hands of oh mah gah

Seven or eight years ago, I was in Central Coast California visiting family and we went on a thrift store binge. There are some great little shops tucked around the area and my favorite part is that they are true thrift stores, in that you can buy a shirt for 25 cents (not like around here, where it's mostly Salvation Army stores and shirts are $4.99) so I tend to go a little crazy. I think on that trip I bought 4 calf-length jackets that I still have not ever had an occasion to wear.
Also on that trip, I found a giant ceramic hand that had two ceramic children that were kneeling and leaning into the palm, praying. I don't know why it struck me as so funny/silly but I wanted that big hand! The folks at the shop wanted to charge per piece (as opposed to selling the set of children and the hand) and since I didn't have any interest in the ceramic kids, I left them there and took home my big hand! It's been a long-time shelf ornament, serving as a decorative holder for my old Nintendo controllers and even a climbing spot for Pee Wee and Miss Yvonne! It's always a topic of discussion (because my shelves of Weird Stuff attract everyone's attention and when they get to the Big Hand, they say "whaaaaaaat?").

So imagine my surprise (and glee!) when I spied ANOTHER giant hand at a thrift shop this weekend. It came as a complete set, with a little girl laying on the palm (although, she's kind of creepy with giant pupils). I haven't decided where to place it yet, I just stuck it on the dvd player for safe keeping for now.

The thing that tickles me the most about the Second Big Hand is that it appears to be the same mold as the first one, but this one is painted in dark colors. The spot where I found it has a heavy hispanic population, so maybe whoever is selling these is targeting their demographic by skin color? In any case, I love to see the representations of the Hand of Gawd in different colors. I hope to someday find a lady's hand to complete the set!

I stumbled across this leather hand chair/barstool last summer while toodling through vintage shops with Kate and although we both were mentally re-arranging our furniture to find a place for it to live in our houses, we just couldn't justify dropping $600 on it. The ceramic ones are much easier to store and to afford. I believe my total outlay for both of them was under $6, so... much more practical, even if they aren't as much fun as a hand barstool!

Long Beach Comic Con wrap-up

Last weekend was the inaugural Long Beach Comic Con and Ryan and I shared a table there in Artist Alley. It was a lot of fun and a really good show! Sadly, we didn't make it to a single panel discussion or even get an autograph from Corin Nemec (for reals!), but the reason was good: the table was popular!

Firstly, I have to give credit where credit is due: LBCC made this an 'artist centric' convention, so the bulk (and literal center) of the expo hall was the artist area. Lots of big-name and well-loved creators came out, so the fans were in an extremely good mood (imagine getting to see your favorite artist, up close and personal, AND the show was less busy than, say, SDCC, so you actually got to chat and get sketches and stuff) PLUS the attendees walked every aisle, making sure they didn't miss anyone. Which meant, of course, that they strolled past our table too. So, thanks to the LBCC planners for a great job on focusing traffic.

My side of the table, as usual, had the benefit of bright colors. In a sea of comic book portfolios and sketches (mostly black and white), my giddy crafts stand out. So they caught a lot of eyeballs. This show, I had 2 offers: my dot paintings and my peg people. Both were very well received, I am grateful to announce! By Sunday afternoon, I was packing up nearly empty houses and had sold almost everything that I brought (sorry to everyone who asked, the houses aren't for sale).It was amazing -- THANK YOU to all the good people who came by and took some of this stuff home for me!!

Friday had a much higher attendance than we'd anticipated (seeing as how it was a 'work and school' day for most people, I figured if 50 people came, we'd be in good shape) and I sold several things right out the gate, which was surprising to say the least! Literally, as soon as I set some things on the table, they found new homes. I was blown away. By early Saturday, I was running low on several things and had to start painting Saturday night to replenish!

One of my display techniques was to use this cupcake, to demonstrate what-in-the-world-would-I-do-with-a-peg-person (hint: a cake topper!). This was a store-bought cupcake that had gone stale and then I coated it with acrylic gloss, so it was shiny and solid. Unfortunately, it was lost/stolen after the show closed on Friday night. My table neighbors were more upset than I was -- I just hope no one tried to eat it! But no matter, I have a more permanent version coming soon. This was just a quick-and-dirty way to show how the peg people could be used. And it served its purpose, so... bon voyage little cupcake!

One of the fan-favorite items was the tiny mailbox with tiny business cards. I have to admit, I'm pretty fond of it too. :)

I also sold some of the blank peg people (seen in the above pictures in a bowl and on the table) so that convention-goers could try their own hand at creating a masterpiece. I figured that the kids would think it was a great idea, but I was surprised at how many adults were buying them -- inspired by what they saw and chock-full of ideas of their own! The kids mostly wanted what was already painted, although there were a few kids who were determined that they could (and would!) do better than what I had. Every one of them said they'd email me a picture - and I hope they do!

I accepted only one commission during the show, which was from 2 fun gals who had recently learned of the meme to find out your stripper name (name of your first pet + first street you lived on) and they were collecting sketches and caricatures of themselves as strippers, so they asked me to paint them that way too. Strippers have relatively little to paint, so I said yes. I always love it when someone has a good, solid, silly idea!

I also was honored to be asked to contribute to someone's sketch book (full of awesome art from all the Cool People there) and I felt terrible that I CANNOT DRAW so I scribbled a peg-person form of me and Ryan (dorky) and the girl asked if maybe I could add something with dots. Well, markers don't really give the same effect, so I painted an artist trading card (ATC) made of canvas with Spider-Man for her to stick in her book instead.

Along the way, my table was photographed several times, including by the OC Weekly, the LA Weekly, a handful of blogs, and I did a video interview with the Daily 49er (Cal State Long Beach's news). So that was all really cool!

Plus, I'm waiting for the photos to roll in. I'm having a contest over yonder on ye olde craft blog, asking folks to submit pictures of their giddy girlie art to win $20! I've gotten a few so far, but there is still time to submit!

Oh! And we also saw a skateboarding shrimp!



And then were driving behind this... a sentinel from X Men. You're welcome.

Ryan's Birthday Week - part 1

Somehow I managed not to update this space for a week and left it on a depressing note. Sorry everybody! Really, my life isn't so tragic. I try and stay positive -- even in light of Monkey's passing, I have to give thanks for having known him at all. To have loved and lost and all that...

ANYWAY.

Last weekend marked the start of Ryan's Birthday Week! Yay! And it also happened to coincide with Brian visiting from New York, Pete visiting from New Jersey, and Trevor & Jordie visiting from Berkeley so it was a weekend chock-full of friends too.

On Friday, I met up with Pete and the gang for an avalanche of sushi, which was great but sent me directly into a coma. Luckily, I was able to recover by lazing around the house that night and finishing up some commission pieces and sent Ryan out to Art Dork Club with the boys. Since I hadn't seen Joe or Dave on their birthdays, I whipped up some custom peg people just for them [details coming soon to my Giddy Crafts blog http://giddycrafts.blogspot.com/] and had Ryan deliver them at Art Dork Club, where they were well-received.

On Saturday, Ryan and I met Kate and Brian at the Skirball Cultural Center & Museum in LA to see their Golden Age of Comic Books exhibit (now closed, so the link has disappeared from their site), which was really neat. Photography was only allowed in select areas, so I don't have much to show from that part of the day except...

Super Kate

Super Punch-Out Ryan

Super Cheesy Valentine

"I'm not a bit like Superman. Can't hear through walls made of brick, so if you like me Valentine, come out and say so quick!"

The exhibit had original artwork from all the Golden Age masters, which made Ryan and Brian drool with excitement. The two of them were like kids in a candy shop and Kate and I did our best to keep up. "Ooh, yes, I do see that linework. Uh huh, how nice!"

After having more fun than was technically legal (surprisingly strict!), we headed over to see the Noah's Ark exhibit. Ok, so I was totally unprepared for this and had NO idea what it was. So it was completely mind-blowing when I got in there. Firstly, you start in a small room with a 'guide' who gives an extremely brief overview of the Flood Story and how it exists in nearly every culture around the world in some form or another and how the Noah story centers on the saving of the animals, via a giant boat. After this explanation, you're lead into a giant exhibit with all of these animals that were made from recycled materials and nearly all of them were kinetic sculptures. They were simply amazing. I was totally agog.

Further into the exhibit were interactive stations where kids (or adults!) could pump water into a display to show the rising waters of the flood

Or crank up an electric charge to create lightning or pull a rope that activated piano wires to create the sound of thunder. There was also a giant giraffe that could be manipulated by a mechanism on the ground, so that he was looking back and forth.

And then there was the Ark. In every available space were more re-purposed structure animals and also lots of ones that were made for playing and touching (like puppets and dolls) and giant crates, showing the necessary provisions for the journey, like vegetables and beans. (that sounds really dull, but they were cool, because you could crawl inside them and each had interactive portions) To get the full effect, check out the Noah's Ark page on the museum's website.

Inside the Ark, in addition to the toys and interactive bits, were display cabinets with crafted versions of the Ark Story from countries and cultures around the world. My favorite was the "American" version, featuring "Old McNoah" on a tractor, towing his animals to safety - talk about cheesy! I love it!!

At the end of the exhibit is the Dove of Peace, which is made from a harpsichord (?) and guitar picks.

Outside is the Rainbow Arc, where there is a constant fine mist (which is perfect on a hot day!) that creates a rainbow effect. We all thought the mist would be very light and subtle and so the boys walked through it - and came out soaked to the bone. Still, very refreshing, even if it was surprising!

After all the excitement of comic books and animals lined up two-by-two, we headed off to get some lunch/dinner/linner, during which Kate gave Ryan his present: a Pistol Pedro belt buckle!! Ryan and I are in love with Michele Valigura's art (plug for my Peter Pan statue!) and this belt buckle is awesome in SO many ways. Firstly, it's a Valigura piece. 'Nuff said. THEN it's a belt buckle, which he just happens to need. And THEN it's got a spinning moustache!!!! Which is perfect for Ryan, who happens to be enamoured with spinning belt buckles, ever since Christy & The S Squad brought him back a skull & crossbones spinning buckle from Thailand.

I happened to have a necklace chain in my purse (why not?) so Ryan was able to wear the buckle during dinner and repeatedly spin his 'stache.

Although we SWORE that we wouldn't, we ate too much. So after we sat and digested a bit, we headed out to Griffith Observatory. It was surprisingly busy! I hadn't expected that big of a crowd... but I guess we're not the only science nerds (yes we were, but that's ok). We watched the new Planetarium show which was AMAZING. I'd go see it again in a heartbeat (anyone? anyone?). Although there was one minor hiccup, which was that there was a young girl behind us who cried and moaned through the entire show because she wanted to leave (the poor thing was in the middle of a panic attack) but her parents -- to say they were 'icky' doesn't nearly do it justice -- didn't want to take her out, so she wailed through the entire show. Which was distracting and rude and... did I mention how icky those people were? Buh.

ANYWAY. We came out of the theater feeling the majesty of the universe and the insignificance of us all and then we saw this, sitting right outside...

It was entrancing, to say the least. It reminded me of Kevin Kidney's recent post about the giant moon model at the Observatory and we set out to find it. Eventually, we did, although it was nearing closing time (15 minutes left!) and the guard wouldn't let us go over see it. I asked nicely and even pleaded our case, that we'd driven all the way up here and just wanted to see it and he was kind of jerky and said "Well, we have to close sometime! Come back another day!" That kind of put me into a pout and I apologize to my friends, because I was really irked. We were the ONLY people over there and we're respectful people and not some crazy gang bangers looking for an opportunity to tag up the museum. It wouldn't have hurt for him to let a couple little ladies peek at the giant moon. But no. Stupid stinkypants.

But the night did end on a high note. Ryan used the uni-sex bathrooms and came out laughing because the lady (an obviously foreign visitor) had used the urinal as a toilet. I guess she was expecting a public bidet? So she used the one that she thought was meant for #1. Which was funny and it kept us giggling the whole way home.

winners!

Sunday was the Paley Festival's showing of the final three episodes of Pushing Daisies and I'd been looking forward to it for months. When the Big Day finally drew near, we got sad news that Adam wasn't going to make it and I nearly cried. Instead, I threw a fit and bullied and cajoled him until he agreed to fly out for the day - hooray!

So Sunday morning we met Adam and Kate outside the Arclight theater and did a happy dance and then went inside. It was a sold-out crowd and we got seats near the back of the house, which was great (there isn't a bad seat in the place). When the 'presentation' started, Bryan Fuller, Chi McBride, Barry Sonnenfeld and Ellen Greene (*squee!*) came out to thank the audience for their support and everyone was in tears. Sweet Ellen could barely talk and it was felt throughout the theater. They all then started throwing t-shirts out to the crowd and people were going NUTS. None of them made it up to our section and a lot of people were whining and moaning about it. But the show quickly started and I have to say that if you like Pushing Daisies, you will LOVE watching it with hundreds of other fans. Every moment is more intense and more touching when everyone around you is simultaneously gasping and laughing and 'awww'ing. It was incredible.

The episodes themselves were lots of fun and even though it was supposed to only be the season-ender, they were able to make it into a suitable series finale. Bryan Fuller commended the team who all called in favors to come up with extra budget and get people to work for cheap or free to get it all together (since a lot of new footage and special effects work was needed). I won't give away any spoliers, since the final 3 will be aired in May on ABC, but I can say that the final episode wrapped nicely and made me mist up a little (Kate was crying! So there!). In fact, I was quoted as saying "I am not a sentimental person. I'll punch a baby in the face and even I got chills."

Just before the last episode started, they raffled off several props from the shows and Ryan won one! He won a custom arm-sling that was worn by Olive Snook (Kristen Chenoweth) in the show, that was even autographed!

Ryan's hair and face was still asleep.

After the Festival, we went over to 8oz Burger Bar for the world's best hamburgers. Ryan and I ordered custom burgers which were TO DIE FOR. Mine had bacon and gruyere cheese (!) and garlic tomatoes (!!) and BBQ sauce and Ryan got slice of fried mozzarella and tomato sauce. Yes! You can get fried mozzarella on your burger. Heaven!!

While we were there Seth Rogen and his girlfriend sat at the table next to us, which was funny because Adam was once Seth's neck double for a photo shoot* and Adam is slightly bitter that those neck-double roles are disappearing since Seth is slimming down for his role as Green Lantern. So they walk in and Adam sighs "my neck double just walked in" and we all swivel and see that they choose the booth next to us. Que sera. So, they're sitting there enjoying their lunch and it's not 5 minutes before someone (a waiter!) stops by to geek-dump all over Seth and the guy is persistent. As if Seth is going to suddenly stand up and say "YES! You're exactly the actor I've been looking for! Let me call James Cameron and recommend you for his next blockbuster!" What are these people thinking when they do this? Then he finally leaves and a girl comes up to the table, only she pretends that she's geeking out over the girlfriend "Don't you remember me? I'm Anna's friend Lisa's friend? We met that one time at that party 5 years ago? Oh my god, how are you?" and then gives Seth the quick-brush 'oh hey, nice to meet you' AS IF. The girlfriend (apparently named Lauren) was very nice, but they were clearly pestered by this girl and the waiter and I wanted to yell RESPECT CELEBRITY PRIVACY! [quote from 30 Rock, when Jenna yells this at someone sharing the elevator after she loudly starts talking on her cell phone and he can't avoid hearing it] But I kept my opinions to myself and went back to talking about dirty words with Adam's mom. Que sera.

After we ate, we walked up Melrose to where we'd parked (our original lunch plans were for another restaurant) our cars and thankfully the sun was behind the buildings so it was only 90 degrees but not full sunlight. Yay! My sunburn from Saturday was roasting me from inside out, so I was a hot sweaty mess. Then we decided to grab a light dessert, iced tea and cookies before we all set out for home. While we were at the bakery, I had a full-scale melt down (I blame the sunburn!) and could NOT. STOP. GIGGLING. In my mind, it was hilarious, but it probably wasn't. All I know is that somewhere in the conversation there were mentions of how Kate knows several people who have been bitten by Andy Dick and then talk of celebrity slumber parties (with Andy Dick biting people) and then I just lost it. I don't know what happened. Sunburn makes you crazy! Apparently!

It was a fantastic day in so many ways. But my brain was officially a melted popsicle after cookies so Ryan and I headed home. I slept like a log (a log slathered in Solarcaine and with a fan blowing directly on her face, but a log nonetheless!). So THANK YOU to all the fantastic participants in this day, including Seth Rogen, his patient girlfriend, Adam's mom, Shawn (the new guy who laughed at my jokes!), the cops who looked the other way while I jaywalked, Andy Dick, Kathy Griffin, the weirdoes on Melrose, and the stuffy folks at Munky King.

*Adam produced the photo shoot seen in this video and there are pics of Seth and Elizabeth dressed as puritans being hung as witches (1:30) and Adam was strung up in the noose in Seth's costume, to serve as the neck double. So when he was done shooting he had rope burns on his neck AND he fell off the ladder and banged up his leg pretty good.

Silverlake Craft Fair

Sunday was the Silverlake Craft Fair and Kate and I exhibited for the first time. It was a lot of fun! According to the other vendors, who are regulars there, the traffic was much lighter than usual and sales were pretty slow. I did ok and it was a decent investment for me. The craft fair will have a new location soon and I might be back to check it out.

There were lots of neat things for sale and lots of handmade jewelry -- if you're looking for some great etsy artists to meet in person, this is a great show. I was proud of myself for not spending all of my earnings, although I did buy one thing (just one is allowed!). Roscata had a booth where the designer was selling her polymer clay charms that were all DELICIOUSLY adorable. I ended up taking home a pair of snow cone earrings. Look how cute these are!!

If you're in the market for snow cone (or Hostess cupcakes!) charms, I now have an official recommendation (for a snack attack, flip through her images on Flickr).

It was an overall great day. An excuse to chit chat with Kate for 8 hours PLUS we had a bunch of surprise guests! I felt so popular! Adam and his mom came by and stayed for a while, then Lori and Mickey showed up for a bit, I also randomly ran into my cousin Laila and her husband and baby, plus Kate's friend Joe (who is super awesome) came by. It made the time just fly by!

One of the vendors near us watched me set up and suggested that I raise my prices. I understand that everyone wants a certain price-level for these types of events, but the person who suggested it (and many others) were selling more intricate items, like hand-cast silver and hand-beaded jewelry, that are more time- and cost- and labor-intensive. My overhead for my paintings and embroidery pieces are very low and I charge commisserate to the time I spend on them. Which means that some things will sell for $10 or $15 and others for $25. Which I don't feel undermines anyone else selling in the fair (especially since there isn't anyone else selling dot paintings, so I'm not funking up the market for dots!), but instead allows people with a smaller budget to take home a little something, which makes me feel good and the buyer too. I feel bad for anyone else who had a less than awesome day, because we had a great time. I even took home a free sunburn! Cruise Director Kate* suggested that we put on sunblock and I was all 'pfft, I'm ok' and then HEY! Guess who has a lobster nose?

Afterward, I went and collected Ryan who was home with a sinus infection (he feels okay, but his right eye just tears up randomly, so he occassionally looks 1/2 sad) and we met up with Adam and Kate for a gluttonous dinner at Cheesecake Factory. Kate had to come down thisaway because she was hand-delivering a custom purse order to someone at Disneyland (she met them while they were in line for a ride for cripes sake! THAT is service, my friend!). We ate more fried macaroni and cheese than should be legal and remembered to save room for dessert (more gluttony). Dinner lasted something like 4 hours because MAN can we talk and only ended because I was running on fumes and needed to get to bed before work on Monday. I was the total buzzkill, because we were just getting to the good stuff, like 'which book was written just for you?' It was great to see Adam, who now lives out of state (ahem.) and hasn't been back to town since Christmas (Ahem!!). Luckily, he's already committed to hosting Ryan for a weekend writing retreat and then coming back to LA for the Paley Festival (3 unaired episodes of Pushing Daisies!!!) in a couple of weeks.

In a nutshell: it was an awesome day. I'd do it again, only maybe take the sunblock advice. And also maybe remember to eat lunch so that I don't have to eat the whole dinner menu afterward.


*For the record, she gave herself this nickname, but she lives up to it in every (good) way! Example: we asked about what she did while her mom was visiting and she pulled out an itinerary of all the places they visited. :)

Ghettogloss Craft Fair in Silverlake

Come see me and Kate this Sunday at the Ghettogloss Craft Fair in Silverlake! We'll be selling our crafty wares and also just being awesome in general. Don't miss it!

Sunday, March 29, 2009
9am - 5pm

Silver Lake Art Craft & Vintage is located at
2450 Glendale Blvd LA CA 90039 (map)
in the CITI BANK parking lot.

Charles Phoenix's Disneyland Tour of Downtown Los Angeles

First off, everyone asks me, "who is Charles Phoenix?" and there isn't any easy way to describe him. He's sort of the Emperor of Los Angeles. He's the keeper of kitsch for our fair city and a collector of vintage 35mm slides, which he finds at thrift stores and garage sales and turns into spectacular slide shows in a variety of themes. He's a local (and national!) celebrity and a fantastic host. Check his website for the Slide of the Day and updates about his latest shows.

Anyhow one of the tours that I have been wanting to do is his "Disneyland Tour of Downtown Los Angeles" which highlights the fun and frivolity of Los Angeles, through the eyes of Disneyland. You can read all about it on his Tours page. As you know, I am a big Disneyland fan, so this would interest me even if I weren't totally in crush* with Charles Phoenix.

The day began at Union Station, where I spied Mr. Phoenix and introduced myself. Ryan and I were breakfasting at the bagel place in the station and didn't want to miss the registration. Charles immediately noticed my Charles Phoenix appliqué (which I made out of felt and puffy paint, based on this puppet made by Kevin Kidney) and loved it (!) and commented that "those school bus earrings are not lost on me!" New BFFs. Right out the gate. Lovely.

The whole cadence of the tour is fantastic. After checking in with Jodi (in the bowler hat), everyone is directed to introduce themselves to Charles, who hand writes your name tag - like getting your own customized mouse ears! The tour began with a grand look around the train station, including the shuttered restaurant and both patios and gardens. We then headed to the metrolink terminal to view the Matterhorn (and the gorgeous ceiling) and catch the "monorail" train to Chinatown, where our school bus met us. After driving to the main gates of Chinatown, everyone was given a penny for the wishing fountain. Someone made this child's wish come true by offering up a quarter for the carousel. Some of the other "attractions" in Chinatown include Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, the old Mule Train ride, and Space Mountain rockets. We got a tour around Chinatown and even a tour of You Chung Hong's office, which had been sealed since 1977 when Mr. Hung died. Mr. Hung was the first Chinese-American attorney in Los Angeles and his office is a temple to mid-century decor gorgeousness.

After Chinatown, we boarded the bus and headed to Olvera Street, where we toured LA fire station #1 (the first one!) and the Pico House, which was hosting an Italian-Californian exhibit (very interesting!). We then walked through Olvera Street proper to browse the various kiosks and tour the Avila Adobe, the oldest house in Los Angeles. At the end of Olvera Street, Jodi (in the bowler hat!) was waiting for us with delicious taquitos! After stuffing our faces and licking our fingers (believe me, you don't want to miss a drop of that tomatillo sauce!), we boarded the bus again to head to LUNCH. Lunch at Clifton's Cafeteria! I didn't take many pictures there, since I was too busy gawking at the jell-o display and making references to our last trip there in March. We did get two pictures of us pigging out, which is really more than you need.

After overeating, we walked down the block to the Arcade (no photography allowed), which was the first shopping mall. Then over to the old Dutch Chocolate Shop, which is now another mall space. On the way, I spied this AWESOME gold and diamond necklace with a giant Last Supper embossed on it. This gaudy bauble is about 6 inches in diameter. Holy Jeebus with a sparkle! We saw the Bradbury Building, which was built in the late 1800's and designed to be a building from the Year 2000. Amazingly beautiful. Across the street is the Million Dollar Theater, which has so many gorgeous architectural flourishes on the outside I couldn't stop myself from photographing it.

We then walked through the Grand Central Market, which was LA's first 'grocery store' where you can still find whole roasted pigs (with fresh chicharones) and medicinal herbs, alongside fresh produce. We then headed to the defunct Angel's Flight which is a short trolley up a very steep hill (rumored to be re-opening in 2008). We took the stairs along side the trolley which were very steep indeed. I was proud of myself for making it up! There are about a zillion steps and they are at a crazy incline. My thighs were burning, but I made it! At the top is a plaza between several high rise buildings, which are the Tomorrowland of LA. On the street, we were delayed momentarily by a film crew, shooting a car commercial. It was funny to pass the PAs who would huff into their walkie talkies, "hold. This group is still moving through." We walked to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which is gorgeous in a garish way. It's a massive silver structure, the likes of which you've never seen (unless you live in a Frank Gehry vision). Charles gave us an overview from the center of the donor circle, which is a neat spiraling tribute in marble (on the ground) to all of the donors who made the concert hall possible. We passed through the "Grand Canyon" of the concert hall (where you can see how reflective the building is) to the gardens where a giant water feature was designed as a tribute to Lilian Disney. The broken china that has been turned into a beautiful mosaic reflects Mrs. Disney's love of Delft china. On this side of the building, it was pointed out where the reflective covering had to be refinished, because the sun reflecting into the neighboring condos and office buildings were creating temperatures of 140 degrees!

Then we traveled down the block to have a "Great Moment with Mr. Lincoln" before finding the sunken garden, which harbors a spaceship fountain! (Disney buffs may recall the old Flying Saucers of Tomorrowland, which bear a striking resemblance to this fountain.) After enchanting at the roar of the water, we traveled via our Magic School Bus to Carroll Avenue, which has the highest concentration of Victorian Homes in LA. Charles pointed out some key Victorian architectural points, my favorite was this "abacus" design on the porch, and then we met our bus once again to head over to the Bob Baker Marionette Theater.

If you haven't yet had the pleasure, I implore you to go see a Bob Baker show. This theater is like nothing you've ever seen. You walk into a plain door and are transported into this gorgeous techicolor world, where puppets come to life. The marionettes are all hand-crafted lovingly at the theater and are handled by performers who love their craft. We were honored with a preview of The Nutcracker, which is running now, and then Bob Baker himself came out to perform with a puppet that he built when he was EIGHT YEARS OLD (he's now 85!). I have a video of his performance that I'll post to my YouTube page when I get the chance, because it is so magnificent.

After the show, we were invited to the Party Room for cake and ice cream (!) and a Q&A session with Mr. Baker himself! (I also have a video of him telling the story of landing his first puppeteer job - check YouTube) We were so wound up from all the fun that we had a hard time being corralled back onto the bus, which would deliver us back to Union Station and into "reality." Which was jarring, to be honest. We said goodbye to everyone and even got a souvenir and weren't ready to leave. We ended up browsing around the station a bit more and then grabbing a snack before driving home. It was SUCH an incredible day. And the best way to 'take in' the city in a single afternoon. It was the perfect introduction and we will definitely be back to all of these places again soon.

If you are interested in a Charles Phoenix tour (and you should be!), check his site for details www.charlesphoenix.com/tours about upcoming events. We've already got our tickets for the Holiday Rollerway Jubilee -- how about you?!



*my cousin coined this term as a kid. He never had a crush on a girl, he was "in crush" with a girl.

Adam's Farewell

On Sunday, we all met at Sycamore Cove in Malibu to say farewell to California's favorite son before he departs for the next leg of his journey. Clear into the unmentionable parts of Utah. He's got reasons for leaving, but none that we like. Sure, careers and families are nice, but HELLO. We live here! Which means that there is no reason for him to live anywhere else.

Kate took this one - good, isn't it?!

But I digress. He's going and all we can do is sob. Or laugh. Which is what keeps happening. To a much larger degree than crying actually. I hope that's a good thing.

The morning was a bit rainy and we were concerned, but the day was lovely and the beach was gorgeous. We got to watch the sun set over the ocean - which Kate had never done! Sacrilidge! And we had a fire and marshmallows and eulogies. Kate wrote a fantastic song (see video below) and Ryan and I wrote a poem (also in video form below). And we were warm and cozy in our new UNICORN SWEATSHIRTS OF AWESOMENESS. Everyone was jealous. For reals. If you're feeling pangs of jealousy, know that is a normal reaction and the only cure is to do 20 cartwheels. Sorry, I don't know what else to say. My pictures are up on Flickr for your enjoyment.





When Ryan read our poem, it was really dark and he was working from notes so some of the lines got a little mixed, but this is the poem in its entirety:

If we had one more Adam
This wouldn't be so bad
This one could pack his bags and go
And we wouldn't be so sad

If we had one more Adam
Then one could stay in town
And tour us through Lala Land
And all of its surrounds

If we had one more Adam
He could hobnob with the stars
Then take us all for chicken strips
At what's that place? O Bar.

If we had one more Adam
It would be so cool
Hither and yon - to comic con!
Where we could act a fool

In restaurants, churches, or bars
Anywhere away from home
He'd find a place in public
To recharge his cell phone

He could write his plays
And even make his movies
He'd break the hearts of gays
And even those with boobies

Cupcakes before dinner
'Cause that's just how you do it
And if we tried the opposite
He would totally boo it

Mac and cheese where ever we go
After the dinner, before the show
After mont blancs and cherry bombs
Sarah's Favorite seems so wrong

Toi Thai, Canter's, Disneyland
We'd always have fun without a plan
Sneaking in to Universal
Or be a Cartoon Overlord
If we had one more Adam
We would never be bored

Do we have one more Adam?
Is his name Jake?
He's shaking his head 'no way,
That would be a mistake.'

If we had one more Adam
Then we could show THIS one
Why everybody loves him
And why he's so much fun
And why he will be missed
And why we're kind of pissed
And why we want to share a laugh
In spite of all of this

If we had one more Adam
Then maybe you would stay
You'd love him just like we love you
And that is totally gay.

Happy Halloweener!

It's only been a few days, so my brain has yet to process all of the awesomeness of Halloween.

We headed up early to Adam's house, before the streets were closed off for the Halloween Carnival (technically it is spelled carnaval, but that spelling makes spell check angry, so I'm changing it. Sorry, WeHo.) which is a gigantic shindig in West Hollywood, where they were expecting something like 250,000 people. GOOD TIMES. They close down a gigantic section of Santa Monica Blvd. (which is the end part of route 66) and there are just PEOPLE EVERYWHERE.

So. We got to Adam's house, starved as usual, and we walked over to Hamburger Mary's for the BEST fried macaroni-n-cheese I've ever tasted. Ever. I am drooling just thinking about it. Since we had the fried MnC for appetizers, I didn't order the mac-n-cheese BURGER although I definitely am next time. Our waiter was dressed as Hamburger Mary, but it was awkward because in West Hollywood, you can't assume that a man in a dress is in costume. Although, in fairness, he was not trying to disguise his voice so I think it was a costume.

After pigging out, we stopped by a thrift store that is also on Santa Monica to pick up accessories for Adam's costume. Since he's in the process of moving, most of his worldly possessions are in boxes and thus he did not have even a plain white t-shirt to use for costuming. Lady Luck (and Scooby too!) smiled upon us and we found the PERFECT shirting combination and the clerk at the shop even found a red scarf for us. Kismet. While Adam was waiting to pay for his costume ($6 total!) another Fred ran into the shop, spying Kate already dressed as Daphne and asked to take a picture with her. Of course she did, and I love how Adam is just barely in frame and making a face at this "other Fred" in this picture. HA!



So now we all had costumes and full bellies, so we went back to ol' Ten Eleven (Adam's house) to watch some Halloween movies. Kate brought Mad Monster Party which is an old claymation movie that was pretty funny, but she warned us that it only is funny up to a point and then you just want to smash all the little clay Boris Karloffs. So we shut it off and instead watched Little Shop of Horrors which I hadn't seen in forever. I love that movie, and I forgot how much I really loved it. And, it is double awesome that this is the movie/play that gave the composers enough cache to go on and make THE LITTLE MERMAID and ALADDIN. Ha ha! And it also has Ellen Greene who you are probably adoring on Pushing Daisies. And Steve Martin as the crazy dentist (hilarious song!)! LOVE LOVE LOVE.

After the movie, we all costumed up and hit The Boulevard to take it all in. It was amazing. And, of course, my new camera's battery died part way through the evening so I only took about 50 pictures. Which is a decent amount for anyone else, but I missed getting pictures of SO MANY good costumes!






I think we did pretty well with our Scooby Crew costumes. They were inexpensive. They were comfortable. They were fun. We had people yelling out of car windows and stopping us on the street for pictures. We got cat called and hollered and hooted at. Mostly people saying "LOOK! It's Scooby Doo!" Only a few people inquired about the whereabouts of our dog, Scooby (official story: he's missing, which allowed us to yell "Scooby Dooby Doo - where are you?!")

After about an hour of people watching, we had to head back for the final installment of Kate's weekly improv soap opera, Scandal! We were all quietly hoping that nobody showed up so that they would have to cancel the show and we could get back to Halloweener faster. Instead, it was a packed house. Kate, as always, was brilliant. Her character, Tiffany Spacey, had a crazy twist ending that refused to end. So fun!

Before the show, Ryan, Adam, and I ran over to the Grove to pick up a gift certificate and encountered another Velma! I didn't get a picture of her (dead batteries) which I should have. DANG! She saw us and started yelling "Jinkies! Jinkies!" and we stopped and chatted for a minute. Apparently, she was flying solo without a Scooby Crew. Since Velma was already spoken for (ahem), we had to leave her where we found her. Ah, well.

So then AFTER Kate's show, we headed back to The Boulevard, only to find that Jake's friend had locked her keys in her car with the engine running. And instead of calling AAA, the boys were taking turns playing McGyver and trying to open the door handle using a coat hanger. Crazily enough, it worked! It took them about an hour and a half to do it, but they did! And Jake was too young to even get all the McGyver references. YOUTHS! So Rachel got off safely and we decided to get some grub instead of battling the onslaught of insane drunkenness that was coming back down the Blvd. We decided to hit the French Market for some middle-of-the-night dinner and on our way we saw 3 fights. The first was some guy who had just LOST his mind and was ranting and raving about how he pays with Republican dollars and was standing 3 inches from our faces while waving around dollar bills. His girlfriend finally pulled him along and he started taking swings before stumbling down the wrong street and she chased after him. After crossing the intersection, we saw a woman who was beating the tar out of the man who was driving (in a Corvette) and when he put his hands up to block her, she yanked the keys from the ignition. He finally found the keys (while she is slapping and pulling on his hair) and was able to drive off. FUN! And then we hear a bit of a scuffle starting to happen, so Kate and I duck into the restaurant to avoid it and then the boys don't come. After a few minutes, they show up, because they heard something. It was a woman screaming "Help me! Help me!" and they dashed into a darkened alley, only to see this woman who was obviously homeless smashing some guy's head into the bricks. They all kind of stalled right there and someone yelled "the cops are here!" so they let the boys in blue handle it.

It was now 4am and the party was still in full swing, although the party goers should have stopped hours ago and the whole vibe just wasn't fun anymore, so we turned toward home. We changed into comfy pajamas and started chit chatting (a large air mattress in the middle of a living room makes for a great slumber party, BTW) and poor Adam was so tired (only having slept about 3 hours the night before) that he was fading fast and the rest of us were still chipper, so we decided to drive home. I was awake enough for it and it was better to let everyone sleep in and not worry about stepping over guests.

We got home pretty quick and were glad/surprised that Ruckus didn't seem to have missed us at all. We'd felt guilty leaving him, thinking we'd be gone overnight, but he didn't care much. C'est la vie.

rock & roll: SoCal style

Yes, we had another earthquake today. As you can see, they happen all the time. Most of them are too small or deep in the ground to actually feel. But around 11:45 this morning, there was a biggun that was 5.8 magnitude and it was about 30 miles from my house. So it was nice and shaky here for a few seconds. I'm going to guess between 10 and 15 seconds long. The lamps swung, the cats woke up, but that was it for us. We haven't felt any of the aftershocks or anything, so I'm hoping that it's going to be calm the rest of the day.

It's funny how when I have traveled to the Midwest or East Coast how people will immediately say "California? How can you live there? Oh no, too many earthquakes for me thankyouverymuch!" which is amusing because yeah, we have earthquakes and they're unpredictable, but I seriously don't think I have actually felt one since... hm... maybe 2002? And it was the same deal. 15 seconds of shaking and then it was done. Most of the 'daily' quakes are under 2 points on the Richter scale, which essentially means that if you were blinking your eyes when it happened, you probably didn't feel it. Whereas the Midwest gets crazy tornadoes and flooding and the East Coast gets winter weather like you've never seen. And all of that lasts for days and weeks and months. And as of this post (an hour post-quake) there have been no reports of damage or injuries and the only inconvenience was a temporary (approx. 5 mins) loss of cell phone service for Verizon customers (which I am not). So, yeah, I think 15 seconds of 'whoa' every few years is a fair trade.

*update* 2:30pm: My aunt heard a strange noise in her house and called her husband home from work - thinking the hissing was a leaking pipe or gas line. He rushed home and they located the sound in a closet. It was a board game with a wind-up timer that must have shifted. He literally lifted the box and it dinged. So, in fairness, there was some damage done to my family's sanity and also a board game shifted on a shelf.