Goodbye 2007!

It was a good year. Is it possible to top it? Looking back....

- Filled our house with friends & family we love.
- Paid off my student loans.
- Played Beck's Timebomb so loudly & often my ears hurt.
- Turned the big 3-0.
- Saw my brother play Carnegie Hall.
- Made red velvet cupcakes for the first time.
- Acquired my first Prada party dress (for the Golden Globes!)
- Celebrated the Angels clinching the series with the team.
- Spent a week working for E! News. Check it out
- Played the best game of "I Never" (at Friday's party!)
- Competed in a "drag" race & beat a drag queen! Watch the race.
- Met wonderful bloggers & friends & learned so much from all of you.

I'm sure there were bad memories too, but my mind tends to forget the bad stuff. Oh, here's a recent one.

- Saw a coyote nearly eat my cat Audrey, but we scared it away. Thank goodness.

Can't wait for 2008!
The image up top is from Shag's "LA By Night" show. It's titled "The Assassin"

Where the birdies sing & the flowers bloom

Let's all sing like the birdies sing... tweet, tweet tweet... tweet tweet!

Or the more familiar... In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room!

The Enchanted Tiki Room put me under a spell when I was a child. I loved the carved Tiki Gods grunting at me as the rain poured down the walls during the grand finale featuring a thunderstorm. It's a scene that thrilled and vaguely scared me. The best feeling for a kid!

I was mesmerised when the bird chandelier dropped from the ceiling and the birds took cues from the parrot host named Jose. He was like a feathered Ricky Ricardo.

Perhaps that's why today, I love kitchy Tiki things & lots of art which falls under the label "Underground," or "Lowbrow."
On a side note, surely they jest when they call it Lowbrow, because some of the artists command prices that some rich folks would choke at.

Artists like Shag make me smile with memories of the Tiki Room. I learned he has created art for Disneyland. I wonder if he was transfixed by the show as a kid? Did he eat the frosty Dole Pineapple Whip that I can't seem to find anywhere else but at the Tiki Room entrance? Hands-down best dessert ever.

My Tiki obsession spread like a virus into other parts of my life... like music. I love lounge music. I love to listen to the wacky couple at the Dresden, songs by Esquivel. Someone make me a drink with a big umbrella in it. Scratch that. Take me for cocktails at Tiki Ti's, and then the Good Luck Bar. As Esquivel would say... Groovy!

Goodness me, I just found the coolest Shag print.. maybe it's a postcard. It has the flowers that talk, and even an appearance by Jose! Click on the photographs for the official website & song. Click on Shag's print for his website.