It’s amazing how everything can change in just three short hours.
When I woke up last Friday morning, it was snowing, which isn’t so unusual in Minnesota this time of year, but I loathe it all the same.
Now don’t get me wrong, snow definitely has its place at Christmas. But after growing up in Wisconsin, doing the college thing in Minnesota and adding three more years to my blustery winter life experience recently after eight years in Nashville, suffice to say, I’m over it.
Ok, rant over, I promise.
Once I landed in L.A. three hours after the snowy start to my morning, well, it was quite heavenly. Not only was the sun shining, something the sun has apparently forgotten how to do in these parts, but it was a cozy 75 degrees.
For the record, most of the L.A. people were donning sweaters and scarves, while I made my jaunt from the Four Seasons to the paparazzi-friendly Robertson Blvd in just a t-shirt and jeans.
After walking up and down the boulevard and not buying a thing, (oh the self-control) save for an iced caramel macchiato from Starbucks, something I haven’t enjoyed since, well, July, I decided to have a quick bite at the Newsroom Café (I was hardly dressed properly or celebrity-enough for The Ivy, after all). The Newsroom is the hip sort of joint that serves everything from wheatgrass smoothies to turkey burgers to chicken noodle soup sans chicken (yeah, it’s tofu in there instead, so I smartly opted out).
While a wheatgrass smoothie is always mighty tempting (insert sarcasm here), I actually thought a SoCal quesadilla sounded good, especially the menu indicated that was fresh avocado involved. Since avocado is always in-season in Cali, something that’s sooo not the case here in Minnesota where the guacamole won’t be good again until summer, I simply had to have some.
Proving yet again that really good ingredients pared together, even if they’re simple, taste really, really good, my quesadilla was amazing even though it only consisted of a grilled whole wheat tortilla, organic chicken breast, smoky corn kernels straight from the cob, homemade pico de gallo, low-fat cheese and some yummy green chili pesto.
In a word: Yum.
After lunch and a little more people-watching, quite the entertaining activity in La La Land, I ventured back to the hotel and started reading the press notes pool-side for Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (and yes, I did say “squeakquel”). Basically, even though squeaky, singing chipmunks were involved, it wasn’t a bad day at the office…except for Will not getting to enjoy it with me, that is.
I must say reality gave me a pretty good smack in the face once I returned back to St. Paul 24-ish hours later, though. For whatever reason, I apparently forgot where I was coming back to and wore open-toed platform shoes. While easy to slip off while going through the whole security process, they were exactly practical once I stepped outside. I think one of my toes may even have frostbite. That’ll teach me, right?
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