Happy Oscar Week!

Pull out your Oscar ballots and get your watch parties ready....

... are THIS Sunday (2/26).

While the Superbowl of the entertainment industry is still a couple days away, Oscar season has been gearing up in full force.  

The Academy screens every single nominated film, and I've been trying to go to as many of them as possible.  Kayla and I went to see Anonymous while she was in town (which was really great and truly made me question everything I thought I knew about Shakespeare....but that's another blog post. ha). 

A couple weeks ago, Garrett brought me to the Sci-Tech Awards with him (or as we referred to them: Oscar Prom)... 

 Here's the explanation of the this portion of Oscar ceremonies according to oscars.org: 

The Academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards honor the men, women and companies whose discoveries and innovations have contributed in significant, outstanding and lasting ways to motion pictures. Each year’s honorees are celebrated at a formal dinner held two weeks prior to the Oscar ceremony. The Sci-Tech Awards presentation has become a highlight of the Academy Awards season.

It was a great time. We dressed up. We took prom photos. We ate and drank fancy things. AND (the best part) we got to watch The Swell Season who performed their beautiful Oscar-winning song "Falling Slowly" (and a few other songs).... it was lovely.  

As the build up to the main event was growing, I was very excited to find out I would be working at the show again this year! I have a new role this year...I'll be working on the Host Committee, which essentially means I'll be walking talent down the red carpet through the press line and working in the photo and interview rooms during the show.  Whooo!  After the show, I'll be working at the Governor's Ball after party again (my favorite part!), so it's sure to be a long, adrenaline-filled, exciting day. 

I've seen 7/9 of the Best Picture nominees so far (lacking War Horse and Tree of Life even though I have a dvd of Tree of Life sitting on my dvd player right now.... I've been too busy! blurgh). I really enjoyed most of them, but I don't feel like any one in particular stood out as the outstanding, clear best picture of the year (to me, anyway).  (In all honesty, some of my favorite films of last year weren't even nominated at all.)  So, instead of ranking the nominees in my order of preference like I did last year , I'm going to list the people I'm most looking forward to seeing on Sunday.... 

Oh my goodness, Meryl Streep is my favorite. I spoke with her (ever so briefly) at the Governors Ball 2 years ago, and that moment remains one of my life's highlights. She is nominated for a record-breaking 17th time (although she hasn't won in 29 years!) for her impeccable performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.  I would love for her to win (although I think Viola Davis is deserving as well).

George (nominated for both Best Actor for The Descendants and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ides of March) is just a handsome, charming, friendly guy! Two years ago, he came over to say hi to all the bleacher fans and shake their hands. So very cool of him. 

How is Emma Stone so funny and cool at all times?  I have a legit friend crush on her. 

Tom Hanks (who has been called "the king of the Oscars") is a presenter. I saw him at the Governors Awards a couple years ago, and he seems like the nicest man ever. One of my faves, for sure. 

The incumbent Best Actor is just so dreamy. 

These funny guys are presenting. 

Speaking of funny people, these girls are presenting as well. 

Basically, it's going to be an amazing show, and I'm really excited.  Watch for me on the red carpet!  (I'll be in a black dress with my hair up and red lipstick). ;-)  

May the best movies win... 

Annie. 

Celebrating Mary Week, West Coast Style

Mary Week- noun, the entire week leading up to and following the birthday of Mary Garis (January 30th) during which numerous celebrations take place.

Mary already wrote about our extensive tour de SoCal museums during her Mary Week visit (which included more exhibitions than I've seen the past 5 years of my life combined in the span of one weekend), so now I shall write about the other fun things we did while she was gracing the west coast with her presence.

Commencing the fun weekend at Covell. 

She arrived on a Thursday, so I thought after our full days of travel/work, we would do dinner/drinks at my favorite neighborhood wine bar and then head back to my place for a relaxing mini marathon of The O.C. However, dinner/drinks unexpectedly evolved into a mini pub/diner-crawl around my neighborhood that lasted until approximately 3:00 AM.  (Thank goodness I was taking Friday off work!).  Our dear friend, Garrett, joined us for the dinner portion at Covell.  I love this Oklahoman-owned place walking distance from my apartment. I think the LA Times describes it well when it says "This Los Feliz spot is hip. But a passion for soulful wines and a relaxed atmosphere give it substance."  (Something else that gives it substance is the deliiiiish macaroni-and-cheese. So dang good).

My drink was in a plastic bamboo cup and called "All Wong."

Shortly after Garrett left, another OU friend, Mike, joined us.  A few glasses of wine later, we weren't ready to call it a night, so we checked out another Los Feliz staple called Good Luck Bar (which I accidentally kept calling the Joy Luck Club the rest of the weekend... whoops).  It was very cool in an eccentric, slightly divey, lets-patrons-bring-in-pizza-from-an-outside-establishment kind of way.  I definitely want to go back sometime.  After a cheesy (yet delicious) tropical beverage with an Asian-inspired name, we were on to the next one...


I don't even remember the name of our next stop but it was a total dive bar and we got there just in time for last call.  After we closed that place down, we went to my favorite 24-hour diner, Fred62's where we enjoyed a delicious 2 AM feast. Somehow after that, Mike made it to work my 8 the next morning and Mary and I were up before 9:30 to begin our intense museum tour.  Yowza.

View at the Getty. We could see the ocean!

We started at the Getty.  The weather was sheer perfection which made the views of the city even more amazing than usual. After a couple great exhibitions there, we headed to Beverly Hills where we ate a delicious lunch at Real-Housewife-of-Beverly-Hills-owned Villa Blanca.

After a trip to the Gagosian Gallery and LACMA, we came back to 90210 to get blowouts for Mary's birthday party that night. A "blowout" is essentially just someone washing and drying your hair.  It's apparently becoming all the rage; there are a number of salons that ONLY do blowouts.  When Mary suggested this, I said I didn't need one-I could blowdry my own hair. She insisted, and I'm so very glad she did.  Yes, I can indeed blowdry my own hair...but not like that I can't!
DryBar in West Hollywood was full, so we went to MyBlow LA (where was their P.R. manager when they were deciding on this name??). Despite the unfortunate name, this place was amazing. They gave us champagne and magazines as they worked their magic. My hair's never looked better.  I'm totally a believer in blowouts now. (Thanks for showing me light, Mar!)

Cheers to the birthday girl!

Mary has been on a Mai Tai kick since her recent trip to Hawaii, so for her birthday din, we headed to the (self-proclaimed) creator of the Mai Tai, Trader Vic's. For living 3,000 miles away, Mary had a great group!

After that tiki extravaganza, we went to one of my favorite bars, Harvard & Stone. We had a great time drinking masterful cocktails, dancing to oldies, and watching the burlesque dancers (see: reasons I love that bar), but the most exciting part of the night occurred after closing time....

Mike, Mary and I decided we weren't ready to call it a night, so we went an after-hours Thai restaurant/bar/karaoke place called Pattaya around the corner. As to be expected at 2:00 AM on a Friday, it was totally packed; there were literally no open tables. Luckily one opened up a few minutes after we got there, so we pounced on it.  Another group pounced on it at the exact same moment.  Given that it was completely packed and there likely wouldn't be any other tables opening up soon, we looked at each other and said "Want to just share the table?" and so we did.

Our table buddies weren't just any old table buddies, though.  Our tables buddies were a fun group that included these two familiar faces: 

Yes, we shared a table with Michael Cera (sporting this unfortunate 'stache) and Alia Shawkat (aka George Michael and Maeby Funke from Arrested Development). When I first saw them heading towards the same table as us, I only saw Alia.  I recognized her but didn't know her name, so (in my not completely sober state) I ridiculously combined two different movies to describe her and whispered to Mary, "There's Juno's friend from Whip It.  There's Juno's friend from Whip It!" Mary responded with, "Anne, there's Michael Cera!" So, yes, we were very aware of our notable table buddies, but we played it cool.  We chatted a bit for the approximate 1.5 hours we shared the table with them (we closed down the after-hours place!). They were really nice and funny.  Apparently people thought we were part of their posse; several different people came up to Mike and asked if he thought it would be okay to get a photo with Cera.  Hahaha.  Such a random end to the night. #onlyinLA. 

The next day, Mary and I met Garrett at MOCA downtown for a couple more exhibitions before we made a quick trip to Palm Springs. This was my first time to go to MOCA and I really liked it! My favorite of all the Pacific Standard Time exhibitions we went to.  We then took a completely unnecessarily complicated route to Palm Springs (novice mistake which we corrected on our way back) to spend the night with Mary's fabulous grandma, affectionally known as Mamma.  Mamma's birthday is 2 days before Mary's, so they had a divine joint birthday dinner.  Mary and I got lobster pot pie and it was absolutely delish.  Happy, happy birthday indeed. 

Backyard Oasis, fo' real. 

The next day we went to our final exhibition at the Palm Springs Art Museum.  It was called Backyard Oasis, and it was all about swimming pools in Southern California photography from 1945-1982.  It was very cool! After a couple hours there, we went back to Mamma's and enjoyed our own little backyard oasis before heading back LA. 

I haven't gotten to celebrate Mary Week since college, but I think we packed so much fun into the few days that Mar was here, we made up for lost time. A+ visit, my dear! So glad I got to celebrate your birthday with you. :-)

xoxo, 

Annie. 

A Valentine's Day to Remember

Yesterday I was back on track with my perpetual trend of not having a Valentine (after a brief hiatus from this trend last year).  I've been so busy lately that a night without plans sounded very appealing, so I was all set to stay in and catch up my DVR.

That is, until my friend Katie informed me of a bar in Hollywood that was doing this for the holiday...

That's right.  A German pub called Wolfslair Biergarten was hosting the ultimate anti-Valentines party: if you bring a photo or love letter from your ex and shred it, they will buy you a drink.  A couple friends also thought this sounded like a hilariously awesome idea, and so we went, old photos in hand.

They actually had a shredder set up ON the bar.  As the bartenders shred our photos, the whole bar cheered.  When they looked at my photo (of me and an ex who shall remain nameless), one of them said "Who does he think he is, Chachi from Happy Days??"

It was hilarious. It was therapeutic. It was wonderful.

Annndd... they gave us free beers AND free "Valentines shots."  

Basically, I think it was the best Valentine's Day ever. ;-) 

xoxo, 

Annie.

8:11 January Highlights

January was a good month.  The first few days are usually reserved for 'post-holiday depression', but after that subsides, the first month of the brand new year always feels so fresh and promising.  Plus, it's the month of Mary's birthday and Martin Luther King Jr. Day (my favorite non-major holiday), so basically it can't go wrong. ;-) Here are my favorite things that happened at 8:11 pm last month....

8:11-today marks my 2 year anniversary of taking 8:11 pics! My last din w/ my family-sushi on our lovely patio. :-)

8:11-I couldn't be more excited to have my weekly Bachelor watch parties w/ these darlings back on my calendar.

8:11-birthday celebration for rob at Malo.I <3 my Oklahoma people. ;-)

8:11-at rockwell celebrating the birthday of my lovely roomie @mckenziemorris. :-)

8:11- drinking with coworkers is one of my favorite past times.. Holla @katiehutchings and @theinfamousamf.

8:11-quite excited for the return of CG (and to be reunited w/ these handsome gents: @istantray and @mullaneyjr).

“8:11-branching out of my old reliables and trying out an awesome Brazilian restaurant in Los Feliz w/ @garrettfbaker and @mike_beier. Holla.

8:11-my dear friend lorrin had me over for a delish din tonight. So good to catch up with her!

8:11- cheers in Brentwood with my darlings. (Bru Haus has an amazing beer selection...2 thumbs up).

8:11-happy hour with my darling @katiehutchings. Much needed after a craaazy long day.

8:11- snarky trio reunion at Covell! I love @marygaris and @garrettfbaker.

8:11- @marygaris's tiki birthday extravaganza w/ @garrettfbaker, @mckenziemorris, @mike_beier, etc. :-)

 

8:11- joint birthday dinner for @marygaris and her sweet grandmother in palm springs. #maryweek

February is proving to be a fun jammed-packed month as well!  A visit from Kayla, my dad and the Oscars all on the horizon. Briiing it. 

Now playing: Gotye "Somebody That I Used To Know"

Why: This was my favorite song discovery last month.  I love the lyrics a lotttt. Enjoy.