#12: Visit an American City we’ve never been to.

Chattanooga, TN.  Would have loved to explored the caves and more of the Civil War sites. Tennessee is beautiful country.

Good place to start a morning drive.

Gotta love a city with pedal taverns.

The Batman building lurks over Broadway.

Dinner with clients. Rare that there is another guy.

To the gramps I never knew. (Bottom, 2nd from left)

The Force is strong with this one.

I enjoyed the authentic look that brought back recent memories of our Cuba trip, but the story was subpar.

• Brit has moved into her first post collegiate apartment. We’re officially empty nesters. 

#95 Done: New Dining Room Table.

May need to put chairs on next years list.

#55: Stay at the Chateau Marmont

#42: Lounge By 5 Hotel Pools. Not a warm day, but the pool at the Chateau Marmont has that old school vibe.

We have a lot of anniversaries, but this is the one we celebrate. 20 years and counting.

Tried Tao in Hollywood before Zac Brown at the Bowl. Always a great show.

Hemingway faced his nightmares yesterday and completed his annual physical with flying colors only to wake up this morning with a seizure that sent his family into a panic.  After another vet visit, Hemingway is stable, but must now endure further tests in the coming weeks.

Tried this edit-to-go low carb meal program. The sacrifice of taste for a few pounds lost wasn’t really worth it.

It’s time to acknowledge a few goals that will definitely fall.

#16 Open Up the Kitchen (See #18)
#17 Remodel Master Bathroom (See #18)
#20 Go to a Wrigley Game (Ran out of time)
#30 Go to a Baseball Stadium I’ve Never Been To (Same as above)
#83 Remove a Tattoo (Company went bankrupt)
#85 Remove fire place in den (See #18)
#91 Host Summer Party (ran out of time)
#94 Go to a Giants game (ran out of time)

What else are we going to do on 95 degree day.

Loved it.

Sonia did her best to represent the Cubs, but the Dodgers ultimately won with a walk off homer.

IMG_8339 from henry james on Vimeo.

Three of Brit’s favorite bands playing together. Good excuse for a daddy daughter date.

Tied up a few loose ends from the previous two novels. A quick enjoyable read.

Finally celebrating those July birthdays.

Another good read.

IMG_6948 from henry james on Vimeo.

I really loved Tom Petty. His music was always apart of my life’s soundtrack. He made the Valley and L.A. his own. This was his band’s 40th anniversary and I embraced it. I took the kids to see him in Pasadena. And I used his concert in London to commit my Dad and Georgeanne to a vacation in Europe. He didn’t disappoint in his final year.

IMG_8282 from henry james on Vimeo.

Took the kids to see Imagine Dragons at the Hollywood Bowl. We made the right decision as the Vegas concert was a possibility.

A worthy sophomore effort.  I’ll read the next.

Betrayed by the good reviews. If only I could have interrupted the license plate on the cover I would’ve never started it.

I was grateful to be able to support my friend and celebrate his mom’s life that was certainly a life well lived. Her passing leaves this blog’s readership significantly dented. Noreen was a subscriber from the beginning, and as such, knew much more about me than I knew of her.  Her husband’s remembrance of her at the memorial was wonderful and enlightening. Noreen and I began a correspondence shortly after I launched my blog. I remember posting about a new restaurant that included a picture of my meal. The next day Matt emailed me a newspaper article that argued people who take pictures of their meal are ruining society.  Typical, Matt. Amused, I posted it to the blog the next day and announced that I would refrain from posting food pics. Noreen quickly emailed me that Matt doesn’t know what he’s talking about and to keep posting my meals. So I did. This is my current meal. United Airlines sucks.

It will be three years ago in October that Sonia and I celebrated our wedding. Despite her ongoing fight with cancer, Noreen and Jim flew across the country to celebrate us on Halloween night. Noreen laughed and danced… A lot. That’s how you fight. That’s how you live.

#37: Watch a sunrise

Took advantage of the redeye and walked around the National Man before sunrise.

Might be the best yet.

Brittany dragged us to IT. It was shit.

I really hope Irma doesn’t wipe one of my favorite places off of the map. Princeville, Kauai, New Orleans, Gustavus, Alaska, Florence, Italy and Key West feel more like home than my actual home of nearly 38 years. The caretaker of Hemingway’s home and fifty descendants of his six toe cats are going to try to ride this out, but it doesn’t look good. I always view natural disasters with a detached point of view, but this is personal.

I think I could’ve fit in.

Our favorite New Orleans charred oyster restaurant delivers!

A good win for the boys in maze and blue.

Nice view from our roof tonight. 

#78: Five rooftop toasts

Supperclub at the Filifera in Hollywood.

And guess what? Our air conditioner died tonight.

Picked up my niece today. Maybe the last time I’m taller than her.

Much harder than I had hoped. In the end, it was a peaceful passing. 

I write this with Bella purring on my lap, so it’s much easier to write good bye. She’s eighteen and has been telling us for probably more than a year that she’s ready to go. Bella was on death’s door a couple of years ago, but I found a company that developed a custom diet that improved her condition for about a year until it stopped working. Bella just can’t keep food down, so she is essentially starving to death and is always hungry. She loves ham, so tonight she got plenty. I’ll have to clean it up in the morning, but tonight it is worth it. The four of us will be with her when she passes in the morning. Bella was our first pet. She bonded with the kids and taught them to be animal lovers. Their kids will one day be given their first pet along with their parent’s memories of theirs. It was a long and good life.