Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Happy Happy One Thousandth post!!

I can't believe it! I am expecting balloons and confetti to fall from the ceiling. To mark this literary occasion, here's some photos from our labor day weekend. We spent most of our time at home enjoying our little air conditioned bungalow *it was over 100 degrees this weekend!*.

I can't believe I've lived in this house for almost 8 years and this is the first photo of me sitting on my porch
And of course Olivia is trying to make me laugh!
Liv is loving her new ballet and hip hop class!
She's one of the youngest in the class but still taller.
Her teacher Anna Maria is so RAD! Liv is so much more focused and follows the choreography so well.
The class begins a half hour later now, so I get to sleep in a bit later, Yay!

Antz and I made a "lady rainicorn" piñata for Liv. 

Liv helped out too
It was simple to make, but tedious
Super cute, huh? We won't break this guy.
We totally copied the design from Whack Piñataria. She is a piñata-making GENUIS!
This has become a disturbing, major addiction in our house.

Candy Fucking Crush!!
If we are friends on Facebook, please send me some lives. I've been stuck on this level for weeks!

Summer seems to always fly by in a blink of an eye. Despite the unbearable heat, I love the long sunny days, less traffic and tons of fun things to do. I didn't finish everything on my summer bucket list but I can always extend it into September.

  1. As always, Beach days!
  2. Last year we didn't make it to a concert at the Hollywood bowl, so I'm super stoked to see Björk at the Bowl June 11th!! *Björk was AMAZING!!*
  3. Attend Liv's school Summer Masquerade Serenade *We had a wonderful time*

  4. Grill this!!     
Gedb69aZ3McnihAnsQufpOqU.jpeg:Amazon:photo
Rosemary and beef kebabs
    5.  Have a family BBQ *we went to Leslie & Stephen's annual BBQ*
    6.  Braid my hair  *Done.


        7. Go to Disneyland *for Liv's 3rd Birthday* 
         8.  Have dinner at Knotts Berry Farm.  *I love their biscuits with Knott's jam*
         9.  Attend Tom & Jess's beach wedding in July *Done*


        10. Attend the Renegade Craft Fair *Done*
        11. Have a friends BBQ *and make a signature cocktail*
        12. Cook at least 5 recipes from my Pinterest board *and use my new crock pot*
        13. Take Olivia to see Monster's University
        14. Stage an intervention for Amanduh Bynes *next it's Miley's turn *
        15. Buy this adorable sun hat for me, a Mexican dress for Olivia and Antz could use
              new sunglasses too!
      16.  Go bike riding on the Strand
 
Bonus: Swim/tan as often as possible! *we swam a bunch this summer and got golden tans*

 
Tomorrow Liv begins a new school year. We are so excited for her to be a big yellow dragon!

Donuts are all the rage!

Cupcakes are soo last year, now donuts are the newest dessert craze in particular, the cronut™! Created by Dominique Ansel in his bakery in New York, it has become an overnight sensation. Even celebrities *ahem, or their nieces* can't get their million dollar hands on them.

cronut2
The original Cronut
Los Angeles has the West Coast version called Crö-dough at Rockenwagner Bakery on Abbot Kinney in Venice. Last night we left the house too late to score one. Then I remember seeing a cro-nut on my Instagram feed so we were stoked to discover the bakery that made them was close by and open 24 hours!

We headed to Santa Monica Blvd and arrived at DK Donuts & Bakery. This place is donut heaven. They have every donut you have ever imagined and then more. There was so many flavors, varieties and the aroma was mouth-watering. We were knee deep in fat people food porn!


I had the Maple Bacon Bliss O'nut and Antz had a plain glazed O'nut, Liv had a pink sprinkles *cause you know this kids loves pink!*Don't blame me if you find yourself driving over there tonight at 10pm, I warned you! It was sooo worth the long ass drive to Santa Monica. It's good DK's is so far away so it will be an once in a while treat... 


B U T... this week a new donut place is opening on York in Highland Park so we are gonna be in donut paradise.

Opening this week
Donut Friend is adjacent to the hip ice cream place, Scoops. We've been walking past it since February with curious glances and hoping it will meet our high expectations. The owner is a musician and he sounds pretty rad. I like the idea of building your own donut and he takes donut flavor suggestions. With all the donut buzz and York Blvd popularity, I don't doubt there will be a long line at this place all the time.

*UPDATE: If you looking to get your donut fix, here's a map of all the places in Los Angeles that are making them.

Happy Eating!

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Halloween costume ideas

I like fall, not as much as summer and spring but I'm ready for the weather to cool down *hopefully* and scarf season is approaching. It has me thinking about Halloween costume ideas. We started watching the nerdy Heroes of Cosplay show. While the people are annoying and overly dramatic, we tune in for the creative costumes. I always feel like they always give an award to the people on the show even though there are better costumes. It just dawned on me that we took a picture with one of the girls from the show at Comic Con in 2011.

Becky Young as Harley Quinn
Last week, Liv saw this Taffyta Muttonfudge costume on the show from Wreck-it Ralph and now she is obsessed with being "the strawberry girl".
Becky Young as Taffyta Muttonfudge
"Mom! I wanna be the strawberry girl!" I hear about 15 times a day. I think there are better versions of Taffyta.

Taffyta Muttonfudge, Candlehead, Rancis Fluggerbutter & Vanellope Von Schweetz
I'd much rather her go as Vanellope the cute hero of the film but Liv is all about pink these days, so Taffyta is all she wants.  Taffyta Muttonfudge is the ringleader of the mean girls but she's voiced by Mindy Kaling and I love that lady! It doesn't seem that difficult to make and I was planning on getting her some new converse, so a pink pair would work. Then Antz would go as Ralph and I guess I would be Fix it Felix. This costumes are too fucking cute.

King Candy, Vanellope and Fix it Felix
Awesome Wreck It Ralph cosplay
This Calhoun *Liv says that's my character* costume is great but too complicated for me to make
Sugar Rush Racers
S U G A R R U S H : Cosfest 2013 D2 - 03 by ~aisulove
These ladies are awesome!
S U G A R R U S H : Cosfest 2013 D2 - 01 by ~aisulove
bluupanda:

this guy was so in character it was ridiculous. and after we took a photo his phone started ringing, and he was all like “ah! thats my Ralph!”
This guy is a perfect Felix Jr.
mousiesconblog:

Fortunately for my continued lack of nightmares, I didn’t see a King Candy Cybug anywhere. 
OMG! Turbo is brilliant!
King Candy and Sour Bill by ~Ringo-Chu
I bow down to these cosplayers, they are bringing it!
There's so many cute options for Wreck-it Ralph costumes. But there's no way we are building a race car for her too, no matter how many times she says please!! Any big ideas for Halloween? I have another costume in mind but I'm gonna keep mum until I make up my mind.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Liv's top movie list with a little help from Mommy

Now that Olivia has informed us she's a "big girl" her taste in cinema has changed, ahem, elevated. Out is Peter Pan, Finding Nemo and Yo Gabba Gabba *which makes Mommy sad* and in is this list. These are Olivia's top movies at the present moment. She changes her mind constantly and has already informed me she wants The Little Mermaid for Christmas. I've been waiting ten years to buy it so I've pre-ordered it, the release date is October 1st.

Cinderella


My least favorite Disney princess, of course would be Olivia's favorite. She fucking loves her some Cinderelly. The story of a girl who's forced to serve her evil stepmother and stepsisters but does it will a smile and a song. She dreams to find love and with the help of her animal friends and her fairy Godmother, she has the night of her life dancing with the Prince. In the end, having freakishly small feet comes to her advantage. The cutest thing is Liv sings most of the songs. She can only watch this movies while wearing her own gown and gwass swippers.

Crown and wand made by Daddy
The Iron Giant


The story is of a boy with a rather interesting name *Hogarth* who stumbles upon a giant robot in the woods. They develop a bond and he does his best to teach the robot love all while the robot is being hunted by a government agent. Olivia is riveted by the robot. It has some moments that young kids may find scary but not Liv *who loves robots!*

Monsters Inc.

A tale of a monster-led society where the celebrities are "scarers" who extact children's screams as a source of power. Mike & Sulley are the top scarer team who are on track to breaking a scare record but another monster wants to take the top spot and will cheat to do so. An adorable child ends up in the monster world and Mike and Sulley have to get her back unharmed. Monsters University is just as sweet but not on dvd yet. Liv loves this one and so do I.

Alice in Wonderland

 File:Alice in Wonderland (1951 film) poster.jpg

This has been my favorite Disney movie for years. The story of a curious girl who wanders into Wonderland in pursuit of a white rabbit. Her nosiness and poor decisions cause her to get into predicaments but she finally wakes up and finds it all to have been a dream. Sorry for the spoiler but I'm sure by now everyone has seen it. Did you know that Mel Blanc had a small uncredited role as Dinah the cat? Besides, it would be child abuse if I didn't share this old school Disney classic *with the stunning artwork of Mary Blair* with my kid.  Still working on Snow White and Bambi, they are a little slow for Liv's taste.

Wreck-it Ralph

 Theatrical release poster depicting Ralph along with various video game characters

This movie is fantastic! I had no idea what it was about or who was in it when we took Liv to see it in theaters but we were all pleasantly surprised. The story of Ralph who is the bad guy in a video game. He's been the bad guy for 30 years and he's tired of it. He tries to change and become the good guy but gets into trouble in another game. He has to help a little girl win in her game so he can earn respect in his own game. He makes a mess of things but he changes and becomes friends with the girl and she turns out to be what was missing in his life. The cast is superb *John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch and Jack McBrayer* Olivia is obsessed with the soundtrack and even sings a song in Japanese.

The Incredibles

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The story of a family of superhero who has to blend in with the world after being forced to hide their powers. A villain threatens the world and the hero has to save his family and the world.  Liv loves any movie with kids in it. She tells me through the movie, "look Mom, your gonna miss it!" This is Antz favorite kids movie so he's very proud.

Spirited Away

File:Spirited Away poster.JPG

This one is hard to explain briefly, but I'll try. A girl ends up in a secret Spirit World because her parents were being dumb and greedy so they got turned into pigs. She makes reluctant friends and has to outsmart a witch to break the spell on her parents. She is super adorable and spunky but most of it makes little sense since it's Japanese. Liv is a sucker for movies with kids, even though she has not idea what the plot is. It has an amazing soundtrack and a dragon. Liv really loves dragons, too bad she has zero interest in My Neighbor Totoro, maybe when she's older.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World

 File:Scott Pilgrim vs. the World teaser.jpg

This is one of Mommy's movies, one day Liv joined me engrossed by it. "I like your video game movie Mom." Based on a comic book with a silly plot about a guy in a band who has to defeat the girl he likes seven evil exes. The music is rad and Liv loves the action. It's brilliantly directed by the great Edgar Wright and has a pretty awesome cast *Kieran Culkin is the best* it's edgy enough but still PG-13!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

 File:Charlie and the chocolate factory poster2.jpg

Sadly, this one isn't the amazingly weird Gene Wilder campy/awesome 70's version but the monstrosity that Tim Burton remade and Johnny Depp pedobear-ed all over. It's the story of a poor lad who wins the chance of a lifetime to visit the strange and mysterious chocolate factory. Four other horrible children join the tour and one by one they fall victim to their own terrible circumstances which end in Charlie winning the factory as the grand prize for being awesome. The Oompah Loompahs suck the most. It's an embarassing remake but when my daughter grins at me and says "I'm a winner!" *a phrase she learns from gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde* how can I say no to that?

The Nightmare Before Christmas

File:The nightmare before christmas poster.jpg

I know, I talked a lot of shit about Tim Burton a second ago, but it comes from the frustration of how incredible this film is compared to the other. This film is so unique and creative. The story of Jack the Pumpkin King of Halloween town who wants to try a new holiday for a spin. He enthusiatically brings Christmas to his town but sadly it's almost too late by the time he realizes he has made a mistake. With the help of a girl who is secretly in love with him, they fix everything just in time. The puppetry and Danny Elfman score are impeccable. Liv loves Jack.

Oz the Great and Powerful

 File:Oz - The Great and Powerful Poster.jpg

This is Liv's movie. We took her to see it in theaters, a bit cautious thinking it may be too scary for a two year old *flying monkeys and homicidal witches* but she loved every second! It's the prequel to The Wizard of Oz and kinda tells how he came to rule the merry ole land of Oz. This womanizing circus performer ends up in hot water and escapes an ass whooping but ends up in a tornado that delivers him to Oz. He meets a chick *the witch of the west before she was wicked* but ends up dissing her for a hotter one *Glinda*. She and her sister declare war and he wins by doing what he does best, lying and cheating. I prefer the original but it's a well told story and visually stunning. I am relived there's no singing, well the munchkins sing a song briefly.

The Goonies

 File:The Goonies.jpg

Score big time for my kid! I LOVED this movie as a kid, it's sooo rad she likes this movie. The Goonies is a gang of teens who are on the verge of being forced out of their homes so a country club can be built on their land. They end up going on an adventure that may end in finding treasure so they can help their parents but they have a group of criminals on their tails. I let Liv chose a movie to watch per day and I get really excited when she picks this one *because I have had my fill of Cinderella!* It's such an endearing 80's movie and you can't help but root for the Goonies to prevail.

**Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Rocky Horror Picture Show.jpg

Liv calls this the lips movie. Lately she's been asking me to watch the lips movie to my simultaneous dismay and delight. The absurd musical is about a naive young couple who end up stranded at a castle. They interrupt a professor's latest invention, a creation named Rocky. The movie is very risque and we turn it off before any of the, ahem, bedroom scenes but Liv loves the Time Warp and I can't deny her Tim Curry in drag.



What do your little ones watch nonstop?