New Things, New Places

I hope you all had a good week and a wonderful Mother's Day.

I sure did and I am so thankful to have such an amazing little boy! 

I took our son to Color me Mine, last week. 

Color me Mine is a fun place to visit. You can find their studios all over the country and even abroad.  

You pick a pottery and paint it. They will then fire it, varnish it and you pick it up a few days later. 

I just love this place! Children and adults alike can be really creative and have a good time, there. 

Babies are welcome and the staff is always super friendly and helpful. They will help you get that perfect baby handprint, that you will cherish for ever. 

James "made" me this beautiful vase, this year.

I love my little artist!

Last year, we also went there for my first Mother's Day. 

Here is a photo of my first piece, a heart-shaped jewelry box.

Last time, I told you we were going couch hunting that afternoon. My sister-in-law and mum-in-law came along and we sure had a good time. 

We found a couch that we really liked. Our old one was kind of too big and we wanted one that would work better, in our mid-century home.

Here it is! What do you think?

We also traded our black baby grand piano with a brown wooden upright piano. It also fits better in our new house. 

We were a little sad to see it go, but we soon fell in love with this upright. 

We were pleased to find one of the same year and make. This particular Yamaha piano was made in America, which they do not do anymore.

We even got some cash back!

Our baby grand in our old home.

One of my sisters visited from Paris last week, so we decided to go and check out the Americana at Brand in Glendale. 

The Americana is a large outdoor shopping center, which is owned and operated by Rick J. Caruso and his company Caruso Affiliated.

The Grove (also owned and operated by Caruso Affiliated), has been our favorite shopping mall for many years, but since we now live on the Eastside, we were quite curious about The Americana.

We liked it and Glendale is definitely a great town for shopping. It also has the Glendale Galleria right across from it.

I will still go and shop at The Grove, but The Americana is nice and really close to Silver Lake. Super convenient!

While window shopping, I fell in love with this gorgeous little vase and thought it would look fabulous on our mantel.

I just had to get it!

Since we moved to Silver Lake, we also discovered a few cool places in Pasadena. 

It is only a 10 minute drive from here. 

Pasadena is lovely and it seems to have so much to offer.

First, it has a Color me Mine. I only new the Beverly Hills location till now.

It has Kidspace Children's Museum! 

Kidspace is a fantastic place for kids. 

Last weekend was our first time there and we had a blast. Particularly James who loves playing with water and there sure is a lot of water to play with.

There is a little river, called The Arroyo, which is a mini model of Pasadena's own Arroyo Seco (A canyon area that is sometimes dry and sometimes wet, depending on the seasons).

Source

There is also a kid's basin and different water features.

Children can definitely splish-splash to their heart's content.

James had a lot of fun at the Splash Dance Fountain.

Baby loved the Water Symphony, where you play the drums with water guns and hear what sounds it makes.

There was a special event there, last weekend: 

The Grand Butterfly release

Over a thousand butterflies were released into the Kidspace Gardens. 

It was beautiful!

Next time we will get an annual family membership, which includes unlimited free admission into Kidspace for up to four designated family members. Perfect when you have a visitor. 

Monday, I shopped at one of the biggest Whole Foods Markets in the country. It happened to be in Pasadena, as well.

We also went hiking for the first time, in the canyon below our house. 

The Corralitas Rail trail. 

It was really cool and I will tell you more about that, some other time.

We have been really busy. 

Remember, we hired a moving company a couple of weeks ago. 

Well, last Thursday we hired another moving company. I guess we had not prepared well enough the first time and we still had tons of belonging left in there. 

I thought I could deal with it myself, but my car is not that spacious (a Chevy Volt).

We wanted the condo completely emptied out, repainted and cleaned by the weekend.

We have decided to sell it, after all.

For now, we are still living amongst boxes... and I cannot wait to have everything put away, so that I can finally decorate and share with you pictures of our new little nest.

Thanks  for dropping in,

Alexandra