food truck lunch

 On the way to a wholesale nursery in Torrance, CA we were driving on the 405 and saw a sign at a business/retail park that food trucks would be  there today from 11 to noon.  We left the nursery feeling pretty good having selected the plants for the backyard.  The last little bit of this year long renovation project and the house is done...at least for now....  And we had impeccable timing. It's a beautiful day, 77º and not a cloud in the sky. 

 Everything looked amazing...Food trucks are so clean....I love that.

There was a large courtyard with tables, chairs and even a fire pit.

 The tacos were delicious and well priced.  Lunch for $5 included a soda.

Ladies Lunch

I had the privilege of hosting  a small lunch today for two amazing women who I am sponsoring and their co-sponsors for the National Charity League.  If you know about NCL then you know it is a philanthropic organization that fosters the mother-daughter relationship through community service, leadership and cultural experiences.  NCL was established in 1925 in Los Angeles, CA and now has more than 160 chapters in 17 states.  Girls and their mothers join in 7th grade and go through 12th grade.  My daughter and I first joined in New Canaan, CT and then transferred to a league when we moved to Southern California. The experience has been rewarding in countless ways.  We have been fortunate to meet and become close friends with many wonderful women and their daughters while working in the community.

I served Ina Garten's Goat Cheese Tart from her Back to Basics cook book.  You can find the recipe here. 

The salad was from Giada DeLaurentis.  It is arugula with a lemon vinaigrette and the recipe can be found here.
Lorna's cookies and coffee for dessert.  See my post
about her gorgeous pinwheel cookies here.


 

 

The Getty in the Rain...

Visiting the Getty in the rain actually turned out to be quite nice.  It was a chance to really take in the beauty of the Getty itself.  We arrived shortly after the museum opened and it was so nice to see all the open spaces without the distraction of lots of people moving about.  It may have been a disappointment to those visiting for the first time because there was limited visibility on Sunday and normally the views are spectacular.  The mood was still pleasant and the docents were all as helpful and wonderful as if it were 73 degrees and sunny.  And as you can see, there was no shortage of umbrellas.  At one point during lunch my 11 year old asked if we would be leaving soon.  His 16 year old sister replied, "oh, no we still have the lecture and the IMAX!"  It really was a well, lovely day the Getty!

Happy New Year

P e a c e  .  L o v e  .  H o p e

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's pouring rain in Southern California and with temperatures in the 60s there is no chance of the rain turning to snow.  This was the photo from our Christmas card when we lived in Connecticut in 2002.  I was still using film back then so it wasn't until a few days later that I realized I had this shot.  I'm pretty sure this was the first photo I took that day and their instincts were of course to catch snowflakes...perfect!

I would like to think I give quite a bit of thought every year into our family Christmas cards...but this one is still our favorite.

We loved the photo so much we had it enlarged to 60 x 40 and it hangs in our stairway with our other black and white photos.

l o v e l y t h i n g s t h u r s d a y

A visit to Bristol Farms market is always a treat...but at the holidays it's simply wonderful.  And they have the best breakfast in their cafe for $3.99!

before & after living room plus a new holiday tradition

This was our living room before...

One year later.... The height of the moldings on the walls were designed to incorporate our wave and pier photos taken by surf photographer Tom Servais.

We collect sand from every beach when we travel.

The long mantel gave me plenty of room to add a new family tradition.  24 days until Christmas.  Each day my kids take turns opening a small gift counting down to December 25th.  They are so thrilled, but I think it may have been more fun for me to find 12 little gifts for each of them that were meaningful and without spending a small fortune.

The entire mantel, built in bookcases and white brick was inspired by a photo in House beautiful October 2009.  The room was designed by Aaron Home and the title was, "You'll Never Get Tired of Keeping it Simple."  It was perfect!  Our contractor added a few things that made it look more traditional, but what I loved about it were the clean simple lines...so it went back to the original plan.  I have always loved white brick and we were able to use it into a few areas around our house.

                                             Aaron Hom design as seen in House Beautiful.