THE PERKS

While the town is new to me again....I'm not a newbie to Los Angeles. That means -- I'm lucky enough to have family and lots of (old, but not forgotten) friends here. That also means, I have a lot of re-acquainting to do with some of those old friends. But, the bottom line is...I'm not alone. And, THAT is a good thing.

When I first moved to NYC...I WAS alone. Well A.L. was there--barely. But, he lived in Queens. I had to get used to the city, find an apartment and basically, I was all alone in the beginning.

It's a different situation now. And...while I'm being pulled in every direction imaginable --between hanging with the fam and meeting up with friends here in LA -- I am certainly going to take advantage of every great opportunity that comes my way.

Which....brings me to yesterday's fun event! The Daytime Emmy Awards. A last minute invite...my good friend B.W. got the tickets and invited me! ME!!!! Do you honestly think I would say no to that? And, what a fun thing to do to re-acquaint myself with Tinsletown...LITERALLY, behind the scenes!

Now...maybe B.F. should have been the one to go. She IS the soap queen...but I must say, I did recognize a lot of faces, thanks to my soap-watching days back when I was working overnights in NYC. (aaah....it seems like so long ago). Anyway, my first awards show and I had a blast. Big star names: Ellen, Rachel Ray, Tyra Banks and Vanessa Williams. I have a little mini-crush on Brandon Barash from GH. And, why did soap god Cameron Matheson say hi to B.W.? She says she doesn't know him...but, it sure looked like he knew her!

2 points of interest or weirdness: Valet parking pulled up a bike-- a little TOO eco-friendly? And, one of the soap stars was wearing a stuffed cat as a purse--a joke or something more sinister? Where is PETA when you need them?!

B.W. and I ended up getting sushi after the show. While I did find great sushi in the big Apple, there is nothing and I mean, NOTHING better than sushi in Cali. Apparently (and, I don't know this first-hand yet), downtown LA is THE up-and-coming new hotspot in town. Really????? What about all the bums? What about the sketchy, empty streets? And, there's a Standard Hotel in downtown now? When did this all happen?

We ended up at Takami on the 21st floor of some building http://www.takamisushi.com/index.html.

The view was incredible and the sushi was even better. Talk about melt-in-your-mouth sushi. The manager was uber friendly (Philly native) and he said there's a hot new lounge right above the restaurant. Great view, amazing food, good service and a lounge, to boot! Thumbs up on my end!

Ok...I've rambled enough. Time to turn in.

And, here's me at the Emmys!