Head South

Happy Saturday! Simon and I are hanging around the apartment, waiting to leave for our Morris family vacation. He's got homework to do, but I do not and I am already finished packing, so I thought I would do a quick update.

Yesterday, the plan was for Simon to get home around 3:30, and for us to walk over to the movie theater at the Grove for a 5pm showing of Star Trek: Into Darkness.

We did the same thing with Gatsby last week, and it worked out well. Because we live in the middle of Los Angeles, if you want to see a movie opening night, you generally have to buy tickets ahead of time to get decent seats. So I bought the tickets a few days ago. Of course, Simon ran into a big problem at work, and no one was there to relieve him, so he left very late and we ended up driving over and getting there just before the movie started.

But we made it, and we enjoyed it a great deal. The movie was a solid summer film, with gorgeous imagery, imperceptible CGI, a cast of very likable characters, and an interesting plot. I am glad they ended up doing another Star Trek film with this same cast, because they are great together.

After the movie, we visited with the stairs car from Arrested Development, parked at The Grove.

My friend Ny saw the Banana Stand in London - Netflix is doing some great promotion for the show.

Then, we drove over to Blue Palms Brew House to get some dinner.

The Brew House is attached to a club, and there was a concert going on, so we could feel some of the bass vibrating throughout dinner. We'll actually be at the same club for a show in a couple of weeks. But otherwise, we had a nice meal. Simon had the house hefeweizen, and I tried a Ladyface La Blonde, which was a Belgian Pale Ale, and a Craftsman 1903 Lager, which was a very tasty pale lager. Simon always gets the house hef from this place, and I would get either of the beers I tried again. As for food, we had a cheese plate, 

Some fish and chips for me, and short ribs with mashed potatoes for him.

Simon's meal left room for improvement. Mine was delicious, but it (and the cheese plate) was no Station Taproom. We miss them!

In just a bit, we will be headed off to Carlsbad, California, just a couple hours south of here, to spend a week in this beach house.

Just across the street from the house is the beach! I am anxious to log some time in the West Coast sands, Simon is happy about having slightly over a week off from work, and we are both looking forward to seeing family. I will definitely be back with updates on the house and our activities in Carlsbad. Talk to you soon!

Get Lucky

Hey! How are things? Our schedule has been pretty quiet for the past few weeks, but as June approaches, that tempo is changing rapidly. I'll tell you about some of our upcoming plans, but first, some pictures from the week.

Tuesday night, Simon was dying for tacos so we went to El Toro Cantina, a spot just a couple of blocks away from the apartment. 

We had been here once before on our last trip to LA, and rated it just okay, but Simon really wanted to try it again so I agreed to give them a second chance. 

We won't be back for a third time, as the service was abysmal and there was a two drink minimum to get the taco Tuesday $1 price on tacos. 

But the tacos and margaritas were decent, so there was that. Afterward, we stopped by a new place that opened up down the block, Milk Jar Cookies.

They sell cookies, if you hadn't already worked that out.

Simon got a Chocolate Chip Cookie, while I tried a Banana Split Cookie, pictured below.

Mine had banana, nuts, butterscotch chips and a bit of cherry on top - it was amazing. We each loved our respective cookies. At $3 a cookie, it's a little steep. But it's really nice if you are having a cookie craving and don't want to make a couple dozen just to have one.

Today, Simon worked on a project for class, and I spent a lot of time making plans for the next couple months. One of the plans I made is for one of our last weekends in LA (this time around - I am sure we'll be back soon enough on a more permanent basis). We are going to FYF Fest, a two day music festival held in a park in Downtown LA.

Neither of us are big on traditional music festivals, which typically cost several hundred dollars a person and involve camping for several days. Not our thing. However, this festival can be accessed via public transit or a short drive, there is no camping involved, and there are several bands that we are interested in seeing, so we decided to go for it and see how we fare.

Another plan is for one night of our beach trip. A few weeks ago, I found out that Arclight Hollywood was showing one of my favorite movies, Cleopatra, the week we are going to be at the beach. This version, from 1963, stars Liz Taylor and cost $44 million ($400 million or so in today's dollars) to make, nearly bankrupting the studio. However, Liz is fantastic, as are Rex Harrison and Richard Burton, and the visuals, costumes, and cinematography are stunning for the time period.

I was crushed that we couldn't go, because it is a movie of epic scale that I am dying to see on a big screen. However, today I found out that hundreds of movie theaters all over the country are all playing a newly restored version on May 22nd to celebrate its 50th anniversary, and there is an Arclight theater a short drive from our vacation house that is participating. I asked Simon to attend with me as a birthday present (and, as it is over 4 hours long, it really is a gift), and he agreed. I was already psyched for the beach, and this will be the cherry on top.  

In addition to the beach, a movie, and a music festival, we have a ton more stuff coming up over the next three months. We have more movies to see, comedy shows, theater, a visit from my best friend (and therefore an excuse to do touristy things!), concerts (indoor and out, including one in a cemetery, which I will tell you more about when it happens), and likely a couple of wine tastings and day trips. It will be a memorable summer, for certain. Kitters is psyched.

What are your summer plans? Love you guys!

P.S.: Want an earworm? You're welcome.

I've Got Sunshine

Hey! Hope all is well on the East Coast. The weather here lately has been gorgeous, and actually rather warm the past few days. Highs this weekend and Monday were in the 90's, though it will be cooler this week with highs in the 70's. Still not too shabby.

Sunday, Simon spent a lot of time working on a school project, and we both talked to our moms to wish them a happy Mother's Day. Sunday night, after a lot of indecisive chatter, we walked to The Counter to get dinner.

The outside patio was packed, with the weather being so nice, so we had to settle for indoor seating. We each had a burger, and shared some fries.

After dinner, we walked home. This building always catches my eye...

 and Simon pointed out that it's because it looks like QBert. Mystery solved!

One of the advantages of living in an apartment building like ours is all of the amenities. This building, for example, has trash chutes on every floor, a fitness center, a business center, a lounge area, a hot tub, and a swimming pool. These are not amenities you would find in a smaller building, where we will likely end up when we move here permanently, so we are trying to use them while we have them. 

Yesterday, we decided to venture out to the pool for the first time. It was open in March, but closed for all of April for replastering, and it finally reopened just a couple days ago. Simon is working an early shift this week, so he was home just after 3pm, and it was still warm enough to get in the water. On the way in, we discovered this little BBQ area, which we will definitely be utilizing. We both miss our grill.

There is also a fire pit in the grill area, which is nice for the cooler evenings.

I didn't take pictures of the pool while we were out there, as there were several other sunbathers at the time. But here's a picture from our balcony this morning, before anyone has ventured into the pool area. 

Because it is in the center of the building, it gets the most sun between 10am and 2pm, and then the shadows start to set in. It is an infinity style pool, with the grates at the edges recirculating the water that spills over. It looks very small in this picture, but it is actually a nice sized pool. And the water is warm! When we first walked toward it, one of the other patrons warned us that it was freezing. So I dipped my foot in hesitantly, but honestly, it was close to the warmest Grandma and Grandpa Light's pool ever gets. Thanks, guys, for building up my tolerance! 

On Sunday, while Simon was working on his project, there were dozens of people out in the pool area. But it was much less crowded on Monday afternoon, which was pleasant. We swam, we read, and we had a nice time. We will definitely be back out to the pool again over the next few months.

This week, I am keeping my eyes open for things to do in the next few months, and also packing and getting ready for our trip on Saturday. Talk to you soon!

Old Sport

Hello! This week has flown by, despite the fact that we haven't been up to a whole lot outside the apartment. Simon's been busy with work and school, I've been watching the Phillies and keeping the apartment in tip-top shape, and we have spent our nights binge-watching Doctor Who.

We're halfway through Season 5, so we will be caught up in no time. ;) Get it? Time? ::sigh::

Last night, we did get out of the apartment for a movie night.

We ate a quick dinner at Chipotle, which is a block from the apartment, and then walked to The Grove's theater to see The Great Gatsby.

I read the book in high school, and I enjoyed it much more than most of the mandatory reading I was assigned back then. So a few years ago, when I saw Baz Luhrmann was making a movie adaptation of the book, I was excited to see it. However, over the past week or two, I heard a lot of negative reviews of the film, which made me fear I was excited for nothing.

Thankfully, for me, the reviews were way off base, and I absolutely loved the film. Simon didn't really like it, but he acknowledged that it was the story he didn't like, not the movie itself. It's very closely adapted from the book, so if you didn't like the book, the movie won't appeal to you. But if you remember the book fondly, give the film a chance. The visuals are fantastic, the music is anachronistic but catchy, and Leo was born to play Gatsby.

Afterward, we walked home to watch more Doctor Who before bed. This morning, we slept in and made breakfast, and then Simon went skateboarding with Dale. By the time he got back, it was well past lunchtime, so we went to Mendocino Farms to get sandwiches.

We ate on the patio, because the weather was gorgeous.

Seventy five degrees with no bugs or humidity makes us happy people.

While we waited for our food, we entertained ourselves by making faces at this guy, sitting next to us.

What kind of dog is this? Other than the cutest dog ever, obviously. I want one!

I had a Cuban sandwich (those are plaintain chips on top)

 while Simon had a steak BLT.

As usual, no complaints... they know how to put a sandwich together.

After our linner, we stopped by Trader Joe's and then came home. We spent a while sitting on the balcony reading, and now Simon is doing some reading for class while I update the blog.

Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend. To my mom and grandmother, to Mary Jo, to Jakki, and any other mothers reading the blog...

Happy Mother's Day!

We are sorry we can't be there to celebrate, but know that we love you all!

Cinco de Mayo

¡Hola!

It's been a few days since our last update, but they were nothing to write home about. Simon's schedule was, as predicted, pretty unusual, so the cats and I did a lot of this

while he was sleeping or at work. But by Saturday, his schedule was completely back to normal, so we had all weekend to spend together. We woke up and made breakfast, then met with Joanne, a cat-sitter who will be taking care of Kitters and Miso while we are on vacation with the Morris family. She was very nice and got along well with the boys, so we are positive she will be a good fit for them.

After meeting with Joanne, we walked to The Grove.

We were there to see Iron Man 3.

Apparently, so were a lot of other people because the theater was pretty crowded, and I just saw that it broke box office records this weekend. The first two were enjoyable popcorn flicks, and this one was no different, so we got what we expected. Afterward, we were hungry, so we decided to check out the flagship location of Umami Burger, also located in The Grove.

Umami was the first place we ate in Los Angeles last time around, but they have since closed that location and opened this one nearby. The menu is more or less the same, but this location is much bigger than the old one. I tried the Manly Burger, while Simon had the Truffle Burger,

and we shared some Manly fries.

Everything was as delicious as it looks. One thing that I like about Umami is that the burgers are not gigantic, but about the same size as the burgers that we make at home. You get a good taste for all of the ingredients, but you don't leave ready to explode. It was a very satisfying linner.

Afterward, we walked home and got ready to go to ASSSSCAT at UCB.

While we waited in line, we could hear a party going on at the Celeb Scientology Center across the street, but we were not brave enough to crash and meet all of our fave celeb Scientologists. You probably would have never heard from us again.

It's getting lighter and lighter outside at night, so that the sun was still out for most of our wait. The monologist on Saturday was Shelby Fero, a Twitter comedian that the two of us were not familiar with before the show.

She is only twenty, and talked a bit about how she can't remember a time before the internet, which made me feel kind of old. But she was funny, and it was the best improv show we've seen in a while. 

This morning, we slept in late, and went to Square One for breakfast. Inspired by a delicious looking Instagram picture of April's waffle breakfast, I ordered Banana Citrus French Toast, while Simon had a Shrimp Sandwich.

We had to wait a while for a table, but as usually is the case with Square One, the wait was worth it. 

After breakfast, we ran errands, came home to drop off groceries, and walked a few blocks away to Hancock Park, where the La Brea Tar Pits are located. No Kill LA was having a Pet Adoption weekend, with a bunch of pets from shelters around Los Angeles bringing cats and dogs to the park to spur adoptions.

There were stands for pet supplies, food trucks...

and of course, cats and dogs who need homes.

We already have two cats, and sadly, we can't adopt any other pets right now. But we thought we would go check it out for future reference, to see if it would be a good place to look if we were ever in a situation where we could add a furry friend to our family.

There were dozens of volunteers, and hundreds of pets had already been adopted, but there were still so many more that needed homes. I hope that some more of them were adopted before they closed up the fair for the day.

These guys were marked "adopted" - wonder why?

After we had all of the cuteness (and heartbreak) we could handle, we headed back to the apartment, where we just finished our Cinco de Mayo taco spread and are re-watching The Hunger Games on Netflix. Simon returns to an ordinary schedule next week, so we will probably be a little more interesting this week. We are already a third of the way through our trip - hard to believe, really - and looking to add some more events to the calendar before the halfway point. Talk to you soon!