A Little Bit O' Country Done Me Good

...turkey-lurkey-doo, turkey-lurkey dat...

...I eat my turkey then I take a nap.

That's pretty much how it went. I had a fabulous trip to a little town just Northwest of St. Louis, Missouri. And when I say little, I mean l-i-t-t-l-e. Think Little House On The Prairie...where the Grandpa owned all the land back in the day. Yep, that kind of little. Tiny. And I loved everything about it.

What a better way to top off Thanksgiving dinner than to watch The Santa Clause on a very large screen TV while eating popcorn, then Peppermint Chip ice cream? It was grand. And for the first time in who knows how many years, I actually am feeling the festiveness of the season. That NEVER happens. Ever.

*****

Black Friday brought everything but black. The (almost) fam and I escaped to a historic old town called Kimmswick to spend our day. The streets were filled with Christmas shops, antique shops, and candle shops galore. The weather was absolutely gorgeous...sunny and in the 60's...with just enough crisp air to make it that perfect autumn day. We ate lunch at the infamous restaurant, The Blue Owl, which had me strolling down Loveless Cafe memory lane.

The night brought us to a revamped dive bar known as Mustang Sally's. The jukebox in the corner was one of the first all digital jukeboxes I've seen. The selector screen even let you order the CD's and have them delivered directly to your house! Unfortunately, the music selection was ripped away from beneath us when the DJ came in to spin some of his finest (i.e. - horrible songs from the 80's that five out of five 80's teens had no recognition of whatsoever). I really Really REALLY wanted one of the hot pink Mustang Sally's tank tops. In no time it would've become my latest cool vintage tee.

*****

Since Missouri is the second largest wine producing state in the US, Saturday was winery day. Mmmmm. We picked the two best to visit: Stone Hill Winery and Adam Puchta Winery. Stone Hill was nestled in the hills of a little German town called Hermann. The scenery was beautiful and very old-fashioned. It was almost as if we had gone back in time. Adam Puchta was a bit more rustic, but the wines were matched which several different flavors of cheesestraws, which brought some delicious flavor surprises. Between the stash we flew back with us and the bottles that we're getting for Christmas, we'll be well-stocked for a long, long time.

All in all it was a perfect Fall trip, just as I was hoping. Even better, actually. It was nice to be in the Central Time Zone again...somehow it strangely felt like home.

Meet Me In St. Louis

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis,

Meet me at the fair,

Don't tell me the lights are shiningany place but there;

We will dance the Hoochee Koochee,

I will be your tootsie wootsie,

If you will meet in St. Louis, Louis,

Meet me at the fair.

I don't know about dancing the Hoochee Koochee, but that's where I'll be for Turkey Day. I've never been, so it should be a fun adventure. I said I wanted a true Autumn-like holiday since it's been in the 90's here and I miss Fall. And so far hayrides, shopping, and wineries are in the plan, so it's looking good. So I'll see you on the flipside and report back with my Midwestern adventures.

Until then, have a Happy Thanksgiving!!! And don't forget to give thanks!

Buy Me A Drink, Sing Me A Song

Tonight I head down to Long Beach for a rendezvous with a fellow former-Nashvillian. One of the boyfriend's roommates from the infamous house on Gillespie. I need about seven Cosmoplitans to recover from this hellish week. And a big, fat steak.

I've found that when you live in California, everyone comes to visit. Whether it be that they're staying with you directly, traveling on business, or vacationing for their own pleasure. Somehow, someway, from somewhere...you will constantly be inundated with out of town guests. Not that it's a bad thing...we all know that I actually thrive on hosting and entertaining...but nonetheless, it's a busy time.

Tomorrow I plan on sleeping in (and possibly recovering from a hangover) until I go back to Aris in Thousand Oaks for a full body massage. After that, it's on to a friend's album release party at Molly Malones, an Irish pub. Should be a fun time. Everyone who is everyone is supposed to be there and I expect the drinks tol be flowing, once again.

I feel one of those wild and crazy Stella nights weekends coming on. No pun intended.

And man, do I NEED one. As corporate has once again kicked my a$$.

One Word

Hilarious.

The Family Guy Jaws spoof. Seriously...the only thing that's missing is Herbert.

10 Reasons Why I Should Be In Vegas This Weekend

1. My boyfriend's band is playing a show for the USO troops.

2. I need a good roadtrip.

3. There's an airshow that the band gets to attend at Nellis Airforce Base. And I LOVE airshows.

4. Vegas martini's taste better. I know this for a fact.

5. A little Blackjack and slots would do me good.

6. I'm through decorating my apartment and am ready to P-A-R-T-Y.

7. The Bellagio always does me well.

8. It could've been turned into a little romantic-ish getaway.

9. I needed one more Southwest credit to get a free flight.

10. I've been stuck in the same city for over a month!!

Why am I not in Vegas this weekend? I have no freakin' idea. And now I'm very, very bitter.

A Little Too Much Faith

For those of you that missed the Country Music Awards last night in Nashville, here's a little taste of what happened when Carrie Underwood took the Best Female Vocalist Award right out from under Faith Hill's nose. Evidently, Faith thought she had it in the bag.

Shame...because I've always liked her as a person. Her statement, listed below, was issued early this morning. I find it odd that there weren't any apologies to speak of.

The idea that I would act disrespectful towards a fellow musician is unimaginable to me. For this to become a focus of attention given the talent gathered is utterly ridiculous. Carrie is a talented and deserving Female Vocalist of the Year.

Have a little faith, Faith. There's always next year.

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

Ahhhh...to live in a neighborhood.

Not a suburban subdivision...but a real, live neighborhood.

It's been a few weeks since I've moved into my new 'hood, but because I'm an obsessive-compulsive unpacker/decorater, it was only this past Saturday that we were able to have our first real date night since my latest zip code change.

It was one of those old-fashioned nights that makes you feel like it were the 1930's. We started out, on foot, walking a few blocks to the very famous, very retro-styled diner, Fred62. It's one of my favorites in the area and the food is dee-lish, although their service is probably the slowest I've ever experienced. Which creates a bit of a bummer seeing as we had already bought tickets to a movie at 8:45p and didn't have our food at 8:15p, but that's a whole other story. (I won't go into the fact that my guy's burger was cold upon arrival and I had to cancel half my order because I didn't want to shove the food down my throat barbarian style...because this was our happy date night...) Once we finished with dinner (we halved the bagel/cream cheese/tomato appetizer that I had ordered), we walked ran down the street to our cute little movie theatre, Los Feliz 3.

The movie of choice was The Prestige, starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. A compelling tale about two rival magicians, The Prestige tells a story about jealousy, love, lust, betrayal and sacrifice. The story was so carefully crafted that I can assure you that we'll be hearing about it up until the Oscars 2007. I woke up on Sunday still reflecting on the meaning of it all and considering my attention span lasts for about five minutes, the fact that twelve hours later I was still pondering the plot is pretty impressive.

The walk home was a bit chilly, but seeing as it's November and I had on just a light jacket to keep me warm, I couldn't complain. The moon was full, the stars were shining, and off in the distance up on the Southern slope of Mount Hollywood, the newly renovated Griffith Park Observatory lit up the sky.

Lala how the life goes on.

Me & My VamPimp

Our first Halloween together:

The VampHo & The VamPimp...

Some of the fabulous people we celebrated All Hallows Eve with...

We Love Each Other, Me & the VamPimp...

The Vamps with Teri Polo & Jamie Wallum...