Star Sighting

I had dinner last night with some friends from work at the Library Ale House down on Main street in Santa Monica. Here's the link:
http://libraryalehouse.com/ Apparently it's known for its beer although me, I am not a beer drinker so I couldn't tell you. I did have a nice glass of wine though. It's a restaurant with a bar and a nice outdoor patio in the back. I should add too that it has an overwhelming number of really attractive men in it-probably the most that I have seen gathered in one place! ha. Anyways, half-way through our dinner, we realized that at the table across from us was sitting Quentin Tarantino with some brunette girl. Yup-for those of you who are fans of this director of Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, etc. He was wearing some sort of funky cap and was talking in a nasaly voice. We didn't stare too much but still, my first starsighting in a while.
I liked the place so much that I might go back to the bar over the weekend and watch the Arizona bball game (I have usually been watching it at Barney's Beanery, another favorite).
Main street is full of interesting places like this and if you walk further south, you hit Venice beach!

Tonight I am going to participate in that fun blue-collar sport bowling, and then over the weekend catch up with some friends and family in town hopefully.

Julie

Another post...

It's a laundry and tv watching night. Originally, I thought that I would get home early but by the time that I got done with this seminar and set up some experiments, it was late. I am looking forward to the days when it gets light again coming home and I can just fire up the grill in my backyard...Anyways, it was a busy weekend -part of Sat. I spent at this conference, then got my car washed for the first time in 6 months (dust and dirt gather much more on the car here than in Tucson if you can believe that) although I need to replace some belts on it, just don't want to spend the money yet. I also saw the dentist last week and eyedoctor. The dentist told me that I am a powerful grinder and need a nightguard, ha, I guess that's the price of stress although I am going to wait a while because it costs big bucks. Meanwhile, there was some stupid glitch in my health insurance so it was deactivated without my knowing so I spent some time on the phone this week dealing with that. I still have to go back to the eyedoctor and pick out some glass frames. The good news is that my eyesight hasn't changed since 5 years ago-just as bad as it was-ha!
Yeah-I did end up getting my haircut and blond highlights-it cost me a huge amt of money, basically a plane ticket(144 bucks) but it was worth it, I feel lighter. I just need to get my ass in gear and shed my tummy weight.
I met a new neighbor-well rather he has lived here a few months already but the other night was the first time that we talked. He's an architect and we realized that we share a 6 degrees of separation thing. He's from New Jersey and went to college in NY. His best friend from college was in the same graduating high school class as the brother of my best friend from high school, so 2 grades below me. Pretty funny. We were talking about having a block party or bbq. That would be cool although I do have some odd neighbors. One new guy likes to push his grocery cart around every night really late-no idea what's in it.

Oh -so since the days when we all did karoke in Tucson (grad school year 1 or 2?), I did it for the first time again this past Fri nite at this place in Culver City called The Scarlett Lady. It reminded me of the bars in Tucson-like the Red Garter. I went with a bunch of postdoc guy friends, and no, as usual, I drank little but belted out my favorites-Madonna and Annie Lennox. We were out till like 2am. One drunk guy who is a regular apparently kept on coming up to shake my hand. Apparently the last time that this crowd went here, there was an ex playmate bunny serving as dj who was hitting on all of the guys.
On Sat nite, this conference held its reception at this W hotel in Westwood-very fancy! I had a good time chatting with my boss and some other random people. Later that night, the bar was really crowded-lots of yuppies. I got nervous when the valet took my car off to park-they drive super fast. Although when I picked it up, I was listening to this classy Brit guy and his girl-the valet had given their rental car to the wrong couple -how stupid is that!?

This week has just been busy with experiments and classes-I am sitting in on a microarray analysis class because I will be doing those in the future-it's pretty neat but I am still not crazy about going to classes for 8 hours a week! Thurs night I am going to try a new dinner place in Santa Monica with a bunch of gal pals, actually get out during the week!

Julie

DVD heaven & Hollywood Starlets

The last two nights I have enjoyed the simple pleasure of not being at work, not working on papers, and watching dvds-Wedding Crashers, Junebug, Two for the Money, and tonight, that cheesy flick-In Her Shoes. It feels great to relax. Hmmm, so last weekend, I worked half the weekend on my Arizona manuscript and finished the revisions late on Tues night. The other half of the weekend I went to a Wellesley brunch (TJ-you giggling on this one?!) at the Newsroom Cafe in Beverly Hillls, a great organic bkfast/lunch place right across the street from the Ivy-the famous restaurant that all of the stars go to. I swear to god that on my way back to my car, I stood right next to Paris Hilton-although she looked way white and way skinny. I didn't see any paparazzi though. Anyways, I decided to go to this once a month brunch with fellow alums for the first time since I moved to LA. I used to belong to the college alumni club in Tucson but I was by far the youngest member among all of the blue hairs! At this brunch, I was the oldest at 31-can you believe that?! I have been wanting to meet different people outside of work and this was a great crowd-a real mix of ages and occupations from an environmental designer to a bunch of accountants, to a real estate girl, just a fun and laid-back bunch. So, I will definitely do it again, maybe even host a bbq next month at my house. I also went to a superbowl party and for once, in all of the years that I have gone to these parties, I actually watched and got into the game! A previous weekend I had watched the Patriots vs. the Broncos and had the rules explained to me and actually, found it pretty interesting. I wasn't rooting for a particular team and granted, I spent a good portion of time stuffing my face near the food table, and making fun of Mick Jagger's voice (it was painful), but it was fun.
This week has been crazy busy-running experiments, going to class, actually going to the dentist and eyedoctor although I have yet to get new glasses b/c of an insurance snafu. There's also a conference going on called Neural Control of Behavior so I have to get up wee early tomorrow and Sat to go to the lectures. So much for a work-free weekend. However, it's free food and some cool research. I have also scheduled a haircut apt-I am going to take the plunge and get highlights done, just for a change, I have felt dark lately and haven't been able to exercise as much because I have to get in so early for experiments.
On the bright side, I have a bunch of old friends coming through town in the next few weekends so I am excited about that. I still haven't taken trips around LA, was talking with friends about taking a wine tour, but don't know if that will happen. I am also debating whether to throw my annual Oscar pty?! It's ironic that I live in LA now and pay even less attention to Hollywood stuff and have seen less movies. Still reading the entertainment mags though!

Julie