The Artichoke Flower

Isn't it amazing when you find something new; something that you never even knew existed, but that is so beautiful and unique? That's how it was for me on Saturday when I stopped by the artichoke stand at the farmer's market with Jody and saw this huge plant/flower "thing". I immediately asked the woman at the stand what it was and what you do with it. "It's an artichoke flower" she said and continued to tell me that if you don't cut the artichoke off of it's huge stem to eat it, it actually flowers and looks like this:

I find it to be so spectacular. I immediately bought one for $5 and carried it around the farmer's market for the next 30 minutes or more, making marks all over my arm because it's really heavy! I got it home, put it in a vase with some glass rocks so the vase wouldn't fall over, and am now enjoying it every day. The woman at the stand said that it should last 3 weeks, so we'll see. Lee said it's the best $5 I ever spent because I was outside forever on Sunday photographing it - what a perfect subject. I think I took 100 pictures :) Here are my favorites....

I took these pictures so you can understand how big it is....HUGE!





So my challenge for all of you today is to learn something new or discover something that you never knew existed - anything. Maybe you already have by reading this post :) Be aware and in the moment....it's amazing what life will show you.

kids, a dog, and a flower

Yesterday I mentioned that I forgot to post this picture; sadly the only one I have of Max. These boys are so adorable!

I know I post a ton of pictures of Rocky, but I can't help myself this time because I'm in love with how these two pictures turned out. Of course they always look so much better on my big computer screen at home then they do on my blog (mostly because they're alot smaller here). I am in the process of working on getting bigger pictures on my blog - hopefully that will happen soon.

So as I was baking away on Sunday, Rocky was laying in the only patch of sunlight in the house and of course I thought it was the cutest thing ever because Rocky really IS the cutest thing ever :)

And here is a little sneak peak of the next post that I'll be blogging either tomorrow or later this week.....The Artichoke Flower......

My weekend and more from Denver

I thought that since it's Monday, I'd start my post with a recap of my weekend for anyone who's interested and maybe this will start a tradition for every Monday post. Not that my life is super exciting and fabulous, but I always seem to have so much going on. This weekend however, I spent a lot of time at home which was very much needed.

Friday night, Lee and I went to a birthday party for our friend Frank who just turned 21....I mean 31 :( We enjoyed a few beverages and fun conversation with our friends.

Saturday morning I went to the farmer's market with my friend Jody where I purchased an incredible artichoke flower (if you don't know what that is, check my blog later this week). After the market, we went to brunch in Venice Beach and had such a good time talking. Jody always has such good advice and encouraging things to say - she's like a big sister to me and I love her!

Later on Saturday, I washed my car without using any water! A few months ago I went to an alternative fuel car show and purchased Lucky Earth Car Wash which is an environmentally safe and non toxic spray that can clean your whole car without water. Saturday was the first time I used it and it really does work. You need about 6 microfiber cloths and an hour of your time, but it's a great way to help the environment. After the exercise I got from "washing" my car, I sat on the couch and watched movies all night. My picks were The Jane Austen Book Club and Weeds Season Three -disc one, both of which I enjoyed. (Lee did not watch the Jane movie with me if any of you are wondering. He's a great man, but doesn't really give in to chick flicks)

Sunday was spent baking with some of the fruit I bought at the farmers market. Did you know that there are at least 5 different varieties of strawberries grown in California? I found this out from a vendor on Saturday. Anyway, I used the Diamantes that I bought to make strawberry bread which turned out to be amazing! After the bread, I spent three hours making a butterscotch-praline cream pie which we took to our friends John & Paula's house for dessert and it was divine. I think Lee was in heaven yesterday. I also did a photo shoot later in the day with my artichoke flower - haha. I can't wait to share the pictures with you.

So that was my weekend. It was extremely domestic, but so much fun. Thanks for reading!

Below are more pictures from our trip to Denver:

Debbie and her family have a dog named Rocky. Their Rocky is a bit bigger than my Rocky and named for the Rocky mountains as opposed to Rock Balboa

Alexa - the oldest and only girl!



Joey who is number three


And more of Teddy - the baby of the bunch, but the most rambunctious

He wants to play every sport that his brothers play.

The only picture I'm missing in one of Max who is number 2. I will post that later this week.

Happy Monday!!!

How many grains of rice have YOU donated today?

So far today I've donated 120 grains of rice and learned 3 new words!! Check out Free Rice and learn how you can help end world hunger AND increase your vocabulary - it's amazing.

About FreeRice:

FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com.

FreeRice has two goals:
1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.

Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself. Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Thank you.

Teddy at the pool

Teddy will only be 3 in August and he's already taking swimming lessons. As I'm not a mom yet, I didn't realize that kids actually learn how to swim this young - amazing. I didn't start until I was 5 and I thought that was early! I tagged along for Teddy's swim lesson so that I could see what they were teaching and how cute Teddy was at learning. Enjoy....


The instructors gave Teddy a special pair of shark goggles



One of the first things that they want the kids to learn is to go under the water. One easy way to get them to do that is have them jump into the pool while the parent "catches them" and dunks them under.









And here is Teddy after his swim lesson all wrapped up in a warm towel :)

Lee & Teddy

Lee and I spent Memorial Day weekend in Denver visiting his sister Debbie and her most adorable family. We had the best time doing all sorts of family stuff while enjoying the incredible crisp and smog-free air! Too bad we don't live closer to them because we have such a good time together. Maybe someday....you never know where life will take you :) Teddy is the youngest of Debbie's clan (4 gorgeous kids) and he is definitely a charmer ;) He was sitting on Lee's lap one night because Lee was making him cheese and cracker sandwiches - so cute! Instead of saying cheese while I was taking the pics, Lee got Teddy saying "cheese and crackers".

More to come this week of the other kids and Colin's B-day party.

And by the way, Sex and the City was SO SO good!!

Tomorrow Night

Guess what I'll be doing at 11:35 Pm tomorrow night? That's right, I'll be on the edge of my seat watching the Sex and the City movie anticipating what I predict is going to happen. I've watched the trailers enough times now to have drawn my own conclusion of the story, so we'll see if I'm right.

Since I've been watching the trailer so much lately and getting ready for the movie, I've been thinking about the 6 incredible years that I spent in NYC and missing it terribly. Don't get me wrong, I love my life here in LA, but there is something so intense and electric about New York that is virtually impossible to find anywhere else and that's SO different than LA, especially Santa Monica :)

I remember getting together with all of my girlfriends every Sunday night at a different apartment around the city to watch the show, starting in college all the way until right before I moved away. The groups of friends changed a bit, but the love for the show stayed the same. I felt like Sex and the City WAS my life, just in a much more fabulous and expensive way - ha!

So as I'm watching Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha on the big screen tomorrow night, I'll really be thinking about all of the amazing memories I have of New York and all of the incredible women who I met and remain my friends to this day.