'Tis the Season for....

'Tis the season for a little culture up in this bitch. That's my motto. For a group of girls that rarely venture outside of the greater Venice/Marina del Rey area, we took an oath last week that we would do at LEAST one new thing every week.

Unfortunately for you guys, I am too lazy to use my internet at home on the weekends so you have some catching up to do with this girl.

Thursdayy was an elegant evening at the Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The place is an amazing venue and for $10 a ticket, you can't go wrong. The evening was complete with old men falling asleep, recorders (yes, the kind you played "Hot Crossed Buns" on in elementary school) and tuba tampons (they put this thing in the tuba to muffle the sound, and I couldn't help myself but to tag it a tuba tampon - doubt that's the technical name for it - if you know a tubaist, please let me know). All in all, good times. And you walk away feeling enriched with culture. Ahhhhhhhh.

Friday night I had to put on my toothy and charming face and some sweet duds as I was invited to a client's holiday party in Bev Hills. Can you say "open bar" and "yummy free food"? Because I can. Although the majority of the attendees were nipped and tucked and peroxided (except for my table which was obviously the 'cool table'), the free flowing wine and purple hooter shots more than made up for it. We made good friends with Ming, the bartender and in return, Ming got Stacey, myself and some additional co-workers rather intoxicated at our client's expense. (Hey, what's the holiday season for? Giving. We were giving Ming business.) From there we stumbled down to the Venice square where I proceeded to get my face slammed in a restroom door by a very impolite female co-pee-er. I was not a happy camper. When the urge came over me to hit her back in the face with the door, I knew my evening had come to an end. I dismissed myself and called Mr. Taxi to take my toothy, charming and tipsy butt home. (Don't drink and drive, kids.)

I was rudely awakened early Saturday morning by K with the reminder that we had to go to some charity something or other in Hollywood - and we had to look nice. Awesome. I dragged my sorry butt out of bed and got ready, not really knowing what I was getting myself into. We ended up at a very interesting event to help Hurricane Katrina survivors at, you guessed it, the Magic Castle. (Huh? you say) The Magic Castle (http://www.magiccastle.com) is the official "home of the academy of arts" and it is an elite club and actual castle in Hollywood. I had never seen an actual magic trick in person (my elementary school magic kit does not count) so it ended up being quite interesting. As an added bonus, we got to see George Castanza (aka: Jason Alexander) and some dude from the show "Crossing Jordan". The magicians were all different. But my favorite was this dude, Jason Latimer. He reminded me of a young version of what's-his-bucket in Vegas - Danny Gans. Equally as much makeup and equally as well-choreographed. He shock his groove thing like a Polaroid picture through the whole performance. Engaging, really. I gave him a couple shout outs. We completed the afternoon by actively stalking Jason Alexander for K's stepfather, with no avail. Instead, we got lost in the castle and got trampled by old people racing to the next "up close and personal" magic show. I sincerely think that the Magic Castle needed to help make some dang manners appear. (Do old people get ruder with age or is it just me?) Like Lucky Charms, I definitely felt magically delicious as we bid adieu to the M.C. Now, who else (besides the people I was with) can say they spent Saturday afternoon watching magic shows for charity. I'm willing to bet not very many.