A Day In L.A.

(The Vanity Fair after party for the Oscars across the street from Saddle Ranch.  Who knew?)

You know, thinking about where I live, you'd think I'd be in L.A. WAY more than I am.  I used to go pretty often in my late teens an early 20's.  There is so much to see and do, I'm not really sure what stops me from going more.

(Random picture of a guy falling off a building.)

Oh, that's right.  I live in Southern California where a simple 35 minute drive turns into 2 hours and 47 minutes.  Got it.

(So crazy to see this band with a billboard and hear them on the radio!  Good for them, sad for me.  Now I have to pay more to go to their shows.)

Well, I am here to tell you that I did venture past my Orange Curtain with my friend Jenn for a day of fun in L.A.  The goal was to see some stars' houses, eat at Saddle Ranch Chop House, and grab some delicious gluten free treats from Babycakes NYC.

What an interesting day it turned out to be, haha!

We start the day in the late morning and decided it be best to go to Shannen Doherty's house.  It wasn't until on our way there we realized it was not only Oscar weekend, but the day OF the Oscars.  Sweet.  Traffic was surprisingly better than expected, so, yay!

As we came upon Ms. Doherty's address, there was nothing but a wall.  We drove up and down the street several times before we decided that she's very private, and that is why we didn't actually see her house.  And how fun that she lives in the 90210!

Our next stop was Courteny Cox's house.  Well, we never found it but we DID find the Wonderland Murders house.  Yikes.  Jenn had to fill me in on what actually took place on this street.  I had no idea, yet here were were, on Wonderland.  It's always a crazy feeling you're in the presence of this type of place.  Where people were actually brutally murdered.  It's just an odd feeling because it's so hard to believe it happened in real life and not just on television...  Weird.

(Saddle Ranch Chop House, Sunset.)

By now, I know this is awful after what we just talked about, we were starving.  We decided it was time to hit up Saddle Ranch Chop House for lunch.  What a great place!  Jenn told me about this place as we were watching Bret Michaels' "Rock of Love".  The food there is delicious!  It was very entertaining watching people ride the mechanical bull in the middle of the room.  The staff was awesome and very friendly.  Seems like they really enjoy their jobs!  I ordered The Hollywood Burger and it was DELICIOUS!!!  I have been craving it recently and even tried making it myself...  Not even close, haha!  I must go back soon.

(The menu.)

(The Hollywood Burger.  YUM!!!)

(This guy was a putz and acting like an idiot and so they let him ride the bull to make him happy.  To the tune of Enrique Iglesias' "I Can Be Your Hero".  HAHA!)

(And then he got smacked in the behind by the bull on the way down.)

After Saddle Ranch, it was time for something sweet, so we were on our way to Babycakes NYC!  I probably spent $30 on pastries and even bought a mug.  What do I need a mug for?  Well, hot chocolate, I guess!  Haha!  My favorite is the blueberry donut and the brownie cupcake with mint frosting.  YUM!  This is another place i'd like to frequent more often.

(Babycakes NYC.)

Our last stop was Donnie Wahlberg's house.  Yes, you read that right: Donnie Wahlberg, not his hot younger brother, Marky Mark, but Donnie from NKOTB.  Now I was never a NKOTB fan and neither was Jenn.  At least not until she saw them in concert a couple of years ago, haha!  We parked on the street and decided to get out of the car since we'd been sitting all day.  Nice place, from what we saw!  And someone was watching TV in the back room, too!  Creepers, haha!

(Jenn, the creeper.)

And so it was time to go home.  We were both exhausted but decided we'd like to do this again sometime.  I'm hoping for sooner rather than later, mostly for the food reason...  YUM!

Oh Those Los Angeles Nights...

Last night I wasn't really in the mood to go to see Eddie Izzard , even though I'd spent $70 on my ticket. It was one of those days where you wake up and know you're going to be grumpy. I suppose the lack of sleep doesn't help. I decided, as much as I wanted to cancel, I should go. After all, it's been a while since I've been to L.A. for a night on the town. Not to mention, I spent $70 on this...

I met up with my friends Stephanie and Jaime and I drove us to L.A. after being up since 4:30am that morning. We caught up on our lives since it'd been a little bit since we'd seen each other, as well as our gossip. After an hour and a half in rush hour traffic, we finally parked and decided to eat. I suggested Lawry's because they have delicious Prime Rib Sandwiches as well as their "crack" and cheese side dish and homemade lemonade. After I bought my lemonade, I picked a table outside for us to eat at. As I sat down, I noticed a man sit down at the table next to me. That's when I realized it was Mitch Pileggi, who played Agent Skinner on The X-Files, which was a show I watched religiously until Agent Dogget came on the show. And so, we had dinner with Skinner from the X-Files.

Jaime and I playing it cool, taking normal friend pictures. ;)

Steph enjoying that star-struck feeling.

"Skinner" enjoying his sandwich at Lawry's.

Next we walked to the Nokia Theater, where the Grammy's are being held this Sunday, and found our seats. No wonder these seats were $70. They were pretty nice! First row in the Loge section with only our 3 seats in the front row. Brilliant!

I don't know if you know who Eddie Izzard is, but he is a British Transvestite Comedian. He is freaking hilarious. Unfortunately, he did not come out in stage with a dress or heels, but we were still quite entertained! During the intermission, we discovered that Hugh Laurie, House, was in the audience as well. That's when I thought to myself, "Self, I wonder how a conversation with these two Englishman would be. It would obviously be quite entertaining!"



Eddie Izzard put on a hilarious show and I am positive I laughed off many, many calories because by the end of the night, I was hoarse from laughing until I coughed! Great, great fun and I am glad I decided to go. :D