Clearly, we're related

Today was Downtown day! Woo Hoo! I thought, maybe, we could head out early, hit downtown and walk around a bit, then possibly hit the Grove for a movie or head to Burbank, because I still have a bra to return. But the thing is, my niece and I are far too much alike and left to our own devices we will sleep late, putter around, and take a long time getting out of the house. Actually, on that last point, the niece is very much her mother. Oh, the horror stories I could tell about getting ready for school...But I won't. Alas, after the breakfasting and putzing, we made it out the door around noonish.

We picked up some lunch to go at Locali, where the staff is incredibly helpful and the soups are great. From there we headed downtown, parking at the library. We ate lunch in the library courtyard while Lisi made angry gestures toward the pigeons, then wandered around the library, stopping at the library store and putting on an impromptu finger puppet show with a lobster, a chef, and a woman prisoner. You had to be there. Hey! There's a duck in one of the pools outside the library. How did he get there? Lisi wanted to pick him up. I thought it best to leave him alone.

After the library, we walked over to Disney Hall to check out the LA Phil store and see if they had any new composer finger puppets (really, if you have to ask...). They didn't. On the way over on Hope Street, just before the 4th Street overpass, two nicely dressed young business men were walking past us discussing business stuff like faxes and emails and conference calls when one of them says to other, "She's hot," then continues on with the business talk. Come on, guys. We know she's hot but have the decency to get past the pretty girl before making a comment about her in the third person. Lisi and I laughed until I couldn't breathe. Oh, another example of our similarities--at the top of those stairs that lead from 5th Street up to Hope there's a fountain. In the center of the fountain is a statue of a woman standing on a tall platform with four crabs around its base. Lisi and I looked at it and both said, nearly simultaneously, "she's got crabs."

With no composers to add to my collection, we headed back to the car where I paid an exorbitant price to exit the garage even though the first three hours are supposed to be $4.00 and I was there less than three hours, but whatever library parking. We drove down Broadway and over to Chinatown. I tried to find parking on the streets but it was after 4:00 and all the metered parking became express lanes. Damn. We ended up coming home (the scenic route past Dodgers Stadium) and nibbling. Now, last night I made a bowl of guacamole and we devoured it ridiculously fast. It was good, so good that I ended up using my finger to get the last of it, for which the niece pointed and laughed at me. Today, she decided to have the leftover pico de gallo with chips and ate it all, then tried to get the juice on her chips too. In her attempts, she ended up spilling the juice in her crotch, making it look like she peed. "Aunt Laurie, I picoed my pants, " she cried, which just made us both laugh and did nothing to clean up the pico de gallo soaking through her jeans.

Now she's off to slumberland, as am I. I have to go to work for a few hours tomorrow. (boo, hiss). Then we're going to Venice to check out the wild life.