We had a particularly full weekend …
and of course I got some photos.
I was lucky enough to have Andrew at home ALL day on Saturday. … I honestly don’t know if that has happened since maybe Christmas. It was just lovely.
In the morning we had coffee together, and Andrew did some reading+some record-listening (one of his favorite combos)
He had a recording job on Sunday, so Saturday afternoon he had to run some errands. But we did them together …
First order of business:
Lunch
We drove down to the valley, got off the 405 at Haskell Ave and drove West on Ventura Blvd.
I love Ventura Blvd.
The weather here is pretty much perfect at the moment, and we drove down Ventura with the windows down. …. and we just got scents of all different kinds of food. …onions, garlic, and I don’t even know what else. It was amazing. I can’t wait to live in that part of town…. where everything is not a chain. Where there are local businesses to support …. where maybe we can walk or ride bikes to a market or ice cream or coffee or something …. can’t wait.
Not that we can’t do that here in SCV. … but all we have is Starbucks or Panda Express or KFC.
We went down to Woodland Hills and we went to the Tomato Patch.
Where I plan on eating lunch every single day soon.
Teeny tiny hole-in-the-wall fresh salads/sandwiches.
Andrew goes there all the time to pick up food for work. And it’s the kind of place where the owner works herself everyday and recognizes Andrew coming in and knows what he’s going to order.
The best.
I fully support spending money at local places like that.
Plus, check out my salad:
Good lord. The best. Chunky Turkey .. with honey dijon dressing. … yum yum. And enough for 2 meals in the ‘small’ portion….
Andrew always gets ‘BBQ chopped chicken’ adding jalapenos …
After lunch we ran a couple more errands … to Andrew’s co-worker’s condo to borrow some gear, and then to Andrew’s work to borrow some more gear.
Along the way we drove through Woodland Hills … and I wrote down some street names to check house prices on. Nice, quiet neighborhoods. Also drove by a Farmer’s Market connected to Pierce College. Which would be sooo fun to go to … if I didn’t have to work Thursday nights when it is going on.
After all those errands, we finally headed over to the studio space where Andrew was working on Sunday : The Bloom School of Music
It’s in Eagle Rock, not far from Andrew’s other studio where he works.
The school was involved in making a recording with parents playing the instruments and kids singing as part of a fund-raising gig. … and Andrew was in charge.
And you’ll have to ask him about it. I think he had a lot of fun.
But Saturday, all we did was set up the mics and things. By “we” I mean Andrew.
I put on the headphones to help him make sure he was getting sound (good thing to do before you have a studio full of musicians waiting for you) and spent some time talking to Laura (and Dave) who run the school …. who, by the way, are ridiculously nice.
Then – Saturday night …. we did nothing.
It was great.
We got take-out and watched Milk.
And Andrew fell asleep at 10p or so.
The big baby.
Sunday I woke up right about when Andrew was leaving. He had to make another stop at his work before heading down to Eagle Rock for the session …
And pretty much as soon as I got out of the shower, Daniel came and told me I should come out back.
He and Jenae went to Las Vegas over the weekend to pick up her new dog (Andrew’s aunt breeds dogs in Idaho, and her son lives in Las Vegas) …
Meet Louis:
He’s awesome. He’s still a puppy … a little unsure on his legs.
At one point he tried to jump/step down to the ground from a planter and ended up falling like a slinky.
He’s part Yorkshire terrier and part Dachshund. … they call this breed a Dorkie.
Between me and Louis, we’re going to convince Andrew that small dogs are the way to go….
I got a bunch of pics of Louis and Hazel interacting … but those will have to wait.
Sunday afternoon Katie and Joe came over (since Daniel and Andy’s bdays were last week) …. and taught us how to play a new card game: Rummy Royale.
Katie says its from the turn of the last century …. so she had to make her own board.
Then dinner (taco salad!)
Then off to the Dents for some family portraits!
Here’s just a sneak peek:
Andrew ended up getting done with his project early enough to come with me to the Dents which was so nice…. he’s a good assistant.
Plus, they live in Canyon Country, so we used that trip for an excuse to go to Menchie’s again.
We really need to quit that habit. It’s getting expensive.
Andrew, do you hear me?
Then Andrew fell asleep early again.
Seriously. What a wuss. …
It was a nice weekend. The Bloom thing went really smoothly and it was pretty amazing spending all of Saturday with you. who knows how many months it’ll be before we spend another entire day together
I grew up playing Rummy Royal!!
I actually found the game in great shape at a yard sale a few years ago… have yet to play it in my adult life. I must play it!
Cute, cute puppy! I’d definitely vote for a smaller dog. Tell him that a bigger dog will knock his kids over when they’re little. Besides they need a lot more exercise than a little one. I’m sure there are little non-chain businesses in SCV…maybe not as many as some other places, but I’ll bet you can find them if you look. (unless they’ve all gone out of business). What about Grand Panda and Stonefire Grill? I know there are more too.