Animal friends
Every year, Best Friends Animal Society puts on a huge adoption event at the La Brea Tar Pits. They fill the whole park with tents and bring as many adoptable pets out to find homes. We’ve been going for the past few years just to check it out and it’s really hard not to leave with one of these sweet animals.
Actually two years ago, before we had Meeme and Mochi, we tried to adopt a few cats from the event, but they were adopted before we made up our minds. It was very sad for me, but I’m so happy they found a home.
This year we had the extra incentive of visiting the C’est la V Bakeshop booth which was set up with a ton of vegan goodies.
So I totally fell for this cat Zara. She was rescued from a hoarder’s house who had 200 cats and 100 dogs. Insane. She was so quiet and calm. She shared her cage with two kittens who were rambunctiously jumping around, all over, even on top of her, but she just hung out. Gosh I hope she found a home; she deserves a home.
Shawn liked these sweet little kittens, Zoey and Zelda.
I thought these white brother and sister cats were so pretty.
They had lots of darling dogs as well. Like this adorable Pomeranian. I didn’t get as many photos of dogs because they were a lot more wiggly than the cats and hard to photograph.
As I may have mentioned before, I’m kind of obsessed with animals who are a little weird. Which is why I loved the little wheelie guy up top. He was just carting around, happy as a clam.
They also had a few bunnies and some ducks visiting from a duck sanctuary.
This is Kingsley. I love Kingsley. I wish I could have brought him home. I don’t think it would have gone over so well. I wish we had a bigger place! He was so curious and friendly and adorable. Bunnies need homes too!
Anyway, if any of you are considering bringing a furry (or feathered, or scaled) friend into your home, please adopt. There are so many animals that desperately need homes and deserve happy lives. These aren’t damaged goods, they are just animals who were dealt a bad hand in life. They’re just looking for someone to look out and care for them. Check out your local animal shelter or one of the many adoption sites like Petfinder.
Go save a life!
LA Vegan Beer Fest
This past Saturday was the first LA Vegan Beer Fest. We went with our dear friends Jannatha & Kyle. They’re beer fest pros.
Check out their beer mug beads! They also have some pretzel necklaces (which didn’t make it to this fest) for snacking while you drink.
Alicia and Baxter came along too. They were there to keep us in line. You might call them the law.
We got these handy little mugs for sampling the beers. At about 4 oz each, they were the perfect size to get to try all the beers while still getting to enjoy each one for a little bit.
My top picks of the day were the Duvel Green, the Solace from Firestone Walker and a special edition coffee beer from Speakeasy Brewery. I was totally in love with the coffee beer actually.
While I enjoy beer, I was even more excited about the food. With a ton of trucks, serving exclusively vegan snacks, I was ready to get my grub on.
We started with the lemongrass tofu bahn mi from Mandoline Grill. You can’t go wrong with a ban mi really, but Mandoline grills up their tofu just right. Super tasty.
We drank some more beer. We got hungry again. This event went on for a few hours, so you have to try everything possible.
Next up was the jackfruit tofu taquitos and the beer battered avocado taco from Seabirds Truck. Holy crap. I’m still in awe that there’s a completely vegan food truck, let alone one that is better than half the restaurants in Los Angeles. Beer Battered Avocado Taco. Do I have to say more? Every word is delicious!
We also got a few things from Doomie’s, which we learned is finally back in action and opening a new location in Hollywood. Stoked!
I tried their sushi, which was amazing. Who knew Doomie’s made sushi? Anyway, it was fantastic: faux tuna and faux shrimp with cream cheese, all topped with that awesome sauce.
Shawn hung out with his buddies at the Frankenstand. We had a lot of franken dogs. My favorite is the witch.
When you drink a lot of tiny cups of beer, sometimes your pictures get a little silly.
When you run out of beer and have to go home it is very sad. All good things must come to an end though.
Off we rode into the sunset with Kyle & Jannatha on their sweet tandem bike.
If you want to see more, Shawn has tons more photos over at Shawn’s flickr. Check ’em out.
Autumn fun
Let’s pretend, just for a moment, that it’s not nearly 100° here in Los Angeles. Let’s pretend this city actually has seasons and we’re in the midst of a cool, beautiful fall. It’s a perfect autumn day and we’re going on an adventure to the corn maze.
Here we are, excited about the pumpkins and fall squash a plenty.
Gorgeous pumpkins and gourds of all colors.
Squash bigger than I’ve ever seen. You could feed a whole family with one of those banana squash.
But we’re here for the corn maze, so let’s enter, shall we?
Let’s enjoy the afternoon and take some photos.
We’re surrounded by lovely lush corn. It’s an adventure for sure. Who knows where we’re going…
In fact, we might be lost and the GPS isn’t helping.
And you have to be careful of masked men in the corn.
The sun is moving lower in the sky and the corn is so tall we can’t tell which direction we’re going.
But we escaped!
Getting lost has never been so fun.
Happy Halloween
Happy Halloween!
I’ve been spending my morning hanging out with the kitties and reading about haunted houses.
I was just going to post a quick teaser of our Halloween costumes, but some of the photos are just too much fun, so I had to share more.
This year I was a prairie girl and Shawn was an astronaut. I didn’t have time to make a costume, so I bought this amazing dress from an awesome shop on Etsy. I love the dress so much, I might have to wear it all the time.
It’s true, we love Halloween.
We went to a party with some crazy dancing ghillie suit creatures. Watch out for this guy. His moves will blow away even you’re sweetest dance routine.
Even Cleopatra was there; cutting a rug on the dance floor.
There were cupcakes. They were devoured.
I’m so glad my friends love Halloween as much as I do.
We’re planning some more Halloween adventures for this afternoon. Can’t wait.
What are you doing for Halloween?
Halloween Spirit
This weekend we had our 3rd Annual Halloween Movie Marathon. It wasn’t as crazy as last year, where we went for two weekends in a row, but we still watched movies from Saturday night all the way through to Sunday night.
I made some pb cups & peppermint patties, because you have to have some Halloween candy. Some roasted pumpkin seeds for something salty. And of course, some pumpkin spice & espresso cupcakes, well, because I’m good at it. I didn’t, on the other hand, take photos. Mainly because of our spooky Halloween lighting.
Shawn also made tofurky dogs for everyone to fuel us through the night. And lots of coffee. LOTS of coffee and popcorn.
Anyway…this is just a preface to say that my post today is neither cute nor delicious. In fact, it’s creepy. Shawn and I have spent a good deal of time at the Natural History Museum lately. We are trying to take full advantage of our membership there. Not to mention they have amazingly cool stuff.
I thought this might be the only time of year when I could get away with sharing some of the awesome photos I’ve been able to get there at the museum and at special events. Get ready for a bunch of bones, insects and dead things. So if you’re squeamish, you’ve been warned.
Antlers in storage.
A walrus skull. Massive.
Shawn and a blue whale skull at the museum’s marine mammal warehouse. This whale was recovered after it was hit and killed by a commercial freight ship about 30 years ago.
The Natural History Museum is part of the network that collects dead animals that have been washed ashore for research. They have the second largest collection of sea mammals, right after the Smithsonian.
Hippo skull. I’m pretty sure this is Bubbles, but now I’m not positive.
We ended our pre-Halloween weekend by going to the museum’s haunted cave party. It was really a family thing, but it was lots of fun wandering around after hours in costumes. I’m totally obsessed with all the taxidermy they have. I am really just obsessed with everything in the museum.
Oh and in case you were wondering what we watched this weekend…here is the playlist…
