"She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain." {Louisa May Alcott}

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Some Inspiration



[all images from we heart it]

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

The Olympic Spa

Set in the heart of Koreatown, LA, The Olympic Spa at first glance seems uninviting and almost run down. But, pull around to the back of this Korean bathhouse and you are greeted with valet parking and a smiling receptionist who promptly ushers you into the women only, no swimsuits allowed, spa and treatment area. As you walk in, you're reminded of a glorified locker room, and the atmosphere takes a little getting used to, with the completely nude women milling about and the Korean attendants dressed only in black bra and underwear. Women from all walks of life come to bathe in the hot and cold mineral tubs, steam in the jade steam room, sweat out toxins in the sauna filled with purifying charcoal or take a rejuvenating nap on the sprawling and beneficial jade floor. And all of this is included when you book an appointment for any of the different, and I'm sure equally amazing [cause mine definitely was], treatments
I got the The Milk and Honey Smoothie which consisted of an intense all over, and I mean all over, body scrub followed by a honey massage and warm milk rinse, then a cucumber mask was slathered on my face while my attendant washed my hair. Afterward my skin was ridiculously soft, I couldn't stop touching myself [not like that, pervs] and I was incredibly relaxed. You’ll leave the Olympic Spa feeling rejuvenated and drooling to book your next appointment.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Del Mar Fair

Since I'm supposed to be writing a paper for my English class, and am procrastinating as usual, I decided to post an itty bitty blog post instead of wandering aimlessly around Facebook, as I am wont to do. Anyways, I went to the Del Mar fair yesterday, and to be truthful, I was sorta/kinda disappointed. I guess I was just expecting it to be less county fair like, and more... I don't know, just MORE. It was simply a glorified version of the El Dorado County Fair back in the 'ville, with tons more people and ungodly amounts of fried food. Even butter! which shouldn't even qualify as a food - more of a heart attack on a plate, along with the deep fried klondike bars and twinkies. On the plus side however, I did get to see the world's largest horse: 19 hands tall (that's six and a half feet) and 3,000 pounds!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Mini Vacay



 

Venice Beach 
 
 Such a vibrantly colorful and exciting place. I am so fortunate to have a cousin who lives right there, on a sailboat in Marina del Rey actually. I spent the past two and half days up there, and had a blast! I experienced so many new things and I loved every single one of them. Here's a run down of my couple-daycation.

I got there on Thursday around noon, and Jessica (my dear cousin) immediately jumped into my car to go to a job of hers for a couple of hours. She's a studio teacher - among other things - and goes on movie sets or things of the like and teaches child actors and enforces child labor laws. So we first went to Sissy Spacek's daughter's film, but since the kids had already been in school, all that was required of Jes was to just watch (and eat lots of delicious food, which I got to partake in because I was "jobshadowing" her - Oh and btw I guess S. Spacek is really famous?) Then we went to Nickelodeon studios and watched a kid record a cartoon show.



Friday morning we woke up early, took the kids to school, and went sailing. Just to let you all know, we are complete NOVICES at sailing. I've only been one other time and she's never been by herself either. But we tacked and gibbed and sailed like the best of them - maybe not as well as the 16 year old who was sailing around the world, but at least we didn't have to be rescued. (30 foot waves notwithstanding) Both of us did almost die, however. I decided to sit in a hammock that was strung on the stern, and as soon as I let go of the boat I started swinging around wildly and was almost impaled by the ladder. While she decided to hang from the bow, but we were laughing so hard that she almost didn't have enough strength to pull herself up. But we made it back safe and sound and are ridiculously proud of ourselves.

After our sailing experience we took the kids, Sage and Kaien, to their respective auditions; ate a surprisingly (to me at least) delicious all natural, vegan restaurant in Westwood, went to Benefit and got threaded, ouch!, and took the kids home so we could go to the spa. Now this isn't any regular ol' spa, we went to a Korean bathhouse, and as I found out, LA's best kept secret in the heart of Korea town/ the ghetto. I will have to go into detail of this amazing spa in a later post. But for now, just know that it was almost heaven on earth. After the spa we went to The Waterfront restaurant right at the Marina where there was live music playing and tons of people partying. An 80's band was there and the lead singer fell in love with my cousin, had her come up on stage and do a handstand because somehow he could tell that she was a gymnast, then proposed to her and sneaked a kiss!  


After the restaurant, we were so deliriously tired that we decided to go sailing at 3 o'clock AM with some people we met at the Waterfront, well not actually sailing, but motoring around the harbor. So we didn't go to bed until at least 4:00 and woke up at eight to go to a boot camp at the Santa Monica pier!



To get to boot camp, we rode a THREE PERSON BICYCLE. Never heard of one? Well that's probably because they don't really exist - at least as far as I know. We rode a tandem bike with one of those special bike hitches that add an extra bicycle to the back. So we had one person on each seat and then Kaien stood on the handlebars. We were quite a spectacle, and after quite a few spills I finally got the steering down and we rode all over Santa Monica, went to the  Farmer's Market and I finally found some tennis shoes I love! At American Eagle of all places, I got a pair of super cute and functional New Balances, and for less than fifty dollars. We rode home, I learned how to play a little handball, and then I had to make the 2 hour drive back to SD to go to work.

All in all, I had an amazing, fantastic vacation with my overly generous and fun cousin. Thank you so much for all the experiences Jessica London!


P.S. Sorry about the uber long post, but there was just so much to tell I couldn't shorten it at all! And isn't that picture great? I guess there really are three person bicycles, and apparently ten person!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Need a tissue?

Um, hellooo..... Can you say dumbest idea ever? I cannot even believe that Kleenex would deem "paper towels" a new and ingenious idea. In their commercial, they say that you're only as clean as your towel that you use to dry off is. But if you wash your hands and then use the towel, it doesn't get dirty because you just washed your hands hence they're clean, as is the towel. And paper towels aren't even comfortable to use, they're scratchy and stiff and nowhere near as nice as a fluffy cotton bath towel is. Plus, what a waste of paper. In this green, eco-friendly day and age you would think that Kleenex would follow the trend.... apparently not.