It was a fun and busy weekend – and now it’s picture time!
First up was Friday night’s events, as we bought tickets to go see Bill Maher’s standup at the Nokia Center at L.A. Live. He typically is touring throughout the rest of the country so it’s not too typical to be able to catch his show here in Los Angeles. It was awesome to see his show in the American Express pre-sale events and I immediately scooped up 2 pretty close tickets for me and Larry. If you aren’t a fan of what he’s talking about (pretty damn liberal and unapologetic about it) you’re definitely not going to like his spiel – so the crowd was definitely aligned properly. So we took the Metro Red Line downtown and grabbed dinner at the Yardhouse beforehand, getting a waiter who was very good at beer recommendations. The show was as good as expected and helps to kick off a long spring/summer schedule of events. Well, maybe Book of Mormon a few weeks ago did that, but here we are.
Bill Maher @ Nokia Theater, April 18, 2014
On Saturday, we endeavored to be productive around the house. After doing some work on Mom’s last weekend we got a bit inspired to add some flair to our own outdoor planter. We had already done some work in that regard back in November of last year, although it must have been before I was doing regular posting and I probably only posted pics on Facebook. At that time, we ripped out the dying plants our landlords had put in there initially, as they were pretty sad-looking. We replaced them with 3 succulent plants that managed to do pretty good. But we’ve been noticing that there’s room for more plants. So we picked up an aloe vera plant and then 3 herb plants (cilantro, mint, and basil) and found room for them in the planter too. It’s pretty cool, but it remains to be seen if we’ll be able to keep them alive. Here’s hoping!
Enhancing our Planter, April 19, 2014
I then finally got a chance to put together the telescope I had ordered earlier in the week. Going to see Transcendence and then Bill Maher had chipped away at my work week time, and I knew Sunday was going to be pretty full, so Saturday night was alright for telescoping. I ended up with a defective leg (which I’ve just today contacted customer support about and will be getting a new one) but Larry went and bought me a clamp that can do the jump for now. Anyway, we got the telescope built and set up – it’s just now a need to actually practice and learn how to use the thing. It’s not exactly super simple. And when we were hoping for at least the moon to gaze at, well, it was hiding at that time of night. I’ve also been confronted with the fact that LA is terrible for light pollution. We’ll have to take some time one day and find a dark place to go stargaze.
Telescope Setup, April 19, 2014
On Sunday, it was time to celebrate religious holidays which are really just an opportunity to socialize and see friends and family. 4/20 was packed and the first event was a Passover Seder Lunch hosted by Larisa and Boris, Sveta’s sister and brother-in-law. All the regular gang was there (Mila, Sveta, Angie, Rena and associated family) and the food was pretty good – Larry made potato kugel and it was delicious. It’s always great to see the gang, and we may even have a plan for a 2015 vacation, as Ada told us about their plans for a Galapagos getaway. Very very intriguing.
Seder Time! April 20, 2014
We then drove from the Valley over to Mom’s in the other valley (SGV!) to have an Easter dinner with her and Stacie and Trent. It was a delicious meal with ham (mmmm…ham) and a lot of fun. Wine was of course involved and playing Bowling from Wii Sports Resort. Good times and good food with family are always the best. Looking forward to the next few weekends to be honest, too. Next weekend is when Fran and Joel come out to visit, and that will include a lunch with mom. Then a few weeks from now, Mom and Larry & I are heading to Vegas for a weekend! Yay!
Easter Dinner – April 20, 2014
And that’s the photos from this packed weekend!