Big Lou...

Our neighbors stopped me on my way to the garage this weekend - asking if we or our tenants happened to lose a GIANT LIZARD. Um, no.

Apparently, hanging out in the sun in our neighbor's for the last couple of days is a Tegu Lizard - a large Argentinian reptile. They look like this:

Apparently they are pretty harmless. They think he must have been a pet that escaped. They were canvassing the neighborhood looking for his owner, and in the meantime - have named him Big Lou. The wife imagines a future where he becomes our streets version of the Loch Ness Monster - appearing and disappearing like the stuff of legend.

A new addition to the neighborhood...

 

In mid-October, our Echo Park extended family gets a little bit bigger. Neal's writing partner and his wife, two of our best friends, are expecting a little boy. Nick and Chelsea live two and a half blocks away so I expect we'll have a lot of babysitting in our future.

 Last weekend, Rachel, Ashley and I threw them a "Baby Warming" - we didn't dare call it a shower.

A pile of great food, a bunch of wonderful people, cute presents and lots of advice and words of wisdom.

 

 This will be a lucky baby with these two as parents...and with the rest of these people as a support system.  Excited to meet him.

The weekend ahead...

This weekend is going to involve lots of blog post writing (have a big batch of new stuff), lots of pool floating, and LOTS of live music.

Photo from theseunitedstates.com, by Todd Roeth

First off, Friday, my friend Jesse Elliott comes to town with his band These United States. They play at The Satellite tomorrow night - doors open at 8:30. Here is their newest music video for their song MAPS. The animation is amazing. 

(Apologies for the very low-rent way of linking to these videos...I have no idea how to embed stuff. Need to take a class from Amelia or Morgan!)

On Saturday, we're dragging Neal's little sister to the FYF Fest in downtown LA. Our friend Eric's band Tanlines will be playing as the sun sets and we'll be dancing along. Here's my favorite of their videos from the catchiest of their songs, ALL OF ME.

Talented friends, good music and lots of sunshine. Happy Labor Day!

Fire! (Not ours!)

Hi all...this is not our house:

...but it IS in our neighborhood. Yesterday afternoon we heard tons of sirens and helicopters swirling...turns out a house 6 or so blocks away caught fire. See this post on The Eastsider for details. Yikes. Too close for comfort. Luckily, it sounds like no one was hurt and the fire didn't spread.

Even freakier is the fact that our backyard is basically a tinderbox of dried out weeds and trees that was making me upset because it is so ugly, but now Im panicked because it's probably not very safe.

Ironically, we had gone that morning for the second half of our landscaping consultation at Burkard Nurseries, where the owner Frank talked us through, not only adding a few walls to flatten out some yard for a garden, but how to put in super simple pipe irrigation to get water down to the bottom of our yard so we can start planting something more attractive then the weeds and old tile and drywall that exists now.

I will take a few BEFORE pics so you can see what we mean. Ugh. It's going to be a big project, but one that this house reminded me, is even more urgent for the safety of US and our neighbors.

Friends in the Neighborhood...

Our amazing friends Matt and Amelia just bought a house 5 blocks away from us and moved this past weekend. We could not be more excited. Matt and Neal have been close friends since freshman year at NYU and when he moved out here with his high school sweetheart Amelia, they've been one of the best things about living here.

Amelia also happens to be a beautiful writer and author of the award-winning blog, Bon Appetempt. They documented their move (and the move of Matt's prized possession - The Vivianne) with some beautiful shots of our neighborhood, great music and a little bit of comedy.

Enjoy!! http://www.bonappetempt.com/2012/06/video-attempt-vivianne-moves.html

And you should definitely be reading Amelia's blog if you aren't. She chronicles her adventures in attempting recipes from magazines and cookbooks as well as becoming the cook, wife and woman she is today. We're even featured sometimes - from the original attempt, to some that, um, weren't as delicious.

Our OTHER neighbors...

The tenants are good - took out the garbage on Tuesday night and brought the cans back in, unasked, on Wednesday. Neighbors on both sides of us are quiet and nice. Though we did think the apartment building on the left stole our yard waste can. (I stole it back.) 

However...there are some not-as-pleasant neighbors in the hood...

Echo Park is overrun with skunks...or maybe just one skunk that sprays pretty much every day. It's getting a little out of control. Open a window for fresh air - get a waft of skunkiness. What do we do!?

I do, however, realize how much worse it could be when I think of the poor dogs in the hood that are getting the spray directly. I should go see if the tomato juice supply at local grocery stores is low.

**Apologies for the lack of posts lately, we've been busy, and we've had Neal's little sister, Emily, living with us for a bit. AND since being finished, the kitchen has been cluttered and dirty because I've been enjoying it so much! Will take more pictures and post more this weekend!**

Boom! Pow! Fireworks!

 Hi internet friends! Neal here, the co-owner of the duplex (and loving husband??). Since it's my first post, I figured I deserved fireworks! Actually, the firworks are from the bi-weekly display at Dodger stadium. They're amazing. Wanna know the best part? We can see them from our backyard. They're the perfect thing to use as a center piece to a relaxing evening with some friends. So two weeks ago we had our first get together at our new place. We watched fireworks, ate smores and talked shit about other people while sitting around our new firepit (the firepit might deserve it's own post). The night was amazing and we swore an oath that we'd have people over for every fireworks display.

Last Friday was a fireworks night, so having sworn an oath, we did exactly what you'd expect  ...We went out to dinner with some friends. Boo! Luckily, the Dodger game went late and we arrived home halfway through the fireworks. We ran up to the terrace off of our bedroom to watch the rest... but while we were watching, we heard something weird. People talking. (So weird, right? No wait, stick with the story, you'll see!) The thing was, every which way we looked, all our neighbors were either out for the night or they were asleep-- yet still, there were voices. Where were they coming from? Jodi thought they were coming from above us. But come on, above us? When the grand finale finished, we brushed off the idea of people hovering high in the trees talking, went inside, and got ready for bed...

That's when we heard the distinct sound of feet on our roof. Right above our stairwell. And we realized... our tenants were on the roof watching the fireworks.

Now I don't like to ruin the fun for everybody (okay, yes I do), but in this instance, what with their safety and the health of our roof on the line, we had to take a stand.

We were freaked. We had to do something quick, but we couldn't appear angry. I mean, come on, they thought we were cool when we met them, and any anger would ruin all our hipster points. But they can't get away with this!! We also had no FOR SURE proof, so we couldn't accuse them directly. I can't decide if we were making it a big deal, or if it actually was a big deal. Anyway, we certainly weren't going to confront them in person. We sent an email no less than 2 minutes after they went inside.

Here's what we wrote:

Hello tenants,
We heard a lot of noise on our roof tonight. We just want to make clear that going on the roof is not allowed. Not only is it unsafe, but it's also above our bedroom.
Thanks,
Jodi and Neal

I'd like to think it struck the right balance between stern and caring. Regardless, it was pretty effective. The next morning we received a genuine apology, and so far we haven't heard any other noises from the roof. Lesson? On our next lease, we'll make sure to specify what is and what isn't allowed on the roof. (Answers: nothing and everything.)

On my walk this morning...

...took some pictures around the neighborhood:

A foggy morning in the Elysian Valley...

The view from our bedroom balcony this morning.

Why we bought where we did...

Here's an interesting blog post about people like us (though with more money than us) buying multi-unit properties in our neighborhood of Echo Park. I think we picked a good neck of the woods. (Via The Eastsider)

This is our cross street...

A few weeks ago, a stretch limo got stuck at the top of Baxter. Definitely don't think we are in a flood zone. (HT: Echo Park Now)