"Beverly Hills, That's Where I Want to Be, Living in Beverly Hills"

Playing: Bad Habits-General Fiasco
Reading: Raise High in the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour:An Introduction by JD Salinger

There is a song by Weezer called "Beverly Hills" that expresses the desire and the wonder that surrounds Beverly Hills. Beverly Hills is one of those places that exemplifies the Californian lifestyle so easily and you have to be there to understand what makes it so wonderful. It's the type of place that makes me want to stay in Southern California and not go halfway across the world for college. It's one of the few places that can convince me to go vegetarian (even if it is only for one meal) and that's exactly what it did last Saturday, when I ordered the Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sandwich at McCormick and Schmick'ss along with a side of the Onion Shoestring Fries. Despite the slightly burnt bun and the arugula, I enjoyed the sandwich, which came stuffed with a tomato salad and topped by a balsamic vinegar reduction.

Beverly Hills is also one of those special places that knows how to make comfort food cost three times more than it should, especially if you go to Sprinkles Ice Cream, which admittedly, I've been wanting to try for a few months now ever since one opened near me. However, the one in Newport Beach has a two hour line, so I was extremely excited when I stumbled upon it in Beverly Hills. I tried the Sprinkles Sundae with Red Velvet Ice Cream and a Salted Caramel Cupcake. The sundae is like an ice cream sandwich and halfway through, the sweetness of the sundae became overpowering and a bit sickening. Either share or go for a lighter ice cream to balance the extraordinarily sweet icing, which Sprinkles is known for.

Just a few blocks off of Santa Monica Blvd., where Sprinkles Ice Cream is located, is Rodeo Drive. Even though South Coast Plaza has almost all the stores Rodeo Drive has, there's an undeniable draw to Rodeo Drive. It might be the busloads of tourists desperate to get a photo of everything including you, or maybe it's the wide range of architecture. For me, Rodeo Drive is home to my favorite Prada store. The interior design is so cool and it's almost like a fun house with green bubbled walls, warped mirror ceilings, and panel's opacity changing along with the music.

The most wonderful thing about Los Angeles is being able to get dressed up totally over the top and not have people look at you oddly. For the most part, people like it when you're just a little eccentric here and that's one reason that I would want to move to LA. Several people took photos of my top hat and a tourist asked to take a photo of my purse, so it's all fun even if I do look a bit like Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka here. This was the first time I drove my Gucci Fiat to Los Angeles and I was hoping to park in front of the Gucci store, but all the spaces were taken. I'll just have to keep trying. I wore a San Diego Hat Company top hat, a Calvin Klein blazer, an Ann Taylor LOFT t-shirt, theory shorts, a Gucci purse, and Reed Krakoff boots.

PS Tucking in shirts is so unflattering on mes, so I think it's time to stop.