Touristy Stuff

I've never been very good at being a tourist for two reasons:

1. I don't like spending money.
2. Most popular tourist places are not very interesting.

Last weekend I went to Hollywood Boulevard. You know, where all the famous people have their names in stars for people to walk all over. I had never been, despite having lived in Los Angeles for a year and visiting countless times before that. It was just one of those things that I had intended to do, but never got around to it.

Most people go there to take pictures of famous names and people dressed up as pop culture icons. This is what I took pictures of:

I love how the Scientology building is so dramatic, but then they try to trick you into going inside by offering ''free stress tests''. They aren't fooling anyone.

There are so many amazing buildings in Los Angeles. Every time I go exploring, I come back with my camera full of new places that I've fallen in love with. 

So, I guess I am a bad tourist because I don't care about stores filled with fake Oscar Awards and I Heart LA shirts, creepers dressed up like Shrek or names cemented into the sidewalk. I do, however, love the parts that people forget about. 

Day 5

It hasn't even been a week since I dropped my brother off at the airport for his month-long vacation and rules are already flying out the window. I have started eating straight out of containers and as you can see, Tiger Lily has decided that the table is a perfectly acceptable place to nap. In my defense, it saves me from washing so many dishes. Tiger Lily has no excuse.

This first weekend alone was...interesting.

Saturday started with a broken fan in my oven of an apartment and ended with me rushing out to cover for a no-show from the sitting agency I work for. By Sunday, after possibly being accused of stealing a 3DS from the child I babysat, I was ready to stay in my pajamas and watch Futurama all day.

Yup. It was definitely one of those weekends.

To cheer myself up, I decided to buy some legos  and make a pizza. Can I tell you how much I love the pizza dough from Trader Joe's? Homemade pizza it the BEST.

Ice Dragon!

Oh right, back to making pizza. It definitely was an experiment. Especially since I just used whatever ingredients I had in the fridge. 

Pesto

Cheese

Red Onions and Yellow Bell Peppers

It turned out quite delicious. 

Today was my one year anniversary of moving to Los Angeles. Homemade pizza and Futurama was the perfect way to celebrate. And of course, I had excellent company.

Goose is so handsome.

What Happens When I Have Money

Firstly, I get tacos at Sky's Tacos on Pico Blvd. This place had been on our list of places to eat for a while now, but zero money limits the ability to eat out. The tacos here are amazing, as well as the lemonade they serve in jars. It is also reasonably priced (which is always exciting), we both ate a filling lunch for under $20. Everyone loves tacos.

Gir would agree. 

Next, I go on an accidental shopping spree. Now this part of the day was sort of happenstance. Yano needed to pick up a few extra items from Target and I just tagged along for the ride.

It is all sort of a blur: one minute I am walking into Target; the next my arms are full of bargain bin toys.

Everything was only $1! How could I resist?

The great thing about being employed as an Independent Contractor Babysitter (fun title, right?) is that all toy purchases are tax write-offs. At least, that is what I kept telling myself as I stood in the Lego aisle for 15 min.

The best $30 spent at Target ever:

My splurge of the day was this $20 Lego Alien Invasion set. I am such a sucker for legos... 

How could I NOT buy this?

Look at how amazing it is. 

This is why I should never go to Target. Or at least never go into the toy aisle. 

Especially when they have misleading signs:

Bubbles?

Tar Pits

Yes, another weekend adventure. I suppose technically these are 'day trips', but I prefer to think that every time I leave the house it is for adventure. A couple weekends ago we went to the Ranch La Brea Tar Pits, which I had never been to. Incidentally, they are RIGHT NEXT to the LACMA. How did I not know this? That was one of the first places I went to when I moved here. 

Yano finally put it together in his head that we had to go, what with me being obsessed with dinosaurs and all. We kept meaning to go, but sometimes it is really difficult to get out of the apartment our pajamas on the weekends. Then, as if the universe was trying to lure us out into the world, this came to our attention:

B-movies at the Tar Pits?! Hell yes. What B-movie, you ask? The Valley of Gwangi. What is that you say? You have never heard of it? Neither had I. This was the synopsis that sold me:

The Valley of Gwangi (1969)

A fame hungry cowboy captures a dinosaur living in the Forbidden Valley and puts it in a Mexican circus, which ends in a bloody battle! A film featuring the stop animation special effects talent of Ray Harryhausen. 

How could we not go?! So we packed up snacks (and beer of course) and headed out. We got there early, because some exploring was in order. 

Fun Fact: the tar pits are a treasure trove of fossils.

Giant Sloths! Can you imagine if they still existed?

After staring at the tar bubble out of the ground for a good half hour; we set up our picnic in front of the projection screen and waited for the sun to go down. 

And just for the record, the tar pits look so much cooler at night.

No Pants

Some days, you don't feel like writing. Some days, you don't feel like wearing pants (or a skirt, or anything other than your underwear). Today is both of those kinds of days. Unfortunately I have to leave the house in a couple hours, so I at least have to put on pants. Sigh, being a grown up sucks sometimes.

I have been putting off updating my blog since the weekend. Apparently I have nothing to say on the Tar Pits right now (but don't worry, I will soon). In the meantime I will be pretending to be a Freelance Design /Production -er person. The great thing about this gig is that the pay is real. Don't be fooled by the fancy title; it is mostly cutting out stickers and printing. Who knows? Maybe this will turn into a regular job (part-time, but still). I am getting pretty good with a blade.

Except this time.

Thank goodness for superhero band-aids.   

Perks of the job:

Ollie! 

Seriously, how adorable is he?

One last thing before I go:

Is it a giant teddy bear? Or an extremely tiny girl?

The world will never know...

(ignore the boxes in the background)

Comic Con!

One of the many reasons why my older brother is awesome is the fact that he is a comic book professional. This means that he can get two FREE tickets to Comic Con every year (as long as he registers in time). Last year he was only able to get one for himself, but this year I was his plus one. It also meant I got to walk around with a Professional Badge.

Highlight of the convention:

I met my favorite comic book artist. I was so excited that I began channeling my inner 12-year-old girl and there was nothing I could do about it. As you can see from the picture, I just about peed myself from excitement. Also note that we basically have matching hair. 

Other cool things:

The Lego booth was pretty amazing. It was like a Lego sandbox. 

Lego Boba Fett!

This is Richard Starkings. 

He is the creator of the Elephantmen series. In this picture he is signing and drawing in all four of the volumes we purchased. We got the entire series and a awesome puzzle for $50. It felt like we had gotten away with highway robbery. He is a very sweet, very funny, very British man.

 Look at the pictures he drew us!

And in case you where wondering, the guys from Workaholics are just as funny in person.

Even though I didn't go to any of the panels I wanted to, or get the limited print from Jhonen Vasquez (or see him for that matter), I had an excellent time at my first Comic Con. I was overwhelmed and amazed the entire two days. At one point, my brain stopped being able to process everything and I walked around like a zombie, possibly with my mouth open.

Next year, I would like to go for the entire time and wrangle a posse to all dress in costume. Like these girls:

View From A Train