Shopping in Los Angeles

David and I trekked out the other day. We were up and out the door nice and early to try to get to our friendly neighborhood comic shop, Golden Apple Comics before the doors opened (yes, we've been collecting some of the DC 3-D Villain Variant covers. Wish us luck next week trying to get Joker's Daughter. HA! Sometimes I hate comics.) I'm not a morning person so because of me, we were there a few minutes after ten and the store was already packed. Funny to see men in suits buying stacks of comics before work. At the same time, I wasn't the only one who looked like they rolled out of bed to get there on time.

Next on our list was Skylight Books where I picked up two magazines, Darling #5 and an older issue of Kinfolk. I enjoy reading both of them. I love Skylight. They always have a great selection of new books in a wide variety of subject matter. Their Arts Annex rocks! It's hard to resist all of the temptation in that store (though not too hard when you look at your bank account and cry! HA!) I made a mental note for a few things to add to my perpetually growing wish list. 

David has been looking for The Star Wars Black Series Sandtrooper 6" (he wants to see it in person) so we hit Toys R Us (again) and had no luck (again.) He's been a bit obsessed with this series especially after having missed out on buying Boba Fett at Comic-Con (neither getting in line at 2:30 a.m. nor multiple trips to the booth netted a damn thing. It seems that all of them were sold to scalpers on ebay. Grrrrr. Even though Hasbro supposedly limited the amount you could buy, there are individual scalpers who have  sold more than a handful. Infuriating. Though both Tristan and I think that the whole Lego Minifigure Thing at SDCC was even more infuriating. )

We also visited Alias East, another favorite used bookstore. We walked out empty handed. Some folks seem to think that we buy books at every store we visit (we wish we could!) While we enjoy browsing our favorite local bookstores on a regular basis, like most folks, we can't afford nor do we have space for everything we want. It's sure fun to look though! If you're local to Los Angeles, I have a list of favorite shops here. 

Last on the list was Baller Art Ware in Silver Lake. I've been on a quest for the extra fine replacement tips for the Molotow markers. I've had an order in for a few weeks at a local art shop but still haven't heard anything from them yet. I stopped into Baller and found the (new to me) Liquitex Professional Paint Markers. I've heard folks talking about them online for awhile now but this is the first time I've seen them at a local shop. Like a kid in a candy shop with only so many pennies to spend, I picked out a few in colors that I didn't have in other paint markers. In all honesty, I haven't really used them that much since I bought them. I don't know if I can say that I love them but I like them so far. A new pen is always fun to play with! I also bought an extra fine empty pen from Montana that I filled with my hot pink refill Molotow ink. I wouldn't recommend doing this again. In this type of a pen, the ink is more like a highlighter than anything else. It doesn't act the same way as it does in the regular Montana pens. I guess I can say that at least I tried! Guinea Pig Kelly!

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I'm saving most of my pennies for my trip up North next week (and then again next month when I teach at Maria's in Fremont. Speaking of which, classes in Fremont are starting to fill up so don't wait too long if you are interested!)  My plan is to hit Berkeley on the way up to Art Is You. I'm still deciding on what I should do after class on Sunday. I haven't booked a hotel yet for Sunday night and am trying to make some plans! I want to drive along the coast as much as possible. I would love to see some Redwoods and all things scenic. I'm not especially interested in shopping or eating (I'm a vegetarian with a sweet tooth) as much as I'm interested in seeing the sights. Any thoughts?