Some August, 3

One more important thing about August: the Beans came!

August 29: Their visit, for me, began with meeting them and Jeff and Lisa and my dog friend at Citi Field for a Mets Game.

August 31: Tom and Cindy came over the night before and we decided to go down to Hudson Yards for some fun and had the single worst train delay I’d ever experienced in my whole New York life trying to get down there. Tom sprung for a cab. What a guy!

Ran into Tara and her mom outside by the Vessel! Then we went inside to Molton Brown, Muji, and Uniqlo, among other places. And I got a potato sandwich at Fuku because the curiosity got to me.

Then we finished up with a little High Line Walk

September 1: Well a day of September snuck into my August roundup, what can you do! After church Sunday we went and met up with Chris and Dave at the Usual because honestly what kind of host would I be if I didn’t bring my guests to the Usual to try that crispy cheese cheeseburger? Hadn’t seen Chris or Dave for a little bit and basically it seems like no one has changed. In the good way, of course.

Some August, 2

A big thing that happened in August was I flew out to LA to drive up to Utah for Andrew’s wedding and then drove back to LA. This is going to be an extremely cursory overview of that trip that, even in its brevity, contains about 100 pictures.

August 19: I fly out to LA with a layover in Denver.

August 20: San Marino stuff during the day, including a walk to see the turtles at Cal Tech, and went to Disneyland to check out Galaxy’s Edge with Collin that night. (That was it’s whole own post though, remember?)

August 21: Today was the big drive up to Utah. It was an all-day activity. I ate with my buddy Brandon in Vegas and, well, didn’t take a lot of pictures of the drive or anything.

August 22: Utah! They’ve got a new dog at Kristen’s house. In the afternoon I had Prettybird with Natalie and Jake…they just can’t make it hot enough for me there, though…and I spent the night at Andrew’s getting ready for the wedding.

August 23: Woke up in Midway and Andrew was buying everyone donuts…and also very protective of his rice vinegar bottle.

Ok, insert here me going back down to Highland for a bit, then fast forward to that evening. It’s the wedding! And things were a little too busy for picture taking. But here’s some I snapped after the ceremony when Andrew, a married man for mere minutes, began making everyone pizzas.

August 24: Sunday in Utah! What more can I say?

August 25: Back on the road! This time I took pictures. The “big” thing about my drive back was I stopped to check out those rocks everyone was Instagramming last year. And stopped into a desolate casino to find a bathroom.

August 26: Lunch with Collin at Disney, tacos downtown with Cher.

August 27: Had a little time to go to the LA Arboretum with Grandma before my flight. I had not been there for a VERY long time and it was a LOT bigger than I remembered. Still has peacocks, though.

Some August, 1

Too much happened in August! Will I be able to blog all of it? Really I don’t know! Good thing I already posted about going to Galaxy’s Edge. Now let’s get to work on a chronological review of some of the rest of it!

AUGUST 1: On the first of the month I went to Forest Hills, past the most beautiful Buffalo Wild Wings and past the Fantasy Land buildings and past the tennis courts to the old tennis stadium to see the Chemical Brothers. I don’t know how, but I wound up front and center, behind only one person. Their opener was a Belgian techno DJ named Charlotte DeWitte who was great and then it was a real blast to be blasted by the Chem’s big beats. Tons of fun and more production than we deserved!

AUGUST 3: Walked to the Bronx to try Panda Express’s Hot Sichuan Chicken and really made an afternoon of it.

AUGUST 9: Carol was in town! We had dinner at Fish Cheeks. It was: Good. It was also: a bigger restaurant than I had expected. Dropped her off at Maggie and JB’s, took a good photo (if you ask me).

AUGUST 10: And then the very next day I went to Brooklyn with totally different friends to have lunch at another acclaimed Thai spot, Ugly Baby. For a famously spicy restaurant, they sure do all they can to keep you from eating anything spicy. Still, hot enough to merit a walk over to Ample Hills and then some additional Gowanus-adjacent wandering. Many Croc sightings, too.

From there I wandered through Soho a bit and wound up at Morgenstern’s, where Carol had met up with Suvi. Carol and I would then go to the Little Spain Market at Hudson Yards. It’s real good. And I met the billionaire-owner of a major British soccer team. What a world!

AUGUST 12: Nice walk through the West Village over to the pier to celebrate Kim’s birthday. Kim’s party had: tons of Williamsburg Pizza pizza and: a cake with her face on it over and over again.