On Friday, a colleague invited me to a happy hour at the Edison. The Edison is by far the most amazing bar I have ever seen. It is an old power plant turned into a glamorous, jaw dropping, 20’s inspired bar. The Edison is responding to the nation’s economic crisis by hosting a soup kitchen (they serve free cups of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches) and offering $0.35 cocktails (the recession priced cocktail was bourbon, sweet & sour, and pomegranate juice…no thanks) on Friday nights. After having a few cocktails and mingling with some of the other happy hour guests, I walked home (major perk of living in the city) to get ready for a night out with another colleague.
Much later in the night I met up with one of our reps and his girlfriend. We went to the Standard, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite spots in downtown LA. The Standard is a hotel with a fabulous rooftop bar. You can sip on $15 cocktails while being surrounded by all of the high-rise buildings in downtown. You will never be disappointed by simply sitting back and watching people out on the dance floor. The cougars were on the prowl Friday night at the Standard. My colleague’s girlfriend and I got a good laugh at one woman who was getting down (literally) on the dance floor. She was busting out moves from a rap video in her white pants and blue strip button down shirt. After scoping out the scene we decided to bust a few moves ourselves. One goofball who was wearing white shoes and jumping around like a piece of popcorn learned over and told me we were a lot of like (if this was his version of a pick-up line someone needs to help this guy out). Sorry to burst your bubble buddy, but I doubt it. I tend to keep my dance moves confined to my personal space (unless I am doing the Roger Rabbit or dancing to Baby Got Back). I continuously had to watch out for popcorn dancer because you never knew where he would pop up at next. I did not want to get injured on the dance floor.
Another guy asked me when I would let him see his kids. Excuse me!? Normally I would walk right by a guy who mumbles something so degrading, but I stopped to talk to this guy because I had never heard anything so outrageous. The guys in this city have a lot of nerve when interacting with women (my guess is a lot of them remain single for a very long time).
When my colleague’s girlfriend and I were dancing by ourselves we got cornered by two guys trying to dance up on us. Sorry dudes, but we were not interested when one of you tried to dance with us, so what makes you think we will now suddenly become interested in two sleaze balls with moustaches? We quickly escaped the dance floor! Clearly, the men at the Standard are not watching Bravo’s TV show Millionaire Matchmaker. The guys on this dating show at least show some class when courting women.
On Saturday, I slept in much later than usual (the hour time change time really threw off my weekly schedule). When I finally woke up, I stayed in bed to and finished reading another book (new found guilty pleasure). Are You There Vodka, It’s Me Chelsea is hilarious (maybe because the author is a comedian).
After wasting away the entire morning I decided to be productive. I ventured down to the South Bay to run some errands and spend some time by the ocean (good for the soul). I had lunch at Whole Foods, which happened to be next to a Borders. I stopped in before lunch and bought two new books. I am now reading I Was Told There’s Be Cake by Sloane Crosley (I’ll keep you posted on the book. So far so good!).
I fixed myself a giant salad at Whole Foods and headed to the self-checkout in a very hungry and excited state. I walked up to the self-checkout machine and the attendant who watches over all of the self-checkout machines asked me if I knew what I was doing. Very confidently I responded, “Yes!” I scanned my first item with ease and went to enter in the numbers for my apple. This is where the fight broke out. The machine started to yell at me to place the item back on the scanner, remove the item from the scanner and then seek help from the attendant. The attendant appeared and I tried to make a joke about wrongly stating my self-checkout expertise. He didn’t find me humorous. Apparently, I was supposed to enter in a 9 before the 4-digit apple code, because that apple was organic. I was at Whole Foods, isn’t everything in the store organic? I got the apple scanned and moved onto my roll. There was not a button for a roll, so I selected self-serve pastry (they both come form the bakery was my logic) and the item rang up at $1.99. Opps. I selected the wrong item. Rolls are only $0.99 not $1.99. I tried to hit a back button and then the machine started to yell at me again. By now my patience was wearing very thin. The attendant appeared again, and I tried to explain to him what I did. A simple void item would have solved the problem, but I think the attendant was more confused than the machine. By now, I have caused a giant backup in the line. I am annoyed because I want to eat and that the machine is not programmed to think the way I do. When the attendant started fumbling around with my pastry bag, he sent me over the edge. I have this phobia about germs and my food. He had no business opening the bag. All he needed to do was work his magic attendant powers and void the item. At this point I was on pins and needles (Aristotle said patience is a virtue. I guess I am not a very virtuous person.) and finally explode when the attendant couldn’t figure out how to void the roll. I grabbed my lunch and stormed over to a human checker. I realize that I caused this issue by not putting in the right codes, but come on shouldn’t the attendant know how to void an item? Why do these self-checkout things even exist? I was through the human line before the attendant had even fixed the self-checkout I screwed up. This whole episode could have been avoided if I was not asked about knowing how to use the machine. Karma slapped me in the face. I plan to go to the human checkers from now on.
After loosing a battle to the self-checkout machine, I dropped off alterations at a great little shop that one of my colleagues told me about (proof that it is best to ask the locals where to go). When I was getting measured, a women in the shop raved about the bridesmaid gown I was wearing (I can’t wait to tell the bride she picked out a great dress). I then hit up Target for life’s essentials (laundry soap, toothpaste and Wheat Thins) and noticed that things have gotten much more expensive. Is it just LA or have prices gone up everywhere? I spent the next hour and a half in therapy (clearly I needed it given my lack of patience at Whole Foods). I walked along the beach. Being so close to the ocean is relaxing. All of life’s problems and worries simply wash away with the waves. I saw a group of people having a baby shower on the beach. My bridal party is welcome to stay in our 680 square foot apartment, so we can have a shower on the beach :) I sat in traffic driving back to the city (shocker) but I remained calm (I developed a small amount of patience while at the beach).
I fixed myself a giant salad at Whole Foods and headed to the self-checkout in a very hungry and excited state. I walked up to the self-checkout machine and the attendant who watches over all of the self-checkout machines asked me if I knew what I was doing. Very confidently I responded, “Yes!” I scanned my first item with ease and went to enter in the numbers for my apple. This is where the fight broke out. The machine started to yell at me to place the item back on the scanner, remove the item from the scanner and then seek help from the attendant. The attendant appeared and I tried to make a joke about wrongly stating my self-checkout expertise. He didn’t find me humorous. Apparently, I was supposed to enter in a 9 before the 4-digit apple code, because that apple was organic. I was at Whole Foods, isn’t everything in the store organic? I got the apple scanned and moved onto my roll. There was not a button for a roll, so I selected self-serve pastry (they both come form the bakery was my logic) and the item rang up at $1.99. Opps. I selected the wrong item. Rolls are only $0.99 not $1.99. I tried to hit a back button and then the machine started to yell at me again. By now my patience was wearing very thin. The attendant appeared again, and I tried to explain to him what I did. A simple void item would have solved the problem, but I think the attendant was more confused than the machine. By now, I have caused a giant backup in the line. I am annoyed because I want to eat and that the machine is not programmed to think the way I do. When the attendant started fumbling around with my pastry bag, he sent me over the edge. I have this phobia about germs and my food. He had no business opening the bag. All he needed to do was work his magic attendant powers and void the item. At this point I was on pins and needles (Aristotle said patience is a virtue. I guess I am not a very virtuous person.) and finally explode when the attendant couldn’t figure out how to void the roll. I grabbed my lunch and stormed over to a human checker. I realize that I caused this issue by not putting in the right codes, but come on shouldn’t the attendant know how to void an item? Why do these self-checkout things even exist? I was through the human line before the attendant had even fixed the self-checkout I screwed up. This whole episode could have been avoided if I was not asked about knowing how to use the machine. Karma slapped me in the face. I plan to go to the human checkers from now on.
After loosing a battle to the self-checkout machine, I dropped off alterations at a great little shop that one of my colleagues told me about (proof that it is best to ask the locals where to go). When I was getting measured, a women in the shop raved about the bridesmaid gown I was wearing (I can’t wait to tell the bride she picked out a great dress). I then hit up Target for life’s essentials (laundry soap, toothpaste and Wheat Thins) and noticed that things have gotten much more expensive. Is it just LA or have prices gone up everywhere? I spent the next hour and a half in therapy (clearly I needed it given my lack of patience at Whole Foods). I walked along the beach. Being so close to the ocean is relaxing. All of life’s problems and worries simply wash away with the waves. I saw a group of people having a baby shower on the beach. My bridal party is welcome to stay in our 680 square foot apartment, so we can have a shower on the beach :) I sat in traffic driving back to the city (shocker) but I remained calm (I developed a small amount of patience while at the beach).
My Saturday night was very low-key. I made some dinner, watched a recorded episode of The Office (what would we do without DVR?) and went to bed before 11pm. This is the second week in a row that I have stayed in on a Saturday night. Back in St. Louis I would have been miserable staying in on a weekend night. I guess I have become much more independent living out in LA away from all of my friends and family. Or maybe I am getting older and my idea of a good weekend is filled with working out, reading and relaxing. Perhaps, I just don't have a very large social circle (more than likely the cause of my boring Saturday nights).
I filled my day today with the usual Sunday activities: reading, working out and blogging. Tonight I am going to a fashion show. So excited! I'll let you know how it goes.
OMG...as I am sitting in the lobby writing this post a woman dressed as Cinderella just walked in. Full sparkly blue costume. Wow! Never a dull moment in this city.
OMG...as I am sitting in the lobby writing this post a woman dressed as Cinderella just walked in. Full sparkly blue costume. Wow! Never a dull moment in this city.
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