rose bowl festivities

I know the Badgers didn't win in the end, but Jesse and I still had fun attending some of the Rose Bowl festivities this year, especially the Rose Parade. We're not always in town for New Year's, so I am glad we took advantage of the opportunity this year - it was really fun to see. And of course, we enjoyed having lots of Wisconsinites around town for the few days leading up to the parade and game. In full disclosure, I don't really follow the Badgers in the same way I follow the Packers, but I'm always a fan of anything having to do with my home state.

A sea of red at the Badgers Pep Rally at the Santa Monica Pier a few days before the game. It was a very, very foggy day. The pep band played, and they interviewed some of the players on stage.

Jesse, Yuki, and Bucky. Lots and lots of people stopped to say hi to Yuki. Someone who stopped to pet him said, "Oh, this must be the big dog that people are talking about." He loved the attention, and we liked chatting with the other Wisconsinites.

Badger train! We parked at Union Station and took the metra to Pasadena for the Rose Parade. We were not the only ones with this brilliant ideas.

The floats were so fun to see! Apparently people camp out on the sidewalk starting the day before the parade to get good spots. We showed up just before the parade started to come by this spot and I was very happy with how close we were.

The Trader Joe's float.

The Badger float.

renegade round-up

I love going to local art shows in Los Angeles. Usually around this time of year, Jesse and I go to Unique LA, held in the fashion district. This year, we decided to check out the Renegade Craft Fair in the Los Angeles State Historic Park instead. It was a little smaller than Unique LA, but I thought it was nice that it was outside and that some of the artists were from outside the LA area. Of course, part of what makes Unique LA so great is that all of the artists are very local. And the food is better at Unique LA, meaning overall, Unique LA wins, but I am glad we tried something different this time around.

There was a nice view of the city, especially as the sun was setting.

Some of the artists' booths.

This was the cute booth for Eri Sugimoto, a Japanese ceramics artist.

Tangleweeds jewelry made of metal and leather - yup, I got one.

I love the colorful patterned earrings on colorful patterned paper, from Cookie and the Dude.

We got a small version of this print from Misha Ashton. Jesse always like prints of roller coasters and ferris wheels and the like. We also got a small print of some Japanese gates in Kyoto. (Photo from Etsy site.)

I like maps and I love Wisconsin, so I was super excited to get this print from Paper Parasol Press (photo from Etsy site). They also have prints of other states, including California, and some awesome holiday cards.

Card from Ilee Press, which had some very pretty things. (Photo from Etsy site.)

Mehoi had the cutest earrings and things. (Photo from website.)

ciqLAvia and BAM

After a shamefully lazy Saturday yesterday, Jesse and I went to not one, but two, LA events today. The first is called CicLAvia, and is based on the ciclovias that started over 30 years ago in Bogota, Colombia and are now held in cities throughout the world (Blogger needs to let me use accented letters...). The basic concept involves shutting city streets to automobiles for a day and opening them up to bicycles and walkers. Our bikes are in rough shape, so we just walked this time. But I can see how it would be really fun to bike around the city on open streets that are usually clogged with traffic.

The second event we went to is called BAM Fest (for beer, art, and music). It's held annually at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, where bands play, art studios are open, and California craft beers are available for tasting. We got cute little tasting glasses to keep.

hollywood bowl

Jesse and I finally made it to Hollywood Bowl...and for a great event too! We went to the annual John Williams event when the LA Philharmonic plays the music of the movies and John Williams conducts. We heard familiar scores from Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and lots of others. The audience was entertaining as well (see below). Before the performance, we had a picnic dinner on the grounds with friends and made a whole evening of it.

For our seats, we had to take escalators up to the top of the amphitheater. When we turned the corner, it was a fun sight to see. The Hollywood Bowl has been around since 1922 and has become a true LA landmark/experience.

A lot of audience members (including a couple of our friends!) brought out lightsabers for the Star Wars songs.

poppy festival and vasquez rocks

Jesse and I went to the California Poppy Festival last weekend. We expected a nice little festival on the edge of a field that looked something like this:

Um, no. (And, by the way, I did NOT take that picture. It's from the official festival website.)

First of all, the festival itself was in the middle of the city of Lancaster, nowhere near any poppies, besides a very few that were at the entrance to the festival. You can just barely see them in the bottom left of the below picture.

It was a pretty typical festival for a mid-sized city, with mediocre craft stands and carnival rides. The highlight for us was our BBQ lunch. (We miss having a grill so much!) And, of course, festivals are just cheery places to be, so we were enjoyed ourselves despite the mediocrity.

Apparently the whole idea of the poppy festival is to introduce out-of-towners like us to the poppies in the surrounding area. So while we were at the festival, we got some suggestions for where to see poppies, with a warning that poppies don't like the wind too much.

We drove off to the area where we had been directed, and we saw this:

There were poppies growing in the field - you can see a hint of orange throughout the photo. But because of the wind, the poppies were all closed up and nearly invisible. :( It was quite disappointing. But we still enjoyed getting out of the city for the day, and we will just plan to go back next year on a day with good weather. We might skip the festival next time around, though!

On our way home (Lancaster is about 1 hour and 15 minutes away) we turned off at the Vasquez Rocks County Park, where we had seen beautiful rock formations on our way to the festival. The park was so beautiful in the setting sun. Again, it just felt nice to be out of the city and it was so fun to discover this amazing natural beauty so close to home. We walked around a little until the park closed. We found out later that (unsurprisingly) the park has been filmed for many movies and TV shows, including Star Trek in the 1960s. The rest of the pictures are from Vasquez Rocks.

jesse and the marathon

I had a great time watching the LA marathon last week. I went to see Jesse run by at miles 11, 18, and at the finish line, but I was a very good cheerer for the other runners as well. :) I am NOT a runner by any means, but between the ambition of the runners and the support of the spectators, watching races always makes me feel so happy.

This was one was especially fun, despite the CRAZY rain that did not let up the entire time. I was soaked through by mile 18. I stopped briefly at home to change before heading to the finish line, and got soaked through again. Jesse, of course, was soaked for 26.2 miles, plus the nearly two miles we walked home. Just as he crossed the finish line, the rain intensity increased (which I would not have believed possible). It felt like I was standing under a waterfall.

Jesse did amazing. He finished really strong and his recovery went smoothly. I am already looking forward to next year! (I'm not sure he is yet...)

Mile 11.5 - Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Jesse at mile 18.

Jesse at the finish line.

silverlake art crawl

Jesse and I went to the Silverlake Art Crawl last weekend. We visited a bunch of nice design stores and art galleries. One in particular, Sumi's, we liked a lot. It had a nice mix of paintings, pottery, and other accessible art pieces. But, despite all of the interesting galleries, I only took pictures of food. :) The place on the left is Dusty's Bistro, where we ate lunch. Below, are some pictures of Lamill Coffee. It had a great atmosphere, and even though I am not a coffee-drinker, I was pretty fascinated by the variety of ways they brew coffee. I'm definitely enjoying all of the fun new restaurants and cafes that LA has to offer, and it was fun to explore a different neighborhood.

our first movie premiere

When my family was in town last week, we took them to see the celebrity footprints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Unfortunately, there was a movie premiere scheduled that night as a part of the AFI film festival, and all of the footprints were covered over with red carpet. While that was disappointing, Jesse did a little research into the film festival and found out that for the first time they were offering free tickets to the general public. So we headed back on Thursday night and, after standing in a very long line, got in to the theatre. The movie was A Single Man, with Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. I was surprised at how different it felt to watch a movie in such a large, historic, beautiful theatre. I'd love to watch every movie this way. The only bummer is that I would have loved to see Colin Firth on the red carpet, but we were around the corner in line for that part.

Yes, I live in Southern California and am wearing a winter scarf...it's been cold at night!!

Afterwards, we got a late dinner at Mel's Drive-In, which I thought I had read was a historic diner. Apparently not.

three l.a. events

After repeatedly seeing advertisements on TV for the LA soapbox races about a month ago, Jesse and I decided it would be a good opportunity to walk around downtown and to check out a local event. I've been to a lot of "local events" in the past two years while living in Central Illinois (sweet corn festival, corn broom festival, chili and beer fest...), and somehow it did not occur to me that an LA event might be a bit different. As in CROWDED. It was ridiculous. There were 110,000 people there, and the track was a mere two blocks long, so it was nearly impossible to see anything.

The only reason the track can even be seen in this picture is because I held the camera over my head.

There were people perched in every tree and on every sign.

We finally got a view of the racers by getting up high on a building's patio. Of course this car wasn't as creative as some of the others, which included a speedboat, a grand piano, and a giant nose. There were 40 entries - all human-powered race cars which cannot weigh more than 176 pounds, and which can seat up to two drivers. Despite the crowds (and the heat) it was pretty entertaining.

The next day, we checked out the Abbot Kinney festival in Venice, which is right next to Santa Monica. 150,000 people were expected, and I am pretty sure that they all showed up. There was live music, art for sale, and good food.

By contrast, a couple weeks later we went to a screening of the Flight of the Navigator with a director discussion (as the first movie my family recorded on a VCR, it has a special place in my memory), and (maybe not such a surprise?) the theatre was practically empty. But we got to see the actual model that was used for the spaceship during production!

Notice all the empty chairs? No appreciation!