October flew by this year and we hardly noticed… Sunny warm hot days fooled us into thinking we had all the time in the world. Oops! I woke up the morning before Halloween feeling guilty that we hadn’t done any of our annual traditions.
It was too late for our annual visit to the pumpkin patch and our photo session among the pumpkins, and the decorations will have to stay in storage until next year, but we ended up creating some new traditions, decorating pumpkins and baked goods, watching Halloween themed movies, and touring our neighborhood, which has some of the best Halloween decorations I’ve ever seen.
The Pumpkins
This year Tim and Simon went to the grocery store to get pumpkins, while Elliot and I stayed home, it was great! I absolutely didn’t miss wandering around in the pumpkin patch looking for just the right one. Very liberating! I did miss out on the cute photo tho…
I usually do a pop culture pumpkin, but since everything else is different this year… I went with a Day of the Dead theme. After I carved out the eyes and nose I painted, colored with sharpie pens, and even used modpodge to get my finished look!
Simon and Elliot both opted not to carve this year. Simon used paint as a base and then used modpodge to attach the meme he created on his computer!
Elliot drew his Pokemon Bellsprout design directly onto his pumpkin with sharpie pens.
If you decide to decorate your pumpkin with paint and sharpie pens, it’s a good idea to dull the tip of your Sharpie prior to using it on the painted surface or it might scrape off the paint.
The Baking
As long as I’ve had kids I’ve been baking sugar cookies for Halloween, but we’ve been enjoying a lot of donuts lately and decided it might be fun to make Halloween donuts instead! Williams Sonoma has a really nice and inexpensive donut pan, which worked perfectly! We had a great time coming up with fun “scary” donuts!
The Neighborhood
We stumbled across these amazing decorations while driving home one evening and just knew we had to bring the kids back to see them! A pirate ship, a white wedding, and a haunted dog walker were just a few of the amazing decorations at this one home!
Though many of our annual traditions went by the wayside this year there is one we won’t be leaving out: trick or treating! With neighborhoods like this to walk through I’m counting on an interesting, but hopefully, not too spooky Halloween!
Happy Halloween!
A labyrinth of books, the comic section, the first edition vault, (literally, it was inside an actual vault), the artist studios, and a rare book room were just a few of the places we explored during our recent visit to The Last Bookstore.
A self proclaimed voracious reader there was a time when I would have spent hours perusing bookstore shelves in search of the next great read. Often becoming lost between the pages of a book or even the latest gossip rag I would not even realize the hours had melted away. Just one more chapter…
What was I talking about? Oh yes, when I heard about that cool book seller in Downtown Los Angeles that not only sells books but sells them with flair, I just knew I had to go there!
I’ve got a serious case of wanderlust, and I’m pretty sure it’s not going anywhere, so I’d better get going… But where? While it’s not always possible to travel far, if one is so inclined, it is possible to find fun and even a bit of adventure closer to home and it’s a whole lot cheaper too! Lets go!
Our most recent discovery, The Huntington Botanical Gardens, has something for everyone! Museums, a library and acres of beautiful and unique gardens, including a fabulous children’s garden! Entrance tickets are all inclusive, but because the Huntington has so much to offer it would be tough to see everything in one visit, so membership seemed like our best option.
Having recently taken more of an interest in my home garden the Desert Garden was of particular interest to me. Its over 100 years old and with over 2000 species it’s the largest collection of succulents in the world! I loved the vibrant colors of the cactus flowers and we saw a number of creatures scurry about during our visit! Be sure to stay on the path in this garden!
I must confess that we visited the Huntington Children’s Garden once before, 12 years ago when Simon was a toddler. If you have young children this garden is the place for you! It’s a magical spot with plenty to explore and touch and do. Water play, magnetic sand, tunnels, a playhouse and volcano, and so much more! When visiting this garden a change of clothing might not be a bad idea!
Doughnuts are the new cupcakes, which in turn were the new bagel or were they the new frozen yogurt? It’s hard to keep track, because very much like fashion, food fads come and go.
These days with gourmet donut shops popping up on just about every corner it’s getting harder to resist. I’m not usually one to jump on the bandwagon, but, Hey… I’m jumping on! Of course the kids and Tim will need to assist! Care to join us? Keep reading…
This list will be our version of a best of, and as we currently reside in SoCal, many of our donuts will be located here, however as this fad seems to have taken the world by storm, I’ve included a few places worth mentioning from two of my other favorite cities. The more the merrier!
We discovered District 2 years ago and when I’m not in NOLA, I drool over their daily donut creations on Instagram. They’re not beignets, but these guys sure know how to make a donut! Not to mention their sliders and brew (coffee) are pretty great too!
I must admit my first impression of Dks wasn’t the best. It wasn’t super clean, but it was super popular. That says something… doesn’t it? There were many donut choices ranging from strange and unusual (Ube, anyone?) to the classics. We sampled a strawberry crueler, red velvet oreo, peanut butter chocolate, a cronut and a cinnamon twist. The donuts were fresh and we all agreed the peanut butter and chocolate was the best!
Swooping in at the last second to claim the number one spot is Cafe Dulce in Downtown Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo. Though technically not a donut shop, donuts dominated their pastry case and after tasting one I can see why! We shared the strawberry cream though I would have loved to try the Fruity Pebbles donut or the Chocolate Creamy donut…The dough was the lightest, fluffiest dough we’ve had yet and the flavor was delicious. I am thankful this place isn’t near my house, but I’m sure we will find our way back!
I don’t know why or what changed exactly, but more often than not I’m facing these fears, trying new things and letting my guard down and I love it! Okay, I admit it I still run away when anything with a stinger comes close, but that’s my fight or flight instinct kicking in, right?! Go with me on that one, okay?!
Even I was surprised when I was asked if I wanted to give it a try and my answer was YES! Because even with my “lets do this thing” attitude the idea of swimming in the waves, let alone attempting to surf them was still pretty daunting. I was afraid, but I mentally told myself to get over it and get out there because you never know unless you try.
I spent an incredibly relaxing day at Disneyland the other day! Yes, you heard me… incredibly relaxing… at Disneyland. Yes, there were crowds, lines and heat, after all it is summer and I was in Disneyland. However, having visited more times than I can count with every combination of people imaginable I feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on keeping calm and Disneyland at the same time and you can too!
I know some of you might be thinking, how is this even possible? Yes, Disneyland is crowded, expensive and touristy, but it’s also magical, beautiful and fun!
It’s all in the mindset… understanding that it’s just not possible to do it all, especially if you only have one day, and that trying would only serve to ruin the day and everyone’s good time… basically the same philosophy I use when traveling to far away places when time is an issue. Time is always an issue. There is never enough time in disneyland! However, it’s still very possible to see many of the attractions and feel like you’ve gotten your money’s worth while at the same time keeping calm and enjoying yourself!
There’s a reason Southern California is one of the worlds most popular tourist destinations and there’s no reason we shouldn’t take advantage of it just the way a tourist would! Not only that, I really want my boys to get a sense of their new home and all it has to offer! Pulling up a list of “Things to do in Los Angeles” on Google, Simon’s first choice was the Hollywood Sign! What a great idea! Not only is it one of the most famous icons in Los Angeles and the world, but it would be new for me too making it the perfect place to start!
First things first, you can’t actually get to the sign, not legally anyway, and since I tend to be a “stay on the path” kind of girl and setting good examples for my children is key, we needed to find another way. We consulted the 
