About Town

The end of last week turned into "do things I've never done before in Los Angeles week." And I didn't even plan it that way.

On Thursday I was called to a TDM (that's Team Decision Making meeting for those playing at home) about my CASA kid in a place called Santa Fe Springs. I have vaguely heard of Santa Fe Springs. It is southeast of L.A. proper and that is my full and complete knowledge of Santa Fe Springs. The meeting was held in one of those business park type places but as I was driving around I noticed that right next door there was a train exhibit. And being morally and maybe even legally bound by my duties as a docent at Union Station, I knew that after the meeting I would be checking out the train exhibit. Also I made the should-have-been-obvious connection between Santa Fe Springs and the Achison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railway company. I am such a genius.

After the meeting I wandered over to the train exhibit which was actually in a place called Heritage Park which had even more exhibits and a whole park and a cute little cafe and who knew? The things you learn if you just get out of the house once in awhile.

The next day I went to a networking event at the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens and arranged to have tea in their famous and fabulous and heretofore unvisited by me tearoom. The networking event was sponsored by the Metropolitan Water District. They have a huge business outreach program for small and minority owned businesses. The head of the program talked about how MWD is the only business that is actually running a campaign to tell people about NOT using their product. It is conceivable that Los Angeles will lose 40% of their water supply (the part that is purchased from up north) due to a class action suit regarding some environmental problems at the water source (I believe it is causing a type of fish or bird to go extinct.....I need to read up on this.)

The MWD put on the event for free and got us free admission into the Botanical Gardens and library. It was a beautiful day. The tea really was fabulous and I am so glad that I finally got to have this experience. It was interesting from the networking side as well. I don't think I made any good business connections but I learned about government opportunities and got an invitation to another free event at JPL. Did I mention they serve food at these things?

And then Saturday I was invited to a reception in the rare books room of the Los Angeles Central Library downtown. This room is not open to the public. They served us food there which made me really nervous. They also gave us white gloves. The manager of the room had pulled out several items that he thought would be of interest including posters and old books in Spanish from the original settlers that came to Los Angeles. The rare book collection also includes a substantial collection of old menus and he had pulled out the menu for Scandia. Scandia was a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard and it was actually the place where my dad took me for a late dinner on the evening before my 21st birthday and made sure we were there at midnight so I could order my first legitimate drink which I believe was a margarita.

Train exhibits and decision making about the life of a child (more on that in another post), beautiful gardens and networking, eating food in a room full of rare books - what a week, huh?

Dancing

The invitation to join a friend of mine in VIP seats for "Dancing with the Stars" was extended last week. The instructions stated that the dress code was formal....no jeans allowed. This was clearly a shopping opportunity and I was really pleased to find this perfect dress at Ann Taylor:



And a little jacket to go with it as well because I don't do sleeveless. My friend and I also decided that glitter was key, we wanted to sparkle, so I pulled out all my rhinestones. And I even wore make-up.

We were supposed to arrive at the studio no later than 3:45 so we decided to drive into Hollywood and have lunch first. We sat outside, ordered wine and a cheese platter and watched the people go by. And wondered why so many people weren't at work. And, also, referring to my previous post, reflected on how, yeah, I guess this really is why I work for myself.

At the appointed time, we arrived at the studio and were shown to our seats, right behind the judges. Just before show time, a production type person came over and said "I meant to come by earlier. You guys are going to be on the camera like 99% of the time. You need to sit up straight. And don't chew gum. Believe me, chewing gum does not look good on the camera. You will really, really regret it."

After some discussion with my friend, we decided that the prudent thing for me to do would be to take off my glasses. You know, because I would be so visible. So I really can not tell you much about the actual taping of the show because everything was quite blurry. The only thing I know for certain is that Apolo could fit in my pocket. And Billy Ray is completely obnoxious but the fans just love, love, love him.

When the show ended we were invited to the green room where they had food and drink and the dancers were hanging out. We didn't stay long as we needed to get home and watch ourselves on the TV because the camera was going to be on us like 99% of the time.

The production type person lied. Because this was the results show and not the actual dancing show, the judges were barely on and, when the camera did turn their way, we in the audience were pretty much in the dark. By freezing one frame, I did manage to catch a glimpse of myself. You will have to take my word for it but I looked totally hot. So glad I took those glasses off.

Conversation With A Client

Me: I'm going to have to leave quickly right after our meeting because I'm going to a taping of "Dancing with the Stars" this afternoon.

Client: Really? That sounds fun.

Me: Yeah, being able to do stuff like that is why I don't work. I mean, why I work independently for myself.

Client: Absolutely!

Pause

Me: Well, actually, I never really thought I'd be going to things like TV show tapings.

Client: Yeah, you probably thought you'd be spending your time reading all the great books.

Me: Something like that.

Stay tuned for the details on the taping....