californian adventure: hooray for west hollywood!

hello! how is your 2010 going? are you in camp twenty-ten or are you a two-thousand-and-tenn-er? as though it matters, this year is gonna rock!!

well, my year is going great so far. january 1 started with trifle for breakfast. it already bettered any breakfast in 2009, case closed. so how could i beat trifle? how about my GREAT CALIFORNIAN ADVENTURE!

yeah, i'm pretty excitable this week (blush) we've been here since saturday and about 2 hours after landing at LAX we were already deliriously in love (30% of that delirium possibly due to being awake for 22 hours). we're staying in west hollywood, at the lovliest hotel ever. the lobby alone satisfies my david lynch flooring fantasies:

the weather is so perfect, around 25 celsius, and with such gentle sunshine. for those of you outside of australia, our sun is nasty. it actually kinda stings your skin sometimes. and for those of you like myself who are of an, er, alabaster/pasty complexion, this is bad, burny news.

speaking of things that get burned to a crisp back home: the lawns here pretty much insist you lie down and roll around on them. green and perfectly manicured, they look so beautiful! i'm fairly sure i came close to being arrested today after i was almost compelled to run bare foot across someone's front lawn on rodeo drive. can they toe-print lawns and track you down? can someone provide an alibi for me? and look at this grass i found in santa monica, it has daisies!

and look at this awesome sears building i found in santa monica too. so elegant!

yesterday we went and hung out at the santa monica pier. i was rather enamoured of all the old coin operated amusements (i know, i know, i'm such a cliche alterna-girl). we played our first ever game of whack-a-mole and won a hot pink fluffy dolphin. also a street psychic told me i'd have another 4 children, and a creative breakthrough this year. guess which prediction i'm more excited about. hint: it doesn't contain the number 4) here are some santa monica gems:

today we walked along sunset boulevard and checked out some hallowed territory for my metal lovin' boyfriend. he is having quite the time here! first night, he had dinner with a rather important guitar guy and met some of his guitar heros, and tonight he was girlishly excited about being on the door list for a gig at the house of blues. i think one could say he is in his element! and to think, i knew him when he was juuuust that guy i loved!

i apologize for my (probably annoying) wide-eyed, touristy ramblings. this is pretty exciting for me and i love traveling and cutting loose in some place new and exciting. but exciting for me is pretty strange, so maybe be warned, i might start posting photos from grocery stores. stay tuned for the rest of the month to see whose lawn i vandalize with my presence, next! it could be YOURS!

PS: angelenos (possibly all americans), you are the most friendly people i've ever seen. people smiling and saying hi as they pass you on the street? what?! shop assistants acknowledging your presence? HUH!? though i can see why you don't like the french... if you've grown up expecting this level of customer service it would be quite a nasty shock going anywhere else!