This was inspired by our recent 4-day excursion to Portland…and Brooke’s request to have her picture featured in a blog post. Not to mention my desire to drop some rhymes.
Green moss, lush trees and bike lanes, oh my!
‘Tis a beautiful town, you cannot deny.
Tattoos are a plenty and the hoppy beer keeps a’flowin,
Roses are sweeter-all the rain helps them a’growin.
Bridgetown, oh Bridgetown, with the parks and the art,
The streets full of character, hipsters and heart.
Strip clubs on every corner, promising a good night…
Your food carts delight and the coffee’s done right.
No sales tax, I was warned…shopping’s a breeze.
(And yes, the money did flow out of my wallet with ease.)
Our hosts, Brooke and Nic, showed us the best of the town,
We ate well, we slept well and generally, got down.
Oregon showed us, like in Jersey, you can’t pump your own gas.
And just like in Colorado, a half-marathon can kick your ass.
Thank you to Portland for the West Coast adventure and fun,
Our late summer vacay was lovely–I’m glad there was sun!
As I sit and reminisce about what I was doing last weekend in L.A. at this time, the snow falls. I long for warmth on my skin, for tank tops, eating outdoors and soaking up the sunshine . That longing is one of the reasons I decided a trip to California during a Colorado winter would be oh-so-good for me in the first place. (Start humming The Mamas & The Papas here.)
In addition to the weather, Los Angeles proved to be a good choice by seducing me with amazing people, interesting opportunities and a diverse culture. Call it a retreat, call it a girl’s weekend, call it a bachelorette party (which I refuse to do), the time I spent in east L.A. revived me, inspired me and got me ready to rock out in 2009.
Looking back on the trip, there were a few things that were essential to the success of the weekend. Your mileage may vary, but I think you’ll agree that these are some of the necessities:
–a heavy dose of Mexican food–coming from Colorado, we were desperate for Mexican food done right. Fortunately, there were huevos rancheros a plenty, a late-night taco stand run, and lots of nachos… very important for fueling the fun.
–shopping–we walked and looked more than we actually consumed, but it was the leisurely way we did it and the local boutiques we were doing it in that made it so incredible. Silver Lake has fantastic stores and you have to love a neighborhood with personality.
–Thai massage–all “happy ending” jokes aside, this shit was awesome. As a certified massage therapist, I’ve had a lot of massage over the years. But this was a first. Probably the deepest massage I’ve received in a while and with the crazy stretching involved, also the most needed. If you’ve never had a Thai woman walk on your back, you’re missing out. (Caroline wrote a post about the place we went to in Echo Park.)
–beautiful weather–I know I already gushed about it, but the 80-degree days were really, really nice. There was talk about how warm it was for a California winter but it was just what my pale, Colorado, bundled-in-layers soul needed.
–karaoke–say what you want about the activity, I love singing with strangers. We went to a dive bar called The Smog Cutter , which besides having an awesome name, also had a very interactive karaoke experience. Namely, there was no stage. So you basically just sang in the midst of everyone at the bar, resulting in lots of backup singers, people dancing around you, and ample opportunity to work the crowd. Seriously, it was an epic night of karaoke. Not to mention, I rick-rolled the joint. Totally awesome.
–no schedules–I came to L.A. wanting to simply go with the flow. By not planning every minute of the day, we let things happen and took it all in at a relaxed pace. Who wants to be rushed around anyway?
–near-celebrity sightings–It’s L.A. You can’t help but almost see a celebrity. Our close call came on a corner of Sunset Drive. Ingrid thought she saw this guy:
…when really she just saw a bulldog who liked to bite skateboards. Embarrassing.
–pajama parties–Do I really need to explain this one?
–Jumbos Clown Room–I’m not going to explain this one but will say I left inspired.
–good friends–I had the right ladies accompany me on this adventure and I love what they brought to the weekend. It was also really entertaining to tell people that we met because of our blogs. To top off the weekend, I made new acquaintances and got the chance to see an old high school chum (one is silver and the other gold)…reuniting after 14 years only to be reminded that we haven’t really changed that much.
So in summary, despite the title of this post and to some folks’ disbelief, not much actual trouble was had.
