DATE NIGHT {03} GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY

This date happened a few weeks ago, but like I mentioned in a previous post, I've been lazy and busy and my pictures aren't completely sorted out and organized... Anyway, I still wanted to blog about it, so here it is: Gussie and I are very familiar with the Griffith Observatory, but we're from L.A. so it's hard not visit this free and amazing site--especially when we're low on monies. With that said though, because we visit often enough, some of the excitement gets lost, and we spend less and less time exploring the site. It's sad to realize this because as a little girl (8 years of age to be exact) I bought a book at our school's book fair, and it was all about planets, moons and stars. It was a simple book meant to spark the interest of a 3rd grader, but I wish I still owned it. For the next two years I dreamt of becoming an astronomer until the 5th grade when I dug up the remains of a rat and archeology became my main interest.

Though I still find outer space fascinating, and tremendously frightening, one of the main reasons I like visiting the observatory are the beautiful sights of the city. I absolutely love the Los Angeles skyline and it makes me very nostalgic. On this particular visit we captured the sky during daylight and then as the sun was setting. Lovely, isn't it? I call this place home.

DATE NIGHT {01} UMAMI CATESSEN

Gus and I went to Umami Catessen in Downtown Los Angeles last night. I had heard about how good their burgers were and since I eat at least one good burger a week, I decided that Gus and I should try it out. There are closer locations to us, but this location serves donuts as well, and I am totally into donuts (my eating habits and cravings are not the healthiest, I know) so off to L.A. we went. 

My first impression was descent. I found the place to be laid back, and the staff was friendly...BUT (and there is always a but, isn't there?) the place was also very cozy in terms of their seating arrangement, and man oh man, we had the lovely fortune of sitting next to two extremely loud and very drunk men. This was sort of bothersome for me, because quite frankly, I couldn't hear myself think next to these men and I was getting irritated. Gus, being the concerned boyfriend he is, suggested for us to move, but I thought it would seem rude so we stuck it out. Sure enough we got used to the loud men, and as the night continued. they kind of became amusing. 

Looking at the menu, it was difficult to decide what to order, but that's probably because I'm the most indecisive person alive, so I asked the waiter for his recommendations. I wish Gus and I had gotten a little adventurous and ordered the fried mashed potatoes, but meh, you can't go wrong with a side of fries and a "Manly" burger. The burger itself was delicious, but rather small for the price and since Gus and I have made a deal to share all our meals in the attempt to not over eat or overspend, we must share everything even if it's small. So we obviously didn't get full. Then our neighbors to the side (the loud obnoxious men) ordered a donut and a cappuccino each. They were so happy and dunk that they started to praise themselves for coming to the restaurant and eating such a delicious food. One of them kept saying, "man, that is some good cap" haha, so we were intrigued.  Following their recommendation, we ordered ourselves a cappuccino and a tres leches donut to split. The men were right about the donut, not so much about the "cap", but overall we were content with our dessert. Gus and I left Umami with satisfied bellies, and happy that we didn't overspend. We then went back to Long Beach and had some drinks. It was a good night.