The Beach Boys at The Arboretum

Hello,

Last Sunday I took my husband and baby to The Arboretum in Arcadia, to see 

The Beach Boys, 

at the 22nd Family Music Festival.

(Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, approximately 13 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, 

in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains).

We love the Beach Boys in our family and neither one of us had seen them live.

I had got tickets as a Father's Day gift.
Free for children under 12

My hubby was really happy 

and we were very excited knowing that, 

at the age of 24 months, our son James was going to attend his very first concert 

and it was going to be 

The Beach Boys!

It was another beautiful Sunday here in sunny Southern California,

and our first time at the Arboretum.

The gates opened at 3:00pm for a 5:30pm concert on the Bauer lawn (see center of map below)

We arrived shortly after 3:00pm and got ourselves settled on the lawn, right away. 

We found a perfect spot. 

Close to the stage, but not too much. 

We had brought a blanket, a cooler filled with goodies 

and had not forgotten our hats and sunblock!

It was lovely.

Prior to the concert, 

while James was finishing his afternoon nap in his stroller, 

we were listening to some good tunes 

(they were playing some good old classic rock songs)

and we were sipping some nice chilled Chardonnay wine.

Cheers!

Before the show started,

I took a few photos to share with you.

View of the stage from our seating area.

Behind us, the fountain and the mountains.

The fountain.

While I was photographing, my husband and son James were sitting on the edge of the basin 

with their feet in the water

and James decided to jump in,

fully dressed!

He loves water so much, he could not help himself!

Everybody seemed to have a good time.

Food trucks were on the premises, beer and wine was available for purchase.

Hawaiian shave ice

Where you can find a darling little gift shop
and very clean restrooms.

Picture of the fountain from the other side.

Everyone was asked to close and put away their umbrellas.

The concert started on time and James was awake, 

ready for some 

Fun, fun, fun!

The concert lasted approximately 90 minutes

and it certainly was 90 minutes of 

Good Vibrations.

Dancing away!

The Beach Boys sounded great!

Mike Love and Bruce Johnston in the background.

We danced and sang during the whole show, 

beach balls were flying all around

and James,

who loves music so much also had a blast.

James playing after the concert.

It was a wonderful experience, 

the 3 of us together at a concert

and we cannot wait to go to another one.

In fact, Jack Johnson is playing at the Greek Theatre 

this August and 

hopefully we can get some tickets for it.

Here is a little bit of information about The Arboretum for you:

The Arboretum is 127 acres of plants, natural landscapes, wildlife and historic buildings.

It is home to plant collections from all over the world, including many rare and endangered species.

The garden is also the site of historical landmarks representative of major phases of California history.

There is a variety of gardens and landscapes like aquatic gardens, a herb garden, a rose garden and many more.

The Arboretum is also an official wildlife sanctuary where you can see peafowl, species of resident and migratory birds, aquatic creatures as well as numerous species of small reptiles and mammals.

The Arboretum Library is a bountiful resource for information about plants and wildlife.

In addition to concerts and tours, they offer activities and event that cater to every audience.

The Garden & Gift Shop is very cute.

I learnt a lot from their well-built website and read many reviews on the internet.

The Arboretum seems to be a paradise for nature lovers, botanists 

and gardeners alike.

I look forward to going back and exploring.

Thanks for stopping by,

Alexandra

 

Beautiful Gardens

The Chinese Garden

Hello,

My family and I have discovered another new place, recently.

Remember, we moved to Silver Lake (in Los Angeles) a couple of months ago and ever since then, we keep finding really neat spots. 

I shared some other new places in this older post (HERE).

About a month a go, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, my husband, our son James and I went to The Huntington 
for the first time. 
The Huntington is located near Pasadena in the city of San Marino, 12 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

That place is amazing!

The Huntington is known to be one of the world's great cultural, research and educational centers.

It is a private, nonprofit institution, founded in 1919 by Henry E. Huntington, an exceptional businessman who built a financial empire that included railroad companies, utilities and real estate holdings in Southern California.

Huntington was also a man of vision - with a special interest in books, art and gardens. 

During his lifetime, he amassed the core of one of the finest research libraries in the world, established a splendid art collection and created an array of botanical gardens with plants from a geographic range spanning the globe. 

These three distinct facets of The Huntington are linked by a devotion to research, education and beauty.

Hungry or parched?

 There are three places you may choose from.
Enjoy the beautiful surroundings at:

• The Rose Garden Tea Room (Reservations required)
• The Chinese Garden Tea House
• The Café  

We did not try those places, but it is nice to know that the options are there.

I sure look forward to checking out The Rose Garden Tea Room next time and to trying their candied ginger or blueberry-rosemary scones, which are served with butter, wild berry jam, orange marmalade ad clotted cream. 

Yummy!

They also serve tea breads, tea sandwiches, salads, sweets, various snacks and beverages, fresh seasonal fruits and of course a selection of hot teas.

"A cup of Rose Tea, anyone?"

The Chinese Tea House features offerings such as aromatic garden shrimp rolls, Cantonese short rib soup with rice noodles, savory barbecue chicken with satay sauce, chicken chow mein and other entrées. 

Specialty teas and cold beverages are also served there.

The Café offers sandwiches; grilled items such as hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken sandwiches; soups and salads; pastries; fish tacos and quesadillas... 

The Botanical gardens are divine!

The property includes approximately 120 acres of specialized botanical gardens. 

14 gardens, to be exact. 

There is the Children's Garden, the Chinese Garden, the Desert Garden, the Japanese Garden, the Rose Garden, the Shakespeare Garden, just to name a few. 

We only saw a portion of it all.


The Children's Garden is so much fun!

The Children's Garden
James doing his favorite thing, 
playing with water. 

The Children's Garden is celebrating 10 years of 

introducing youngsters to the wonders of the natural world 

through interactive sculptural elements based on the themes of 

earth, air, fire and water. 

Children get to splash in water, make music with pebbles, 

dance under rainbows, disappear into a swirl of fog and hold the 

magic of magnetic forces in their hands. 

The conservatory

The Rain Forest in The Conservatory

Living plants fill 16,000 square-foot greenhouse that comprises 3

different habitats (a lowland tropical rain forest, a cloud forest and 

a carnivorous plant bog) and a plant lab.

The Desert Garden

Source

The Desert Garden

The 10-acres Desert Garden features more than 5,000 species of succulents and desert plants in 60 landscaped beds.

This garden has an amazing collection of cacti.

We also saw the Chinese garden.
(photo at the very top)
It is gorgeous!

We did not have time to see the Library nor the Art Collections.

They close at 4:30 pm, by the way.

Next time!

They have second Thursday free lectures (by authors and garden experts from around the world) and plant sales.

There is also an annual Spring plant sale and a Fall plant sale.

They have exhibitions on a regular basis, as well.

The Shop

The Huntington store is lovely and has a stunning collection of gifts and books.

I could easily spend a couple of hours in there.

The Fee

The admission fee is $20 (week days) or $23 (weekends).

Free for children (under 5) or 

$8 for children (5 to 11).

We opted for the annual membership ($120), which has wonderful benefits, 

including full membership privileges for up to two named adult cardholders, 

unlimited free admissions during public hours,

also unlimited for your children or (your grandchildren) 18 and under (accompanied by a card holder),

10% discount at The Huntington bookstore and more, 

free admission to Huntington Festivals

and many more benefits...

You may visit their useful and interesting website (HERE).

We definitely look forward to coming back and to discovering the other gardens,

the Library

and the Art Collections.

Next time we will make it an all day affair.

We loved

The Huntington.

It is a place of education and beauty,

A place to sit and relax on a bench, under a shaded tree and enjoy the serenity and peacefulness,

A place to walk through heavenly gardens and restore your soul, Because nature is wonderfully healing and soothing.

Thanks for stopping by,

Alexandra

Little Free Library

Hi everyone!

Yesterday afternoon, my husband, baby and I took a nice stroll through our neighborhood. 

We stumbled across an adorable Little Free Library.

I had never seen one of those before (or maybe not paid attention). 

This time, I certainly did pay attention and I must say, I absolutely love this concept. 

I think this is a wonderful invention. 

Upon our return to the Treehouse, I checked out the Little Free Library official website and learnt everything about it.

You can too, HERE.

Do you have one of those in your neighborhood?

In the beginning - 2009 - Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, built a model of a one room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother, a former school teacher who loved reading. He filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard. His neighbors and friends loved it. He built several more and gave them away. Each one had a sign that said FREE BOOKS.

Source

The very first Little Free Library built by Todd in honor of his mother.

What is a Little Free Library?

It is a "take a book, return a book" gathering place where people share their favorite literature and stories with their community. 

In its most basic form, a Little Free Library is a box full of books where anyone may stop by and pick up a book (or two) and bring back another one to share.  

Each  Little Free Library has its unique personal touch.

I have got to tell you that this is now a new project of mine! 

I discussed it with my husband, this morning and he is all for it. 

Yes! 

We decided that some time this summer, we will install a Little Free Library in our front yard.

Our street is just perfect for it. 

Our street winds up the hillside to a cul-de-sac.

Our neighbors always take leisurely walks, up and down the street and are very friendly.

The Little Free Library Mission:

To promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide.

To build a sense of community.

I cannot wait to start this project and show it to you when it is up and running.

Check out the website!

You too can build a "free mini public library" in your neighborhood.

Happy Sunday!
Happy Summer!

Thanks for stopping by,

Alexandra

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New Additions

Hi everyone!

How are you all doing?

Last week was quite busy for us. 
I prepared our son's 2nd birthday party, which took place in Santa Barbara on Sunday, at nana and grandpa's house.

It was a wonderful party and I cannot wait to show you some of the photos.
This week went by in a flash.

On my last post, I shared with you my Paul Cardew tiny teapot collection (HERE) 
and I mentioned that I would love to get some of the ones I am missing.

Well, this morning I received two new additions in the mail. 

To be honest, I had completely forgotten about it and was wondering what the package was.

I had checked out on eBay and got lucky to get 

The Crime Writer's Desk and The Radio.

I am super exited! 

They are very cute.

Here they are!

The Crime Writer's Desk

The Radio

By the way,

Happy Friday!

We have not yet made any real plans for the weekend, but our cousins from Philadelphia are sleeping over tonight 

and that will be fun.

Have a good weekend!

Thanks for stopping by,

Alexandra

My Tiny Teapots

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

Here at the Treehouse, we had our first barbecue.

My husband grilled some delicious steaks and it sure was a nice treat!

I spent a few years in England, back in the 90's. I lived in Windsor, England. 

Windsor is one of England's premier tourist and weekend break destinations. 

It has many attractions, shops, pubs, restaurants, nightclubs and historic buildings.

Windsor has a population of over 31,000 people and is situated beside the river Thames in Berkshire and is arguably one of Berkshire's prettiest towns. 

Home to the Queen of England, Windsor has the largest permanently lived in castle in the world. 

With Eton and the famous Eton college (both Prince William and Prince Harry attended Eton), which is just a short walk over the river Thames, it has more than enough to justify a few days sightseeing, especially if you want to use Windsor as a base for visiting London.

I absolutely love Windsor and that is when I lived there, that I started my collection of tiny teapots. 

I remember browsing through the little shops by the castle and a particular one had the Paul Cardew teapots. 

They were so precious, I was hooked. 

So I started collecting them. 

Today, I would like to show them to you. 

They were wrapped and boxed for the longest time. Moving to a new home made me rediscover them and fall in love with them again. 

The Paul Cardew "tiny teapots" collection is a retired collection that was manufactured in the 90's. 

Each one of those teapots are about 2" high.

The Vintage Refrigerator

Paul Cardew is a world renowned ceramic designer/potter and he is famous for his amazing collection of limited edition teapots sold all over the world.

The Vintage Stove

The Safe

The Bedside Table

The Christmas Tree

The Victorian Tea Table

The Teddy Bear's Picnic

The Washstand

The Washing Machine

The Washing Mangle

The Christmas Presents

The Kitchen Table

The Toy Box

Santa Claus

The Welsh Dresser

 This one is unfortunately missing a little piece. I remember putting it away somewhere, not having any super glue at the time. Hopefully, I will find it again.

The Kitchen Sink

And here they are, all together. 

16 of them! 

I love my tiny teapots.

It is not the complete collection and I would love to find other ones that I am missing. 

I will let you know if I do.

I decided to put them in our kitchen hutch.

For those of you who are interested, here is some information about Paul Cardew.

From an early age, it was obvious that Paul Cardew founder of the company Cardew Design, would have artistic tendencies.

Whether as an eight year old when he first picked up crayons, paints and brushes, and was encouraged to explore his talents by Michael Cardew, his great uncle and renowned ceramic designer, or when he later attended the art school at the prestigious Loughborough University in the heart of England, majoring in photography.

Paul first began teaching art part-time at Exeter University where he had time to develop his skills.

Paul Cardew's first two commercial breakthroughs came when he was asked to design ceramic brooches for Harrods Department store in London and then children’s piggy banks for The National Westminster Bank. Both proved highly successful commissions.

In 1975 Paul launched a range of unusual teapot designs at the Birmingham Spring Fair, then the largest gift show in Europe.

Building on many years of growth, in 1991 the company, Cardew Design, was formed in the United Kingdom.

His work was first shown in the USA in 1992 at the New York Gift Show and his designs had an instant appeal to the North American marketplace.

During the 90’s Paul Cardew designed for a number of famous brands under license- Portmeirion, Royal Doulton, Lilliput Lane, Harmony Kingdom- to name but a few. But his greatest claim was an association with The Walt Disney Company, with over one hundred designs perfected during a six year period…launching Paul on to the world’s stage.

Roy Disney selected Paul Cardew as one of only a few artists worldwide to design special products for Disney’s Millennium reproduction of the Fantasia Cartoon. Paul was invited to attend the movies premier at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

In 1999 Cardew Design North America Inc. was formed to expand and increase business primarily in the US and Canada. Since then, Paul’s designs have now sold in over 50 countries, delighting people all over the world. Many of his old designs are now antiques and are featured in auctions wherever ceramic art and teapots turn up.

In February 2008 Cardew Design North America acquired the international rights to the Cardew name and trade marks.

Today Paul Cardew continues to create even more interesting designs appealing to the ever changing tastes of the discerning consumer.

2014, the Company continues to produce over 150 items in 25 unique designs.

Thanks for stopping by!

Alexandra

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