Christmas in September

We're celebrating Christmas and birthdays a little early here. We bought a new camera. Wow. What a difference. Love it. We discovered that my old zoom lens (the one that went on all my college field trips and everything up until we went digital) is really dirty/hazy/fungussy, so we're using the 50 mm macro that came with my old camera. I never took time out from art and dance to take a photography class in highschool, but I'm determined to educate myself a little more about how all the settings work. Right now, we're just enjoying the super quick response and auto focus.

This morning we went on a walk at Malibu Creek State Park. Here are some photos:







In other news, I sold 3 kits at the conference but at Waldorf play group on Friday I offered them "at a discount" (whatever that means) to my friends as long as they would provide feedback for the next batch. I sold all but 2 now. Woohoo!

Been Busy

I put together a kit to make the felt wallets that I've been making. A friend of mine took them up to a Waldorf School conference this weekend, so hopefully a few sold. I made 20 altogether. It was fun putting it together. I definitely learned some things about packaging a product! And if it goes well, I've got some other ideas for kits. If not, well, I'll have to go to plan B. Maybe an etsy.com shop. Not familiar with etsy? Thing of ebay for the crafter/make it yourself set.
We went to McGrath State Beach adjacent this weekend for a nice long walk on the beach. Beautiful weather and lots of things to see.

Seaweed on a stick!

Gelato in Ventura for everyone afterwards.
This week, while I'm supposed to be working on Natalie book stuff, I got a tip from Erin to enter the NOW "Love Your Body" Poster Contest. It's due this Saturday, so it'll be tight, but I like the cause and thought it was worth a shot. I'll post when I finish over there... http://lexillustrations.blogspot.com/

Visit to Santa Barbara

We strolled State Street today in Santa Barbara and found a great outlet store, got to browse through Design Within Reach. But, the highlight was for sure happening upon the Santa Barbara Snake Rescue folks, who before I could object, plopped a snake around Sofia's shoulders. Who knew she would love it - she didn't want to give it back. No joke.

Getty Villa

We went to the Getty Villa in Malibu, which reopened this past spring. What a wonderful place! They have just antiquities - pottery, sculpture, metalworks, jewelry. It was really nice to just stroll around the garden. They have a family area now, a cafe (although we didn't try it) and a nice looking outdoor amphitheatre. Did I mention it is still free? Those Gettys sure know how to share.

Maia's Baby Class

What?!!? You need a class to be a baby? Actually, she and I are in the class and I am officially the student - it's a parenting class. Anyway, it was her first day with a bunch of other toddlers of similar age. She had a great time.

Back to School

This is from last year...

Strange Illness

I'm told that I have an inner ear viral infection - oh,...ok. What it means is that starting Saturday night I have had episodes of vertigo and on Monday I was nauseated the entire day to the point of not being able to move. Thanks to Chris, I didn't have to move much. Today I'm getting better, I guess I feel like I've had a couple beers, a little woozy. I had to cancel our last day of summer beach trip because I probably should't be driving. At least the nausea has subsided. But that's not why you visited my blog, now is it. We braved the holiday traffic this weekend and drove down to Encinitas and drove back Sunday night after dinner so the girls were sleeping. Here are some pictures...
Sofia painted while Grandma assisted ...
We went to their local park...

Ooooo, a shoulder ride from GrandDad!
And then we visited a nearby park with some friends. It's one of those new fangled water parks, super fun!