Do More Things: Passover, fish tacos, Westeros, and sleep

I still have to get my post up for Hawaii, I had a blast, though I came home sunburnt (the curse of being casper white). However, I've been keeping up with my Do More Things lists since arriving home, go me! I don't have any real pictures from the past week, so this is a short post. I need to start getting in the habit of taking pictures of things (even if it's just food, FFS, seeing as I feel like my whole week was food oriented).

Monday Night - Headed back to the airport to drop Holly off, then booked it back to meet my aunt, uncle and cousins for the seder at their house. First time I've ever liked brussel sprouts! And the best Passover desert I've ever had, which I must get the recipe for. I need to spend more time with the fam, they are only 8 minutes away now!

Tuesday Night - I tried to assuage my Jew guilt by going to a second night seder at the temple. Only I'm cheap, so I didn't go to the more expensive adult only seder, I went to the family seder. Which did nothing for my Jew guilt. (I feel like people understand what I mean when I say Jew guilt right? I can't be the only person that uses this phrase, people talk about Catholic guilt all the time). The actual story was like 5 minutes long and yeah it's for kids, but there's such a thing as sanitizing the story too much. Anyways, waste of my money, but people were nice, which is always good, and the food was good. Matzo ball soup is always a plus, the chicken was delish and there was a really good flourless chocolate cake. Are you starting to sense a theme for my week?

Thursday Night - GrubwithUs dinner, only my second time going. I totally recommend checking it out if it's available in your area, it's a great way to try out new places and meet new people. Plus, if you are like me and have a hard time in situations where you don't know people, having food and a topic to focus on can take the edge off of the social anxiety. The topic was Game of Thrones, which was the reason I did this one, but we really only talked about the show for 10 minutes, the discussed somehow turned around how to scam people on Kickstarter, but I had a good time.

We ate at James' Beach in Venice. If you are ever in Venice and craving tacos, this place is yummy. Make sure you look up, they've got hanging lamps made out of boardshorts that my fellow grubwithus diners had never noticed before, even though they'd been there quite a few times. They are apparently famous for their mahi mahi tacos, which despite me not being a huge fan of fish tacos, were really good. Also, their iced tea is really good if you aren't going to drink anything alcoholic (I was keeping kosher for passover, so I didn't drink anything). Also, their tacos aren't served on the tortillas, so it's alternative eating friendly. If you are into the whole "what film was that place in" this one was apparently the taco place in I Love You, Man (I never ended up seeing that whole movie so I don't really care). I don't know that I'd go so far out of my way for this place on any sort of regular basis, especially given the prices, but it was good.

Sometimes you just need a BREAK, you know? After Hawaii and a busy week back, I needed down time. So this weekend was sleep and TV for me. Season premieres of Doctor Who and Game of Thrones and lots of Zzzzzs. I NEEDED IT.

DO MORE THINGS - Sunshine, Emerald Eyes, and Geek Gods

DO MORE THINGS was my 2013 New Years Resolution. I kept thinking I wasn't really living up to it, but then realizing that's blatantly untrue. I've done a lot of things this year, they just mostly related to moving. I mean, apartment hunting is definitely doing something and requires a lot of energy and time. Packing and actually moving is totally doing something too! And then there's the unpacking... and the IKEA hauling, and the decorating, and so on and so on and so on.

This past weekend though, I was determined to DO MORE THINGS in relation to what I had actually been thinking with regards to the resolution. 

Staturday, March 2nd:

First of all, it was in the 80s here on Saturday. It was a stunningly perfect and gorgeous day, the sort of day that I would point to whenever anyone asks me why I moved here.

Met Holly at the 3rd Street Promenade, after grabbing some Jamba (I had a free smoothie gift card, yay free smoothies!), we made a West Elm and Pottery Barn run. Made a GREAT find in West Elm of blue tooth speakers, which were in the sale section (plus Holly's discount = HELL YEAH!):

We lunched at Wolfgang Puck Express Grill, because I've been CRAVING my favorite soup (possibly EVER), their butternut squash soup and if we were on the promenade I had to have some. Seriously, if there is a Wolfgang Puck Express Grill near you anywhere, go get some butternut squash soup. Granted, it won't be as awesome as it would be if you were sitting out on a patio in the sun listening to street performers on the promenade, but still, it'll be yummy.

Then headed down to the beach with Holly, sat down next to Santa Monica pier and soaked in the sun. For the record, the beach next to Santa Monica pier is my actual favorite place on Earth. There was a woman walking around with Mango slices, so mango slices and sunshine and beach air, what else does a girl need? Life is good, everyone.

Walked down the promenade after Holly left to head down south, killing time before I headed to my evening plans and wandered into Sephora and found out it was their Pantone Color of the year event. The Pantone color of the year for 2013 is emerald, which I was pleased at punch about when it was announced because of thigns like this, collaborations and lines inspired by the color of the year have gotten really popular the past few years, and I love love this color. I got my eyes done and snapped up the eye liner set.

Sephora + Pantone Universe: Glitter Strobe Eyeliner Set

I had brought a change of clothes with me as I had nabbed $8 tickets to the Revoltuion panel at Paleyfest this weekend from Goldstar. If you haven't signed up for Goldstar, go get an account! I've gone to see quite a few things for discount rates, it's how I was able to afford a few Broadway shows out here, as well as tons of cool other events. No affiliation for me, just me trying to get you all cultured okay! It's great.

I had spent too much time in Sephora, I hadn't really realized how long, ran into the bathroom in Old Navy next door, did a quick change and make-up retouch, then headed towards Beverly Hills. 

The Revolution panel was great, I love the show, so of course I loved the panel, and the hints at the rest of this season. However, the biggest geek-gasm was being in the same room as Eric Kripke, Jon Farvau, and JJ Abrams at the same time. Met most of the cast, got autographs and photos, and oh yeah, just happened to grab a photo with a picture of the guy who basically co-owns my geek soul with Joss Whedon:

Sunday, March 3rd:

I actually paid full ticket price for the Once Upon a Time panel, which was packed! I got to see the show on the big screen, hints to the rest of this season, and the wonderful cast, who kept almost giving out spoilers they weren't supposed to! Great panel, I didn't push towards the stage after, too many people and that wasn't why I'd come to this one really. I get my first real run-in with paparazzi and professional autograph hunters - just ugh, waiting at the exit where the cast was coming out. Sadly none of my pictures came out, the joys of my only camera being my galaxy s3. It has a decent camera, but not for that kind of setting.

During the Week:

Keeping the momentum going on Tuesday, I had dinner with Kiwi at Tender Greens on Culver, DELICIOUS! Wish I'd gotten to spend more time with her, it's so odd not to see her all the time since I moved out! We need to get together more for sure. Then sped over to The Grove for A Good Day to Die Hard with Holly. Did you realize that the original came out in 1988? Daaaaang. 

I also nabbed tickets for the Dallas panel and Arrow from Goldstar, that's part of my DO MORE THINGS for the upcoming weekend! Only one week until Hawaii!!