we are bulletproof

i'd heard that a BTS-themed pop-up was going up somewhere in l.a. to commemorate the release of their newest album - the one that had been announced at the end of the last concert we saw in vegas.  and even though i tried really hard to stay on top of it, i still managed to miss the announcement and ticket release...by, like a day or two.  and of course, by the time i found the website all the (free) tickets were completely sold out.  ugh.  the site said that they would allow walk-ups on a limited basis, but i was pretty sure those lines would be crazy long and i'm just too old for that shit anymore.

i kept an eye on it though, hoping that they would release more tickets, and about a week after the album was officially released i finally scored.  i secured enough for the two of us plus lilcee, and we headed out to the west side together on a saturday morning.

the line was pretty short when we got there, and we chatted with a couple of girls who had driven down from sacramento just for this event.  we were inside in no time, and found ourselves in a darkened room bathed in purple light with mannequins modeling band merchandise.

it took a few minutes to make our way through that room and into the next one, where there were stations set up with sharpies and post-its to leave notes for the band.

i was really glad we hadn't come earlier and waited in the standby line for this, because there really wasn't much to it.  and of course, it basically turned out to be an overhyped merchandise sale because this is what we were standing in line for:

but did they get us?  of course they did, and we picked out stuff to take home, including a gift for one of the bean's fellow BTS-loving friends who was having a birthday celebration the following weekend.

and since we were in the area, we went ahead and rounded out our afternoon with a stop at the line friends store in hollywood to check out the newest BT21 gear.

i guess it was a good thing that we didn't know what to expect from the pop-up, because that way we weren't too disappointed that it wasn't more exciting.  didn't matter though, because we still had fun and got to spend some time with our friend.  it's always a good time with lilcee.

OMG, we're back again

waaaaay back in 2019, lilcee, trish and i had giggled our way through a ticketmaster purchase of a box at the hollywood bowl for the backstreet boys.  the concert wasn't till october 2020, but we were pretty excited.

and then, of course, covid happened.  and the concert got postponed till june 2021.  and then again...this time, to june of 2022. and unfortunately with this new date, trish was out due to a preplanned trip.  we were so bummed, and even more so because we still had a fourth ticket that we'd anticipated roping another friend into.  eek.

as the new date got closer, one of my friends from high school happened to text in a group chat about the concert - and she was pretty stoked to learn that i had a ticket that had her name all over it.  we may not have found a fourth, but it was okay.  we knew we were going to have a blast regardless.

we met up at the park & ride station in pasadena and rode the shuttle to the hollywood bowl together, and it was bustling with activity when we arrived.

our box was off to one side, but we still had a pretty nice view.

their opening act was an australian singer named delta goodrem.  i had heard of her, not because of her music but because she dated nick jonas for a few months back in the day when the old lady was still in love with him.  heh.

we waited till her set was done before heading back out to check out the merchandise tents.  as we stood in line, i was super amused at this fan's t-shirt:

once we got back to our box clad in our new BSB gear, we took advantage of the remaining daylight with another selfie.

my friend mrs. big and i had opted for matching (ultra ridiculous) reversible hoodies.  here she models the flip side of it to show you how awesome it is.  heh.

the concert was entertaining, and the BSB fanbase is still large and in charge.  they performed a nice mix of old and new music, and we had a lot of fun.

and because this was basically their hometown show, the guys brought their kids out for a song.  it was very cute.

the time flew by, as it always does during a fun concert, and in no time they were arm-in-arm for their final bow.

well...of course, there was an encore.

and a fireworks finale.

and then it was time for the mad dash back to the shuttle station to make sure we caught the bus back to the park & ride.  the buses only run for an hour after the show ends, so it's not a time to linger in the seats and bask in the afterglow of the show.

yet another great evening at the bowl in the books.  i wonder what will bring us back...i guess we'll just have to wait and see (nothing is planned as of yet!).

presenting juneybug

also this summer, our teddy turned 3!  i made him a little hat out of a piece of cardstock and a bit of elastic thread.  he...wasn't super happy about it.

although his mood brightened considerably when i showed him the cupcake i'd picked up just for the occasion.  

(don't worry, we had one for cocoa too)

and he ate it very delicately, like a true gentleman.

but in even more doggy news, the old lady and the old man became a family of four!  they adopted this adorable little nugget - only 8 weeks old with giant paws that give us an idea of how big she's going to be. presenting stevie's new little sister, june:

despite june's young age, the shelter had already had her spayed - hence the reason for the neck pillow, to keep her from licking the stitches.  

and here's their first official family portrait!

adorable.  well, for sure once she passes the nippy/bitey/potty training stage.  you know how that goes.

random summer eats

i think it's a well-known fact that we love to eat.  i mean, who doesn't?  and summer seems to be our favorite time to go out and enjoy some delicious things together.  

like, for our final trip of 2022 to the l.a. county fair, the bean and the old lady had some tasty frozen treats - dole whip and a cone of soft-serve that threatened to fall over.

for various reasons, one of the old lady's birthday traditions had been neglected over the last couple of years.  and so when we had a free weekday, we made the trek out to the valley to fix that.  mmmm, chi-chi's pasta.  we were so excited, because it had been a really long time and that pasta is so good.

of course, you have to have one of their freshly baked sourdough rolls.  but just one, so you don't ruin your appetite for that housemade pasta.

the bean opted for their chicken alfredo, which i have to admit did look pretty darn tasty.

but when we make this drive, for me the only option is the springs with meat sauce.  i don't know what kind of crack they put in this stuff, but i'm drooling just thinking about it.  and it never fails us.

this is one of those places where we definitely belong in the clean plate club.

facts:

while we were sipping on our iced sea salt coffees, we got to reminiscing about the old days when my parents lived just up the street.  and since i still remembered exactly where our old house was we decided to do a quick drive-by, like creepers.

and then i also remembered that E.T. park was nearby too - they used it for some of the scenes in the movie where elliot and his friends ride their bikes.  i haven't seen the movie in years, so my memory of the actual scene is a little fuzzy, but i know for sure this was the filming location for it.

oh - and then there was the day that we went to disneyland just to eat.  i'd managed to snag us back-to-back reservations at the carthay circle alfresco lounge and the magic key terrace, so we headed off to california adventure for the afternoon.

at the entrance to carthay circle, we found the hidden mickey in the tile.

i rarely turn down a chance to sip on a pimm's punch.

we shared an order of the pork belly buns, which were super delicious.

and the bean was pretty happy to bite into the hazelnut crunch mickey pop.

i hadn't timed this very well, because by the time we were done there it was already time to check in at the magic key terrace, located above wine country trattoria.

it was the old lady's turn to have a cocktail here, and this was the "5...4...3...2...1" - spiced rum, blue curaçao, coconut-pineapple cream and fresh lime juice.  she let me have a sip and it was really tasty, so i know what to get next time we come.

the bone marrow truffle mac & cheese looked and sounded good, but i have to say...it was a little bland.  bummer.

we also shared the plate of housemade churros, served with irish cream dulce de leche and salted caramel ice cream.  

i'm pretty sure we had at least a couple more things at both places, but for some reason i don't have pictures of any of it.  maybe we were really hungry, or maybe nobody wanted to wait for me to snap the photos, or maybe whatever it was just wasn't pretty enough for pictures.  who knows?  in any case, we rode only one ride that day:

and then looked for the other tiny hidden mickey, embedded in the fountain on the way to the tram loading area.

i know this was a super random post, but i was too lazy to spread them out into separate ones so there you go.