Nowhere. That's where.

There's this bizarre phenomenon I've noticed about Los Angeles - it seems to only rain when no one is watching. More specifically, when everyone is sleeping. I love the rain - it's what I miss most about seasonal change in Ohio - and am always sad when I wake up and I've completely slept through a rain storm.

Today is different. They forecasted rain, and lo and behold, it rained. It rained my whole way to work, and when I was just about there, I thought - "Do I have an umbrella in the car?" Luckily I did.

Turns out, I didn't really need it. My production company doesn't have a ton of parking, so most of the time, the employees have to park on the street - unless you're a supervising producer or some other high-up. This certainly isn't the most convenient, but it's not that big of a deal. Today, when I got out of my car and rounded up all of my stuff, being careful to shove my book in my purse so that it didn't get wet, a familiar blue minivan pulled slowly up beside me. A girl I recognized from work was sitting in the passenger seat. "Want a ride?" The owners had instructed the PAs to drive the company minivan around the block and pick up any wet producers and drive them the 3/4 mile to the office.

Where else in the country will you find a company that as soon as it starts sprinkle some rain, they send their folks out to pick up their employees in a warm minivan?

See the answer in the title of this post.

And that is why I love this city.

Come back to the five and dime.

Britney is really in the middle it. I mean, she is really going through some stuff right now. Checking in and out of rehabs like they're hooker hotels.

I got to thinking about Ms Spears today on my way to work, because of course, KROQ in Los Angeles can't stop talking about her. The images of her bald head flashed in my mind. Now, I'm all about girls shaving their heads. I'm all about girls doing whatever the hell they want to do. But it's always better when you can actually pull off a shaved head. I have to say, a few years ago, she probably could have pulled it off, with her rock hard stomach and her perfect ass. But now? Not that she's not still cute as a button (when she's fully clothed and not drunk or showing off runny eye makeup), but she does not have that 21 year old body anymore.

Thinking of this, I got kind of sad. Gone are the days of Britney kissing Madonna. Gone are the Baby One More Times, and the Oops I Did it Agains, and let's not forget the In the Zones and the SLAVE 4 U-S! She was so incredibly sexy in those videos and in that time in her life. The only relief is that I thankfully own Britney's Greatest Hits, on CD AND DVD. And whenever I'm feeling a little down, a little lonely, or a little straight, I can just pop in that DVD and all will be right with the world, a world frozen in the time of sexy Britney.

California Adventure - The Return.

It's so great to come home from vacation to a three day weekend.

We had a blast on our California Adventure. Gina even straightened her hair for the occasion:



We realized that the party is 24 hours in Gorman, CA:



We enjoyed coffee:



But nothing compared to the end of Wednesday:





We enjoyed breakfast at a trendy little place across the street from our hotel:



We spent a good part of the day Thursday driving:







We noticed some fog ahead:



And then we drove right into it:





We stopped to take pictures and saw the politics of the edge of the country:



We eventually stopped off in Monterey:















After Monterey, we drove, and drove, and drove some more, until we stopped off to see some wildlife, several miles north of our Cambria destination:



They're seals! Don't worry - they're alive. And mating. We saw the big males having their way with any female they wanted.

We also saw some cute moms and pups:



As planned, we arrived in Cambria just in time for sunset:







The next morning, we got up in just enough time to order the Magic Bullet from an infomercial, have breakfast, and go see Hearst Castle:



Just so you know:



The castle itself was pretty amazing. Lots of art, history, and breathtaking views - and also a famous pool that had NO WATER IN IT.



View from the castle:



This is one of the guest houses on the property:



This is a 3400 year old piece of art:



This is the main house - Casa Grande:



Apparently, William Randolph Hearst used paper napkins:



Here's the indoor pool, with 22k gold at the bottom:





After the Castle, there was more driving. A lot more driving.



My turn signal kept going out on account of some loose wiring. We found ourselves fixing it every time we stopped:



Loving the self timer function on my camera:



We finally made it home at 8:30 last night, and were treated to some pretty skies on the 101 by Santa Barbara:





Fin.

Valentine's Day and future goals.

Happy Valentine's Day!

You all might notice I made a few changes to the blog. When you manage to stop by, let me know what you think. I like the simpler format, and I feel like it looks less cluttered. Still, I really would like a fun header, and yet, I know so little about web design that I can't do it myself. I'm still researching this.

I'm also working on thinking of labels. The new blogger lets you add labels to each post, and this ability to categorize entries is something I've been hoping for since I started my blog on blogger. Now that the opportunity is here, I can't think of exactly how I want to label entries. I love Kerri's categories on her website - I'm hoping to come up with things equally inspired.

And of course, the constant goal - to post more.

Enjoy your day, everyone. We're off to SF!

Happy Friday!

You might be wondering about the title of this post. "But Katie, it's only Tuesday! Have you lost your mind?" you might be saying. Well, I'm here to tell you I'm not losing my mind, but for me, it is indeed Friday, and that is because I am off. the. rest. of. the. week.

Tomorrow, as many of you might know, is Valentine's Day, and this year, that means we have a date with Sandra Bernhard in San Francisco. But oh no, we're not stopping there. Well, I guess we are stopping there, but only for a night. On Thursday, we're headed to Monterey/Carmel and then to Cambria, where we'll stay the night, and then on Friday we're going to see the Hearst Castle. I'm calling it our California Adventure. Hopefully Disney doesn't read this blog.

I plan on taking lots of photos and sharing them with you, my rabid fan base. I realized that last year I only posted 98 entries. There are 365 days in the year, and I only posted on 98 of those days. I'd like to up that number this year, at least to 200, if not to 300. I mean, what's the point of having this blog to force me to write if I'm not going to write?

In other news, today is Pigtail Tuesday at work. There are about five of us wearing pigtails. It's pretty brilliant. I'd post pictures, but I'm not sure that I have permission to post that picture for the whole world to see. Trust me... it's good.

View

I had a surprise breakfast date with KTP this morning, and I was discussing our move with her, and she remarked how she had never been to my place. She also said I had never posted a picture of the view from our apartment - I feel like I have posted a pic, but if not, I found this picture I uploaded to flickr.com a while ago.

Here's the view we're saying goodbye to:

Moving on up (or down)

Gina and I got some great news a few weeks ago that I've been meaning to post about, but I've been out of town for what feels like six years (it was a week). We are moving from our studio into a ONE BEDROOM in our building. That's right, we're saying goodbye to The Treehouse, and hello to the lap of luxury.

The move is just down one floor and towards the front of the building. We're losing our view and a bit of our seclusion (we're way in the back now - no one bothers us), but we're gaining a slightly bigger kitchen with BUILT-INS, a slightly bigger bathroom, and A BEDROOM. Our rent is increasing very nominally, which leads me to believe we're moving into the cheapest one bedroom in Hollywood.

This is a very meaningful move for us. It's a very grown-up apartment compared to what we have now, although that's not saying much. For me, this is the first apartment I haven't chose out of necessity. That is, ever since I moved here seven years ago, I've always lived in places solely because I can afford them. Even when I lived in my studio five years ago, I chose that one because I had a friend in the building. The apartment was not ideal at all - it had the worst parking situation I've ever had to deal with. But I could afford it, and that's all that mattered. Besides that place, I've always had roommates. The Treehouse has been great, but the lack of space is... not okay anymore for me. As a friend of gina's said, "A relationship needs doors." And I think it's true, if for no other reason than I'm an early riser and gina's a night owl. Now we can leave the other sleep and watch TV or do whatever in the OTHER ROOM!! And on top of all of this, we can actually invite people over for dinner, poker nights, movie nights, game nights, group sex, whatever!!

It's also meaningful for us because we set a date of end of this year to start thinking about having children, and now we'll be in a place that if we feel like we're ready, we can manage it. We both agree it's okay to have a baby in a one bedroom, as long as there's a plan to move into something bigger soon after, which there already is. The homebuying time frame is about a year to a year and a half from now, ideally. We've done what we thought was impossible: we found a one bedroom that will allow an easy move and cheap rent, which will keep us on our financial track. This might not seem tough to a lot of people, but any readers living in Los Angeles know this is not an easy task. This makes me think we can do anything, as long as we do it together.

Now, if only I can convince her that we should buy an actual couch instead of furnishing the living room with the two futons we own...

Please stay tuned for before and after photos