Sunday, May 31, 2009

the urban farmer


in the midst of auditing a fantastic class called creation care and sabbeth economics, i've decided to turn our balcony into something of a garden. it is modest right now - only a few herbs, a bell pepper plant, and two tomato plants - but it's a start!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

may gray


for our first spring in pasadena we kept hearing that we were avoiding the dreaded "may gray" which turns into "june gloom". we didn't really know what that meant, but we do now. we're smack in the middle of scenes like this one - this image is of our mountains (which usually look something like this) but you can barely tell because of this facinating marine layer that decends on pasadena every day.

Friday, May 29, 2009

paseo colorado plaza sky


welcome to another installment of skywatch friday (more of which can be found at this fantastic website).

by the way - pasadena is about to experience a really cool event - old pasadena restaurant week. check it out, it's for a good cause.

oh, and one more thing - i'm working on a future bike ride. follow my journey here.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

colorado boulevard


boulevard is a funny word. and it doesn't look like it is spelled correctly even when it is. part of pasadena's historic old town district. as i recently learned from wikipedia, "the intersection of fair oaks ave and colorado blvd in old town is the zero-zero, east-west, north-south postal division of pasadena." fun stuff!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

jpl building


snapped this one of a building on our recent visit to nasa's jet propulsion laboratory. i have no idea what building this is, but i like the way it looks.

Monday, May 25, 2009

twin palms


one of pasadena's upscale old town restaurants - apparently this one used to be owned by kevin costner. i've never been, but i hear the prices are fairly reasonable, and how cool is it that there are actually two palm trees sticking out of the twin palms restaurant?

Sunday, May 24, 2009

climbing up lake avenue


this photo is actually above pasadena - in altadena actually - a town which some of my fellow area bloggers recently raved about.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

the humans are dead


i got to experience new zealand's fourth most popular folk parody group last night. that's right, flight of the conchords, live and in person! the l.a. show sold out faster than we hoped, so we were forced to drive north to santa barbara to fulfill our burning desire for musical comedy.

a fun time for sure! if you have no idea who the flight of the conchords are, you need to give your head a shake, and then watch this...

Thursday, May 21, 2009

farmers market carrots


bounty from the saturday farmers market - can you get yellow and purple carrots in your town?

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

cupcakes and a wedding


this weekend we traveled to virginia for my cousin's wedding. my mom and my aunt made hundreds of cupcakes for the reception, and of course we were roped in to the process of icing these treats. chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, carrot cake - so much work, and such a tasty end result!

a great trip, and a wonderful wedding. congrats you two!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

the pasadena playhouse


viewed from a side that doesn't get much attention. those who have visited before know that you enter on the other side. i love how the color they picked for the lettering matches the sky.

Monday, May 18, 2009

welcome to pasadena?


i've never understood who's brilliant idea it was to build a massive industrial area right beside the 110 highway for visitors to see RIGHT when they pull in to town. or did the highway come second?

maybe i need some insight from our locals.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

saga!


whenever i see this vintage motel, it reminds me of watching commercials like this one...

Saturday, May 16, 2009

the hottest of knives


if you are a foodie blogger in los angeles, you probably already know about these guys, but in case you don't, hurry on over to their blog to read about their culinary adventures in the world of vegetarian/vegan cuisine and beer. fantastic reading.

this photo is from their presentation at the recent craft beer festival.

Friday, May 15, 2009

sky watch friday at jpl


i snapped this one off during our recent visit to nasa's jet propulsion laboratory.

more sky watch friday can be found right here.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

eateries handbook


many of you have noticed the link on the right side of this blog for "eateries" - pasadena's newest publication. what you may not have realized is that petrea and i are featured! go pick up a copy - apparently there are thousands being distributed around town - and check out our page. and then go here to read the full article.

we are heading back to virginia today for a quick trip to the town of our alma mater. my cousin is getting married on saturday, so we get to experience lots of family, friends, and fun! should be a great time.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

photo request #23: train stations


a bird waits for the metro at the china town station along the gold line.

thanks to laurie over at the wonderful glimpses of south pasadena blog for her suggestion that i head out and snap some pictures of our picturesque metro stations.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

canadians at a ballgame


adam and i had a great time chearing for our blue jays, but sadly they lost last thursday night by a score of 6-1. we really should have gone the night before when they won 13-1 - oh well! for those baseball fans who have been living under a rock, our blue jays currently sit in first place in the american league with a record of 22-12! GO JAYS GO!

oh, and they start a series tonight against the hated evil empire.

Monday, May 11, 2009

welcome to bike week!



hey there pasadena. this week is pasadena's annual bike week. it includes a wide variety of events and bike rides, and city residents are encouraged to get out and ride their bicycles - to work, around town, or just around the block.

go have fun! and for details about this week, check out the website.

oh, and this picture was taken during our recent epic bike ride.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

craft beer fest los angeles 2009


yesterday i mentioned that i'd be heading to the los angeles craft beer festival - and guess what - i went and it turned out to be quite an event. i missed buying tickets during the online presale, and thus was forced to wait in an incredibly long line (for over 3 hours) just to gain entry.

once i got it, i recieved my complimentary festival glass and got to work, tasting beer from a wide variety of california brewers. unfortunately quite a bit of the free advertized food was already gone by the time i got in, but i got to sample most of the beer that i had been excited to try. it was an interesting event, and i ended up running in to quite a few people i had met during this event.


in hindsight, it would have been much better if i had purchased tickets in advance. it was the first time the organizers had ever done something like this and there were certainly a few hiccups in the way that it was run (huge lines outside and inside, and they ran out of most food rather quickly), however with the overwhelming response i'm sure it will become an annual event.

update: a good review of the festival was posted in the la times.

update 2: a fantastic rundown of different perspectives over at beergeek.la

Saturday, May 09, 2009

nasa's jet propulsion laboratory


last sunday we went to j.p.l. for their annual open house. from the observation deck we got to see the new mars rover which is currently under construction in several different stages in this laboratory. apparently it is scheduled to be launched in 2012.

there were huge lines for every building and exhibit because of the fact that it was free, but we still had a great time. still kind of weird to me that this is right here in pasadena.


speaking of local events, our public information officer has a great list of upcoming free events. and today, i'll be attending this.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

best little cat house


i'm not a cat person, and yet this place caught my eye. i'm really curious about what a 'feline exclusive resort and spa' is... can anyone help?

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

classical guitar + farmers market = perfect saturday morning


those of you familiar with the saturday farmers market at the high school will recognize this guy. he's there every week. i really should have asked for his name so that i could give him a proper shout out on this blog.

i love that this particular farmers market has live musicians. it makes the atmosphere even more wonderful than it already is. i thought i had already posted a photo of this gentleman, but i can't find it... can anyone else remember if i've posted his picture before?

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

clink!


raising a glass at this weekend's dinner at mi piace. we were celebrating a tim's recent successful audition - those of you on the east coast should keep your eyes out for a universal studios commercial with him starring as a british rocker.

congrats tim!

Monday, May 04, 2009

mi piace and the exchange building


on saturday night we enjoyed a lovely dinner out with friends. while we normally go for italian food at pasadena's "the kitchen", it was nice to take a step up. mi piace is always packed, seemingly no matter what time of day, and now we know why. the food was really very tasty, and the atmosphere was lovely.

Sunday, May 03, 2009

mountain range cloud cover


check out the image in front of me on my way to the farmers market yesterday. it was just begging to be photographed. we don't get much cloud cover in pasadena, so seeing these fluffy clouds resting on top of the san gabriel mountains was pretty spectacular.

Saturday, May 02, 2009

21


21 is a significant number - perfect score in blackjack, legal drinking age in the usa, etc, etc. but in pasadena it has two additional connotations - both found on de lacey street. is it simply coincidental that forever 21 and 21 choices are right next to each other?

sky watch friday is happening on saturday this week.

Friday, May 01, 2009

may theme day: shadows


a little twisting and turning, and voila! today's theme day photo. for those who are new to this, i devote the first of each month to city daily photo's theme day. city daily photo is a fantastic website where you can see one photo a day from hundreds of cities across the globe.

in fact, there are hundreds of others displaying their shadowy photos today.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants