The Circus is in town!

Circus Vargas 2009
http://www.circusvargas.org

I haven't been to the Big Top in eons (Cirque du Soleil doesn't count - I'm talking a real circus), so I'm excited about taking my little one to see it today. They have a special interactive pre-show for the kids as well. Tickets are a bit pricey, but it depends on the section seats you purchase.

Strawberry Festival in Oxnard, CA

The 26th Annual Strawberry Festival is happening this weekend - May 16 & 17 in Oxnard.

Strawberry Festival Info:
Strawberry Meadows of College Park
3250 South Rose Avenue
Oxnard, CA
1-888-288-9242
http://www.strawberry-fest.org/

I took my 4 year old daughter today and we had a great time. Kids 4 years old and under are free. Plus all of the rides and shows inside are free.

They do a great job catering to kids with a merry go round, a choo choo train, face painting, shows for kids (magician, clowns, music), and a scarier swinging boat ride for older kids. Bales of hay all around for sitting and enjoying strawberries.

Ticket Prices:
Adult admission = $12

Seniors (62+) = $8

Youths (5-12) = $5

Active military and dependents with ID = $8

Children 4 and under are FREE.

Upside:
Of course the strawberries! Including strawberry: beer, champagne, nachos, a build your own strawberry shortcake, etc.

Downside:
The long lines for everything. Last year they had 60,000 visitors and they're expecting even more this year. So expect long lines especially at the food booths. Some of the booths also sold out.

Tips:

1. Although it was hot in LA, it was fairly chilly in Oxnard with the cloud cover. So bring a thin jacket or sweater.
2. Take the 118 fwy. Do NOT take the 101 unless you love sitting in bumper to bumper traffic.
3. Park on the outskirts and walk in. I made the mistake of parking in the parking lot. It took an hour to go less than a mile to finally park. Once you get stuck in the Que - it's impossible to get out. Don't make the same mistake!
4. The website went down the morning of the festival - I guess too many ppl were accessing it - so make sure you get all the info you need the day before. Or you can call the toll free number I have above for the recorded information message.

Click here to see more photos of us.

My Mother's Day Gift

U. got me this original print by @gapingvoid for Mother's Day. How true this statement is! As soon as we get it framed, we're going to hang it up so we can see it everyday.

The key is to find other lone wolves. =)

The Joy of Gardening

Here's my story of a novice gardener's 1st organic vegetable garden.

Living on a hillside, having a garden is difficult without terracing. However there's a small, flat area of land that I had in mind for years. So 6 years after purchasing our home, and with my daughter's 4th birthday fast approaching, I woke up one morning determined to give my 1st garden a try.Beginning Stage:

An out of control mound of weeds. Astrid was out there helping me pull weeds. It took a good 2 hours to clear all the weeds.

My mom has a green thumb and I grew up watching her create all sorts of gardens. But I had never tried to grow anything on my own, and more importantly never thought I would be good at it. So now as a mom myself, I felt it important that I at least try especially for Astrid's benefit, to see where food comes from.Vision:

An organic vegetable garden after a lot of sweat and muscle.

My sweet husband came out with some ice water and asked how we were doing. I told him he could help by pulling some weeds and gathering them up for the green garbage. He mentioned his hay fever and said he was in the house doing laundry and washing the dishes. We both burst out laughing at the irony of the women doing yard work and the man of the house staying indoors cleaning and washing.

If I had my choice, I'd be outdoors in my garden. And I was glad he was there with his camera to take some photos of us.After laying down 2 bags of organic fertilizer and planting the seeds - here is what the garden looked like. A month later:

My tranquil, organic vegetable garden. I love it and so does my daughter. I needn't worry about forgetting to water it because my daughter reminds me everyday that we need to water the garden - morning and night.

I wasn't sure if I'd have any luck with seeds, but everything came up eventually.Butter Lettuce. Carrots. Pumpkin. They're already growing like crazy and I have a feeling they will take over the garden. Hoping for a couple pumpkins in time for Halloween.Tomato plants. Onions. End product:

Freshly picked lettuce we made into a salad with organic tomatoes and a vinaigrette. Something very satisfying about eating veggies from your own garden. However, next time I don't think I'll be growing lettuce again. It takes a lot of water and as you can see after all that we had 1 serving of lettuce.

Next I would like to try Brussel sprouts and hardier veggies, now that I'm a bit more confident of my abilities and what my garden will grow.

It feels good to learn something new and try something that I've never tried before. While I'm watering my garden I have some quiet time to meditate each day. I need that tranquility and peace, which my garden gives me. Now I get why my mom was so into gardening. It took me awhile but I finally get it.

"The Road" - In Movie Theaters October 16, 2009

"The Road" movie- based on the Pulitzer Prize-winner bestseller from acclaimed novelist Cormac McCarthy ("No Country For Old Men") is set to hit movie theaters this October. "The Road" is a dramatic thriller/sci-fi story about a father and his young son struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic America. All they have is each other.

The book was my favorite of last year. The bond and love between father and his young son and the sci-fi description of a cruel/devastated world in the future, had such brilliant writing, I ended up finishing the book in one sitting & even convinced my husband to read the book. I've been looking forward to the movie ever since. If done right it should be a beautiful movie that will move you to tears and haunt you for weeks afterward. Previously I read that it ran into budget/financing problems and they didn't even think it would be released - but now it looks like it will be.

In the movie "The Road" the father is played by Oscar nominee Viggo Mortensen, and son by newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee. Oscar winners Robert Duvall (who plays the Old Man) and Charlize Theron (who plays the wife appearing in flashbacks) make brief but "resonating appearances". The movie is done by The Weinstein Company (the same studio that did "No Country For Old Men").

Can't wait to see it on the big screen!