Oh, Hello. I mean this in both the sheepish “yes, I know I have been slacking on my blog writing” as well as a lead in to tell you that I saw the most hilarious play, “Oh Hello,” last night. Nick Kroll and John Mulaney (if you don’t know who they are, we can’t be friends) reprise their characters Gil Faizon and George St. Germaine, two 70-year-old men, living together on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. They begin by sharing their excitement to be at this small theater on Hollywood and Vine, the Montalban, next to Katsuya Izakaya. Izakaya–the art of taking dirty shrimp and covering it with mayo. I won’t even try to recite the many snort-worthy lines because it won’t do them justice. We then see a play within a play, one that George has written titled “We’re Us, You’re You, Let’s Talk.” But first, they poke fun at common play-tropes, like the one sided phone call. “Hello. The police? No that is who you are!” and then they launch into their play about two old men who are about to lose their Upper West Side rent controlled apartment which has been a reasonable $700 a month, unless they figure out a way to make some money. This will eventually leads to the integration of the sketch that started it all, “Too Much Tuna,” a prank show on public cable access TV in which their guests are surprised with a sandwich that has too much tuna. Why is that funny, you ask? See for yourself:

If you are in LA this weekend, I highly recommend getting tickets. Also, I take back my previous comment about us not being friends. As long as you promise to familiarize yourself with this duo, we can continue our relationship.  

This past weekend my friend from abroad came to visit me. To be clear, this is not a friend who currently lives abroad somewhere that would allow me to book a vacation and assume free lodging at her place. This is my friend whom I met while studying abroad in Australia. She lives in Chicago. Glad we straightened that out. Both of us are very into health, fitness and the latest diet/weight-loss/eat-this-now trends so we spent a lot of time shopping this weekend. But unlike when most girls say they went shopping, we didn’t cruise the mall. No Bloomies for us. We browsed the aisles of three health-focused, Whole Food-esque supermarkets here in LA: Sprouts, Lassens Natural Foods and Erewhon. I’m pretty in the know, but my friend taught me about one food trend that I wasn’t aware of. Did you know that collagen, which you usually associate with plastic faces like the Kardashians and the new face of Renee Zellweger, is actually great for you if you eat it? It helps strengthen your hair, lubricate your joints, and tighten your aging skin. We found these little treats, Beauty Sweeties, at Lassens and let me say, they are a must-try! Any excuse to eat a gummy, I’m in. Sometimes too in… I can no longer purchase gummy vitamins due to my inability to adhere to the recommended dosage.

   In other recent news, I am going to Cabo for a week in May with my friend from NY. Out of our college friends, we are the last remaining of the unmarried, un-childed (that's not a word, is it? It should be but I'm pretty sure it's not). We are looking forward to channeling our Spring Break selves circa 2010. In preparation for this trip, I am on the hunt for some new bathing suits. I made the mistake of ordering a bathing suit from Amazon which was non-returnable but luckily, I was able to persuade them to give me a refund. When asked “what was wrong with the item?” I simply replied "It looked horrible on me." This must have hit a nerve with the Amazon rep who so kindly issued me a refund. So, while still searching, I came across this new company which is promoting itself as the Warby Parker of swimwear called Cocodune. They will send you up to four suits that you can try on, and then, only if you decide to keep one, do they charge you. While I haven’t actually tried it yet, I plan to and think we all should hop on board! If it’s anything like Warby Parker, I’ll buy a bathing suit that does not fit me properly but is trendy and I feel cool wearing it.   
Another, recommendation of mine is the library. I’ve been a proponent of this dying institution for years and I stand behind it. Why pay for something when you can get it for free? And, amongst these free items, I recently read a library book titled “Getting More” by Stewart Diamond. The book is a negotiation guide which teaches you how to get more in all aspects of your life. This book was a great find for someone like me, a perpetual pushover and someone who hates to make waves--I’m still trying to build up the nerve to ask my chimney-smoking neighbors to back away from the hallway so that their extra-strength cigarette won’t stink up my kitchen. The book focuses on a number of skills to use, many which involve seeing the other person's perspective. I now try to use these teachings whenever I can. How do you think I got that refund on the non-refundable bikini? And, I negotiated an extra $500 dollars in a settlement for my POS Jetta. You know I like free things, so using the tactics from this book has been fun. Full disclose, the book does get a bit dull, but you can chose to skim over some sections that don’t affect your life as much. For example, I chose to skip over the section on getting more with children.
So, check out these finds! Have a great weekend and I'll keep my eyes open for more random stuff to share! **Still working on updating this crappy blog look! I'm about as technologically skilled as my 95-year-old grandma. Which is impressive for her, but not so much for me.

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