Easy Like Sunday Morning

Van Morrison plays on Pandora as my husband makes pancakes on a nice lazy Sunday morning. I love Sundays. There was a time when I use to dread Sunday's, I associated them with going back to work. After 1PM on a Sunday, I would pretty much consider the weekend over. Talk about not utilizing my time. Now, Sundays are quite possibly my favorite day of the week. About three years ago I lost the ability to sleep in. It's a true rareity if I can make it past 7AM on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Even if I am hungover, which is also rare now that I have lost my tolerance for alcohol. It's amazing how quick your mind and body can change from age 25 to 29. Anyway, getting up early on the weekends has its benefits: it extends the weekend (to a degree), you get to see a beautiful sunrise, the streets are quiet, and on this particular Sunday the celebrities were out! Living in LA (and working where I do) has made me kind of numb to seeing celebrities. Afterall, at the end of the day they are just people with a job to do. But, I would be lying if I said it wasn't still fun to spot a good one!

After a heavy pancake breakfast and about an hour of Van Morrison, my hubs and I decided to take ride on our new beach cruisers. Which, by the way, might be the most fun purchase I have made in my adult life, so far. You really forget how fun riding a bicycle really is (especially with no hands!). We headed down our usual route from Santa Monica towards Malibu. A normally crowded tourist laden path was tranquil and beautiful on this chilly January morning. In spite of the looming clouds, the sun was peeking out and dancing with the small waves. Not too much foot traffic; just the occasional jogger, fellow bicyclist or local taking a stroll armed with a fresh Starbucks.

As we pedaled along I was enjoying the beauty of the Pacific Palisades and becoming lost in my thoughts. Suddenly, I see sand flying and hear brakes screeching. I focus my attention back on the path to see my husband looking frantic. I pedal a little faster to catch up to where he was at. "Tom Hanks!" he says. "That was Tom Hanks!" much louder this time. Sure enough, it was him--literally less than five feet away from us walking along listening to his iPod. Immediately I got embarrassed. What if he heard Bryan!? We would look like total tools. Luckily, he didn't. Or if he did, he ignored us.

After regaining our composure we continued down the path not even five minutes later...Johnny Knoxville, after that Colin Hanks, ten minutes later Jeff Probst. We were on a celebrity sighting roll! It was really getting kind of ironic, we started taking bets on who we'd see next. As we reached the end of the bike path towards Malibu, we turned around and headed to Venice Beach. It was reaching mid-morning at this point and the crowds were starting to pour in. A frisbee tournament was setting up on the beach and tourists were swarming the pier.

We were feeling a little parched and decided to stop by a beach cafe for a $4 bottle of water...uh, yeah...Anyways, as we were quenching our thirst I noticed a homeless looking guy getting closer and closer. Great, another panhandler I thought to myself.  He had on black basketball shorts, an oversized plaid jacket, outdated sneakers and calf high black socks. His hair and manscaping looked pretty well kept and clean for a homeless guy; but the outfit reaked of unemployment (or so I thought). The man got closer still. He looked lost, like he had just woke up in some random place and had no idea where he was at or how he got there. My husband leaned in and whispered "that's Josh Brolin." What!? Not the stud muffin from Goonies, no way. I looked closer...it was him. In spite of the fact that his outfit looked like he had just raided a goodwill donation truck--it was him. Really, the outfit should have come as no surprise, quite a few celebrities seem to dress like that out here. I guess it is hobo chic or something. Not like I am any kind of connoisseur of high fashion--I just find it funny. Oh, and as you may have guessed, he was definitely not panhandling.

Later that evening we were watching the Golden Globes and saw our fellow morning beachgoers; Tom Hanks and Josh Brolin. Mr. Brolin looked dapper and nothing like the hobo alter ego he had clearly left behind at the beach. Hollywood is a funny place.