We're off...

The classroom is ready to go (pics will be posted on Tuesday night), which means it is finally time for Jerome and I to take our much anticipated mini-vacay to the Four Seasons in Scottsdale, AZ! We have been waiting all summer to make our yearly pilgrimage to the Arizona desert for some pampering and tanning Four Seasons style. It will be our first serious road trip out of state (we usually fly), so lets hope Jerome doesn't have any 'breakdown' anxiety! We'll be back late Sunday night, so expect pics sometime after that! 

xoxoxo

Sons of Anarchy

One of the fabulous perks of Jerome's job is getting invited to television and movie premiers. In the past, I was lucky enough to go with him to the premiere of The Riches, because he had designed their advertising campaign:

That premiere had been really exciting because throughout the viewing, all of the actors and TV execs from FX kept complimenting the poster, and it's brilliance. It was a nice pat on the back for Jerome. We even got to meet Eddie Izzard, who stars in the show. He was so nice.

Last night we were invited to the premiere of Sons of Anarchy. This is a new show on FX about a biker gang, similar to that of Hells Angels. Jerome didn't work on this show, and neither of us are really in to motorcycles, but we decided to go anyways because not only do we love scoping out celebs, but we hope that this will further our chances of getting invited to the premiere of Damages, which is one of Jerome's favorite shows.

So we begin our night by grabbing some dinner at Toast. I had been wanting to try Toast for awhile, an unfortunately have not been able to make it back up to L.A for my weekly lunch outings since returning to work. Toast was yummy! We had soup: split pea and corn chowder. Jerome had a mini turkey avocado wrap with sweet potato fries, and I had the chopped salad, which should be renamed the "Jen Salad"  because it was exactly how I would make my own salad (mixed greens, grilled chicken, finely chopped tomatoes, garbanzos, mozzerella cheese and a dash of balsamic dressing). It was so good! For dessert, we shared a red velvet cupcake, which happens to be our favorite flavor! Everything was so good! Unfortunately, that would be the only stellar part of the evening.

After dinner, we headed over to Paramount Studios for the premiere. We felt very V.I.P because we had to enter through the big studio gates, and they had our name on a special list. It was probably the only exciting part. At the premieres, there is always a red carpet full of photogs. Jerome and I love staking it out and checking out who is coming. Unfortunately, no one really cool was there. The show is full of D-list, and unknown actors. The only 'headliners' were Katy Segal (a.k.a Peg Bundy), whom stars in the show, Ron Pearlman (from Hellboy 2, who also stars in the show) and Dominic Monaghan (of LOST...why he was there, no one knows).  We must admit that Katy was looking good! Far from her Peg Bundy days! While we waited for them to open the doors, Jerome and I hung out in an area we later discovered was the celeb holding pin. Some of the D-listers we recognized were the dad from the Wonder Years (the highlight of my night...lol) and some Mexican guy (name unknown to us), who played a coyote on Weeds. 

We went into the big theater, and the execs from FX gave their speeches about the show before finally starting the viewing. We must say, this was not our favorite show. In fact several times, Jerome and I looked at each other with 'palms up', wondering why the hell we even came. The hour seemed to crawl by, and the 'groupie' sitting next to us only made things worse. We think she was  groupie because during the exec speeches, she cheered rock concert style for them. During the show, she laughed louder than anyone, and at the end stood up and cheered again. It was annoying, yet hilarious! Did I mention she was also wearing a little house on the prairie type, white skirt, with a red Hawaiian print cropped halter top. And she was definitely over 40. Not a good look!

Back to the show: I would only recommend this show to you if you are into motorcycle gangs, or serious 'shoot em up' style, blood and guts. It was a little gory for my taste, and the story line was just, 'okay'. 

Given our feelings on the show and the celebs present, Jerome and I decided to skip the after party being held at the House of Blues on Sunset. After parties are usually cool because there is free flowing drinks, food, interesting people and decent music. However, judging by what we had witnessed so far in the evening, we figured we wouldn't be missing much. We were home by 9, eager to lounge with the pups.

Next week (Sept.4), we are going to the red carpet premiere for The Women. Jerome is responsible for the lovely poster, so of course we were invited. This will be HUGE considering it's cast :Meg Ryan, Annette Benning, Eva Mendes, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Debra Messing. It is even at the big theater in Westwood, with a huge after party, which we will DEFINITELY be attending. Expect pictures to come!

Lola and her one eye!

Poor little Lola. Last week was not her best. First off, she begin itching her skin uncontrollably. She is on flea medication, so we know it wasn't that. Turns out she has a severe dry skin condition, which requires special shampoo and regular doses of Benadryl. As if the itchy skin wasn't enough, on Thursday evening, she somehow managed to scratch her right eye. She could barely open the eye. It was running and she was pawing at it constantly. Being the concerned mama, I took Lola to the vet. Now, as our luck would have it, this all went down after our regular vet had closed for the day. I ended up having to shuttle her to the OC Emergency Pet Hospital in Garden Grove. After several hours and a couple tests, they found that the scratch had caused an ulcer in her eye. They sent us home with antibiotic ointment to put in her eye (not the easiest task to do for any one involved), and a "chic" plastic cone to wear around her neck to prevent her from further scratching. Poor thing has to wear the cone for 10 days. Funny thing is, the cone is huge compared to little Lola. The first night we put it on her, it weighed her down so much that she could barely lift her head to move.  Jerome and I had to pick her up and move her from room to room as needed. As it has been 4 days since this all happened, she has adjusted to the cone, and has learned to move with it for the most part. She is still running in to walls, and hasn't quite figured out that running full speed to the doggie door isn't going to make your gigantic cone head fit through it. On a positive note, her eye has gotten much better, thank goodness. She should be better by the end of the week! 

Welcome to the Jungle!

Yesterday I officially went back to work. No kids yet, but I have to get my classroom up and running. This is a bit of a chore because in June all of us teachers with temporary contracts (basically those who have not received our tenure yet) had to move out of our classrooms. This meant packing everything from books to bookcases, and lugging them to home to our garage. Now, I am in the process of lugging everything back to school. Not a fun way to spend the precious days that I could be preparing other things for the school year.

This year, I am teaching 3rd grade again. I am so excited to finally have the same grade two years in a row! My classroom is themed, Welcome to the Jungle (cue Guns and Roses...lol). Everything has animal print and references animals you would see on an African safari. Tomorrow Jerome is going to come in and set up my 'reading hut', which will be a little tiki-bar esque reading area for my kids. I am so excited about everything and can't wait to share the final results of our decorating. I will post pics soon.

At the start of this post is a pic of the sign that Jerome designed for my door. I am well known for my signs, and people are always wishing they could get one of their own. I can't wait to show off this one!

Somebody call Cesar Milan!

So, perhaps our dogs have not outgrown the chewing stage! You may recall that our boy Louis used to have a major hankering for leather stiletto shoes, Victoria's Secret Bras, Berber carpet and all things filled with cotton batting. Since hitting the 1 year mark, he had seemed to lose the taste for such things. As for Lola, we don't really know her chewing past, but we hadn't seen her tear into anything since getting her. Well, I went to physical therapy (feeling a thousand times better, by the way!) this morning, and left the newly installed doggie door (way to go Jerome!) open for the dogs to come in and out of the house. I had done this the two other times I went to PT this week, without any problems, so I didn't think much of it. When I returned today, I walked into the living room to find my new copy of US Weekly, which had been left on a table, shredded in to a thousand little pieces throughout my living and dining areas! I guess the dogs really were interested in getting to the bottom of how Jennifer Love Hewitt lost 18 pounds in 10 weeks! Lucky for me, nothing else was destroyed and I had already checked out the mag yesterday, so I didn't miss any important news (lol). Unfortunately for the dogs, they will no longer be allowed to keep sleeping inside when I get up early. 

Remnants of the mag in our living room

Joan's, How I Love Thee

I have been making the trek to L.A each week to have lunch with Jerome (whom works in Beverly Hills), and check out the local sights. I LOVE L.A because there is so much to do and see. The shopping is great, and  for a 'foodie' like myself, the dining is even better. For the past two weeks, I have met Jerome for lunch at Joan's on Third. In the past, Jerome would go there with his co-workers, and often he would rave about their sandwiches and chocolate and peanut butter filled cupcakes. After years of hearing about it, I decided it was time to check it out for myself, and boy am I in love! It has undoubtedly become one of my favorite spots to grab a delicious, gourmet bite to eat! 

Joan's has a cafe, marketplace for gourmet shopping (cheeses, meats, spices, prepackaged meals) and bakery full of delectable treats. The sandwiches are amazing. I am particularly fond of their egg salad, which is a childhood favorite of mine. I am rarely able to find it at restaurants, but my search has ended at Joan's. Jerome loves their curry chicken salad, which is quite tasty too. There are plenty of other items on the menu to try, but we are such creatures of habit, we can't seem to breakaway from our old standbys. The cafe has cute little tables out on the sidewalk. The seating is all self-serve, and since this place is usually packed, it can be a daunting task trying to get a seat. Once seated, a server brings you water in a big, glass bottle. It is probably tap nonetheless, but the presentation is key! 

While eating, you can people watch, which is definitely one of the best reasons to go there! Last week, Jerome and I saw Nicole Richie, eating inside the cafe, with what appeared to be Brody Jenner and one other unidentifiable chick. As you know, we are celeb-obsessed, so this was a definite notch in the belt. I dined there again today with him and Elise, but there were no celebs to be seen. However, on a humorous note, there was a mother and daughter duo sitting at a table and whispering to each other that I (yes, me) was somebody famous. Ha! Ha! If they only knew! Needless to say, I enjoyed my minute of fame.

Besides the amazing food, stargazing and scenery, there is one more reason to visit Joan's. The Bakery. There treats are out of this world! There are cupcakes, cookies, bars, tarts, and so many other slices of heaven. The first time Jerome took me, I felt like an addict in a crack den. I wanted it all! Between the past years of Jerome bringing treats home and my recent visits to Joan's, we have managed to sample quite a few of the cupcakes and cookies. Most notable have been the Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate with Marshmallow Creme, Raspberry Vanilla, Chocolate, Macaroons (the BEST I've ever had), and these lovely little cookies called Chocolate Dreams, which are tiny chocolate cookies that are so moist and chewy- like little brownies. Even better than all the flavors is the fact that they are so delicious, and larger and cheaper than most gourmet cupcakes. The beat Sprinkles by a mile! Today we got a Carrot Cake Cupcake to try. We are saving it for dessert tonight, so I will keep you posted on how it tastes. I can't imagine it will be anything but amazing. 

Next week I am going to head back up to L.A, and we are going to go to hit up another one of Jerome's favorites, Toast (another celeb filled bakery-cafe located just across the street from Joan's). My mouth is already watering!

Jerome: Domestic God!?!

My little Jerome is becoming quite the handyman around the house, and I am so impressed! Over the past 3 years that we have owned our home, Jerome has really gotten into some handyman action. This goes way beyond painting walls and hanging pictures. His notable works include replacing sinks, shower fixtures, tiling floors, framing windows, hanging doors and planting flowers.  This past weekend he was in full domesticated form! He planted more flowers and finally replaced the landscaping lights in our front yard. Originally, we had purchased solar lights for our planters and walkway. It sounded like a great idea, as well as environmentally friendly. However, they never really seemed to soak up enough sun to really light things up. It's been 3 years since we set them up. You'd think they'd definitely have had some power by now, but NOPE! No luck. We decided it was time to give them up, and opt for some with real lighting power. After a trip to Loews, Jerome got to work. I am proud to say, my little handyman was able to wire them throughout our yard, and they actually work! The lights are fabulous! What a difference they make. My favorite part is the little spotlights he got that light up our trees. Who knew they could look so good?

I am so proud of my  hubby and his newly acquired skills. It's so cute to see him get excited about his next project! I can't wait to see what he does next...

A visit to Santa Barbara for Queen V

Dana, Elise, Me, Jenneane, and Vanessa at Fiesta

So it has been a few weeks, sadly, since I updated the blog. I'm sorry to those of you who may actually read this, but today will make up for it! Jerome and I have been pretty busy as of late (surprise, surprise!). We were recently in Santa Barbara to celebrate our best friend Vanessa's 

b-day. It was the first time Jerome and I had actually been to SB. We  have driven through it many times, and even stopped at gas stations and a McDonald's in town, but we had never seen it in full glory. We arrived early in the morning, and met up with our fab friends: Mike, Elise, Geo, Vanessa, David, Dana, Jenneane and her brother Brian. We went to the Fiesta, which is a downtown festival off of State Street. It was full of little shopping booths, where I bought the most fabulous (and comfortable) silk dress for $24, and Jerome bought a pair of "Kanye West" glasses (as he proudly calls them), which later became his version of Dorothy's ruby red slippers'. After shopping, of course we hit up the beer garden, which later led to moving on to a local bar, and from there the Patron shots were flowing with my name on them. We all know how much I love Patron. By 7pm, I discreetly had Jerome flag my drunk self a cab, and take me to our hotel, where I immediately went to sleep. Jerome returned to the bar, and they continued to celebrate. Meanwhile, I slept...and slept...and slept.  I missed all of the drama that later ensued that night (Attack of the Diabla Vanessa, Jerome's near arrest, FBB dancing...). I awoke the next day after what David referred to as "Jen's 18 hour nap", and was ready to check out SB again, despite my ever so pounding head.

That day we headed over to Isla Vista to eat at the restaurant Brian manages, called Silvergreens. If you have never been to this place, make the trip and go! It was fantastic! The setting is much like a Corner Bakery style, where you order at the counter and they bring it to the table. They serve sandwiches, salads, soups, pastas, pizzas and other goodies. The food was delish, but the best part by far is their receipt. The receipt, known as a Nutricate, gives you a complete roundup of all the calories, fat, carbs, and protein in your food. It even subtracts based on your modifications (example: -50 calories for holding the salad dressing). If only every restaurant would do that! It would save me the endless hours I spend consulting restaurant websites, Calorie King, Eat This Not That, and the just plain guesswork when a restaurant fails to give any info! Needless to say, Silvergreens is awesome. Go there. You'll love it.

After lunch, Queen V, as we proudly call Vanessa, wanted to conclude her b-day celebration with us by shopping on State Street. We hit up all the lovely shops, and managed to get some really great deals. The weather was also lovely outside. Not too hot, just right for walking the busy street.

Needless to say, we had an eventful and memorable time celebrating our little Queen V's birthday in Santa Barbara. We can't wait to go back!