autumn gardens

Yesterday we took advantage of the beautiful California autumn weather (while the East was preparing for the storm, stay safe peoples!) and headed to Descanso Gardens for a stroll. There weren't too many flowers in bloom (we hope to go back again when the roses or camellias are in bloom) but it was so lovely just enjoying all the greenery, fresh air, the views and checking out the ranch house on the property.

These are some iPhone snaps, unedited, plus check out this one on Instagram.

garden wedding

Yesterday we attended a wedding at the Rose Garden at Exposition Park next to USC. Easy to get to on the train!

Fun wedding, beautiful location, stunning weather. And of course the bride and groom ended up in the fountain!

Photos taken on iPhone using Instagram.

venice canals

Some snaps from a lovely afternoon wandering around Venice, Los Angeles. I played tour guide and took my friend who was visiting around LA. We went to Hollywood, Rodeo Drive and then to the canals (fun looking at the great houses there) and the boardwalk along Venice Beach. And for that true LA experience, we had Coffee Bean for lunch and also got stuck in lots of traffic!

boats, birds

Some more pictures from Redondo Beach last weekend. Quite relaxing to wander the pier and look at the ocean, watch the boats, enjoy the clear day and the view all the way to Palos Verdes (also pictured here and here). Pelicans and various other birds were out in force, trying to snatch bait (or lunch!) from near people fishing. (Images from my iPhone, edited in Photoshop.)

zoom in, panorama

Lazy weekend. Needed to get out a bit so we headed off to Redondo Beach to wander the pier, I'd never been down there. It was pretty busy, as is normal for Southern California beaches when it's nice out! It was good to see a new place, especially after the last busy week, mostly spent very locally.

I liked this picture (taken on my iPhone, I forgot my other camera) of the breakwater at the Redondo Beach harbor, the calm waters inside allowing for canoeing and boating, fun activities, sheltered from the bigger waves and tides of the ocean.

Hopefully more pictures this week! (Or see my Instagram pictures here. One from Redondo Beach.)

day trip

Last week I finally decided to print out photos to put in an album, the old-fashioned way to look at family pictures. I ordered prints from 2011. 2010 and 2012 would have almost tripled that order so I'll wait a bit until I've sorted the 2011 lot! I did come across some nice snapshots from various outings or trips including the ones below from a day in San Diego in May 2010. Shown is the iconic Hotel Del Coronado and some bikes down by the beach.

spring snapshots

Some snapshots from the last couple of weeks. It's been really busy!

Back to normal scheduling this week.

TOP: Wall of Wine at Tierra Sur after our Ojai day. Gorgeous Spring blossoms.

MIDDLE: Picnic at Malibu Creek State Park with the family. Roses are in bloom. Preparing colourful cauliflower.

BOTTOM: Passover food. Quinoa salad with veggies, herbs and feta - very tasty and refreshing. Homemade chocolate, toasted almond and cranberry clusters with sea salt - easy to make!

All photos taken on my iPhone, some using Instagram - you can see my Instagram feed online here.

oh, hey, sunday

Yesterday we went with Plan B outing with friends. It wasn't Disneyland (Plan A) but it sure was a nice day!

We leisurely made our way up to Ojai after a tasty pizza lunch. I'd never been to Ojai so enjoyed seeing the area, the green hills, little houses along the main road, nice town area, old-style street signs and all the little boutiques and galleries and shops. We spent a good amount of time in Bart's Books, an outdoor  book store with heaps of used and some new books, meandering in and out of the indoor and outdoor areas, browsing the thousands of books. We all managed to find something there, a very eclectic collection.

After a few hours in the town we stopped in Oxnard for a tasty dinner (I'm still full) and a little wine tasting.

Fun, relaxing day! (Very necessary, it will get me through this busy week.)

L: Great street sign, if a little hard to read from the car.
R: Bougainvillaea outside the tourist info and town museum

L: Bookshelves all around the outside fence of the store!
R: Heaps more inside, most are 'outdoors', covered by simple corrugated roof.

L: Vintage Yashica camera at Bart's Books.
R: View through the 'viewfinder' of the camera.

L: Wall inside Bart's Books papered with illustrations from books.
R: Handwritten signage over each section and more books!

central coast beach

One of the places I wanted to explore a little on our recent trip to the Central Coast was Pismo Beach. I'd only ever seen it briefly, driving through on the way to San Francisco and it looked like the kind of relaxed, beach town, the type similar to where my parents would sometimes take us on summer holidays. That worn, salty feeling that happens by the beach, the slight bit of rust on signage, the aged feel of the wood on the pier.

We wandered around the streets near the beach a little (plenty of bars, gaming places, casual eateries, and oddly enough, tattoo parlours), walked down the pier to watch the sunset, felt the waves as they crashed into the wooden pylons of the pier, quite far out from the sand! The light was magnificent, casting a warm glow over the hills and coastline, shadows lengthening as the sun started to dip below the horizon.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a house up on the hill, with a view of the ocean and close enough to enjoy the beach every day?! *wishful thinking*

[hike] central coast

We decided to make the most of the perfect hiking weather so during our recent stay in San Luis Obispo, set off one morning to a nearby hike in the Irish Hills. Nothing too long or strenuous (although I packed enough water and granola bars for the whole day!) There was great signage at the trailhead (and all the way up), including a QR code on the sign so we were able to download a trail map to my phone.

The trail was lovely, with beautiful views of the surround area and mountains all the way up. There were some nice looking houses down near the bottom of the hill and as we wound our way up the trail, got to see the whole property from higher up. The round-trip up and back again took a little over two hours (including stops for water, photographs and snacks.) I found it really relaxing and peaceful. Well, except for my fear of encountering a mountain lion (there were warnings on the sign at the trailhead) and a crazy mountain biker who came barreling down part of the trail at breakneck speeds!

At the top of the trail we had a view of Morro Bay and the iconic rock in the distance. We really enjoy the pool at the hotel after that!

balloon lamps

One fine afternoon a couple of weeks ago I decided it was time to visit LACMA and see some art and design, particularly the California Design exhibition. The great weather meant the museum was pretty busy for a weekday afternoon. The "Urban Light" installation out the front of the museum seemed to be quite popular - plenty of people posing in/next to it, kids running around between the lamp posts. I had a wander through it too, taking some snap shots and enjoying the way the sun made the shadows fall. There was also a photo shoot (or filming) of a lady with some balloons. It looked pretty fun and I managed to snap some pictures of the balloons - the colors and curves of the balloons make a nice contrast to the rigid straight lines of the lamp posts. (Similar to a project I did for a photography class in art school, back in the day, using a bunch of colored balloons next to a plain wooden structure.)

Hope to get back there more often!

central coast stay

Our drive up the Coast ended at our hotel, which my husband left as a surprise to me. We stayed at the charming, colorful Madonna Inn. It's over the top, unique style really really added a feeling of fun and escape to our short vacation. Each room has a different theme and decor. Ours was called "The Matterhorn" and it was decorated in the style of a Swiss country chalet, with that sort of scene depicted in the stained glass window to one side as well as grandly decorated bathroom with a chandelier and rock-wall shower plus quirky furniture and accessories. One of the more sedate rooms! (You can see all the rooms here.) The whole hotel is very decorated, with amazing attention to detail everywhere, from the layout of the buildings and rooms on the property to the wood carvings and bright, detailed damask wallpaper in the bar! It's not necessarily my favorite style but I definitely appreciated and enjoyed it here.

The view from our balcony was lovely, horses in the fields, rolling hills. We were lucky to have gorgeous weather, cool at night but warm enough during the day to make the most of the pool area. (To be continued...)

central coast drive

Last week we made the most of President's Day long weekend and headed north, to the California Central Coast, for a little holiday. The drive up was lovely. We took the 101 up past Santa Barbara, enjoyed the stunning coastline, ocean and the mountains and cliffs and then took the 154 for a little while, going through national park and past Lake Cachuma and through wine country, with fields, farms and then back to the 101 until we reached our destination. (To be continued...)

what happens in...

We took a very spontaneous trip last weekend, decided only a day or two before that we needed to get away, the long weekend was perfect for it. Las Vegas is close enough and guaranteed to have plenty to see and do (plus all important available hotel rooms) over the Xmas break!

Trippy music kept us company as we drove through the dark desert areas, beautiful expanses of dark sky and bright stars, it wasn't as nice during the day with all the traffic. It's easy to tell when you are getting closer to the city and The Strip by the amount of lit-up billboards appearing by the road way. Last trip was a bit underwhelming (aside from the Chihuly gallery and the show we saw) and this time I enjoyed myself seeing the glitzy, over the top casinos plus people-watching, a show, dinner with friends that I neglected to take many pictures. It was a nice distraction from some things that happened recently.

Clockwise from top left: Signage of the Flamingo hotel - fabulous colours and typography. Eiffel Tower replica at the Paris hotel. The Venetian as photographed from the car. Night shot of the road leading into Las Vegas.

Then it was back home and straight to work making Latkes for the family Hannukah dinner! See a picture of the deliciousness that is potato parsnip latkes here.

Happy 2012 everyone!

just capitol

I'm a proud Aussie. True blue. Who never thought she'd end up living in America! But life led me here and so, while I do miss my home country and tackle the challenge of navigating the quirks of the USA, I am thankful for where I am now. This country, while it has it's issues, has a lot to offer and I've truly enjoyed all the things I've seen and done so far since I've moved here and look forward to exploring more of the country in the future.

So on this American holiday of Thanksgiving I share with you some snapshots from this nation's Capitol building from our trip to Washington DC a few months back. Need a bit of a crash course in American history? Visit the Capitol! I learnt about the founding of the government, about presidents and the very impressive building/s. All good stuff to know about my current country of residence!

As for the holiday today - I'm going to my second authentic Thanksgiving meal. The first one was a number of years ago when I was visiting, they had deep fried turkey and dishes that were new food experiences for me! Now I'm more familiar with this cuisine and looking forward to the stuffing and hopefully cranberry-something. Pumpkin pie is something to get used to though. I'm making the green beans!

Happy Thanksgiving :)

in the detail

The Getty Museum is one of my favourite places in Los Angeles because of the amazing architecture and the gardens. The attention to detail is impressive, in both the building and the landscaping, with shadows, reflections, shapes and colours changing with the light and seasons to add even more interest. I also like the contrast of nature (plants, flowers) against the grid and harder lines of the building and the curves in the structure that soften edges and nod to organic form.

These pictures are just a few from a visit last summer.

[out & about] flea market

Yesterday turned out to be a lovely, sunny day here in LA. Friends of ours were going to the Rose Bowl Flea Market which I've been wanting to check out for a while but as it's only on once a month, we just never managed to get there until yesterday!

I found it relaxing to walk around and look at old/vintage stuff (furniture, dishware, glass, home decor, oddities and other assorted bric-a-brac) as well as the craft stores, trinkets and other market stalls, creative displays and variety of items. We picked up a few bits and pieces, nothing major although some of the vintage glass was pretty nice (I just don't have much space for displaying stuff like that). It reminded me of the markets my family used to go to when I was younger but much larger, somewhat better quality of goods and relatively less junky (for sure less dusty!).

If you're decorating a house on a budget, it's a great place to pick up pieces to refurbish or repurpose and also to find interesting decor. Otherwise, with the carnival-like atmosphere, it's a great place for people-watching and creative inspiration.

coastal panorama

We took a drive last Sunday to Palos Verdes, just to get some fresh air, a bit of a walk and see the spectacular view by the coast. We stopped at a lookout and a walking path above a highly landscaped and manicured golf course, behind us and over the road some nice and very large homes.

above eye level

It always pays to look up. This is something I learnt back in art school when we were sent to explore the city and take pictures that we would have to use as a basis for a project. Often buildings have interesting architectural details above eye level, on the exterior, which can go unnoticed as people go about their daily business. I did get a bit of a crick in my neck looking up and taking pictures that way but it definitely made my designs more interesting!

I've already posted some pictures from our Seattle trip (here, here and here) but some of my favourite are of the super colourful ceiling filled with Chihuly glass creations, on the Bridge of Glass. The riot of colour is wonderful to look at, lit by the sun and reflecting passers by - see my husband and friends patiently waiting for me to snap photographs!

This ceiling has so much detail, I could have stared at it for ages! The shapes are somewhat different to the ceiling at the Bellagio or the Persian ceiling, this one truly showing the diversity of glass art.

historical house

On our trip to DC, we went to Mt Vernon, George Washington's house, garden and estate. The property is huge and contains several farming areas. Washington used innovative farming techniques for the time. The property had been in his family and the house was added to over time to become quite a grand mansion with many outer buildings for staff and slaves as well as farm buildings for animals and storage. The extensive gardens are beautiful and contain areas for flowers and more exotic plants and another for seasonal fruit and vegetables. The large front lawn gives a wonderful view of the house and the back porch overlooks the Potomac.

The tree pictured is supposedly (according to our tour guide) the largest Pecan tree in the USA.

I enjoyed walking around the estate (despite the heat and humidity) and learning about American history and finally hearing how to pronounce "Potomac" as I'd only ever read the name in books and never heard it out loud. (It's amusing to my husband when I say it wrong! But to be fair, I'm still new to America.)