearer, things got more weird in there.
so – invisalign. my teeth would look better and hey, added bonus: my bite would improve and maybe i could get that 12-year molar thing finally fixed since 10 years of a series of special retainers wasn’t quite getting it done. i had a couple consultations, shopped around for prices, and holy crap people. it’s like $5000 AT LEAST. five THOUSAND dollars. my CAR cost $5000. needless to say i was all, “yeeeeeahhhh….no thanks.”
then came the day of unexpected $1500 dental work. dental work that could’ve been prevented if my 12-year molars weren’t all jacked. suddenly, paying $5000 to have that problem put to bed didn’t seem so unreasonable. now the order of my priorities with regards to considering another year of orthodontia were: fix bite to avoid insanely expensive dental work and then, hey, i guess my teeth will look better too.
so, here i am, with poky brackets on all of my right teeth and another appointment in five weeks for a new wire and some crazy rubber band thing they’re going to do to correct my misaligned bite. so far there’s no real pain (after so much orthodontia and retainers over the past 15 years i have a pretty high mouth-pain tolerance anyway), just that wonderful feeling of the inside of my cheek being rubbed raw. more thrilling details about the inside of my mouth to come!
update: omfg my teeth are killing me. i already need to have the top wire clipped.
today is my birthday and guess what came in the mail? the new issue of mcsweeney’s (8 hardcover illustrated mini-books about fables!) and the first 4 volumes of wholphin! hooray!!! and i found a pretty blouse and abercrombie and cute jeans at ae! plus cameron made me red velvet cupcakes! that means cupcakes TWO DAYS IN A ROW (thanks eric!). and when i walked in the door she was watching ‘the cutting edge’! so far this birthday is going pretty well.
…toe pick!
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:
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.