I'm back from another jam packed trip to the West Coast and boy am I tired! Ed and I just love it out there and always have the best time. We started with a lovely morning at the LACMA. I was especially excited to see their special exhibition, Nature and the American Vision: The Hudson River School (no photos allowed, but it was amazing and so moving in person). We were also greeted by the genius "Urban Light" by Chris Burden:

And just around through the entrance was the amazing "Levitated Mass" by Michael Heizer. So powerful in person!

By the way, all these photos are by my husband, Ed Mironiuk. He has such a better eye for framing than I do :)

At this point in the trip, the clouds thickened and the wind picked up and it seemed like we were back in Jersey. Just as we were headed to the line of food trucks for some lunch the heavens opened up and we rushed to our car to have some delicious mexican food. It seems that it always rains when we go to the coast and boy, do they need every drop they can get!

We finished up at the museum and met up with friends at a coffee shop nearby. The rain tapered off at that point and the sun even came out. It turned into another beautiful day in Los Angeles.

Later on, we stopped by Gallery 1988 to see my show all hung. It's always such a thrill to see months of work filling up a room as I'm usually worried that it won't fill a closet. The great folks over there always do such a wonderful job, I can't thank them enough for all that they do.

-----

The morning of the show, we woke up to some more rain and wind. Not a problem! Ed and I wanted to venture out to the ocean, grabbing a sushi burrito from the Jogasaki food truck. We took it over to the beach and once again, the clouds parted and the sun came out. It turned into another perfect California day overlooking the Santa Monica Pier.

We jumped into our car and headed up the PCH, passing all the surfers and beautiful homes along the coast. Then a trip through Malibu Canyon, to head to the Hollywood Hills to try and find the iconic Chemosphere House. Built in 1960 by John Lautner it's an amazing structure.

Now, I must admit, I'm not a fan of driving through the hills. The twisting turns and tiny road (with two way traffic) makes my stomach turn. But the views and the homes more than make up for it! Our gps said that we had arrived at the address but alas, no Chemosphere. We drove a bit further to the end of the street and turned around to head back to the hotel. Then we looked up...

Success!! So gosh darn cool!

Back to the hotel to try and relax for an hour or so before dinner with friends at MudHen Tavern.

It was such a great meal of little tapas style plates. Definitely recommended if you're in the Melrose/Highland area of LA.

Dun dun dun!! The big opening. Jitters, sweating a bit and wondering if anyone would show up. From the moment we walked in around 7:30 till 10pm the gallery was just about full. I met so many wonderful people (a couple from Australia even!), old friends and new, I was overwhelmed by the kind words and smiles. I'm getting choked up a bit just thinking about it again. Thank you so very much. And darn it - we totally forgot/didn't even have a chance to take any photos! You can see the whole show online at Gallery 1988. We ended the evening at the iconic Pink's around the corner for a hot dog.

The next day we spent with one of our favorite people, walking around Los Angeles which we had never done before. We went to the Bradbury Building (think "Blade Runner"):

Past some really spectacular buildings like the Grand Central Square Apartments:

Look at the fascade! Never saw cow skulls with horns on a building before.

Had some lunch at the Grand Central Market which has been there since 1917! We even went to the Los Angeles Public Library and saw the most amazing lobby:

Surrounded by murals depicting the history of California it was truly breathtaking.

Whew! Back in the car and then off to the airport for our red eye to NJ.

I hope that you enjoyed my tale as much as we enjoyed experiencing it. Coming back home is lovely, but it doesn't beat the excitement and love of friends + art + architecture.

Thank you.

-Kris