My favorite thing about my little blog is the ability to look back. This year I was reading the blog post I wrote from last year's anniversary celebrations and some reflections I had on marriage. Things change so quickly in a year. Now that we find ourselves in California, we were ready to have some fun in LA. Ross planned out a whole day for us. He included new places, old favorites, and some previously attempted and failed places.
We started with a trip to Donut Friend, "Donuts Done Differently." And differently in the best way possible.
You can build your own, but why fix something that ain't broke? Because the combos they had sounded pretty good to me. We got a half dozen only because we knew a dozen wouldn't keep in the car all day and we already had dinner reservations.
Me staring at "The Angry Samoa." Which was my favorite. It's hard to even describe it, but just imagine a donut + Samoa Girl Scout Cookie love child.
Then we headed over to The Hollyhock House, which we had tried to go to before, but it had been closed for renovations. It was fun to finally see inside. Ross is a big Frank Loyd Wright fan.
It has great views of the Los Angeles, the Hollywood sign, and the Griffith Observatory. None of which really existed when the house was built in 1920. It's a relatively small house, and unfortunately much of it is closed off. But we still enjoyed it. I love the interpretation of the hollyhock motif and also the creative architecture. For every inside area there is an equal and opposite outside area. Because of the sunny and beautiful weather in Southern California, the house was meant to be opened up, extending indoor spaces to the outside.
Two little lovebirds hanging around Barsndall Park. We took ample breaks between adventures to dig in to the donuts. Here is Ross enjoying the X-ray Speculoos donut, one of his favorites.
You can build your own, but why fix something that ain't broke? Because the combos they had sounded pretty good to me. We got a half dozen only because we knew a dozen wouldn't keep in the car all day and we already had dinner reservations.
Me staring at "The Angry Samoa." Which was my favorite. It's hard to even describe it, but just imagine a donut + Samoa Girl Scout Cookie love child.
Then we headed over to The Hollyhock House, which we had tried to go to before, but it had been closed for renovations. It was fun to finally see inside. Ross is a big Frank Loyd Wright fan.
It has great views of the Los Angeles, the Hollywood sign, and the Griffith Observatory. None of which really existed when the house was built in 1920. It's a relatively small house, and unfortunately much of it is closed off. But we still enjoyed it. I love the interpretation of the hollyhock motif and also the creative architecture. For every inside area there is an equal and opposite outside area. Because of the sunny and beautiful weather in Southern California, the house was meant to be opened up, extending indoor spaces to the outside.
Two little lovebirds hanging around Barsndall Park. We took ample breaks between adventures to dig in to the donuts. Here is Ross enjoying the X-ray Speculoos donut, one of his favorites.
Donuts and Deloreans in the parking lot. Ross got weird when he saw it and insisted I take his picture.
Then on to Amoeba Music! Always a favorite, and one of the places we went when he visited California before we were married.
I love staring at the ska section. Wildly searching for any group I might have missed, and new songs to discover. I like playing ska roulette and picking one of the compilation CDs for around $5. I tend to go for the two-tone rocksteady albums for this game.
After some fun and more donuts, we drove over to Redondo Beach. Good luck not getting lost with directions like this:
Ross made us dinner reservations at a Brazilian churrasco. It's hard balance to know when to stop with the donuts so you can get your money's worth at an all you can eat meat fest churrasco.
We walked around the beach for a little bit, enjoying the fresh ocean air. I like this boat that was all dressed up like a pirate vessel. You can't see it well but there was a pirate climbing and skeleton bones too.
All of a sudden we heard a band playing and a parade started! The Special Olympics are in Los Angeles and a couple of the nearby beach communities are hosting international teams. It was so cool to see all the athletes ready to compete. They had huge smiles over their faces and it was fun to cheer them on, give them high fives, and wish them the best of luck.
Next up was dinner with amazing views as the sun set.
This place was a little different from your Utah Valley Tucanos because every half hour or so (ummm I kinda lose track of time with so much meat in my face) they carnival dancers would come out and shake and shimmy right by your table. It was crazy. I'm talking FULL BLOWN skimpy bikinis, feathers, head-dresses, and glitter. Oh the glitter! We got one of those awkward table photos, with the sun shinning on my face and food in my face.
Complimentary photo with said sun shinning on my face. I am a human-plant hybrid and use sun and meat to produce energy.
Green means go!
On our way home with full bellies I thought about my anniversary post. Last year I mentioned "how much I hate medical school." And I'm pleased (and a bit surprised) that med school displeasure only crossed my mind about once all of today. This year things are a lot more certain. We aren't moving across states. We aren't packing. We aren't car-less. We have an apartment. I have a job! And yes, that will all come again in a year, but for all I care, life is amazing right now.
Since this post is all about love I can legitimately post two photos that are almost exactly the same.
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