Summer Jaunts in the Bay Area

Beach combing in Davenport.

Wow, this week has flown by and I hardly have had time to catch my breath. I've had no blogging time or been able visiting my pals in the blogosphere either.  I am trying to catch up!

Hey and what about those Olympics? What a wonderful time suck. I'm crazy for London, so I am loving seeing all of that and of course the sports. Synchro diving? Wow. Even loved dressage and kayaking. I don't mind suffering through so much men's swimming. ;) So fun to watch it all. It would be a blast to be there. I'm like a zombie each night dragging my self to bed after NBC (don't even get me started on them) strings me along for those medal ceremonies until the bitter end of the broadcast at midnight or later! In the morning I've got TV hangover and can't get up. No wonder nothing is getting done!

My oldest has been away a tennis camp in Carmel Valley. This requires two weekends of trips down to Monterey Bay. Not so horrible actually, but driving and making little stops has taken lots of our week. I never went to Summer camp as a kid and neither did Max, and I was determined my sons might have that special experience of camp.  Carmel Valley Tennis Camp has been around forever has the feel of a real old-fashioned camp with tennis. Jackson went last year at age 12. I was sooo nervous about it. However, when he came back he wrote me a note saying," Thanks mom for letting me go to camp. It was the coolest thing I've ever done."

Jackson last year at camp.

 I was thrilled he had fun, especially since he went on his own without a friend. He is at the same camp this year and I highly recommend it if you have a child who is into tennis. Love this place!

Anyhow, I am still working on the second installment of my trip behind the redwood curtain, but I wanted to share some fun things we did this week in case you want to head out of town.

Small Griffin at Small Paul.

My younger son Griffin is really good about getting me out to do things and the two of us took a little trip up to San Francisco to get a few new school clothes and have lunch together. We usually don't get to spend a whole day with just the two of us. One of our first stops was checking out the Small Paul store, and then to Zara for the boy's section. He has been wanting some colored jeans and I knew Zara, which is Spain's version of the Gap, would have them and they did. I always love checking out Zara for myself too. I first fell in love with this store in France and England. I was so happy when they finally came to America. One thing I love is their coats and jackets. They always have a fantastic selection that are very current and fashionable without costing a ton. This time I bought a black and white zebra inspired scarf.  I think San Francisco is the only Northern Cal outpost of Zara, so it's worth a trip.



When we were up there we cruised between Post St and Maiden Lane and the general Union Square area. Love the windows at the new Prada store.  Dreaming of Checking out the latest bags..







And at Kate Spade. What's not to love in that store? I always have a wish list running in my mind when I visit there. Alas I had a small boy with me so, on to lunch..



We ate lunch at my very favorite new find, La Boulange! This French bakery is just so good.  Have I said that before about bakeries? The quality here is unmatched. The breads are heaven and very affordable. Baguettes are $2.00!  Well, I had a Croque Monsieur that was as good (or better actually, now that I think of it), than any served in France and healthy quinoa as my side. Grif had a hotdog in a croissant. Do not miss their home made potato chips. Yes, I ate those too!




After Grif and I spied a darling little sweet shop that we popped in. Fiona's Sweet Shoppe is a real discovery and unlike any candy shops around. It was opened by a Scottish doctor who came here and missed the treats from back home. They specialize in candies from the England and Scotland. They generously let us sample all kinds of unusual candies we had never known before. I am now in love with something called brown sugar cubes, which is soft black licorice covered in brown sugar. Griffin found a few new favorites too and we left with a bag for about $4.00! Another wonderful stop if you are up here for the day!





Okay one other fun idea for you this week.. Have you been berry picking lately? I haven't in many years. My friend Kim and her daughter Abby asked us to go strawberry picking in Davenport, near Santa Cruz. It's a quick 35 minute trip to Swanton Berry Farm where you can pick your own organic berries. They had a very cute farm with a pie shop, jams and other goodies too. It's on the honor system, so bring cash. You weigh it yourself, mark it, and leave your money. The kids loved picking their own. The day we went it was only us and two other families. I had forgotten what a blast this is and the strawberries are SO good.

After that we toodled back to Davenport, to check out the tide pools. I had no idea they even had a good beach there. I hate to even share this, but if you go down Davenport Landing Road, you will hit a very small parking spot and a very huge beach with tide pools to the left and right of the beach. Make sure you come at low tide and I recommend bringing a lunch. Not many good food options this way. Great spot for a lunch picnic here on the beach. Fabulous beach! Now, don't tell anyone...













After, on the way back to highways 1 and 17, you can make a stop in Downtown Santa Cruz for a treat. I am just getting reacquainted with this town again and loving spending time downtown. It's really become very hip and less hippy, if you get my drift. Kim and I grabbed coffee at the very cool Verve coffee house. We both agreed her cappuccino and my latte were the best coffee we have ever had. Seriously. Oh, and they make those cute hearts and stuff on your foam. Extra points for that!! Love the decor too. The finale to all this was a stop at The Penny Ice Creamery a very special local ice creamery with flavors like Earl of Grey, Strawberry Pink Peppercorn, and Burnt Cinnamon. They use only organic eggs, milk and sugar of course. The Penny Ice Creamery is pretty famous around here as they were invited to be Michelle Obama's guest at a State of the Union address last year, since they were able to open their business thanks to Obama's SBA Recovery Act. That act allowed them to get a loan for $250,000, which let them build and open the shop and eventually employ 11. Unbelievably cute shop where you can see them making the ice cream and totally deserving of a special trip. Abby had vanilla bean and Grif has plum sorbet. I am counting the days until I can go back and bring the rest of my family. It was a perfect Summer day trip if you are in these parts!

Here's to squeezing all you can out of that Summer! Enjoy.

xo

Kim

The Devil Inside

Today's going be a real, shorty-short one folks.
Why you my ask? Well I'm feeling a little lazy, but I also have to pack for my birthday weekend trip, so there.

Oh don't worry, I'll be back by Monday. And if not, well then I guess one of the fab Four(no not those fab four) can play rocks, paper, scissors to see who gets to run the House.

Knowing them, they'll just turn it into a frat house filled with strippers, loose women, and all the beer you can drink.

Well that just sucks; throwing a kick-ass party like that only after I'm gone. Some friends:(

Anyhoo,
today's short-shot involves the Blue Devil, so enjoy!

-Blue Devil climbs up out of the dark chamber.

Blue Devil: "Whew! Damn, that was some work climbing up out of there. Ugh! I think I saw my dignity and Dan Didio's soul down there. Coincidence? I think not."

-Blue Devil looks back down

"Yep. They're down there all right. And look, there's the entire pre-rebooted DCU continuity down there too. Huh. Far out. Sad, but far out."

What? Hey I feel as a paying customer, and yes I still do occasionally buy DC Comics,( But more often than not its the trades I buy nowadays) that I can readily and willfully rip on books that out right suck.

If you've followed this blog long enough, then it should be no surprise that I openly have disdain for Dan Didio and the current editorial regime over there. I'm not blaming, nor do I have issues with the characters themselves. I'm not because they're simply imaginary characters subject to the whim of the very company that owns them. So it's not their fault when they act uncharacteristically and say and do shit they wouldn't normally do(i.e. the current Justice League title). And no, I can't blame the entire company, since that entails blaming the production staff, trade paperback staff, and various other groups of workers. So I won't, although I will throw the crew responsible for the DCUC toy line in there based off the repeatedly stupid and asinine decisions they've made lately regarding that line's fate.
But that's besides the point.

I know I've bitched about this repeatedly, so I'll stop for now, but I abso-fucking-lutley hate the reboot! I don't care what people or some comic professionals say, the reboot makes no sense and is completely unnecessary. I'll leave it to other, more comic industry-oriented websites like Bleedingcool.com can supply you with the exact sales figures, but by and large they haven't super-boosted the industry. Some say it was the shot in the arm, the industry needed. Really? 30-odd years of continuity flushed down the drain just so the company could justify new shiny #1's and ugly costumes?

That and they needed to reboot everything just to publish digital comics?  I'm pretty sure they could have done that and left things they way they were. And aside from the horrible Teen Titans and Superboy rebooted relaunches, you honestly expect me to believe they couldn't have told the types of stories they have so far and put out the types of books they had without having to go through the rebooting process?

 Not buying it. Especially when you see titles like GL, Batman, and even Aquaman go on like nothing's really happened.

But I digress. I know, I know, I just have to get over it like everyone else did, but still......

Anyhoo, I'll leave you guys with something positive and fun, since I am Mr. Morbid and not Mr. Angry, and this is the House of Fun, and not the House of complaining. So with that in mind, here's some INXS, and their hit "Devil Inside."

Take it away boys!

Have a good weekend folks!

"Always bet on Black"

1st of the month mother-truckaaaaaaaaaaaas!
It's fun doing that. Oh the little pleasures we derive out of life, am I right?

Anyhoo, before I get to the main attraction, some quick shout-outs.

Two birthdays to celebrate today; one used to be fun to observe, and the other one is a new reason to celebrate the 1st of August, you know besides, it being....

courtesy of triggerandfreewheel.com

So birthday boy/entity numero uno, is MTV.

Ah yes MTV.
I've gone on a short rant before on the topic of MTV, and how far the concept and network have fallen since its golden days, a long, long time ago. So I won't go into all that again, but I will say this, it seems the network may have been ahead of the curve after all. How you say?
Well look at the programming they have on there; baby-mama drama, fist-pumping, alcohol-guzzling Guidos,   reboots of popular 80's movies, high school comedies, Jack-Ass rip-offs, and shows devoted to covering funny web blunders, you know, because there aren't enough of those types of shows already out there;(

It's the type of programming that's perfect for today's aggressively short-attention spanned teenager. Quite sad really.

And as I lamented before, the incredible lack of emphasis on what brought MTV to the dance in the first place: actual music! Well what passes for music these days, so don't ask me about that particular topic unless you want me to tell you when actual music was being made.

*SPOILER ALERT*

....It was before you were born!
Well maybe not Shlomo, but you get the point.

So yes, happy 31st birthday, MTV. You now largely irrelevant symbol of days long gone by.


And the other birthday?
Oh yeah, you know him as the host of his very own blog, and admitted collector of Barbie doll furniture(I think:)) Googum!

Yes our very own Big 'EMs aficionado turns.......IDK, but I probably won't want to know what it is in dog years:)

So do the big guy a favor and visit his blog, because frankly kids, he needs all the visitors he can get:)

I kid, I kid, He's doing fine.
So happy birthday Goo!

And now ladies and gentlemen, on to the main reason you come here, and I know its not the food:

"Always bet on black"

-Bronze Tiger walking along, minding his own business, when all of a sudden....

Spider-Man: "Hey, look who it is! Wow man, I've always been a big fan of your films."

Bronze Tiger: "Say what!?"

Spider-Man: "Yeah, I know you....you're Wesley Snipes. I loved Jungle Fever, Passenger 57, oh and all those Blade movies. If it wasn't for you, Marvel wouldn't be making so many kick-ass movies like it is now. Say, aren't you supposed to be in jail though? You know, for tax evasion?"

Bronze Tiger: "What!? What in the hell makes you think I'm Wesley Snipes? Oh you think just because I'm black and I know karate I just have to be Wesley Snipes then? That's just straight up racist man, damn!"


Spider-Man"Sorry man. It was an honest mistake."


Bronze Tiger(not Wesley Snipes): "Oh you're sorry now huh? You're gonna' be sorry in a minute after I kick your white, honkey-ass!"

Spider-Man: "Hey I'm not racist, honest to god! I have black friends, you know, like War Machine and Luke Cage."

Bronze Tiger: "Oh you think you're down because your friends with a poor-man's black Iron Man and Mr. Blackspolitation himself? That nigga' still thinks he's in the 70's, hanging out with his rich, crazy white friend with the Kung-Fu fetish and fucking green pajamas. Fuck that shit!"

Spider-Man: "Hey he's cool, I swear!"

                                Bronze Tiger: "Whatever cracker, I...wait a damn minute! That's not how I talk. I'm a respectable and well-educated man, not some puppet who has his strings pulled by some punk-ass puppet master."

-Both men look at the viewer/Puppet-Master.

Bronze Tiger: "Yeah, that explains everything. The hell with being played like this, I'm outta' here. And if I ever catch you manipulating me again, I'm gonna' show you why you always bet on black!"

Bronze Tiger: "Damn! he did it again!"

Spider-Man: "It happens." Shrugs shoulder

I know somewhere out there, Omega's just nodding his head, going "Right On!", and "Now why didn't I think of that?"

And on that note, here's a birthday dedication to all you lucky birthday boys and girls out there. Sing us out Stevie!

Peace folks!