Vic Made It!

Just a shout out of congratulations to Vic finally making it here to the States to be with Tracy and basically winning the lottery of getting a 10 year visa with multiple entries! Last night we went to El Carmen for some dinner and drinks. It was so nice to see Tracy in love :)

Love you guys!
--J

Comic Con Mania

Comic Con is a sight to behold. It's pure nerd madness and the best people watching that you can imagine. Fans come up with the craziest outfits to wear around the convention. Some girls take liberty with this and wear something that they really shouldn't be (your body was not made for that outfit, or vice versa). But hey, if it makes them happy then who am I to judge? The train ride down was peaceful and not busy at all. I got some reading in and, bonus, a glass of wine.

My dad and stepmom joined us for a couple of hours on Sunday. They saw just how crazy this place gets and were a little overwhelmed themselves.

So proud of the Phillipson Booth

How's the disco Storm Trooper?!

Turned out to be a decent convention and I had a great time. Up next - Comic Con in New York in October :)

--J

So Much to Learn

I just tried to do my first real foray into playing around in photoshop. I think that I need to take a class though, but I found a tutorial on making the photos look cool retro/vintage like. The dreamy cool seventies color look is what I'm going for.

I've got a long way to go but its a start :)

As for the update on our lives, I promise this weekend that I will do a longer post on Comic Con but to tell you the truth still pretty exhausted (went straight from the convention to a hard work week). I will say that it was really fun to get to hang out with Brian and his dad during that time.

Also on another note, the NFL strike/lockout (whatever it's called) has finally ended, so that means football season is pretty much amongst us. The tickets were mailed to us today, yay! Road trips down to San Diego will commence shortly. And this time we've added on two members, our friends Mel and Mike. So fun!

 Ok off to bed :)
-J

If I could live anywhere in the world...

it would in a West Elm catalog. I mean how awesome are those pages?! It's cozy yet stylish yet down to earth. How do they even do that? I pour over the pages and let my mind daydream about what I would love to own. "Hmmmm, that side table will go there next to our couch. Oh and those two shelves will go on the wall there" and on and on. I love to get lost in my fantasies over it, sort of a mind vacation for me. Our apartment at the moment is pretty sparse, although that was somewhat done on purpose. We knew when we moved in together that we were officially starting our life together so we decided to get rid of the furniture that we didn't want to keep and move forward buying the pieces that we both truly love, however long it takes. So far we saved up our money and made our first big purchase: a couch that I had been coveting for ages and thankfully B loved it as well. Next on the docket seems to be our bookshelf for our living room. We have one in mind but of course costs a pretty penny, so might be a bit till we get it but it will make it all worth it when we have it.  

Ok, enough time spent dreaming yet again. Now off to pack before bed, so I can see you-know-who tomorrow night.

Catch ya on the flip side lover!

-J

Miss you Lover!

Boyfriend left this morning for his annual trip down to San Diego Comic Con. He worked his butt off and has a new book out just in time for the convention. I'm so excited for him and can't wait to join.
I'm heading down on Friday on the train, which in itself is fun. It feels so old school especially when you walk into Union Station in Downtown L.A. The 1920's art deco architecture was so beautifully renovated and takes you back to a different era. Usually I don't expect the station to be too busy, but during Comic Con it gets a little nuts. Once I'm in my seat on the train, its a nice ride down and I can catch up on some reading. And then (best part)... B will be there at the San Diego station when I arrive.  Can't wait to see his face.

-J

Monday :(

The worst day of the week. Wanna know what makes it better though? Knowing that you're coming home to this guy...

Makes the whole day worth while.
-J

A Third Street Kind of Weekend

Perfect weather just calls for us to walk about on Third Street, this weekend was no exception. The street is filled with great restaurants and interesting boutiques (we all know how excited Brian is about that one). Joan's on Third is probably one of the most famous spots on the street and for good reason. If you go there, you have to have the vanilla ice blended latte.

Home sweetzer home:

I know that we see this everyday and take it for granted, but sometimes it amazes me that people travel all over the world to get a glimpse of what takes me merely a turn of a corner to see. How lucky are we? I do try and remember that when I think about it.

Midnight in Paris was still playing at the Arclight theaters so we got in the car and headed over. We figured that we had to go grocery shopping and if we had to get in the car to do that, why not take a detour first to a movie? Btw, we loved the movie (and Brian loved the caramel corn). Fun little hour and a half escape to Paris.  

So I guess it's back to the work week for us.
- J

How We Survived Carmaggedon

Carmageddon turned out to be a whole bunch of nothing, but we turned it into something. We prepared to not step foot into our cars at all this weekend, but then found out that everyone planned the same as we did since the freeways and streets had the lightest traffic that they've seen in decades. We were resigned to our plan however and were happier for it. This afternoon we decided to walk over to LACMA and enjoy us some culture...

Stark Bar is located near the famous lightpost installation so we thought it would be best to grab a drink or two before our gallery viewings, you know to get in the right frame of mind. ;)
And boy are we glad we did, the drinks were amazing. We started out with a mojito, which was one of the best I've ever had.

Their drink menu seems pretty inspired after looking at it, so we tried out a couple of others: the Owl and the Pussy Cat (a rum drink with strawberries and chiles) and Steel Magnolias (Champagne, Rum, Strawberries and basil). Honestly, we both decided that we need to come back to LACMA just to come to Stark Bar -- well worth it. The bar food wasn't too shabby either. We tried a tomato flatbread (really its just a pizza) and some olives. Brian can't get enough of olives after Spain so this seemed like an obvious choice from the menu.

After we were "refreshed"  we walked over to the ticket booth. I was under the impression that it was free for L.A. locals after 5pm, which is true but only on weekdays (someone decided not to read the fine print, oopsie poopsie). We went in anyway and it was great. The Tim Burton exhibit was the biggest draw at the moment (and cost an extra five bucks, I might add). It was interesting to see something that he had sketched on scrap paper or newspaper that was later used in one of his films. I thought he was a very unique artist, although a different exhibit was co-curated by Burton and reflected his inspiration. Don't get me wrong, he definitely is unique but he can also draw a direct inspiration from other works (pretty much a copy). Brian reminded me that "good artists borrow, great artists steal." We talked about how great works are created on the shoulders of giants and that you need those other works to get to the artistic creative mindsets and outcomes that you want.

We walked on through more exhibits and saw many great pieces of art (Picasso, Man Ray, among others) and in my opinion saw some other not-so-great pieces of art. I mean honestly if it is a painting of a colored square that I can make in one hour, I hardly think that deserves to be on that wall. Sorry, but that's the way I feel right now.  I will make sure to have a conversation with an art history major in the near future to explain what I cannot see in these pieces. Seriously, there was a white canvas with nothing on it. A WHITE CANVAS!!! Wtf?!

After we peaked through all the areas we were interested in, we headed back home. All the walking felt great. Reminds us of how much we enjoy spending time together seeing the neighborhood. It was walking around together in Studio City where we fell deeply in love (not to mention the extreme amount of walking in Amsterdam, but we'll detail at a later date), so it's nice to be able to do that on the other side of the hill. Who says nobody walks in L.A?
 - J