The gown is back hanging in the closet. The pins are out of my hair instead of holding up my pseudo french twist. The jewelry is back inside its case. Instead of having a doorman open the door for me each time I entered or exited the hotel, I am now myself a doorman to the dogs’ in and out activities. Back to parking my own car instead of tossing the keys to the valet. Cooking my own meals instead of being waited upon. Pretty much back to normal.

We’re back, arriving home Sunday evening after a whirlwind weekend. Two days of which, I might add, were spent mostly in traveling from one point to another. I’m here to tell you that the three hour time difference is kicking my butt.

It went beautifully: from the smooth plane ride with extra leg room seats (and I had no where to put my dress? issues as they hung it for me), to the lovely suite in the Beverly Hills Wilshire, to my afternoon at the salon, the Academy Awards banquet itself, right down to another smooth plane ride home. Perfection!

Our hotel was a little on the pretentious side with lots of just as pretentious people walking around inside of it. Once I got used to it it was even kind of fun. I just adopted the same “I’m rich too” pretentious air and felt right at home.

The outside of the Wilshire.

As pretentious as the hotel was, the salon was very open and friendly. My hair dresser worked wonders with my short bob, magically transforming it into a french twist with lots of height. She was French and everything was chéri this and chéri that. Chéri, you will be magnifique! Chéri, alors, you need to be much blonder! Chéri, you need to grow your hair longer, to just here! (touching my shoulder) The make-up girl and manicurist were just as nice. My appointment was at 1:30 p.m. and I was finished (manicure and all) by 3:45. Once my nails were done (which were done last) the manicurist took me back over the make-up girl to brighten my lipstick to compliment my nails! They all made me feel beautiful and special. It’s their job I guess! It was pricey, but worth it.

Rick loved what they did and even though I thought it was elegant and under-stated it was more makeup than I am used to wearing. In fact, my “disguise” was so good that Donna (wife of one of the men receiving the award) did not recognize me and had to ask Rick where I was! Now, I don’t think I looked that different!

Here we are with the golden man.

I made Rick take a photo of this elderly woman. She was pushing a walker while holding on to her gin and tonic, her mink slung over the handles! Got to love her! Look at her pearls!

Here is the banquet room and our table.

The pre-dinner entertainment was Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. They won a Grammy a few years back for their song (which they sang that evening) “Falling Slowly” from the movie Once. They were so wonderful they brought tears to my eyes. Beautiful.

The presenter for the evening was Milla Jovovich and she immediately won me over when she put on her glasses to read the teleprompter. She did a great job with all the technical terms. Here she is with all the award winners.

There was also a pre-Grammy party going on in our hotel at the same time in the hotel lounge. Our room key would have gotten us in but after walking over there and seeing the crush of people and given the late hour we decided to not go. Walking in though, people were staring at us trying to figure out if we were “somebody” in our glammed up style! Hah! Since Whitney Houston had died that very same afternoon and was supposed to attend the party I’m sure the mood was somber. The Beverly Hilton was only a few blocks away from our hotel.

Everyone asks me if I met or saw anyone famous. I did get to meet and shake hands with several people on the Academy board and one man, Douglas Trumbull, who received a special award that evening. Mr. Trumbull did the special effects for a few films you might remember: 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind to name only two.

Then there was the elevator encounter with “Bruce.” A casually dressed man joined us on the elevator and started talking about all the events taking place in the hotel and he mentioned the Academy Awards for that evening. We said we were attending and we talked a bit about that. He said something like “when I got my Grammy …” and “I told myself, Bruce, … “. We had no clue who he was. He got off on his floor, waved, and told us to enjoy ourselves that night. Huh. Bruce? Who?

I had a hunch that proved to be right. When we got home I googled “people named Bruce that won Grammys” and got what I wanted with the first hit. Bruce Johnston of the BEACH BOYS. This was him! What a nice man! If I had known I would have quipped something about not being a California Girl.

We did walk down Rodeo Drive on Saturday morning and then drove down to Venice Beach. I’ll be sharing some photos of that in the next few days. I don’t want this post to go on and on!

On Sunday we got up early and drove to the airport. I left my hair up since I was not looking forward to combing it out with all the hairspray and teasing and besides it still looked good. Well, guess what? I set off the metal detector at the airport because of all the pins in my hair and had to be hand-patted down. Then I got tested for bomb residue. Now, really! I’ll bet the only hand-patting down that Cinderella might have gotten was from Prince Charming.

 

 

Tomorrow we leave for HOLLYWOOD. My stomach is starting to do flip-flops in anticipation of the exciting dress-up event and at the dread of being on an airplane for 5+ hours.

Flying used to be enjoyable, even fun, when I was a child and even when we lived in Europe. I never minded it a bit. I always looked at the journey as an adventure. Of course, that was back in the day before 9-11 and before the skies became so crowded. Also in the day when we used to fly business class (on the company). Now the seats are so close together you can’t really move. If you drop something on the floor or want to get something out of your purse that is under the seat in front of you, forget it! You have to be a contortionist. And that’s if the person in front of you has not reclined their seat any, otherwise you could watch the screen in their seatback about two inches from your nose. You can’t check your baggage for free. You can’t eat for free. You can’t even watch the movie for free. No, flying is not fun anymore.

I’m a little concerned about carrying on my dress. I am going to see if the flight crew will hang it for me, otherwise it will have to be carefully folded over and put in the overhead compartment. We all know how people are with their carry-on luggage these days since no one wants to pay the fee to check it. They are overly aggressive in trying to jam their piece of luggage in to make it fit. So, I will have to guard my overhead space with claws drawn. I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that.

My plan is to get to the airport early and eat some lunch which will include a glass of wine (or two) to make me mellow.

Later today Rick and I will do a “dress rehearsal” with him trying on his tux to make sure he knows how it all goes together and me trying to decide if a need to wear a bra under my gown or not. To date I have not tried on the dress with a bra since it does have a sort of built-in bra and the bodice has some boning, so not sure if the extra fabric will will work since the dress has been taken in some.

I am not stressing about the “what to take?” element of my trip since I won’t be there very long. I did order a cute tunic top online last week which has yet to arrive. The tracking on the package assures me that it will arrive today, but will it fit properly? My wardrobe this weekend depends upon it. Okay, maybe I do have a little bit of stress about what to wear.

So that’s all of have for you today! Check back after the weekend for updates!

Since there is nothing happening in my own particular little world today and it’s gray outside, I thought I’d take you back to Panama and show you some colorful birds I came across on our visit there last May.

One of the first birds I was introduced to was this little guy: a Red-Legged Honey Creeper. I love his black mask and his deep indigo color.

Here is a male and female side by side. Of course he gets to be dazzlingly beautiful and she gets to be a rather drab yellow-green!

A bird that was pretty hard to get photos of was this Thick-billed Euphonia with his bright yellow and dark blue coloring. You can see a few Red-Legged Honey Creepers in the same tree with him.

An unidentified bird. My notes say “Flame Tanager” but it’s not! The beak is too large.

All these birds were photographed outside Panama City in the yard of a Bed & Breakfast we had lunch at. I could have cared less about the delicious lunch that she served with all these beautiful birds all around us!

The following bird photos were taken at our small boutique hotel in Boquete. Each morning they would put out fruit for the birds. You had to be an early riser to see the birds before the fruit was gone. Here is one of the bird “feeders.”

The Blue-Gray Tanagers were plentiful; whether they were by themselves

or sharing with a Red-Legged Honey Creeper:

or feeding their young:

And certainly lots of my already favorite birds: The Red-Legged Honey Creepers again!
In this photo you can see more of his gorgeous coloring.

Here he is pretty darned intimidated by the much larger bird. I’m pretty sure the other bird is a Streaked Saltador (female?) but I was never certain of the identification. Just look how he’s trying to make himself look bigger by ruffling up the feathers on his head.

Mrs. Honey-Creeper:

Another Thick-Billed Euphonia with a very curious Streaked Saltador (love its expression!). This Euphonia is very dull in color compared to one at the beginning of this post, so no sure if it is a female or just in a molt.

I also loved the Silver Throated Tanagers.

These colorful birds with their blue beaks and half-orange breasts I could never identify from the guide at the hotel. (My bird book does not cover the tropics!) Maybe in the Tanager family??

Another unidentified bird.

The common robin!

A Social Flycatcher.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have these colorful birds in your back yard?

I’ve now had an amaryllis in the house for about three years. The first one was given to me by my neighbor Aileen and it bloomed its heart out for three years in a row. She gave me another one and it bloomed for two years in a row. Both of them now I think have bloomed themselves out since there are no signs of any buds coming.

So, this year I bought one for myself and potted it back in December. Take a look now! Here it is as taken early Sunday morning. Some people don’t care for lens flare, but I kind of liked it on this photo. I think it adds interest.

This shot was taken later in the day. Look how much the second bud has come out in just a few hours.

Beautiful, isn’t it?

It’s so nice to have something beautiful to look at and enjoy in this rather dull winter we are having.