Lea in La La Land - Lea Black

Summer can be such a strong symbol for so many. The promise of time spent with family and friends has always been something I’ve held dear to my heart. To that end, when summer starts to share its sun, my family and I head out west to our summer home in Los Angeles.

I love Miami, but LA never disappoints.

The usual check list always keeps us coming back: Great weather, check; friends and parties, check; delicious restaurants, check, you get the picture. And while all of the above make for a full social calendar, I feel extremely blessed to be able to relish in views of mountains, beaches and cityscapes, simultaneously.

Of course lala land wouldn’t have earned its stripes without the celebrity sightings either. Famous or infamous, they hide behind every star-studded corner. And as can be expected, while one gets used to this fact, there is always that one time where you find yourself more than intrigued by the familiar face dining less than a few feet away. This year Jane Fonda stood out amongst the rest for me—she looks so fabulous and as she entered Craig’s restaurant one night with her adorable little dog and a gentleman I didn’t recognize, all head turns.

There were a few others as well.

On a night out at Beacher’s Madhouse, I was entertained to find Kelly Osbourne acting as host, lilac hair and all; not to mention that Mark Cuban graciously invited my friend Joe Francis and I to join his table making the night all the more unforgettable. And while fun with friends is such a signature part of summer, I love taking in the Los Angeles culture. One night we went to a gallery opening and ran into The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills filming, all but Adrienne Maloof; but fear not, Paris Hilton came by with a small entourage to fill the missing blonde’s shoes.

Heather McDonald, the hilariously funny comedian— you may recognize her from Chelsea Lately—invited us to her birthday party at Sur. Tamra Barney from the RHOC sat across from me and next to her sat Lisa Vanderpump (who owns the restaurant). It was an unexpected housewives reunion. But Heather had her band of comedians from Chelsea Lately make the party, imagine the laughs.

And as if we hadn’t kept sufficiently social, the celebrations continued: A party in Venice Beach resulted in a Jack Black sighting.

Some of the festivities were, in fact, of our own doing. We celebrated the birthday party of the amazing Greg Lotus, photographer extraordinaire at our home and of course the guest list was about as posh as his incredible art—fabulous. And speaking of fabulous, I got a chance to spend time with the gorgeous, if not head turning Joanna Krupa.

Catching up is so special. Especially when you have such an eclectic group of talented and creative minds around you. I loved spending time with my friend Adam Gaynor of Matchbox20 and hearing about some great projects he’s working on; he’s really so creative so we joined him and my friend Martyn Bullard of Million Dollar Decorator and the adorable Lance Bass in a celebration of creative minds.

Down time made its way on the schedule as well. I’m enjoying new shows like The Newsroom and Political Animals and of course you can’t be in the city where films are made an not enjoy the movies. Here are some we got to see: Beasts of the Southern Wild, a mythic story about overcoming adversity on many levels; Savages, Oliver Stone doesn’t disappoint; Queen of Versailles, which was one of those have-to-see-it-to-believe-it films, RJ couldn’t believe his eyes; and Moonrise Kingdom, which had great actors and was fun for the family. And since when I’m not watching TV or films I love my electronics, I also found a new fun app called Agent Manager which I recommend to anyone who likes real estate or is a realtor.

Like any other party, however, this one must come to an end. We head back east to south Florida so that RJ can make his first day of school at Ransom Everglades and we couldn’t be more proud. August 24 will be five months since Leroy went on vacation to heaven; a day to reflect on so many memories, but at the same time, I look forward to heading home.

Real Housewives of Miami will be airing Season Two, Thursday, September 13, so I urge everyone stay tuned; until then, I do hope your summer has been as exciting as ours and that you too have had days and nights full of friends, fun and making extraordinary memories.

Love and peace.

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