I'm back

I'm back from my weeklong trip to the Pacific Northwest. I'm a little discombobulated right now from the 30 plus hour train ride and arriving back in San Diego at 1 am yesterday morning (plus I have to be at work today). 

I'll be sure to share a blog post of my trip recap, but right now I'm taking it pretty light in the blogging. That's why I'm sharing with you this gif I recently came across that kind of encapsulates how I feel - a little confused, a little tired 'running' around and...oh who am I kidding? this gif is just so damn adorable I couldn't help sharing it (plus I have a special fondness for baby ducklings waddle sprinting).

Good Monday to you all!

Intermission

(via Pinterest)

Taking a week break from blogging. Going to enjoy my trip to the beautiful Pacific Northwest.  

We'll be taking our first train ride all the way from San Diego, California to Portland, Oregon and then from there we'll be road tripping up to Seattle, Washington. 

I'll be sure to post some photos on my future blog posts. Hoping to get some great inspiration out there. Until then, continue blogging ya all because I'll be sure to keep reading them on my trip up there. 

Flashback Friday: My Favorite Smurf

When I was a kid one of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons was The Smurfs. For those not familiar, The Smurfs was about these little blue creatures, who stood "3 apples tall" and lived in mushroom houses in the forest. They wore white pants and hats and lived as a community sharing chores. They were mostly male, except for Smurfette (later, she was joined by Sassette and by Nanny and Clockwork Smurfette [although, I have no idea who the last two were]). There were of course more nefarious characters who wanted to kill the smurfs, most notably the evil Gargamel. 

There were supposedly more than 100 Smurfs in the village, but of course as a kid you gravitate towards a favorite one. 

This post is dedicated to my favorite Smurf of all time:  Clumsy Smurf. 

Why was he my favorite? These are the reasons:

• He had no agendas, he was lovable and is basically the most amiable of the bunch.
• He had the loose fitting hat (that always seemed to hang a little too low over his eyes) which made him even more adorable
• He was accident prone
• He loves collecting rocks and has a fondness for cute animals - he is a hippie smurf
• He has no apparent job in the village, but he is everyone's friend
• He has that southern accent
• He was best friends with Brainy Smurf, who is inarguably the most annoying Smurf, which goes to show you that Clumsy was the friendliest and most patient smurf

If you grew up watching The Smurfs, who was your favorite blue guy?

Oh so that's what's in a Gummi bear...

Ever wonder about the anatomy of a Gummi bear or a My Little Pony? Well, wonder no more. Artist Jason Freeny has created these clever anatomy prints of some recognizable figures/toys. 

With my love of things cute, yet slightly a little creepy, this is definitely up my alley. But I also think this is a great way to teach your kids anatomy in a way that is not so scary as seeing those human anatomy posters (although, it may backfire, because when I showed my son the picture of the gummi bear anatomy, he said he doesn't want to eat gummi bears anymore because he'd be eating "bones").  

I just admire anyone who can take a subject like anatomy and turn it into clever art. Check out more of Jason Freeny's work here. 

Flashback Friday: Milli Vanilli

I'm going to just throw it right out there...I was a big fan of Milli Vanilli back in the days. Like the rest of America, I was mesmerized with these two guys with perfect hair, tight bicycle shorts singing great songs like Girl You Know It's True and Blame it on the Rain. Those of you not familiar with this group, here's what they looked like:

Perfect for the '80s right? All style and what many of us didn't know was that there was basically no substance. It was eventually discovered that they were a fraud. Rob and Fab were a well-oiled lip-syncing creation.  They were stripped of their Grammy for Best New Artist, tried unsuccessfully to prove their singing abilities, and most tragically Rob died of a alcohol and drug overdose in 1998.

As much as I hide in shame saying I loved this group and even went to their concert, I am not ashamed many years later to say I still think Girl You Know It's True and Blame it on the Rain  are damn good songs. It doesn't matter if it was sung by two good looking European guys or two out of shape guys hiding in their mom's basement, these songs are just as singable and enjoyable as they were back in 1989.

Okay, I got that off of my chest, now back to our regular schedule programming...

Little Treasures

As you may have read on a previous post, I will be traveling to the Pacific Northwest in a few weeks. Besides seeing the Chihuly exhibits or even visiting the original Starbucks in Seattle, I'm actually looking forward to finding the miniature horses on the sidewalks of Portland, Oregon. I think my kids would enjoy going on a little scavenger hunt while we are there.

An artist named Scott Wayne Indiana noticed the abandoned horse rings along the Portland sidewalks (apparently back in the early 1900s, people used to tie their horses and carts to the rings) and decided to tie miniature plastic horses to them. His little art project continues to this day with the Portland people starting The Horse Project which encourages the public to tie their own horses (or other animals to them).

(above photos via)

Which got me thinking about other more local scavenger hunts that may be fun to know about. 

I'm sure you've heard about the hidden Mickeys at Disneyland. There are over 100 hidden Mickeys throughout the Anaheim Disneyland Park. A hidden Mickey is a partial or complete image of Mickey Mouse purposely hidden or blended into its surroundings. Some are pretty obvious:

(photo by Terry Hodges)

Some not so much (these are tiny rivets on the iron guards around the front entrance trees):

Go check out this website to find the most up to date list of hidden Mickeys for the Disneyland Park in Anaheim. Have fun finding them all. 

At Legoland in Carlsbad, California, Miniland USA is the attraction to visit. It's a small scale replica of major cities in America. Apparently in Miniland USA there is only one bathroom built into this attraction. I believe it is located in the New York City section. Find it and be amused.

(via Flickr)

Can there be such a thing as a hidden bridge in my own hometown of San Diego? I was born and raised in San Diego and only recently heard about the two "hidden" bridges. Both the Quince Street Bridge (located between third and fourth avenue over Maple Canyon) and the Spruce Street Bridge (located between fourth and fifth avenue over Kate Sessions Canyon) were built in the early 1900s. Both are hidden neighborhood bridges that are used mostly by pedestrians. The Quince is an old trestle bridge and the Spruce is an old suspension bridge (or as the locals call it "the wiggly bridge"). These bridges are not exactly little treasures, but they are certainly hidden treasures that I can appreciate for the fact they've been around over 100 years and I only now knew about them.  

Have any hidden or secret treasures in your neck of the woods?

Art is everywhere: Chihuly

The hubs, my kids and I will be taking a train ride up to the Pacific Northwest at the end of this month. We will make stopovers at Portland-Oregon, Tacoma-Washington, and Seattle-Washington. Needless to say, I am looking forward to a long-needed vacation out of town as well as visiting places I have never been. 

I've been compiling a list of places I hope to see over at Pinterest (check it out).

One of the places I'm excited about visiting is Tacoma, Washington, if only for the chance to visit the Tacoma Art Museum for one Dale Chihuly.  I became aware of this artist when I visited Las Vegas's Bellagio and witnessed the most amazing and beautiful ceiling sculpture:

(via)

To my untrained artful eye, it looked like an explosion of sugar candy. Chihuly's Fiori di Como is actually a representation of Italian fields in the spring. 

(via)

The Tacoma Art Museum has the largest permanent collection of Chihuly's glass work. Chihuly was born in Tacoma and continues to gift the museum with his work. 

Several of Chihuly's work can be seen for free throughout Tacoma. The most significant is his Bridge of Glass which leads to The Museum of Glass. The Seaform Pavilion section of the bridge has over 2300 pieces of his glass sculptures seemingly suspended over the walkway. 

In Seattle, Washington, I have to make it a point to visit The Seattle Center to visit Chihuly's Garden and Glass Exhibition.  Chihuly's glass sculptures are seen "growing" out of the garden and in the "greenhouse." 

(via)

Just amazing.

Flashback Friday: Me

What's more appropriate for my Flashback Friday than ME! Today is my 42nd birthday. Should I look at it as a day of aging? No, I should celebrate it for what it is: the day of my birth and the wonderful memories and experiences I have had over the years. 

Here's looking at you kid with the homemade haircut and the cute yellow dress - hope you have many more years of memories and grand adventures.

Art is everywhere: Walking dead inspiration

The Walking Dead's season finale was this past Sunday and now I have to wait like 10 years (okay, I'm being a tad bit dramatic) before season 4 premieres. 

In honor of Walking Dead, I'm sharing with you one of my favorite Zombie recreations using food.  I'm okay with my kids playing with their food as long as they create something as hilarious and creative as below:

Enjoy!

(via)