Access Hollywood

It was worth getting up at 545 to get to Ray's before we jumped in a car at 615 to head over to Burbank for Ray to tape Access Hollywood with Billy Bush.  Billy is a friend of Ray's and sits on the board of the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation, so they always have a good time when they see each other.  Ray taped a segment for Access and then we waited until the end of the show and walked over to do Billy's radio show.

As we were leaving, Ray decided to show Billy some of his Foxtrot moves, and of course Billy joined in.  I laughed throughout the entire radio segment.  Billy is SO funny and Ray was on fire this morning.

Brentwood Farmers Market

I was excited to be back in LA to hit up my favorite farmers market Sunday.  I've been going to this one for years.  It's not the biggest farmers market but it does have a nice variety of stands and some of the vendors have been there since I started going to the Brentwood Farmers Market nine years ago.  I have my favorite flowers and fruit/veggie stands.   They have pony rides and a bouncy house for the kids, and a doggie rescue too.  And there are a ton of great options for breakfast and lunch.

I'm fairly predictable when it comes my purchases.  I always get white flowers, apples and some sort of berries.  Then depending on what I'm cooking I'll pick the veggies.  There is something about farmers markets, true or not, that makes me feel as though I'm getting the freshest fruit and veggies around.  

Mandeville Canyon

This is one of my favorite hikes in LA and every time I start the journey to the top I'm reminded why people live in LA.....it's absolutely beautiful.  It's not always or even usually this clear, but this is about half way up the canyon and it was so clear we could see the Pacific.

It took us about 2 hours to complete the hike walking the uphills, running the downhills. It's a great way to work out if you go with people.  I've gone alone before and I've gotten freaked out about animals or breaking bones and getting stuck up there so I always end up turning around early, or whimping out.  

DWTS

First day on the set of DWTS!  After finding out he was paired with Anna, they had a full day of photo shoots and LIVE shoots.  This was the last shoot of the day.  A very exciting next few months.

Travel Day

This shot of the sunset somewhere in the southwest was the highlight of my travel day yesterday.  And I say day, because it was truly a day of travel.

I left the house in Tampa around noon getting to the airport an hour early and checked in with no trouble.  As I got off the train, I noticed an enormous line at security.  For a non holiday regular old Monday, I was a bit surprised.  I ended up standing in line for 40 mins to go through security which got me to my gate as they were boarding the last passengers.

I grabbed my computer and ipod and threw my bag in the bin and we were ready to take off.  The flight attendant came by to take all the empty glasses and i heard the 75 year old guy sitting next to me say "shouldn't she turn that off," referring to me and my ipod.  My ipod wasn't on, that's why I heard him telling on me, and I looked at the flight attendant and told her it was off.  She smiled at me and we didn't have to say anything but both understood the guy next to me was a pain in the ass.  By the way, he proceeded to slam four water glasses full of white wine in the hour and fifteen minute flight to Charlotte.

There were thunderstorms in Charlotte but we managed to take off on time.  About an hour before we were scheduled to land in LA, the captain said that due to the storm we ran out of fuel and needed to stop in Albuquerque to refuel.  Awesome!

Turns out they were quick with the refueling in Albuquerque, so we were only two hours late landing in LA.  On a regular night it wouldn't have been a big deal, but I had planned to attend a party at STK.  But instead of enjoying some kind of fish and wine at STK, i had an apple cinnamon nutri-grain bar for dinner.

By the time I walked into LG's place at 10:30 i was so tired.  For all the take offs and landings and amount of actual hours on the plane, I felt like I should be enjoying a latte in madrid.

Lost bet...

We decided to drive back to Tampa after James's night match in Delray, so that meant leaving the hotel about 10pm.  We both just wanted to get home.  Right after we stopped for gas about an hour into the three and a half hour road trip, we decided to bet on the exact time we would get home.  James looked at the Navi and made an educated guess of 140am and I said 144am.

As we got into Tampa it looked more and more like I was going to win the bet.  We made a wrong turn which cost us a few minutes, there was a bit of road construction and an absurd amount of traffic on the freeway for that time of night.  To make up for these unforeseen events James drove like he was in the final lap at the Indie 500.  Did I mention James may be the most competitive person I have ever met.  He hates to lose anything, like no other.

As we pulled off the freeway it was looking good for him and we happened to hit green light after green light.  We pulled in the driveway at 139am which of course meant he won.  Which also meant I would be taking the car in to get the oil changed. I never learn.....do NOT bet him, I swear he rarely loses.

Lightning

My love for hockey probably has something to do with growing up in Wisconsin and going to school in Minnesota.  It's definitely one of my favorite sports to watch live.  James mentioned the Lightning were in town this weekend and I was up for going down to check them out.  

James went to college with one of the guys on the team so we had dinner with he and his wife last night and they left us tickets for the game tonight.  So nice to meet more great people here in Tampa.

Game was fun and the Lightning got the win.