#15: The Standard Hotel Rooftop Bar

There really is nothing quite as lovely as a relaxing, laid-back lunch on a rooftop amidst skyscrapers, am I right? Unfortunately, the premiere rooftop bar experience in downtown LA, the Standard Hotel, is a big fan of throwing fussy, douchey parties almost every weekend. Due to this little obstacle, I had pretty much given up hope of ever enjoying myself there.

It took us some time (three attempts to be exact), but my friend Barbara and I finally realized that in order to have our perfect, relaxing lunch, (and to avoid fedora-wearing downtown posers) we'd have to go on an off-weekend. Like a really off-weekend. And we couldn't have picked a better time to go than this last Sunday. It had rained all day Saturday, the weather was predicted to barely reach 60 degrees, and it was, after all, January.

By the time we made our way into downtown at lunchtime, the sun was shining and the temp was in the high 60's. Already better than what we expected. To our delight, when we got up to the rooftop bar, there were a total of four people on the entire roof - three patrons drinking mimosas, and one bartender. We had our pick of seats, and laid back on the sofa/chair/beds that serve as the seating, and just took in the amazing skyline views.

It was a little chilly, but we sat right next to a heat lamp, which dramatically improved the experience. The lunch menu was pretty limited, with only about 6 items that were barely more than finger food. I got pork sliders (delicious) and Barb got a grilled cheese sandwich. As we were finishing lunch, the sun came out from behind the buildings, and all of a sudden it felt like a summer day.

We walked around the perimeter of the roof and took pictures of all the views. One part of the restaurant has turned into a "bier garten," which was empty at the time but looked very charming. On the back side of the bar is the semi-famous pool. I know the rooftop bar and pool have been in several movies, most memorable for me in Get Him to the Greek, where Russell Brand jumps from the roof of the bar into the pool and has his life-changing epiphany.

The best part about this whole experience was that we had the place to ourselves. We weren't cramped, sitting on a corner of a cushion that occupied 10 other people. I am pretty sure this was a very atypical experience, but I am glad that we finally planned it right. I certainly wouldn't want to go back and stand four fedoras deep, trying to order a watered-down and ridiculously expensive cocktail, but not much can beat lunch on a sunny, uncrowded day!

The rooftop lounge - completely empty!

The pool, deserted.

A great shot of the US Bank Tower, the tallest building in Los Angeles.

The signature upside-down sign out front.

Part of the downtown skyline - the US Bank Tower, the central library, the AT&T building and cell tower, and the historic Biltmore Hotel.

#18: The Rose Float Parade

When I was in Girl Scouts as a kid, we used to volunteer to help with the floats for the Rose Parade every year. For years, all we were allowed to do - since we were so young - was help sort flowers. Nothing glamorous. But the last year I participated, I think I was about 12 years old, I hit what I thought was going to be the jackpot. They were going to let me decorate part of the actual float!

So they handed me a board, and a big bowl of white rice and a bowl of black olive seeds (I think) and told me to make a license plate. Nine hours later, I was almost finished. I couldn't even feel my fingers they were so cramped, my back was sore from hunching over the table, and I honestly couldn't stand the sight of rice for weeks. But it was all going to be worth it, because I was going to see my work on national TV during the Rose Parade!

Yeah... no. Of course the cameras spent about 45 seconds examining the vibrant flowers and the people waving on the float, and didn't once pass over my masterpiece of a license plate. At that moment, I was done, DONE, with the Rose Float Parade forever.

That was, until, I moved to LA 10 years later and met a few native Pasadenos (residents of the great city of Pasadena) who live and breath the Tournament of the Roses. This event is their chance to show the country, and even the entire world, how awesome they are. Over time I decided that, though I would never, ever volunteer to decorate again, it might be worth it to trek down to Pasadena to watch the parade in person on New Year's Day.

To watch the parade, I found that you have a few options. You can camp out on Colorado Blvd. starting at noon the day before the parade, and get a front row view of all the action on New Year's Day. Now, I do many things, but camping is unfortunately not one of them. Especially not on sidewalks... that's called being homeless.

The other option is to buy tickets to sit in the "grandstand" - one of the large bleacher structures that they build all along the 5-mile parade route. I looked into it early in the year, and found that a grandstand seat at their cheapest start at around $40 a piece (and get more expensive as the year goes on). It seemed like a viable enough option, until my main Pasadeno Michael told me that they give you about 8 inches of butt-room, you have to get there at like 5am, and the bleacher is as cold as ice (and about as comfortable). I was beginning to second-guess the decision, based on the pure hassle of it all. Not to mention, over 1 million people go to watch the parade, and we all know how I feel about large crowds and having to wait forever. But luckily, I have friends that are in-the-know, and Michael told me a little-known secret.

The night before the parade, all of the floats line up in order along Orange Grove Blvd, as the float designers make last minute adjustments and prepare for the judging. There are huge lights above every float, to the point where it's almost as bright as day. My friend lived just a block away from all the action, and after he explained how easy and fun it was, I was excited to check out this low-key, low-effort version of the Rose Float Parade. Unfortunately, he moved to Chicago last summer so I didn't get to hang out at his house while waiting for the floats to line up!

The Tournament of the Roses has a quirky rule that the parade and football game never take place on a Sunday. Trivia: it's because when the parade first started in the late 1800's, they didn't want the horse-drawn floats to spook other horses that were standing outside of churches. No joke. Since 2012's New Year's Day was on a Sunday, we went up to Pasadena on Monday the 1st instead. Ronny and I had a late dinner, then walked around amidst all the campers on the sidewalks to kill time before 11pm, when the floats started lining up.

The first thing I noticed is that the majesty and grandeur of the floats does NOT translate at all on TV. It doesn't even translate in these pictures and I was standing 5 feet away. It is absolutely awe-inspriring to see the magnitude of these floats, to see each individual petal amongst the thousands of flowers. Each float takes an average of 80,000 man-hours (all volunteer) to complete, and cost up to half a million dollars. There were a total of 47 floats this year, with entrants from corporations, cities, universities and charitable organizations. A great part about seeing them the night before is that each float is "escorted" by a handful of the volunteers that worked on the float, many of whom are a part of the organization behind the float. You can ask them questions about what materials were used, how long something took, its significance, etc. Luckily Ronny found a really cute corgi to go play with while I asked a ridiculous amount of questions.

I absolutely loved the whole experience, and am so glad Michael educated me on it. I would have never known otherwise! I really hope I get to do this again, even though I still have no interest in going to the actual parade. Oh, and the best perk of all, going to this is completely FREE! All we paid was for parking, which was a fraction of what it would have cost us the next morning to see the parade.

It's lamentable, again, that my camera was still broken at the time (I have since replaced my old point-and-shoot with a Nikon D5000 SLR) so I again apologize for these pictures being pretty low quality. I'm sure you can google Rose Parade 2012 and get awesome profesh pictures.

People like me forget that there is actually a football game involved with the Rose Parade. Traditionally, each university playing in the Rose Bowl submits a float, and its marching band and cheerleaders march with it in the parade. Here's the University of Wisconsin...

... and the University of Oregon (the eventual winners of the game)

A breathtaking dragon made from yellow mums from Air China's "Spirit of Prosperity and Harmony" float, which celebrated 2012 being the year of the Dragon. I believe this one ended up winning the top trophy.

This one was called "Shining Knights Still Exist" from Odd Fellows and Rebekahs

Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer! The wheels on the wagon actually turned as the float moved.

This one is from the Aids Health Fund, titled "Our Champion." It featured three floral portraits of Elizabeth Taylor, the charity's founder, in different stages of her long career. The portraits were made using nine different shades of seeds. They were truly stunning in person.

Dole's "Preserving Paradise" float was an ode to the beauty of Thailand. Remember, this entire thing is made up of organic plant materials. Unbelievable.

A very awesome rainbow, I don't remember which float

My company, Paramount, had an entrant this year to celebrate its 100th Anniversary in 2012. It was called "100 Years of Movie Magic" and featured the Grease Lightening car, Forrest Gump's bench, the plane from Wings (the first Paramount release), Bumblebee from Transformers, the Star Trek ship Enterprise, over 4,000 red roses to make up the "red carpet," and the famous Bronson gate that I drive through every morning on my way into work. Pretty cool!!

20-foot tall floral Bumblebee

Me and Ronny in front of the Paramount float. We wanted to take a picture in front of the Cal Poly float, but for some reason it was dark where CP's float was lined up.

2011: Thank You

Well 2011 is over and I successfully completed 34 things on my list. I'm not beating myself up about not completing all 40 - I did, after all, spend one weekend a month out of town, took a two-week tour of the Midwest this summer, let alone weekly movies (I ended up seeing exactly 52 movies this year... craziness) and overall led a busy, crazy, hectic wonderful life. I am pretty proud of myself, because I did about 33 more things than I probably would have done without the list.

I decided to add a few more things that I discovered over the last year and knew that I wanted to explore and blog about. I can't wait to write about those journeys as they come! But in the meantime, I would like to take a second and thank absolutely everyone that helped/participated in all the activities in 2011.

First to my BF Ronny: You are SUCH an amazing good sport. I dragged you to museums you had little interest in, made you eat Pink's hot dogs (ew) and wait for HOURS at the price is right, and connived you into hiking on Saturday mornings instead of sleeping. Of the 34 items completed, you were a participant or absolutely essential (hello, Dodgers tickets!) in a whopping TWENTY of them. But through it all, we got to participate in a Magic Castle show together (I won't tell the magician's secrets if you don't!), saw full dinosaur skeletons, and discovered the jewel that is Philippe's. THANK YOU for being so indulgent and supportive and for being so essential in helping me along my goal :)

Barbara - You are always game for anything, especially a CRAZY day in August that started with the Hollywood Museum, continued with the Griffith Observatory, and ended with the movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I can't believe I convinced you to do it all! Also, the burlesque show, the UCLA football game and the Huntington Gardens wouldn't have happened without you!! Thank you so much for being such a big part of my list (and my life!) in 2011.

Regina and Kaio -One of my most favorite couples, thank you for embarking on the promising yet disappointing journey of Restaurant Row with me. Most restaurants weren't that great, but luckily we didn't get any food poisoning! Kaio - thank you for introducing me to the magic that is Black Version and the Groundlings, and Reg - thank you for your enthusiasm for the Hollywood museum, it felt good to have someone to nerd out with :)

Meaghan - It may annoy me in the present, but I DO have to thank you for your photo-craziness and insisting on all the pictures from the Richard Simmons class. I haven't seen my facebook blow up that fast EVER as the night I posted those pics! You also looked HOT at the Magic Castle and I have never seen someone so enthusiastic for The Little Mermaid! We have to go back to the El Cap for The Lady and the Tramp in February! :)

Tracy - Obvi I have to thank you for your amazing Playboy hookup (that post remains my most-read post on the entire site!) That was such a treat and something that would have been impossible without you. And of course, thank you also for accompanying me to drag queen bingo! We should go again soon.. maybe you will win something fab this time! Oh.. and I almost forgot! YOU were the one that volunteered me for the magic castle show!

Marsha - Thank you for not diva-ing out on that completely sketchy dim sum place in Chinatown! I definitely would have freaked out if you had freaked out. I also absolutely loved going on the horseback ride with you and Nicole. Going with anyone else wouldn't have been the same!

Joey and Josh - for lending me your pups to help tug me up all the hikes. Seriously, Archie got me through the last stretch of the Hollywood sign hike when I thought I wouldn't make it. And for coming out for the Real Housewives UCB show, and the movie at the cemetery (thanks for the great quote Josh!) and for overall being fabulous Angelenos.

Betsy and Caro - for helping me check off the FIRST thing from my list at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The flight line was a totally life-memory and that little baby elephant was TOO MUCH!

Jannine - my roommate who gets to hear my manic recaps of every single thing I do (lucky her!!) Thank you for educating me on Runyon, UCB, everything Lakers, and for coming to the Magic Castle and the cemetery movie! Oh and Gyu-Kaku on restaurant row.. They have happy hours every day now, we have to go back!

Sona - for being up for the craziness that is the ART WALK and for being my downtown Guru. I know you're in med school but we need to see each other more!!

And Joli, my new LA protege, who on a moment's notice (literally about 20 minutes) came all the way out to downtown with me to see the amazing LA Philharmonic at the Disney Concert Hall. Thank you for your adventurous spirit and I promise to take you on more adventures this year (and maybe you'll show me some on the Westside!)

I really hope I didn't forget anyone. You are all MVPs and I can guarantee I wouldn't have done any of these things, experienced all these memories, if you hadn't participated with me! Making this list was pretty life-changing for me, and I can't begin to thank you all for helping me along the way.

Here's to an amazing (and active!) 2012!!

XOXO,

Susan