Compared to the events in 2013-2014, 2015 was a calm year. This doesn't mean dull though, plenty happened in 2015.

We kicked off the new year at a pajama party thrown by our friends Brian and Valerie, at their business, the La Dolce Vita Tasting Room in Big Bear. The year started with wine, bongo drums, and intentionally bad beat poetry. A few days later, we turned our house over to our contractor for an extensive remodel. We took the house down to the studs and added rooms. The house was originally slated to be ready for Dan's birthday last July, but due to delays, we have our fingers crossed that it will be finished by this July. Although slow, we are overjoyed with the progress. The house has been a very consuming project, with endless decisions and changes. I can't wait to have it done.

2015 was a year of travel. I spent nine nights in Las Vegas, six in Palm Springs, and three in San Diego. We drove to Utah to visit Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon. International travel took us to England, France, Spain, Gibraltar, Netherlands, and Belgium. Part of that included a two week Mediterranean cruise with my in-laws and step-kids!

I served Jury Duty for three weeks on a civil case in Downtown Los Angeles. Honestly, I was grumpy when I was first picked, but in the end, the process was fascinating. A guy tried to sue a cleaning company at the South Bay Mall, after he ran through the planters in an Ikea parking lot and tripped. He was unsuccessful in his lawsuit.

Dan's father visited in July and we went to see Dame Edna at the Ahmanson Theatre. Hilarious. Dan's parents both visited us in September, and I took them to see The Object Lesson at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. I've never been so surprised and delighted by a live performance. In London, we took the kids to their first big show, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

We went to several concerts; Old 97's, Brad Paisley ( Dan's first time at the Hollywood Bowl), and Sheryl Crow. We saw Eddie Izzard at the Hollywood Bowl and had our second NASCAR Experience.

With the exception of our vacations, I stuck to a workout schedule ( 3 days a week) with my trainer at the gym. The first half of the year, I lost over twenty pounds and was fitter than I've been in years. Vacation eating and my post-vacation- "let's keep the vacation going" mentality caused me to gain back about twelve pounds. I'm still happy though, feeling stronger and healthier than last year. There is a lot of toned muscles happening and I have decent endurance! In August, I began to add pilates into my routine, which is so much fun. I really look forward to the gym on pilates days, especially with the jump board. I feel like I'm in a circus!

I've continued work towards my three year fiction writing certificate through UCLA Extension. This year, I took seven classes, and I will wrap up the program by this coming spring. Although most of my course work focused on the completion and workshopping of my first novel, I also took Intermediate Short Story and Intro to Poetry. The idea of poetry intrigued and scared me, but I rose to the challenge and found a new form of writing to love.

The big news of the year happened around my birthday, when I learned that my novel had been nominated for The James Kirkwood Prize. I had been nominated by novelist Caroline Leavitt, whom with I took Story Structure for the Novel, last winter. I was elated and it was huge boost when I was starting to have doubts about my story. I didn't win, but that's okay, I was just so thrilled to have been picked.

Speaking of books, I read sixty-five this year!

2015 was mostly happy and calm. I'm grateful to have made so many happy memories with friends and family.

Dan's second visit to the iconic Hollywood Bowl, came the night after his first visit. On Saturday, we saw comedian Eddie Izzard's Force Majeure.

Rather than take the shuttle from the Los Angeles Zoo, we decided to try a different approach to bowl parking. We parked at the Hollywood and Highland mall and walked to the bowl. It takes about fifteen minutes to walk and is uphill going, downhill on the way back. It's nice to be able to leave the crush of people exiting the bowl, with people trying to figure out buses and navigate their cars out of the stacked parking. The bonus of parking at the mall was getting a little extra exercise.

On the cons, the traffic in Hollywood was a nightmare. It was sluggish both ways and it would have been quicker to use the zoo lot. Parking is fifteen dollars for the Hollywood and Highland lot, which is three more than the zoo shuttle. This is a good option if you plan on eating in Hollywood, but aside from that, the zoo lot was more convenient.

This time, we did not have a terrace box. It was hard to go back to the bench seats after being spoiled in the boxes. Our benches were the same level as the boxes, so same distance from the stage, but way off to the side. Luckily, this didn't pose much of a problem with Izzard's show and we had a clear view of the monitors. It wouldn't have been great seating for a concert.

Dan took this panorama before the show. The bowl ended up being completely sold-out.

Since we were in the benches, we didn't hassle bringing a picnic. We ate dinner at home and then bought popcorn, lemonade and beer to snack on during the show. This made our experience so much easier and less expensive. I love the idea of picnics at the bowl, but the reality is always such a pain.

One of the best bargains at the Hollywood Bowl is cushion rentals. Those benches are hard and for just a dollar, you can rent padding. After the show, you don't even have to bother returning them, you just leave them on the bench. It's a must for the bench seats and just easier than bringing your own from home.

Here are a few shots of our view, including a blurry one of Izzard.

We had sky-high expectations for Izzard's show. We were pumped.

Unfortunately, Izzard failed to meet our expectations. This isn't to say that the show was bad, it just wasn't, for the most part. laugh-out-loud funny. He took a long time setting up jokes and the effort didn't meet the pay-off. In his two-hour show, he occasionally circled back to earlier topics that unfortunately, had already been forgotten, making the joke fall flat.

Much of the content was historical and political ( in itself, not a negative) and the result came across more like Izzard was a mildly humorous college professor. Even if my laughter was mostly internal, I did appreciate Izzard's quick wit and brilliant mind. He's very clever.

My British husband thought that Izzard was pandering to an American audience. Izzard continuously broke from the comedy to tell the audience that we were the "Intelligent, Liberal Minded" citizens of Los Angeles. Apparently, all of the "smart people" bought tickets to his show. It wasn't part of a joke either. It was like when people win an academy award and they use their acceptance speech to get on their soap box.

I happen to be liberal, but I did find this to be insulting. I very much dislike this mob mentality that groups "like-minded" individuals based on their politics or religion. It's exclusionary and close-minded. Yes, many liberals are pretty close-minded! It was entirely unnecessary in Izzard's show. He could have made political jokes and proudly told everyone his liberal views and it would have been fine, even funny.. It became offensive when he reigned-in the audience to rally to his cause, making a hive mind scenario. It crossed the line into an uncomfortable territory.

There was one part of the show that I did laugh. I laughed a lot. The kind of laughter where I couldn't catch my breath, my stomach knotted, and where tears were rolling down my cheeks. It was a whole skit on horse dressage. I don't want to spoil it, but I nearly died laughing. Youtube it, trust me. I wish his entire show had been this hysterically funny.

Ultimately, we were both let-down by Force Majeure. Izzard is a funny guy, but he seemed off his game with this one.

2015 Wrap-Up

Eddie Izzard's Force Majeure at the Hollywood Bowl