Wouldn't it be such fun to be a stylish musician in a band, playing shows around the world and meeting new people?

Dum dum girls in Oslo - photo from their site

Two years ago, Mimoun and our friends started a friendly record label called Underwater Peoples. It's crazy how big some of their releases have become! Check out this article about Tennis in the New York Times. Can't get enough of their song "South Carolina."

Tennis - photog from Underwater peeps website

The restaurant I mentioned before. Besides random person, doesn't the photo have that great warm retro LA feel to it? I mean, there are actually phone booths out front.

Get right out of town! Cutest wedding setting, photos ever. Just had to share. More at Unruly Things.

Los Angeles

Mimoun is in the New York area touring with Family Portrait, so I planned a long overdue visit to Echo Park to visit my coolest cousin, Molly. Due to the saddest thing, Molly had to be in San Diego for the weekend, and I decided to get on my Delta flight anyways and spend the weekend with my aunt and uncle in Manhattan Beach. Their home is glorious, surrounded by other equally glorious homes, and the size of their pantry is in fact larger than the kitchen of our Mission apartment. Sneaky LA. I was quickly enamored with my soak in their hot tub, steak dinner, and stellar red wine, and began to think, why do I hate LA again? Ah yes, when I woke up at 4 am as usual, trying to solve every problem in my life simultaneously and needing a glass of water, I was brought back to earth by the salty-sweet, pool water taste of tap water that’s traveled hundreds (thousands?) of miles from its source and has picked up heavy metal souvenirs along the way. I choked down my Calm Forte homeopathic sleeping pills, and lay back in bed reviewing the memories the thick, chemistry experiment water had prompted: Muggy, earth quake weather days, playing tag in the dry backyard of my grandmother’s house in Hollywood, my grandfather’s shaky hands reaching for the hot sauce at El Coyote restaurant on Beverly Blvd, and my parents bellowing along to Randy Newman in our purple minivan driving down Highway 5 “I loooove LA...We love it!" My internet is too slow right now to embed the video, but please go watch this music video on Youtube if you've never seen it-hilarious! Fond memories, yes. Fond of LA, no. A great big freeway. Happily, I'll be back under my cloud of smug in the bay area tomorrow night, sipping delicious tapwater with a microwaveable trader joe's dinner.