Leaving Little Miles for Depeche Mode

Last week, I left Santa Barbara on Monday morning. I stopped in to say goodbye to Lara, Robert and Miles. He gave me the best parting gift I could have hoped for, He SMILED! Lara tried to make him smile for a while while getting changed, and he looked sooo close! It was adorable, and then I picked him up and we both coo-ed over him until he cracked a nice grin. She had made him smile the day before, and has apparently done it a bunch of times. Hopefully we will get it on camera soon. These are exciting times.

After getting on the road, I called my friend Jason who I hung out with the whole afternoon until I met my friends Jane and Kristen at the hotel they so generously let me crash at for the evening. Once together, I was introduced to Melanie who had befriended Kristen and Jane only the night before. So the four of us hopped in a limo and drank our way downtown to Staples to see Depeche Mode!

It was a fantastic show for their "Playing the Angel" tour. Of course, we hung out after and I got to see tons of friends who I had not seen in a long time. It was so much fun. We met up with everyone at Dm's hotel after and had the usual "last call at the hotel bar" drink before heading upstairs to a room for a somewhat short after party. The security let us know that the cops were on the way since they had complaints from three floors down! Ha. Well, I guess thats what happens when you hang out on the balcony.

Kristen, Jane and Melanie got up early the next morning to get their hair done for the AMAs they were all going to that evening. I met up with Melanie in her suite and helped her straighten her hair as we swapped everything from beauty tips & nutritional guidance, to coping with Attention Deficit Disorder! We hit it off. She lives in Seattle and someday I will make it up there and we will hang out.

That afternoon I met up with Nicole of Mighty Mc Pilgrim fame and enjoyed a succulent Chinese chicken salad (my favorite) from the illustrious California Pizza Kitchen in beautiful Burbank, CA. We shopped around a bit after that until my mother called from the train station, wanting to be picked up.

I picked up my mom and took whopping 1.5 hours to get her to our hotel in West Hollywood. I bathed, she ironed, and we ordered room service with our champagne. It was nice. Terry arrived later than expected, and we hurried out the door to drive at brake-neck speed down to the Staples Center for one more fantastic evening of DM festivities.