James' favorite things

- Stomping his feet
- Making elephant sounds
- Eating spicy foods
- Being incredibly cute, as seen here:

At our favorite pancake joint in Manhattan Beach, Uncle Bill's.

And playing with his new shovel from his Auntie Kim and Uncle Esteban. 

I like to call this one James Beach, and if you frequent Venice often, maybe you'll get my nerdy pun.

He's 16 and a half months already! Here's to growth!

13 year old doing a TED talk

Incredibly insightful, intelligent, and inspiring. It's so reassuring to hear such thoughtful perspective come from this young guy. And it shines an important spotlight on the path traditional education has taken.

What do you think?

Detoxifying house plants

Did you know that having house plants can purify the air in your home? It makes perfect sense, I just never realized it. There have also been studies showing that people with house plants report lower stress levels!

You learn something new everyday. I'm going to go out and get me a (easy to take care of) plant asap! And if you're interested, here are 19 other ways to de-stress right now. 

LACMA with the family

I can't remember the last time I've been to the LA County Museum of Art (LACMA), so since we were finally all healthy this weekend, we thought we'd venture out, and I'm so glad we did!

I was joyfully surprised by how kid friendly LACMA is. There's lots of fun exhibits, like the spaghetti-like-walk-through-yellow fun area (not it's official title) above. James loved it!

And of course the well known Urban Light installation in the front of the museum was a good time to play 'catch me if you can' with James.

And this "Metropolis II" installation was a super cool treat for all of us. It's like a giant hot wheels race track with a real live operator in the middle of it all (see her there??)

Afterward, we went across the street and ordered some food from the food trucks parked outside. And other than James biting his tongue and my hot dog being less than awesome, it was a great day.

If you're free tomorrow, and live in LA, admission is free! While I'm sure it'll be busy.. it should be a fun time! I'm planning to go back for Story Time at the Boone Children's Gallery since it's free on Mondays and Fridays at 2. Do you like museums? I actually like galleries more because I feel overwhelmed at museums sometimes. There is never enough time to see all of what they have to offer. And that was certainly the case today. But instead of trying to fit it all in, I'll just plan to go back. So, will you visit?

Paralyzed

So I do this thing where I want to get so many things done, that I kind of don't know where to start/ don't want to start because I really just want to relax-- so I get paralyzed in this in-between place where I'm worrying about doing things that I'm not doing, which isn't productive at all. This was an issue for me at times before being a mum, but now that my productive hours are limited to when James is sleeping, this has become even more of an issue. 

Does this happen to you? Any advice?

I try not to be too hard on myself because I know I end up getting things done in the end, but this does seriously stress me out. I'm simultaneously judging myself about not doing something and trying to give myself a break and not worry about it. It'll get done. 

Maybe I just answered my own question. Stop judging myself. Sometimes you need to just take your pants off and go to bed.

Pretty waves

I thought this was a cute blog post on "you know you're ready for a haircut when..."

If you recognize her, apparently this blogger was once on American idol. I never watched the show, but I like her hair! Now I just want to know how she styled those waves.. my hair is almost this long again!