"These are a few of my favorite things..."

When I used to tell people that I was working in downtown Los Angeles, the reaction I would often get would be a slight pause, a look of disdain or disappointment, or a blank stare. Back in 2003, downtown LA was not the most sought-after locale for a dental practice. Images of rampant homelessness, crime, and unkempt streets would come to mind rather than a place to work and play.  However, what others saw as a limitation, we viewed as an opportunity! My husband and I thought that growth and development would soon come to downtown. With progress, we envisioned more businesses and condominiums, more people, and more need for health care providers. We decided to take the gamble, and it seems to be paying off. In the last 7 years, we have seen exciting changes in downtown LA. Indeed many more businesses, condos, lofts, and restaurants are popping up everywhere. In my quest to not only "work" downtown but also "play" downtown, I have started to try to do some more exploring, although I still have a lot more to do....

Some of my favorite places I would like to give special mention to:

Neihule Salon
www.neihule.com
607 South Olive Street

My favorite hairstylist works here, Christian King. He works gorgeous miracles into my hair every 8 weeks so I can try to maintain my "hip and edgy mom in Glendale" image....lol  Our office manager, Nadia, also sees Christian for her haircuts. Christian listens to your wants and needs, takes his time, and is extremely meticulous. He takes pride in his work and always gives me a fabulous color and style. I highly recommend this modern and cool salon!

Farmer's Market at 7th and Fig Marketplace
This is in our building in the upper plaza, every Thursday. The market offers fresh produce, flowers, tacos, tamales, crepes, hot dogs, and of course the famous Kettle Korn! There are all kinds of vendors here, also selling jewelry, clothing, cupcakes...you name it! I recently discovered that they carry my favorite fruit, the pluot (a combination of a plum and apricot) in many different varieties. It's a great meeting place with co-workers and friends, and always fun to try new foods. I usually come back with wayyy too much food and treats. As my mom always told me, my eyes are bigger than my stomach!

Bottega Louie
www.bottegalouie.com
700 South Grand Ave.

OMG OMG OMG. This place is a little slice of heaven. I could spend days and days here and be completely happy! I stopped in for some of their famous French Macarons (not a typo, they spell it with one "o") and was overwhelmed with the beautiful decor. I'm not talking about the walls and tables, mind you, I am talking about the counters filled with every decadent dessert you can imagine, e.g. macarons, cupcakes, eclairs, fruit tarts....In addition to that splendor, there were endless offerings of fresh pasta salads, lunch items, meatloaf, mac and cheese....the list goes on, and I haven't even had a sit-down meal there yet! This is a place I would love to lounge with a girlfriend for many hours. That is definitely on my "to do" list.

Pho Siam Spa
www.phosiam.com
1525 Pizarro St.

This hidden gem is not exactly downtown. It's a little bit on the outskirts, and I pass it on the way to work on Glendale Blvd.  If you are at all familiar with Glendale Blvd, there is much to be desired in terms of a scenic view. However, Pho-Siam Spa puts a little smile on my face whenever I have the pleasure of enjoying one of their fantastic massages! It is a very tranquil and beautiful setting. Your massage therapist will lead you to a private room with curtains surrounding your space. You will lie down on a silky mattress pad and pillow, and a tiny Asian woman will come in and give you an unbelievable massage! She will use all her muscles, her arms, legs, and feet. She may even hang from the ceiling while walking down your back! You will stretch muscles you didn't even know you had! The only downside is that it is cash only. But they do have an ATM machine conveniently located inside. While prices have gone up slightly since last year, an hour massage at $50 or a 90 min massage for $75 is a great deal! For a dentist like me, my knots and tense neck and shoulders need all the help they can get. Pho Siam is my savior!

Sushi Gen
www.sushigenla.com
422 E. 2nd St. (Little Tokyo)

Located in Honda Plaza, this is the go-to place in Little Tokyo for excellent and fresh sushi. It serves sushi traditional-style. No gigantic baked and fried rolls with names like "Crazy Roll" or "911 Roll" will be on the menu here. They do have a California roll but it is small and minimalistic. I love basically everything I eat here, which is usually the same thing. We start by ordering Chawanmushi (Japanese egg custard filled with mushrooms, fish cake, shrimp...) because it takes about 15 minutes. While we wait we snack on soft shell crab with ponzu sauce, tako sunomono (an octopus, cucumber, seaweed salad in a vinegary cold sauce, and yellowtail sashimi ( melts in your mouth!). After eating our egg custards, then we move onto the mouth-watering sushi and sashimi selections. Their salmon, uni, tuna, unagi, spanish mackerel, red snapper, and albacore are soooo fresh are so delicious. I particularly LOVE their spicy tuna roll. It is also a small roll, which is just how I like it. Most sushi places either make it or break it for me based on the spicy tuna roll. The big mistake is when the roll is too large and the spicy tuna is so mushy and unappetizing. Sushi Gen gets it just right. I could eat their spicy tuna roll all night! To top off a great meal, we always end with a scoop of green tea or red bean ice cream. Ahhhh.

Got milk?

Remember Emily? She is one of my fabulous Invisalign patients! To refresh your memory, she has a sister in Colorado who is also undergoing Invisalign treatment. Emily and I were engaging in some "friendly competition" with her sister (unbeknownst to her :)) to straighten Emily's teeth first! I am all for healthy sibling rivalry! Update: Emily has started on her "refinement" aligners, meaning we are doing a little more "tweaking" by adding some more trays. Her sister is still waiting for her refinement aligners to arrive....awww, too bad.... All in good fun, all in good fun. I hope to meet her sister one day!

For now I was excited to meet Emily's boyfriend, John. He came along to Emily's appointment and he immediately impressed me with his quick wit, good looks, and outgoing demeanor.  I could see why John and Emily were a couple-they both share these same qualities! After chitchatting a bit,  John told me that he had "very strong teeth and bones." I thought, well that's great! It's nice to know yourself inside and out! He then informed me, (or was it Emily?) that he loves to drink milk. I went along, saying,  "Oh yeah,  eating cereal with milk is really good." He looked at me quizzically, remarking, "No,  just milk." I looked back at him and continued, "Yeah, but with a brownie or a cookie, a glass of milk is so refreshing." He responded,"Well sure, that tastes good too but nothing is as delicious as a big, cold glass of whole milk."

Pause.

I looked at Emily and asked, "Whole milk?"

Emily said, "I know! Can you believe it? John LOVES whole milk! He drinks a gallon of whole milk every week!"  John continued to explain that he has loved milk since he was a young boy and can drink it all day, every day. His mom even stocks her fridge with several gallons of whole milk when she knows her lactose-tolerant son is coming to visit! I mumbled something about skim milk and John  went on a "skim milk is not milk-it's-bluish-grey-it's-like-drinking-water" rant. He described how he loves the white creamy texture of whole milk, that it gives him more satisfaction than skim or even 2% could ever provide.

While John said he has no idea what his cholesterol levels are, he did mention that once when he fell off of his bike onto his face, no teeth were sacrificed. Not a chip or a scratch. No cavities. No broken bones.  Made me think, "darn, why didn't I indulge in a whole milk beverage for lunch?"

It seems this young woman feels the same about whole milk:

http://blogs.experiencelifemag.com/signs-of-life/2009/01/why-whole-milk-is-the-healthiest-choice.html

Hmmm....Got whole milk??

Become a "Follower" of InvisalignGal's blog!

I created a "following widget" on my blog page because well, the Blogger site explains it well:


"Do you want to know who regularly reads your blog and develop a public fan base for your blog? Well now you can do that and more with the Blogger Following feature! In Blogger, users can publicly Follow any URL to tell the blog's author and the world they are a fan. With the Followers gadget, you can display your blog's Followers on your blog to show your blog's popularity and encourage more readers to stay updated with your posts. Readers can now go your blog and become a follower! Tell all your friends and grow your fan base. Once your readers become followers of your blog, their profile picture will be displayed in your Following widget."


So please go to the tab on the right side of our blog and click "Follow." 
Spread the word....and thank you for your support!

 Your invisaligngal

What I learned from my patients today...

"What did you do this weekend?" ( I like to chat with my patients, especially when their lives are way more exciting than mine!)

An Invisalign patient said he spent the weekend in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin, something you don't hear everyday in LA. He was with his father and brother who are pilots and wanted to fly planes. I thought, there must be a much closer location than Osh Kosh??? Little did I know, they were attending the EAA Aircraft Airventure Osh Kosh, a great international aviation event! You can see about 2,500 different types of aircraft, old, new, borrowed, and blue....There's an afternoon airshow, kid-friendly educational presentations, and you can learn how to fly (planes, that is :))!

www.airventure.org


My next patient, Jill, was actually not a patient today, but I saw her sitting in the reception area and had a nice chat. She had brought in a friend of hers who needed a "tooth consult."  Jill hasn't been in for a while after her orthodontic treatment, as she has been busy with her new start-up company. It is called Automated Man, which targets college guys who are too busy (or lazy...lol) to get to the store for tolietries, etc. For a small monthly fee, you can have the goods delivered right to your door! What she and her partners discovered was that most of their new clients were actually mothers who were buying the service for their not-quite-so-independent sons. These moms were essentially already providing this service (free of charge mind you) for their sons who lived either 10 or 100 miles away! They were spending much of their time, energy, and money finding the different toiletries, lovingly packing them up and mailing them to colleges all over the country! Soon Jill decided it was time to create another site just for these devoted mamas, called Automated Mom! Moms everywhere can continue to provide for their "adult-children" just by hitting  "Place Order." As the site states, they can "Show your love. Save your money." How cool is that?

www.automatedmom.com

:) invisaligngal