OHLALA Mag

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR CAN MAKE!

Except being one year older, 365 days can make a huge difference. This year have been for Alek and I a life changing year. New home, new jobs, new city, new country, new friends, new goals, new challenges, new climate ... It seems like today there isn't much left from a year ago.



One of the change was the climate and on this one there is "no acclimation" time needed, we got along with it pretty quickly. It is nice to be able to pool side lounge on the last day of the year.

Honestly I hope the year to come will keep on being as productive as it has been for us, but I am also looking forward a quiet and boring life in California for Alek and I :-) The Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Whiterspoon's kind Well maybe not that boring ;-)

SUN-DAY WITH LES AMIS IN SANTA MONICA

Today temperatures finally went up in southern California (listen to me, I am talking like it is supposed to be hot, the last week of December) believe me you get used to the good weather way too fast!

Yes, it was a nice sunny sunday, so we though a day at the beach would be fun especially since Geraldine and Jerome, two friends from Paris, are staying in town for a week.



Renting and riding a bike around for a couple of hours is something we love to do once in a while. When you live in the hills sometimes you don't even realize there is a beach this close. Trust me sometimes we are by the pool and if it is a clear day I will say "OMG look, we can see the Ocean!!!!" like it was just brought there the night before.



On our way back home we drove by the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, and you will not believe what happened to us ... while waiting at a stop (yes I do not do the Californian roll, I make a solid stop, I count ... one .... two ... three .... then I look and then I drive ;-) Ok this is not exactly what I do, but I am training for my driving license test right now :-)

So while at the stop I had to wait for a coyote to make his mind about where he will be heading for his dinner. We see them quite often in the hills looking for a chihuahua or two, and usually I don't have enough time to take my camera out, switch it on and take a proper picture! Well it looks like this time wasn't that time again, but hey better than nothing right. Somehow I have much better reflexes when it comes to take photos of guys shirtless!

And I swear the one we saw today was looking just as scary as the one I have used to illustrate my coyote shot ;-)



I can't believe it's going to be 2009 next weekend already. Oh! this reminds me that I have to get a mistletoe for the midnight kiss and some lentils ... well, where I grew up my grandmother always told me that the first meal of the new year should be lentils (probably because at that time that's the only thing they had) but it is suppose to bring you money for the new year. You know it's one of those things you know may not work but if you don't do it you know it will work the other way around ;-)

OHLALA I HAVE JUST MET DAVID BECKHAMAT STAPLES ... WELL KIND OF!

I can't really ever take a break from David Beckham, even when I go to get some ink for my printer at Staples, bam! There he is ... Promoting Sharpie !!!! I know my life in LA is crazy, meeting all those famous people and all ;-) Ok, I admit, it was not a real size life cardboard of David so it does not really count ...

But if you really want to meet David Beckham in Los Angeles you can click here. There's also a short video of David.

Before you go and do your saturday night thing, you have to check out our famous David Beckham category.



You may remember the commercial he recently did for Sharpie, click here or on the image below to see the video.

SALADES DE PROVENCE ON RODEO DRIVE

It's not the summer over here, but still it is way much better than the rest of the country. So in order to enjoy those precious rays of sun we had lunch in Beverly Hills on Rodeo Drive, I know food is not exactly what comes to mind when you think Rodeo Drive, but there is a great restaurant that you may miss if you are licking the windows ... Salades de Provence is located on top of Ralph Lauren and Armani store, right on the terrace of the prestigious Frédéric Fekkai Salon hair.



Fekkai approached the chef of Salades de Provence about becoming his in-house restaurant after sampling the food from the West Hollywood original. It is outside which we love, and kind of secluded which we love even more!





If it was not for the giant toys and the Baccarat chandeliers it would be hard to tell it is christmas.



Chanel is one of our favorite shop (to look at ...) not sure that "Parisienne" look would work for us! But we love the architecture, simple, always the best and the windows are always tres glamourous.



Want to see more photos from Los Angeles!? It's HERE and HERE!

AN EARLY CHRISTMAS EVE IN LOS ANGELES

Since most of the people we know will be out of town for the holidays, Le Gang^tm have decided to get together for an early Christmas dinner.



It was a fun evening, and the outdoor fire kept us warm on this relatively cold Californian night. I know it is nothing comparing to the rest of the country where people have to deal with snow, blizzard and chilly temperatures.



So travel safe everyone and have a great holiday :-)

SUNDAY BRUNCH AT WISTERIA LANE ;-)

This morning Alek and I traveled to the beautiful Grate Eagle State about 10 minutes drive from our home aka Desperate Housewives backlot at Universal Studios.





I am such a fan of the show that going on Wisteria Lane actually feels so real. Even the fake wisterias on Lynette Scavo's house do ;-) And the desperate housewives really have their own real fake parking spot ... you can't get more 'real fake' than that !!!



The first picture is Susan's house, the green house is the Scavo's, and below Gabrielle's home.





If you love the show you have to check out our Desperate Housewives category. I will never be thankful enough to Marc Cherry for bringing such a great show on television.

A couple of weeks ago the show got reelected for another term. Four more years! Although the deal isn't sealed yet Marc Cherry is supposedly in talks to extend the series for four more seasons beyond this May, taking it through the end of the 2012-2013 season.

On other desperate news, although Gale Harold is expected to make a full recovery following his motorcycle accident two months ago, it isn't clear yet whether the actor will return to Desperate Housewives :-(



+ Desperate Housewives on ABC

WTF! COLD AND RAIN IN L.A. SNOW IN THE DESERTBUT IT IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD ... YET!

I am happy to report that it is not the end of the world ... yet! The sun is back in Los Angeles today, after like 4 days of rain ... I know, crazy right !? ;-) We even had a wonderful sunset just minutes away.



The rest of the world has no idea what THE rain means here in L.A. ... it's the end of 'their' world! I am not kidding you, live reports, breaking news, alerts, more breaking news, more alerts, if you don't pay attention to what they say on the news (like I do) you could easily think we are under aliens' attack.

I know the snow is not what you want when you live in Southern California, but it is nothing that unusual in the mountains and the desert, like in Las vegas yesterday. But the rain in L.A. OMG, that can turn this town upside down.

First people don't remember how to drive in the rain, and shame on me I kind of panicked too. For my defense we were driving in the canyon ;-) "Where are my fu#@%ing windshield wipers !? what should I do !? Should I stop the car !? I can't see anything !!!!!! OMG WE ARE GOING TO DIE ......." I mean come on you gotta panic ... it's THE rain.



So I took advantage of the gorgeous sunset light we had tonight, thanking the universe for being alive after my first Californian winter storm, to snap a few pictures of the snowy mountains from our place. I think that after every day of rain in Los Angeles everybody should be playing and listening to this song for like 24 hours :-))) Great idea no !?



The picture below was sent to us this morning by Jack from Palm Springs. So beautiful!

WELCOME TO FREEZING LAS VEGAS!

When I told you it was freezing in Southern California I was not kidding. A rare winter storm in the desert left inches of snow on the palm trees of the Las Vegas Strip ...

"No planes are departing for Las Vegas from anywhere in the U.S. right now," Not such a great news for a city who is already suffering of the bad economy!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY AND MORE CELEBATIONS ...

Today for brunch Donald, Francis, Alek and I went to the Bel Air Hotel to celebrate a double anniversary :-) 8 years ago our friends Donald & Francis met in Los Angeles and 8 years ago we have met Donald for the first time in Los Angeles. Not only they are the most amazing friends and we love them so much but today they are family to us.



The Bel Air hotel is one of those iconic places in L.A. Originally built as office space, it was purchased in 1946 and converted into a very secluded ultra luxurious hotel by Joseph Drown. Since 1992 is owned by the Sultan of Brunei's brother.



While the city's more fashionable hotels may attract the latest box-office heroes, the Bel Air is where people come for a low key moment, something that has almost disappeared elsewhere.



On saturday we went to the restaurant Salade de Provence, a French restaurant (you would have guessed) down the hill from us in West Hollywood. Not that of an important event to remember but when we sat at our table the song "O Toulouse" started to play.

Ok, you have to know that Toulouse is my hometown, and this song (along with the Ave Maria by Maria Callas) were the top 2 songs that my grand father who raised me for many years was listening to when he was painting [Listen to O Toulouse in the second part of the post]. So I did felt nostalgic of this incredible man who inspires me and that I truly miss :-(



A couple of days ago I have decided to book a flight for Paris and Toulouse. I will be traveling to the south of France end of January. The reason is another person that is really important in my life today, her name is Eva my beautiful goddaughter who will turn one year old next month!

She is what we call a survivor, she was born at 6 months and a half and was just as big as my hand!!! She fought hard, and had the amazing support of Celine and Alain her parents who were at the hospital every single day for almost two months to constantly hold her and talk to her. So yes, one year is a pretty important celebration for all of us and I would not miss it for anything in this world :-)



Those photos were taken in Toulouse this summer. I see the all family almost every week on the webcam and she is growing up so fast.

THE DAY THE BIGGEST MOON ROSE AND THE EARTH STOOD STILL

Without the earth we cannot live, but the earth can live without us, that is the general and unfortunately scary realistic idea of the movie The Day The Earth Stood Still.



The subject of humans being just another species on this planet is brilliant because that is what we are even if many of us driven by power, money, greed ... tempt to forget about it. Humans not respecting the earth and their own kind is no science fiction, it is reality and a subject I could not wait to see on the big screen.

Unfortunately we have left the theater extremely disappointed and wondering how and who can ruin an entire movie when you have a great story, good actors and amazing special effects artist!!!?

I think the real and only interesting subject of the movie was under-developed, I mean we've seen it all when it comes to aliens and spaceships landing in Manhattan even THE destruction scene is kind of all in the trailer (and that is one thing I hate). But it is just like in real life, when you have a majority of people doing their best to change things at the end it is on a couple of people to decide for us all and often make the wrong decisions.



Still on the subject of mother earth and its phenomenon, tonight I don't know if you guys have noticed (I didn't until I read it online) but it was the biggest full moon in 15 years as this natural satellite reaches its closest point to our planet. 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter according to NASA. For some it is still the time to go outside and look up, but don't worry if the earth does not stand still before that, the next time this will happen is 2016!

As you can see on the picture we took tonight in Los Angeles it was big and bright. When the moon rose over the Hollywood Hills it seemed like a sun rise.