exploration. day four and five

apologies for the lack of entries the past two days. its not that i haven't had anything to write about, more haven't had the time.

friday. had a nice leisurely morning. was up at about 945, and just hung around and drank coffee and chatted with friends online and at the house.

amy and i had planned to do something relaxing that day. the weather was beautiful and we took a drive down to echo park to this great diner called //the bright side//. great food and a fun vintage ambiance. amy and i both got breakfast burritos with avocado. i love fresh avocado, the coffee was far from diner coffee. a good experience.

we then drove further down sunset into silverlake. amy had an article to write so she set up her macbook at intelligentsia (which incidentally are all over chicago, but this is one of the first in the la area!) while amy worked, i took a walk around the area through some fun unique shops, several were "renewable" selling only recycled and reused items. in all my shopping in la, no purchases were made....smart as i'm still waiting to hear about the job.

i made my way back to intelligentsia and grabbed an ice coffee and some local newspapers and just relaxed on the patio. the decor at the cafe was so fun, the floor was an amazing blue and white pattern. something i would personally search out to use as a background for my photos, slightly reminiscent to the background i used with the silverware.

amy had to work that afternoon from 4-7 so i bummed around old town pasadena for a bit and just relaxed on the porch. we went to a bbq at one of her friends house and then downtown to help celebrate her friend grants birthday. met some fun people as well as another photographer and an art director for a eyewear company. i also met some people who had a friend who used to work at the studio i interviewed at, so i was able to hear what they knew about the place as well as they all knew both of the people i interviewed with there.

it was a late night.

saturday.

planned as beach day. with some more shopping intertwined. amy, tyler and i went down to hollywood to amoeba records, probably the largest music store i've ever been too, and perused their large selection of used cds and dvds as well as new. afterwards we continued southwest to a cafe on beverly blvd for lunch/brunch and then to roberston blvd (again). amy nor tyler had been down there and there is a great store there right now that is a "warehouse sale" for kitson. amy was the only one to find something of worth for her, the rest of the store was pretty picked over. we walked down robertson, past "the ivy", this is the restaurant i had seen the multitudes of paparazzi a few days before. the men with cameras were few today, but as we walked by a small group of them they perked up. i knew what was going on, it was rather funny actually, just as we get past them amy says "ha, they thought you were someone!!" so that was my moment in stardom -- though they must've quickly figured out i'm just a guy from michigan as they didn't snap or follow :)

((this was probably the most beautiful day out of the trip))


back in the car and we finally get down to venice beach. definitely a sight to be seen. so many people from so many different backgrounds. street vendors galore. graffiti artists, skateboarders, rollerbladers and crazzy ladies on bikes. also this was my first time seeing real life surfing in action. we didn't really spend much time there. probably 45 min with walking around etc. we had plans to head to the valley to amy's cousins to help watch their kids -- yeah sounds boring but it was soo much fun. amy has family who live in calabasas, which is part of what is commonly known as "the valley". you have never seen such large homes, except on television. the first place we went to pick the kids up, a relative of amy's cousin, the place was HUGE. i wish i could describe it better, but you would just have to see it. but looking out the back window you could see the ocean over the mountains... amazing. we took the kids to an italian restaurant where we had some amazing pizza and good times. afterwards we went bowling... you never would have known that three late twenty-somethings would have such a good time with 3 children 7, 8 and 9! a nice end to a great day.

i'm at lax now. waiting for my plane to dallas. a few more days before i work for dan ham, the dallas photographer. i'm hoping to hear news on splashlight tomorrow, if not they said i could feel free to contact them for an update, which i will do.

ok. that was an UPDATE!