The trees are blooming outside the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.

Sometimes you *can* find beauty in LA…

I used to get soooo excited about the Academy Awards. Like, make-sure-I’ve-seen-every-movie, camp on the couch flipping between Oscar Arrival broadcasts, predict the winners kind of excited. I would stalk the movies and the celebrities for weeks and once I even tried to throw an Oscar party complete with ballots and prizes, which, of course, was a bust.

Now that I’ve moved to Hollywood and right around the corner from the famous [URL=http://www.kodaktheatre.com/profile.htm]Kodak Theatre[/url], I have a whole new relationship with Oscar Sunday. Oscar Sunday now means major weekend traffic!

Hollywood just stops.

Here is my very paltry photo diary of Oscar Sunday as I now see it…

This is not to say that I did not watch them. Oh no! I sat and watched the whole 3 hours and 50 minutes worth and I must say that this was the worst Oscar Telecast I’ve ever seen. The speeches were not just a little, but a lot boring (with the two exceptions of Ari Sandel who won for his short film [URL=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0438575/]West Bank Story[/url] and Forest Whitaker), the live performances were a little thrown together and the crowd seemed less than entertained. I did really like Ellen Degeneres, though.

And this year, I can’t even remember the dresses.

Ok, so I’m not really an ex-actress, but I’m not really a current-actress either. So I call myself a resting actress…

Since I am a member of SAG (aka:Screen Actor’s Guild), I get to vote for the SAG Awards. Yes, my dear ones, I get to have a say in which celebrities get an award this season. I already voted, actually, but one of the coolest things about continually paying my union dues despite having no screen actor work is that at this time of year I get free stuff.

Last year I thought I did really well when I got invited to free screenings and was thrilled when the movie [URL=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/]Crash[/url] arrived on DVD. This year was even better! I got 3 movies on DVD and free tickets to see current movies at my leisure.

On DVD:
[URL=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489327/][/url] [URL=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449059/][/url] [URL=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407887/][/url]

And a free ticket to:
[URL=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443489/][/url] [URL=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449467/][/url]

Rad!

*click on the movies for more information

Many Sundays I drive up Fairfax Avenue and notice the big flea market right at the corner of Melrose Avenue. Every time I see it I resolve to go the next weekend…and then I forget until I drive by on my way somewhere else.

But today I remembered. I typed it into Google and found out the details. Not only is it considered the best flea market/swap meet in LA, but it was developed for a good cause. Co-created by Fairfax High School and GREENWAY Arts Alliance, The Melrose Trading Post has been benefiting the school’s arts and leisure programs for 8 years! [URL=http://www.greenwayarts.org/tradingpost.htm]Click here for more info…[/url] It only costs $2 to get in ($1 for students) and the big parking lot is filled with goodies. Now I’m definitely going! And you should to…

*(too bad many of you faithful readers don’t live in LA)

1) You stand in line for the bathroom for a good 5 minutes before realizing the door is slightly ajar and nobody is inside.

2) You take a picture of your drinks from your camera phone and send it to youself on e-mail ’cause you think it looks “so pretty”.