ADSLA Volunteer Appreciation Night

5209 Wilshire Blvd.

It's nice being appreciated.  Tonight, the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles did just that for its regular volunteers.  They held a cocktail party and shindig at the Deco Building on Miracle Mile in LA.

Brian and I got a sitter and headed out for a night of fun.  As usual, the crowd was divine.  We were able to socialize with many of our good friends from the ADSLA.  Like-minded folks who hold the years between the World Wars with great esteem, and so many of them looked amazing.  There really is no other word for it.

This is the front reception desk--cool, eh?

The event itself was wonderfully intimate.  At its most crowded, there were probably only about fifty people.  There was never a long wait for either the bar or for the food, it was perfect.

The building itself is wonderfully Deco.  The current owners have put a lot of work into restoring it.

Check out the deco details!

Even the lighting features the zigzag

Brian and I closed the night at the table

Oh, and the party also had a blackjack table!  How great is that!  We were playing for Tootsie Pops.  I managed to come home with two, Brian outdid me--he won three or four.

To reward the volunteers, there was an opportunity drawing.  We received a ticket for each event we volunteered for.  I put most of my tickets in the pot for the free Household Membership (2 people)--and we won!  Sure, we would have renewed anyway, but this way it's free!

The table just beyond this grate is made from an airplane wing--it was gorgeous!

As the building was a former bank, it came with the old bank doors

Hit me!

Overall, we had a terrific time and were definitely looking forward to volunteering more so as to be able to attend the next one.

Yours truly, en route

Oh!  And as we were leaving, the DJ for the night (there was period perfect tunes playing in the background) approached us with a CD of the evening's music!  Drinks, treats, gambling, and music!?  Who could ask for more!?

Brian is ready to go

a smattering of updates

Video blog update has been made!  Find it here.

This is the pattern I am basing my ball dress on.

My life in the last week has been focused on sewing, sewing, and more sewing.  And all for the same damned "easy" garment.  Deciding that I would rather sew than buy this year's ball dress, I've been busy stitching up the thing whenever I can.  See?  That's the key--whenever I can.  This whole mom of an infant business has been limiting my time in front of the Bernina to maybe an hour or two a day.  Plus this past weekend we were out of the house due to multiple obligations.  I had hoped to be able to sew a couple of outfits.  Now I'll be lucky to finish one!

I am, of course, quite disappointed to be faced with so few garment options for this year's Queen Mary Art Deco Festival, but that is just the reality of a postpartum body.  Most of the pieces in my closet do not fit at the moment.  With the help of some foundation garments, I can barely fit into a couple of dresses that were on the larger side.  That will have to do.

(Oh, how I wish that What Katie Did's Hollywood location were opening a few days earlier.  Alas, but I will be there when then do open next week!)

At any rate, I'll be enjoying myself this weekend whether or not I'm in the most wonderful Deco-era clothes or not.  I must remember that my friends are not going to be judging me upon each and every ensemble I throw together.  

Declan will be spend two days with his auntie while we are "away."  I'm equally excited and nervous.  Excited that he'll be able to spend time with family, nervous that I'm going to miss him like mad.  I know that I need to spend some time away from him.  Recharge my batteries and all that.  But he is such the focus of my everyday that I know I will constantly wonder what he is doing.  Thank heavens for technology, I will be able to ask for photos and updates via text.

Grown-up Time Recap

Last night was wonderful.  Absolutely magnificent.

In my last blog post, I mentioned that Brian and I were going to an event at the downtown Los Angeles Coca Cola building.  I had lamented my postpartum body and blathered on about the struggle to find a good outfit for the occasion.  Thankfully, all of the negativity that I had was washed away by the time spent with good friends.

I did manage to squeeze into the red knit dress and not look a total mess.  I would like to think that I captured the spirit and joie de viv of a heavy Elizabeth Taylor.  At least, that’s what I continually told myself so as to not frump over into a completely lackluster posture.

The tour and Coca Cola building was nice.  While not truly awesome, it was a lovely time for the right people (ADSLA members only) and the right price (FREE).  Plus, yours truly was one of the fortunate.  I won a gigantic plush polar bear in the raffle.

Post Coca Cola event, friends Tricia and Paul agreed to join Brian and myself for dinner.  Our first two attempt to find the right place to dine were bust.  Wurstkuche was beyond crowded, Cafe Metropol was closed.  Paul suggested a supper club, First and Hope, and thanks to Open Table integration with Yelp, we were able to make immediate reservations for four.

The supper club was gorgeous and proved to be a perfect location for four friends to drink, dine, and chat as we certainly enjoyed all three.  As for the drinks, Tricia ordered a glass of Skylark wine, Brian settled on a Manhattan, and I indulged in a 20th Century--my first time enjoying this particular drink.  It will certainly not be my last, it was quite tasty and should definitely be a future Cocktail of the Week!

Dinner was divine.  I had such a lovely time chatting with Paul and Tricia.  I do wish that we weren’t quite so geographically distant as, selfishly, I’d love to be able to see them more often.  We talked and laughed (often) about a multitude of subjects--to many to note.  It was tough to finally say, “goodnight,” but as all had babysitters to rescue we did have to call it a night near nine o’clock.

Reflecting now upon the evening, I cannot help but desire to spend future evenings in a similar fashion--a small group of friends simply enjoying each others company.  Big gathering as grand, but there is something truly special about a couple of friends, a couple of drinks, and witty conversation.  

Grown-up Time

Tonight, the fella and I are going out just the two of us.  We were able to convince the teenager to watch the baby.  I'm confident that she'll do just fine, but her occasional anxiety when Declan cries in the car has me mentally preparing for the possibility of calling it an early night.  Declan is MUCH improved from where he was when first diagnosed with GERD, but he can kick up a real good fuss every once in a while.

The event that Brian and I are attending is a special tour and event at the Los Angeles Coca Cola building. As the building is not open to the public, I'm pretty stoked.  Plus, I thought that it would be a gas to dress in Coca Cola red.  I have only two red articles of clothing.  One is a cotton day dress with delicate floral print all over it.  As seen here:

Great summer dress, but not very fancy

The other option is a gorgeous red knit dress from the 1950s.  But yeah, knit.  In summer.  At least it's a cotton knit, but still.  Not to mention that my postpartum body is not at all attractive in a clingy knit number.

So, on Friday I decided to do some quick shopping to find a suitable skirt or dress.  The two + hours that I spent that afternoon would have been much more enjoyable had I instead stayed home and drilled random holes into my skull.  It was that bad.  I knew that finding a good red would be difficult, but I failed to account for the ego-crushing feelings associated with finding the perfect item, in what is normally my size AND what is normally a couple of sizes too large, but not being able to fit my ample a** into any of them.  Ouch.

I've decided, as Brian will be wearing his white linen suit, to attempt to squeeze into enough foundation garments to make my figure not too horrifying for the red knit dress.  Failing that, I'll wear the cotton summer shirtdress.  

Now, who's going to take bets to see just how quickly this evening out comes to a screeching halt?  I do hope that we're at least able to enjoy all of the tour.