spring has sprung!

While many people took this past Easter weekend to relax, hunt for eggs and go to church, I spent 3-5 hours each day Friday-Sunday in my happy place -- my gardens! It was outdoor spring cleaning weekend and now -- two packed full trash bins, six bags of mulch and two trips to the Garden Center at Home Depot later -- my back yard is all beautified and ready for spring... complete with a robin's nest full of pretty blue eggs tucked away under the garage eaves hidden by vines I almost ripped down (but saw just in the nick of time! Phew... don't need that bad karma!)

You wouldn't know by looking at them now, but I cut all this mess off my three jasmine vines, which exploded a few weeks ago when it rained. They are still super full and provide great privacy for my patio. (And smell awesome when they bloom!)

The rain also made my bougainvillas VERY happy finally... I had to put up new rods and wires to train them up the ugly gray cinderblock wall that I hope one day soon they will completely cover.

                                                                                                                                         

All of my roses are at least budding if not already blooming!

I put fresh mulch down for them and trimmed them a bit.

I also planted one new rose bush here (the pretty pink and white one in the lower left) to replace one that died last year, plus another new one in my corner garden, bringing my total to "way too many rose bushes for a person who is easily scratched" ;)

The corner garden with my new solar powered butterfly and peacock lights, one on each side of the rose bush I planted in memory of my sweet Lucky kitty last October. 

I also planted a new purple teacup rose bush here, which is named the "Barbra Streisand Rose"... after my mom's favorite singer.

Look closely and you can see the cute, handmade ceramic dragonfly and butterfly garden stakes I bought on my February trip to Santa Barbara.

And underneath my hummingbird feeder, the purple ceramic hummingbird that reminded me of my Granny and a ladybug :)

And finally, the repotted corner of the patio that was wiped out when it rained three weeks ago due to a REALLY full gutter directly above it. I had my own personal waterfall happening here!

The good part of that bad news was I put a trash can under the waterfall on Days 2 and 3, which was filled up by the time it stopped raining and used this weekend to water down all the fertilizer I placed under my giant orange tree. (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! )

  

downtown adventure day

Last Saturday turned into one of my favorite kinds of days... wandering around downtown exploring! My friend James' sister Karen was in town from Austin to watch her favorite hockey team, the Boston Bruins, lose to my LA Kings. So along with Daryl, we set off downtown with the 7:30pm puck drop as our only scheduled activity.

Stop #1 was at my second favorite place to hang out downtown (after Staples Center, of course), the amazingly delicious foodie paradise on the corner of 7th and Grand, Bottega Louie. It was 1pm and the weekend, so the brunch menu was still in effect, and we took full advantage!

Daryl and Karen had Bloody Mary's, I had a Bellini.
Dessert was the caramel butterscotch parfait on the lower right, with a salted chocolate macaroon.
We also, of course, made Karen try the famous portebello mushroom fries! (Sorry, no photo. They were gone too fast ;)

Our brunch meals were (clockwise from top left): My lemon ricotta pancakes, Karen's smoked salmon benedict, James' salmon millefeuille with soft boiled egg on the side and Daryl's lobster hash.

After brunch, we were walking back to my car to put stuff (ie: my Bottega Louie sugar cookies and raspberry beinget, which I had for breakfast on Sunday) away, when we spotted R2D2 and some storm troopers. Now, I've seen a live cow wandering the streets of downtown, but seeing an actual celebrity like R2D2 had to be investigated! Turns out, they were there to promote the 24th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (aka FIDM), which is a block from my go-to DTLA parking lot. The exhibit was free, so we wandered in and saw all the costumes nominated for Oscars this year, plus the wanna-be's (Jem and the Holograms anyone?). It was a welcome surprise on our Downtown Adventure Day!

The Force Awakens costumes, official exhibit greeter R2D2 and a combo land cruiser/back to the future prop car (it had a flux capacitor inside, along with a mini-BB8). Check out the cool "Kenobi 2016" bumper sticker and the "Yoda" "fish" :)

My fave movie surprise of the year, Brooklyn, Academy Award Winner Mad Max: Fury Road, and the Cinderella princess dress

After the stop at the car, we wandered to LA Live. Karen wanted to check out the Grammy Museum (which -- tip! -- only costs $10 with your AAA card). They had exhibits on Otis Redding (4th floor), The Supremes (3rd floor) and a Bob Dylan photography exhibit (2nd floor). But my favorite thing on the 2nd floor was found in the hallway on the way to the restroom... framed photos of Adele and the Foo Fighters. Apparently 2011 was an excellent year for the only two music acts I've listened to on the iPod in my car for the last four months (with the exception of an experimental week, which I'll be blogging about here soon ;)

After the Grammy Museum, we hit up Rosa Mexicana for their famous pomegranate margaritas, guac and a mini-dinner.

Then it was time for Karen and I -- well our hockey teams -- to go into battle. Luckily, the good guys prevailed so Karen got a ride home ;)