Growing Butterflies

 We don't have a dog or any cats. But we do have a fish pond at our place and he have to fed the fish and turtles that live there every day. So when people ask C if she has pets she says she has fishies, turtles, and butterflies :) Butterflies because we have grown 2 sets of butterflies now from caterpillars and C loves it. She is obsessed with her "butterfly friends" and looks for the ones we've released in the yard every day. I'll be ordering a third batch of caterpillars soon so we can keep going!

Memorial Day weekend 2016

The joys of a 3-day weekend! Because it also means a 4-day work week :) We stayed local which meant hiking, visiting with friends, and enjoying time at home. Nothing major but it was just right.

This little nugget loves her daddy. She's his mini-me.

We finally did it! We showed C Star Wars. We have family that are waiting for their kids to be older but asking aorund my group of friends many of the 3-4 year olds have seen it (and loved it). Ours also loved it and has been talking about it ever since. Her favorite characters are Darth Vader, Princess Leia, and the stormtroopers which goes to show how appealing the bad guys can be (Vader's cape!). She also loved Leia braid and bun combo from the end scene.

Enjoying an evening the backyard.

Still into Queen Elsa.

Hello to 2015 (and some changes)

Happy 2015! I haven't been here awhile ad that's because I've been trying to figure out what to do with this space. I had some goals at the beginning but as I came upon my one year blog anniversary I was unsure of the direction I wanted to take moving forward. I needed to change something but wasn't sure what. Thankfully, my husband has helped me out with that. As a Christmas gift he gave me a real camera! I've always been interested in photography and have been talking about getting a nice camera for years (since the Pepper was born). We live in such a beautiful place and there are so many magical moments to capture with the little one and my poor iPhone isn't always up for the challenge. So in 2015 I'm embarking on a new hobby: photography. And this blog will more become a place for me to share my pictures and, through them, pieces of my life.

These pictures are from my first outing with my new camera and our first outing of 2015. We went to visit dear friends at their ranch. We picked flowers and walked through a near-by field and it felt perfect. I'm feeling good about the new year!

I must have been a dancer in my past life

As you may have noticed from past posts, I love dance. So I am a little obsessed right now with this A-Z of dance video (I give the people you edited this video together major props). I love the showcasing of the different version of dance and really of dancers themselves. You get the beauty of ballet, the raw power of krumping, the joy of Indian Bhangra, and the fun of Turn Fein or Jump Style. And there is even more than the video showed: Salsa! Tango! Tap dance! But even though it couldn't capture every dance or dance move it showcases how expressive dance can be and how accessible too. Anyone can dance! It makes me so jealous though of those who have devoted themselves to building the physicality needed to achieve some of the more impressive moves.

I've always felt that in an alternate life I was a dancer since I'm just so drawn to it. My dear friend is a dancer and I've enjoyed being able to live a little vicariously through her. I don't know if I loved musicals as a kid because of the dancing, or if all the musicals I watched created my love of dancing. Either way, one of the ways I use to indulge my interest is watching musicals, especially those that included a lot of great dancing. I recently took this quiz and I had watched 95 out of the 150 musicals they listed. When D and I were first getting to know each other one of our points of playful tension was our opposing opinions of that particular art form. At one point he dared me to name 30 musicals and I think he stopped me when I got to 35. To me, they are just really entertaining. And you can't deny they showcase some great dancing. Some of my favorites are West Side Story, the new Hairspray, Funny Girl (I get chills when she starts singing "Don't Rain on My Parade"), All That Jazz, and actually too many to list. But I will say I particularly love everything by Bob Fosse. I mean, how amazing is this dance number at the fancy club. To me, that's some genius choreography.

I love when I get to see things live in the theater too. The most recent show I saw that I couldn't recommend enough is Fela!. So so good. If you ever get a chance to see it don't pass it up. D even liked it, and that's saying something :)

LACMA: An LA favorite

Walking through the Urban Light exhibit

This last weekend we visited one of my favorite places in Los Angeles: LACMA. It's a wonderful museum that has so much to offer, especially for a family with a little one. The Pepper loved it! We started the day with lunch (and drinks) at Ray's, a restaurant and bar with lovely outdoor seating. One of the best parts was that they have lounge seating so we were able to secure a nice big couch for the Pepper to crawl all over and roll-around on. She even flirted with some older boys (5 year olds) that were eating with their family on the other side of the couch.

This installation is something I knew would be fun for everyone. At first the Pepper was a little overwhelmed by being surrounded by all the long yellow things. But she then embraced it and walked all the way through to the other side.

The elevator at the BCAM (modern art wing) of LACMA is pretty amazing. It's huge! And a bit slow. But at least they give you something interesting to look at while you wait.

I'm a Richard Serra fan and it's always a treat to get to walk around this piece. I love that the museum gave it it's own gallery as the it allows you to enjoy the space and movement that Serra was exploring.

After exploring some more galleries we of course had to take a walk under the infamous Levitated Mass. I personally find this piece a little underwhelming but from eavesdropping on other visitors many people do get a thrill from walking underneath such a large suspended object.

It was such a lovely day. And we only experienced a small part! I want to come back for the James Turrell exhibit before it's over, and revisit the Medieval art collection which I haven't see in years. And we didn't have time to visit the Calder sculptures on this trip. But we'll certainly be back soon!