My Beverly Hills Weekend
So, with all of the craziness at our works lately, Boyfriend and I decided it was time to get out of dodge for the weekend. I have been whining about wanting to see the play Wicked for months and since we only had a weekend, it was off to LA for us! I let K make the arrangements as he always finds cool places to stay (The Avalon in Portland and the City Inn in Denver). He booked us at the Avalon in Beverly Hills, a boutique hotel.So, Friday night we dropped the dogs off with my parents and bombed up to the hills. The hotel was very cool, if not a little snooty. The rooms were very modern. K fell in love there… with the comforter. Really, what happens in the bed when I am not there is really none of my business, lol! We were up early on Saturday with room service for breakfast, a quick card game and then the masseuses arrived. K had arranged for 90 minute deep tissue massages in our room! The massage was amazing! After the massage, it was off to the Pantages theatre to see Wicked! I listened to the audio book while walking over the last several months and loved it. It was really a great story. But, the play was AMAZING! The cast was great and the set and special effects were outstanding. The only issue I had was that the lines were sooooo long for the bathrooms that I didn’t get to go during intermission and was ready for the play to end about 45 minutes before it did.
After the play we made our way over to Venice Beach for our favorite italian resturant, C&O Trattoria. The food is great and the atmosphere is pure chaos. There is no where else like it. Chianti on the honor system, huge portions, and singing waiters and waitresses- now that’s amore! They have these garlic balls that are pure evil, I could have had a whole meal of just thoses- oh wait, I did. And, yes I did have to stop for Rolaids on the way back to the hotel.
Then, we were up early again this morning to run out to Woodland Hills for a trapeze class for me at Richie Gaona’s Flying Trapeze School. The class was a much different vibe than Trapeze High, there were a lot of professional performers and that seemed to cultivate a hard working environment. It was great to try out a different rig and get critiqued by someone new. I was still working on my backend split and caught it twice! I even tried to return to the bar, but not successfully.
As always, I had a great time. And, Richie convinced me to try a layout for the first time as the last trick of the day. Wanna know how it went? Take a look at the video below:
The weekend finished up with a walk around Venice Beach and dinner at NatRaj in Mission Viejo. The traffic was light getting home and our puppies were thrilled to see us. I am beat!
Here are a couple more pics that K took:
It was a good day despite the weather. It was over 90 out there and there is not a lot of shade. It was also really dry which really tightens the net and I was bouncing all over the place. There was a catcher at class, Darren. So, I decided to throw a two position split at him, unfortunately I hadn’t practiced them for a while. My first attempt was good, but I wasn’t reaching for him and was moving my arms to my sides so that catch failed. My second attempt was interesting. Somehow I managed to get one arm caught, but not the other. Darren had me by one arm and was able to safely send me to the net. 
Sunday, was even hotter than Saturday was. And, honestly, my hands were a little worse for wear. I did a few swings, then decided I wanted to try a backend split. It’s very similar to the two position split I had been woking on, but requiring a better swing and getting into the position at the back of the swing. I tried 3 times before I was successful. I was so excited on the last one that I didn’t even notice that my hands were starting to resemble hamburger meat. Actually, Heathen wins the prettiest hands competition today. Her rips had rips and they were all bloody. As she said, “she put the gore in gorgeous” today! 
And, Sunday’s class was extra kung-fu special cause my awesome boyfriend came out to brave the heat and took a BUNCH of photos! Big Love and thanx Baby!