DATE FASHION SOURCE: SensationElle

Mini pencil skirt $6, Forever 21, Shoes: from Ross $16.
And she still looks Hella Famous.

Sensation.Elle is an up and coming blog where Elle. P., an epic fashionista, let's you know where to go and what to get on the...Wise. Her goal is to save money while maintaining a look that is both Fabulous and Sensational, and Wicked if I may say so myself. In my opinion, I think her blog is really an awesome take on totally realistic and fantastical fashion which includes knock-offs, animal prints, pencil skirts and hot pink. Believe the hype and join the crowd!
Kate

DATE BY KATE #7: USC Fisher Museum of Art

WHERE: USC Fisher Museum of Art
TIME: Tuesday-Friday 12-5 pm, Saturday 12-4 pm

DATE TIPS
1. Park on campus for $8
2. Grab a map because you're already lost
3. Make your way over to the museum, don't get hit by a bike

DATE BY KATE #6: Murder at the Getty Scavenger Hunt

WHAT: The Murder at the Getty Museum Scavenger Hunt (Adults only)
WHEN: Saturday, December 5, 4:30 pm
WHERE: The Getty Center Los Angeles
BUY TICKETS: Watson Adventures
DESCRIPTION

A murdered curator has left behind a cryptic trail of clues connected with secrets in works at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. As your team gathers answers about the art, you begin to piece together a sordid tale about greed, lust, pride, revenge and treachery, all revolving around the museum’s planned multi-million-dollar purchase of a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. The murder victim knew too much-and now it’s your turn to learn what he knew and discover what drove one of four suspects to commit murder. To find out, you’ll have to crack a secret code left in the victim’s appointment calendar. Can you figure out who dunnit? Be prepared for one of our most challenging hunts.

ADDRESS
1200 Getty Center Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90049

DATE BY KATE #5: San Antonio Winery

"So...when do we get to step on these grapes..."

The San Antonio Winery

• Los Angeles Winery since 1917
  
• Right in down town LA
  

Activities

• Three free wine samples
• Wine tasting of 8 or 9 wines for like $9:
  
• Tours by the hour: Stumble about in love
  
• Wine Classes: Learn how to taste wine like a true snob....together ($20-$55)
  

Contact Information
737 Lamar St.
Los Angeles CA 90031
(323) 223-1401

Site Information

• Wine Tasting
• Wine Classes
• Restaurant Reservations

DATE BY KATE #4: Murderous Dinosaurs

Hint: The velociraptor can't wait to eat you.

WHAT: The Murder at the Natural History Museum Scavenger Hunt (Adults only)
WHEN: Saturday, November 21, 2 pm
WHERE: The Getty Center Los Angeles
TICKETS: Watson Adventures

DESCRIPTION

Someone, or something, has been bumping off museum staffers involved in acquiring an ancient Aztec relic. Is it the dreaded Curse of Itlkilyu? Or is a serial killer on the loose? Your team of sleuths will have to crack a hieroglyphic code and uncover the museum’s secrets to stop the killings. This is our most challenging hunt, so the more sleuths you bring on your team, the better your chances of figuring out whodunnit.

ADDRESS
1200 Getty Center Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90049

DATE BY KATE #3: Wishing on Leonid's Falling Stars

Your Date Starts on Monday November 16 goes until the morning of November 17

WHEN CAN I SEE THE LEONID SHOWER
Monday November 16th at midnight
1230 AM-2:30 AM Pacfic Time

LEONID METEOR SHOWER
A shower of shooting stars. The shower happens each mid-November, when Earth passes through an area of space filled with debris from a comet. That debris burns up in our atmosphere, causing the “shower” of meteors. In Los Angeles you'll be able to see about one leonid every two or three minutes.

CHOOSING A LAZY STARGAZING HOTSPOT
Tough in LA because of the ambient light. A good litmus test is if you can see the little dipper where you are standing, you are in an area dark enough. We're talking beaches, tops of mountains, deserts and forests. PLEASE choose a safe destination where both you and your date can feel safe (no deserted dumps, middle of the highway romps)

HOW TO PROPERLY STARGAZE
Lying down and looking up. Lots of people use pillows and just lie there. Make lots of wishes.

PREDATE
Tell your date to dress warmly and exactly where you intend to go. You don't want to flip them out by taking them to deserted parts of the state. Also, make sure they are prepared for a night of wishes and giggly nonsense (whatever that may entail for you and your mate)

SUPPLIES
Aim for warmth: Warm jacket, Blanket/Sleeping bag
Comfort: Two pillows
Safety: Flashlight, Glowsticks
Fun: Get ready to tickle and hold tightly


YOUR DATE
9 pm

• Get your supplies together
• Think of some goofy wishes you can tell your date and can't tell your date :)
• Learn proper wish making protocol

10 pm

• Catch some late dinner
• Inform your date that the best way to watch a meteor shower is lying next to eachother and looking up

11 pm

• Dunkin Donuts: grab some hot cocoa and donuts for the road*
• Inform your date of proper making a wish on a star protocol
• Remind your date to make wishes on the shooting stars

12 am

• Arrive at your Lazy Stargazing Hotspot

12 am-2 am

• Spend the time talking about the wishes you want to make and the wishes you made as a child.
• Engage in again, whatever your definition of giggly nonsense may be.

*This is an inappropriate venue for spaghetti but do try if you insist.

How to Wish on a Star Properly

Wish Better
Now, in this day and age, many people are turning to wishing to pay bills or get to France. Well at tonight's Leonid Meteor Shower there will be plenty of shooting stars to pay your mortgage and get you closer to that Cute Blonde in your Chem Lab...If you do it properly.

There are two methods you can choose from:
The Wikihow Method and the Kate Method (i.e. The right method for making wishes)



WikiHow's Guide to Wishing on Shooting Stars.
Wikihow has created a surprisingly elaborate method of getting your wishes met, and by golly, they're free to make, so spend a buck.

1. Think of all the things that you want to wish for. Think of the things that you don't have, like a million dollars, a house, a jumbo sized vanilla shake. It could be anything!
2. Close your eyes and wish for things that you can't live without, or that you deeply want, or things that you could actually have that seem impossible to get, like a penny minted during this calendar year, a date to the prom or to find a best friend.
3. Narrow down your wishes, to be maybe just one or two special ones. Keep eliminating wishes, and find just two that are most important, and that really think could come true. You may feel that they are equally important, and if so, then wish for the both or them, or just one.
4. Look up at the sky, and look for a bright star, if you cannot find a shooting star. Close your eyes, and make your wish. To be safe, make the same wish when you go to the mall and see the water fountain. Close your eyes, make your wish and toss a penny into the water.
5. Write down your wish on paper, then tape it or rubber band it to a 1/2 dollar coin. Throw this into the nearest body of water, and wait for your wish to come true.

The Kate Method of Wishing on Stars
AKA The right way to wish on stars

1. PREGAME: Think of one thing you want a lot (a person's health, trip to some French country, a beau's return)
2. GAME ON: Spot a shooting star, or even a bright star (Twinkle Twinkle Methodology), shut your eyes and wish quietly for this thing as hard as you can.
3. POST GAME: Don't tell anyone what you wished for, it will ruin everything.

Now that you know how to wish on stars, get out there and get a date with that someone you keep wishing for!

Kate

Date By Kate #2: A Pie Contest Date, not Kobayashi style

The Food: Pie
The Price: Free
You and Your Homeboy: There.

Your Date
KCRW presents the first annual Pie Contest where 150 contestants will be submitting their pies for tasting...by you...for free. While I wouldn't necessarily suggest a pie/pizza/hotdog/kimchi eating contest for a date, everyone loves free food, and even more, everyone loves pie. Registration is closed but you can absolutely get your pie on if you show up!

Date: November 14
Place: Canyon Atrium at Westfield Topanga
Time: 2-4PM

Great Dates in History: Universal Studios Lot Circa 1973

YOUR DATE
1. TO DO
Hot wire a golf cart with a paper clip and drive your date around the Universal Backlot

2. LOCATIONS
Illuminated only by moonlight, hit up Western Street. New York Street. Mexican Village

3. BEWARE
Beware of the rotating Ice Tunnel because it makes you throw up and swerve to the side with embarassing results.

4. BEST TIME TO DO IT
1973, after 9pm

Date By Kate #1: Proper Hollywood Bowl Date

The other night I saw a presentation of the music of Bernstein at the Hollywood Bowl! For those of you who dont know, the HB is a classic pain but its really evolved in terms of want-to-go-and-we-actually-can-go-ed-ness. For instance, instead of parking in the fire hazard of a maze they call the staggered parking lot, you can meet up a shuttle at a location near you. Another option is you can metro or drive for and park for $3 into the Hollywood and highland stop. As for the ungodly tickets, I just found out that you can get tix between $1 and $8. So
youre far from the bowl, but the acoustics aren't any better than the 10th row, you dont have to sit near snobs, you can cupcake like crazy, see the landscape above the bowl and move down when no one is looking. Over enormous sandwiches, diet cokes and milano cookies on a silver platter (were not heathens) we delighted in the sounds of Candide and On the waterfront. Be aware that it gets Hella cold but it's a wonderful Los Angeles delight that's more convenient and accessible than ever.

Dating and Contagious Diseases: No More French Kissing

"Swine flu has put an end to a beloved French custom, at least for now," said Sherryl Connelly in the New York Daily News. The French health ministry has issued a warning that the air kiss, or "la bise," could spread the swine flu, or H1N1 virus. The "bise ban" got its start when the mayor of the town of Guilvenec in Brittany told school teachers and students to drop the traditional greeting.The kissing ban has not become a national law, yet, said Henry Samuel in Britain's Daily Telegraph, but big companies such as insurer AXA have told workers to abandon the bise and the handshake, and some offices are even demanding a one-yard person-to-person buffer zone. And an outright national ban could be one of the emergency measures France takes in the winter flu season to fight a possible H1N1 pandemic.With what shall we replace the kiss on the cheek and the handshake? asked Sandrine Blanchard in France's Le Monde. A slap on the back? If that's the way you go, be gentle. If you slap too hard you might make your friend cough or spit—and that's been banned, too.

FROM: http://www.theweek.com/article/index/100271/Swine_flu_and_Frances_kissing_ban

The Pursuit of Cheap, Ecstatic and Fulfilling Love

Recently I've been speaking with many of my friends about first crushes. Although I will not reveal the identity of the crushes and the crushees, I will say that many of them took place between first and third grade and all of them had incredibly perfect first crush names like Nancy Conti, Perry Como, Danielle, Tanner, Gary and Andre Many of the crushees told me that they had loved these individuals because of their blonde hair and blue eyes, their exotic dark skin or their intoxicating scents. Mind you, intoxicating was often defined as orange-cicles, strawberry short cake dresses or "Trix."

And I invite you to consider your first crush. Can you recall that useless hair twisting, nail biting, last name binder drawing dreaming love that made you a giggly wreck and a glittery fool?

Are you justifying your love because they had hair that smelled like cotton candy and looked like gold? Eyes like green and blue Gushers? Are you falling back on the, "made me feel dizzy" or "couldn't stop looking at her over my lunchable" excuse?

Are you shivering or giggling just thinking about him or her?

Well I invite you to consider that maybe you got it.

Maybe you got what many of us are looking for.

Before we started to filling out score cards as soon as they sat down at the bad restaurant chosen by them on your inevitably awful first, and last date. Before they starte failing questions like, "Do you prefer asian girls," "How many degrees do you have?" "How much do you make" "what's your 401K like?"

When sex started being part of the occasion, what was lost?

Maybe a serious relationship is the problem. Not Serious Love.

Nothing was more serious than my love for Mitchell in Arizona. He had a totally sweet Alligator pool raft which I saved him with because home boy couldn't swim. Cause he was four. We were meant to be. There was no conversation or birth control conversations.

Just useless, blind and hysterically content amour.

Look for it. Be less discerning and more adventurous. Fall into it, go nuts.

Maybe you need it.

Maybe that's all you need.

KS

Next up:
The Pursuit of Cheap, Ecstatic and Fulfilling Individuality

Love for All

Dating Kate

"If dating me is as expensive as being me,
one of us better get a job."
KS

MATES BY KATE: Steps along the way

FIRST STEP
Stop looking. This is the best tactic. Just put yourself in new places and have a good time, you'll see that you enjoy yourself more and maybe others will too. Worst Case Scenario, good solo-time for you!

SECOND STEP
Ladies, bring a back up buddy when you go sharking. If you actually want to date someone do not go home with them or kiss them as soon as you meet them. Bring a Wing Woman. Have fun, but safely you twit.

MATES BY KATE #1: Losing the Training Wheels

WARNING
Ladies, bring a back up buddy. I haven't been to these locations, and until I am fully confident in the skeeze factor, Do not go alone, bring a girlfriend, or a "wing woman"

HOW TO FIND A DATE IN LA #1
I Recommend: Cicle.org
This website, dedicated to the biking few in Los Angeles, has a bunches of events where bicylists can play with their toys, show off and socialize. The event that caught my attention was The Tweed, Moxie & Mustache Ride which is unfortunately over but they have the

Bike Oven Community Bike Repair
Community bike repair space Bike Oven is a repair space and a social space for hangint out with fellow riders.

LOCATION
Bike Oven Community Bike Repair

Tuesday, December 8, 2009, 7 – 10pm

3706 N. Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, CA 90065

and learn to fix a bike in five minutes flat at

DIY Repair Coop!

MATES BY KATE: How to find a Date in LA

WHAT HAPPENED TO JUST DATES?!
Okay, so a lot of my single friends have been on my case that I have this website for making dates. But they don't have people to take on my fabulous dates and are therefore unable to go on my brilliant dates and review my dates.
This makes me Livid.

So I am going to tell you WHERE to find people to date in Los Angeles through the new series "Mates By Kate" I am going to give a disclaimer however that all of my, "where to find dates" feature isn't necessarily about finding someone new to go out with, but perhaps going out there and doing something on your own. Making new friends, new "mates." Finding friends in Los Angeles is nearly as difficult as finding romantic partners. Especially if you're not from here, and especially if you're not fluent in Los Angeles.

I am a firm believer that one cannot have "Us-ness" without "Me-ness," be your own best beau. Do something nice for yourself, be safe, and have fun.