Purchases of the Week: March 3, 2011

I know it's not the weekend but today I had a little bit of extra cash and looking at my worn wardrobe I needed some new clothes. I am not a clothes horse. I also tend to buy clothes I can wear for work and casually. Finding an online coupon that cut the highest priced item 50% off also helped me save money.

I also needed a new purse. Found a cute one on Overstock.com. My type! Simple and a little girly but not gaudy.

      

Speed - Keanu at his cutest. A mindlessly fun movie. I thought Sandra Bullock's eyebrows were weird for her face. Little did I know it was worse in Demolition Man. I guess that was the style back then. 

There's Something About Mary - Old lady on crack! Zipper of indescribable pain.
Sin City - Love this movie. Still reeling every time I see Brittany Murphy. What a loss. Awesome performance by Mickey Rourke.

Since I was able to save quite a bit, I worked on our unofficial DVD to BLU-RAY conversation project. I am primarily powering through this because we love movies and I hope that our plans for the living room will be a reality before SDCC.

Today's Life Lesson

“If you lived in London, where the whole system is one of false good-fellowship, and you may know a man for twenty years without finding out that he hates you like poison, you would soon have your eyes opened. There we do unkind things in a kind way: we say bitter things in a sweet voice: we always give our friends chloroform when we tear them to pieces.” - George Bernard Shaw

Sunday Morning in Chinatown

We went to Chinatown to frame some of our art pieces. I brought three sketches, Yoskay Yamamoto, KaToPe and Le Merde. Nate brought a big Luke Chueh, Infected, to get framed. It's been a while since we went to The Framing House and Tai informed us about needing a deposit now instead of just drop off and pay at pickup. Apparently they are having a big problem with people not picking up their art work. He said he has about 100 pieces sitting in the store and were not picked up.

We didn't know and we didn't have cash to cover the work but he let it slide because he knew it had been a while since we were there. We told Tai, the next time we are dropping off art work, we will definitely bring a deposit. That's why I love this place! He always gives us a good deal.

We got to Downtown L.A. early because we wanted to avoid the crowds and we had a specific lunch destination in mind. We wanted to stop by Philippe's. We read the reviews on Yelp, we watched Man vs Food and we knew there were things we had to do to have a positive experience. Number one was get there before the lunch crowd.

It was a beautiful day so Nate and I walked over to Philippe's. It actually was not very far about a half mile walk. When we got there it was 11:30 and it wasn't as busy. A short 15 minute wait. Servers were not crabby but I can understand where some servers would be rude as it is such a busy place and as the day wears on I am sure people's mood sour. But we got friendly service.

Crappy phone pic I know but I was not about to wander downtown carrying our big camera. We ordered the following: two double dipped beef sandwiches, a bowl of chili with onions and cheese only, a side order of potato salad, coconut cream pie, banana cream pie, two orders of lemonade and two diet pepsi.

We found a large unoccupied booth and plopped ourselves down to eat. First off I don't care for the saw dust on the floor. It looked fresh but to me putting down saw dust means an excuse to not sweep the floors as often. So meh to saw dust.

Chili was good. Just the right amount of onions and cheese. I wish I got more crackers though. The bread was fresh and the au jus was delicious. The beef could have used more flavor though and I think I prefer my sandwich wet. As in dip the whole thing in the au jus. Nate prefers his dryer as he likes fresh french bread.

They had squeeze bottles of their famous horse radish mustard on the table and small quantities on your sandwich was delicious. The heat went straight up my nose! The lemonade was refreshing and yummy. I wish I had a bigger glass. Next time we'll order two each of the lemonade.

Overall there is a lot of hype on the restaurant but the sandwiches were delicious enough to deserve the hype. Definitely get there before noon to easily go through the line and find seating. By the time we were leaving there were people looking around to find seats.

As we were walking back to the car, we passed by CBS Restaurant. It's Dim Sum and we have been craving that for quite some time. Maybe on our next trip to Chinatown we'll hit this place.

Purchases of the Week: February 26, 2011

Closet Maid Pantry Cabinet 

Nate actually has been buying a few blu-ray but this is a house purchase for him. We have a small kitchen and space is a premium. We didn't like how we were storing goods on the counter or on the table. There's just too much stuff out and we want things neat. Our pots and pans tend to take a lot of space. I have a Harry Potter style closet under the stairs and I store our cooking appliances there. Hopefully, this will help organize our kitchen to be more efficient.

Someone asked me, "Why are there no toys featured on Purchases of the Week?" Well... we buy toys all the time. It's a norm and I like to highlight non-toy purchasing. This year, Nate and I agreed we need to cut down on toy buying and concentrate on the house and make it into a home.

I have been thinking about posting more toy stuff, food and other things too. Whatever comes to mind really. I just need to set aside time to do it and it looks like late night is the only time I have.

Cat Tree

It arrived today! Yay! Nate assembled it all by himself. Thanks Babe! While Nate was putting it together, Pickles was already sitting on top of one of the condos. Dhani was on the couch sleeping, Marley was under a chair watching and Nodame was upstairs in the hallway, sleeping on one of the cat beds.

When it was completed, Pickles went crazy with the two puff balls attached to the cat tree. Seeing Pickles going nuts attracted the other cats and they slowly started climbing and sniffing the tree. We had to coax Nodame. He is always cautious with new things but once he gets comfortable he enjoys it completely.

I got the Armarkat Cat Tree Model B7701 in Ivory. I wanted the one with the stairs for Marley so she can easily hop up. Now they have a place to chill other than the couches. I've also seen them playing on the tree.

It's not as huge as I thought and it fits the area I have been thinking of storing it well. I plan to add a cave like bed at the bottom. The Santa hat is a crinkle toy that none of them really took to.

I'm glad our cats are enjoying their tree. It's money well spent.