the spartan reunion

the farewell tour has begun.  which basically means that i am trying to make sure that i see all of my local friends before i move.  schedules being what they are, sometimes that's easier said than done.

take, for example the group of six of us broad run high school, class of '94 alum, all residing in the los angeles area.  i've had the opportunity to spend a little more time with brandon and michelle, than with bronwyn, andy, or kevin, but even with brandon and michelle, it had been a couple of years.

when i reached out to them about getting together, i had no plan, other than the intention to find a good date and put it on the calendar.  so as the date got closer, bronwyn reached out to me with some ideas about activities.  i honestly didn't care -- i just wanted to see them -- so i jumped at all of the ideas she and the others had batted around, and  a plan was laid.  but here's the truly amazing thing: i was not involved.   they figured out timing, locations, transportation, everything! i feel like 90% of my life is spent planning things for other people and this simple act, unbeknownst to them, was one of the greatest going away gifts they could have given me.

they had decided, that since i was the first person they had known with a selfie-stick, that we should pretend to be tourists in our own backyard.  we met at a speak-easy in culver city before piling into andy's suv, heading to la for dinner at the iconic cafe formosa.

after dinner, it was on to a couple of other stops; jim henson studios, capitol records, the roosevelt hotel, and grauman's chinese theater/walk of fame.

i've said it before, but there's just something awesome about being with people who have known you since you were a teenager. we laughed and caught up, and took photos, and laughed some more, all of us kicking ourselves that we hadn't taken more advantage of our close proximity over the last eight years.

and while i'm sad to say farewell, it looks like we'll be going out with a bang.  during our tourist travels, we happened to drive by the magic castle.  it's been on my bucket list since i arrived in cali, but you have to be a member, or be invoted by a member.  i thought i had combed my 'friend list' carefully to see whether i might know someone who knew someone, but had always come up dry.  so this night, as we were driving by the castle, i started to ask "does anyone know...? brandon immediately responded that he thought he had a connection.  and two days later, he confirmed via text.  we've set a date, and i'm equally excited to check this off the list as i am to see my friends one more time!

the renaissance pleasure faire

when i was a teen and visiting my grandmother's new york lake house every summer, we usually made a stop at the local renaissance faire.  there were two things that always made it memorable.  the first, was that for many years, my cousin was one of the actors.  as a result, for two or three years, before our visit to the faire, several of her cast-mates would come to the lake house and spend the day with us boating, water skiing, relaxing.  typically we visited the faire the following day, and to see the change from real person to character was truly unique.  it also always made us feel like we were part of the group...to be interacting with characters who we had met the day before giving us a sly wink or some small acknowledgement of our shared 'real life' day.

the second was that this particular ren faire had something i'd never seen/done before or after.  they had a quest.  so, instead of wandering aimlessly throughout the day, we started with a clue which led us to a character, who gave us another clue, which led us to a character, etcetera, etcetera. usually it would take a good chunk of the day (with the leftover time available for watching other entertainment), and of course, my family won every time we participated (beating out other attendees also participating).  it created a totally different kind of interaction with the characters than you would otherwise get and it was super fun to collect clues.

larysa and i spent the day walking.  really. mostly walking. we signed up for the 'quest' and found the morning half extremely enjoyable.  the clues were not difficult to follow and we met and interacted with some fantastic characters.  it felt 'easier' than i remembered my previous experience, but nonetheless, we enjoyed ourselves.  of course, we were the first people to turn in our collected map pieces and with the second portion not beginning until over an hour later, we took a break to sit and eat.

  

of course i had to have a giant turkey leg, sadly, it wasn't as good as i remember them.  but the sitting was lovely and much needed.  the faire grounds aren't big, but our clue hunting had us doing a lot of back and forth.  fortunately it was a beautiful day, which got more and more crowded as the day went on.

we then began the second part of the quest, and it didn't take long for us to figure out that it was kind of lame.  i don't really know how it came to be at the new york festival, but in this case, it's a seperate company than the ren faire folks who run it.  it appears that they have coordinated with the faire enough to involve their cast for the morning portion, but not for the afternoon portion, so the people that we were trying to interact with in the afternoon seemed kind of lazy. and frankly, at that point we had clocked 7 miles and just didn't appreciate being given tasks that would take us from one end of the grounds to the other, only to do the same over again.  we called it.

it was fun, but i'm not sure that i would do it again.  it certainly wasn't as memorable as my earlier experiences.  maybe with kids or a big group?  but even then... i felt like new york was so much better because, aside from the quest part, the faire itself was better. the stage shows were pretty amazing, and you could see a lot of genuinely good shakespeare comedy all throughout the day. the characters were more involved with the patrons.  i don't know, just seems better. now i kind of really want to go back to the ny one to see if that all still holds true.  sadly, with my grandmother's passing, i may never have another opportunity. so instead, it will stay this perfect little memory in my head.

the kneelands

i know i just got back from seeing some of my favorite people in utah, but as it turns out, some of those same favorite people had been planning a trip to california!

jill's sister linda (who i've known since, basically, she was crawling), and her husband just moved about 10 miles up the road from me. corey and jill, in an effort to visit her, planned a disney/cali trip, from which, i was also able to benefit!

thursday after work, i drove up to redondo to meet up with the gang.  we enjoyed a fantastic poolside bbq at linda and toby's apartment, before walking to the redondo pier. linda had gotten a groupon for sailing, and again, i benefitted.  i used to go sailing with friends a fair amount in virginia, but i've never been in california.  it was a perfect evening, being on the water, watching the sunset with such great friends.

as i was walking back to my car.... there's something about the ocean at night that made me realize that there are a lot of things i'm going to miss about california when i'm gone!

august

i am woefully behind.  i'll just acknowledge that and move on.

this is what my august looked like:

me finally getting to try cotton candy grapes .  yes. i said cotton candy grapes.  grapes that taste like cotton candy! they are only in season for about two weeks each year, distributed by only one grape grower, in california, and they are hard to find! i’d learned about them last year after they were already out of season, and have been waiting to try them. they were delicious! i still have 4 pounds sitting in my freezer so that i can continue to enjoy them.

this collage is from my work trip to kansas city. melissa, her husband nick, and another colleague, david, went to see the MLS soccer team, sporting kc play dc united.  dc united totally beat them!  and what made it an even better night is that the team was staying in our hotel and we ended up spending a little time with the head coach (the guy in the white shirt in the bottom right photo).  but of course, the highlight is just always getting to see melissa.:)

august also saw my 38^th birthday. yowser!  i am usually traveling on my birthday and was excited to be home this year.  i invited a small group of friends and the donahoo cousins to join me at the iconic (lots of movies have shot here) griffith observatory in los angeles.  they were hosting a public star party so many many local astronomers brought their telescopes to share with the rest of us peons.  i love the observatory and it was a great way to celebrate with some of my favorite people!

trick-or-treat

october makes me positively giddy.  i love the feeling of fall creeping in (at least, everywhere but southern california), knowing that the holidays and family time are drawing nearer, and i love love love haunted houses.

the 2013 haunted house season kicked off in september in san antonio, but october brought it back home for a little while.  first up was the haunted play: delusion.

my, now, roommate and i had discovered the experience last year and this year were joined by our friend kristina.

when october 12th arrived, we made our way to los angeles.  first stop, hyperion public, a great gastropub in the area, where we enjoyed such tasty treats as the 'f yeah fries', and the grilled cheese with bacon jam, pear, and mozzarella.  stomachs satisfied and tongues delighted we made our way to the bethany presbyterian church, the new 2013 location.  it promised to be both creepier and lengthier than the previous year.

we were greeted, given wristbands assigning us to a group, and ushered downstairs to the basement to wait for the experience to begin. this haunt is not so much about being scared as it is about 'participating' in the story.  it was fun to have kristina along since she didn't have any basis for expectations, and jami and i were itching to get started.

throughout the course of the experience, we were each given various tasks to perform, and at one point, jami and i were even pulled from the group (leaving kristina behind) to complete a totally separate storyline that involved plague doctors, musical charts, confessing our sins to a drunk priest, a near beheading...and there may have even been some spanking involved. eventually the rest of the group joined us and we completed the adventure together.  similar to last year, i did feel that the conclusion was  a bit abrupt, but over all, it was a fantastic evening.  it was much longer and the writing was more cohesive this year, as was the acting.  it will definitely go back on the list for next year.

the following weekend, kristina (who turns out to be a haunt lover as well!) ventured out to a local favorite, knott's scary farm.

at the same price as the haunted play, you can't beat the value you get from knott's.  with multiple mazes and rides, you can get a lot of bang for the buck.  but, it had been a couple years since i had been, and it was sooooo much more crowded! in previous years i had been able to do all of the mazes and the big rides in the course of an evening, but this year the lines were extremely long and we only knocked out a handful of mazes and one of the coasters during our five hours.  lesson learned if i decide to go back next year - buy the fast pass!

nontheless, kristina was good company, and i was really impressed at the increased quality of some of the mazes.  there were a couple in particular, where i also felt like the creepies inside were dedicated to their scare-craft, watching your behavior in order to scare you at the best time and in the best possible way.

and it was time for the next leg of the haunt tour, heading out of state again, and back to texas!