Afternoon Sparkles

Afternoon light bouncing off a few waiting holiday ornaments. I wish I could make the sparkles stay forever. I also wish I could keep my floors that clean forever.

Anonymously Famous

(As opposed to famously anonymous I suppose.)

It's me, upper left corner.

My quest for world domination is progressing nicely...

*insert raised eyebrow and evil finger twiddling here*

LA Auto Show - 2010

Usually, Sergio has to drag me to this event. I really, really don't like it. But then, I saw it was going to be open on Thanksgiving day which meant thinner crowds and free street parking, and I downloaded a couple coupons. So...I acquiesced. It turned out much better than expected. I actually had a lot of fun. Also, I got to sit in my current dream car. (Hint: It's not any of these.)

My favorite things about the show:


Pocket sized cars




Cool concepts




Crazy colors and great graphics




Fun staging




More eco-friendly cars than ever! (In PRODUCTION. That's right, the first one is a hybrid porsche.)





More photos:

LA Auto Show - 2010

Nyla - Ethiopian Food

Scene from two Saturday's ago at Nyla in Little Ethiopia.



Vegetarian Combination Plate + Injera Bread = divine. yum to the nth power.

A Saturday like a Sunday

I made breakfast and caffe this morning. Doesn't happen often.



This leisurely scene belies a fairly ruggedly productive morning. Breakfast was a short break from already hour plus pick-axe/shovel action in the backyard. Concurrent plural loads of laundry, dishes, stove scrubbing. We even squeezed in a little cardio exercise in the form of cat chasing. Micio got outside and we chased her around the perimeter of the house a bit. Our heart rates shot up for sure, both from the scrambling and the worry. She's safely skulking under the couch now. Stupid cat. And we've only just scratched noon on the clock. There's an entire afternoon to be even more productive! I may just watch a movie instead though. :)

P.S. Hey, it's small business shopping Saturday! If you plan to buy anything this weekend, consider purchasing from your local small business. I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Thanksgiving Dinner 2010

Ocean Star Seafood in Monterey Park.

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P.S. Did you know, my favorite movie is Hackers? Well, see that guy with the napkin? He's a real life hacker. eeeee!!! I wish I was sitting closer to him at dinner so I could have grilled him on it all. It's his job to test systems security. And he's good. Like government level good. Hot damn that's cool.

Friend's Thanksgiving 2010 + GGG

Liz and Amy cooked a lovely, traditional, early Thanksgiving Dinner last Sunday that they hosted at Liz and Nelson's downtown loft. I dieted all week so I could eat seconds! :) So yummy!






More photos here:

FriendsThanksgiving2010

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we will be going to a great Chinese seafood restaurant for dinner with the family. So, instead of a daylong cooking session, I am going to drag my butt (and Sergio's) out of bed early to whip up some box stuffing and cart it over to Echo Park to participate in the early morning setup for Gobble Gobble Give. It's gonna be a harried morning. I better get some sleep!

night night.


P.S. If you've got some time/food/clothes to spare, drop by!

DATE: TIME: LOCATION:

Thursday, 11/25/2010 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Echo Night Club 1822 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90026

GGG is happening in Vegas and NYC too!

Laguna Road, 1966 - David Grigsby

We stumbled upon this painting by David Grigsby at an art show last weekend. I couldn't stop staring.



I mentally picked out the perfect wall for it in our home.



I guess I'll have to settle for staring at it from my computer screen. *Sigh*

A Lot of Potential

Gloomy day but still touched with whimsy.



Seed bombs of potential fulfilled for the day:

1. Happy thrift shop scores.
2. Art show where we fell in love with a new painting. We kept going back to it to stare. I wonder if they would consider taking payment in installments. It would take us a few years... Sigh.

Now preparing to have Ethiopian food for the first time with some good friends. Can't wait!

Beautifying the mundane

Elevating my ramen experience by slurping it out of a Heath Ceramics bowl.



Falling in love with hand made.

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In other news.....

... there's a change in the air.

And I forgot my favorite umbrella at the office.

Wait, does that say 48 degrees? Yeesh. That's actually kind of cold. And wet. Ickiest combination of them all.

Time to dig out the winter clothes from storage.

Brrr....

On the bright side, it's also hot cocoa weather!

Thrifty Thursday! - 11.18.2010

Do you know what the state bird of California is?

The California Quail. :)

Cute huh? When they forage together, they follow one another in a line, one behind the other. I came across a covey on an early morning hike several years ago while camping in Lake Cachuma. I saw them from afar so I slowed way down to be really quiet. I got right up next to them before they finally saw/heard me. They totally froze in place and pretended they were invisible. I think I chuckled out loud. Funny birds.

Anyway, our resident quail is made of ironwood. We found him several months ago in the window of a tiny and newish thrift shop on Figueroa. He was only like $2. He's pretty cool.

The backyard, now

Is it really November? The warm weather is fighting hard to stay these days. Coupled with sporadic raindrops, we even have a little lawn!








Oh! Check out our little visitor!

Festivities

I can't believe it. Next week is Thanksgiving, which kicks off the year end festivities. Yippee! I'm so excited! Aren't you?

Grub

Gratuitous food porn, shot at Grub. We were celebrating Jennie's birthday last month. Happy birthday Jennie Jackson!





1. croissant french toast sandwich with maple glazed bacon
2. spinach, cheese, mushroom omelet
3. home made ginger ale

In preparation for impending season of parties and merriment, I'm attempting to embark on a period of more conscientious, healthy eating. Wish me luck!

Pane e Tulipani

Finally caught Bread and Tulips and so happy I did. Adorable.

Not that I didn't before, but I think I really do now want to run away to Venezia...

...and play the accordion in a flower shop...

...then tango the night away, under party lights and shimmering stars.
via and via

Love saves this curmudgeon and then he saves his love. Bonus: He totally gave Chinese restaurants a shout out in the movie!


via and via

Liz's Baby Shower

Rebecca and Alpna hosted a beautiful baby shower for Liz this past weekend. Everything was sooooo lovely! Gorgeous mis-matched on purpose china, real silverware, bellinis, quiche, cupcakes, super fun games! And the detailed touch these two talented ladies brought to the event was incredible. Everything matched the blue and coppery-brown theme, including M&Ms and game pencils with baby-to-be's name printed on them. There was so much love in the room for mommy+baby -- I know we all can't wait to meet Grayson. Thank you Becca and Alps for the truly wonderful day.






I know Meg took great photos of the day. Here are some to tide you over until she's uploaded hers!

Liz_baby_shower