The Grove

My favorite place in West Hollywood is The Grove. Not that I have been to many places in West Hollywood... I suppose it's easy to say The Grove is my favorite. It's beautiful and clean, there is shopping, a Farmer's Market, and a nice movie theater. While we were in SoCal this past weekend, David and I went to The Grove with my parents. It was a gorgeous day which made the experience all the better. When you enter The Grove it feels like a mix between Disneyland, what I would imagine a Ritz-Carlton is like, and the outdoor shopping mall in Corte Madera. You enter The Grove and immediately see a giant crystal chandelier with an elaborate floral display sitting below. On the day of our visit, the flowers were such that they would have fit perfectly into our wedding decor- if we had thousands of dollars more to spend. The bathrooms are to the right of the display and present a unique experience all on their own. My mom and I ooed and awed over another Ower-Mittelstadt wedding inspired floral arrangement inside the bathroom. We were greeted by the bathroom attendant. We finished our business, washed our hands, and dried them on the thickest and softest disposable hand towels that exist. They may be better quality than my own bathroom linens... I grabbed a mint while noticing the pile of tips nearby, and we left. Sorry, bathroom attendant. No tip for you. We're just tourists. David came out of the men's bathroom mildly horrified. Instant replay> BA: "Stall?" David: "No, urinal." BA: "You got that?" David: "YES, I've got it". I suppose the poor guy thought David might need help because of the cast and the crutches. I wonder how many people take the attendant up on his offer of help... no, I don't.

When we got to the middle of The Grove, the water was dancing and singing like Fantasia (think Disneyland, not American Idol). Actually, the singing was Harry Connick, Jr. over the speakers. Ironically, we had been listening to him sing the same song minutes earlier in the car. My mom was immediately happy and explained her love of dancing water. While we could have watched the water dance all day long, our stomachs would have eaten us alive and the happiness created by the dancing water would not have sustained us. We walked to the Farmer's Market (while David crutched) and snaked through the people and booths inside. With all of the scrumptious food choices, we decided on smoothies. I realized later that my belly needed food food, but I'll admit the smoothies were good. Our second course was popcorn and soda (also not food food enough for my body) in the theater where we saw Leatherheads. David and I decided it was the best theater popcorn we've had, but who's surprised. The movie was cute and low-key. It fell right into place in our leisurely, beautiful weather day. After the movie was over, we had about an hour left to shop. My only request was to visit Anthropologie, so my mom and I went in while David and my dad sat outside on a bench. I was hoping to find a $10 or $20 item in the Clearance area, but had no luck. Actually- some of the tops I liked were $120 ON CLEARANCE. Yeeeah- no thanks. Anthropologie is usually pricey, but I think they carry the priciest items in their Grove store because of the clientele. My mom and I ended up looking at the housewares the majority of the time. They make me happy. When we went outside (with empty hands), my dad was starting to talk to a little old man with a walker on the bench next to him. My parents learned this man's life story while David and I people-watched. It is amusing to see what people wear and how they carry themselves when they have money or want to pretend they have money. My two favorites were a "green" 30-something guy and another 30-something guy of a different persuasion. Green guy was sporting the sort of fluffy, natural "I don't need product" hair and wearing a linen off-white long-sleeved shirt over his "I don't care" belly. On the bottom were a pair of skinny grey jeans that were sagged almost completely off his rump to the point where his boxers were exposed between the bottom of his shirt and the top of his jeans. His natural, and what I can only assume to be eco-friendly, outfit was finished off by a pair of off-white linen shoes that covered his entire foot and looked more like hospital booties. It was a bizarre sight. Almost like someone took the skinny legs and jeans of a pre-teen skater kid and put them on his environmentally aware father. The second guy stuck out like a sore thumb simply because of his feminine saunter paired with a grey suit and cowboy boots. You can imagine. I desperately wanted to take pictures of all the characters, but I don't think it would have gone over too well unless I could have played myself off as a photographer for Style, wanting to put people's pictures on the "Seen On The Streets" page. And I'm not a very good actress, so I didn't try. The people-watching wrapped up our visit to The Grove and has me looking forward to the next time I can go to shop, eat, and watch. On the list of things to bring next time: $$$$, a power bar, a camouflaged camera, and a purse big enough to stash disposable towels in- oh, and a little extra $$ to keep the bathroom attendant quiet. : )