Our City is Mourning

I’ve been writing this post for about a week. I believe everyone has now moved on to the super bowl excitement and more importantly the half time show! But in all reality, I am still in a state of shock and sadness.  A celebrity death is always sad but distant to my personal feelings or life. However, the death of Kobe Bryant seemed a lot more personal. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, so Kobe Bryant was a local celebrity to me. He was a celebrity that brought our city so much pride. While I’ve never met Kobe, I saw him play in all his glory for many years. I am a Lakers fan. I am a Kobe fan. So, when the news of his death broke, I was in disbelief. I was heartbroken. How could this be? How is this fair? How is this possible? These are just some of the thoughts that were running through my mind while I tried to hold back the tears.

As the days went by, I struggled more and more to keep in the tears. I was in a constant state of having knot in my throat with the tears ready to come pouring down at any point. I felt a little silly and maybe even a little embarrassed to cry over a celebrity death. It was someone that I did not personally know, why should I feel so bad? As the week went on, I eventually had to let it out and I did. I was driving home from work listening to the radio and of course all the stations were talking about him and I finally let it all out. I cried and cried, and you know what? It felt good. Sometimes a good cry is just what you need.

I realized why his death affected me so much. I realized he was genuine hard worker at his craft, he was a dedicated father, he was a loving husband and he was a true role model. He had an entire chapter of his life left. We were robbed from a chapter of his life we will never know. We will never what lengths he would have reached.  Regardless of his celebrity status he was human, and he did so much for Los Angeles and for that I don’t feel any regrets for feeling the way I do.

Our city is heartbroken and will never forget the legacy he leaves behind. This past Saturday we went to pay our respects at the Staples Center, the house that Kobe built. These photographs are from our visit. 

In search of...

Last weekend my sister invited my mom and I to downtown. Usually when we go its because we are in search of something. This particular instance we were in search of a spoon. I'm not talking about any regular ordinary spoon, that would be crazy. See my sister was in search of spoon that would be long enough and wide enough to reach the bottom of a huge pot of posole. A spoon that would scoop the ideal proportion of hominy, meat and juice. So on Saturday around 11:00 a.m. we jumped on the freeway and headed to downtown. I'm never one to object to a downtown trip so I was ready to go as soon as it was suggested. 

In search of this special spoon our first stop would be 9th Street.  This street is know for endless options of party supplies, cooking supplies and food vendors. Knowing that their would be a wide variety of street vendors, we skipped breakfast and decided to eat on 9th Street. The trouble would be deciding on what to eat.   

Fruit in a cup, maybe for a snack? We'll circle back. 

Ice Cream? We should probably have food first. 

Garbanzo beans? Hmm that's an interesting option. 

Shrimp and Cheese? That's an interesting combo. 

Fruit juices, to quench your thirst?

Still need food before dessert. 

I would normally go for a hot dog, but with so many options I decided to skip it this time. 

I think Ice cream is a favorite on 9th Street. 

Annnnd... I think we have a winner! We went with this vendor she had a wide selection of tacos, pupusas, quesadillas, gorditas, hot dogs and fruit juices. 

I went with a Gordita! The lady gave me the option of putting whatever I wanted, so I picked carne asada as the meat, nopales, grilled onions, lettuce, green salsa, cheese, and sour cream. For a drink I had strawberry juice. It was the PERFECT meal!!! Insert drooling emoji. 

My mom went with a pupusa. 

My sister went with pupusa, taco and for a drink she had the spinach pineapple juice. Needless to say we were all happy! So our spoon search continued. 

Yes, those are reindeer piñatas on top of a crate of toilet paper. 

See.

If you are planning a Mexican theme party, 9th Street is the place to go!

Or if you are having any type of party that requires a piñata, 9th Street is the place to go! 

Once we found the special posole spoon we went to the fashion district and did some shopping and then headed home. On our way home we saw the most beautiful sunset. It should be noted that the sunset photo has no filter. 

If you would like to see my other downtown post check these out:

1. My DTLA Favorites

2. CicLAvia

3. Heritage

4. Night on Broadway

5. Flower Mart Finds

6. Museum Day

7. ...when it was in the 80's & not a cloud in the sky.

8. Stainless Steel Curves

9. Lucky

P.s. These photos were taken on my iPhone and edited with a Color Story app. 

Just a Little Taste...

A museum with a sprinkles pool and free ice cream, sign me up! 

My friend got us tickets to the hottest museum in LA and probably Instagram too! The Museum of Ice Cream! You guys when I saw this on Instagram I knew I had to find my way to this place. It's such a cool and cute place to visit. Luckily for me, I have a friend that likes these types of things too so she got us tickets and we finally went last week. We arrived a little early so we were sent to a grassy area where we could play some family games, we went with Jenga. When our time was up and we were called to enter the museum, we lined up and went over the rules with a very enthusiastic gal. 

So what is the museum of Ice Cream? I really didn't know but I knew I had to visit because all of the pictures on Instagram were just too adorable. If you are expecting a museum that provides history or information on Ice Cream, this is not the place for you. As described on their website, this place is where flavors are mysteries, toppings are toys, and sprinkles make the world a better place.  Yes, all of that is true!! We got the chance to hug a huge gummy bear, dial up an ice cream hot line, swing in a banana room, walk through a mint garden and jump into a sprinkles pool. My favorite was probably the sprinkles pool and boy I wish I can go back!

Unfortunately, this museum is sold out in Los Angeles and San Francisco. However, if I were you I would sign up on their website and follow them on Instagram to see if they come to your city. If they do, jump on those tickets ASAP!