Bluejake

7:45am Woke up- stomach a little wild from all the champagne and French food. Thought for a little while about staying in bed, but decided to get an early start on the day.

9am K back from bagels with her mom's gang- a few very nice engagement gifts. About to shower, but the water is unexpectedly turned off, so we have to make other plans.

10am K drove us down to the Brentwood Country Club so I could steal a shower. The pool was closed, along with the guest locker room, so I snuck into the member's only room. It was locker room paradise- beautiful hardwood lockers, massage rooms, a barber shop, steam rooms, and a crazy bathroom and shower area. I showered and then went out to the mirror area, where they had pretty much one of every male beauty product imaginable, including the entire Club Man line, which I hadn't seen since high school.

11pm K drove us down to Beverly Hills via San Vincente and Wilshire, and then on to Robertson via Beverly Drive. We walked around a little and window shopped at the clothing stores. She did some shopping at Agnes B. and I called E to tell him about the locker room.

12:30pm Lunch with K at Clementine in Century City. We talked about the engagement and he was very sweet about the whole thing.

1:30pm Got behind the wheel and drove us up into the Hollywood Hills by way of Sunset and Kings Road. We went up and up and up- the houses are all perched on the cliff and the road switchbacks every ten yards. Challenging driving because of the incline and blind curves. I love it up there- the air feels clean and everything seems private and beautiful. Eventually we ended up on the wrong side of the mountain. After a few turns we were on Laurel Canyon, which we took to Mulholland Drive and then back to Beverly Hills via Benedict Canyon. Beautiful views.

3pm Back at the apartment- feeling strangely exhausted. K is taking a nap and I'm thinking about turning on the TV for the first time in 3 days. I think no TV makes me a little crazy.

4pm Did some work and read Scientific American while K went out to the office to visit some friends.

7pm Drinks at The Peninsula, a hotel on Little Santa Monica at the edge of Beverly Hills. I'm learning to like wine more- I could almost taste the difference between K's Pinot Noir and whatever I was drinking.

8:15pm Dinner at Madeo on Beverly Blvd, with T. and D. and K's parents. The whole crew was there at the restaurant and A. and N. stopped by the table three or four times to say congrats on the engagement. The food was excellent- better than anything in L.A. so far- I had the scampi salad and ultra-thin scallapine marsala, and K had the bronzino. Nicholas Cage walked by the table at one point, but I only saw him from the back. Very tall and thin. I was pretty sure Jamie Lynn Sigler from the Sopranos was sitting at the next table, but it might have been her unrelated identical twin.

11pm Back at the apartment- so tired that I actually feel dizzy.

Travelogue