So my time here is up and we're heading home. Thanks to all of you for your interest in my blog and your comments. I've realized that I really enjoy writing and I think I would like to pursue it further in some capacity.
My blogging days are over for now. If any of you are just dying to fill the blog-sized hole that will be left behind, you should check out my friend Kirstie's blog at http://kirstie-seizetheday.blogspot.ca/. If you think my blog was at any time a little bit funny you'll think that Kirstie's is HILARIOUS. Her blog is also based on a really great project that she's doing and it's got a lot of heart behind it. But most of all it's super funny.
So thanks for sharing a little bit of your time with me and I'll see you all soon!
Love,
Melissa.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The Top 10... 12... 16 Things I've Done While Living in L.A.
Well it's 3 days and counting until we return to the Great White North. Thank goodness it won't actually be white because I don't think I could handle it. I need to be eased into winter gradually. Luckily that happens with a little something called autumn.
Anyway, I'm feeling a little bit weird as we pack up and I see people for the last time. Mostly I'm excited to go home though. I'll miss the weather but I feel as though I've done most of the things that I wanted to do here. Here's a list of what some of those things were (in no particular order):
1. Went to a watermelon farm
It actually had way more than just watermelons but we got to take home our own little watermelon at the end of the tour
Here we are having a picnic, Alberta-style in the
back of Ol' Blue (may he rest in peace)
2. Participated in a flash mob
This was such a great experience and everyone should do it at some point in their lives! It was part of a wedding proposal on the Santa Monica Pier. It was one of those things that I didn't know if I would have the guts to do it but it was super fun.
I don't know if this link will work for you but you can try to watch the video:
http://youtu.be/6JVIXk1X3XM
3. Auditioned for and sang with 2 new choirs
I've sung with the same choir for 16 years and I didn't ever really audition for it so it was another thing I didn't think I would have the guts to do. The two choirs I sang with were wildly different but both great experiences. This leads me to the next item on the list...
4. Sang the Mahler 8 with the L.A. Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel
So I didn't know who Dudamel was before either but he's pretty much the most famous conductor in the world. He's a musical genius and all around phenomenal person. I had to do a separate audition in order to participate but it was totally worth it. I got to sing with 600 other singers and 400 musicians. The music was reverberating through my whole body.
5. Did a beach bootcamp class
The class itself was nothing special but it was so cool exercising on the sand. When I didn't have one or both of my kids with me (which was most of the time. Thanks, David!) I would also go down by the water and stretch and meditate for a few minutes. Sweet!
6. Watched the Disneyland fireworks with Asha and my nephew Tyler
These were the best fireworks I've ever seen and the kids' reactions to them were so wonderful. Asha said, and I quote, "it's like there's no tomorrow!!".
7. Moved into a much smaller house
I realized that a smaller house is cozier, easier to keep clean, and a much more efficient use of space and money. I also put my girls in a bedroom together which I never would have done if I hadn't been forced to. Even if we live in a 3 bedroom house in the future I will still have them in a room together.
8. Saw the sequoias
Have I mentioned the sequoias yet? Ha ha! Should I post some more pictures to illustrate just how big and beautiful they are?
9. Went to the Coachella Music Festival
It was the music festival to beat all music festivals. The lineup was AMAZING and the quality of the concerts was better than any I've ever been to. It was ridiculously hot out in the desert but completely worth it. I mean, I got to see the hologram of Tupac Shakur. Are you kidding me?!!
I like to call this picture "label the body part".
The people in front of us decided to hoist eachother
up right before I took this picture. I have no idea
what body parts these are. But anyway, see Tupac
in between the mystery body parts?
10. Tried having only one vehicle for our family
Note the word "tried". It was not very successful. I would like to blame this on the embarrassingly horrible public transit system in Los Angeles. That was a factor but I didn't really try that hard. I just couldn't get myself to haul two kids to the bus stop then wait for the bus and then sit on the bus listening to teenagers swear in front of my kids. Maybe I'll try again when I live somewhere where there is a subway system that is actually adequate. Or maybe I won't...
11. Subscribed to a CSA box
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. When you subscribe to a CSA you get a bundle of produce from local farms every week (or every second week in our case). It's a great way to get super fresh produce, support local farms, and try new things. I hadn't heard of many of the fruits and veggies that we got (pomelos? joi choi?) and there were lots that I knew of but hadn't really tried (mustard greens, blood oranges, artichokes).
Each time we picked up our bundle we would
ceremoniously take it out, lay it on the table and
take a picture if it was particularly colourful
The have CSA's in Canada too but I'm pretty sure it's not the same as in California!
12. Oilers game in a different city
I already wrote a whole post about this but it had to go on my list
13. Kids' yoga class
Asha joined a kids' yoga class which was fantastic. Her teacher is phenomenal and the class was really fun. At the end of each class they have a minute of quiet meditation. At first Asha would spend the whole time telling on kids whose eyes were open (obviously missing the irony that in order to see them she must have her eyes open). Well now she can actually sit quietly for 1 whole minute! This is amazing since she literally is only silent when she is sleeping, and even then she often talks in her sleep.
14. Saw wild dolphins in the ocean
This wasn't one of those resort, quasi-natural swim with the dolphins situations. We were just down at the beach and we saw dolphins playing out in the waves. It was so cool! We've seen seals a few times too. When I was waiting to do the aforementioned flash mob on the Santa Monica Pier it was SO cold. It was super windy and rainy and the only time in California that I've been genuinely freezing cold. Then I looked over the edge of the pier at the huge waves and saw 3 seals having a blast playing in the waves. It made me stop feeling sorry for myself!
15. Hosted visitors
We had so many visitors it was difficult to schedule them in sometimes! We also had a few repeaters. My mom wins the prize for a total of 3 visits! One of my favourite things to do was greet arriving visitors. The people arriving from Canada always come down a specific escalator in LAX so I would stand at the bottom of it to wait for them. It was so fun because most people on a flight between Edmonton and L.A. don't have people meeting them!
16. Got the opportunity to really choose where we wanted to live
Most of the time the place where we live is determined by external factors (where we're born, where we go to school or get a job). That has been the case for me for my whole life so far. We had some choice in where we went for David to go to school but there were only so many Real Estate Development programs and the one in USC is one of the best. Well now that David's program is done we could pretty much go anywhere we wanted. We could stay in L.A., move to another U.S. city, or move anywhere else in the world for that matter! Well we're as shocked as anyone to discover that where we want to be is Edmonton. That is ultimately the place we call home.
Anyway, I'm feeling a little bit weird as we pack up and I see people for the last time. Mostly I'm excited to go home though. I'll miss the weather but I feel as though I've done most of the things that I wanted to do here. Here's a list of what some of those things were (in no particular order):
1. Went to a watermelon farm
It actually had way more than just watermelons but we got to take home our own little watermelon at the end of the tour
back of Ol' Blue (may he rest in peace)
2. Participated in a flash mob
This was such a great experience and everyone should do it at some point in their lives! It was part of a wedding proposal on the Santa Monica Pier. It was one of those things that I didn't know if I would have the guts to do it but it was super fun.
I don't know if this link will work for you but you can try to watch the video:
http://youtu.be/6JVIXk1X3XM
3. Auditioned for and sang with 2 new choirs
I've sung with the same choir for 16 years and I didn't ever really audition for it so it was another thing I didn't think I would have the guts to do. The two choirs I sang with were wildly different but both great experiences. This leads me to the next item on the list...
4. Sang the Mahler 8 with the L.A. Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel
So I didn't know who Dudamel was before either but he's pretty much the most famous conductor in the world. He's a musical genius and all around phenomenal person. I had to do a separate audition in order to participate but it was totally worth it. I got to sing with 600 other singers and 400 musicians. The music was reverberating through my whole body.
5. Did a beach bootcamp class
The class itself was nothing special but it was so cool exercising on the sand. When I didn't have one or both of my kids with me (which was most of the time. Thanks, David!) I would also go down by the water and stretch and meditate for a few minutes. Sweet!
6. Watched the Disneyland fireworks with Asha and my nephew Tyler
These were the best fireworks I've ever seen and the kids' reactions to them were so wonderful. Asha said, and I quote, "it's like there's no tomorrow!!".
7. Moved into a much smaller house
I realized that a smaller house is cozier, easier to keep clean, and a much more efficient use of space and money. I also put my girls in a bedroom together which I never would have done if I hadn't been forced to. Even if we live in a 3 bedroom house in the future I will still have them in a room together.
8. Saw the sequoias
Have I mentioned the sequoias yet? Ha ha! Should I post some more pictures to illustrate just how big and beautiful they are?
9. Went to the Coachella Music Festival
It was the music festival to beat all music festivals. The lineup was AMAZING and the quality of the concerts was better than any I've ever been to. It was ridiculously hot out in the desert but completely worth it. I mean, I got to see the hologram of Tupac Shakur. Are you kidding me?!!
The people in front of us decided to hoist eachother
up right before I took this picture. I have no idea
what body parts these are. But anyway, see Tupac
in between the mystery body parts?
10. Tried having only one vehicle for our family
Note the word "tried". It was not very successful. I would like to blame this on the embarrassingly horrible public transit system in Los Angeles. That was a factor but I didn't really try that hard. I just couldn't get myself to haul two kids to the bus stop then wait for the bus and then sit on the bus listening to teenagers swear in front of my kids. Maybe I'll try again when I live somewhere where there is a subway system that is actually adequate. Or maybe I won't...
11. Subscribed to a CSA box
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. When you subscribe to a CSA you get a bundle of produce from local farms every week (or every second week in our case). It's a great way to get super fresh produce, support local farms, and try new things. I hadn't heard of many of the fruits and veggies that we got (pomelos? joi choi?) and there were lots that I knew of but hadn't really tried (mustard greens, blood oranges, artichokes).
ceremoniously take it out, lay it on the table and
take a picture if it was particularly colourful
The have CSA's in Canada too but I'm pretty sure it's not the same as in California!
12. Oilers game in a different city
I already wrote a whole post about this but it had to go on my list
13. Kids' yoga class
Asha joined a kids' yoga class which was fantastic. Her teacher is phenomenal and the class was really fun. At the end of each class they have a minute of quiet meditation. At first Asha would spend the whole time telling on kids whose eyes were open (obviously missing the irony that in order to see them she must have her eyes open). Well now she can actually sit quietly for 1 whole minute! This is amazing since she literally is only silent when she is sleeping, and even then she often talks in her sleep.
14. Saw wild dolphins in the ocean
This wasn't one of those resort, quasi-natural swim with the dolphins situations. We were just down at the beach and we saw dolphins playing out in the waves. It was so cool! We've seen seals a few times too. When I was waiting to do the aforementioned flash mob on the Santa Monica Pier it was SO cold. It was super windy and rainy and the only time in California that I've been genuinely freezing cold. Then I looked over the edge of the pier at the huge waves and saw 3 seals having a blast playing in the waves. It made me stop feeling sorry for myself!
15. Hosted visitors
We had so many visitors it was difficult to schedule them in sometimes! We also had a few repeaters. My mom wins the prize for a total of 3 visits! One of my favourite things to do was greet arriving visitors. The people arriving from Canada always come down a specific escalator in LAX so I would stand at the bottom of it to wait for them. It was so fun because most people on a flight between Edmonton and L.A. don't have people meeting them!
16. Got the opportunity to really choose where we wanted to live
Most of the time the place where we live is determined by external factors (where we're born, where we go to school or get a job). That has been the case for me for my whole life so far. We had some choice in where we went for David to go to school but there were only so many Real Estate Development programs and the one in USC is one of the best. Well now that David's program is done we could pretty much go anywhere we wanted. We could stay in L.A., move to another U.S. city, or move anywhere else in the world for that matter! Well we're as shocked as anyone to discover that where we want to be is Edmonton. That is ultimately the place we call home.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Walking Amongst Giants (and Junk)
Oh my goodness, it's almost been a month since I last wrote a blog post. I'm officially not a very good blogger. Well if there's anyone out there left reading this, I apologize! I sort of wait until a post forms itself in my mind and then write it and that just hasn't happened lately. That is, until last week.
So, when you think of California, what comes to mind? Seriously, I'm curious what sorts of words pop into your heads. Maybe warm weather and beaches? Celebrities and beautiful, shallow people? Horrendous traffic? Well how about breath-taking scenery and natural phenomena? Did you know that California is the home of the following: the oldest living tree, the tallest tree species, and the biggest tree in the world?
Well I saw the General Sherman, the biggest tree in the world last week. We went on a road trip to Sequoia National Park. Words seriously can not describe how amazing the sequoias are. David keeps making fun of me because I'm obsessed with these trees. It's not just that they're so big but that they're really, truly beautiful.
I mean, are you kidding me?! They look like two
giant dinosaur feet! P.S. I finally figured out how
to insert pictures! Yay!
The main reason that the sequoias are so big is that they are pretty much immune to the things that kill other types of trees. Guess what the top killer of sequoia trees is? Bugs? Nope. Fungus? Uh uh. Forest fires? We saw a cross section of a tree with 80 fire scars! Nope, the number one killer, and really the only thing that kills these trees is... toppling over. They get so friggin' big that they can't hold themselves up anymore. And one of the things that makes them so beautiful is also what protects them. They have excessive amounts of tannin in their bark which gives them their beautiful red colour but also makes them unpalatable to insects and fungus.
General Sherman, the biggest sequoia of them all is not actually the tallest or the widest but it has the most volume because it tapers very little toward the top. It's volume increases by the equivalent of another very large tree every year. As we walked toward the grove of sequoias and they came into sight my mouth was literally hanging open. I was like a cartoon character who sees a beautiful girl with my eyes bugging out and my tongue lolling. I felt like I was suddenly thrust into world 4 of Super Mario 3, minus the giant fish trying to eat me, of course.
Sorry that this picture is so annoyingly big but I'm trying to give you a sense of the scale here.
Can you see the people standing in front of the tree in the middle?
There was one tree that had fallen down and was completely hollowed out so you could walk down the length of it. This tree had been used as a shelter, a saloon, and a horse corral. The trees were once logged but now they're protected. We saw one stump of a tree that took 13 days to cut down.
These trees are also incredibly old. General Sherman is about 3,000 years old. So it was a pretty old tree already when the bible was being written.
So anyway, I'll stop obsessing about the sequoias now. All I will say is that every single person should see these trees at some point in his or her life. The shocking thing is that not a single person that I have talked to in L.A. about our trip has seen the sequoias. The world's biggest tree is less than 4 hours away and they haven't even seen it?!!
Another cool thing we did on our trip is a cave tour. We were there during the off-peak season so we got our own private tour (which was good because she was able to answer ALL of Asha's many questions). The cave is in a mountain made of solid marble. The formations inside are formed by water making its way through the mountain and leaving behind calcite deposits. The formations were truly breath-taking. Asha liked them because they were all named after food (stack of pancakes, popcorn, lasagne noodles). Nia was completely mesmerized and kept pointing all over. I wonder if later in life she'll have crazy dreams about wierd, wavy rocks and gigantic trees!
As we were walking through the cave a drop of water landed on my head, what is called a "cave kiss". The tour guide told us that it takes between 500 and 800 years for the water to make its way through the mountain into the cave. So the water that fell on my head had rained at least 500 years before!! Isn't that amazing!?
So, when you think of California, what comes to mind? Seriously, I'm curious what sorts of words pop into your heads. Maybe warm weather and beaches? Celebrities and beautiful, shallow people? Horrendous traffic? Well how about breath-taking scenery and natural phenomena? Did you know that California is the home of the following: the oldest living tree, the tallest tree species, and the biggest tree in the world?
Well I saw the General Sherman, the biggest tree in the world last week. We went on a road trip to Sequoia National Park. Words seriously can not describe how amazing the sequoias are. David keeps making fun of me because I'm obsessed with these trees. It's not just that they're so big but that they're really, truly beautiful.
giant dinosaur feet! P.S. I finally figured out how
to insert pictures! Yay!
The main reason that the sequoias are so big is that they are pretty much immune to the things that kill other types of trees. Guess what the top killer of sequoia trees is? Bugs? Nope. Fungus? Uh uh. Forest fires? We saw a cross section of a tree with 80 fire scars! Nope, the number one killer, and really the only thing that kills these trees is... toppling over. They get so friggin' big that they can't hold themselves up anymore. And one of the things that makes them so beautiful is also what protects them. They have excessive amounts of tannin in their bark which gives them their beautiful red colour but also makes them unpalatable to insects and fungus.
General Sherman, the biggest sequoia of them all is not actually the tallest or the widest but it has the most volume because it tapers very little toward the top. It's volume increases by the equivalent of another very large tree every year. As we walked toward the grove of sequoias and they came into sight my mouth was literally hanging open. I was like a cartoon character who sees a beautiful girl with my eyes bugging out and my tongue lolling. I felt like I was suddenly thrust into world 4 of Super Mario 3, minus the giant fish trying to eat me, of course.
Can you see the people standing in front of the tree in the middle?
There was one tree that had fallen down and was completely hollowed out so you could walk down the length of it. This tree had been used as a shelter, a saloon, and a horse corral. The trees were once logged but now they're protected. We saw one stump of a tree that took 13 days to cut down.
These trees are also incredibly old. General Sherman is about 3,000 years old. So it was a pretty old tree already when the bible was being written.
So anyway, I'll stop obsessing about the sequoias now. All I will say is that every single person should see these trees at some point in his or her life. The shocking thing is that not a single person that I have talked to in L.A. about our trip has seen the sequoias. The world's biggest tree is less than 4 hours away and they haven't even seen it?!!
Another cool thing we did on our trip is a cave tour. We were there during the off-peak season so we got our own private tour (which was good because she was able to answer ALL of Asha's many questions). The cave is in a mountain made of solid marble. The formations inside are formed by water making its way through the mountain and leaving behind calcite deposits. The formations were truly breath-taking. Asha liked them because they were all named after food (stack of pancakes, popcorn, lasagne noodles). Nia was completely mesmerized and kept pointing all over. I wonder if later in life she'll have crazy dreams about wierd, wavy rocks and gigantic trees!
As we were walking through the cave a drop of water landed on my head, what is called a "cave kiss". The tour guide told us that it takes between 500 and 800 years for the water to make its way through the mountain into the cave. So the water that fell on my head had rained at least 500 years before!! Isn't that amazing!?
Well now I'm just going crazy with the pictures!
The cave formations are hard to capture on film
but here you go!
At the end of our trip we decided to head out west so we could drive back down the coast. Most people visit the Cambria area to see Hearst Castle. It has been dubbed "America's castle" and was build by William Randolph Hearst, the publishing bagillionaire. It's supposedly very extravagant and opulent. A couple of people told David we shouldn't miss it. Well, it's not really our style so we skipped it.
We did, however, go to a place called Nit Wit Ridge. It's a house that was built by a guy named Art Beal. He bought the land for $500 and built the entire house out of repurposed items (also known as junk). He did all the stonework, plumbing, and wiring himself. He was the town garbage man and rumour has it he didn't actually take anything to the dump but kept ALL of it. He has picture frames made out of toilet seats. The handrails are functioning pipes that water runs through.
Nit Wit Ridge
The guy was a total nutcase but it was pretty amazing how industrious he was and how he found beauty in unusual items. He has integrated into the stonework hundreds of abalone shells that he got from the plant where they removed the meat and threw out the shells.
The residents of the town are divided between folks who think the house is a heritage site that should be preserved and people who think it's an eyesore that should be torn down. Our family was also divided. I thought it was fascinating and a testament to what can be done with stuff people throw away, some ingenuity, and a whole lotta time. David found the entire tour uncomfortable and couldn't get past the glaring building code violations. I suppose it's like if there was a person who didn't know how to fix speech and language problems but they got a bunch of kids and tried to give them speech therapy. Then someone put on tours so people could look at all the screwed up little kids!
So, that's our little road trip in a nutshell. We successfully logged many hours in a car, minus a DVD player I might add! After 4 days we were more than ready to go home. Once again, the term "home" was confusing because we alternately called our hotel room, Los Angeles, and Edmonton "home". I have a new obsession with sequoia trees and renewed sense of awe for nature.
Now for the super fun job of packing up our house!
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