Julia's Mexico City

First Mother's Day

Yesterday was my first mother's day. It was lovely, but mostly still a bit surreal. I don't know if I feel like a mom yet -- that sounds weird, but when it's still so new, what is it supposed to feel like?? Crazy times.
We actually celebrated Mother's Day on Saturday by taking Kurt's mom to tea at The London (hotel) in West Hollywood. It's a fab place we go to for Mother's Days and Birthdays with Kurt's mom.  Highly recommend.

I received some beautiful flowers from Kurt's brother and sister in law for my first mother's day:

They arrived on Saturday and smell really good.

Harper sent me a box of lovely gifts via a little help from her Grandmother Jane. That was a nice surprise! Apparently Harper texts really well since she can't talk yet and that's how my mom knew to send these gifts. Harper also texted Grace who texted me to say that Harper loves having me as a mom. How nice is that??

Wendy came for a visit yesterday and also brought some beautiful irises and tuberose. Now the house smells even better! She brought gifts for Harper (See previous 366/2012 post) and we had a long lovely chat.

Someone asked how we celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday. We didn't really and I don't mind. I've never really been the type that needs to celebrate something on its specific day. I remember being in Belfast for Game of Thrones in 2009 and couldn't be with Kurt on our anniversary. No biggie to me as we would celebrate when I got home. But a work colleague seemed so sad for me that I was missing it, as though celebrating the day itself, not the actual marriage, was more important. I'm a mom every day so every day is mother's day! Plus all the sweet cuddles and kisses I have with Harper every day is the real celebration.

20 Year Old Souvenir

I've been listening to the stories about the 20th anniversary of the LA Riots as an outsider because I wasn't here. I was on my second backpacking trip to Europe. But here's the odd/awkward thing: I sort of wish I had been here. Not that I wanted it to happen, but it's weird when everyone you know experiences something together on a massive scale and you didn't. (I got my chance to be part of the larger group in the 1994 earthquake...)

Instead, this was me in spring of 1992 (in Kilkenny, one of my favorite towns in Ireland):

I had been fortunate enough to backpack through Europe three years earlier after graduating from LMU. I went with Kelly, Katie, John, Dave and Vince. Kelly and Dave went on their own after we started in London. Vince, John, Katie and I had a great time. We got along so well for two months with only one tense time (in Tours, I believe). Couldn't have asked for a better traveling group. I liked it so much I wanted to go again, and this time went on my own. I saved up a bunch of money working on Alien 3 at Boss Film Studios, got my student ID card and Eurail pass and I was off. (Oh and the ubiquitous "Let's Go!" 1992 edition.)

When you travel alone you meet a lot of people, occasionally joining them on their next travel leg. I bounced around, making Paris my home base, taking trains here and there, visiting my pen pals in Germany, seeing the World Expo in Seville and meeting up with the Boss Film crew who was working in Cortina, Italy, on Cliffhanger. I spent the weekend there, climbed a mountain (as you do) and then met up with them again in Rome.

I really fell in love with Rome on this trip and it is still my favorite city to this day. I could go there any time, in a heartbeat. And it was in Rome that I found my best souvenir, one I still carry. My wallet. Just off the Trevi fountain is a leather store (I could take you there today if you like) and I found just the wallet I was looking for. Most waiters at cafes carry a money pouch that opens like an accordion and I wanted to find something similar and there it was:

It looked a bit spiffier 20 years ago, but it's aged so beautifully and I couldn't imagine using anything else even though the lining is giving way.

I went back to the same store when Kurt and I were on our honeymoon, but they didn't have anything like it to tempt me. (I went back to my favorite paper store and bought a bunch of stuff there instead...it's just past the Pantheon on the right side, I can take you there too!)

When she's old enough, I can't wait for us to take Harper to Rome and all the wonderful places we love in Europe. And when she goes traveling on her own, I wonder what will excite her and what souvenir she'll find that might last 20+ years.

So exciting to think about it!

 

366/2012: Day 116 Century City

366/2012: Day 67 Drive Through

Harper experienced her first (of many) In-N-Out drive throughs. Alas all she got were stickers this time...

In Which I Learn Another Lesson About Judging Books By Their Covers

On Sunday we had a mattress delivered. Two Latino guys made the delivery. As I was following them into the bedroom, I noticed one guy had a tattoo on the back of his neck. It read, simply, "Fuck The World."

I started to make some assumptions about him. (Use your own imagination.) Unfair, yes, but I'll admit I'm human, plus I was about to get schooled.

As they were walking out, the tattooed one kept glancing over to our dining room which seemed odd. I made another assumption-maybe he was casing the joint? (No, I'm not proud of myself.) Then at the door he said, "Does your husband play cricket?"

I said, "What?"

He repeated the question and I said, "What? Cricket?"

He said yes.

I said, now totally confused, "No, why do you ask?"

Then he said, "You have a cricket ball."

Kurt walked in just then and heard the conversation. We laughed as he picked up a squeezey ball made to look like a cricket ball that our British cousins had given us. It was in the dining room.

I said, "Why did you ask?"

He said all excited, "Because I play cricket!"

We chatted briefly about that then he was on his way.

This is one of the many reasons why I love LA.

And I'm grateful to be taught a lesson about making assumptions about people.

365/2012: Day 39

Nice to live in LA where you can take a walk in 75 degree weather in the middle of February.

A Game of Thrones Thing I *Can* Blog About

After working on the original pilot in the fall of 2009 through spring of 2010 and not-really-blogging about it specifically, it's fun to just be a fan. Especially since 99% of what I worked on doesn't even exist in the new first episode/pilot due to recasting and reshooting after the show got a green light. My "fame" has now faded and I'm just another gal in line for the food truck.

HBO is doing a great food tie-in for Game Of Thrones. Tom Colicchio is creating menus from locations in the books and then serves the food (FREE!) out of trucks in NYC (last week) and Los Angeles (this week). Kurt and I went to today's location at Wilshire and Hauser and waited in line to get the grub.

The line moved quickly and the food was FANTASTIC! Seriously, that Colicchio guy knows what he's doing.

I opted for the sweet corn fritter and Kurt got the squab with black bread pudding. We both got the lemon cake dessert. I could have eaten seven more of all of it. The black bread pudding was especially savory and yummy and mmmm.

My camera's auto focus was drooling over Kurt's food and got a bit wonky.

The view as we left.

I'm probably going to track down the truck again on Thursday. Even if you have no idea about Game of Thrones, just go for the free delicious Tom Colicchio food!

You can see a bit more detail from Tom C himself about what we ate today:

We Were VIPs

Last Thursday the Rescue Me Comedy Tour came to Los Angeles and we went to see it. We love Denis Leary and Rescue Me to begin with, but this was made even more fun by the fact that my cousins Charly and Adam are in the band! So I got in touch and we made plans to see each other at the show. Charly very kindly got us VIP passes! We already had tickets, so this was mega bonus. I've never been a VIP like this before.

The show was at Club Nokia and there is a lounge behind the upper seats where you can buy cocktails and food before the show. After the show they block a section of this lounge off and people gather there to talk after the show. By people I mean performers. We didn't have backstage passes, just party passes. Which means we didn't get to meet Mr. Leary. But that would have been icing on the bonus cake because really we were there to see Charly and Adam and Charly's wife Robin.

A bit of backstory -- Charly and Adam are my 2nd cousins on my mom's side. My mom and their mom are first cousins. Got it? Cool. I met them in 2001 in NYC when I was working on Kate and Leopold. Their father is Arnold Roth and he is a famous cartoonist. You've seen his work in many many books and magazines. Their mom is also a talented painter.

Below: Kurt, Adam, moi, Charly and Robin. 

 

We can't wait to go back to NYC sometime soon and see them all together. 

The show was a blast, Denis Leary was hilarious as were all the comedians. The music was fantastic with a horn section and full rock and roll band. I highly recommend catching the show if you can! Here's the link.

 

Fans Become Friends

You may recall I worked on a project last fall in Belfast wherein my blog became quite popular with a certain segment of the population. Okay, I'll say it outright and risk sounding self-centered: I have fans. (That project is called Game of Thrones and there is now an official HBO website.)

The lovely thing is, these fans have become friends. I met some in Belfast and then became better friends with them via twitter and facebook, some I only know online and one I met in LA this past weekend! That's right, I got to meet Axechucker IN REAL LIFE! We met at the LA Metblogs Donut Summit (hence my t-shirt and silver donut award for best apple fritter.)

We had a great time chatting about all things donuts and GOT. Okay, not ALL things GOT of course, still can't chitchat too much about that...

 

Axechucker was behind the interview that was posted on Winter Is Coming earlier this year and it was really a pleasure to spend some quality donut time together. 

I love the internets!
 

Donut Divas

People ask me what it's like to be a blogger. "Sometimes," I say, "there is food involved." 

Remember last year? Hot Dog Death March?

 

That was cool.

This year is Donut Summit. 

 

Donut Divas: Alexandra, Lucinda, Julia. 

I've never been prouder to be a blogger.

 

It's only too bad we couldn't shellac these headdresses to wear on the day...