Wow! What a busy, busy day!
Today was one of the busiest and most fun days I can remember. We did A LOT and I’m sure we’ll all sleep very soundly tonight.
Our day started off leaving the house before 9AM. We swung by and picked up our friend Char and her mom and we went to the
Los Angeles Times’ Festival of Books.
None of us had never been before and it was great. Wish we could’ve stayed longer. We really went to see C’s favorite group
Hi-5. They’re performing twice today and twice tomorrow. I just happened to open up the paper last week and saw the schedule of events for kids and there they were. I knew we had to go. We’ve taken C to a lot of theater (Elmo, Wiggles, Dora, etc) and she gets into them but it was nothing like this. Every time Hi-5 started a song, she walked out to the aisle so she could do the dances. It was so cute to see her face and have to respond to their songs. They’re coming in August for a real concert so you know where we’ll be going. Here are a few shots of C’s favorite performers.
Jen is C's favorite.
We also stayed for the next two author readings. The first was
Todd Parr who writes and illustrates these very cute books. I hadn’t heard of him before but Elizabeth had read them with her son. I need to get some of these books. They’re terrific. A few of the titles are
"Otto has a Birthday Party",
"Underwear Do's and Don'ts" and
"It's Okay to be Different".
And he ends each book with saying "The End. Love, Todd" Loved the books and loved him! And after that was Katharine Holabird who writes the beloved
“Angelina Ballerina” books. She read two of her stories AND Angelina was there to act them out. The girls LOVED this.
We had to go after Angelina but Henry Winkler (we're talking THE FONZ!) was up next on the children’s stage to read his books. I would’ve like to have stayed and checked out some of the other children’s book stuff plus get a signed copy of something. Later in the day, the
Laura Numeroff who writes the
“If You Give a Mouse A Cookie” stories was appearing as well as
Julie Andrews Edwards. Yes that Julie Andrews of “The Sound of Music” and “Mary Poppins” fame is a children’s author. Her very first book
“Mandy” is one of my all-time favor
ites. I would’ve loved to have seen her too but too much to do. Gotta run. Hey, maybe we’ll try to go back again tomorrow and see Hi-5 again (since they’re the closing act) and go early to check out some of the other things. This is a HUGE book event and it’s all free (except for parking at
UCLA)
Okay, so we’re on the move. We head to the valley, have a very quick bite to eat and head over to
Theater West to see their current show
“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” staring Lee Meriweather. Yes,
Miss America 19__ (as it’s stated in the program) is starring as the The Queen. A four person show, very interactive and very cute. Lloyd Schwartz (son of Sherwood who created such classics as “Gilligan’s Island” and “The Brady Bunch”) is the director and creative director of the theater. They do tons of children’s programs throughout the year and I’m glad we kind of found this by accident. They doing “Cinderella” in the fall so you know we’ll be back. Anyway, when I went to the box office to pick up the tickets (gotta love
Goldstar Events for discounted tickets), Lloyd gave me my tickets and asked about my last name and I knew “so and so G”. I didn’t but explained my husband might. He asked if we worked in “the business” to which I replied “yes, both of us do.” He said he’d come talk to us later. At intermission, he came to find us and Lloyd and G had a nice conversation. Hey, G had just worked with him when Lloyd and “The Brady Bunch” cast accepted an award on last week’s “TV Land Awards”. So they started yakking away. Very small world. Anyway, the show was really cute. The girls even went up on stage when they needed volunteers. Very brave of them.
The cast comes out afterwards to take photos and give autographs. Char was a little more brave than C but they both did it. Here are some photos with the stars. It was so cute.
With Snow White...
With the Prince...
And with the Queen. They don't even realize they were with a REAL celebrity.
From Universal City, we jumped back in the car, dropped off Elizabeth and Char and headed towards Malibu where we met Alli to take some photos with C and Ever on the beach. The girls really enjoyed that, even if it was a little bit breezy and chilly. Hopefully, we’ll get some good shots overall. I’m sure we will. Carly really enjoyed running in the water and trying to beat the waves catching her feet. I don’t think she had been to the beach since we were in Jamaica which was two years ago. She loved it. We collected a few seashells and we all got a little wet and sandy. Very fun.
And the always smiling Ever...
As if that wasn’t enough activity for one day, we came home and C wanted to hook up this water sprinkle thing she got for her birthday. So hooked that up to the hose and she and G then ran through the sprinklers. I don’t think I can post any of those pics since Miss C was in her underwear and without getting creepy, don’t need those shots out in the blogosphere for the wrong person to see. But suffice it to say, that I got some cool shots with the water drops looking kind of like snow. And when C would run through them, she’d run with her eyes closed. It was pretty funny.
Exhausted? We all are. Nighty night.
Labels: Angelina Ballerina, Festival of Books, Hi-5, Mandy, Miss America
Yes, I'm alive
I know it's hard to believe but I am, in fact, alive. I've been called out on my non-blogging status and to be honest, I'm mad at myself too. There hasn't been too much going on out of the ordinary and I didn't want to bore you all too much. Still, no excuse for not giving my little blog a little love.
Let's see. C's 4th birthday party was almost 2 weeks ago. Yes, I promised to tell you all about it and haven't. It was a terrific party. 18 of her nearest and mostly dearest ran around
My Gym for two hours. They had a fantastic time. I'd share pictures but I'm having a small crisis about that. Memory card crashed and until I can figure out how to recover, I might've lost all the photos - tragic for a scrapbooker. But thankfully,
Lisa took a bunch of photos (after she erased her memory card in the middle of the party) and I just haven't had time to look since I'm still sick to my stomach over my memory card taking a dump. Anyway, the party was a lot of fun. The kids were run around for 2 straight hours and there's nothing better than that. C has 3 more parties in the next 4 weeks at My Gym. It's such a great place. She got lots of very fun pressies. Some of the favorites are her Princess Barbie dolls (Cinderella and Ariel - her two faves) and two new games
Hullabaloo (not to be confused with the 60's TV show that my Dad worked on and I still have a sweatshirt) and
Balloon Lagoon. Great games for kids and adults too. I highly recommend both of them. Oh, and let's not forget the
Pretty Pretty Princess Game. G looks terrific when he gets the crown.
Dealing with backing up my computer and having some dramas there but I think some of them are solved. Just wanted to get it all cleaned up and backed up because I'm going to get a new laptop in the next week or so. I'm a Mac girl so I'm getting the
13" black MacBook. Very excited for that. And thanks to M&D got a nice GC to pay for it.
We did some spring cleaning and finally got the office organized. Went through all the toys and purged all the missing pieces, gave the little cars and walkers and 1 year old toys to my niece who'll be 9 months next week. Can you believe Ever is 9 months already?
Check out her trip to Italy. Looks like she had a fantastic time. Anyway, as much as we're packrats and I'm hating the clutter, at least we're trying to organize C's toys so that she has places to actually put things away. So far, that system has worked. Now, just have to keep purging my closet and then the scraproom. I'm scared of the latter. You have no idea.
Um, what else. Haven't scrapped at all this month. I've done a ton of cards and did C's thank you notes, I guess that's something, even if they were cookie cutter. I'm doing a moonlighter next week to kick of National Scrapbook weekend. Looking forward to that. Flute choir has started back and it's our 20th season so we're doing pieces from past concerts. That's actually going to be fun. Might even get to play my piccolo. I just have to remember to call to get my flutes tuned up. Just like a car, need a little oil and check of the valves to make it all run smoother.
Um, it's late. What a surprise. Why is it impossible for me to go to bed before 2AM? That being said. Sorry for the delay, sorry so boring. I've got some things to talk about when I've got a little more time and a little more brainwaves.
Four Years Ago...
my world changed forever as my beautiful daughter was born. Yup, my baby turned 4 today. I can't believe it.
We had a busy day with another birthday party for 2.5 hours this morning. Then I took C and her friend to get their nails done. I figured that since it was her actual birthday, she deserved the treat. Red with sparkles on her fingers and bright blue on her toes. Lovely don't you think?
Then we stopped by my parents house to see my Aunt and Uncle. C and C were perfectly fine just hanging out and playing. It's amazing to hear 4 years olds talk. They've got a lot to say to each other about all sorts of things. We dropped her friend C off at home and then C and I went to Ruby's for dinner. C's favorite restaurant. She had her usual Mac N Cheese and apple juice. They brought her a birthday sundae and sang to her which was really cute.
And after a loooonnnnggggg day, she came home and pretty much crashed. Tomorrow is the big birthday party. More to be posted after that.
Just tell me, when does the whining stop? I know, I know, never. But does it ever slow down? Personallyl, I'm so done with the whining.
1331
That's how many miles we drove over the weekend. Caz arrived on Thursday and we were both were stupid tired. Thanks to taxes and staying up too late to get them done. But anyway, we decided that we were, in fact, going to go to the Grand Canyon. So Friday, we rented a car and headed towards Phoenix. It took us 3 hours to get to stinking Cabazon (just outside Palm Springs). That should normally take just under 2 hours. LA traffic, grrr. We walked around the outlets, spent some money and then headed to Phoenix. We got to Phoenix at about 10PM. Stayed at my Aunt and Uncle's house which was really nice. It was great for Jan and Wendell to let us crash and to spend some time with both of them. They cracked us up and we had fun talking with them. Not to mention cute, adorable Lucy their Boston Terrier. How cute is this dog??
We got up bright and early on Saturday and started our drive. We drove to Sedona and got there about 10AM. We wandered around beautiful Sedona for a few hours. What an amazing place. It's so pretty there and the Red Rocks are simply stunning. You come around the bend on Highway 179 and there they are. You just go wow! We walked the main streets for awhile and went into the shops. Lots of cool, fun artsy things which is just my cup of tea. I bought myself a new backpack purse which I needed but mostly we took pictures. Oh, and ate an ice cream. The weather was fantastic, a perfect 80 degrees. I can't imagine what it would cost to live there but to have those amazing views in your backyard is worth every penny. Some shots from Sedona for your viewing pleasure.
We hit the road again about 12:30P and headed towards the Grand Canyon. We got there about 3P and
walked to the South Rim. Yes, we looked into going to the Skywalk but that's more on the West (Las Vegas) side and it costs $75 to take the walk. Maybe I'll do that at Telethon time. Anyway, we walked a mile or two along the South Rim and the Grand Canyon is just awesome. I know I use the word awesome but really the word is awe. It's indescribable. Huge, tons of colors, amazing how it was even created, even by nature. I had never been before, neither had Caz, so it was quite spectacular. It almost looked like a backdrop, painted against the sky. We took a bunch of pictures, walked around for about 2 hours and then started to head back to Phoenix. It took us about 3.5 hours to get back to Phoenix which wasn't bad at all. Somehow, I thought it was further away (so why did it take me 43 years to get there?) but worth all the driving.
Yesterday, we took Jan and Wendell out to breakfast as a small thank you for putting us up. Then headed back to LA. We made decent time. Stopped again at Cabazon and yes, spent more money. We had a great girls road trip. And yes, worth driving 1331 miles.
(apologies for any incoherant ramblings. Hanging with my Aussie girlfriend, lots of wine is getting consumed)
Labels: Australian Sauvignon Blanc, Grand Canyon, Sedona
Spring Break
Week 1 of C's spring break and for whatever reason we've been busy. Monday, had a playdate, did a few scrap fairy deliveries and then spent the afternoon cooking for Passover. Had most of the grandparents over (MIL was too sick to come) and we had a really nice family dinner. Pulled out the good china and crystal for the special holiday. I think it was the first time the crystal had been used and broke a wine glass upon washing the dishes.
Yesterday, I had a work related meeting, then My Gym with C, home for less than an hour and then met some friends at McD's (called Mac'rs in my house) to let the kids play in the play area. Got home about 8. Got C to bed and then stayed up until almost 2 finishing up my personal taxes. Dont' get me started on how I should be doing this throughout the year instead of the week before the deadline. I know. We know. We finally took the plunge and are entering everything in Quicken so, assuming we keep up with it, we wont' have to go through the marathon of entering again this time next year. Then of course, had to stay up and watch "American Idol". Boy, Sanjaya sucks the big one.
Today was another playdate and it ended up being 9 kids at another schoolmate's house. The kids had a blast. Had to drag C out to get her to ballet. Came home and did the taxes for the join checking which I need to finish.
Tomorrow Caz is coming. YAY! Can't wait to spend a week playing with my BF from Australia. Still no real plans besides "Wicked" on Tuesday but we might just do the road trip to the Grand Canyon. Cleaning up my ipod in anticipation of the desert drive. Got to rent a car so I don't put the mileage on my car and hopefully rent a car with better gas mileage than my Lexus. That's not saying much but with gas at $3.29 a gallon, I need all the help I can get.
Might not blog for a few days if we're out and about but I'll post and update when I can. Hag Sameach, Happy Easter and whatever other holidays are out there to celebrate. Hope you're enjoying them all.
Currently being dubbed to DVD: "A Gala For The President at Ford's Theater" - ABC special from 1995. (all this will be explained in a future post)
My bad
Where have I been? Who the heck knows? I sure don't. I have nothing to show for this week but I've been running around like a crazy person. I know what my excuse for the weekend has been but that's about it. Friday night, I went to the moonlighter at Safari with Lisa and Kari. Got another 5 pages done. Nothing spectacular but I'm pleased with them. I'm enjoying my new "no sketches" mantra. It's one thing to have used them to plan out the sizing of the photos but if I don't have the sketches with me, it's really freed me and my creativity and my LO's of the past week have really shown that. On that note, here's a few from last weekend for your viewing pleasure.
Another little tidbit of scrapbooking excitement.
Teresa Collins is coming to LA on May 18 and 19 to teach two days of workshops. I've taken about 7 classes from her, including CKU, and she's absolutely amazing. My friend Ginger has arranged the workshops and it's going to be so darned awesome! I can't wait. LMK if you're interested and I'll get you all the details.
And here's one of the photos that
Toni took of me and C at the park last week. Haven't seen the rest but I love this one. I love my girl. Can't wait to see the rest.
I have to look at the park photos that I took and maybe post a few of those in the next few days... after I finish my taxes. In the meantime, Passover is tomorrow. Got to finish setting the table, and then tomorrow afternoon start making things like the matzoh balls, Passover cake, broccoli side dish, charoset, etc etc. C can almost do The Four Questions which is awesome. Hey, I'll finally be out as the youngest person who can do them. My sister, who never learned Hebrew, never had to learn them so it always feel on me. I think at 43, I deserve a break.
And then on Thursday, my BF Caz is coming into town. She's currently in Dallas for work and so she's able to make a stop on her ticket on her way home to Sydney. I can't wait to see her. Not sure what we're doing other than seeing "Wicked" next week. We might go to the Grand Canyon which I've never been to either. I'll let you know if we go and walk that new plexi walkway.
VHS currently being burned to DVD: Live Aid - 1985
Labels: Grand Canyon, Live Aid, Passover, Teresa Collins
None of us had never been before and it was great. Wish we could’ve stayed longer. We really went to see C’s favorite group Hi-5. They’re performing twice today and twice tomorrow. I just happened to open up the paper last week and saw the schedule of events for kids and there they were. I knew we had to go. We’ve taken C to a lot of theater (Elmo, Wiggles, Dora, etc) and she gets into them but it was nothing like this. Every time Hi-5 started a song, she walked out to the aisle so she could do the dances. It was so cute to see her face and have to respond to their songs. They’re coming in August for a real concert so you know where we’ll be going. Here are a few shots of C’s favorite performers.
And he ends each book with saying "The End. Love, Todd" Loved the books and loved him! And after that was Katharine Holabird who writes the beloved “Angelina Ballerina” books. She read two of her stories AND Angelina was there to act them out. The girls LOVED this. 
We had to go after Angelina but Henry Winkler (we're talking THE FONZ!) was up next on the children’s stage to read his books. I would’ve like to have stayed and checked out some of the other children’s book stuff plus get a signed copy of something. Later in the day, the Laura Numeroff who writes the “If You Give a Mouse A Cookie” stories was appearing as well as Julie Andrews Edwards. Yes that Julie Andrews of “The Sound of Music” and “Mary Poppins” fame is a children’s author. Her very first book “Mandy” is one of my all-time favor
The cast comes out afterwards to take photos and give autographs. Char was a little more brave than C but they both did it. Here are some photos with the stars. It was so cute.
And with the Queen. They don't even realize they were with a REAL celebrity.
As if that wasn’t enough activity for one day, we came home and C wanted to hook up this water sprinkle thing she got for her birthday. So hooked that up to the hose and she and G then ran through the sprinklers. I don’t think I can post any of those pics since Miss C was in her underwear and without getting creepy, don’t need those shots out in the blogosphere for the wrong person to see. But suffice it to say, that I got some cool shots with the water drops looking kind of like snow. And when C would run through them, she’d run with her eyes closed. It was pretty funny.
