the time we went to an art show

(note: this post does involve the fine arts, so some images may be considered by some to not be entirely safe for work/small children/people who dont appreciate art)

if i were to pick a favorite, favorite part of not working at joanns anymore (i have to say favorite favorite because everything about not working at joanns is my favorite), its that i dont have to spend almost every saturday at work. 

meaning, we can totally do fun family stuff on saturdays. seriously, i just looked at my calendar to confirm that we have, in fact, had a fun family outing EVERY SATURDAY since i quit (thanks jamberry nails!). 

this past saturday was no different. well, in the family fun department. it was actually very different because we got to take alice to her very first real-life serious fine art gallery opening (actually, considering that serious fine art gallery openings arent exactly a thing that people who didnt go to art school do, it was probably jamess first opening too). 

and it wasnt just any gallery opening (because really if i payed closer attention we could probably go to an opening every weekend, which i highly recommend because they are always free and usually have free wine), it just so happened that my dad emailed me multiple times that my FAVORITE PAINTER EVER (mark ryden) was opening a show in hollywood. 

obviously, we HAD to go. and the email said dress fancy. so we did:

all of us: 

even alice: 

(in retrospect, a black corduroy dress was NOT a good choice for a 90+ degree day in hollywood, now i know how everyone felt at my wedding) 

and then we looked at some paintings: 

now, probably the best part of seeing a mark ryden show in real life isnt just the paintings (though, like i said, they are my favorite paintings), its the frames:

 goodness gracious those frames:

 i just want to frame everything in our apartment in giant hand-carved surrealist-baroque wood frames. and decorate my living room in a pink-and-gold abraham lincoln motif. ahem, this is exactly why i dont decorate, people. 

anyway, back to the paintings. remember how i briefly attended art school? well, funny story, i cant paint. at all. and especially not in oils. so looking up close at beautifully rendered, intricately detailed oil paintings that are literally huge:

is just, awe inspiring (especially when theyre completely smooth and you cant even get acrylic paint to lay straight). also, can we just talk about those pink walls? i just about died (and then maybe looked to see how much it would cost to buy a house so we could paint it pink and then cried because thats way more money than we have). 

in addition to the oil paintings (which is what mark ryden is mainly known for) there was also a room of graphite/watercolor drawings:

and then there was whats probably my most favorite thing that ive ever seen in my entire life: 

its a coin operated automaton diorama. i could have stood there and watched it all day, but, you know, i have a family to take care of. my photo really doesnt do it justice, but theres a video of it here (again, dont click that link if youre one of those people that hates art). 

obviously, we had a grand old time, and even though i swore UP AND DOWN going into the show that we were NOT, under ANY circumstances going to buy the book, we bought the book (but i justified it because we can totally use it for homeschooling when we do a unit study on surrealism in contemporary art). 

since it was alices first art show, we let her have the honors of signing the guest book:

and considering she behaved herself very nicely, and we only had to tell her not to touch the paintings once, i think there will be a lot more gallery openings in our future. 

april in review.

is it really time for april in review? didnt i just do the march one? 

at least april was a little less crazy than march. actually that was a lie. april was pretty intense, but a totally good kind of intense because things are finally turning around for the meyers family. 

really, the most exciting thing going on right now for me is that james has for the most part been working full-time ALL MONTH LONG. and holy predictable paycheck, batman! well, the final dollar amount of the paycheck isnt always predictable but goodness gracious i am NOT used to this whole more-money-in-the-bank-account-every-week business that weve got going on. in the best way possible. 

what else went on in april? well, alice turned two and a half, and weve officially declared half-birthdays as a thing. 

and shortly after that, I QUIT MY STUPID JOB AT JOANNS! partly because it got to the point where it was truly causing more harm than good and really school is a more productive use of my evenings/free time, but also because (surprise!) im actually making money with jamberry. so, that was awesome. 

oh, i also got back on instagram, which has been a lot more fun and a lot less soul-sucking than last time. 

not working at joanns anymore quickly became even MORE awesome, since i actually had some time and energy to, you know, take alice to go do fun kid things. like going to a doctor who craft fair. and taking a field trip to centennial farm, where alice got kissed by a goat:

and was particularly enamored with the beehive. and i really, really didnt have the heart to tell her that people dont normally love bees:

 and going on a park date with our friends:

also, im starting to get used to this whole not working and going to school thing thing. plus, i might even be able to pull a 4.0 this semester, which would be a total dream come true (even if i am only taking two units, ive NEVER pulled a 4.0, ever). i know i havent been talking much about whats been going on at school, but i promise i will later, when i finish up my big projects. 

oh, and i painted slices fingernails for the first time:

(yes, she picked those colors, her exact words were "pink and black and pink and black on my nails please mommy", i mean, how can you say no to that?)

the last couple weeks have been crazy busy though, last weekend we went to san deigo for easter, then this weekend was jamess birthday. and now i need a nap. or three. or as many as i can squeeze in before i have to leave for class at 5. 

so that was our april, how was yours?

the time we went to the zoo.

on saturday we took alice to the zoo for the very first time. honestly, im a little embarrassed that it took us almost two and a half years to get her to the zoo, but for one reason or another weve just never been able to make it happen. but lately alice has been asking almost every day if we could go to the zoo. so last weekend I MADE IT HAPPEN. even if it meant going the morning after a night wedding on a weekend where james was playing on the worship team at church and i inadvertently made james miss dorks and dragons night. 

none of that really matters, because what matters is that we finally went to the zoo. 

and alice loved it:

now, i havent been to the la zoo in a long time. probably six or seven or maybe even more years (i remember my family had a membership when i was 15-16 and im pretty sure we went at least once after that but im not sure when that was), and apparently theyve done a LOT of work to the old zoo that i do NOT remember from the last time i was there. 

for instance, one of the first things you see when you get past the gift shops is this giant sea world status tank for the seals where you can actually see them swimming and playing instead of the old, sad concrete enclosure they used to live in. alice really liked watching the seals swim:

the next thing we checked out was the brand new reptile house, which despite being a little crowded and claustrophobic (it was saturday, after all, i imagine its not nearly as bad on a weekday), was really, really cool. especially because most of the exhibits have perfectly kid-height windows:

alice really liked all the snakes, she was particularly enamored with this one:

 (though she kept calling them "giant snails", i guess we need to work on that)

my favorite part of the reptile house was these cute cuddling lizards:

after that we headed outside to look at some more animals before lunch, with such highlights as this komodo dragon eating from the HUGEST bone ive ever seen:

and alice asking me to drop her in the kangaroo cage. im not kidding. she just really, really wanted to hang out with the kangaroos i guess. 

then we took a short break for lunch (where i noticed that i accidentally bought tuna pouches with soy sauce in them and almost had a panic attack because i only had snacks for the whole day but then we got ice cream and everything was better), and looked for some more animals. the gorilla exhibit also has some really great kid-friendly windows so alice got to get really close to the gorilla:

then something funny happened. i was trying to take a picture of james and alice together, and she would not look directly at the camera lens. shed look at my face, or at my hands, or at james or anything else but not the camera. so i pointed to the camera lens and as im trying to explain to alice where she needs to look james says "the camera has an eyestalk, just like a dalek. look at the eyestalk"

and then boom:

perfect picture. because apparently "dalek" and "eyestalk" are more relatable to alice than "camera" and "lens". not sure if this is a parenting win or fail...

now alice had two requests as far as animals were concerned: lions and elephants. well when we finally found the lions, they were closed. no lions, just a sign reading "this exhibit is closed for the day". so while alice didnt get to see the lions, she did have fun with the telescope thats supposed to be for looking at lions:

so much fun, in fact, that i had to physical pry her away from it kicking and screaming in order to go look at the giraffes. its a rough life when your mom makes you look at giraffes:

(this is alice upset because not only am i a mean bossy pants that made her look at giraffes, i am also a big fun sucker for not letting her get into the cage to play with them)

then came my favorite part of the day, when we sat on the shaded amphitheater thing to watch the chimpanzees do chimpanzee stuff:

normally im not a big fan of chimpanzees but there were SO. MANY. BABIES. it was adorable.

after that, we looked at some more animals, took a little break at the playground (i totally forgot the zoo had a playground), and then we saw the black bear get a snack and that was cute:

now my one chief complaint about the la zoo is that the layout is really confusing and even with a map its difficult to see where things are in relationship to each other and the twisty paths that connect them. so the elephants that alice specifically requested to see? we didnt even find those until the very end of the day after she had fallen asleep. 

but we did end up getting a membership for the year, so well be back. and alice will finally get her lions and elephants. 

$5 family date. diddy riese and the skirball.

last week i finally got to take james and alice on one of my most favorite cheap day trips: treats at diddy riese and the noahs ark exhibit at the skirball cultural center. this is a trip my family has done a few times in the past, and i was really excited to get to share it with james and alice (especially since my dad and stepmom took alice to noahs ark without us and i was totally jealous). my mom and i had been talking for a while about going at some point this summer, and last thursday we all got to go (along with some friends and my aunt and cousins) and have a really great time. 

since our reservation for 3:30 pm, went to diddy riese first:

now if youre not familiar with diddy riese, its a little bakery in westwood (right next to ucla) that only sells cookies, brownies, ice cream, and shave ice (i think they used to have hot dogs too? or maybe i made that up?). and not only are their cookies fantastic, theyre also SUPER cheap. i mean, look at these prices:

since i cant have cookies ever again, i got an ice cream sundae:

which was not only a lot of ice cream for $1.75, but it also came topped with a huge pile of AWESOME real whipped cream (im a big whipped cream snob, so i can tell the difference). so even though i was sad that i couldnt have a cookie (or ten), i was still really happy with my treat. 

just about everyone else got ice cream sandwiches though:

as you can clearly see, thats two cookies and a giant scoop of ice cream. for 1.75. seriously. if you live anywhere near the la area and havent been to diddy riese, you need to go check it out. right now. its the best. even alice knows whats up:

AND! treats for all three of us (plus two cookies for later) was only $4.75. for real. its probably the cheapest treat in town. (i would note though that parking in westwood can be kind of tricky and/or expensive but we happened to find a metered spot right in front that has 30 minutes already on it, so that wasnt an issue this particular day)

anyways, after we were all stuffed with sweets, we went to the skirball cultural center, which is just a few minutes away:

now the skirball center is normally $10 for adults, but its free on thursdays. however, to keep the noahs ark exhibit from getting too crowded, you need advance reservations for that exhibit only (you can read more about it here). anyways, noahs ark is a big interactive exhibit revolving around different aspects of the noahs ark story, centered around these AMAZING animal sculptures made from recycled materials:

the exhibit has tons and tons of different things to play with, so alice had SO much fun. here she is having a dinner party with her aunt and cousin:

 theres a huge climbing area, but its definitely more for the older kids, alice wasnt very into it:

alices favorite thing though, was sweeping up the pretend poop:

 yeah, moving on...

the best part of the day was that the skirball had some cats(!) visiting from a local animal shelter:

seriously, real live cats! and a craft station to make cat toys! it was so cute! since our reservation was towards the end of the day, we didnt have a lot of time left to to check out the rest of the museum, but we did poke around the gary basemen exhibition, which was fun. and then alice took a really great nap on the way home. the end. 

free field trip: centennial farm.

today i took alice to centennial farm for the first time. if youve never heard of it, its basically a miniature farm thats connected to the orange county fairgrounds, that has all kinds of animals and crops and things for kids to learn about farming and agriculture. its awesome. also, its free. with free parking (unless theres something special going on at the fairgrounds).

 its all the way out in costa mesa (about 45 minutes from us), so its not something we can just go do all the time, but today we got to go with a bunch of families from church, including my mom and sisters. this was especially nice since alice had a really rough morning (including a twenty minute tantrum because i wouldnt let her change her own diaper), and i really needed the help. 

alice LOVES animals, so she was really excited to get to hug an ox:

a couple times a day they have a cow milking demonstration but alice didnt really care so she talked to a llama:

and looked at some cows and pigs and goats and chickens and all kinds of farm animals. 

 this weekend was also the youth expo, so there were lots of other free things to do, like crafts:

(this was actually the first of several crafts she did today, apparently alice REALLY likes crafts)

alices very favorite part though was this small petting zoo at the youth expo where she got to feed some of the nicest, friendliest sheep and goats ive ever seen

and the worlds cutest tiniest cow! seriously, that cow is roughly the size of a large dog. this was actually the only part of the day that wasnt free, but it was only a dollar, and it was the only part of the day we payed for (we brought a picnic lunch), so i couldnt resist indulging her. 

i dont know if they were part of the farm or the youth expo, but there was a big exhibition of different chickens and rabbits, where we got to hold the cutest, softest, nicest rabbit ive ever met (and this is saying something because i kind of hate rabbits).

and the very best part of the day? alice had SO much fun, she slept the whole way home! probably the longest nap shes taken all week. 

$20 family fun day, san pedro edition.

yesterday i had a rare saturday off, so we spent the day in san pedro, going to a couple of my favorite places. first we went to crafted at the port of los angeles for lunch and shopping, then headed over to the cabrillo aquarium. not only was this a really great, relaxing day having fun together as a family, but it was mostly free!

crafted is basically a permanent craft fair thats open every weekend, and i really love it for three reasons: 
1. its got free admission AND free parking (which in the la area is nearly impossible to find) 2. there are all kinds of crafters and artisans, and since its permanent, everyone makes a cute little miniature store rather than a craft booth and you never know what kind of neat things youll find.
3. but most importantly, they have a different gourmet food truck every day. 

that last one is actually why we went, because the grilled cheese truck was there! on my only saturday off for the whole month! how perfect was that? and let me tell you, that was one fantastic lunch. i got the cheesy mac melt (sharp cheddar and mac and cheese on french bread), james got the french onion soup melt (gruyere with caramelized onions on french bread with au jus for dipping), and we shared a half order of tots with roasted garlic aioli. 

and goodness gracious this was one of the most delicious meals ive ever had! everything from the cheese to the bread to the sauces was perfect, after we finished it was tempting to get back in line for another sandwich, not because we were still hungry (because we certainly werent), but because the food was SOOOOO GOOOD. the entire meal cost $15.50, which wasnt exactly expensive, just not really something we can do all the time (though i intentionally keep our grocery budget strictly at $50 a week so we have room for this kind of indulgence at least once a week). 

after crafted we went down the street to the cabrillo aquarium to learn about the fishies. as a kid we went to this aquarium a lot so it was really nice to get to share it with james and alice. cause as you can see alice REALLY loves fish. 

cabrillo is one of my favorite field trips cause not only is it really fun with lots to look at (and a tidepool touch tank!), while still being small enough for a toddler to enjoy, but admission is free (with suggested donation), and parking is only $1 an hour.  basically its a poor persons aquarium of the pacific. 

since alice is only one we only lasted about an hour and a half at the aquarium before we needed to get home, but all in all it was a wonderful day out as a family, AND set us back less than $20.