On my excursion to the Beverly Center shopping mall today I was reminded that it's the most wonderful time of the year. The multitude of posters on every available wall was prompting me to make my visit to see Santa Claus. Oh, I'm not talking about your average everyday jolly and round Santa. Hell no! I'm talking about Hunky Santa! This year they even have something for the guys with the addition of The Candy Cane Girls.

Ho Ho Ho! Leave the kiddies at home. Only in Hollywierd…

Hunky Santa in Hollywood

I choose not to eat or wear animals.* When I purchase clothing, shoes or accessories, I carefully read the label to be sure that ALL the materials are man-made. If I see any traces of leather or fur, it immediately goes back on the shelf.

So you can imagine my shock and outrage when I saw a CBS news report warning buyers that fake fur may actually be the real thing. Apparently, clothing manufacturers (predominately from China) are skinning alive raccoon dogs and neglecting to mention this little fact on the label. In the past when there was no mention of the fur on a label I just assumed that because the item was so inexpensive there was no possible way that it could be real fur. My assumptions could not have been more wrong. In China the raccoon dog, which is in the canine family, are raised by the millions for their fur. It is cheaper to use raccoon dog pellet than to produce faux fur. Sad but true.

The news report also uncovered that some stores tag items as faux fur when it is actually real fur. Now it is possible that these stores may have been duped just like the rest of us. I say this is no excuse. If you buy and sell a product, you better damn well know what it is that you are selling! In a court of law, ignorance is not a valid defense.

In the future I will certainly be more cautious when looking at faux fur products. To spot fake from real you must examine the fur closely. Part the fur with your fingers, look close at the base to see if it is made of material or skin (ugh, just creeps me out to say skin). You may not always be able to tell the difference by inspecting it this way but, it's a start. In short, buyer beware.

*Okay, I will make the occasional exception to wearing animal materials but only if it's an emergency, ie: protection when racing a motorcycle, hiking in Antarctica, etc.

The hubby & I are planning to attend , D as a player and me as the cheering rail bird. As part of the entry process we have been asked to write a blog about our favorite charity, which I think is a wonderful idea.

Two charities close to my heart are the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Cystic Fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. This disease is usually diagnosed at a very young age, 2 years and up. CF is a defective gene that causes the body to produce a thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs which leads to life-threatening lung infections. This mucus also prevents the body to break down and absorb food.

Forty years ago this terrible disease took the lives of children before they were old enough to start school. However, today with the help of advances in research, medical treatments and donations the survival age for a person with CF is more than 37 years. Sadly, CF is still a fatal disease. These two foundations accept donations to continue the effort in finding a cure for this horrible disease.

We could not hold out any longer.  Pizza Fusion open its doors a few of weeks ago.  Surprisingly,  it has taken D & I this long to check it out.

Pizza Fusion in West Hollywood is now open!

Pizza Fusion offers fresh and organic foods and an earth friendly restaurant.  Their menu states “You are about to eat the freshest veggies.  Tastiest certified organic tomato sauce, the juiciest hormone-free meats, and crispiest hand-stretched all-natural dough. Delish.”  I will agree almost everything they claim.  Fresh veggies, check.  Tasty tomato sauce, check.  Crispy dough, absolutely!  Since I don't eat meat, I cannot comment on the juiciest meat.  I can, however, give thumbs up to the veggie chicken.

D & I shared a large Spinach and Artichoke pizza (we added the veggie chicken) with multi-grain crust.  The pizza looked so good when it arrived that we almost devoured the entire pie before I remembered to take a photo.  My first bite provided a noticeable crunch.  The dough was thin, crispy and delicious – everything I like in a pizza.  The rest of the pizza was quite enjoyable.   However, since I enjoyed the crust so much I think I will stick to the traditional cheese from here on out.  Multi-grain crust, tomato sauce and cheese is all this girl needs.  I must admit that I went a little crazy with the root beer.  Normally, I'm a water or iced tea drinker, but Pizza Fusion offers bottomless Boylan's Fountain Sodas available in assorted flavors. Yum, too difficult to resist.

I have no doubt that this will become a regular for us.  I do appreciate the veggie chicken, but I'm a little disappointed that they don't have veggie pepperoni as well.  Even us veggie's enjoy a good cheese and faux-pepperoni pizza now and then.  I guess all I can do is continually ask about it every time I go in.

Update:

We have since used their delivery service.

We have tried the Roasted Beet & Feta salad, Greek pizza and a Traditional Cheese pizza. It was all very good. They still have a little work to do on their delivery system as there were a couple of return phone calls to us. The first call was to let us know that the first quote on the price was incorrect because they forgot to add the $2.00 delivery fee. The second call was to let us know they were out of sundried tomatoes for the Four Cheese & Sundried Tomato pizza. We opted for the Greek pizza instead and they did not charge us an additional dollar for ordering a more expensive pizza.

Yesterday, the hubby and I decided to have lunch at the grand opening of a new vegetarian restaurant, The Veggie Grill. Considering there isn't an over abundance of vegetarian restaurants in Hollywood (yes, it's hard to believe), we had high hopes. Since The Veggie Grill is conveniently located next to Trader Joe's, we decided to accomplish two things in one trip. Lunch first, grocery shopping second.

When we opened the doors we were absolutely shocked to see the place completely full. This was a good sign as there are multiple locations in the L.A. area and perhaps these patrons knew something we didn't. After perusing the menu and our difficult meal decisions made, we stood in-line with the rest of the hungry people. We gave our order to a very pleasant cashier and then were provided with empty cups (to help ourselves to beverages) and a numbered sign to place on our table.

As we waited for our meals to be delivered, I took in the atmosphere and decor. It is a cheery, bright restaurant with plenty of tables. The hardwood floors are inviting and and the not-too-overdone neon orange and green colors are surprisingly pleasant to look at. I was drawn to the cute outdoor patio complete with umbrellas, but after a mile walk in the sun to the restaurant I was longing for some air conditioning.

Inside The Veggie Grill

After about a 5-10 minute wait, our food arrived. I must admit D's looked much better than mine. I ordered the Chinese Chickin' salad.  My salad was good, but not great.  It came with faux chickin', romaine, cabbage, green onion, sesame seeds, roasted corn salsa, mandarin oranges with a sesame-rice vinaigrette. Also for added protein, all salads are infused with Quinoa (“keen-wa”), a lovely “supergrain”. I only ordered a salad because I was trying to be good. I knew what we were having for dinner and it was all kinds of bad. No salad for me next time.

My Chinese Chickin' Salad

D's red & white Bean Me Up Chili was quite tasty.

D's Bean Me Up Chili

D's Carne Asada sandwich was fantastic. The sandwich was made of grilled veggie-steak, marinated in Mexican spices, with southwestern spiced vegan mayo, red onion, lettuce, tomato on a whole wheat roll with a side of red cabbage 'slaw. Yum, yum, yum!

D's YUMMY Carne Asada Sandwich

Most of the items on the menu contained some type of faux meat: chickin', steak or tempeh. D & I found it quite interesting that no where on the menu or in the restaurant does it mention that every item is vegetarian or vegan.  Perhaps people are turned off with the words vegetarian and vegan?  Anyway, I do suspect that everything on the menu is vegan rather than vegetarian.

I do look forward to visiting The Veggie Grill again in the very near future. I have my eye on the Chill Out Wings!

Last night Deutsch and I decided to take part in the march against Prop 8.

In the last U.S. election, Californians voted to pass Proposition 8. In short, this Prop bans the right for same-sex marriages. Now if I have my facts correct, yesterday the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and it remains law. However, the 18,000 couples who married during the Rainbow Window (Same-sex marriage approved by the Supreme Court before the election) last year will remain legally married.

So yesterday’s ruling was a lose/win situation. Congratulations to all the gay and lesbians couples that were married during the Rainbow Window. To the rest of you that did not drop everything and make a mad dash to the court house to say “I Do”… I’m sorry – you’re basically screwed. Until the next election.

Deutsch and I were proud to join the thousands of people who rushed to the streets to stand up for what we believe in, equal rights for all.

Of course, I’m sure I am over simplifying the facts and missing crucial information, but this basically sums it up. Here is a good article from the L.A. Times that helps explain.

Here are some pictures we took during the march:

Day 7

Breakfast:
Veggie Quiche Cups
V8 Low Sodium Veggie Juice
Coffee w/ FF Milk

Morning Snack:
Mozzarella Stick

Lunch:
Green Salad w/ Green Goddess Dressing

Afternoon Snack:
Roasted Chickpeas

Dinner:
Left-Over Soy Beef & Bean Chili

Dessert:
Mocha Ricotta

Exercise:
Walked 4.6 miles to the bank and movie theatre.
Saw “He’s Just Not That Into You”. It was okay. I found it started out very anti-men saying all men suck, big time!. However, it slowly, eventually turned itself around, not hating men quite as much. It ended with men only sucking a wee bit.

I didn't have any South Beach pictures for you today so I thought I would show off our babies, Brando & Foxy.

Day 6

Breakfast:

Veggie Quiche Cups To Go (egg beaters, spinach & asparagus)
V8 Low Sodium Veggie Juice
Coffee w/ Fat-Free Milk

Morning Snack:
1 Reduced-Fat Colby/Cheddar Cheese Stick

Lunch:

Butter Beans, Arugula and Spinach Salad w/ Green Goddess Dressing
Sugar-Free Cherry Creamsicle

Afternoon Snack:
Oops! Missed this one. My bad.

Dinner:
Left-over Buttermilk Salmon Chowder

Dessert:

Peanut Butter Cup

Exercise:

4 Mile walk up Runyon Canyon!!!

Finally a day without cool temperatures and rain!
I saw 2 firsts today. In Runyon I’ve seen people walk their dogs, horses, birds, lizards, and even a goat, but today I saw a lady walking her… cat!!!! I felt so bad for the little one. Poor thing must have been terrified, since the dog park is filled with DOGS!!! My 2nd first was actor, Julian Sands. Hubba hubba! (I used to have a crush on him in my early 20’s)
Tomorrow the storms will be back, so I guess the pilates will be too!

Apologies for my lack of description for my Day 5 post yesterday. Usually I finish up & publish my day’s post at night before I go to bed. Last night I was distracted by the not-so-riveting white Bentley L.A. slow car chase, not driven by Chris Brown*, then not by DJ Khaled**, but by someone not of celebrity notoriety.

Sadly, the chase then standoff came to an end by the driver taking his own life. A very unfortunate end. Thankfully, no one else was injured in this chase, as the distraught driver was aware of his surroundings and never went above 40 miles an hour and always used his turn signals.

Like I said the chase itself was not riveting, however, the news coverage and internet chatter was. It was amusing listening to all the local anchors insinuating in every imaginable way that the driver was Chris Brown, but without actually SAYING his name. Good thing for them they did avoid saying his name, as they would be facing some legal problems today.

What was amazing was watching Twitter just EXPLODE! D & I were reading the Tweets, but could not keep up with them. They were coming in way too quickly to read. So interesting to see how many people are using and depending on this technology.

When the chase finally came to a stop and the standoff had begun it was incredible how the paparazzi and curious people/fans started to converged onto the scene. People!?! Guns are being drawn! Bullets could be flying! Have you never heard of stray bullets or friendly fire?

Sadly, once the media learned that the driver was not the famous Chris Brown or the semi-famous DJ Khaled all coverage of this event abruptly ended. Just like that it was over… on TV at least. The tense standoff was still going on. However, once it was confirmed that the driver was just an average, luxury-car owning (not even referred as a “Bentley” anymore), Joe, nobody cared. I’m hoping that the driver was not aware of the lack of interest to his fate once the true identity was known.

I guess I am just as guilty as anyone else for being sucked into the media frenzy. I just could not turn away. Sad.

*Chris Brown – Entertainer. Age 19. Best known as a singer with chart topping singles. Reportedly in a relationship with Rihanna, a singer as well. Most recently in the news with accusations of domestic violence charges.

**DJ Khaled – A Palestinian-American DJ, producer and radio personality for the Miami-based urban music radio station WEDR. He is also a member of the hip hop group Terror Squad.

Day 5

Breakfast:

Scrambled Egg Beaters w/ Soy Bacon Strip
Vegetable Juice
Coffee w/ Fat-Free Milk

Morning Snack:
Celery w/ Peanut Butter

Lunch:

Greek Salad

Afternoon Snack:
Mozzarella Cheese Stick

Dinner:
Buttermilk Salmon Chowder (had a picture, but D said it didn’t do this yummy dish any justice)

Dessert:
Peanut Butter Cup

Exercise:
60 Minute Pilates