kicking off the holidays

the rest of our november went by pretty fast, and we packed a lot of fun in there.

we kicked it off with the annual family photo shoot, which i’d booked at griffith park thinking that it would be really cool.  and while it was indeed cool, i hadn’t thought ahead to the fact that it would also be incredibly busy on a beautiful, sunny saturday afternoon.  we struggled a little with finding parking but somehow managed to meet up with our photographer in time.  phew.

adding this because this week’s boot camp breakfast featured a special guest - weezermonkey, who is not part of the crazy early morning workout gang but joins us for breakfast whenever possible.

the hub and the little miss spent a little time bonding one morning.

it finally got cool enough for me to wear my souvenir from this year’s trip to graceland:

the bean and i headed out to universal city to check out the japanese food expo, where we got to try lots of snacks, sweets, drinks and watched a sushi demo.

i was pretty mesmerized by this machine that spit out perfect little mounds of rice for making nigiri.

and afterwards, we headed out in the rain to stroll through citiwalk, just across the street.

one day while everyone was at work (and school), the old lady took me and the little miss to her place of business where we indulged in this surprisingly tasty filipino feast burrito.  pancit, lumpia, pork belly and garlic fried rice all wrapped in a giant tortilla and served with a sweet chili sauce.  so good, we bought an extra one to take home for the bean.

and then i made the old lady stop for these photo ops advertising the new jonas brothers christmas movie on disney+.

at the bean’s school, the student body meets up at the chapel around once a week to listen to a speaker - sometimes it’s a member of faculty or administration, or a special guest that’s invited to speak, and as often as possible, it’s a member of the senior class.  they get to deliver a personal speech about their time at school, or something that they’ve overcome, or whatever they feel moved to share with their peers.  the bean took a turn the week before thanksgiving break and got special permission to use the school’s theater instead of the chapel because it was a meaningful part of their speech.  the hub, the old lady, the little miss and i were in the audience and we were so proud as we listened to one of the bean’s teachers introduce them before they took the stage and shared how discovering their love for theater tech helped them learn more about the person they want to be.  it was a delightful speech, with the bean’s signature self-deprecating humor sprinkled throughout.

i got to make some los angeles kings-themed cookies.  i was kind of nervous about them, but i think they turned out well, and my friend was really happy with them so yay!

i crocheted this funny little beanie for the little miss to wear at disneyland.

lilcee, dailygluttony and i hit up seafood city in eagle rock for one of their late night sessions.  seafood city is a filipino supermarket, and these events started this past summer and were originally meant for promoting new products.  it quickly went viral with lots of attendees sharing it on social media, and expanded into a free, family friendly nighttime dance party with rotating DJs, food and prizes.  it was a blast, and hopefully we’ll get the chance to go to another one.

the bean and i headed out to staples center (yeah yeah, it’s the crypto arena now but it’ll always be staples to me) for one of sabrina carpenter’s shows on her “short & sweet” tour.  she’s really talented, and we had a great time.

this is where she “arrested” maya rudolph for being too sexy.  

and this is also where we discovered the beauty of valet parking at this venue.  we exited the arena, headed through the crowds to this gate where we flashed our ticket stub and were ushered right in.  they brought the car to us in mere minutes and we were outta there and on the freeway less than half an hour after sabrina had run offstage for the last time.

for the little miss’ first thanksgiving, she wore a turkey on her butt.

while the hub went to the lounge to deep fry a turkey and feed his regulars who didn’t have anywhere else to go and the little family spent time with the old man’s mom and sisters, the bean and i headed off to kura sushi for some lunch.

not to worry, though.  we all came together later that evening to share thanksgiving dinner together.

and a couple of days later, we continued our friendsgiving tradition with all of our besties.  i know i wasn’t the only one who was thinking about what this might look like next year, with our kids off to college.

and with that, holiday season 2025 was in full swing.  yee-haw!

who’s your hope?

back when the members of BTS enlisted to serve their required time in the korean army, the bean said “imagine mom, by the time they all get out i’ll be a SENIOR!”

well, that time has come.  isn’t that crazy?

anyway, as they’ve been released a few of them have put out some solo projects.  and in april, the bean and i were excited to head to BMO stadium for j-hope’s l.a. stop.  i’d managed to score two tickets during the pre-sale, but then got the opportunity to buy a couple of floor seats that included soundcheck access.  i tried to sell the original tickets, but with no takers we offered them to lilcee, who’s also part of BTS army.

we got to the stadium and joined the lineup that had formed to enter the venue for soundcheck.  another of the perks of soundcheck access is being able to get inside before the rest of the ticketholders. another perk?  a fun box of surprise j-hope merch.

this is one of the newer venues in the l.a. area, and it’s really nice in there.  i’m not usually a huge fan of floor seats because i’m short and inadvertently end up stuck behind someone who’s much taller, but this time it looked like i’d be okay.

the bean spent hours working on this sign:

i’d never been able to score soundcheck access before, so this was all new to me.  and it was really cool - kind of like a mini concert before the concert.  he came out full of excitement and enthusiasm, greeted the audience and took a couple of selfies before launching into a couple of songs.  

when he disappeared backstage, we made a beeline for the merch booth and food kiosk so we could grab something to eat before the main event began.  and instead of going back to our seats, we found a spot on the floor where we could munch on chicken tenders and fries while peoplewatching.  there were some pretty amazing outfits, but i couldn’t take pictures of anyone without looking like a creep so you’ll just have to use your imagination.  as for me, i’d thrown on my favorite jeans that i now realize make me look even shorter than i already am:

one thing i’ve learned about going to k-pop concerts is that a lot of people bring bags of gifts to hand out to fellow army.  some fans hand out photocards, others bring bracelets, and a lot of them make up these cute little goody bags with several items inside.  

maybe when we go to the BTS comeback tour (rumored to come in 2026!), we’ll plan ahead and bring gifts of our own to give away.  

we were sitting next to one of the access points that was manned by venue staff who we heard say over and over “this is an EXIT ONLY!  you will not be able to come back here to re-enter!” i jokingly said “they must be so sick of saying that over and over again, you should make them a sign.” welp:

they laughed when the bean gave it to them, but quickly realized how useful it really was.

and then it was time to head back to our seats and wait for the show to start.

i may not have known a lot of the music, but i enjoyed the show anyway.  j-hope is just as entertaining and charming on his own as with the rest of the group, and he sang and danced his ass off on that stage for a full two hours.

not to mention - look at the smile on my child’s face!

just off to our left, in one of the lower field club sections, lilcee and mr. cee were also enjoying the show.

when the show was over, we made our way out of the stadium and found a bunch of street food vendors.  the smell of bacon-wrapped hot dogs overtook us and we stopped to grab a post-show snack.

sadly for the bean, the hot dog fell right out of their bun.  oops (and they were not super happy with me for taking this while cackling like mad).

but to make up for it, we stopped at one more kiosk, where the bean happily scooped up a fresh mango sliced up to look like a bee-yoo-tiful flower.

and that was how we wrapped up our fun night out.