Summer Time and the Living's Easy....Or Not!

Well, this has been somewhat of a rough month and trying summer. Our first summer here in this new house and we have learned a lot. First time home owners, there's a learning curve. And we make mistakes. I guess that's part of learning and growing up.

Part of being married and growing up together is finding how to work and compromise. We have had our rough patches throughout this summer over the house but we somehow always come to an understanding and work it out. I guess that's what love and marriage is. It certainly isn't rosy all the time. We learn new things about each other and learn to adapt to it, I think that in turn makes us a stronger force.

The bumps in the road this summer have been:

- The house and the status of it (nothing really has changed since Nov 2014)

- The foundation (that's a big load to swallow and has tore us several times). We just need to eat it and get on with it. Construction to start again this fall. Oh boy, what a joy!! Our house is literally getting a new foundation and support, which in the long run will be good because we need a safe house!

- The bugs and insects. This has been a NIGHTMARE for me. A true living HELL! It may be worse than the disagreements we have about the foundation. Fleas, maggots, fleas, flea!! Yuck!!!!!!! There's nothing more than tiny insects I hate more in this world!! Last week was literally a week from hell. We have a flea infestation from the damn feral cats that wander into our yard and the fleas cling onto our clothes and get into the house. Subsequently, I am getting eaten alive. And I have been a paranoid freak checking, cleaning, spraying everything. Kill, kill, kill!! I spray the living crap out of our yard with all sorts of chemicals and yet I am still finding fleas!! GROSS!! Then towards the end of last week, we found maggots just squirming around in our kitchen. Maggots. I literally fainted. Yes, these nasty, squirmy white bugs. All over our kitchen tile. Apparently, they'd crawl out of our trash bin from some trash! I had a meltdown, almost threw up, almost fainted, then forced the Man to clean it up as fast as possible so I wouldn't have a heart attack. Best week EVER!! Not! Lesson learned, when summer comes, be ready for bugs. Spray the yard with appropriate chemicals and don't leave trash in the bin for very long.

- Because of these freaking microscopic insects, which jump and cling onto you the moment you step foot outside (we literally pick them off our legs, pants, arms, body......ohhhhhh gag!!!), I have not been able to tend to the yard or my veggie garden. The tomatoes are about done and I need to start removing the roots and plants and clean that place up. Not to mention the monster fig tree we have. Disgusting thing drops rotten fruit onto the ground, which then leads to animals and insects eating them. We've had squirrels, possums, huge beetles around the fig tree because it's bearing so much fruit.

- Lastly, my final gripe (probably not really final) is the heat. Damn summer heat. There have been unbearable heat waves hitting LA all summer long and they are miserable!! Thank goodness the Man bought a portable AC unit, otherwise we would be toast. It is so hot, humid, muggy, stuffy and just downright uncomfortable upstairs. Mix that with parasite fleas and my gosh, it's a damn party!

(I am so proud of the Man. And the Man is so proud of this lawn!
Look at the difference!! Night and day! Curb appeal!)

(Tomato tart that I manage to make out of tomatoes not eaten by insects. Was pretty
tasty and definitely tart tasting after oven baked)

(Ok, for the Miyazaki Hayao fans out there. Doesn't this look like the cloud from
" Laputa"?! Driving home I noticed how similar it look to Tenkuno Shiro Laputa
天空の城ラピュタ and couldn't believe it!One of my favorite childhood
animations. Let's all dream alittle!)

(I don't write or show enough of Fat P, mostly because he's hidden all the time but
when he does grace us with his presence, he's a pretty cute and funny guy)

The joys of summer have been:

- Long day light (like until 8:30pm)

- Hollywood bowl shows. Boy do I love the Hollywood Bowl. It's so much fun and such a nice activity to do in the summer for a fairly inexpensive price.

- BBQs. I love anything grilled, I love the smoky, charcoaly flavor on my veggies and meats. One can only BBQ in the summer. It literally is summer tradition.

- Picnics. I mean what is more perfect than a picnic on a summer night with nice fruit, maybe some drinks and easy finger food? Nothing. It's perfect and so summery.

- Cool mornings before the sun starts beating down on you. Nice time go to jogging, for example, at the Silverlake Reservoir, which we have been doing recently.

- Abundance of fruit. We are so blessed in LA to have so much fruit any time of the year but especially in the summer, fruit is so delicious! We have had a load of strawberries, blueberries, cherries, watermelon, honeydrew, grapefruit, peaches, nectarines, pears, oranges and so on!! And for so cheap too!! It's the best summer time snack!

(Hollywood Bowl with some of the Man's co-workers)

(The Bugs Bunny show was playing that night. Very entertaining!! Fun watching cartoons to live music from an
orchestra)

(Grilling and kabobing at it's best!)

(Yum! Shrimp skewers and our homegrown tomatoes)

(The Man looks so happy grilling and I love spending time like this together.
Such a "weekend dad" look)

(Wish we could grill everyday! Love the mesquite taste)

Rolling with the ups and downs of summer,
The Lady

My Birthday!

Wow, summer is almost over and here we are again, my birthday! I can't believe it's my 32nd birthday. Where has time gone? And I say this every year by the way, according to the Man.

This year, the Man decided to surprise me and made reservation to several places. Yamashiro in Hollywood was the winner. What a gorgeous restaurant with an amazing view on the hilltops of Hollwood! The "mountain palace" (rough translation) was designed impeccably, beautiful details, a nice indoor garden and a beautiful Japanese garden and pool. I can see why people like this restaurant, its views of Hollywood are stunning and the palace is in pristine shape.

(Yamashiro for my 32nd birthday)

(Yuzu avocado scallop & shrimp with orzo. Orzo was delicious!)

(Asian BBQ ribs, sweet and spicy!)

(Being a Japanese restaurant, their sushi selection was not that great. The salmon was good, this was their fusion
lobster roll, which was tasty but not mind-blowing)

(Courtyard garden with surrounding seating. Very pretty)

(Exterior photo of the palace at night all lite up)

I am blessed with all  kinds of gifts and messages from family and friends.

(HS girlfriend sent me flowers and a goodies basket!! What a lovely surprise!)

(Three kinds of cakes from Porto's and one of my favorite flowers, the hydrangeas. Love the pale pink color)

(The Man spoils me!! And black is so sleek as wrapping paper! I got the Spiralizer!
Thank you honey!)

(I think this is Little P wishing me happy birthday)

So grateful,
The Lady

Pantry Progress & Succulent Fever

I have been late on my post lately!! WOW! Sorry for the delay folks, life's been crazy. Work's been nuts, family coming in and out of town, barely got time for myself or to eat!! I started this a while back and never finished this post. Here's the latest on the pantry.

(Oh boy was the paint hard to get off these frame faces)

(Literally years and years of paint caked onto these cabinets)

(The Man has big plans for that large opening! Hopefully it turns out like he imagined
because it's taking a long time!)

(So the Man has gotten me into yet another thing, succulents. Succulents, I thought, were
boring cactus like plants who don't need water. Turns out, they are quite exquisite,
strong and very hip!)

(Went on a West Side Home tour and saw succulents being displayed in every house. Popular thing.....)

(So here's my design! Succulents!!)

(The pretty bowls are from Target)

(Our tomatoes have been flourishing! Can't keep up with them!)

(Who's this little creeper!! It's Stalker Puna!! This photo makes me laugh so hard)

(I think the Man wants a dog.....and we would love one!)

Summer's passing me by,
The Lady

Photo Dump

Lately, lots of things have been going on and it's hard to have the time to blog! Nonetheless keep up with daily activities, work, work on the house and still have time to sleep. How do my friends with children do this?!

Being lazy, here's a photo dump of photos from our lives lately. Not a particular topic but lots of topics in one blog entry!

(A particularly well taken picture of my grandma and I. We have similar eyes)

(It's been a month today since we've discovered his "growth" and he is healthy as a horse!! Thank goodness!!
I love this little guy to pieces, my sweet pea)

(Well, the second round of lettuce has sure been doing better than the first round)

(Same with the basil, looking good and healthy! Can't wait for caprese salad all summer)

(Speaking of caprese salad, our tomatoes have finally started turning red and ripening!)

(We've enjoyed our peas in many dishes already. Really sweet)

(Our baby niece Aly, she's so darling. We had a chance to babysit her for a few hours
and boy was she lots of fun!! And so adorable too! Full of energy this one)

(She loved looking at the colorful fish at the pet store, the Man holding onto this cutie.
She's actually quite heavy, I got tired of holding her after 10-15 minutes! What a
workout!)

(Of course we had to take her to see the Punas or Robo hamsters!! It's the Puna's uncles!
They were so cute and she was fascinated with them!)

(We took a little time out from the house work and checked out a music festival in Pasadena. We stopped on the
Suicide Bridge/Colorado Street Bridge for a photo op and to enjoy the view)

(Google's fun. It put together this gif of us taking selfies at Vista Hermosa park in DTLA.
We took a Sustainable Landscape tour this past weekend and checked out this gorgeous
park! It was amazing to find such a gem in the middle of busy DT!

June Gloom Go Away,
The Lady

Little P and The Garden

My little P....thank goodness he is a fighter too. What a strong boy he is. It's been about 1.5 since we discovered his growth and took him to the vet. The incision made by the lousy vet is now healing up nicely, but the growth is still very prominent. He's been refusing his antibiotics too. In the beginning, he used to take it quietly without protest, but lately he's been fidgety and frantic. I guess he is "genki" again (which means well in Japanese). He has about the same amount of energy, jumps around everywhere, eats normally, drinks normally, sleeps well. He just has that weird growth on him, which I'm hoping doesn't affect him too much. I love him the way he is, and I hope he stays with us for a while.

In other news, the Garden has been thriving beautifully!!! I'm so happy to see so many green tomatoes!! And for the first time, we have PEAS!! Yay for our little veggie garden! We have 2 small pods of peas right now. I hope they continue growing. Cilantro's doing well except there's small white flowers growing on them and the squash is still growing, no flowers yet.

(small pod of peas)

(so excited to see this!! Yes peas!)

(gorgeous cluster of cherry tomatoes)

Feeling Happy,
The Lady