a royally british day

Yesterday I combined my "try new things" 2013 goal with National Hot Tea month and visited The Queen Mary in Long Beach for a royally British day with three friends who love both trying new things and hot tea.

First up in Britishness, is the ship itself. Built in Scotland and first sailed out of Southampton, England, the ship is named for King George's wife, Queen Mary, although -- a fun bit of trivia -- it was originally intended to be named for George's grandmother Queen Victoria. However, George misunderstood the shipbuilders when they told him they wanted to name it for "England's greatest queen." So it was instead named for the greatest queen in George's eyes. 

There are a ton of different packages you can buy for tours of the ship, including a haunted tour. We decided to risk it and do the self-tour, where you are able to wander around by yourself through the various decks and even down in the engine rooms, where we explored looking for ghosts since we didn't splurge for the haunted tour. We didn't find any, but I did attempt to steal the ship... too bad they'd disabled the steering wheel ;)"

The main reason we visited the Queen Mary though was because my friend Diana wanted to see the exhibit dedicated to the woman who made her finally like her name.

Diana: Legacy of a Princess - A Royal Exhibition was like a history of the British royal family. There were newspaper clippings and artifacts dating back to Queen Mary all the way through Queen Elizabeth's entire life, and of course Diana's entire life. There were hand-written notes, photos, memorabilia and about eight of the dresses that Diana had auctioned off for charity before her death, many of which are owned by women in Southern California.

And the exhibit closes with dresses worn by Diana's daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, including the green dress she wore on her 2011 trip to LA when my pal Daryl met her and "Wills" as part of his job for the British Counsel-General. (However, much to Daryl's disappointment, none of the invites he hand-addressed for their arrival cocktail party were on display ;)

Following the exhibit and our tours, we headed to The Tea Room on the Sun Deck and enjoyed the Windsor Tea Experience, for our final bit of Britishness. I even had English Breakfast Tea to keep the theme going.

The sandwiches were very unique -- there was only bread on the bottom layer, cut in a circle and then the sandwich toppings were placed on top of it, or scooped on top of it with what looked like a melon-baller in the case of the egg salad, curry chicken and shrimp salad. All were delish, but I think the egg salad and (surprisingly for me) curry chicken were my faves... of the sandwiches.

But my absolute fave part of any tea lately is the scones! This tea service included vanilla, cranberry and chocolate chip scones, which were all yummy. The only problem with these scones was the waitress didn't really bring enough clotted cream and preserves for four people to eat two scones each.

Following the sandwiches and scones, came the petit fore plates filled with yummy desserts. I was too full to try them all, but my fave of the things I tried were the little lemon meringue tarts on the bottom of the tray. They are the absolute perfect lemon meringue -- two bites, which is just enough to quench that tangy-sweet craving.

happy national hot tea month

While in my world, every month is Hot Tea Month, January is officially National Hot Tea month. Yay!
And to celebrate, I've been drinking hot tea every day.

How is this different than every day that isn't part of National Tea Month, you ask? Well... it's not. But considering it's been really cold this month (until today), I've been really enjoying my tea and its hotness. I've also been more experimental with my tea choices, having teas other than my normal Chai and English Breakfast. I've started to really love some of the Harney & Sons teas, such as their Paris and Hot Cinnamon Spice blends.

I even had a lovely tea party with my parents as we watched the Golden Globes last Sunday. Granted, Mom did most of the work (see photo at right), but I provided the sugar cubes... and everyone knows a tea party isn't a fancy tea party without sugar cubes ;)

I've also set a sub-goal under my 2013 "Try New Things Goal" and I'm going to learn to make good tea the real way -- with loose leaves.

That's #14 on this list of 31 Ways YOU Can Celebrate Hot Team Month ... check it out. Tea is delish!

garden therapy

According to my gardening guru (aka Mom), January is the month when you are supposed to prune and feed your roses in order to achieve the most beautiful flowers come spring. 

So Tuesday, I took advantage of the unusually warm weather and pruned all 24 (yes 24) of the rose bushes beautifying my backyard. It took a while, but I love gardening, and it was a gorgeous day to be outside. (Plus, gardening is a great workout... as evidenced by the pain in my hamstrings yesterday from all the kneeling and squatting :P)

If you don't have a gardening guru mom to teach you how to care for your garden, here are some quick tips I learned from mine the first Spring I was in my house... back when I only had 18 rose bushes :)

First, you need to make sure you're properly equipped...

Tools -- I use both pruning shears (the small pink things at left) for small, thin stems and branch cutters (the long-armed silver tool) for thicker branches on the stronger bushes. Make sure they are sharpened, as dull blades will damage your roses.

Protective Gear -- Your most important must-have is a good pair of rose pruning gloves. The "mud" gauntlet gloves here are my third and thickest pair so far. The hands are leather and the arm covering "gauntlet" is suede. They are awesome because they protect my oh-so-delicate skin from both thick rose thorns and an angry, toothy cat who doesn't like medicine shoved down her throat.

When you've got your gloves on and your shears and cutters at hand, you're ready to prune. In the winter, it's best to prune the bushes down to just the main thick stems (those thicker than a pencil) that are still green on the outside and cream on the inside. This gets rid of any potential dying or diseased leaves or stems on the plant that formed over the summer and fall blooming season. By doing this, your plant will grow back healthier in the spring. 

It's also a good idea to remove any dead branches completely, and cut back any branches that are touching each other to prevent fungus from growing between them. 

Finally, this is also your opportunity to "shape" your rose bush. Don't like that there is a wonky branch growing crooked off to the left that makes the plant look totally lopsided? Trim it back and if you're lucky it will grow in a different direction next time ;) 

When pruning branches, always make a slanted cut. Look for either "lines" on the branches where new growth shot off or a bud sticking out and make your cut just above that.

The red triangle on the stem above is a new bud.
So I made my cut just above it.

Since I seriously prune all the plants back in winter to promote fresh growth, my roses -- which started off between three-to-seven feet tall -- all end up between one-to-four feet tall when I'm done. They also look sad and painfully dangerous thanks to all the very visible thorns.

But they won't stay that way for long, because I also take this January pruning time to fertilize/feed each plant. I don't think you have to feed your roses in January (most people say start in spring before the first buds start to grow and then feed them again two months later), but I do. Extra nutrients can't hurt... and it keeps nasty bugs away. I always use Bayer Rose & Flower Care, readily available at Lowe's and Home Depot.

You need 1 capful of food per rose bush.
Sprinkle it in a circle around the base of the plant.
Work the granules into the soil.
Water.
Repeat in 8 weeks. 

Come late March/early April, new leaves will start appearing on the plants, like the dark ones here, that then turn green. And soon after that, flowers will bud and bloom.

I can't wait -- free flowers all over my house are the best!

hooray for hockey?...!...?..!

So I woke up yesterday and, per my normal routine, grabbed my phone and started scrolling through my Twitter feed (which is where I get most of my news) to see what happened in the world overnight.

About 15 tweets in, I had to pinch myself to make sure I was really awake, because CNN, ABC7, and my fave local hockey writers @helenenothelen and @reallisa from the LA Times, plus players like Dustin Brown were all tweeting and retweeting that after 100+ days, an agreement had finally been reached between the NHL and the NHL Players Association to end the evil lockout and get back on the ice.

I kind of couldn't believe it. 

I'd given up hope about a month ago. And -- out of ticked-off frustration -- created an awesome excel spreadsheet calculating not only the amount I was going to be refunded in cancelled LA Kings games this season, but also the 5% interest I was earning on that refund by allowing the Kings to hold on to my cash for future purchases of playoff tickets or next season's tickets (vs sending it back to me so it could sit in my bank account earning maybe 0.1% interest if I'm lucky :P). I figured out it would be at least Summer 2014 before they got another not-already-paid-to-them cent out of me! 

I was angry at the greedy owners, getting close to angry with the players I love (although not really) and hated Commissioner Gary Bettman even more than I already did (thanks to two previous lockouts during his "reign" and the fact that he's just a squirrely, annoying little man). 

Then, as I scrolled my feed, I saw a tweet from the LA Kings twitter feed: "First order of business: raise banner."

And suddenly, all my joy from last June came flooding back. My team won the holy grail of hockey on June 11th after 45 years of trying. And they, plus all us long-suffering LA Kings fans, have been waiting since then to claim real estate in the Staples Center rafters with a banner that reads: 2012 Stanley Cup CHAMPIONS!

I'm not saying all is forgiven...  there was serious damage done to the sport and it remains to be seen if anyone actually "won" anything from all this "negotiating." Lots of fans are ticked off and planning to boycott games. 

But I've missed hockey. 

And I want to see that banner go up on the wall. 

And I've got a brand new Dustin Brown jersey that I bought in the early morning hours of June 12th that hasn't been to a game at Staples Center yet. :)

So I am keeping my schedule free from next Thursday night onward, waiting for the NHL's shortened-season schedule to be released. And I will be in Section 205 when that banner is raised. 

I guess I love hockey too much to hold a grudge. Sorry Angry Fans :P

hiking lake hollywood

Did you know there is a big, beautiful lake 10 minutes from the nightmare of rush hour traffic known as the 101 Freeway in Hollywood? No? Well, neither did I until recently. And today, I got to experience this man-made wonder -- known as Lake Hollywood and/or the Hollywood Reservoir -- for the first time on an awesome hike with my friend/fellow lady of leisure, Diana. 

The reservoir is nestled in the hills between Hollywood and Burbank, surrounded by expensive houses precariously built on the sides of said hills, and is accessed via tiny residential streets. 

View of the lake and Hollywood sign take from the dam.

There are great views of the newly refurbished Hollywood sign and Los Angeles' skylines to the south. And it's amazingly quiet! I seriously felt like I was up in the mountains, enjoying nature versus a mere 10 minutes from the craziness of Hollywood. 

The newly refurbished Hollywood sign as seen from the fire road.

View of the reservoir and pretty greenness, looking west, towards the 101.

As a hike, this is a great one for people just getting into (or back into) shape, as it's a mostly flat trek around the lake's paved service road with lots of shade provided by the huge trees that surround the reservoir. 

In fact, I'd go so far as to dub it "The Anti-Runyon Hike" because a) the paved road means no dust all over your sneakers... and therefore inside your car an hour later, b) the shade means you're not going to sweat bullets or get heat stroke and die like I and/or my four-legged hiking buddies have almost done in the past at Runyon and c) there are no four-legged hiking buddies (aka dogs) allowed here, so those of you that are afraid of dogs (Hi Bhavani) or hate the "smell" dogs leave all over Runyon (Hi Mikey), would have no issues here.

That said, it's still a good workout. Totally joggable if you're in shape/haven't been hacking up a lung for the last two weeks like I have ;) It's officially a 4-mile loop around the lake, but part of the trail is currently closed, so you can't do the entire loop. From where we parked on the "Hollywood side" of the lake (accessing it near the Mulholland Dam, via hilly residential roads off Cahuenga) you can head to the left for a short trip across the dam, but then have to stop and turn around. Or you can head to the right and hike the service road around the lake for about a mile and half before you hit the gate on the "Burbank side" (accessed off Barham Blvd) and have to turn around and go back. We hit both gates and backtracked from each as well, totaling a 3.24 mile hike.

It was a great way to spend an hour on a beautiful, not-too-hot, not-too-cold Friday afternoon. I will definitely be going back soon!

View of the lake and houses on the hill, looking south from near the "Burbank gate."

PS: This is "New Thing #2" on Day 4 of 2013 :)

everything's coming up roses!

It's Day #2 of 2013 and I'm already doing a new thing! 

My friend Diana and I decided to go see the 2013 Tournament of Roses Parade Floats in Pasadena today because a) we've never done it before and b) we've both got a lot of time on our hands ;)

It was both amazing and exhausting! There were a LOT of floats in that parade yesterday -- it took us two and a half hours to see them all. And there were a lot of people trying to get up-close-and-personal with them, taking photos, walking in front of other people's photos, etc. But seeing them up close was incredible! The detail is just crazy. And it was super fun to see some of the natural materials they used to decorate the floats...

Artichoke hearts covering the foot of a giant teddy bear... (Shriner's Hospital Float)














Hearts made of cranberries... (Odd Fellows & Rebekahs float "Elevated Adventure")

Granny Smith apples and purple cabbages adding color to The Cat In The Hat's Garden... (Kaiser Permanente Float "Oh, The Healthy Things You Can Do")

Entire fruits and vegetables decorating a mixer and whole garlics strung together as a rope... (Trader Joe's Float "Recipe for Adventure!")

Red beans, peas, green onion stalks and flowers creating a quilt for cute puppies... (Beverly Hills Pet Care's float "Follow the Stars... Adopt a Pet") 

And watermelon rinds carved into little turtle shells (lower right) (City of Burbank's float "Deep Sea Adventures")

I took more than 300 photos and there are 90ish of them on Facebook, so if you really love flowers and are my Facebook friend go check out a ton of gorgeous photos there.

But for those that don't have that kind of time, here are my personal Top 10 Favorite Floats I saw today, in no particular order. Not surprisingly, they are all either heavily focused on animals, food, houses, gardens or have lots of purple on them. All that was missing was a hockey float :)

Odd Fellows & Rebekahs "Elevated Adventure"

Kaiser Permanente's "Oh, the Healthy Things You Can Do"

The Nurses' Float "A Healing Place" (Notice the trendy owls ;)

Beverly Hills Pet Care's "Follow the Stars... Adopt a Pet"

Cal Poly's "Tuxedo Air"

La Canada Flintridge's "Dino-Soar"

Downey's "Dew Drop By"

Burbank's "Deep Sea Adventures"

HGTV's "All Roads Lead Home"

Trader Joe's "Recipe for Adventure!"

don't call them resolutions...

... because resolutions usually fail. :)

Instead, every New Year's, I choose to look at what I achieved the year before, the fun I had and new things I experienced. And then I set goals for the coming year that will hopefully become part of my daily existence, rather than some dreaded item on a list I feel guilted into doing. I am happy to say that -- considering many of my goals have carried over year-to-year with little or no tweaks -- I think this tactic is working.

So for 2013, with the overall goal of living a happy, healthy, balanced life where I continue to grow as a good human being, I've set the eight goals below for myself. In addition, I'm also vowing to keep these 12 items, which I found in my Twitter feed this morning, in mind: 12 Powerful Resolutions You Should Make Every Year -- I think they will help a lot with a few of my goals below. 

Health

1. Physical / Live Healthily: Eat healthy food most of the time, but don't deprive myself. Maintain my goal weight and work out at least two-to-three times per week. 
2. Emotional / Let Go and Move On: I've spent a lot of time the last few years trying to force things to work that are more harmful to my psyche than helpful. Why? Because I like being hurt and disappointed, or getting stressed out and pissed off? No more. Life is too short. And it should be about enjoying time with the people in your life that selflessly care about you. I've learned who my true friends are, especially over the last few months, and they are where I will focus my free time in 2013. No looking back.

Happiness

1. For Me / Travel: When meeting with my new investment adviser in November to plan my financial roadmap to retirement, I listed the following as my travel goal -- Actually take my vacation days each year, traveling somewhere domestic and relaxing at least one week per year, with a longer international trip every other year. Since I went to Italy last year, that means that 2013 will include a relaxing domestic trip -- I could visit an island other than the Big Island in Hawaii or head someplace on the mainland with good food and/or spas (like NYC, Santa Fe or New Orleans... or a place closer to home on my "places to visit" list like Carmel or Ojai).
2. For Others / Help Good Causes: Once again I will lead a team for "Walk MS" in April to raise funds for the National MS Society. This will be super easy since this year there will be a walk in the San Fernando Valley, about three minutes from my house (aka: where I ride my bike around the actual Lake Balboa). I also want to donate my time to a charitable organization or two. It would be great to find a charity that needs my editorial or home improvement skills so I'm also increasing my knowledge as I give. 

Growth

1. Creative / Write More: Keep blogging five to 10 times per month. AND (this is the challenge) write a short story.
2. Intellectual / Read Books: Recycle my goal to read at least one book per quarter in 2013, but this year, one MUST be a classic novel that's been sitting on my bookshelf too long.
3. Culinary / Host a Dinner Party: In addition to the annual events I host for major holidays, I want to throw a dinner party where I can use my fancy drinking glasses and linens and cook an actual meal in my kitchen that is new to my limited cooking repertoire (ie: not appetizers, spaghetti or something grilled).
4. General / Try New Things: Not sure how this will specifically manifest over the coming year and I'm also not going to worry about it. I just know I want to be open to new experiences whether that means trying a new food, visiting a new place or learning a new skill. 

Happy New Year! Here's to a 2013 full of great new adventures!