The Aquarium of the Pacific: Jellies on Jellies

When I was younger we had a membership at the Aquarium and we used to go all the time. I think I was in the 8th grade when we stopped renewing it, and I hadn't been since then. I've been wanting to go back for a while now, so my mom and I took advantage of having the same day off a few weeks ago and went to see the fishes. The current exhibit is all about Jellies, so it was right up my alley. I may have gone a little overboard with the jellyfish pics, but it's hard not to.






We also got to feed the lorikeets, who for the most part seemed not at all interested in being fed, which I guess is to be expected when people are shoving containers of nectar at you all day long.

Now that I'm closer to LACMA I've been trying to visit more museums. The Broad is next on my list.

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Twenty Four

I turned 24 last month! Keeping with new traditions, I had brunch with my mom to start the day. This year we went to Alcove, which was delicious and perfect despite us having to whisper at each other over our eggs because my mom had lost her voice. After lunch we headed over to the Huntington. My membership is about to expire and I'm not going to renew it so it was nice to spend a few last moments in my favorite spot and see the garden in springtime.




That night I went to Perch with my friends and somehow took no pictures at all, but it was lovely. 24, so far so good.

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Land's End

I'm pretty sure going to Sutro Baths was the best call we made during our trip. It was a gorgeous day, clear and sunny but not hot. I had never been to this part of the city before so I was really glad we got to go. The Sutro Baths are ruins of a spa that was built in the late 1800s and burned down in the 1960s. We walked around the ruins and the caves, and then got to see it all through the Camera Obscura, which was amazing.












It was the kind of day that made me really happy to be from California.

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Northbound

Maybe it's because I grew up in LA so I'm used to spending a ton of time driving from place to place, but I love road trips. I've talked before about how much I love driving to the desert, but I just also really like the space/atmosphere that road trips provide. (Rant kind of touches on this too in the party crashing scenes, and is also just a fantastic book that you should definitely read right now.) I'm not a morning person so road trips are also pretty much the only time I get to see the sun rise, and it's nice when someone else is driving so I get a chance to snap some pictures of it.




And if we get to stop at the garlic capital of the world on the way to our destination, that's just the icing on the cake.



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Christmas 2014

When you work in retail and have been forced to listen to Christmas carols on repeat since Black Friday, and every day you feel the mounting pressure to make the holiday season special and have the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER, by the time Christmas actually rolls around escaping to the desert sounds pretty awesome.


So that's what I did. Me and my mom took off to Palm Springs for the holiday, and it was lovely. In trying to escape all the pressure of the holi-daze, I actually ended up having one of the nicest Christmases I can remember. Shout out to Isabel for reminding me to take my Instax on the trip!


Christmas Eve in my festive jammies

Me and my Momma Bear

:D

Christmas Morning


And we still had tamales, which is basically all you need.

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FUN in LA: The Huntington Part 2

We went back to the Huntington! It turned out that we happened to go on day 2 of the Camellia Show, so they had camellias for sale outside and inside they had the winning camellias on display.






They were all so beautiful! I had no idea there was so much variation within the species, it was incredible to see the differences in size and petal shape.

After we left the camellias we popped into the greenhouses, and eventually we made our way over to the Chinese garden, which we had missed last time.


The customary shot of the back of my mom's head.





We also walked through the Children's garden, which we had never seen before! It may be built for children, but everything was just my size.


It was the perfect day for a garden stroll! It was so nice to be outside enjoying the clouds and the slight chill. I know people living in places that get a real winter probably think I'm crazy, but there's no fun in 80 degree days in January/February, so I relish the few cloudy days we get.

I can't wait to go back! I'm seriously considering getting a membership. There's always something new to see!

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FUN in LA: The Brewery Art Walk

The Brewery is an art colony in LA, and if you live here you've probably seen the smokestack from the freeway. When it was built in the early 1900s the building was a steam power plant; it later became a Pabst Blue Ribbon factory which eventually got converted into artist lofts. Twice a year the colony has an art walk that opens the space up to the public to walk through the studios and see the artist's work.

I absolutely love open studios. One of my favorite Mills events is at the end of each semester when the Studio Art MFAs have an open studio. I love seeing how each artist interacts with the space they're given almost as much as seeing the art itself. The Brewery's art walk adds a whole other element to the studio, because so many of them are live/work spaces. So not only was it like walking in an art museum, it was also like walking into 100 different houses. Being the naturally inquisitive (nosy) person that I am, it was right up my alley. 

Since there was a big crowd at the art walk a lot of the artists were busy talking with other people, and quite a few were not friendly at all, but we did get to talk to a couple that were incredibly nice. One of them was the artist behind these trees.

They're so beautiful! He talked with us for a while about where he gets the bonsai from and what he does before he starts building in them. He said he worked on this piece for almost 10 years, which is incredible. 

The other person we talked to was the girlfriend of one of the artists. Their loft was one of the most beautiful spaces I saw at the Brewery, and being able to talk to her about it is probably what made me appreciate it more. She told us that when her boyfriend moved in the room was literally a blank square, but the finished product looked like it could have come out of a magazine. Most of their living area was roped off upstairs but the kitchen was downstairs and it was just gorgeous. Their oven is the same model as the oven in Bewitched! And the rest of the downstairs was their workspace. I gushed about how in love with her kitchen I was, and I told her that it was nice to be able to see the studios because the space itself becomes an art piece in a way. 

Basically I left the art walk desperately wanting a studio. It was a very good day. 

Aside from the studios themselves, the art was amazing. There was such a wide range of so many different aesthetics and styles. If you live in the LA area you should definitely check out the Brewery's website for info on the next art walk. 

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Fun in LA: Disneyland!

Disneyland is a weird concept, if you think about it. You pay a huge amount of money to get into the park (not counting what you have to pay just to park your car), and once you get inside you're pretty much forced to spend more money if you want to eat or drink anything. This is not to mention the cost of any souvenirs you might pick up. You basically pay for the privilege of spending more money and standing in lines longer than the rides themselves. And yet, on any given day Disneyland is packed!

Maybe this is a symptom of becoming an adult who's more conscious about money (hello student loans), but lately I've been more skeptical of Disneyland even though I love it. Up until this week the last time I had been was almost 3 years ago. Even though we talked about going every time I was home for a break I couldn't justify spending so much money in one place, which is why I was so excited when a co-worker of my mom's offered us free tickets. It may be a strange money-making machine, but you can't deny it's fun. 

We got to go on almost all of our favorite rides, Pirates was closed and I didn't want to lose my hat on Space Mountain so we missed out on those. The guide we had on the Jungle Cruise was hilarious! As it is I'm a fan of cheesy humor and I love puns so the Jungle Cruise is right up my alley, and this guide had the best one-liners I've ever heard on the ride. I realized that I had never been on Peter Pan so we braved the line and it was totally worth the wait. It was a fitting day for my first ride because I finally caved and bought the Peter Pan hat that I had been wanting forever. I also got to have my favorite Disneyland treat, a Pineapple Float, so I was a happy camper.

One of my favorite things to do at Disneyland is peek into the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and see the little ones getting their hair done like princesses. Honestly I don't know what it is because when I was that little I don't think I would have liked being in the princess dress or having a bunch of glitter in my hair (I had a very strong anti-tulle stance), but seeing the looks on those little kids faces as they get their hair done is too much for me. I just see them there looking like they've never been happier, and how it really is a magical experience for them and it gets me right in the tear ducts. 

As always my mom is not pictured, but rest assured, she had fun as well. 

Outside Club 33

Jungle Cruise

Pineapple Float

Waiting for Captain EO


End of the day, photo credit: mom

Fireworks! Photo credit: mom

All in all it was a magical day, so mission accomplished Disneyland. 

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FUN in LA: The Huntington Library and Gardens

A few Sundays ago me and my mom went to the Huntington Library and Gardens. We've been there before, it's a really nice place to walk around and take in some carefully cultivated nature. Admission is kind of pricey for my tastes, especially since I am now without a student discount, but I still recommend stopping by if you're going to be in the LA area.

It was pretty warm out on the day that we went, so we didn't stay too long but we did get to see the Japanese garden, which is my favorite by far.











As my mom pointed out, we've been there twice and we've never gone inside any of the buildings, but that just means we'll have to go back to check out the exhibits they have inside.

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