Momma and baby bird

Well, I took my Mom to the airport this morning. She came in early early Saturday morning and we went back to my apartment and slept. After taking a little nap, we went to Fair Oaks Soda Fountain, on the corner of Fair Oaks and Mission, for lunch. It was cute. We thought it would be a quick sit down place to eat but we were wrong. Our waiter was...interesting--some memorable quotes were,

-Waiter: "I like the pasta salad more than the potato salad."

Me: "Oh, is it that much better?"

Waiter: "Well, I don't like potatoes."

Me: "Then I'll take the potato salad."

-Waiter: "The food's not that great." (or something to that effect)

After about sitting at an outside table for 2 hours (yes, we were there that long) and witnessing a fender bender, we let out a sigh of relief and drove to the Citadel outlets, which was a little anticlimactic--lots of stores, but not many interesting ones. Oh! But! Bonus, my Mom bought this for me. Whooohooooooo!

Sunday, we went to Mosaic, a church that has multiple locations throughout Los Angeles. It was cool--pretty chill, people wearing jeans, t-shirts, slippers. It was chillllay and Mom was cold. But so was I. Then we went to the Getty. And oh it was great. Great art, great gardens, I was in heaven.

Portrait of Jeanne Kefer by Fernand Khnopff

Sunrise by Monet

The weather has been so perfect. Brisk. Sunny. Wonderfullll. Monday we went to Hollywood so Mom could see the hands in the concrete and the stars in the sidewalk.

Mom and her American Idol

At Grauman's Chinese Theater

How festive.

After spending time in Hollywood, we went to Exposition Park and walked around a little bit. There was tons to do there but we just went to the Rose Garden and walked through the bottom lobby of the California Science Center. I had a not-so-secret ulterior motive for going to the Rose Garden. So I'm kind of a Bones fanatic. And once I found out that the opening shot for the lab was filmed in the Rose Garden, I had to go. Here it is. If you don't watch Bones, you should. That's all.

In the gift shop

Tuesday, we went to Griffith Observatory and just...observed. It is becoming one of my favorite places.

Mom on the roof

Mom with Einstein

Tuesday night, we went down to Huntington Beach and had dinner with my aunt and uncle and cousin that Erica and I stayed with when we first got to L.A. Thought we would be able to go to IKEA down there on the way back to Pasadena, but that was a no-go, on account of everyone being so talky-talky.

Mom left this morning and continued on her way to Oklahoma to visit with her mom, my Grandma Lolly.

And now my mini-vacation (as if what I've been doing for the past couple months doesn't count) is over. Hello freelance projects and job searching.

I'm getting a dog. Just kidding.

I was watching Ace of Cakes last night and Geof's dog, Cotton, was the model for the cake they did for Milkbone's anniversary. It made me want a dog. I determined that I want a collie/retriever mix. Orrr I want my sister and brother-in-law's dog, Keiko. Either one. This little precious would do as well.

My mom comes in tomorrow morning! I'm excited! Today has been a day of cleaning and planning. What to do tomorrow...

Great, I'm obsessed

This was hilarious.

And so was this.

Boyz II Men -- It's comeback time

I just had to share this due to my love of Psych. And because I know it would make my sister Alicia very excited. And Raena, too. I loved this opening. It was so great.

L.A. Day #tres - International Day

Thursday was another L.A. Day. It was great to get out and do something in the city. Started off the day by walking to the Metro station on Mission Street and dealt with some confusion on which side of the platform to go to. Hah. We almost went to inland Pasadena. Whooooops. But we made it and rode to Union Station. I guess we looked local (yay!) because a lady asked if the train we were on went to Pasadena. Erica told her that it was going into the city so she got off and then asked a train person. And then got back on our train. So that was our cue to get off. Whoooooops. Almost sent a lady to the wrong place. And we almost went to back home on accident. Hah. OH! I almost forgot. Got to the train platform, took out my camera, and found that my battery was dead. My love for documentation was sorely tested on L.A. Day #3. I had to resort to taking photos on my cell phone...and I don't remember how to get photos from my phone to my computer.

Moving on. We got to Union Station and walked to Little Tokyo, about 3 blocks down from the station. It. Was. Hot. It felt like I was walking in an oven, so stopping in at a Japanese place to eat was a welcome rest. Got some sushi, drank a Diet Coke, it was great. We walked around a bit and went in to some shops. It was like lots of little Shirokiyas everywhere. Then we walked back up to Union Station area and walked around Olvera Street. It was a fun street full of Mexican shops and kiosks selling trinkets and hats. Lots of hats. And leather shoes. Next time I go, I'm definitely buying a bunch of those eggs filled with confetti. {Insert picture of confetti eggs here--oh wait, nevermindddd}

Olvera Street (photos from when I came in March)

We headed back to Pasadena on the train with high school kids on their way home. After getting off the train on Mission Street, we stopped in at the Farmer's Market and I got a cucumber for 50 cents. Booya, nice.

If you want something new to listen to, definitely try out "Sweet Disposition" by the Temper Trap. They're an Australian band and ahhh, their album isn't being released in the U.S. till October 13th. Oh the anticipation. And! They are coming to L.A. October 14th at the Roxy. "Sweet Disposition" was on the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack, also an excellent album. Good for sunshine days in L.A.

Momma comes in one week from now!!! It's list time. Where to eat, where to go, what to do.

I'm a pro...crastinator

So here I am at Coffee Bean, working on my portfolio, trying to get through a long list of "helpful tips" from Alicia. I promised myself that I wouldn't leave till I finished the edits and sent it off for more editing.

It's harder than I thought. This Chocolate Chunk muffin is helping. I know that I'll for sure work on it for 10 minutes straight in about 3 minutes when Coffee Bean Wi-Fi kicks me off for my "break" that happens every 2 hours.

...and there was the 10-minute break. During that 10 minutes, I had the "opportunity" to listen to what was going on around me. There is a deep man-to-man conversation going on at the leather chairs. I think I saw some tears. There's a woman sitting at the table in front of me who is skyping with someone talking about court orders, press releases, blogs, and "today being a good day." You can hear so much when you have headphones on but no music playing. Frankly, I'm quite intrigued as to what makes people pour out their emotions so freely here. Must be the coffee.

So, battle wound update. I'm healing nicely, but the stitches are getting kind of...loose. One stitch (?) has already come out, one has untied itself but remains in my finger, and one still fully intact, but I'm not giving that one much longer.

Stitches!!!! And me. Bonus.

I love deals and steals...and quotes

Well, as promised, here is proof that we can now comfortably seat 4 (uncomfortably, 6) people at our table. The deal and the steal of this is that they were 2 for $10. That's right. Booya. So what, it looks like we have a picnic table in our living room. I like it. And don't worry, we spent about 30 minutes sanding them both down. Didn't think it would reflect well on us for our guests to leave with splinters. Next, cushions. Oh Mommmmm...

L.A. Day #2. Topanga State Park ("Topanga!" Shawn? remember that? I kept hearing him say it in my mind the whole day), located in Pacific Palisades. We hiked up to the fire road (I think) and it ended up being a 3 mile journey. I think. We were kind of fuzzy on where exactly we were going and how it took us to get there and back down. I think we are going to brush up on our hiking safety tips. It was great to get to the top(ish) and see L.A. and the beach. Almost looks like Hawaii? Maybe...not?

After getting back in the car, we went to the village area in Pacific Palisades and got some refreshments. Thank you to Alicia, for funding my Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf treat. 32 oz Moroccan Mint green iced tea. Yes, 32 oz. Slightly large.

Started watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tonight with Erica. I had only seen it once when it came out and remember not wanting to watch it again because I just thought it was too creepy. But it's actually funny. Nice surprise. "The best kind of prize is a surprise."

Another good quote to leave you with, "I'll prove it like a theorem!" From...guess.