the reason why i'm so often stuffed into a confining airplane seat or working to make a hotel room feel homey is because of my job. sure i've got a love for travel but, more often than not, the trip that i'm on is on behalf of insect lore, to spread the joy of creepy crawlers. BUT, this weekend was different! i traveled, not for business but for pleasure.
a few months ago, daniel and i watched ONCE, a musical independent film that i had heard great things about. while we didn't really think the film was all that amazing, the music was phenomenal and we became instant fans of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova who tour as the Swell Season. after a little online research, i found a california tour date and surprised daniel with tickets. even better, Iron and Wine, one of my favorite bands, was to open for them.
on saturday morning we drove thru starbucks for fuel and were off to LA for an activity packed weekend we had anticipated for a long time! our first stop was Chubby's Cruisers, a specialty bike shop that i had discovered online. we walked through the showroom and after much indecisive chatter (a vanessa classic) i decided on the model and color scheme for my new beach cruiser. my TAHITI will be a vanilla color with pink rims, a rattan basket and a bell :)
after we picked out my new bike, we headed to downtown LA where we grabbed some MUCH NEEDED lunch at an irish pub near the staples center. we freshened up (by we, i mean, i freshened up while daniel napped) and headed to the club lounge at the millenium biltmore for our complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres and we were off to the greek theater.
our cabbie dropped us off in the beautiful residential area leading up to the amphitheater under the stars and we walked with the super cool LA hipsters, quickening our pace as we heard Iron and Wine already into their set. the night was beautiful as we enjoyed cocktails and great music. richard sherman (composer for the Jungle Book and Marry Poppins) made an appearance and sang spercalifragelistik expialidotious - or however you spell it - with the Swell Season.
after the concert, dan and i hailed a cab back downtown. we almost didn't arrive in one piece as our driver seemed to be unfamiliar with even the most popular areas of LA and landed us on a one way street, going the wrong direction. we eventually made it back safely and walked to an irish pub we had seen earlier. a little bummed to find, what daniel and i call a "broseph bar," we walked back to the biltmore to sip martinis at the classy bar and listen to some live jazz.
the purpose for our trip was 2 fold. we had concert tickets, but we had also promised ourselves that we would FINALLY make it to the Getty Center. we have talked about going to the getty together for the better part of 5 years and we decided this would be the time... but first, we needed brunch. where else do you go in downtown LA for a swanky sunday brunch than The Standard?? i showed daniel the ultra hip hotel and we had some devilishly delicious brunch - honey marscapone stuffed french toast topped with baked apples and watermelon lemonade - DUH!
we journeyed north to the getty center and meandered through sculptures, paintings, photographs and gardens until the museum's closing. it was an incredibly beautiful day: a little fall crisp, plenty of sun and the perfect breeze. art and flowers - you can't get any more romantic!
when i was 17, daniel introduced me to a contemporary and genuinely bizarre author - Chuck Palahniuk. the first book that i read by him, was Choke which daniel passed along to me. recently, a movie, inspired by the novel was released - but of course was not in the hellishly conservative bubble that is bakersfield so we made it part of our LA adventure. after the getty, we went a bit farther north to sherman oaks where we had some italian food and wine then caught the movie at the galleria. unfortunately, neither one of us gave it the enthusiastic thumbs up, we had to see it. come on, it's Palahniuk!
our little romantic weekend came at a great time. as of thursday, i'll be away for work every weekend until the middle of november! it's going to be a longgggg month...
P.S. i took a ton of amazing pictures at the getty. i don't want to toot my own horn or anything, but the garden pictures were pretty impressive. but after trying to upload pictures all day at work, i ran out of patience. blogger.com should work on this!
2 comments:
mmmmmm wine and martinis.
when do they have the butterfly gardens at the Getty? I had a bride get married there I think, and she told me they have these amazing gardens with tons of butterflies. I mean, not like you can't see butterflies (or mariposas for those of us who are bilingual) every day at work, but still, it would be cool to see a huge garden of them.
or maybe I'm crazy and that isn't really real, and I just made it up in my head. I do that a lot... :)
good heavens that was long...
i love once
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