Johnny Depp and Cell Phones

HAPPENINGS: It has been a good week since the quake. Zach's family was in town this weekend, and they were kind enough to allow me to be a part of the Weissmueller clan for the whole time. It is always nice to have people in town from Florida because it gives me a chance to step back and look at the city again from a new perspective. We went to a lot of the places that we have grown to appreciate since moving here. Some of these places include:

The Griffith Park Observatory - We like to picnic up there with what I refer to as the best sandwiches in the world from a wine shop in a little area close by called Larchmont Village. There is a nice view of the entire city and the "Hollywood sign" along with some carpet quality grass to sit on and some nice hiking trails.

Melrose Shopping - While Zach sat this one out, I had a good afternoon with the ladies strolling down Melrose in it's entirety. I was very good and did not buy anything, but it is always nice to look! I really like the vintage shops that sell used pieces that range from the tackiest thing I have ever seen to beautiful/classy lacy things.

UCB- The Upright Citizen's Brigade is a great comedy place. This weekend was the second time I have been, but I see myself going much much more in the future. I believe they do mostly improve shows there, and there is this one troupe called ASSSSSSSSCAT that is awesome. There is one guy in particular that makes me laugh every time he opens his mouth. The last time we went, Jenna Fisher (Pam from "The Office") was the guest host. This puts my "Office" celebrity sightings at two. I think the person I would most want to see next from the show would be Kevin. Also, we possibly saw Johnny Depp on our way out of the theater. The possible Johnny Depp was sitting at a table outside of a bookstore with a trendy hat tilted to hide his face a bit. No one was looking at him. Zach pointed him out to me, but by the time I looked, he was covering his face too much with the hat. We thought it might be something he was doing to research for a role, observing the "comedy scene". His mom independently thought it might be him as well so we sent her to walk back by to get a better look. By that time, he was mysteriously gone. So we either saw Johnny Depp or some weirdo pretending to be Johnny Depp so people would think they saw him.

Farmer's Market (Santa Monica) - Arguably my favorite place in the world is the Santa Monica Farmers Market. Oh it is so delicious! You can sample pretty much anything from fresh fruit to cheese to pesto sauces. I always get fresh squeezed orange juice (tangerine and blood orange juice is also available) and a huge omelet. Sometimes Zach and I split an omelet and a huge blueberry pancake. Everything is so good, and if you have been there, you know exactly what I mean. It is sunny and perfect all the time. They sell tamales, sausages, corn on the cob, fresh coffees, breads, crepes, and some more yummy things. I bought some weird purple potatoes to try cooking with. The farmer described them as more "nutty" than regular potatoes. I made them yesterday, and they pretty much tasted like normal potatoes except they were bright purple and not like beet purple but like crayon purple. I was almost scared to try them, but they were just fine.

Getty Center - This is a huge art museum on a hill. It is also an architectural landmark, but my favorite thing about it is the beautiful gardens. You can walk through a really nice area with some strange looking but beautiful flowers. The grass is like carpet, and there are also great views of the city. It is a nice relaxing place.

Restaurants...all the favorites: We wanted to show off our LA restaurant expertise after a year of long hard research. Some of the favorite include:

Toast (trendy, good menu..lots of choices...everything yummy)

Bosa Nova (Brazilian cafe)

Larchmont Wine shop (best sandwich in the world)

In-and-Out (where we have been known to sit a a table for 4 hours at a time discussing important issues with Sue, Brian, Natalie, and Brian McGuire...and by important issues I mean Dark Knight, how people we know are stupid, fool-proof Survivor strategies, who would make it the farthest on Survivor, how we could all get on Survivor without them knowing we all knew each other if that is even possible and then if we could all get on, how we would all make an alliance to get one of us to the end and agree from the beginning to split the money if we won.)

The Village Pizzeria - The best Slice in the city.

TIPS: If you order a salad at a restaurant or even a faster service type place like Panera or Corner Bakery, you may want to check out their website for nutrition facts beforehand. If you are ordering a salad in the first place, I assume you are trying to be healthy, but you may be doing the opposite. I ordered the harvest salad with chicken from the Corner Bakery last week in an attempt to keep my calorie count for the day under 1700 give or take. I ate it. It was delicious, but not as delicious as say the chicken pesto sandwich with chips and maybe even a cookie would have been. I looked up the amount of calories in my healthy treat and found that I had just scarfed about 1100 calories in a stupid salad. Also, somehow, they managed to squeeze in about 70 grams of fat! I don't think I could do this if I tried when I make a salad at home. I cannot imagine what in that salad would be 70 grams of fat. I know the dressing is a lot, but the nutrition facts for the dressing were 300 calories and about 15-20 grams of fat. I cannot fathom where the rest came from. Sure there were some blue cheese and walnuts sprinkled about, but I feel like you would have to eat a lot of that stuff to equal so many calories, and there is really not that much in this salad. This selection just so happened to contain more calories and fat than almost everything else on the menu including the pesto chicken sandwich and a bunch of heavy pasta dishes. Note to self and others: eat more pasta and sandwiches.

INFURIATING: The hand held use of cell phones while driving was banned in the state of California; the law went into effect July 1st. Only hands-free devices are acceptable now. This means that if I am driving my car, it is illegal for me to hold a cell phone up to my ear. However, if I am driving, it is perfectly legal to eat a sandwich, put on makeup, text message google for directions to the nearest Best Buy, and close my eyes all at the same time as long as I can do it well and continue to drive safely. This is a serious problem. I am not by any means trying to say any of the previous things should be outlawed. In fact, I am reminding myself what is at stake. I know it may sound like a good idea in theory, and there are those of you who would say, "Well, at least it will prevent accidents!", and you are wrong. There is no evidence that the act of holding a cell phone to your ear causes any more accidents than using a hands-free device. In a study at the University of Utah, researchers found that the likelihood of a driver on a cell phone causing an accident is the same when using hand held and hands-free devices. It is the conversation, not the use of the cell phone, that causes accidents. Should the use of cell phones in the car be eliminated completely? It is a more logical approach than simply getting rid of the hand-held devices. However, if it is the conversation and not the cell phone that is the distracting factor, should we get rid of conversation while in the car? Should having a passenger (especially a crying baby or a rowdy child) in the car be outlawed? Is listening to the radio a problem suddenly? And what kinds of other things should we get rid of? Should any and all distractions be removed by force? This is a step in the wrong direction.