In honor of Sesame Street's 40th anniversary, Bakerella made these freakin' adorable pops!
Kevin and I took the Angelino Heights walking tour with a couple of other friends today. It was a lot of fun. We even got to go inside a couple of the houses.
Here is some info about the neighborhood from laconservancy.org: The Angelino Heights tour explores the architecture and history of this charming Victorian neighborhood east of Echo Park and south of Dodger Stadium.
Angelino Heights is considered one of the first suburbs of Los Angeles. Built on a hill just a few miles west of the city center, the area was developed in the mid-1880s by William W. Stilson and Everett E. Hall. It is one of the few neighborhoods in Los Angeles remaining intact from the Victorian era.
The main part of the tour explores Carroll Avenue, a street lined with Victorian homes from the late nineteenth century, nearly all of which have been fully restored. Carroll Avenue is a National Register Historic District, and in 1983 was designated as the first historic district (Historic Preservation Overlay Zone) in the City of Los Angeles. The neighborhood has been featured in dozens of films, TV shows, and commercials.
Recipe:
2 cups of water
1 bag of spinach or romaine lettuce
2 bananas
2 apples
2 oranges
a few strawberries
Makes about 8 cups (I drink 4 cups as a serving)
You can use whatever fruits you like. The spinach or greens is the most important part.
Unique Novelty Computer Mice | Cool Designer Computer Mouse for Gifts - DIAMOND FLOWER
A few weeks ago, a co-worker posted this video of tilt-shift photography at Disney World.
From Wiki: "Tilt-shift photography" refers to the use of camera movements on small- and medium-format cameras, and sometimes specifically refers to the use of tilt for selective focus, often for simulating a miniature scene. Very cool.
I wanted to try it out, but tilt-shift lens are expensive! Instead, I found this Photoshop tutorial to fake it.
This is a shot of The Grove from the second floor of the parking garage.
This is the same shot after the tilt-shift fakery.
I'm sure this doesn't mean what I think it means ... but it did make me a little curious as to what was behind the fence.
Today was our 5th wedding anniversary. We had a great dinner and saw Couples Retreat. It was a lovely night.
(500) Days of Summer was shot in Downtown Los Angeles, so Saturday we went to a 10:05 a.m. showing (only $6 and empty!) and then Sunday we took the walking tour. It was a lot of fun. LA is not known for its downtown area but it really does have some beautiful architecture and history ... and Skid Row.
Here is a link to a .pdf of the tour.
1 1/2 cups wheat bran cereal (All Bran or generic wheat bran flakes)
1/2 cup of no-sugar-added applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg white
1/3 cup quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
5 tbsp and 1 tsp of Splenda brown sugar OR 2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup skim milk
2 ripe bananas mashed
1 and 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnuts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or use paper muffin liners.
Mix together wheat bran cereal, quick-cooking oats, and milk, and let stand for 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, mash the two ripe bananas and mix in applesauce, eggs (one whole, one white), cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla. Mix in the bran and oat mixture.
Sift together whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. (I don't have a sifter so I use a wisk to fluff it.) Stir into bran mixture until just blended. Fold in walnuts. Scoop into muffin cups.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly tapped and a toothpick comes out relatively clean.
Kevin and I got back Monday from our first visit to Florida since moving here a year ago.
Holy crap, I don't remember it being THAT hot. We walked outside of the airport in Orlando Friday at 6:30 a.m. and were immediately smacked in the face with humidity. I sure don't miss that.
We drove down to Stuart and stayed with my Mom for a few days. My high school band (yes, I was in band) had a reunion on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and so great to see friends I haven't seen in almost 15 years and meet their families.
Sunday, we visited my Dad and attended my 17-year-old brother's high school production of Willie Wonka. High school plays have come a long way. All of the kids wore mics, they suspended some kids from the ceiling for flying/floating scenes, and they shot confetti out of air guns when Violet exploded. Kevin and I were seriously impressed.
After Stuart we went to St. Pete beach for a few days with Kevin's parents. It was great except I was having serious sleeping problems. By Thursday night, I started not feeling well and by the time we left for Orlando Friday I was sick.
I made it out to see friends on Friday night but that was it. I spent the rest of the weekend in bed until I finally saw a doctor Sunday morning to get antibiotics. I was so bummed I missed out on the friends part of the vacation.
We are home now and so happy to be back in our little house in Encino.
Kevin and I went by the Michael Jackson memorial at his family's home in Encino. Neither of us have ever been huge Michael Jackson fans, but it was so close and I was really curious to see it. It was actually a very well-organized and peaceful scene. Just some very dedicated fans.
It was interesting to read the signs and cards that people have left for him. As much as I can't separate his talent from the fact that he was most likely a pedophile, there is no denying that he had a strong impact on a lot of people.
Kevin and I got a membership to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles today. For $63 we can now go to three museums in the area and First Fridays (music and other exhibits) for free for a year. I can't wait to go to the La Brea tar pits, which is one of the other museums on the list.
We only got through a few of the exhibits today. Some of it reminded me a lot of the Museum of Natural History in NY, which I love. The dinosaur hall is closed right now, but they still had a few dinosaur things to check out. The butterly pavilion was my absolute favorite. I had never been in anything like that before. They fly all around you and if you are lucky one or two will land on you for a moment.
More pictures here.
I've been meaning to write a post about how I am developing an irrational fear of earthquakes, and tonight we had a pretty substantial one. We didn't feel it too much, just a few shakes for about 5 seconds, but it was a 4.7 and gave a lot of people quite a scare.
It just really scares me how many little earthquakes we have had since I moved here. Is it always like this? The news likes to remind us that this is all a build up to "the big one," but I hope that some of these little ones will shake out some kinks. Wishful thinking.
Last night I had a nightmare about a 7.5. I need to chill out.
I'll take a hurricane any day over this.
I've branched out (a small branch) to cupcakes and donuts, and bobby pin barrettes and cell phone charms/pendants.
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