Sunday, September 25, 2005

Cutie Pies..

Still drinking...


Still drinking Margarita...

It's Jeremy's Birthday! :)


Jeremy and the Party...



The lovely Cass and Jeremy/Wendy and Me...

My lovely friend Jeremy aka JKJ had his "under 50" Birthday today. So a lovely gathering was held with friends ranging from age 2 to "under 50". :) The people were so very nice and seeing as I'm new to the area it was really a great way to chat with new friends. ALLES GUTE ZUM GEBURTSTAG JKJ! :)

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Yeah...I really live here, well okay near here anyway.




Where are all the muscle men?? :) On a sunny Sunday afternoon, my friend Greg and I enjoyed a wander on Venice Beach and fish and chips in a lovely Beer Garden. Why didn't we eat Sausage? Yeah, I don't know...

So, everyone send good thoughts out next Wednesday for my friend Hal and I as we are auditioning for a bitchin Agency...Woohooo!!! :)

Pacific Palisades...




It was a little hazy that day...

This is my friend Greg's Parents House...it's so beautiful that I had to post it! Seriously, their Garden is enormous and beautiful, overlooking the hills and the ocean...lovely! :)

I'm back!!!!!!!


This is Mary Steenburgen at the Film Festival I attended giving a speech...and Hal eating at the Casino...twas a lovely day! :)


A little Night Tour of LA given by my lovely friend Greg.

Hello! I'm sorry I've been a bit out of touch...I haven't had the inernet since arriving in LA, but my lovely friend Jeremy is kind enough to let me borrow his. :) So, here are a few pictures to start! :) I arrived just over a week ago and have experienced a Red Carpet premier, a night tour of LA, getting lost for 45 minutes (trying to go 4 miles...it takes talent!), going to Pacific Palisades (pictures will be next), RAIN and more...Seriously, it rained here for an entire day...uh huh, on my one week - aversary it poured all day...the funny thing was that everyone here was really excited about it. :)

Thursday, September 15, 2005

I MADE IT! :)

Sorry it's taken me a few days to write...my internet access is quite limited which is making life a bit tricky. I arrived safely in LA on tuesday early afternoon! I did stop on Monday night in a town called Adelanto, CA...yeah don't stay there if you don't have to. The hotel itself was fine and safe, but it was serious Redneck ville. I mean, the fan blown mullet and mickey mouse tshirt were a bit much as were the two nearby prisons. :) It was fine though, so no one worry. There was a police station right across the street. I did get pizza from a place nearby which sported a huge tv and lots of nascar photos. Ah yes, a different world. Tuesday , I didn't do much other than lounging around and unpacking. I wandered around my neighborhood a bit but seeing as I still had the flu, didn't wander very far. Yesterday however was a different day. My friend Hal and I went to the Tenecule film and music Festival! It was really really fun...we stopped by a Casino beforehand as it was on route..yeah I didn't win anything, and then put on our finer clothing and wandered down a red carpet. Nice welcome to LA don't you think? Seriously, I walked down the red carpet, photographs were taken, though I may be called Charmaine as they were calling out names and no one knew what was going on...but hey it was still cool. Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen were there as well - she was receiving a lifetime achievement award. An after party ensued and we enjoyed a lovely buffet..the second one of the day as of course we had the Casino Buffet. :) Alright, I'm off to wander and take pictures! I don't have internet at the apartment yet, but hopefully will figure something out soon!!! Lots of love!

Monday, September 12, 2005

Random Town, USA on Route 66





This is about an hour past the Grand Canyon on I 40...yeah I don't think I would find it again, but it was a cool old school gas station.

Me and the Grand Canyon...or is the Grand Canyon and I?




The pictures really don't do it justice...


Hello my lovely friends and family! I'm currently in the, well lovely (?) town of Adelanto, CA..don't look it up as you won't find much. :) I've had to halt my travel 89 miles outside of LA due to a bout of the flu, though I'm confident it will be gone tomorrow. Plus, sitting in traffic after a power outage in LA doesn't sound all that great after 7 hours of driving. Sooo, on with it. After Albuquerque I arrived at the Grand Canyon! I had pretty high expectations, even though people had said "oh it's just a hole in the ground", but did those people really look at it? I mean, it's enormous and incredibly beautiful, especially if you watch the sun change and the shadows play. I sat along an edge (don't worry I was far away from the actual edge) and watched the Sun go down. As my brother asked "Did you get all deep thought like?" - and yes, of course I did. I couldn't help but be contemplative and feel quite small when the oldest rocks at the bottom date back 1.84 billion years. I went back this morning to try and ride a mule down to the bottom...reservations are recommended otherwise there's a waiting list and I would have been on that list for quite a long time. I thought about hiking down, but as I looked at my pink trainers and the lack of water bottle, I thought it would be smarter to just stare at it a bit more. By the way, it gets really really cold as the sun sets, so if you choose to sit and watch, bring a blanket!
I entered California and suddenly the speed on the road went up 20 miles per hour...from 75 to 95...crazy Cali's. :) So, enough of my chatter...here are the pictures. :)
P.S. More on the lovely last night in a hotel tomorrow...it's funny.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

To Albuquerque...wow, I can spell it!



Old town above and Sandia Mountain below...hmm that's kind of funny.






I arrived in Albuquerque around 3pm or 15:00uhr for my Europeans...I drove straight to the Honda Dealership (they were expecting me) to swap out my headlight...after that was finished on I went to sightsee! I took the tramway to the top of the Sandia mountain range which sits on the north (yeah I could be wrong on that) side. BEAUTIFUL! :) It cost $15 but was completely worth it...especially if you eat in the restaurant (which I didn't - 'cause that was a bit more) but I hiked around the mountain for an hour or so. The funny thing was that I felt so small as I looked over this range. I could see for miles and miles. It was kind of strange to see Ski Runs without snow on them though. It wasn't lonely or anything, just peaceful. I know it sounds hokey, but it really was cool. I then went to my hotel to drop things off and continued to "Old Town" - it really is old. The houses from the first settlers still stand and I thought it was quite lovely that there was a wedding in the park at sunset. I ate dinner inside a lovely restaurant which happened to be inside the first home built...Was a great afternoon! The people are so friendly here and hey I saw cowboys this morning in Elk City...yup, theys was talking 'bout the rodeo, yeehaw! :) Wow, was that just this morning...it's starting to blend together. Off to the Grand Canyon tomorrow...I'm soooo excited!

The Road to Albuquerque...




Wow, that road is boring! Seriously, here's what I saw most of this morning and early afternoon...pshh, and I thought that the drive to Fargo, ND was bad... The second picture is actually in New Mexico already...hence the curve and slight hill. :)

A Day off...


See, it looks like there's a lot to do...yeah there's not though.


The pictures from a parking lot... :)


Mary Ann and Ray in front of their new house! They were so great to me...fed me, tried to fix my light with me and are just lovely people. Thank you!!!

Hello! I decided to take yesterday off from posting anything, mostly due to exhaustion. I arrived in Elk City, Oklahoma around 11pm after trying to fix a broken headlight. The day actually was quite nice though...I drove from Ozark, MO to Oklahoma City with a few stops in between. I stopped in Miami, OK because they had this sign that read "Come to Miami! We have..." and this long list ensued...well, maybe they USED to have a lot there, but really it was just a sleepy town with nothing going on. My goal was to get food, but apparently not in Miami, so I drove on. Next came Tulsa...I'm still hungry at this point and needing gas, so I drive around thinking that I can't get lost because I'm in Tulsa and it's not that big of a city. Yeah, that was wrong...I somehow got myself quite turned around and ended up in a parking lot taking pictures of the skyline...still no food. So, I continued on to Oklahoma where I was going to have dinner with Lucas's Mom MaryAnn and his step dad Ray...that was the best part of the day! I took a nap on their porch swing in the backyard since I beat them to their house...then Mary Ann cooked an amazing dinner and the three of us chatted into the evening. Well, then came the deal with the Headlight (which I finally got fixed in Albuquerque)...so after a couple of hours of searching for this elusive light bulb, (and not finding it) I got on the road and drove on. :)

Friday, September 09, 2005

THEY SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! :)


I just wanted to wish MY MOM a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I won't tell you how old she is, but I will tell you that she's the most wonderful MOM in the whole wide world. She is so loved by all of us and I can't wait to see her again soon!!! BUSSI BUSSI ICH HAB DICH SO LIEB! :)

Day 3, Part B - St.Louis to Ozark Missouri





After my brief visit to Vandalia, I ventured onto St. Louis. I did get quite excited to see this infamous Arch to the West - which you really can see from miles away. It's pretty flat around St.Louis so it really wasn't tough to find. I did make it to the top of the Arch which was quite the adventure. I would highly recommend going in the middle of the week after Labor Day...there was hardly anyone there. So, you could breeze through security, buy a ticket and hop on...but hopping on is the challenge. They put you into this little ball type contraption with four other people...it's pretty tight so you get to know them quite well and then it moves through the arch. It feels a little rickety (is that a word?) and if you are claustrophobic I wouldn't recommend it, but it was worth it for the view. Beautiful! Plus, it's kind of cool to sit on top of an Arch...That's pretty much all I managed to do in St. Louis, other than walk around a bit more as it was so hot that I thought I would have to strip out of my jeans and T-Shirt. No Brewery Tour for me as I did have another 200 miles to drive. Next time... I arrived in Ozark around 7:30pm which has been lovely. I'm staying with Lucas's Aunt and Uncle (Patrick and Terri) who have been so welcoming! They fed me, gave me a little wine and we chatted most of the evening away...though they do keep their house quite cold. :) It's lovely here and I am very Thankful to have had the pleasure of staying here for the night. Their daughter Jennifer is attending Missouri State for Vocal Performance (she has a beautiful voice - obviously) and their younger son Stephen has just started 2nd grade - he's a very bright little (okay not so little) charmer. :) Plus, they have two cute dogs...hmm, better watch out or the little one may end up in a bag of mine. :) To Oklahoma tomorrow...