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Always Packed for Adventure!

It's the destination and the journey.

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Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Thirteen

Last week, I wrote about feeling sick, and needing a Covid Test. I was anxiously waiting for the results on Thursday, when I received a call from a very apologetic nurse, who told me that my first test had become contaminated, and that I needed to take the test again. She was very nice, and made a same-day appointment for me at a nearby facility.

Dan had to work, so I drove myself to the second test. I knew it would be unpleasant, but I wasn’t too scared. There was only one car in front of me, and I was tested within ten minutes of arriving. The nurse who tested me, seemed very nice….

And then she jammed the swab up my left nostril, causing so much pain that I immediately burst into tears. My nose started gushing blood, and she gave me a travel pack of Kleenex. I used every single tissue to stop the bleeding. She gave me a second package to-go, and I used most of them before arriving home. My nose was still leaking blood the next day.

I nearly gave up, but I was still concerned about Covid, so I let her finish with the right nostril. It hurt. A lot. She told me that if she doesn’t make people cry, she’s not doing it right. Can anyone verify? The nurse on the first test made me teary, but I wasn’t sobbing. I was crying and shaking the entire way home. It was horrible.

The next morning, the results came back negative.

I was relieved, and I definitely think that given the circumstances, the test was the responsible thing to do. That said, if a similar situation comes up in the future, I’d likely just quarantine for two weeks, and skip the test.

Here’s a few pictures of me: sick and pitiful.

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In sad news, I learned that The Annenberg Space for Photography has fallen victim to Covid 19.

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It couldn’t sustain the economic fall out. This one hit hard, as the Annenberg was one of my favorite art spaces in Los Angeles. It was a true treasure and a loss for the city. The museum always had thought-provoking exhibitions that left you with a new perspective. Here are links to two of my previous reviews of exhibitions at the Annenberg: Generation Wealth and Sink or Swim.

We discovered that we have a nest on the front of our house, below my step-daughter’s bedroom window. I spotted three babies, who seem nearly ready to fly. They are cute, but as soon as they’ve left the nest, we need to figure out a way to make it a less appealing spot for future families. We have bird shit all over our driveway.

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I felt better by the weekend, and we were able to attend a BBQ with the neighbors. Great food and new friends! I felt safe being outside, and I can imagine that this type of party is going to be a frequent activity in the summer months. There is a block party planned for the last Saturday of the month. This is the first time I’ve lived in a neighborhood that has block parties. We’re bringing baked beans and a cake.

We watched The Hunt, a surprisingly funny, and creative horror/suspense movie starring Hilary Swank and Betty Gilpin. I don’t want to give anything away, but it has excellent story structure, and the themes are timely. Gilpin has some great one-liners.

Dan received a gift of Vosges Truffles. They were beautifully presented. The truffles had unique flavors, including curry.

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A less fancy, but not less delicious treat was born, when Dan decided to put brandy butter on cinnamon rolls!

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And some cat pictures. Here is Tom being extra cute with his mice. He likes to hide them in shoes or slippers, even if you happen to be wearing them at the time. He also fetches and on Sunday morning, I threw the pink mouse across the room about fifty times. He wouldn’t have stopped, but my arm was getting sore!

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tags: Covid-19 Nasal Swab, What is the Covid-19 Nasal Test LIke, My Experience with Covid-19 Nasal Test, Does the Covid-19 Test Hurt, Nose Bleed with Covid-19 Test, Injury from Covid-19 Test, Did the Covid-19 Test Make You Cry?, Contaminated Covid-19 Test, Should I Get Tested for Covid-19, Social Distancing in Littleton, Social Distancing in Colorado, June 2020 Colorado, LIfe during Covid-19, Corona Virus Nasal Test, I Had the Corona Virus Test, What is the Covid-19 Test Like, What Does it Feel Like to have a Nasal Swab, Does the Nasal Swab Touch Your Brain, Covid Testing in Colorado, Covid Drive-up Testing Colorado, Negative covid-test, Sick in June 2020, Local Gems The Annenberg Space for Photography, The Annenberg Space for Photography, The Annenberg Space for Photography Sink or Swim, 2020 Business Closures, Economic Vitim of Covid-19, Annenberg Space for Photography Closure, Annenberg Space for Photography Century City, Baby Birds Nest Colorado, First BBQ of 2020, Vosges Truffles, The Hunt Movie, Plot of The Hunt 2020, Hilary Swank The Hunt, Betty Gilpin The Hunt, Cinnamon Rolls with Brandy Butter, Cute Pictures of Cats, Cats with Toy Mice, Thirteenth Week of Social Distancing, Social Distancing at BBQ, Sterling Ranch Colorado, Sterling Ranch Block Party
categories: Eat, Life, Visit, Watch
Thursday 06.18.20
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
 

Bonaventure Hotel- October 2018

In October 2018, I was able to join Dan on his work trip to Los Angeles. This was a bit strange thing, since for thirty-nine years, I lived just ten minutes from downtown. It was bittersweet to visit my hometown and to know that I’m just a tourist.

We stayed at the iconic Westin Bonaventure hotel.

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Built in the late 70’s, the Westin Bonaventure is a Los Angeles landmark. It has been featured in dozens of movies, such as True Lies and Logan’s Run. Also used as a location for television series, music videos, and even video games.

The first time I visited the Westin Bonaventure, was in the early 90’s, when I begged my mom to take me to a John Robert Powers talent scouting event. I wasn’t particularly interested in being scouted, although I did wear my very trendy “Hyper-Color” tee-shirt. I was more interested in the celebrities in attendance, including up-and-coming actor, Brian Austin Green from Beverly Hills 90210.

The atrium style lobby was packed and a cat walk had been erected in the middle of the room. Here are pictures of how it looks today…imagine hundreds of screaming pre-teens and the smell of Aquanet.

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Flash-forward to my early twenties, when the height of sophistication was going out for drinks at the Bonavista Revolving Cocktail Lounge with my impossibly handsome friend, Luke. The Bonavista offers stunning views of downtown Los Angeles as it slowly turns. We were always the youngest people in the lounge, which was decorated in 1980’s chic. To be fair, this was usually our first stop, prior to hitting more age-appropriate night spots on the sunset strip, always ending with a 4am, drunken breakfast at The Standard.

I insisted that Dan experience the Bonavista. Sometimes, it is better to leave the past in the past. The lounge was absolutely dead, the decor dated, and not in a cool, retro way. We had overpriced drinks, took a few pictures, and got out. The views are still breathtaking, but the lounge is in desperate need of a refresh.

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Our rooms at the Westin Bonaventure were small, but comfortable. The had a lot of the amenities that Westin is know for, including a lavender sleep spray. We even had the option of borrowing a set of gym clothes, in case we hadn’t thought to pack our own, and wanted a work-out. We had a view of the downtown library.

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The Westin Bonaventure isn’t a beautiful building. It’s concrete and cold, certainly a vision of the future circa the 1970’s. It’s also huge, with three towers and a mall inside of the hotel. The mall, mostly small stores and food court style restaurants, was actually great for quick, inexpensive meals, especially since we stayed at the hotel for five nights. I appreciated having close options that were more affordable than the typical hotel restaurants.

I loved the hotel maps. These clearly were the inspiration for the Dharma Initiative on Lost.

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The pool is located on a large patio, on a high floor; not a rooftop pool, but high enough that you feel like you’re floating in the middle of the skyscrapers. The view is quite spectacular. Unfortunately, the pool itself was too cold to enjoy, but we did spend time soaking in the downtown ambiance. It’s magical at night.

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The Westin Bonaventure is an icon that should be considered for your next trip to Los Angeles. It’s located in the heart of downtown, just a short walk to many tourist attractions. I spent five days in the city and walked everywhere, while Dan attended a conference. I always felt safe and never lacked for entertainment. Although I lived so close to downtown for decades, this was my first time experiencing many of its famous sites. I would encourage locals to book a staycation and check out all of the wonderful things that downtown Los Angeles has to offer.


tags: Bonaventure Hotel Los Angeles, Westin Bonaventure Los Angeles, Pictures of Westin Bonaventure, Los Angeles History, Historic Los Angeles Hotels, Historic Los Angeles Bonaventure, The BonaVista Revolving Cocktail Lounge, Late 90's Los Angeles, Revolving Restaurants Los Angeles, Best Views in Downtown Los Angeles, Review of Bonaventure Hotel, Staying at Bonaventure Hotel, Pictures of Bonaventure Hotel Los Angeles, Pool Bonaventure Hotel Los Angeles, Like the Dharma Initiative, Reminded me of Lost, Pictures of downtown los Angeles, Hometown Tourist Los Angeles, Where I Drank in my Twenties, John Robert Powers Event Downtown Los Angeles, Retro Bars Downtown Los Angeles, Stores in Bonaventure Hotel Los Angeles, Rooftop Pools Downtown Los Angeles, Bonaventure Hotel Logan's Run, Bonaventure Hotel True Lies, Bonaventure Hotel Video Games, Hyper-Color Tee-shirt, Brian Austin Green Bonaventure Hotel, teenager in the 90's, The Standard Hotel Sunset Strip, Exploring Downtown Los Angeles
categories: Eat, Sleep, Life, Hotel Reviews, Visit
Tuesday 06.02.20
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
 

Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Ten

Two and a half months and we are still mostly indoors.

As we are now able to enjoy our garden, we do have more contact with neighbors from a safe distance of staying within our own yards. It’s great to finally be able to connect with people in our neighborhood and I feel like this is the beginning of some life long friendships. We are so lucky to live in a wonderful community.

This week was actually quite spectacular. It was Memorial Day weekend and as a bonus, Dan’s company gave him last Friday off, so we had a four-day weekend. It was the perfect mix of accomplishing various chores and relaxing. The weather was mostly summery, with the exception of Sunday, when it poured rain.

On Sunday, we stayed inside and had a double feature of mockumentaries: Best in Show and What we do in the Shadows. Best in Show has long been one of my favorite movies and it was Dan’s first time seeing it. Sure, it’s a little dated, but it still made me laugh. What we do in the Shadows is absolutely hilarious and we have discovered that it has been turned into a tv series, so that’s next on our watch-list.

In virus news, Memorial Day weekend brought out all of the people tired of social distancing and mask wearing. There were so many news reports of crowded bars and pools. This is very upsetting to me. I’m certain that we are going to have a surge in cases. People are going to die due to selfishness and the economy is going to continue to suffer. We will also all be stuck inside longer, progress will be much slower. Trump continues to show his incompetence and arrogance.

Colorado is reopening dine-in restaurants this coming week, although at a reduced capacity and with strict rules. We miss eating out, but I don’t think we will risk it. Maybe in a few weeks or a month, but certainly not in the first couple of weeks. A local mall also reopened. We have no reason to go to a mall.

Life continues to be good for us in Littleton, but the minute we turn on the news, we are reminded of what is happening outside of our bubble. My friend’s aunt is still the only person we know, as far as we know, that has contracted covid-19. Thankfully, she has recovered.

I have a funny virus related picture from a trip to the grocery store. We had been engaging in a text thread with our friends regarding where we get our news and we teased that we only read The National Enquirer, so we took a picture of a copy at the store check-out. Of course, The National Enquirer is utter nonsense, but it is interesting to note the conspiracy riddled headlines on the cover.

Oh and check out my cute woodland creatures mask that I purchased on Etsy!

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Back to our bubble…

We’ve been riding our bikes nearly every day and even managed to go over ten miles on Memorial Day. My confidence is growing, along with my endurance. Ten miles might not seem like a lot, but for me it was a huge accomplishment, especially since we live on a hilly estate.

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Another accomplishment is gardening. I’ve never been very good at keeping plants alive, but we didn’t want to be the only people on our block with a shabby front garden, so we bought a few plants to replace ones that had died over the winter. We need to plant more, but we started with three. It has been five days and so far, so good. Luckily my sister-in-law, Ali, owns a landscaping company and can give us advice. Next week, I’m going to tackle clipping dead branches and maybe adding a few more flowers.

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I baked delicious blueberry muffins with a recipe from The Magnolia Bakery. Everything that I’ve ever baked from The Magnolia Bakery cookbook turns out great. I didn’t even need to make adjustments for high-altitude baking.

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We grilled burgers with fancy beef that we bought from our local meat delivery service. Colorado has it all!

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No contest, the best meal of the week was snow crab legs that we grilled. We’ve been tempted to buy snow crab for months, but we were intimidated by how to prepare it. It turns out, it couldn’t be easier. They just need warming up on the grill. They were actually meatier and more delicious than if we had bought them at a fancy seafood restaurant. They were expensive; about ninety dollars for four legs, but they were scrumptious. I know this won’t be a weekly indulgence, but hopefully we can eat them again soon. We even bought a set of shell crackers and utensils…so basically, we are obligated to splurge again!

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Our neighborhood community center has food trucks nearly every day and last Saturday, they hosted a company that makes alcohol infused ice cream. We hopped on our bikes and rode over. They were low on inventory when we arrived, but we managed to get three different flavors. So far, we’ve tried the Grasshopper and the Chocolate Caramel Macchiato. Both were amazing. We will definitely make space in our freezer to purchase more.

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Fun things came in the mail. My John Oliver Last Week Tonight stamps arrived. I have a deep affinity for Chijohn. The Tattered Cover, a local bookstore, sent my copy of Mikel Jollett’s memoir, Hollywood Park. Since the live event was canceled, Jollett included an autographed bookplate. I’m very exited to read Hollywood Park and to add this to my autographed book collection.

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I was able to have phone dates with some of my favorite people: my best Fanny and her family, plus my mom’s best friend, Nancy. This is a weekly thing, but we also caught up with my step kids, Zoe and Felix. One really positive aspect to being stuck at home, is it has given us more time to reconnect with loved ones, especially spending extra time with the kids. Technology is awesome, but of course, we are still holding out hope that we will be able to see them in July, as planned.

And my biggest news….drum roll please…My non-fiction story “Weight” was published in Intima: a Journal of Narrative Medicine. This was a big deal for me. This year, I decided to finally start sending out short pieces for potential publication and quite honestly, I was anticipating a lot more rejections, before landing on an acceptance. It is very exciting and a true honor to be included in this prestigious journal. I’m still stunned by it all and I’m overwhelmed by the positive feedback. It means a lot, especially because the story is deeply personal and was difficult to write.

I’m going to end with cute cat pictures: Tom in our shoe cabinet and Slinky sleeping on the steps outside.

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tags: What we do in the Shadows, Best in Show, Social Distancing in Littleton, Covid 19 in Colorado, Corona Virus and Colorado, Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, I'm Published, Weight by Karen Lea Germain, Memorial Day Weekend 2020, Social Distancing Memorial Day Weekend, Surge in Corona Virus Cases, Mockumentary, Cannondale Bicycle, Relearning to Ride a Bicycle, Cannondale Cosmic Salmon, Bicycling for Exercise, Grocery Stores During Covid 19, Magnolia Bakery Blueberry Muffins, Homemade Blueberry Muffins, Cooking During Quarantine, 2020 Cooking Experiments, How to Grill Snow Crab Legs, How to Cook Snow Crab Legs, Chijohn, Last Week Tonight Stamps, John Oliver Stamps, The National Enquirer 2020, Liq-Creme, Alcohol Ice Cream, Sterling Ranch, Cute Cat Pictures, Hollywood Park Mikel Jollett, The Airborne Toxic Event Mikel Jollett, Mikel Jollett Memoir Hollywood Park, Colorado Reopening Restaurants, Buying masks on Etsy
categories: Eat, Life, Watch
Thursday 05.28.20
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
 
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