One Great Day

Yesterday was such a great day! When I list things in my life to be grateful for, every factor of my day yesterday will be included. My two wonderful friends took me to Empress Pavillion in Los Angeles for dim sum brunch, followed by a trip to FIDM to see the exhibition of costumes from about a dozen movies made in 2007.

I'd never been to a restaurant that specializes in dim sum like the Empress Pavillion and was it an adventure. Bear with me if you already know the drill - huge room, at least one hundred tables, servers and bus boys dashing everywhere, and, best of all, the dim sum women and their carts trundling around, dispensing the goodies. It took us a bit to get the hang of it, but we soon discovered that if we wanted the attention of the cart-bearer, we had best raise our hands and wave for all we were worth, because she who hesitates is lost in obtaining the best dim sum. We learned our favorites of the day and, personally, I feel ready to return soon to get the best again, and try some new dish.

Then we inched our way throught the traffic for the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rat parade for a very long time to get a few blocks over to FIDM for the costumes. We stopped for coffee and since it was warm and gorgeous in Los Angeles, we sat out in the little park at FIDM while I opened my birthday gifts. My friends are women of amazing generosity and taste, so I received wonderful things from Linda including earrings and special soap from Kauai and this:

Doesn't everybody need a peeler with a monkey handle?

And

Handmade by Mary.

Am I not one of the luckiest people in the world?

The costumes at FIDM were fascinating, though we agreed, not quite as intriguing as in years past. One again, the favorites included the things that had the most texture, a couple of pieces from The Golden Compass, the wicked queen costume from Enchanted, and an amazing and understated black dress from La Vie En Rose. There was a dress from 3:10 To Yuma that could be overlooked due to the dull and faded colors, but it was a masterpiece of detail.

All in all, a beautiful winter day in Southern California, good food, and good friends. I have so much to be grateful for.