NEW POTTERY PIECES, LITTLE TOKYO & SOLO MUST DIE

MY WEEK IN PHOTOS: MAY 14–20, 2018! (NEW POTTERY PIECES, LITTLE TOKYO & SOLO MUST DIE)

Sampling sake and the new menu at Sake Dojo in Little Tokyo, hiking to an abandoned Nazi camp in the mountains, a weekend downtown seeing art at MOCA Grand, The Broad, and eating lots of grilled meats.

Enjoy!

Happy Monday! Somehow today feels extra spring-y. Maybe because Los Angeles is starting to smell like jasmine which is special this time of year.

Today was my first evening in pottery studio. I took a four-week step by step weekly class that taught the basics of throwing, trimming, and glazing, but now I’m in studio which means I use the same materials but with less to no instruction. I was a bit disappointed with myself, and these sad little mugs were the best I could come up with on my own. It was a good reality check that learning something new is hard, and it was affirming that I had a bad night and still want to keep going.

Picked up five of the six pieces I made from the last four weeks. Here are the ugly sides…I promise they each have their own flaws from drips to shape issues to glazing issues…but they were my first try really.

Using my new coroner lunch bag I got last week at the Medical Examiner Officer’s gift shop.

Cocktails by Zeen

Princess and the Pea. We were washing the sheets and this pillow stack really worked to the dog’s advantage for maximum chilling.

Couldn’t help myself.

Origami cup for an afternoon snack at the office.

Wednesday evening, went to taste some sake before the opening of Sake Dojo, a friend’s dad’s new restaurant in Little Tokyo. So kind to be invited, I took some photos for their Instagram.

Trying sake cocktails

Edamame hummus and cilantro pesto

Jill and salmon nigiri

Salmon and fried fish skin yes yes on miso sauce.

Matcha sake!

Had no idea what Jill invited us to, we thought we’d pop in for a sake tasting and then go to a nearby movie or something, but we were there for like three hours. Was so fun!

Woke up and somehow Tweedy was behind the curtain in a little sun burrito.

Ever bring a coffee cup near the shower so you can have sips while you clean off? It’s…great.

Babying Tweedy because he’s got to go to the vet for a mysterious pee-related check up.

I see this every time I go to the dog’s vet. That poor dog.

Sufi came along for moral support.

Tristan brought in matcha koalas

Heading to shoot some hoops with Mandy and Snoop

Shot around for like 45 minutes before it got too dark.

Snoop and a huge order of delivery: spicy garlic eggplant, fish filet in spicy sauce, walnut shrimp, and chicken chow mein.

Avocado toast shot wide open.

Looked up hikes and found this one trail that was described as medium difficulty, lovely views, and *oh* there’s an abandon nazi camp. What?!?!

So this is the Murphy Ranch trail. According to hikespeak.com, “In the 1930s, Nazi sympathizers built a refuge in the Pacific Palisades. Herr Schmidt, Winona and Norman Stephens, and their followers occupied a self-contained stronghold in what is now Rustic Canyon between Sullivan Ridge and Will Rodgers State Park. Murphy Ranch was designed to serve as a hold out for fans of the Third Reich waiting for America to fall to the Nazis. Instead, the ranch was raided by U.S. authorities and closed in 1941.”

It took us a while to find the actual trail. We knew there would be some abandoned buildings on the trail, but couldn’t find where to access them.

Took a long staircase down and after accidentally doing a loop in the wrong direction, we found the right trail.

This first big building was the diesel generator and fuel tank. Around the building are raised gardens and more steps.

Poppies

Found the remains of a barn.

Fun graffiti around the whole trail.

Stick figures

Alternate universe me wrote this.

What flower is this? So cool!

Friday evening

Walking over to meet Kiki and Anders for happy hour.

Scoping out the happy hour menu.

Beer appetizer while strategizing what to have for dinner.

Ders and Kiki

Burrata

Pizza

Penne arrabiata

Good morning, happy Saturday.

Off on to my weekend run, the doggos watching me run away.

Haven’t been to these steps in a while, and they’ve eroded quite a lot since my last visit. It was pretty dangerous with the steps so high and far apart, but I surprised.

Great views. I am loving the foggy days.

Decided to take some nicer photos of my pottery pieces. This one has three different glazes on a darker clay.

This isn’t as orange in real life, but more of a light brown color.

A little white and blue cup.

I love the shape and glazes on this vase, but the shape was a total happy accident.

Spend some hours editing photos to send to my family from Mother’s Day weekend with all the little cousins.

Tweedy getting extra love since he’s on antibiotics.

Zach made his queso and Rob came over to watch Star Wars Episode 1: Phantom Menace. Wow, what…a confusing movie. Rob turned me onto a podcast from 2015 called Blank Check that started because the two critics were talking about what Phantom Menace was actually about. Pretty funny. I’ve still got a soft spot in my heart for Phantom Menace, I loved Queen Amidala as a kid.

Put on a bit of eyeshadow and brushed my hair to head out to downtown to meet up with Tristan.

Justin and Tristan, cheese board, beers, and later we played some darts before I went back home to continue editing.

Weird toe point. Happy Sunday!

Met up with Hana at Grand Central Market. We met at a conference a few years back, it was nice to see her in town!

I had another meeting downtown later in the afternoon so I decided to walk around and see a few museums.

Barked at me, how rude.

Lauren Halsey: we still here, there at MOCA Grand Avenue.

Ever-evolving cave of mystical, magical signs and signals and alcoves.

Wandered through the new acquisitions show, the Brassai, Nan Goldin and Diane Arbus photography show, and enjoyed myself.

Hi from the bathroom

Bye, MOCA!

Quick swing through The Broad.

Did a quick scan to see if there was anything new, but didn’t see anything. Still was nice to walk around and enjoy.

Down to exit.

If you go to Little Tokyo, try picking up some mochi at Fugetsu-Do. It’s been family-owned for 115 years.

Went to see Zach in the Star Wars parody musical he is currently in.

Afterwards we went to celebrate at Korean BBQ.

Filling up on banchan

The meats are here!

Love the different grilling surfaces.

I’ll leave us here with Jake and his soju.

I hope you enjoyed a peek at my week. I’ve been trying to use my new lens more, I’ve been having fun.

Much love friends!