On our one ‘Free Day’ we decided to make the trip out to Malibu. In the four times I have been to California I have never been to the beach, until this time that is!

There were a couple of stops we wanted to make along the way. One was to the super cute and expensive out door mall on the Pacific Coast Highway, and of course, Malibu Seafood. Oh the things we do for food!

We passed by some pretty nice places on the was to the PCH. The directions we were given didn’t work out 100% but it was a wonderful drive non the less.

Hello dream balcony! Thanks to our misguided directions we did manage to encounter our one and only star sighting – Chris Parnell!

Pacific Coast Highway!

I find this sign quite amusing.

The giant fish tank at the out door mall. You can actually see a partially eaten fish at the button of the tank.

That store is just way too damn expensive.

Stormy clouds that never produced a storm.

Not the weather one would expect in Malibu.

SHEEPS

Malibu Seafood! Made it!

You can see all the yummi foods we ate in the FOOD post below.

Waves

There are always choppers in the sky.

Kind of an awkward photo. ahaha.

I was obsessing over the waves.

This strip of houses was ghettttto.

I was, however, obsessed with all the beach erosion and how the stairs all had to be constantly added on to.

Ghetto Beach Chic?

Malibu Shoot

Back towards the car.

DOLPHIN!

The only reason we actually spotted the pod was because some little Mexican girl started to freak out over them. Thank you little Mexican girl!

I invented a beach feet washing system.

Our next plan was to drive up the Topanga Canyon; possibly to try and find Charles Manson, and possible just for the drive its self.

Once Claudia told me Charles Manson lived close by I had to Wiki the whole story, and then obviously because overly obsessed. Sometimes, I have creep obsessions. Hello Riverview!

The look out at the top.

Lizard!

Claudia had this whole plan ‘mapped’ out that we could drive through the Topanga Canyon, come out the other side and take Mulholland Drive back to West Hollywood.

Well…we tried and ended up driving down some private dirt road that lead to no where. Umm…yea…not good!

So much for that plan!

We ended up just driving back the way we came and took Sunset Blvd home while trying to look for OJ Simpson. Current Obsession #2.

Speaking of OJ, has anyone seen that recent sports documentary about June 17th 1994 and how insane it was for sports lover with all the craziness that was going on plus the OJ white bronco pursuit thrown on top of it? I’ve caught the last half of it twice in the past two weeks. OBSESSED.

But I digress…

We (well, Claudia) though we saw something going down and paparazzi all around so I made an emergency right turn to catch the action. Turned out just to be a Jewish wedding. Claudia thought it had to do with the Mafia but I reminded her that the Mafia doesn’t run LA, the Jews do.

Next time we go back, we might as well break down and buy a map to all the starts home. Maybe we will get lucky that way.

I think it’s pretty evident that my friends and I are really obsessed with food. If that’s not totally obvious to you, it will become very obvious in 5 seconds.

Claudia and I basically spent the entire trip talking about food, sharing recipes, watching the food network. SO OBSESSED.

Tuesday night we got into LA around 7, and since we grabbed a bite to eat at the airport, we decided just to go to the grocery story to pick up some snacks for the evening.

I bought a bottle of Robert Mondavi in commemoration of Chads road trip “South” that he had some 10 years ago.

Looking back on it, this was clearly over kill considering we only ate half of it during the course of the week.
The pickles however, vanished in a minute.

Wednesday morning our appointments got all mixed around so we had the opportunity to have an early lunch in the Fashion District near the Cal Mart Centre.
Claudia took me to the Market.

Bananananananas

I felt like eating as healthy as possible this trip, so that basically involved seafood every day.
Ahi Tuna Salad!
So good, but soo filling. I loved the Couscous in it.

You can’t go to LA with out stopping at the Grove for a Pinkberry.
If we had them here I would be there every day.

Since we were at the Grove Wednesday afternoon, Claudia took me to the Brazilian BBQ place at the Farmers Market.
The Sausages were sooo good.
This was the most meat I had all week.

Such a classy take out dinner.

Thursday we decided to go to Claudia and the Boss’ favorite Japanese Noodle House.
Looking back, I don’t know that having a giant bowl of HOT soup was such a good idea on a HOT day.

Thankfully, LA tells you whether or not you are eating at the right place.

Giant bowl much!? Clearly I did not finish all of this.

Thursday night Claudia took me on a date to this really lovely Italian place on Beverly Blvd.
The food was amazing and the restaurant was absolutely beautiful.

Of course I would get the pasta dish with all the seafood.
Our waitress was also the sweetest lady ever. That was one thing that really impressed me in LA, every place we went to eat, the wait staff was absolutely amazing.

Friday lunch consisted of leftovers. I can’t let all that goodness go to waste!

So, speaking of the Food Network, I have, somehow, watch many episodes of that show Unwrapped, where they usually feature candy and or fun food items like that. Because of this show, I know a lot of American Candy. On one such episode not to long ago they featured this relatively new candy invention called Nerds Rope. The minute I saw it I HAD to have it. I checked out a couple local candy shops, but no such luck. Then, while wondering to Anthropologie, I saw this really cute candy shop and made Claudia come in with me. Low and behold…NERDS ROPE!

A gummie rope covered in nerds. GENIUS!!!

OMG it was so good! I’ve got Claudia addicted now.

Friday night we went to the most amazing Sushi place I have ever been to in my life, Katana. I didn’t take any photos because it was way to fancy and posh. It was better then Koi in both my opinion and Claudia’s. One of our suppliers suggested we try it out, so we made a reservation and headed over. We were clearly under dressed because every girl was half naked in a skin tight dress with killer heels. Welcome to West Hollywood. This was when Claudia and I confirmed ‘Money CAN’T buy you class’. We felt totally out of place, and were actually considering not waiting around for our reservation to kick in. Thankfully we stuck it out and had the experience of a lifetime!

We were lucky enough to get a table out on the patio, which was amazing. Our waiter was super awesome and we had the best Japanese Tapas of our life. EVER. SO GOOD. AHHHHH.

I effing love Japanese food.

Saturday morning we headed out to Malibu to check out the beach, and this little out door mall they have. As soon as we got there we saw the cutest cupcake shop EVER!

Do those not look amazing!?

So we bought these, with the impression that we were going to eat them right away. I was wrong. Claudia wanted to save them until after lunch. Well, after lunch turned into just before dinner, which turned into after dinner, which turned into tomorrow for breakfast, and by the time we remembered them we have to leave for the airport and we couldn’t bring them with us. UGH. SUCH A WASTE OF AMAZINGNESS. It saddens me greatly to look at these pictures. :(

The good part of Malibu was that we actually DID get to eat somewhere. The boss has this little book all about places to eat in LA (re: obsessed with food just like us), and Claudia and I wanted to pick something new to try, so part of the reason we wanted to drive out to Malibu was just to come to Malibu Seafood!

It’s like our own little version of Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives.

This is me re-enacting a scene from the Planet Earth style documentary LIFE when the crabs are molting. Claudia was in hysterics.

Claudia’s Fish Tacos.

SQUID SAMMICH! Nom nom nom

We ended our trip, Saturday night, with yet another mind blowing Japanese experience. Also recommended to us by one of our suppliers. Katana and Sushi Roku have the same owners so the food is very similar. Score for us!

I’ve never had my own personal Sushi Chef before. The most amazing part was when the Mexican servers spoke Japanese to the Sushi chefs. MIND BLOWING.

Hot Table for TWO.

Edamame

Some 16 doll hair sushi roll of amazingness . I can’t remember what it was, but it is there number one most popular roll. Now we know why. Nom nom nom.

Crab Dynamite roll. Obvs amazing. I don’t know what is on top of them but it was creamy and warm and fit perfectly with the roll.

Seared Albacore with fried onions. I picked out this one and it was a WINNER.

We had these at Katana the night before and we were beyond obsessed. Spicy Tuna on a Deep Fried Rice Cake. HOLY CRAP. You have to have this if you love Japanese.

Looking at all this food is too much. I just want to go back to LA and eat Japanese every day of my life.

Chad is not very happy about this because he thinks I am going to give up my Italian culture to become Japanese (UMM, yea right Chad!). Just because I love Japanese food time a million doesn’t mean I’m about to ditch my heritage!

I love sharing a passion for food with Claudia. It makes the LA trips that much more amazing. I also love that we plan everything we are going to do each day around our meals and where we are going to eat. It’s amazing we aren’t both 300lbs.

I love LA food.

This time I actually want to post all my LA pictures (unlike the last time I went and life exploded and I got so behind). I figured it would be easiest if I did a couple themed posts just to get everything out there.

This one is all about the work.

Once we got to LA we hopped on the Budget Bus to go pick up our car. I get the lucky job of driving Ms. Claudia all over the State.

First stop Grocery shop where we always buy way more food then we can eat. We always worry we will be stuck at home starving but in reality, we never spend any time at home.

The first night was interesting. The guy who lives in the apartment above us decided that he needed to fix his rood at 6:30 in the morning. I know. There were men and ladders right outside my window and they were talking and moving around a giant piece of metal which was making the weirdest noises. This prompted me to have the weirdest dreams. We were so NOT impressed.

This was the truck that then sat outside my bedroom window idling from 7am to 8am. My number ONE biggest pet peeves is cars that idol. I can’t tell you how many summer nights I’ve spent tried to fall asleep with my window open, only to have some dumb ass car park right outside my window and run for ever. It’s like the seek me out. TURN OFF YOUR EFFING CAR. AHAHSHAHHHHHHHHHH.

First stop is the California Mart.

I’m ready to go.

A sign that we are in the right place.

The Cal Mart is “home to the offices of many of Los Angeles’ aspiring clothing designers, sellers, and buyers”. Exactly.

We go to the Cal Mart to look at Purses and Jewellery mainly.

Here we are in the Fashion District.

LA, LA

A sneaky shot of Claudia at one of our Jewellery suppliers. We bought a LOT from them. Some really amazing stuff I can’t wait to get in. These guys are in a building down the street from the Cal Mart.

While we wait, we wonder around the Cal Mart to see what else is new. This guy was obviously busy watching the World Cup.

The Cal Mart Foyer

I feel like being a Golden Brown hippie this Fall. Hopefully this purse gets purchased, I am obsessed!

These guys are one of the best purse vendors we buy from. This is where I got my infamous Teal over the shoulder bag that everyone loves.

Whats this you ask? I don’t know what its called, but its a sign that these Fabric Vendors are Jewish.

Remember that scene in S&TC when Charlotte becomes Jewish and and hangs this on the door of her apartment and her nosy neighbour asks what shes doing? Same thing!

**UPDATE – Pat says its a Mezuzah

San Pedro Mart. Same thing as the Cal Mart but less classier haha. Anyone can go here and buy things for their stores, you just have to buy packages of 12 in assorted sizes.

We mostly buy burn out Ts.

I tired to convince Claudia to purchase some of these.

An example of some of the printed Burn Outs we buy.

This one has rhinestones on it. Super cute!

Yet another amazing purse, from yet another amazing purse vendor. We’ve got great purse connections.

Something for the holidays perhaps?

Another big part of our trip to LA is checking out things we don’t have in Canada. So, it’s shopping time.

It’s easy to get inspired by clothing. Colours, textures, patterns, designs.

Whenever we see something we like, we take a picture of the detail or buy it as a reference.

No, it’s not STEALING. And if it is, it’s on Claudia’s conscious hahah.

The big parts of this LA trip were the Jewellery and Purse buying, checking out the new Burn Out Ts, checking out some new Fabric vendors (which are always, for some reason, a bust) and seeing whats new and cool in all the LA shops.

Over all, I think it was a great success!

Hello Vancouver,

I will not complain, because it is just pointless. I am not even going to comment on the weather.

LA was fun, but not as hot and sunny as one would expect. Smog was definitely to blame. Damn you polluters.

I was much more comfortable with everything this time around. I remembered where everything was and didn’t use the maps nearly as much as I did the last time. I also just felt way more comfortable driving in general.

We ate a lot of Japanese. Probably the best Japanese food I have ever had in my life. I’ve decided to go ahead and make the boldest statement of my life and say that Japanese food is my favorite food, more so then Italian. Chad’s not too happy about that.

I didn’t do a lot of shopping. No extra money hanging around this month. But I did sneak away with Birks, stuff for Italy, and a few jewels.

The drive to Malibu was beautiful and the beach was awesome, despite the clouds. We saw dolphins in the ocean.

I ate seafood every single day.

Our only celebrity sighting was Chris Parnell (SNL).

I have photos to share with you. Not an explosion, but enough.

I’m glad to be home though :)

Love,

Smelly

Well, it’s over, and my tired soul can’t help but be relieved. Nothing disastrous happened. We won our Gold. The city and the country came together like never before, and despite all the naysayers, it was a huge success.

This giant event that occurred for two weeks straight, was probably the most stressful event I’ve ever not had control over. As a resident of this great city, I wanted everything to go off with out a hitch. I can not tell you how many frantic discussions I had with Chad about snow on Cypress, or not doing well on the podium, or protesters making us look like fools on the world stage. I wanted us to suceed so badly that I couldn’t even watch any of the gold medal events because I was so nervous. But now, I can smile with pride, because these truly were Canada’s games.

Here are the last few pictures and stories from this amazing once in a lifetime experience.

Last week Alicia, Claudia, and I went for dinner down on Robson street while the Canada vs. Germany game was going on.

Claudia wore her Sock Monkey hat. Cutest thing ever!

There were guys playing drums in the middle of the street.

We went to Earls and got a table right away, which was pretty sweet.

Out on the Patio under a heat lamp watching the 3rd period.

We walked around Robson and Granville and were lucky enough to catch Joannie Rouchette skate her short program which they where projecting on the big screen.

The laser show was also really neat. It was pouring rain at this point and I was soaked.

—

Saturday was spend quietly.

I realized on Friday night that I am much happier when I am not on the Internet and attached to Twitter and Facebook at the hip. There are just too many stupid people on both networking sites and there are too many things that I read that piss me off. I realized that most of my anger stems from crap I’ve read on Twitter or Facebook. I know too much about people and their thoughts. More then I want to know.

Saturday I turned off the the Internet and the TV and worked away oblivious to the world while listening to Radiohead. It was very nice and peaceful.

Once Chad came home from work we decided to check out the Olympic Torch at night, since Chad hadn’t had the opportunity to see it yet. We headed down there around 9ish and braved the crowds to see the torch. Chad stood there in awe for quite a while. After all the work he has done for the Olympics, all the time and effort hes put in, I could see how proud he was.

We checked out the rest of the sights in and around the torch. The gold rings were amazing, though my camera would not get a good picture of them.

We decided to go for a drink in Gastown. In no way did I want to brave the disaster that was the downtown core. I’m not a party person at the best of times, and after my relaxing quiet Saturday I really wanted to continue down that path. In reality, it was pretty stupid to go downtown at all. None the less, Chad had to see the torch.

So, we walked down Cordova.

Every place was packed. Every place we thought wouldn’t be packed was packed. Not really all that shocking.

Then we came across this little pub. This was the pub we went to once during the Summer that Chad and I started to date where a homeless man walked by us as we sat on the patio and told Chad he had to marry me. Chad listened. Deightons Well is the name and from the outside it is tiny, and sketchy, but there was a table for two open and they served beer.

We sat down and I instantly became annoying with the chicks behind us. I did not have my party hat or my patients hat on at all during the courseof the evening. The chicks were so annoying I begged Chad to find us somewhere else to sit. Luckily we discovered the bar expanded to the back. The best we could get was a couch, but trust me, it was better then sitting at a broken table with a bunch of drunk air heads.

The rest of the evening was a bust. I’ve never been surrounded by a more annoying clientele. I’ve become a snob in my old age and I just don’t care to hang around overly drunk, super annoying 20 year olds. I want a nice spot in the corner with some dark lightening and good drinks where I can have a conversation. I was in the mood for class and I got white trash.

The waitress for our section was also clueless. I watched her bring the wrong food to 4 different tables, and even when she brought the right food it was wrong and sent back. She totally ignored us and it literally took an hour of waiting for her before we could go home. She tried to charge us for beers she forgot to bring us and was impossible to get a hold of. Not to metion she looked like she was a 15 year old and homeless. I’m sorry, but it was the worst bar I have ever been to. Everything was dirty, the atmosphere was bad and the lighting was horrendous.

Snob Alert. I was just not in the right mood for the evening and was totally turned off by everything.

—

I did not watch the hockey game yesterday, I would have thrown up if I did. Instead I locked myself in the bedroom and watched TV while refolding all my t-shirts and cleaning out the closets. I flicked back every now and then but I couldn’t watch it.

With about one minute to go I decided I was going to watch so that I could see us winning GOLD live. Yea, that was a bust. I’ve never sworn so loudly in my life. Chad thought I had broken things in the bedroom because I started to throw my boots on the ground. Over reaction much? No, I think the perfect amount of reaction.

I ran out to ask Chad what was going to happen next. He said there would be a break and then overtime. I asked him if he was going to watch it, but he didn’t know if he could handle the stress, so I asked him, if I wasn’t going to watch it, and he wasn’t going to watch it, how would we know who wins? He said, ‘You will just know, listen for it outside’.

I flicked back at around the 12 minute mark. Soon after that I heard little kids outside cheering. I kind of ignored it because I didn’t think it could possibly mean anything. Then there was more little kids. I turned the channel and there it was, GOLD.

Talk about relief.

I watched the closing ceremonies at my parents house. I enjoyed them making fun of how our torch didn’t work at the opening ceremonies and how Catriona Le May Doan got to finally light it. That was cute. I liked the way it poked fun at who we are. I was expecting more of a crowd reaction when Shatner, and the Mom from Home Alone, and MJF came out and did their thing. I enjoyed the dancing mounties and beavers and moose. I’m a sucker for Canadiana.

The musical acts where a whole nother story. I assume they chose who they chose because they wanted it to be up beat and fun, but they clearly have no clue which Canadian Bands people ACTUALLY want to see.

 But now it is all over. Now, I can have my husband back. Now I can stop worrying about Spring showing up in the middle of Winter. Now I can get back to all those things I started but didn’t finish two weeks ago. I will miss the Olympics, but all good things have to come to an end. 

Chad won two free tickets to the Dress Rehearsal for the Opening Ceremonies through work yesterday. Only problem is that they are for tomorrow night and hes got a night shift. He said he still wanted me to use them, but for some reason it just felt weird thinking of going with out him. I was so wishy washy about it. To think I was actually contemplating just staying home and letting them go to waste. Luckily he smacked some sense into me.

I’m taking my favoirte Chilean with me tomorrow night. We have to leave work early to be there with enough time to go through security. We can’t bring any cameras (obviously) or any food and we have to wear white tops. I read some news reports of people saying its going to be an amazing show, so I’m quite excited to see it. But, I am going to keep my lips sealed on the matter and not tell you anything about it until after the real Opening Ceremonies. The only thing I am having a hard time with is the no camera bit. Not because I want to sneak pictures of anything, but I want to have my camera with me for AFTER the show, when Claudia and I wonder around downtown. The blogger in me is dying knowing I won’t have my camera with me.

I haven’t figured out exactly what free shows and things I will be attending yet. Alicia is going to be working every day with me during the Olympics, so we plan on taking the bus down town after work most days and just hang out.

Monday, Chad and I, along with Claudia and Elise, plan on going down to the Atlantic House on Granville Island to watch Sloan play and drink some beer. It should be really fun and I’m quite excited about it. I can’t believe it is only 3 days away!!! I’m going to live it up as much as possible.

As for now, I should get my stuff for work ready, so I can go to work early tomorrow. Then I need to figure out something white to wear. This should be interesting since the only white I own is in t-shirt form and that is going to be cold!

Another year, another Trevisani Banquet!

I borrowed some of these pictures from Alicia, Dario, & Pat.

To see more of them click Here, & Here. Other photos are on Facebook.

Don’t we all look good!?