Hope you all survived your Mondays! It's been busy around here... really busy! But, I was thrilled to have a really great family weekend that provided a bit of a break amidst the constant work and stress. We drove down to LA and fueled up for the day at one of our favorite spots in West Hollywood - Swingers. Then, I dragged Jerry and Brynne down to Felt Club XL on Saturday. What a zoo! On the one hand, congratulations to Jenny for gathering up such an amazing bunch of vendors - it was huge! On the other hand, a craft show of that size really needs a larger venue. I could hardly move amidst the throngs of people, let alone browse all the amazing handcrafted goodies. I got really frustrated, because it was such a great show, but yet there was no way I could enjoy myself and casually shop. The silver lining is that I finally got to meet the ultra-crafty goddess Heidi (hi Heidi!), and I snatched up one of her adorable chocolate milk dolls. Heidi is kinda like an OG (original gangsta') to me, so I was super excited to finally meet her - such a talented sweetie!
I was also lucky enough to snatch up one of the incredible octopus pins from Art School Dropout... I've been trying to get one of these for ages, but they always sell out before I can get them. So happy to have my very own octopus! While I was trying to maneuver through the mass of humanity at the show, Jerry and Brynne escaped to the Craft: area where they provided little stockings, felt, glitter, gems, glue and other stuff so that everyone could embellish their own stockings. I felt once again as if I were meeting crafty (or maker) royalty when I exchanged business cards with Mark Frauenfelder, Editor-in-Chief of Make and Carla Sinclair, Editor-in-Chief of Craft! Mark asked whether or not superbuzzy is going to carry gocco supplies, and that really got me thinking...
After dragging Jerry and Brynne to Felt Club, we decided to head to Griffith Park to check out the newly reopened and renovated Observatory. For those who aren't familiar with the Park and the Observatory, they've become landmarks for Los Angeles, especially since the locations were featured in Rebel Without a Cause. We went not realizing that the Observatory was now requiring reservations to enter. However, we learned that there is a fire trail that leads up the hill right behind the observatory. I was sure Brynne wouldn't make it - the hike was very steep, and not terribly short. We set out at a slow, toddler pace, and we tried to keep her distracted with sights along the way. Amazingly, she made it to the top all by herself! We had no trouble getting into the Observatory once we made the hike, and the new exhibits are really wonderful. I'm especially crazy about the great architectural detailing of the building - it opened in 1935 and features wonderful Art Deco touches throughout.
amazing detail on the rooftop by the telescopes
mural inside the dome, atop the giant pendulum
James Dean and the Hollywood sign, of course!
We hiked back down the hill, and the skies were clear and crisp - so rare in LA!
It was late afternoon by that time, and we discovered a really cute little rustic cafe on our way out of the park. They advertised pie made on location! We all shared a slice of Shaker lemon pie, and Brynne had hot chocolate and I had a green tea latte. Such a nice ending to a day in the city!
oh wow I am so jealous of your trip to felt club. I wanted to go SO badly. I'm glad you had a good time. It's great it was such a success. Bigger venue next time!!
Posted by: Madeline | December 12, 2006 at 12:13 PM
wow I didn't realize that the griffith was open again... and felt club was crazy.... I think I almost got squashed a couple of times
Posted by: rachel | December 13, 2006 at 01:01 PM
had similar feltclub experience (fred62 instead of swingers we haven't made it to the observatory yet!) oh please gocco supplies!!
Posted by: tracy | December 14, 2006 at 10:14 AM