When in California...

California is a whole different world. I mean, the fact that we reside in a small town makes a huge difference because now we're out in huge cities, which quite obviously showcase a wide variety of people. I'll just come straight out and say it...California houses some stuh-range people. And okay, probably every place has it's weirdos, but since we're in California, I'll discuss the ones here.

Take for example, Hollywood. We spent the majority of the day on Monday here, and I probably could have sat for hours simply people-watching. We did go to the infamous In-N-Out Burger, which didn't let me down; their burgers and fries were delish! While in Hollywood (and surrounding area), we managed to witness several homeless people. And while homeless people themselves aren't all that rare around the country, I have never seen quite the fascination with the scooters and the homeless. When driving to the beach, we saw one particular man who was in the process of moving his belongings away from the horrendous wind storm. I first made the mistake that he was getting his daily exercise in as we watched him disappear around the corner and then come back around multiple times. He was actually moving trash bag after trash bag to his new "home," wherever that may be. We also witnessed a homeless man sleeping quite comfortably in the middle of the sidewalk (on the Walk of Fame) under a warm blanket trashbag. And on our drive to Rodeo Drive, we had the privilege of seeing a man eating treasures out of the garbage can.

The Grauman Theater area was definitely the highlight. I loved the walk there, too, with the walk of fame and the celebrity hand and footprints in the sidewalk. Here, we ran into quite the array of well-know characters walking around-for a small fee you could pitch in to these individuals' salaries. Apparently, this is the alternative to a 9-5 office job for quite a few people in Hollywood. One particular charater (which I quite honestly have no clue what he was...teradactyl, dragon, vampire, demon-type). He was quite creepy-and managed to spit from his fangs, "My, what preeeeetty eyes you haveeee." Then of course, there was the cracked out Elmo who insisted my baby have her picture with (yeah right, with the cocaine and booze you likely have all over your costume). We also saw Tigger, who looked like he had been drowned (saggy ears and all) and Snoopy who was entirely too skinny.

I was reminded of horrible big city traffic as well. Let me tell you, trying to breastfeed while doing gymnastics over the carseat while driver is driving like all the rest of the lunatics in Hollywood is painful. My ribs took a serious beating after that.

We had dinner in Marina del Rey at Tony P's, which had amazing sea food (among other things). Apparently, a girl in the bathroom had quite a few too many drinks, and she passed out. She threw quite a fit as the police men, EMTs, and firemen tried to pull her out. As we left, we heard them discussing a required 72-hour psychiatric observation. Merry Christmas to her.

Yesterday we spent hours (and hours and hours) at the outlet mall. I had several good finds and once again managed to look like I never get out (well, I don't-that mall made our mall look even worse than it already did). Again, some good people-watching opportunities there. At Starbucks, I had barely gotten out of my seat when some old geezerold man slid himself into my seat. I was trying to get Ruby situated in her baby carrier, and this man stole our table right out from underneath us. Then, of course there was the man that (I wish I were kidding) stopped his walking, lifted one leg and grabbed onto his butt cheek to let out two really loud farts. Who does that?!

We had dinner at Las Casuelas, which was quite possibly the best Mexican food I have ever had. They had delicious margaritas there, too, but I only had a sip (this pump and dump garbage is for the birds). We came home and everyone got wasted played a huge (and entirely too long) game of Balderdash. Poor Ruby had a rough night, after being overstimulated and overly tired on top of something I ate not agreeing with her little tummy. She's napping it off right now, so here's hoping she wakes up as a happy camper!