lunar new year in chinatown

Last Saturday wasn't unlike any other. We debated going out and exploring or staying home and relaxing on the couch. Sitting on the couch is always welcome, and sometimes necessary, but the truth is we rarely regret going out to explore. We do regret wasting a weekend on the couch though.

Earlier in the week I read on Ban.do's Instagram that there was a golden dragon parade and so we hopped on the train and we went! We were quite sure we weren't going to make it on time for the parade, but we did get there for the tail end of it. See what I did there?

Everything about the day was so colorful, vibrant, and dynamic that I was drawn to shoot video instead of just stills. So I made a little video of our outing. I'm still learning the video editing...

View on Flipagram

When we started out on the street there was confetti here and there, but by the time we left in the evening the ground was thick with brightly colored tissue. Chloe tried Chinese brush painting and got to hold a monkey named Terra! We made wishes and tied them to a tree. We ended up eating at food trucks because the waits at the restaurants were hour-long. Did a little souvenir shopping and had a cocktail at Hop Louie, a great little dive bar that was playing great 80's tunes and allowed Chloe to sit at a table since they serve food upstairs. We played with snap chat while we sipped our drinks.

I highly recommend this family outing. 

Happy New Year!
I just have to say as a reminder to myself, get out there and explore. It is so much fun.

Mom tips: there is no restroom from the Long Beach Blue Line until you get off at Union Station if you are connecting to the Gold Line. So, yeah. And the usual, pack water and snacks in case the wait at your desired restaurant is an hour long and you're super hungry while walking through Chinatown.

The Go Metro Los Angeles app was helpful for directions.
From Long Beach: Take the Blue Line heading north to the 7th Street Metro Station and get on the Red Line heading East to Union Station. (Use the bathroom!) From Union Station take the Gold Line toward Pasadena one stop to the Chinatown Station and walk up the hill a block and go right.

I want to take the train again to explore more areas of the city, or just to grab lunch at Grand Central Market. I forget which stop it was, but we saw a guy riding a horse down the street and I can't say that I've ever seen that before. For that alone, go metro!

city of orange

one saturday morning in january.  

 

lompoc: part two of the great weekend.

Besides living minutes away from a barn full of horses, Chloe's Aunt Debbie has quite a menagerie at home.  A chameleon, two snuggly golden retrievers, a walking stick, two rats, and a beta.  Chloe wanted to hold and feed each of them, making the rounds several times, "let's go see the rats, let's go hold the chameleon." The colors on the chameleon are insane. 

The shapes on his head would make the most beautiful mosaic tile, and I want upholstery fabric to in the color and pattern of his body. My girl Kelly Wearstler has the means to fabricate those things, I just ask for a couple yards of each in return.

Since we discovered Sanford wine, somewhere around 1998, we have been talking about visiting the winery.  Being that we were only an hour way from Lompoc, we decided to go.  Our hosts made us a lovely breakfast of french toast with bacon, (Chloe's favorite) and we were off.  The drive was gorgeous, plenty of monarch butterflies fluttering by.

Sure, I felt a little odd taking my five-year-old to a winery, but it was our one destination, and the beauty of the land was not lost on her.  Plus, she is a well-behaved little lady.

~

  We stopped at this little petting zoo on Santa Rosa Road on our way back towards Buellton.  The woman there has rescued all these animals, and she personally introduced us to nearly every one.
My girl is fearless when meeting animals, just walks right on up to them, it is crazy to watch.  I was worried the emu was going to peck her head, but instead of putting my overly-cautious self on her, I put the camera to my face.

This turkey was sweet, and quite the greeter.  He marched, err, more like waddled like a pregnant woman, right up to us to say hello.  We all pet him and felt his "brain," as Chloe called it, it was warm and soft.  He was quite a creature, and he may very well have changed our menu for November.  I didn't know a turkey could have such a personality. He followed us around, a lovely host.

There were alpacas and donkeys, pot belly pigs Stacy and Tracy, bunnies, ducks, geese, chickens, roosters, Cowboy the cow, goats Hansel and Gretel, an emu, peacocks, and a few horses.  Chloe and I fell in love with Apache, a retired police horse from Riverside.  Geoff got the backgrounds on everybody while Chloe and I loved everyone up.  We wanted to bring Apache home with us.

I may have to make a blurb book of these images because that was a darn good weekend.  Here's to more amazing weekends!

two hours north

I could not have planned this past weekend better if I tried.  Maybe that's what was so awesome about it.  The plan was to drive to Santa Barbara to visit Geoff's sister and her family, and Chloe could maybe ride a horse.  It turned into my best birthday weekend ever, and it wasn't even my birthday.
My sister-in-law arranged for a horse for Chloe to ride and paint, and he even had fancy feet for her arrival. Aunt Debbie thought of everything.  Chlo was a little nervous about riding by herself, so she asked me to ride with her. I can't tell you how glad I am that she asked, because I had the most amazing time.  I haven't been on a trail ride in years, and it felt good to be back in the saddle again.

Turns out horseback riding is just like riding a bike, except a million times better. 

The ride was enough.  An amazing horse who was calm and sure-footed, a leisurely ride through picturesque meadows overlooking the Santa Barbara coast with my girl in front of me.  Seriously.  It was soo cool.  Apparently it was hard to tell who was having a better time because I could not wipe the smile off my face.
As I said, the ride would have been enough, but then they took us to The Palace Grill where we had amazing Louisiana faire and one of my favorite ever beers, Abita Amber.  The food was amazing, oh and the bread pudding, and the whole restaurant singing Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World.     And Chloe saying, "I know this song, Rowlf sings this song."   It was good stuff, memory-making.

That was just Saturday!  Big huge thanks to Debbie and Jim for their hospitality, we had a really wonderful time.

All the photos I am in, and a couple others were taken by Geoff.  Thanks, hubban.

a beautiful day

We went whale watching and saw lots of fin whales.  On the way back in we were rewarded with a large pod of dolphins jumping in our wake.  Then we were treated to a gorgeous sunset--the benefit of going on the 3 o'clock cruise, the trade-off being it was a bit chilly.
I don't need much reminding, but sometimes days stand out where I really love where we live.

Side-note:  I took all of these photos on the little Lumix Geoff gave to me for Christmas.  I am really happy with the colors it produces, I didn't do a dang thing to the last two photos.  It is a great little point and shoot.
Thanks to the nice man who snapped the picture of the three of us! xo

one city over

A couple weeks ago we had brunch at Yucatan Grill in Seal Beach, then walked down Main Street to visit the shell shop.  After our trip to the natural history museum this summer, where Chloe stood and listened to shells forever, I figured a trip to the shell shop was in order.  Niether Geoff nor Chloe had ever been, can you believe it? 

All that natural beauty and she chooses the fairy mermaids. She could not take her eyes off of them.  I have three pictures just like this one, she just stood and stared at them.  Their names from left to right: Luna, Pursa, Scara, and Ariel. They are fun in the tub, and I'm always happy when the item she so strongly desires carries a $2.99 price tag.  Please, allow me get this for you.

I did get a little sea star, a shell we can hear the ocean in, and a sea fan that is the prettiest pale yellow and looks lovely in our living room. This antique shop on Main Street had lovely estate jewelry, and they had a nice selection of jade which was handy, so I could show Geoff what I liked before his trip to China.

We stopped in a few other stores and the little nursery, where I didn't take photos because I was busy rescuing Chloe from a crazy cat who kept batting (with nails drawn!) at her skirt.  Crazy cat.  I'm not sure if he lives there, but he did not make me want to go back and buy plants. 

It was a nice, lazy Sunday afternoon, and I'd gladly do it again.  Minus the cat. 

Here's to a great weekend.