Moments That Make Me Love My City

"Well it's hard to live, it's hard to live in the city.  Yes, it's hard to live, so hard to live in the city...so just lay your head down low, don't let anybody know that it's hard to live, so hard live in the city."

These are lyrics from Albert Hammond Jr.'s first solo album, and oh how true they are. As much as I love LA, sometimes it can be a little biatch and I do not like it very much.  Traffic, being far from my family/friends, traffic, extremely limited parking, traffic, expensive rent, traffic, and an abundance of rude tools are things that annoy me semi-frequently in my sprawling city. But, thankfully, then it will surprise me with a perfect and wonderful uniquely LA experience, and I fall in love with it all over again.

I had one of these glorious "fall in love with LA" moments recently.  One of the VPs in my department gave me 2 tickets to see the LA Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl.  I had never been to that famous venue, but had heard wonderful things, so I jumped on this unexpected opportunity.  I brought my friend Bessma, and we both absolutely loved it.  The venue IS so great... even better than I expected!

 

According to the Hollywood Bowl website, it is the largest natural outdoor amphitheater in the United States and has been named Pollstar magazine's Best Major Outdoor Venue (seven years in a row!).  Guests are invited to bring picnics to enjoy while they watch a great show under the stars.  The show we saw was called....

The incredibly talented LA Philharmonic Orchestra played French songs, a famous French quartet performed a few songs, AND dancers from the real Moulin Rouge in Paris danced... it was SO very cool. 
(This isn't the best quality video, but it gives you a glimpse of the cool performance...)

And to top it all off, the show ended with the most spectacular fireworks show I've ever seen (perfectly timed to go with the music from the orchestra).

I think about that moment, as we were enjoying the delicious wine and food we brought under the pretty sky in the PERFECT weather watching this amazing show, I just thought, "Wow... I love my city."  And luckily, moments like this outweigh the bad ones. :-)

  xoxo, 

Annie

Dolphin Tale Premiere

As a general rule of thumb, movie premieres are always a solidly great time.  Last weekend, I went to the premiere for Dolphin Tale, and this was no exception.  My friend, Matt, works at Alcon Entertainment (which made the film) and he kindly asked me to be his plus-one.     While I'm definitely not the target demographic (families with children ages 5-10, I would guess) for this film (based on the inspiring true story of a dolphin named Winter who fights to survive after losing her tail), I enjoyed it!  I'm sure the fact that I was watching it  beautiful in the beautiful Mann Village Theater  and that my assigned seat was directly in front of the very attractive  Austin Stowell  who was one of the main characters in the film added to my enjoyment. ;-) Apparently I am not alone in my enjoyment.  After its opening weekend this past weekend, it has an 83% "certified fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  After the sweet and inspiring movie, we headed to the after-party.  Given that the premiere was extremely kid-oriented, the after-party followed that theme.  It was a very cool county fair type set up with copious amounts of delicious food and activities (but no open bar, sadly/surprisingly). Despite the lack of adult beverages, we had a great time mingling on the blue carpet amongst the aquariums with the likes of these notable cast members:  Morgan Freeman is so freaking cool.  My favorite part of the film (other than the adorable strong-willed dolphin, of course).  This would be the handsome one I mentioned earlier who was sitting directly behind me in the theater. It was cute when his section of family and friends sitting with him all cheered when his name came on the screen at the beginning.  This little cutie, Nathan Gamble,  was the star of the show.  He had dark hair in the film, so I was quite surprised to see him as a blondie (which is apparently his natural color) afterwards.                                 Oh, Harry Connick Jr. You dreamy southern gent. Overall, it was a wonderful time and a great movie! If you have kids in your life (or you just want to see a sweetly inspiring movie.... or you just like dolphins), I highly recommend it.   Oh.. and I almost forgot the best part of the premiere... the parting gift was a live betta fish! Meet my new pet: Winter (aka Dolphin Tale aka DT):  I never thought the sad day would come when I actually had/loved a fish as a pet, but I think the fact that my apartment tragically outlaws REAL pets like cats or Mary's beyond-adorable pup (as seen in her below post) has led me to this fate. Blurgh. I'll see how long I can keep this sweet little thing alive.  xoxo,  Annie.

2nd Annual Girls Reunion Weekend: Mile High City Edition

Last year, 3 of my best friends from college and I began a wonderful tradition of having at least one reunion weekend a year.  Last October, we convened in LA, and over Labor Day a few weeks ago, we  ventured to beautiful Denver, Colorado, (the new home to Kayla, the blondie).  Here is a recap of our glorious 2nd annual reunion.  

So very happy to be reunited with my sweet darlings: Vanessa, Anne and Kayla! 

We ate and drank many delicious things, highlights including Snooze (a brunch place so amazing that it was Kayla's #2 reason for deciding to move to Denver), Marco's Pizzeria (one of the few legit Italian certified pizzerias), and Little Man Ice Cream (so adorably retro, and the oatmeal raisin cookie flavor was to DIE for). 

 A little shopping spree was a natural and fun addition to the girly weekend. 

Denver has an amazing OU bar where we watched our beloved alma mater's first football game of the season. The tables were "reserved for Sooners" and even the staff was decked out in beautiful crimson and cream.  They also had a DJ to play the fight song and other OU-esque songs during commercial breaks (and when something good happened in the game).  Two other Tri Delts from our pledge class joined our party as well! Best OU watch party ever. (LA needs to take note... hint hint cough cough). 

We went to this fun bar called 1-Up that was full of vintage arcade games. After awkwardly/hilariously fitting all of us in a tiny photobooth that would have been tight for 2 people, we moved on to Jumbo Jenga. After a few rousing rounds between the 4 of us, two outsiders challenged us.  Kayla and I accepted their challenge, and unfortunately I was the one to knock the jumbo blocks tumbling down, ergo, a round of shots on us.  Blurgh.  Oh well... it was a blast.  I definitely want to go back and play again.

 The next day we drove to Boulder for a "moderate" hike....(aka Mt. Everest).

 Photo 1: Happy and ready to go!

 Photo 2: Halfway there. You can't tell from the forced smile I'm sporting here, but I was DYING at this point. Kayla would make us stop for a "photo break" when we needed a rest (aka I was about to pass out).  I like to "hike" at Runyon Canyon and Griffith Park in LA... but compared to climbing a legit mountain at a very high altitude, those are literally just walks in the park. Yowzaaaa. 

 Photo 3: WE MADE IT!  Glory hallelujuh. 

 Photo 4: Pretty view (but I still much prefer the beach). Ha. 

Wow, these girls are some of my favorite people in the whole world. Such a wonderful reunion! Already looking forward to the next one... I wish we didn't live so far away from each other and this could be a monthly occurrence. (But until then, at least we have our cheesy/cute matching scarves purchased at the aforementioned shopping spree). ;-) LOVE YOU DARLINGS. 

xoxo, 

Annie. 

Meet Josh Roberts

Hi darlings (and in particular, my darlings who are in LA)...if you don't have plans tonight, allow me to invite you to see my very talented friend from college, Josh Roberts, play at the famous Viper Room.  He was quite the local celeb at OU, and now he's living and pursuing music in Nashville. 

Here's a preview (which joins the ranks of "Annie Use Your Telescope" by Jack's Mannequin, "Annie" by Dave Barnes, and the classic "Annie Waits" by Ben Folds as a "great song with my name in it"....)

Here are the deets for the show:

When: TONIGHT (Thursday, 9/15)

Where: The Viper Room  (8852 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood)

Ages: 21+

Cost: $10 (or $8 with this printed flier...)

 

Hope to see you there! 

xoxo, 

Annie.