Saturday July 31, 2010

First stop: Bobby’s birthday at the El Camino. I met Bob through my old friend Alex (Brazilian architect who lives in LA with the funky hair) about 5 years ago and he is a marketing/branding genius. He has a lot of great ideas and contacts and is fun to be around. And he is everywhere. I see him all over town at random parties and events all the time. This is his sweet girlfriend Patty…

 

The El Camino is a super hip new bar in Little Italy and is directly under the flight path. You might remember the videos from Kim’s bday on Cinco de Mayo. They have great food and a large tequila selection and it’s just a cool vibe. They usually aren’t open during the day but they were today for the private party.

I generally don’t take photos of the insides of bathrooms but I love this one. lol

Notice the bird cage is open…

…and notice the birds glued all over the ceiling. What a cool idea!

Stop #2: Hamilton’s Tavern in South Park for Jamie’s birthday! Hamilton’s is a down to earth beer/wine bar with an eclectic crowd. I love going there and trying out new beers with funky names. I wanted to order Moose Drool but I wasn’t in the mood for dark beer tonight. We didn’t stay very long despite Kim’s pleas to hang out and flirt with the big burly hairy bartender Sam. We can always go back and stalk him. We have 3 more parties to hit! (Jamie is in the middle, on the left is her super fun gf Lex who is a teacher in Brooklyn)

Stop #3: Old Town Saloon for _____ and ____ ‘s promotions. I can’t say their names or what they do otherwise I will have to kill you. Super duper top secret government stuff. They are not pictured here with the crew: Tommy, Joe, Kim, Vanessa, Lauren and James.

Yes, I am totally standing on my tip toes next to Lauren and Vanessa who are clearly from the Amazon.

Stop #4 was supposed to be The Local for the owner Sean’s birthday party but drinks were free at Old Town Saloon and I am a sucker for a bartender with a British accent. Sorry!  

Stop #4 ended up being at El Dorado for Jennie’s birthday but by the time we arrived at midnight Miss Thing was already gone and Jason and Daryl were walking down the street away from the place. We went into El Dorado for a drink in Jennie’s honor but I was disgusted and shocked to hear horrible awful rave music inside and we slammed our drinks and went to Chee-Chee. I don’t know what happened to that place…it was cool for about a minute and a half and now I will never step foot in there on a weekend night again. Maybe during the week it won’t feel like I was 20 years too old to be in there. Eww.

And then to my house til 3am where Tommy, Daryl and I made a huge mess out of the kitchen attempting to do the M-Berry experiment again. They didn’t work! I think the pills expire! I dunno… I did carry them around the East Coast for 3 weeks in my bag and maybe the heat got to them. No fear, I ordered 3 dozen more to have a proper Mberry tasting party soon…

Tommy slept over. That’s the third time in a row I have woken up with a gay man in my bed instead of someone who will actually put out. **sigh**

Wednesday May 5, 2010

Another early call time for day 2 of the clothing catalogue. Boy, I am not used to this shit. Emily (the makeup artist) and I offered to model for our very own “Muffin Top” line of clothing. No one was interested though.

After the studio shots were done we headed to Balboa Park for some of the fun stuff.

Chris would not stop taking pictures of me taking pictures for their BTS section of the catalogue. You can see how annoyed I am at this point.

I can’t wait to buy this dress! I love the print

After the shoot I met Kim for her birthday celebration at the trendy and hip new El Camino lounge in Little Italy.

And of course they had a donkey there. Naturally! If you have ever been to Tijuana you recognize this immediately… a zebra striped donkey for the sole purpose of silly photo ops. It was great to see Travis! I haven’t seen him in months and he is always such fun. Until like the third day of drinking and then I want to choke him. No seriously, he is a blast and even though we don’t talk very often he is still one of my dearest friends.

I ran into my friend Bob, who I met through my friend Alex years ago. He is a marketing/branding guru and at the time that I met him he was instrumental in coaching the owner of NA and I into branding the company and ultimately coming up with the name Naughty America. Over the last 6 years he has helped us on various projects and I always seem to run into him downtown… we are going to have dinner or drinks this weekend when Alex comes to town.

Ok yeah, this was not a good idea with a 7:30 am call time in the morning. I do want to say, though, that this was the first time since high school that I did not need salt, lime or a chaser after a tequila shot! It was very good… and such a pretty bottle.

I lost count after 4 shots and 4 tallboys of Tecate.

They have little tiny TVs on the bar playing Mexican movies. (At least I think that’s what they were) That is literally smaller than the size of a credit card.

Some lady there had this purse made out of the thingys on beer/soda cans. (I am totally having a brain fart and cannot think of that word)

This is Kim’s friend Laura. I have no idea what is going on, I think someone told us to make mean faces or act mad.

I spent a good half hour or more attempting to get a shot of the airplanes flying directly overhead. This place used to be called the Airport Lounge presumably because it’s right in the flight path. The problem is, the bar is loud and you cannot hear the planes approaching until they are on top of the building and then it’s over in like 2 seconds. This is the best one I could get. I need to go back and hang out there when it isn’t so crowded.

On the way out the candles and the Chiclets caught my eye.

When I got home I ran into my neighbor Jack who was hired at Naughty America right before I left. His pet rat Splotch died yesterday and he was burying him in the little grassy area on the sidewalk. He was nice enough to let me document it and I sincerely hope that I didn’t upset him by asking to do so. (I was a little tipsy and I can be overwhelming if I am excited about something.) Losing a pet is always so difficult and I am sure his rat meant a lot to him. He has two more: Nyquist and I forget the other one’s name.

I know it seems weird and morbid, but it was really cool and I am glad that I came home at that precise moment. This seems to be happening to me a lot lately… this sort of ”being in the right place at the right time” kinda thing. Everything really does happen for a reason. Even when it doesn’t make sense and things seem to suck, you have to remember that.