You are probably all bored by now with my waxing on about how my daughter is my favorite person on the planet, but she is. When you share so many interests in common it’s hard to not have a blast together, and our visits always fly by so quickly. The visit was no exception, and it began with a bang!

Hugging my favorite person on the planet

My attorney (and friend) Anna Graves and her incorrigibly amusing husband, Hugh treated us to a spectacular evening of at the Hollywood Bowl – complete with a divine three-course dinner served right at our box seats. The event was a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock and the virtuoso composers he worked with.

An Evening of Hitchcock at the Bowl

North by Northwest leading lady Eva Maria Saint charmed us all as she narrated with intriguing behind the scenes insights, while scenes from the classic films  flashed upon the screen, and the orchestra (conducted by David Newman – the son of one of Hitchcock’s favorite composers) regaled us.

Driving to Palm Springs

Next stop, Palm Springs for a spot of business, property hunting (I’ve been thinking about moving there), and glorious relaxation in the 106° F weather – which oddly did not stifle my enthusiasm in the slightest, although Tatjana found it a bit overwhelming the first day.

Palm Springs

A day by the pool, a spot of shopping, and a nice cool movie seemed to acclimate her quickly! We also squeezed in a fly-by visit to drop off a house-warming gift for my longtime friend Wendy Frazier before heading home.

Playing tourist and paying respects to Marilyn Monroe

Once back in Los Angeles, we managed to hit the nail salon for mother-daughter mani/pedi’s, take-in a couple more movies, and  pay our respects to Marilyn Monroe before Grandma and Grandpa arrived and off we went to a BAFTA LA screening of My Old Lady with Maggie Smith.

Art at MOCA

It goes without saying, that when my mother and Tatjana get together (both artists) – it’s time to see some art, so off we toddled to MOCA,  lunch at Lemonade, and of course shopping in one of the best gift shops on the West Coast. I must admit, both mom and Tatjana were uncharacteristically restrained.

Tatjana shopping

They made up for it shopping all day (while I worked) the next day. Tatjana bought a really cool pair of spectacles by Project Runway‘s Mondo Guerra amongst other goodies.  That evening we decided to try the 42 ounce Porterhouse at Chi Spacca which came so rare it was practically still mooing, but we did have a delightful evening together.

Mom and Dad came for a visit

We played a card game called Spite & Malice well into the wee hours with Tatjana thrashing us as she has done since she was seven years old! It was hard to say goodbye to my my parents, so we commiserated by attending two more movies, and hob-nobbing over dinners with old friends.

Dinner at Chi Spacca

And then, in what seemed like a blink, it was time for Tatjana to return to London – however she caught a terrible head cold. So, that sensation of someone standing on my chest as I say goodbye to her has been joyously postponed.

Watching mum on TV

Instead I brought her a dinner of chicken noodle soup in bed while we watched the finale of MasterChef  (with yours truly as a guest judge) together. Is it wrong for a mother to be so happy her daughter is too unwell to fly?

Chicken Noodle Soup

It’s more than an old wives tale that chicken soup is natures penicillin, there are actually studies that show it can have a medicinal effect on the common cold and the flu (which is good knews with the particularly bad flu season we’re experiencing this year).