Living in Long Beach

For Christmas, I gave to my parents and to the Ohio Thomases each a super expensive* calendar of Long Beach that is mostly pictures taken around my part (ahem, the good part) of Long Beach. This way every month they can reminisce about me and places we've been together in the LBC. When Scott was here, we mimicked the January picture. While my parents were here, we were able to capture March and April. Any volunteers for future months? JANUARY (In front of the Bayshore library - 2nd Steet - Belmont Shores) (The day we took Scott's picture it wasn't as clear as the calendar. If you look really closely, you can see the mountains in the background.) MARCH (Rancho Los Cerritos) Looks like we had much better sun than the calendar photographer!! APRIL (Hilltop Park - Signal Hill overlooking Long Beach) Obviously, we didn't take these pictures with the calendar in mind, so the shots aren't exactly the same. Can you find the oops?? *Okay, the calendars were actually free f...

They ♥ LA! They love it!

I love this picture of Scott aka Ford on the rocks in Venice Beach this past Saturday.Click on the picture to see it real size to get the full impact.

I am grateful for all my friends this year.

I am waiting until election day so I can vote in our club house. Fortunately for me, if it is too stressful I am just steps away from our hot tubs and saunas. A few weeks ago, I called to see if I could be a pollster (okay, the official title is "pollworker" but I don't like the sound of that!) but ALL the slots in Long Beach (the 5th largest city in CA, 34th largest in the nation - in case you were wondering) were already taken. As a side note, I wasn't "volunteering" because of good will but because it pays well and I thought it might be interesting. Since I have had some extra time this year, I have really delved into our issues, I mean, propositions. We get an official 143 page voters' guide to read. Crazy, isn't it? I don't remember getting that from the state of GA. Later, I got a supplemental guide (15 pages) and then of course, the sample ballot (65 pages) for my district which includes the LA and Long Beach props. And this is only the o...

Saturday, I dropped the Parents off at the Port of LA World Cruise Center, Berth 93 in San Pedro. They are currently on the Golden Princess going to foreign destinations (I think they are going to the Mexican Riviera). I took a peek at the official website and their room is sooo much nicer than the cruise that Michael and I took many years ago. I can't wait to pick them up and see all their pictures. Mother called me from the ship and I think their room is either the oceanview double with balcony or the suite with balcony. I do know that they are on the emerald deck. I'll post some pictures of their trip when they get back.

We helped LA's homeless with HIV/AIDs by eating out at the Whale & Ale for Dine Out LA . I chose the Whale & Ale because it is supposedly an authentic English pub but in San Pedro (the next town over from me). Plus, many of my friends gave it high reviews. What should of taken us 20 minutes to get there took over 90 minutes as the Vincent St Thomas Bridge was CLOSED! We ended up going way, way northeast and then back south to get to San Pedro without going over the bridge. I LOVE that bridge now. After the excruciating drive, just ask Mother if you don't believe me, the restaurant was only okay. I took some pictures (and you know that I put it into a slide show, right??) in the "pub" and also of the store fronts on the walk back to our car. Exciting times, eh? Click on the picture of parents for slide show.

I took some pictures in San Pedro Saturday as I was going over one of Jessica's favorite bridges. You can see the windshield in some of them. It was a beautiful day in San Pedro and I saw several large cruise ships in the port. Fun times ahead for the parental units... Hit this picture to see some facts about VST bridge... or HERE for a short video that I wish I took!

It is a beautiful day here in Gardena, 77 degrees and sunny - sorry Jessica. As I was stopped at a traffic signal with my windows open (which is rare in Gardena!), I thought I would take a picture of the world famous Hust*er casino. Yes, I am misspelling the name on purpose so people don't link to this after doing a search for porn!

After Dim Sum, Jessica and I hit a few malls. This is a picture of the Del Amo mall (which again is very close to my work - who knew??) after dark. I bought more shampoo.

On Sunday, Jessica and I went to the Sea Empress to have Dim Sum. I had never realized it was so close to my work. After, we went to visit the Hello Kitty store and check out the new Pacific grocery store. I bought some shampoo (I think) straight from Japan. Click the picture for a slide show of the pictures I took.

We had lunch in Studio City today across from this restaurant. The sign was so cute that I HAD to take a picture...

We went to measure some new condos in Sherman Oaks today. The weather was beautiful - it was in the high 70's and sunny. I had to take a picture of the blooming tree just to remind myself that it really is February. See how we roll in Southern CA?

I went to the Lakers game on Thursday. The Phoenix Suns beat us 106 to 98. All in all it was an exciting game though we could tell pretty early on that we weren't going to win. Even though we had "premiere" seats, I couldn't really see any celebrities. I know that Dyan Cannon was there as she has the same seat all the time on the court and of course, very recognizable blond curly hair! I took a picture with my cell phone and it represents what my memory of the game is now...blurry!

It is crazy busy tonight at LAX but I am happily tapping this post on my cell while I am waiting to board.

The beautiful tree along with the piped-in Christmas music convinced me to do some Christmas shopping (for others!) this warm evening at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. Joy to the World.

I've been a little under the weather the last few days. Nothing to worry about, I am already feeling much better. Anyway, I am several post behind and some of them seem way too carefree and glib considering the state of Southern CA right now. Of course, I live in Long Beach by the beach so I am pretty much protected from the fires getting to me. But outside you would think the fires are only a mile or two away. The sky is always smoky as is the air. There are ashes everywhere. The postgirl (I guess that's what you call female postmen, maybe I should say the "postal worker"?) is wearing a dust mask as is anyone else who is outside for any length of time. On the news, Southern Californians are warned to stay inside. And I am NOT complaining. We are the lucky ones as we are safe and do not have to evacuate or worry about losing our homes. So, I am going to post some of these older posts, just remember they were supposed to be posted pre-fires.

Sunday evening Father and I went to Inglewood (crazy, huh?) and saw the Cirque Du Soleil - Corteo. Corteo means cortege in Italian, which means a joyous procession. In this instance, the procession was actually celebrating the death of a clown while he watched from above with angels. Father's favorite act was a naked girl on a trapeze. Just checking if you were paying attention, it was not that kind of show. Father's real favorite act was "the acrobats". Now, I know what you are thinking...wow, he is so specific. Once I pressed him, he said he especially liked the high bar routines with 8 - 12 men swinging at the same time. (Note from Celine: it was so frightening that I could barely keep my eyes open. I kept waiting for them to hit each other as their bodies would swing into each other and miss by a few inches. It was amazing.) My favorite was either the see-saw or the ladies hanging from chandeliers. They would hang by one foot and then go up that way over 100 ft in...

And it went into overtime. Truly fascinating. Plus, at every time out, we got to watch the dancin' dolls who had marvelously intricate moves! Besides watching the basketball game in Venice Beach, Father and I also went to the Sidewalk cafe and each had our own Farmer's Almanac with fries (sorry Mother). What is a Farmer's Almanac, you ask? Only the best tuna fish sandwich in Venice Beach. We saw several performances (a strange knife juggler/comedian on a ladder, a bronze man and his bronze dog, and synchronized roller skating) and walked by interesting landmarks...see all the pictures here . (Again, taken with my camera phone so I apologize for the quality. I also resized these so they would be smaller so if you want any of the originals to print, email me please.)

Okay, not really. In Venice Beach today, there was this huge gospel gathering. I took a 7 second video and warn you to listen at your own risk. I felt like I was taping for 2 or 3 minutes because it was so bad interesting. When I got home and found out it was only 7 seconds, I was shocked. People were singing, waving their hands and arms in the air (while swaying back and forth) and of course, there were lots of screaming of "amen" and "hallelujah". They were sponsored by some Venice church and also Addicts For Christ . So I guess that is good, right?