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Last night on a whim, we hopped on the subway and went downtown. We were heading to LA Live.  On the way I was able to show Joel the hidden treasure that is Hotel Figueroa.  Yes he was suitably impressed.

There was a Clipper game last night, it was fun watching the people stream into the Staple Center.

As for LA Live, meh, we ate at one of the many large, similar, not so great food – restaurants. At least it was a balmy night, we sat outside  and enjoyed more people watching. It was a fun evening but we don’t see ourselves hanging out at LA Live much, there are better options downtown.

I love this image
Love how well dressed they are,  she is holding his coat and he is holding a paper bag. Probably their leftovers from dinner.  I enjoy speculating

about the people I see, trying to invent some fancy story.Setting the scene,  I love signs, I love the juxtaposition of the shapes, the words, even the clouds and the lacy leaves of the trees.  Beauty and good composition can be found anywhere.

The show closes tomorrow. I was at LACMA today, being a docent they let me in even though it’s not open to the public on  Wednesdays. There were some cute hipsters setting up for a party there tonight.

I asked one of them to take my picture. (once again, just with the iPhone). She was so surprised to hear that I didn’t buy this dress, it isn’t made under the DVF label. She had a whole new level of respect when I told her I made this dress myself.

So now, I’ve got proof that I was part of the show here in Los Angeles.

Having a blog means I need fresh content.  Not complaining, just saying. So my creativity goes in cycles, knitting, sewing, quilting. There have been years when I stopped do any of these things. During one of those periods I got into beading in a big way. Yes, my eyes were younger than, it was easier.  Of course I still have a reasonable stash of beads and supplies. These days, big funky cheap looking jewelry is all the rage and to be honest. For $20 I can pick up something adorable downtown, buying the materials for the same necklace would probably cost me $40. Case in point.  I get a lot of compliments when I wear this. So on that same trip downtown, where I found my I Love LA fabric, I found beads. Let me put it this way, the friend I was with wanted to visit the bead stores – they weren’t new to me.  I ‘thought’ I’d just be showing her around – yeah right. Of course one of the stores was having a big sale, like $2-4 for strands of nice beads.  My friend bought quite a few, me I bought some as well.  What I had in mind was knocking off this necklace.Which meant finding a focal piece and getting some chain, two things I didn’t have at home.Tools of the trade and starting the beading process.Knock off,  never looks exactly like the original – that is why it’s called a knock-off, not a copy.I like the end result very very much. Went to dinner last night with girlfriends and one immediately asked if I made this. Score! So no, I don’t see myself getting back into beading in a big way, but it sure is fun from time to time to pull out the old tools, get a few new beads and make another necklace.  Oh and cost, yeah, I think this one was closer to $30.

Today was a fun day with the grand kids at the Aquarium of the Pacific. I remember visiting  when it opened 16 years ago. Of course I’ve been back since, going with grandchildren makes it all the more fun. When it first opened, they stocked it with baby fish, by now many of them have grown and many others have been added – it really is a magical place.They have 3 or 4 pools where children (and adults) can use two fingers to touch the animals. Here it is sea anenomes,  in other pools it’s baby sharks, baby rays, star fish and jelly fish. Not the stinging kind!Aytan didn’t get the message to look at the camera.They have divers in the big central tank, saying hello is always fun.

What did Aytan think was the best part? Feeding the Lorakeets. Birds at an aquarium?  Birds from Australia no less?  Well I guess it is on the Pacific ocean. At $3 a pop for that little cup of food, it is probably one of the best money makers the aquarium has.

This is a wonderful place for anyone interested in the bounty and beauty of the ocean.  A fun place to spend a nice brisk spring morning.

The moment I saw the DVF dress show, I knew I had to knock off this dress. Actually I already have.

I had bought this cotton jersey print at Joann’s on a whim. I have quite a large library of patterns and I made this cute little wrap dress.

This time around I’d like to use a few more elements from DVF.I bought this fabric last year at Michael Levine’s Loft. One thing that Michael Levine does is work closely with jobbers. These are the guys that buy out mill ends and such from the many local manufactures. Which means you will see fabric here you won’t see anywhere else, unless it’s already on a garment. It also means you have to wade through piles of junk to find the gems.

They are brilliant at charging $2 a pound, rather than charging by the yard. I can attest that fabric weighs more than you think. I have come out of there having spent a lot more than I intended to. Aside from being a very detailed tropical print on a black background, the fabric has another element. It is overprinted with  vinyl polka dots, which shimmer and glimmer as you move. This is a cheep way of accenting fabric rather than covering it with sequins. I don’t know what the fabric is, my guess is some kind of polyester with a little bit of lycra.

I’ve been sitting on it for a while, once I saw the DVF show, that was it, it must become a fabulous DVF style wrap dress.Perfect pattern, it has the collar and the short sleeves. One modification I would like to make, is the  pleats at the waistline which give fullness in the breast area. I would like to modify that. DVF dresses don’t have that element. So I will be playing with some cheaper knit to get the front bodice  to fit nicely without those pleats.

Sorry to all my east coast friends who are buried under yet another snow storm. If it makes you feel any better, we are having earthquakes. No I don’t think you care, so I will share my color of the moment in the garden. No it isn’t  Radiant Orchid, although I think I may have some of that. It is a bright magenta pink.These are some of the flowers I cut this afternoon.Same group of flowers, slightly different angle. Of course leaving color in the garden is also nice, as it is getting pleasant enough to sit out there.This cyclamen took me by surprise. It’s a leftover from a few years ago. Usually I plant new ones each year. I forgot to this year and until today, none of the old ones bloomed.Here in the valley it can get too hot for fuchsias, so our small window of having pretty blooms is pretty small. Every year I get a few flowers, never a bush full.Just to break the monotony,  some red and yellow.

Actually I don’t have a favorite color or a color I won’t allow in. I guess that right now what is blooming is mostly that bright pink.