are you a faithful, or are you a traitor?

back in december when we had our holiday hoorah, my friend trish was gushing over “the traitors,” a show airing on peacock that she was absolutely addicted to and couldn’t recommend highly enough.  and so when i ran out of episodes of whatever i was watching at the moment, i decided to give it a shot.

she was right, by the way.  it’s really fun to watch and is super bingeworthy.  i got through a whole season in no time at all while working on a crochet project.

so anyway, when she put out a call for a +1 to attend an industry event with her for the show, i jumped right on it.  i threw on a cute dress, hopped in the car and drove my happy ass out to the west side.

once we checked in, we walked through the venue and made our way into the courtyard.

who doesn’t love popcorn for snacking while watching a show?  there were a few different flavors available to pick from.

alan cumming, the host of the show, is always dressed in the most fabulous outfits.  some of them were on display.

with popcorn in hand, we found seats near the front - close, but not too close.

to kick off the evening we watched an episode of the show, which is always the best way to warm up for a q&a panel. and then the panelists came out - toni ireland, executive producer and sam spector, wardrobe stylist and of course, alan cumming.

at the end of the panel, we had some surprise guests arrive.  trish and i were seated right by the door, so we caught their grand entrance:

three contestants from the show had come to join the party - parvati shallow from “survivor,”  tamra judge, one of the “real housewives of orange county,” and kevin kreider from “bling empire.”

as we headed out of the theater, we caught a glimpse of alan hightailing it across the courtyard to the VIPs-only section.

meanwhile, the rest of us were ushered back inside and into one of the reception areas where there were lots of finger foods and hors d’oeuvres set up for us to snack on.

at the back of the room, we spied something familiar: the round table used in the show during all of the elimination ceremonies.

and then like a creeper, i went into stealth mode and tried to take a picture of tamra and her husband eddie.  

parvati was chatting with fans and happily taking pictures, so we went over to say hello and snap a selfie.  she was really sweet and very friendly.

as were tamra and eddie, when we finally got our chance to meet them.  if you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you’ll know that this is actually the second time we’ve met.  but considering that was at their now-defunct fitness studio, i decided not to mention it.  heh.

outside, we got our chance to meet kevin.  he was also super friendly and more than happy to take a photo with us (although i mean…who wouldn’t be).

we stopped for a silly photo op before calling it a night.

it was a really fun evening, and a great chance to spend some quality time with my friend.  and the show is up for several emmys this year, including a nomination for alan as the host.  

good times indeed.

“may” i offer you another photo dump?

yup.  another recap of an entire month in one post.  because it’s easier, and because not every little bit needs its own post, and also because why not?

we kicked off the month of may with a quickie weekend getaway for me and the hub.  it was work-related for him, and also marked the first time we left the bean home alone for more than a few hours.  the destination was a familiar one - the lodge at torrey pines in la jolla.  yes, the very place where we had another fun weekend almost 20 years ago…when we got engaged.  awwwww.

because we stalled so much, we didn’t get down there till well after midnight.

to be fair, the rooms aren’t really anything special.  but they’re spacious and comfortable and quiet, and in this case…free.  woohoo!

the next morning, the hub had an early wake-up call for his golf game while i got to sleep in and relax and basically just veg out.  i didn’t even have to leave for food - i ordered room service.

and then later that evening, we got dressed up and joined the work group for dinner.

the next morning, we checked out and headed into solana beach for some brunch.

one weekend, the kids and i headed to the fairplex in pomona for the l.a. county fair.

this year, they had a category in the culinary competitions for “working professionals” which i technically qualified for since i sell my cookies for profit.  but i wasn’t really feeling it, and instead submitted a few of my crocheted creations and a couple of bags for consideration.  i was pretty stoked to find that all four of my pieces won ribbons:

and then even more so to find that the hot dog on a stick kiosks had brought back the deep-fried cream cheese on a stick:

as afternoon turned into evening, it cooled off pretty nicely and i ended up snagging a new sweatshirt from one of the official fair merchandise booths.

as always, the bean hit up cathy’s cookies for a bucket of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

and then we stopped to see the farm animals.  there weren’t as many animals this year, i’m not sure why.

and then we went home to our own animals.  they’re always happy to see us (despite teddy’s side eye in this photo).

we celebrated the old lady’s birthday with the traditional “shitty cake mix” strawberry cake:

and presented her with a super fun gift basket full of a bunch of her favorite things.

on mother’s day, the bean set me up with this sweet snacklebox full of all my favorite sweet and savory treats.

and the hub hooked us up with some delicious steaks on the grill.

the old lady and i hit up the ‘land for a fun morning together:

while i struggled with conflicting feelings on him (and the old lady and the bean refused to go see him with me), i went to see justin timberlake on his current tour with one of my barre besties and her husband (more on that later).

the annual l.a. yarn crawl weekend snuck up on me, and i only had time to visit one shop this year.

the bean and i had heard of this “fried chicken ice cream” months ago, but never could bring ourselves to pull the trigger on it.  being in california, the only way we knew of to get our hands on some was by ordering it from goldbelly - and you would get ten pieces shipped directly to your door packed carefully with dry ice to keep it frozen to the tune of $150.  eek.  and so when i came across an instagram post from yama seafood in san gabriel that said they were going to have it in stock on a limited basis, i decided to make the drive out and grab some.

no, it isn’t actually chicken, or even chicken flavored in any way.  this is made of waffle-flavored ice cream with a chocolate pretzel “bone” in the middle, dipped in caramelized white chocolate and rolled in crunchy cornflakes.  and while that all sounds like a lot - it’s amazing.  i loved every bite of it.

the bean and i headed to the wiltern theater to see the “good mythical morning” tour (more on that later too).

and then to close out the month, as crazy as it sounds…the bean finished their sophomore year of high school.

i cannot believe that my child is now a junior.  like…they’re halfway through high school now.  and we’re looking at SAT prep courses and planning college tours and discussing different majors and omg. i cannot.