The Dark Side

The Dark Side attacked and has emerged victorious. The force has not been with me as of late. I've been slammed at work with task after task. I'm sitting here on Saturday morning at 8:00 when I should be sleeping, but instead am catching up on my posts. After spending some time downloading/uploading/labelling the various pictures I've taken, I realize that I'm five posts behind... In any event, here I am with Vader and a Storm Trooper just outside the Hollywood and Highland complex. On Saturday, we took a trip there to pick up a gift for a birthday party. Ingrid's good friend Ingrid (that's right, two different Ingrids... as if one was not enough), was throwing a birthday party for her son, Vincent, who was turning one year old. Ingrid, being the habitually tardy person that she is, rounded me up a at around 4:00 to go pick up a gift for Vincent's 1:00 birthday party. Anyway, we grabbed a gift for Vincent and headed out to North Hills to meet up with Vincent, Ingrid and her husband, Adrian.



Okay, get this... we get off the freeway and Ingrid can't find her way to Vincent's house (despite being there multiple times). Ingrid's phone is dead and I don't have Ingrid's (her friend's) phone number in my phone. We spend precious minutes searching for Ingrid's house and finally stumble upon it. When we finally arrive, it's 5:00... a whopping three hours late. As we pull up to the house, Ingrid notices that there are no cars around... Could it be that we arrived too late?!? Are we at the wrong house?!? Is the party already over?!? No. The party is tomorrow. We're here on the wrong day (had Ingrid actually looked at the invitation before the party, she would've figured this out -- then again, maybe not). Leave plans to Ingrid and that's what happens. Not only are we hours late for a party, we're a day early for the party as well. Unbelievable.



Adrian and Ingrid were obviously surprised to see us as they prepared for the party. Here, Ingrid is doing her best to explain why we were so late/early to the party.



Chispa couldn't wait for the party to begin either.



While we were there, we helped prepare for the party. Adrian and I assembled some stools he and his wife recently purchased. But not before Ingrid and I visited Vincent as he napped. We both couldn't help but notice that he sleeps like Ingrid does (with both arms above his head)... so Ingrid posed for this shot. Hopefully when he grows up, he'll pay attention to detail and won't show up for gatherings on the wrong day.



Vincent eventually woke up and as Adrian and I assembled the stools, Vincent helped out on the cleaning front... while wearing one sock and no shoes.



After Ingrid's, we headed over to Belinda and Fidel's where they were hosting a barbeque. In true form, we were late for that event as well. By the time we got there, everyone had already ate and many people were already leaving. But their son, Sebastian, was full of energy and couldn't stop playing.



The food there was awesome. Carne asada, beans, rice, ceviche and, of course, cervezas. We had a great time there and can't wait to do it again.