Huntington Library's Jungle and Desert Garden

The Huntington Library features several Gardens: Chinese Garden, Japanese Garden, Children's Garden, Rose Garden, Australian Outback, Jungle Garden and the Desert Garden. Here are few pictures of the lush and shady Jungle Garden. After traipsing through the hot Australian Garden, we heard this running water and immediately felt cooler. Couldn't wait to reach this garden. There are little benches throughout this shady space to sit and relax.

Look at the size of the roots of these trees. There were also long vines like in the Tarzan pictures that would be perfect for swinging!
Here is a small portion of the Desert Garden. It was the last garden we visited and by the time we reached it, our feet were aching. You seriously need a pair of roller skates, a segway or a bicycle to see all the gardens in one day. If we lived closer, we would take sections at a time, but it is just a little bit too far.
A lot of the catus' were in bloom. It was really pretty, but wow, what a hostile environment! Everything had thorns.

Check out these fat thorns on this tree. Ouch!

These long skinny thorns would totally deter me from picking the flowers.

These pretty little pink flowers covered the hillside of the walk way. So pretty, they looked fake!

There was so much more to see, but we couldn't muster up the energy to walk down the hill to see it, because then we would have to walk up the hill- you know what I mean!

Balboa Park - San Diego

About a 5 minute drive from the Gaslamp District in downtown San Diego, is the beautiful Balboa Park. Shown here is Museum row, but there is a beautiful park attached to this for picnicking and bike riding. There is a Science and Space Museum, Natural History Museum, Photography Museum, Japanese Friendship Garden, outdoor theatre, Shakespearean Theatre, and Conservatory. (There are more museums, but I can't think of them off the top of my head). Beautiful spanish architecture built in the 1800s.





We saw this beautiful bride in her light pink dress being photographed. Believe it or not, she was wearing these huge black clunky tennis shoes under her dress! I guess she just wanted to have a natural, comfortable smile on her face.

The museums are closed on Mondays and during the week, they close at 4:00pm.

Friday Favorites

Chip Skip by O.P.I.

I never used to paint my nails because the next day the polish would be half off. The polish would NEVER stick for longer than a day or two. I once asked a manicurist why this was, and she said that I had "oily nailbeds". I found this product and decided to give it a try. You apply it to clean, dry nails. The first time I tried it, it helped keep the chips away for about 2 or 3 days. I then discovered the trick to applying it. The trick is to apply it to the edge of your nails and the underside. After this application, the nail polish has been on for over 6 days and it is just starting to show a little wear on the tips.

Insta-Dri by Sally Hansen

This is another must have if you are polishing your nails. Who has an hour to sit perfectly still and not touch anything. I can't do it, I always end up ruining my nail polish. I now apply this to my nails and only have to be careful for about 20 minutes. It has worked wonders. I also notice that it has an anti chip aspect as well. So maybe these two products work together to keep my nails looking great for longer than a day!

Gaslamp District - San Diego

On Monday, my friend Cynthia and I, visited the Gaslamp Quarter in the City of San Diego. San Diego is a short hop north of the Mexican Border is Southern California. It is reputed to be 75 degrees all through the year. It was a beautiful day when we visited.
The Gaslamp Quarter is a historic couple a blocks located in the downtown area. It nestled between the tall skyscrapers, the mall, the convention center and Petco Park. It is within 10 minutes of Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo and Sea World. Most of the buildings were built in the late 1800's and early 1900's. They totally refurbished this area and there are condos and it has become very trendy area to live.

Petco Park is right in the downtown. It is really cool because you can see baseball games from your condo, hotel room or from the grassy area in front of it. They didn't build up one side and you can take in the game from the grass. This picture was taken from the Omni Hotel right next door on the 18th floor.
The trolley (in front of the convention center) takes you from more central San Diego, right into the heart of the historic district. It also stops on campus at San Diego State and the students can come in and go to games, shopping and dining.
There are a lot of really great architecturally stunning buildings. From the 1800's into the Art Deco era.

The only thing that disappointed me was that there were no boutiques. It was mostly restaurants. It does back up to a huge mall where I guess all the shops are. I would save the Gaslamp Quarter for after you have visited Balboa Park, Sea World, the Zoo etc. because there are a million places to eat!

Date Night - A must see!

I'm not much of a Tina Fey fan and I've never seen an episode of the office (although Delaney thinks it is hysterically funny). Today I saw Date Night with my friend, Cynthia, and I laughed so hard, I cried! It was truly funny from start to finish. No nudity, some bad words, but I totally related and it just cracked me up. I'm taking the Handsome Husband to see it this weekend.

Friday Favorites

The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas

As I lay in bed at 4:30 this morning, I realized I had not picked out any Friday Favorites, nor had I asked anyone what theirs was. I panicked a little, Friday had totally sneaked up on me. Then I started thinking about what book to read next and I decided to share some of my favorite books.

The Count of Monte Cristo

Don't be put off by the sheer size of this book. I actually love a really good book with lots of pages, if the story is good, you don't want it to end. The story takes place in France and it's a story of cruelty, redemption and sweet revenge (or is it so sweet?). The Count of Monte Cristo is a delicious book, full of intrigue, great fight scenes, love, passion, and witty social satire. My daughter, husband and I have all read this book twice. It also introduced me to the 3 Musketeers, which are also excellent books.

Author Lee Child

My family is addicted to these books. Lee Child has created a main character named Jack Reacher who is a man that is not afraid to kill you. An ex military policeman, now living on the road and seems to find trouble and solve the problems. Jack Reacher is Clint Eastwood, John Wayne and Arnold Schwarzenegger rolled into one...but with much more personality and pizzazz! These novels are action packed thrillers.

Loving Frank

Wow, what a biography. Frank Lloyd Wright was narcissistic, arrogant, and beyond convention. This was a very interesting book with a huge twist at the end.

John Grisham

I love most John Grisham novels, but A Time To Kill is one of my favorites. Don't watch the movie and think you have read the book. The book is so much better.

Overboard

Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn

Okay, this is not a book, but what a movie! Totally hysterical and for the whole family. This is one of my all time favorite movies. I love it. Rich B*#$^, snobby woman falls overboard of her yacht and gets amnesia. The country boy carpenter that she hires to do work on the boat and then stiffs him of payment, decides to claim her and put her to work as his boys "mom" and his "wife" until she pays for the work he did on her yacht. So, So funny and wonderful ending.

Friday Favorites-

MAC Computer

I have loved using the computer ever since we switched to MAC. We don't get any of that horrible, nasty spam in our email. Virus' are not a threat. There is only two cords, one to plug the computer into the wall and one to plug in the printer. The keyboard is wireless, the mouse is wireless and we have wifi. LOVE IT. It is very user friendly. We have used it for 4 years now and would not change - EVER!

Luna Bazaar Paper Lanterns

I love using paper lanterns at parties. They are so festive. I've been using a site called Luna Bazaar for a couple of years now and I have never been disappointed with the quality or service from this company. They have so many colors and shapes. They sell other things too, like parasols, candle votives, glass bottles and much more. If you are working with a color theme, they will probably have everything you need. The prices are great and they give you a discount when you order things in bulk.

PolkaDotDesign.com

I order all my invitations from this company. They are high quality, good, fast service and a great selection of invitations for all your needs.

Galvanic Spa (from Nu Skin)

This is a new toy that I have had for about a month. It is a wrinkle iron. Say what? Yes, a wrinkle iron. Apparently our sisters in Europe have had the drop on us for quite awhile and we here in the US are just getting the word. I went to a presentation where they ironed (hehe) half of my face. It totally worked! I could see a big difference, but the big test came when I went home to HH and he could see the difference. He was sold. It is a committment. You use it twice a week - FOREVER! You use it with certain gels that contain the secret syrum, a commitment of $60 a month. I have attached the website so you can see how it works, positive and negative charges, etc. Way above my head. It does have a hefty initial investment (the price of the wrinkle iron), but it is from the cosmetic industry...

Kate Spade Wedges

Wedges, any wedges, are my new shoe obsession. Who knew they were so comfortable. They don't look it. I guess it is the platform coupled with the heel that makes that 5 inch heel only a 2 1/2 or 3 inch heel. I'm loving these babies for summer!

Send Her Home Already!

It's TORTURE to watch her dance. It's a dance contest, not a popularity contest. I can't stand it. It's worse than Cloris Leachman!

I Finally Saw Alice In Wonderland

and I LOVED IT! I think it is the best movie of it's genre since Lord of the Rings. It was a wonderful mix of actors and computer generated graphics, the characters were believable and drew you in. The scenery was detailed and I couldn't take my eyes off it, eye candy everywhere! I loved that there was no message, no brainwashing was involved about the enviroment, the government or races. It was just pure entertainment!

Mia Wasikowska was brillant as Alice. I loved her sweet English accent and her cheekiness. You believed in her from the moment she spoke. She pulled you in to her dreams.
I loved all the costumes. They were incredible. Um's dress was especially fine as was the dress the Mad Hatter made for alice when she grew too small and was put in the tea pot. Colleen Atwood is the costume designer, I see an Oscar in here future.
And then there is Johnny Depp, who thrives in these offbeat roles. He is the master of quirky and loveable. He was the ultimate Mad Hatter.

All the characters were incredible. I loved Helen Bonham Carter as the Red Queen and Crispin Clover as Stayne (HH recognized him as the George McFly from Back to the Future).

I can't wait to see this movie again. I might even buy it when it comes out on Blu Ray!