For months now, I’ve been helping my husband and two friends build an epic LEGO recreation of the The Last March of the Ents from The Lord of the Rings movie. We unleashed the photos online on September 28, and then displayed it for a public exhibit that very weekend in Seattle at BrickCon. BrickCon was an insanely fun and exhausting time hanging with new and old friends. The drive up to Seattle and back was long… but surprisingly nice to just spend time with my husband and little Baxter, who came along for the trip. And our creation won Best in Show. Really amazed!

It’s been a smashing success and one of the most fun creative projects I’ve ever been a small part of. I hoped people would like it after all the hard work put into it, but never expected the reception to be as enthusiastic as it’s been. We’ve been interviewed for a podcast, made CNN and a ton of blogs, and we’re getting close to a million views on the photos.

We got the crazy idea after watching a marathon screening of the trilogy at the Egyptian Theatre earlier this year. One thing I will always love about Los Angeles is that there so many amazing revival movie theatres. Any night of any week, you can pop into theatres all over town to check out classic, cult, weird, obscure, popular, indie or new movies…

The idea was just to build one Ent. This snowballed. Quickly. It’s been a real labor of love though and came together so seamlessly. We’re pretty proud. And it’ll be on display again at a local event in Pasadena called Designer Con.

What else have I’ve been doing since my last ages ago post? Took a week long road trip exploring the California coast as well as attended several events celebrating the opening of the new Dinosaur Hall at the Natural History Museum. Still going to shows including Fiona Apple, Jon Brion, and the members of Nickelcreek put on one of the best I’ve ever been to in my entire life! Oh, and in between all the LEGO madness, I still managed to see Duran Duran at Nokia Theatre. It always comes back to Duran Duran in the end…

I even posted all my Coachella photos from this year. I’ve been wanting to do a full write-up on that but how do I best express how amazing those three days were? It was the most well run Coachella in all the years I’ve gone. And FINALLY! I got to see Duran Duran play this festival. It was another dream come true. There I was in the front row: banged up, bruised, sore, hot, squished, tired, and then they played “The Chauffeur”. I sobbed. Not going to lie. My most favorite band in the world, playing my most favorite song of all time, at a music festival I love. It was emotional, powerful, beautiful.

Now just have, oh, 20 years more of photos to catch up on. HA!

I was so lucky and thankful to get to be front row for an intimate acoustic performance at the Grammy Museum, watch them perform live on Jay Leno, again from the front row watch them put on an incredible show at the Mayan, and finally end the week with a lovely performance in the rain for a Jimmy Kimmel taping.

The highlight? So many great moments but it’d have to be my incredible friend catching Roger’s drumstick at the Mayan show and giving it to me, fulfilling a long held dream. I was so touched I immediately started crying. I love this band. I love this music. I love my friends.

David Lynch directs Duran Duran. Tonight at the historic Mayan Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. With special guests Beth Ditto, Mark Ronson, Kelis, Gerard Way… watch online starting at 7pm EST. I’ll be there in the audience watching the magic unfold.

I’ve already devoured a sneak listen over and over again. It has shades of the “Medazzaland” era and that’s definitely NOT a bad thing. It’s also got serious attitude like many an excellent Duran Duran song and a lovely vocal by Simon. Nick Egan is directing the video and since he did some of my very favorite Duran Duran videos (“White Lies”, “Perfect Day”, “Come Undone”, “Ordinary World”), I am drooling at the prospect of what this new video will be like.

The 9 song album will be up December 21. My only annoyance in this whole release is that the physical CD release isn’t until February so I’ll have to install iTunes to get it, a program I seriously detest. But there’s no way I’m waiting for this. Please. What kind of Duranie do you make me for?

I’m so intrigued to hear the rest of the album and am pleased as punch with Mark Ronson’s involvement. I think he’s been a fantastic collaborator and being such a fan himself, really understands what makes Duran Duran so special.

Speaking of Mark, I got to see him in action last month. He performed a set for Jimmy Kimmel Live (see photos). It was really fun, made more so because we got to see Alex Greenwald again. Oh Alex, how I miss Phantom Planet so much sometimes. *sniff*

That was one awesome night of music as we rushed over to see James at the Henry Fonda Theatre right after the show and made it just in time. And of course, James put on an epic show of amazing, powerful music. They really connect with their audience and like Duran Duran, they have put on some of the best concert experiences I’ve been lucky to be part of.