life happenings around nature, softball and fires...

Since my last post, I've been playing around with my new techie toy more. Before work one Wednesday morning, I paid a visit to the LA Arbortem. It was my first time there and I really didn't know what to expect. Walking through the doors and grabbing a map, I glanced up to see that the next "walking" tour had begun only a few minutes before. Missed that opportunity. Unfolded my map and grew a bit overwhelmed at how large the park seem. I only had a couple of hours before heading to work, so I had to get in as much as I could. Once of the first things that I ran into was:



I was told later that morning by one of the "regulars" that I had just missed them in their most regal form. I guess it was suppose to be impressive that they grew out their tails an average of 6 feet and pranced around the park during the summer months. Oh well, mental note for next year. The one place that I really wanted to see was the waterfall in the park. I love waterfalls. When I was younger, my family took a trip to Niagara Falls in Canada almost every year. There's just something about the rush of water that's both exciting and calming at the same time. I took some average shots of the mini waterfall at the Arbortem.



Although my favorite waterfall shot is still on my laptop at home and currently is acting as my wallpaper until something better comes along.

In the same week, I had mentioned to the boy that I had wanted to visit the Huntington Library. Mind you, I've lived in LA for over 5 years now and still haven't visited the Library grounds. I was told it was beautiful. That Saturday afternoon, despite the morning rain, we wandered to the Library. It was simply beautiful and peaceful even with the amount of people walking around. They were also hosting their annual plant sale as well. Our first stop was the Desert Gardens. Desert and Gardens didn't seem to belong in the same sentence much less be an attraction at the Library. But the pictures below should prove that wrong.





My favorite shot was one of cacti called "Living Stones" or their technical term "Lithops." I wanted to purchase one of these when I left for the day but decided against it as I would probably kill it with my non-green thumb.



We walked around the entire Library and through their impressive bonzi tree collection in the Japanese Garden. I can only imagine how much those bonzi trees would cost should they be available for sale. It was a nice escape from LA city life and so close to home.

This past weekend, we traveled to the Bay Area for softball. The tournament called, "Smash" is an "Asian" tournament featuring competitive men's, recreational men's and co-ed divisions. Our team, a mixture of north and south CA. Combined you get the "Nutty Cocks" Yes, that's their team name. They didn't do so bad, finishing 2nd out of 30 some odd teams in the recreational division. But if you were to ask them, they should have won it all. Thankfully, the visit wasn't just about softball. I played tour guide to my southern CA people in the city as well. It was a nice combination of sports and travel. Although, I almost didn't make it home. Somewhere between the rental car place and the terminal, I forgot my purse on the bus. Thankfully, my karma was good to me and it was found! I've got to laugh at it now but it wasn't all funny when it was happening. Pix from the weekend.






We're currently in day 5 of the fires here. Thankfully, we live in close to city and not near any of the fires. But the smoke and ashes are now a part of the daily life called LA. At least, I know that those closer to the fires are safe and ok and that the firefighters are making progress ending this disaster around us. Stay safe everyone!

weekend here... weekend gone...

Sometimes it's best when you don't have plans for the weekend. I've been dying for a weekend, a free weekend of no traveling, no commitments, no nada.

Unfortunately, what I hoped would be a free weekend, turned out to be a busy weekend.

Friday Night... post work, the boy and I had no plans but to chill out at home and be vegetables. That was the plan. But in actuallity, we ended up going to the softball park to catch the end of our friends' softball game. They lost again. Post game defeat, we all headed out to one of the greatest hole in the wall mom and pop food places in Monterey Park. It's called Pearl's Place on Garvey. I recommend the fried dumplings and the pork chops and rice. Simple but good food. My friend J has been going there since she was a wee kid with her family. She took me and boy the there once and I've been a big fan since. After that it was post coffee drinks at Starbucks. Unfortunately, they don't have a Coffee Bean out in the Alhambra/Monterey Park area, only because all the boba places dominate all the streets. It was a great night of conversation, laughter and friends.

Saturday... again no plans for the day but it turned out to be a busy one. The boy and I started the day with brunch at Pat and Lorraines in Eagle Rock. It's across the way from my mother in law's shop. We swung by the shop and mom reminded us of the birthday party of our friends two children was later that afternoon. Ugh... sure enough the reminder message popped up on the Curve just moments later. I completely forgot about it even though their mom handed me the invitation at a housewarming just a couple of weeks ago. So there went the free afternoon. Pat and Lorraines' is fabulous. I love food but I especially love breakfast. The boy and I both had omelettes. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of how big the portions are. He had the fajitas omelette and I had Jose's Omelette Special. Yumm-mmie! It's more like a scramble rather than a traditional omelette served with a side of home fries and your choice of toast, biscuit or fruit. Took home enough for breakfast in the morning again.

After breakfast, we headed home to pick up the invitation and then off to Target for birthday gifts for both kids. The parentals made specific requests for no toys and indicate clothing sizes. I love that. Takes the work out of guessing sizes. Gifts in hand, it was off to the party. A roadblock on the major street made us take the sideroute but we eventually made it to the party. Filipino parties are just an excuse for people to stuff their faces with lots of fried this and fried that. But seeing as brunch was still settling in our stomachs, the boy and I shook our heads politely and said we'd grab a bite to eat later. See, there was still 4 more hours of party left. The kids had a bouncer which was great. It was not only just a bouncer but it also had one of those slides in the back attached to it. It was a super bouncer. Even though it was made for kids, the bigger kids couldn't resist taking a few jumps and slides of their own. It was comedy in person. The pinatas, yes there were two, were broken and candy and money gathered, cake was cut, good times had by all. I took tons of pictures that day as I had just purchased a new camera lense for the nikon. It's sooo purty. Here's a couple of shots that I can post...



The above is a picture from the park, a level down from where the party was happening. It was quite peaceful. Reminds me of the poem by Robert Frost called "The Road Not Taken." It's currently my desktop picture. I love being able to play around with photography. Still trying to figure out how all the features work on this camera but as you can see, I'm loving some of the results.



We're both so ready to have kids! The boy with one of my friends' new babies. He's gonna make a great daddy!

After the party, we headed out to dinner at Briganti's in South Pasadena. It's light Italian food. Yes, there is such a thing as light Italian. We were able to meet the owner/chef of Briganti's. My boss is actually his next door neighbor. He was fabulous and ended up sending us 2 desserts. I recommend this place highly. I've been there a few times and have yet to have a bad meal or experience bad service there. Reservations are recommended especially on a weekend night.

Sunday, thankfully, ended up being mellow. I'm rather said that I missed out on a blog party gathering. It looked like so much fun from the pictures. We stayed home and vegged, cruised the internet and read for a bit before heading to the softball park for his men's championship game. They ended up winning in the bottom of the 7th by 1. We celebrated by heading out to Applebee's for dinner with the team.

So for a weekend filled with no plans, it turned out to be a crazy busy but fun filled weekend. How was yours?