Around town

Having lived in Southern California for quite some time, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there is an estimated 70ft. waterfall a few miles from where I live. The kids and I decided to head out for a hike at a nearby park and much to our surprise, we stumbled upon this great location. Considering that California is once again experiencing a drout and that it's the middle of August, the last thing one would expect to see is something like this.

Links of Interest

- ConAgra Foods recipes and cooking videos.
- Find Your Spot for those of you thinking about relocating.
- Jonathan Adler's online store.
- Jaques Torres yum! I miss seeing his chocolate show on tv.

Summer Outings

Last year, it seemed as though summer was here and gone before we knew it, so this year we decided to make use of the small amount of time the kids are out of school and set off on a few fun and low cost day trips here in Southern California. Yesterday was a trip to the La Brea Tarpits. Last week - Solvang, Venice Beach and Paramount Ranch (which is practically in our back yard). The kids have been having a great time exploring and both have been armed with their own cameras to take in the sites from a child's POV. With Little D just getting the hang of using a camera, we've gotten some awesome close-up shots of his finger. Big D, on the other hand, has been putting his photographer skills to use with his Kiddie Video/Digital Camera.

Childhood Frozen In Time

We recently went to Disneyland and on our way out of the park, spotted two older ladies chatting just inside a shop surrounded by silhouettes. Having just been thinking to myself in recent weeks that I'd like to have something like this made of the boys, I talked them into checking the place out with me. A sign on the wall read 'Silhouettes in one minute or less!' Curious how much such a thing would cost at 'the happiest place on Earth," one of the ladies said it would only be $7 per child. Sold!

Last week, we made our way over to Venice Beach and eye spied a man making face sculptures of various people plopping down in his lawn chair. Well, an hour later, we walked away with yet another unique and timeless treasure... a sculpture of both boys.

Links of Interest

Recent discoveries:
Rate My Space via HGTV
Zillow - A fun Real Estate Search
CraftGossip website
Templates - various templates from a generous UK based website