Monday morning at Logan airport, we stepped off a bumpy red eye flight into the blistering cold. We'd had a great weekend in LA-- one that went by entirely too quickly and almost without incident.

For the past year, Matt and I have been calling North Hollywood our home. Our own little corner of this sprawling metropolis we moved to, NoHo seemed to be the perfect fit: reasonably priced rent (with outdoor space!), plenty of spots to drink, and (I hoped) good places to eat as well.

Of course, my wishes came true, and shortly after moving right near an illustrious In & Out Burger (which is the only fast food I have eaten, or will eat, in decades. Seriously), we started to realize our neighborhood had a lot to offer. So much more than when Matt called it home eight years ago, and it seemed like a new place was popping up every day.



One place that had just opened its doors for the first time right around then was the District Pub. Our first venture was, I believe, two days after they opened, and we have become quite the regulars since. It's a great example of a simple concept done superbly well-- a large craft beer list, house-made sausages, and burgers. That's about it. There's also a huge, delicious, chewy pretzel if you're into that sorta thing. And really, really good French fries. But otherwise?



Go for the beer.
Stay for the meat.
Repeat.

It's been forever since I've posted just a set of photos. It's been a nice few months out here in sunny LA. We had a few visitors a couple weekends ago, and I've taken to frequenting Runyon Canyon with the dogs on a regular basis. Also, I met some cute puppies in my travels including a miniature siberian husky. Swoon.

I've gotten better about bringing out my camera on what seems like a boring afternoon. Some moments are just worth capturing.

Speaking of which, I upgraded to a Canon 70D this past Christmas, and the shutter bug is strong with this one. I can't stop using it, editing photos, and learning new tricks. Here's hoping my skills keep improving so I can share prettier and prettier photos here. Also, to all my northeast loves, I am sending you all the sunshine I got.

We've been calling North Hollywood home for about a year now.
Matt lived here-- back in the day, when us being together seemed like some far flung dream that could never come to fruition. There were just too many miles between us. But, of course, he sacked up, packed up, and moved to Boston for me in 2009. The rest, as they say, is history.

Except when we came west and started looking for a place, Matt was astounded and ecstatic to see what had become of his old neighborhood. Instead of one shady bar amid a stretch of thrift shops and car dealerships, in the seven or so years he was gone, so many establishments have opened their doors and welcomed in locals. One of the first places we discovered was EAT. I think I'd just come home from a business trip and was ravaged one morning, and hellbent on finding some sort of smoked salmon to put in my gullet. A cursory Google search revealed a few bagel places way too many minutes away-- and EAT, right on Magnolia. And they had other things like "scrambles" and omelets for my gluten-free fiance. Sold.

Every once in a great while, the gods of love and weekends and beer all get together and say, "let's give Allie's Boyfriend a Saturday off!" Entirely. Also, "let's not make him go back to manage the bar until 5PM on Sunday!"

And when that happens, we don't want to let down the love-weekend-beer gods (who would?), so we do our best to appease them. This Saturday, it included a food truck festival that happened to be at a horse track, so we were able to check off both the "unnecessary gambling" and "eat till you hate yourself" boxes in one trip!

For a brief rant, I would just like to say that I hate waiting in line. Furthermore, I hate waiting in line for over 45 minutes to order food at a food truck festival and then waiting an additional 30 minutes for the food to actually make its way to my pie hole. But I digress. All the trucks were busy, so we opted to wait it out for Lobsta Love.