I essentially spent the entire month of February in Los Angeles for the sole purpose of catching up with friends and enjoying the city I lived in for nearly eight years. If a work opportunity had popped up I would have gladly taken it, but it ended up being 29 days of fun times with good people, many of which I hadn’t seen since I left LA last May. I also squeezed in two weekend trips to nearby areas — the central California coast and Death Valley National Park — which yielded the best photos of the month; I’ll share those images in future posts but there’s a preview below.

Nearly all of these good times with friends involved catching up over a meal or dessert. No complaints here! Also, I need to be better about asking someone nearby to take these photos because I’m not in many of them.

Yard House in Pasadena for dinner with Jenny, Ziggy, Allison, and Craig:

Wood Ranch for drinks with my Y&R buddies! Kai had just directed his first episode — so nice to celebrate with these peeps.

Mike & Amy kindly invited me along to nerd trivia at The Lost Knight in Echo Park with their friends. Categories included Lord of the Rings, Sherlock, Harry Potter, Sherlock, Dr. Who, and Star Wars. I was the weak link, as I knew like two answers out of 90 questions. But it was still super fun and our group came in 4th place out of 25 teams!

I caught up with these lovely people at Golden Road brewery. They’re some of my favorite people and I really miss them the rest of the year when I’m not in LA.

Golden Road!

Fun times with this family!

Isn’t this Valentine’s Day card the sweetest? And Adele texted me a whole bunch of emojis from her mom’s phone — adorable.

I watch Downton Abbey with Kelley and she generously invited me over for dinner before each episode; below is one of our tasty meals.

In the above photo, I supplied chocolate for the s’mores… a bacon ganache bar from Trader Joe’s. Totally kicked up our s’mores game.

Speaking of s’mores, you may remember that Kelley and I like to cook together; in the past we’ve dedicated entire days to this. One night this month we whipped up s’mores egg rolls based off one of those 30-second cooking videos that pops up regularly on Facebook. It was my first time using a deep frier.

And speaking of sweet treats, one night after getting Thai food at Jitlada in Hollywood, my friends / roommates Jenny & Ziggy and I went to Milk on Beverly Blvd. for ice cream.

Check out these goodies: a strawberry shortcake milkshake for Ziggy, Fruity Pebbles ice cream sandwich for Jenny, and an ice cream sundae for me.

Another night I caught up with my friend Mandy; we got dinner at Foreman Tavern in Toluca Lake (great spot). Afterwards she kindly introduced me to her sweet dogs — I had been going through puppy withdrawal and this was the perfect fix. (All I ever really want in life is to hold a dog.)

I finally tried Sugarfish for the first time. This is a high-end sushi spot but I went for lunch one day and ordered one of the cheaper menu options. Their fish is simple and delicious.

Jenny and I drove down to Malibu one Sunday for a beach day. Days like this remind me why I love southern California so much.

Another weekend, Jenny and I went to a Chinese New Year festival in San Gabriel Valley to walk around and try various treats.

We ended up getting lunch at Mama Lu’s Dumpling House. YUM.

Other treats from our day:

We popped into a few bakeries in search of egg tarts. I was excited to try the Macau / Portuguese kind (with the caramelized tops) since I loved them on my trip to Portugal last year. They were eggier than I remembered, but they hit the spot for Jenny.

Another weekend I went hiking in Griffith Park with Mike & Amy and some of their friends. The weather was perfect.

Amy is a certified yoga instructor and she led us through a few poses at the top. It felt great.

Afterwards we got lunch at Little Pine in Silver Lake, a new organic vegan restaurant owned by Moby (is that the most LA sentence ever written?). I ordered the lemon poppyseed pancakes with coconut whipped cream.

Another day I went to Republique near La Brea / Wilshire since I’ve heard their interior space is really neat. Indeed, it is! Their coffee is good too — I got a caramel latte with their homemade almond milk. Cost $7 but it was one of the better lattes I’ve had.

Walking up La Brea:

I met my friend Nancy at Sycamore Kitchen — we enjoyed a long lunch on their patio. Great afternoon.

Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd. as I walked to the bus stop:

Of course, most days I spent a few hours at Priscilla’s in Toluca Lake. Hands down my favorite coffee joint in the city. (Order the vanilla hazelnut spiced latte.)

Walking down Riverside Dr. at night:

As usual, I saw a bunch of theater this month. Here is a brief summary of each show:

– 1984 at the Broad Stage. This Headlong production just came over from an acclaimed run in the U.K. and will next play in Boston and DC. It’s directed by Robert Icke, a young and lauded theater maker who is on the rise. 1984’s themes are especially relevant in today’s world of monitoring and surveillance. I attended a pre-show discussion led by the Broad Stage’s literary manager that was a nice segue into the show.

– An Act of God at the Ahmanson. This show debuted in NYC last summer to rave reviews starring Jim Parsons; I was glad to catch it in LA with Sean Hayes. Unfortunately I only found the writing only mildly amusing.

– Empire at La Mirada Theatre. An original musical about the people who designed and built the Empire State Building. Kudos to this company for funding original work and drawing Broadway names (director Marcia Milgrom Dodge, actors Tony Sheldon and Stephanie Gibson). It fell quite a bit short of its potential but I was glad to have checked it out nonetheless. The best part is that I attended with my friends Grace & Anthony (why didn’t I take a photo that night?) and we had lots of fun catching up.

– Mysteries of Love & Sex at the Taper. I suspect this play by Bathsheba Doran will end up on my list of favorite theatrical events in 2016. It tackles some big themes as we follow two couples navigating life, relationships, and identity. Excellent dialogue and acting. It’s running a few more weeks if you’re in LA and love theater; call the box office and ask for $25 HotTix (available for theater-goers of all ages).

– Barcelona at the Geffen. I was glad to see this Bess Wohl play after hearing about her success with Small Mouth Sounds in NYC last year. Barcelona follows two strangers (a Spaniard and an American) who hook up after meeting at a nearby bar. Over the course of one night, layers are peeled back as these characters become more emotionally exposed with each other than they ever intended.

– The Mountaintop at Matrix Theatre. This Katori Hall play ran on Broadway in 2011 to great acclaim and I was shocked to find out this production at Matrix is the Los Angeles premiere. The play takes place in room 306 of the Lorraine Motel on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr.’s last night on earth before he was assassinated; it’s a two-hander between King and a young maid named Camae. I went in knowing about the plot twist which gave heavier weight to certain lines and subtext before the reveal, which I appreciated. (P.S. if you go on a Monday night, it’s pay-what-you-can.)

I was sorry to miss Orson Bean’s one-man show at the Pacific Resident Theatre, as I’ve heard good things about it from many people.

(images: 1, 2)

(images: 1, 2, 3, 4)

Also, while seeing Barcelona at the Geffen, I noticed that the stage manager is my friend Maggie from college who I haven’t seen in ten years! We caught up over a late-night bite after the show at Palomino — such an unexpected treat to see her.

Other random media updates: I read two books (The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman and Moranthology by Caitlin Moran). I watched seasons 1 of Master of None and Transparent… and the last season of Downton Abbey (*tear*). Watched a bunch of Oscar screeners, my favorite of which was The Big Short. And I re-watched Dirty Dancing for the first time in 10+ years and remembered how attractive Patrick Swayze was, which led me to watch Ghost for the first time. Point Break might be next.

And because I document my life on here (these monthly recaps are more for me than anyone else), here is a quick look at where I’ve been staying the past two months. I rented a room in my friends’ condo and it’s a great spot.

I went on two big weekend getaways this past month — first to the central California coast to visit San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, Avila, and Pismo beach.

And just this past weekend Jenny and I went to Death Valley to check out the wildflowers there — they are in the middle of a super bloom, the most flowers they’ve had since 2005. It was an excellent photo opportunity and I can’t wait to share more.

I leave you with two photos I did not take, but they are so fun I can’t help but share them. My parents went to a UConn game with their good friends Diane & Clay; at one point Jonathan (the Huskies’ mascot) came over for a photo. And on the right below, my sister snapped this pic of Bijou and Oscar snuggled up on her couch on a snowy day; I smile every time I see it on my phone.

That’s a wrap on February. Shout out to my LA friends for making this month so special — it was a true treat to catch up with each of you.