The Year of Celebration

Yesterday I went with a large group of friends to the Art Walk in the East, part of the revitalisation of the old capital of Bermuda, St. George's. In LA I keep planning on going to the various art walks there, but as we all know life can sometimes get in the way. I didn't know what to expect and was worried that there wouldn't be a good turnout, but it was bustling and beautiful. The galleries were all open, some with live music, all with drinks and later Heather, Nick and I headed to Tavern by the Sea for dinner. We'd desperately wanted to try Wahoo's, but they had no room for us. I've had the same issue numerous times I've wanted to eat there. Must be sure to make a reservation next time! Along the route out of St. Geo we ran into six guys who had all sailed to Bermuda from Newport. Heather knew one of them so we kidnapped them and took them off to the Rugby Classic Closing Party at the field. Strangely enough today is the anniversary of the first ever...

Today is the first day of CupMatch and I spent the day at Chewstick NeoGriot lounge's annual Beachfest celebration. This year it was named Peacefest to encourage peace in our community. Unfortunately, the day was marred by a fight that broke out amongst some youts, and my mother was hit with a bottle. She's ok, thankfully, just a bit cut up on her leg. The day was fun, though not as good in year's past (although no rain this year - it POURED last year), but still a worthy celebration. I was feeling a bit of social anxiety, as I'm prone to, before heading out there, but a few hours in it had subsided mostly. Pictured L-R, Myself, Amy, Ed, Lydia, Jordan and Kyle. Heading for a nap now, then to Andrew Green's annual Cup Match island party on Marshall's Island by boat. Lots of food, drinks, and fun. Fantastic.

Raging. Boating. Raving. Boating again. A few tumbles and falls (and a bruised bum). What a smashing weekend.

Harbour Nights is a summer street festival held in Bermuda every Wednesday night in the high season. I haven't been in a couple of years, but used to love rollerblading around it as a child. I hadn't seen Aziza much since the wedding and her moving into her new marital home, so we thought it would be nice to take an evening stroll and watch the various shows. My friend Johnny was performing with the Alpha Phi Alpha step team so we went to check them out, along with another friend's band Joy T. Barnum & The Channel. I've added video of the Gombeys, the alphas and Joy. After a lovely 3 hours, I headed to Docksiders for a couple of drinks and good friend time. More joy.

Ahhh....it's summertime in Bermuda, and that means RAFT-UPS! For those non-Bermudians/islanders raft-ups are essentially everyone taking their boats out and tying them up to each other and just having a huge party in the water and on the boats. Today was the "Winter-Babies Raft-Up". It's purpose is to celebrate birthdays for people who couldn't raft-up in Winter because it was too cold. Alicia Churm organises it and provides children's party bags with lollipops and rice krispies treats and other goodies. Ahhhh childhood party memories. Too much fun, so just photos for today.

Today, June 25th, in 1951 the first commerical colour telecast took place as CBS transmitted a one-hour special from NYC to four other citites. Who doesn't love colour television? Big-up CBS. In other broadcasting news, I have to admit to naughtily post-timing the blogs, because often it's the wee hours of the next day and I can't possibly write about my day, but I'm excusing myself because I need to time each day as the day I celebrated, all for the sake of the blog. So there you go. So tonight I went to Christie & Ramon's after-party for their beautiful wedding. And it was the first test of my new-found sobriety. After Friday night made me feel terrible from just three drinks, I decided to cut-down drinking as close to cutting-out as possible. Apart from the fact that it doesn't mix well with my medication (yes, I said it) drinking a depressant when trying to combat depression isn't exactly the best of methods (though I'm...

The only thing I'm celebrating today is Alastair Jack's birthday at "Jack & Water" - his beach party sponsored by Goslings Rum Company. Should be a good time.

Today is a music day, just because so many things happened on June 10th that I can't help but share a lot of tunes. It's also helpful, because tonight was Aziza's bachelorette party and music featured heavily in our outing. Of course, I can't share anymore than the photo featured, as that would break the rules. However, I will explain all the blue; Aziza's favourite colour is turquoise so I forced everyone to wear as close to that as possible. Originally I had gotten it completely wrong and ordered yellow, until Aziza had to correct me. Good thing I let her in on the idea not too last-minute. On a side note, though clearly not worthy of celebration I did find it interesting that both John Edwards and Elliot Spitzer share today's date as their birthdays. Perhaps there's something in the moon on this date that make them both horn-dogs. I also learned tonight, courtesy of Amy, that on June 10th 1935 Alcoholics Anonymous was founded by Dr. Robert Smith (on th...

No, it's not a post about acting....but the rehearsal and dinner ahead of Aziza's wedding. I'm still adjusting to life in Bermuda, running around doing errands and catching up with friends. Unfortunately, a dear friend was recently diagnosed with MS and I desperately wanted to see her before she moved to the UK for treatment. I mention this as I feel any opportunity to bring attention to this disease and it's treatment is a good thing. To give to the MS Society please click here . After a few glasses of wine, on the beautiful porch overlooking the harbour, I raced up to the rehearsal at Fort Scaur (wearing beautiful new clothes that my lovely friend had thrown upon me ahead of her move). The rehearsal was mostly figuring out what to do on the day, and meeting the rest of the bridal party (namely the groomsmen). Pictured is Cal at the site, taken just after they had chosen the location. Dinner followed at Cal's grandmother's house and then we took the overseas g...

As I'll be heading back to Bermuda in a couple of weeks for about half of the summer I decided to experience a little LA Culture at Fiesta Hermosa. I stumbled on it semi-accidentally because I was in the mood for chicken and waffles and googled somewhere near my place for it. I found Boogaloo's a Cajun/New Orleans style restaurant and hoped they might have similar food. Unbelievably, I managed to find parking right at the entrance to the fiesta and went for a hefty hangover breakkie along with the necessary bloody mary. However, I was a bit disappointed with the food and then even more annoyed as when I walked around Fiesta Hermosa there were loads of more delicious smelling food stands at a fraction of the price. In the beer garden there was a band playing, but the most entertaining was the older women dancing to the band. I just had to share pictures of them, because their outfits were outrageously hilarious. The one with the pink top was killing me with her early 90s throwb...

Today's post has a little bit of history, but mostly is about how I celebrated the day. Sometimes I realise celebrating is just about what I want to do without guidelines, without rules, and just going moment to moment and enjoying every single one of them. I recently moved in with my dad's friend Tal to his beach-house in Redondo Beach. I can wake up and smell the ocean and have tea on the roof terrace or wine in the evening. It's hard not to feel inspired here. Today I went to brunch in our little village at Sophie's. Great food, sadly terrible service, but because they're understaffed not because our waitress wasn't lovely. Bottomless Bloody Marys and Mimosas were in order so I was feeling pleasantly buzzed by 1pm. After which Tal took me on a little tour up the coast of Palos Verdes. We came upon a church, which used to be the oldest home in Palos Verdes, and where I decided to swing like a monkey. Then Tal took me to see some beautiful bougainvillea and his...

On this date in 1957 the United Kingdom agreed to Singaporean self-rule. (It later joined Malaysia in 1963, and then became totally independent in 1965). Those who know me well know I'm a proponent of self-determinism for colonies in general, and over half of my mother's Malaysian family live in Singapore (with a few left in Sarawak). Now to celebrate I'd LOVE to hop on a plane to see my family, as I haven't been back to Singapore (apart from an airport layover en route to Bali) since 2002. Specifically I'd love to consume a Singapore Sling in it's place of founding, the delightful Raffles Hotel. However, that's clearly not in this celebrator's budget (time or financing-wise). If I was home in Bermuda, I'd have Mum rustle up some Malaysian food. Instead, I'm on the search for some yummy take-out. I'd like to try Manja in WeHo, but my rehearsal schedule and budget makes that a no-no so I'm saving it for another time. Instead, methinks I...