I am going to confess that I am no blogging expert. Sure, I have been blogging longer than most of you have been able to legally imbibe, but I am no expert. When I moved to the Blogger platform, I thought it would be a temporary stop on the information super highway and that I would be building my big, beautiful WordPress masterpiece within months. A little over a year later I am still here. Since I thought it was temporary I never really investigated the ‘stats’ option.  I don’t really care, I don’t monetize this blog so as long as I get comments I am a happy camper.  I have peeked under the hood (so to speak) a few times, mainly at the ‘key word search’ because I like to know how people find my blog.  The few times I have, the search words have always amused me and I have thought to myself I should take a screen shot.  I am a professional level procrastinator so that hadn’t happened, but today I did. For the record, the last search word combo, I have never had on my blog, although, I am a fan of babies-huge fan.  I often wonder if the people looking for these search words are disappointed when they finally arrive?  It’s one of the reasons I stopped doing my Cute Monday’s, because I didn’t want to lead anyone on that this was a mecca for cute; when it was really only a mecca on Monday’s.  I also didn’t love that I couldn’t find the source of the cute any longer, it made me feel guilty and I have enough guilt being born Roman Catholic and married to a Jew, it’s like guilt on steroids here already.  Speaking of guilt, I can dole it out as much as I can stew in it and I can not take it when people unfollow my blog, it ruins my day/night/month/life, if you follow it you know what it’s about and when you unfollow I lose my mind (and my self-esteem). So, please don’t follow me unless you are sure you like me, because I have a whole highschool thing I thought I got over, but the blogosphere has brought it out of me again, sigh. Does anyone else feel the same way or am I the sole neurotic on the web?

There was a movie made many years back called the ‘Slums of Beverly Hills’, I don’t really remember it but there actually is an area that exists in Beverly Hills that offers you the luxury of a Beverly Hills zipcode without being an heiress. It’s not pretty, it’s run down and has a lot of very bad boxy architecture and it’s all apartments that practically touch. I suppose it would be considered cool now. It’s a version of mid-century modern but created in the 70’s, so maybe not so cool.  What could be worse than the Slums of Beverly Hills?  Well, I am glad you asked.  That would be my ‘hood, The Slums of Beverly Hills adjacent.  I’m an alley away from a Beverly Hills zipcode and the world never seems to let me forget. We once called a cab which had a flat rate to the airport from Beverly Hills for $40, we got to the airport and paid $70.  Why?  We didn’t meet the cab driver in the alley.  Live and learn. I went  on my search for iconic images today in my neighborhood, sure there were palm trees, bougainvillea and swimming pools, but everything was down and out (in Beverly Hills).  It seems the zipcode my neighbors so covet make it difficult to maintain your property. The palm trees were anemic, the bougainvillea brown and swimming pools flat, sunshine-free, shadowed by a building so close that you could have a conversation with your neighbor in the next building from your shower. It was a little depressing and amusing. There’s cute original Spanish bungalows next to McMansions.  Oh, poor Slums of Beverly Hills,  you try so hard, but just miss the mark, maybe they should have just stayed on my side of Beverly Hills (adjacent) and called it day.

Yesterday, around 6 p.m. I walked out my studio door on a mission to get some of those L.A. iconic images I mentioned I wanted-palm trees, sunshine yellow lemons against bright blue skies, bougainvillea, etc, etc. I had places in mind but when I got there I wasn’t feeling it. That happens, you bring out your camera with the best of intentions and you just don’t ‘feel’ it.  I drove by the Beverly Hills City Hall and parked. I wanted to get a photo of their beautiful exterior, but all my shots were horrendous.  As I was about to give up and go home, I decided to walk around the corner and was so glad I did. I saw rows and rows of lavender in full bloom, fountains standing sentimental at the front door, the water making that magical sound that always makes me want to go to the loo. The light had the perfect golden glow.  I shot with a lens that I bought at a garage sale last summer for a few bucks.  It was a little soft, but a nice wide angle and the bokeh was unreal.  I wondered why I didn’t play with it sooner. I think I will more often.

 

I have given myself a little photography assignment these last days left here in the City of Angels. The assignment should work out well since Souvenir Foto School has just started. I’m having a blast with class, I always do, it’s the most ambitious session to date, our last chapter update to the virtual textbook brought our page count to 50 pages and we are only on week two!  Michelle P. my co-professor and myself gave ourselves a crash course in InDesign, before class started. You will never know how motivated you are until you decide to learn an Adobe program in 8 hours.  My self-imposed assignment is to take photographs of people and places I don’t want to forget in Los Angeles. Yes, the ocean will be on my list, Malibu of course. I want a few iconic palm tree lined street shots, I think that will call for a trip to Beverly Hills. While I am there, the City Hall building is quite stunning. There’s fuchsia bougainvillea spilling on to white stucco and lemon trees against bright blue skies to be captured . We haven’t even left and I am starting to feel all blubbery and nostalgic.  On the flip side my husband and I were looking at kayak and canoe rentals since there’s a lake about 20 minutes away from where we are looking to move (our temporary place until we find a house). I have never once taken a kayak out in Los Angeles, so I’m trying to keep focusing on all the upsides and that seems like a pretty good one. Do any of you live close enough to a lake to go kayaking or canoeing? Should I be afraid of leeches? I am already worried sick about mosquitoes!

I just added some more items to the sale and thought I would highlight these vintage shipping tags.  I bought a few boxes of them when an old timey stationery store in my neighborhood was closing. I never see them with the string attached and they are in near mint condition for being so old. It was one of those happy dance days. Well, now we are moving and I can’t have this many boxes of just tags taking up room on the moving truck so I am selling some of them! They are approx. 4.75″ x 2.38″  Hop on over to the sale to see more!