DC

A few weeks back Ashley and I flew to Washington, DC. We planned to stay with Anna and Ben but they had to go out of town at the last minute so we ended up staying in their very cool Manor House and tooling around in their car so THANK YOU Anna and Ben for your generosity and we were sad to miss you but hopefully you will be able to visit us out in LA soon! I have never been to DC and I had just finished reading 'The Lost Symbol' which is Dan Brown's new book that has a story set in DC, so I couldn't wait to get around to all of the monuments but we ran into a minor technical difficulty:We did manage to get some sightseeing done :)

He had me at "Merhaba" aka "Hello"

Jeff and I just got back from a vacation in Turkey visiting my best friend from 25 years ago...we were all like kids again for the week...

Thanksgiving Orphan Feast

We had such success with the Thanksgiving Orphan Feast last year that we decided to bring it back for year two. We went a little bigger this year (20 people) which necessitated the cooking of two turkeys but everything came out OK, witness Timmy's turkey coma:

Dudamel

For Chuck's birthday I got him tickets to see the LA Philharmonic! We have been trying to get tickets for awhile now but they keep selling out because the LA Phil just got a new conductor named Gustavo Dudamel. He is only 28, he is from Venezuela, he has crazy hair and he is awesome. I submit this photo as evidence:He jumped around on his conductor stand the entire performance, I was actually afraid he would fall off at one point but he made it through unscathed and it was an amazing show! Ed. Note: Please observed that Chuck's hair is extra poofed. This is because we decided to drive to the show (on the interstate) with the top down - we love the TT.

The Scooter Fiasco

Last year I took a course to learn how to drive a motorcycle. The end result of that class was me realizing that my days would be numbered if I attempted to navigate LA traffic on a motorcycle, but I wasn't willing to part with the idea completely so I ended up buying a scooter instead! I kept meaning to make a video or a post about it, featuring me zipping around Manhattan Beach, but the time never seemed right. The scooter was in and out of a repair shop and every time I got it back I would get excited and then a week later something else would go wrong. Not cool. My relationship with the scooter ended last weekend when I sold it to the next schmuck in line. I was going to post about selling it and then realized I never even posted about buying it, I guess that should have tipped me off!

TT

I got The Red Machine from Julie my senior year of high school, it has come with me to college and to California and it has been the best. But, being the responsible young lady that I am, I decided that I would preemptively start the search for my Car 2.0 before something devastating happened to the Pathfinder and I was stuck with a car payment in school (I was being responsible and positive). I brought my plan up to Dad who proposed an alternative: that I take their TT instead of buying something new. My initial reaction was no way, it is too small and I don't know how to drive stick shift. But I slowly warmed up to the idea (and the thought of no car payment) and thus the TT arrived last week. And I am loving every second of it.

Redfield Manor Garlic Patch

No more vampires allowed anywhere near Redfield Manor!