Once More to the Beach

We've visited California often enough by now that we have some definite favorite beaches here, that we go to as often as we can while we're here. Crissy Field in San Francisco is one, and we've been there twice so far, and Ocean Beach, also in San Francisco, is actually a new one that we caught at sunset yesterday and were pretty stoked by. Other beaches, such as Natural Bridges, we're not that excited by--we're beach snobs, I suppose.

Our most ultimate favorite beach by far, however, and my favorite beach of any I've ever been to--black sand, white sand, Iceland, Hawaii, Italy, Florida, Scotland, wherever--is Pebble Beach, the local name for part of Bean Hollow State Beach. Instead of sand, this beach consists of pebbles broken off of a quartz reef offshore, and worn all smooth and awesome:
Sure, they just look like a gravel parking lot from that angle, but check them out up close:
They're just every color you can imagine, black and white and clear and green and shiny and speckled. It's extremely satisfying just to plant yourself belly-down on their warm surface and peer near-sightedly at them--you could pass a contented infinite of time that way. They're also, however, immensely satisfying to play with, all warm and smooth and with a nice weight to them, a nice change from the gritty, sifty sand of the other beaches: And also unlike sand, they have a lot more air between them, and their warm weight is relaxing, so you can actually bury Daddy REALLY deeply while he naps:He came out okay, if a little woozy.

Pebble Beach is also nice for clambering up rocks----and peering into tidepools situated feet from the splashing surf----and taking some time to gaze out into the infinite distance: Of course, after you've spent hours and hours at Pebble Beach, you're all sweaty and grubby and wet anyway, so you might as well go ahead and hit a sandy beach on your way home, just for the novelty of the thing: Some of us like to run with the tide, and some of us like to watch:

There's pleasure to be had in both of the activities, of course, one active, and one profound.

Tomorrow--San Francisco.

I Ate a Lot and Then I Danced

Little girls wore their pretty pillowcase dresses to match my vintage sheet skirt--
--and we chilled at a great big mansion:
We were there for the wedding of Ashwin, Matt's high school best friend, to his lady Reva. Because I am a big nerd, I was so way super-stoked about the wedding, which was to be a traditional Gandharva vivaah ceremony (done according to the Dnyanaprabodhini prodecure, with some of the bride's Nepali traditions added in, as well), and because I am a really, really, REALLY big nerd, I am going to tell you all about it:

So first is the simaantapujan, which used to be the welcoming of the groom's party to the bride's hometown for the wedding, but for our purposes now it's this awesome groom's party parade, with drumming and dancing. That leads to the madhuparka, in which the bride and groom have a little honey and yogurt snack to calm them down.

Then comes the vivaah sankalpa, in which the bride and groom and their families pray for a happy marriage, and then they worship the statue of Lord Ganesh that's there, and then a prayer to the family deity, and then the bride and groom pray for a happy day--that's the Punyahavaachan.

Then Reva's brothers gave her away, which is the Kanyaadaan.

Then comes the Swayamwar. The bride and groom garland each other, then stand with a curtain in between them and their families behind them while some poetry is recited, and at the end of each verse in the poem, the guests throw rose petals at them.

Then the bride and groom take their oaths, which is the Niyama-bandha.

Then Reva got a necklace that shows she's married, and Ashwin put some vermillion on her forehead, and the couple put on Mangalsutra, necklaces to protect them from the ugly thoughts of other people.

Then Ashwin and Reva put some popped rice in a little fire, which is the Laajaahoma, and Reva stood with her right foot on a rock for a minute. And then Reva's brother symbolically twisted Ashwin's ear to remind him to be nice to his sister, and Ashwin gave him a present so he wouldn't get his ear twisted again.

The most beautiful part of the ceremony is the Saptapadi, in which the bride and groom take seven steps and make seven resolutions together, and then we get to clap for them.

Then is the Dhruvadarshan, in which the priest has the couple look north, to the pole star, and then is the Uttarang Homa, in which the couple prays for leniency in case they messed something up in the ceremony.

Then we get to go up and offer congratulations, which is the Aashirwaad, and that concludes the formal portion of the day.

And yes, including the parade, I'd say the whole thing took a good two hours, but it was outside, and if you were near the back of the tent you were quite free to carry on your own conversations or pop out to the refreshments table or let your kids run around on the grass for a while. Sydney played quietly with her toys for the entire ceremony, but Will had to go with mom and chill out climbing trees out of earshot for a while, after driving herself hysterical in shame and grief due to mistakenly leaning against a pillar and knocking it and a big basket of flowers over. Nobody cared but her, but she does tend to be her own harshest critic.

After the ceremony we wandered the estate for a while and had ourselves some cocktails and samosas and vegetable kabobs (this was possibly my favorite wedding ever), and then re-stuffed ourselves with even more delicious Indian food at the reception:
I'll tell you, I like anyplace that has a buffet, and if you have a buffet of delicious, authentic Indian food? Well, you've just won my heart.

Will crashed out before dinner, even-- but Syd held out----for a while:

The cake was actually really cool, as well, and although I was too drunk by then to get the whole story behind it----I did take some extra pictures, so maybe I'll find out later:

With our two little girls fast asleep on the sidelines, and ourselves full of Indian food and booze (well, I was full of booze at least--I was owed it, after the ridiculous wedding that took place last time we were in Cali), we then got to dance for an hour or so. Another awesome thing about this wedding? Contemporary Indian pop music. Waaaaay better than YMCA. Except for the parts where the DJ would turn the music down so that everybody else but us could scream the popular lyrics, it was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

And then both girls simultaneously wet their party dresses in their sleep, and Matt's suit jacket that Willow was sleeping on, and we got to carry them, urine-soaked and whimpering yet still asleep and thus dead weight, the quarter-mile down the path to the entrance of the park and then further on to the car. So yeah, my back kills today, but it was so worth it.

Tomorrow, we talk beaches.

The Artichoke Dip Goes 'Round and 'Round

Six Flags has too many terror-rides to bother going there with small children, DisneyLand freaks me out with its gender stereotypes and latent racism, but a vegetable-themed amusement park?

I am all over that business.

Yesterday we all took the girls to Gilroy Gardens, a small amusement park in Gilroy, California. If you understand that Gilroy is the garlic capital of the world, and that just to drive past Gilroy on the highway is to have your car fill will the delicious smell of Gilroy garlic, then you will understand that the mascot for Gilroy Gardens is a cartoon garlic.

A garlic, friends. A cartoon garlic. Can you grasp the awesomeness of that, or do I need to tell you again? This theme park's mascot? Is a garlic.

I bought a stuffed Gilroy Garlic, and Grandma Janie bought Sydney a Gilroy Garlic baseball cap.

So one of the cool things about Gilroy Gardens is that it has the Circus Trees, which I saw on some TV show probably two decades ago, and yes, they're pretty awesome. Another cool thing about Gilroy Gardens is that where DisneyLand and Six Flags are all huge expanses of concrete, this amusement park is rife with tall, shady trees and cooling creeks and duck ponds and stuff. And for being perhaps one of the top five awesomest places that I have ever been to with my children, it really wasn't that crowded (unlike the City Museum, but sort of like Walking with Dinosaurs Live near the end of its Indy run). Part of that is that, since I am an obsessive researcher, I have read pretty much every California travel guide that has been printed in the last decade, even for the parts of Cali that we definitely won't visit because it's like a 12-hour car ride away, and I have NEVER seen Gilroy Gardens listed.

Which is whack, because look! The Artichoke Dip!The Garlic Twirl!And the Strawberry Sundae and the Apple and Worm, and for adults the Mushroom Swings and the Banana Split and two roller coasters:

And when you're bored with those there are the bird shows and the paddle boats and the monorail and the two water playgrounds----and the train and the path behind the waterfall and the rock maze--

--and the tours of the six distinct gardens within the amusement park and the greenhouse and the audio tour to introduce you to all the different trees in the park and the fruit-and-vegetable show--

--and the garlic-themed food items and the two carousels...

And the chance for little girls and their Poppas to hang out on the kiddie rides together:

Tomorrow I'll tell you all about the traditional Indian wedding that Matt and I took the girls to yesterday.

How to Tell That We're in California

Because the entire state is like a freakin' greenhouse:

Tomorrow I'll tell you about this awesome vegetable-themed amusement park that we took the kids to today.

Picnic in the Park with Presents

Today, I am exhausted and totally overworked and stressed, but yesterday...

Having no extra money to spend on a birthday party for the girls after their Walking with Dinosaurs Live birthday present (as an experience of pure awesomeness, it was worth every penny), we walked over to the park less then a block from our house and spread several blankets in the shade of the girls' favorite climbing tree. We laid out a ton of yummy yet easy food out on the blankets--
--and we brought a few toys:
For those who grew tired, of toys, of course, there was a huge playground to run around on: At first we meant to invite only a few people:But when somehow the number of invitees tripled, we weren't broken up at all:I never can be the parent who writes "no presents, please" on the invitations, even though I know it's the thing to do. Making or buying a small present is actually my favorite thing about shepherding a daughter to another kid's birthday party, and being Southern, it's nearly an impossibility for me to refrain myself from taking something to one of those "no present" parties--that's how five-year-olds end up getting things like bouquets of flowers from us, because I'm busy just thinking of ways to thwart the rules. And the girls' party was blithely free of that draconian policy, and so the girls got lots of wonderful, creative, very thoughtful gifts, and they adored every one.

I did not sew matching party outfits for the girls (I know--gasp!). I did not applique their ages onto T-shirts. I did not make favor bags for the children, full of homemade art supplies and small sewn teys. I did not construct any games or activities for the party, no beanbag toss game with home-sewn beanbags or pinata done with glue-y newspaper dried over a balloon. I did not bake an elaborate birthday cake, nor did I decorate the brownies I did bake.

And that is how, although for the rest of the time until we leave for California very shortly I intend to be a total wreck--this morning, for instance, I have to make the house at least look like we live normally in it because a guy is coming at nine o'clock to install basic cable (the girls and I could not care less that we lost all our network channels during the switch to digital, but my dear heart needs to watch sports for his birthday present), and then I have to finish these crayon rolls to ship and sew dresses for the girls to wear to the wedding and finish my own skirt and go shopping for a wedding present (I can't stand to shop from the registry but I'm also not stupid enough to make something for the bride and groom, so my standard gift is an assortment of local jams, soaps, honey, and wine) and write a billion more Green Options posts because in my head I've already spent that substantial bonus and, you know, do stuff with the girls all day, and then find time to pack, which I'm actually looking forward to, because it will mean that basically all that crap is done--for the birthday party of my dear girls, who please me with their pleasure and delight me with their delight and fill me with joy at the sight of their joy, I was able to honor their carefree happiness with my own:

And now, back to work.

I Bought a Lot of Crayolas

First, let me tell you that I NEED a lot of crayons and markers and colored pencils. Not only are the girls and I doing some random art project more often than we're not doing some random art project, but I also make crayon rolls and marker rolls and colored pencil rolls to sell, and they sell better if there are crayons or markers or colored pencils already in them. AND that's my go-to handmade gift for every birthday and other gift-giving holiday. AND the girls seem to think that I should make them a new crayon roll or marker roll or colored pencil roll every time they see me making another batch to sell. And so of course I do.

And second, let me tell you that I usually buy my supplies in bulk through Dick Blick. They sell classpacks of Crayola supplies (don't even get me started--yes, I am a brand snob, because Crayola is BETTER), which sets me up for about a year with, for instance, crayons for the girls, crayons to sell with their crayon rolls, and crayons to include with presents, for about eight cents a crayon. It's about a quarter per marker there for the good ones, and I also take those to class sometimes for editing projects that my students do.

And so what if I told you that Wal-mart, in its back-to-school section, was selling Crayola Crayon 24-packs for 25 cents each? And that Target was selling 10-packs of thin line and broad line markers for $1.00? And colored pencils? Thereby allowing me to stock back up on my supplies, without waiting for shipping, a crazy LOT cheaper than I've ever seen them before (yay, lousy economy!)? And that now, when I sell a crayon roll, there will be about eight cents worth of crayons in that roll, instead of about 64 cents of crayons? And that adds up for my profit?

You'd say, "Buy, Julie! Buy a very many of these things that you need and that are on sale!"

And so I did:
The other super-good deals that I'd recommend are the glue sticks at Target, which are 20 cents for a two-pack. The girls like these so much that I bought quite a lot, even though the amount of packaging that goes into that little stick of glue is just gross. And at Wal-mart, one-subject notebooks are 15 cents each. I bought a few of these, assuming that I'd find a use for them sometime, for scrapbooks or project books or whatever for the girls.

So yeah, there are hundreds of Crayola products just sitting there on my coffee table. I know I ought to box them up and store them until I need them, but still...there they sit.

They just look so pretty, you know?

It's a Wrap!

By all rights, the girls should have been tearing the house apart on this rainy day until we finally gave up and left to spend the day at the library or Wonderlab or wherever, but after a nice breakfast together and an hour or so spent dying dried pasta weird colors, the girls basically spent the rest of the day having one long playdate with each other, leaving me to blog and sew and bake banana bread and catch up with my reading (You should totally be my Goodreads friend, by the way). I know, I know--the life of a stay-at-home mom is dang hard. But today was not one of the days in which I wanted to tear out my hair by 10:00 am.

Hallelujah.

And that is why I am basically done with the yard sale wrap skirt I've been sewing from:



Basically=I'll tell you in a minute. And ad nauseum. And I know you want to hear all about the many and varied modifications I made to the pattern. First, however, I'll show you the photos that occurred during a break in the rain when I changed into my new skirt (I'm also wearing the new bra, and I offer the news flash that non-nursing bras are not as comfortable as nursing bras), took the girls outside, and asked them to take turns taking photos of me in my new skirt:

I'm trying to get my head in the shot:

Still trying to get my head in:Shot nearly missed me entirely that time:I took this one (and yes, I do have funky tan lines on my feet, and I do let my daughters paint my toenails, and those are acrylic paint stains on our sidewalk):I give up--who needs another shot of my face, anyway?I'm much more pleased with this skirt than I thought I would be, mid-sewing--and also, I NEVER wear skirts or dresses, but a wedding is an emergency, wouldn't you say? And I haven't ruled out making a peasant top out of this same fabric and wearing it with dress pants, either, so don't think I'm skirt-committed, now.

This skirt was made from part of a queen-size sheet that I found at the Goodwill Outlet Store--I bet it cost me no more than 25 cents. And there is enough left of the sheet to make a peasant top, I really think, although I might have to do part of the sleeves in a different fabric.

And yes, the fact of the sheet begs the question--yes, I did find both the matching pillowcases, as well, and yes, I will be sewing matching dresses for my daughters to match with me. The campy transvestite in me wants to make Matt a matching tie, too, so we can look like we're going to some creepy family prom, but I will definitely restrain myself and perhaps just hem him a matching hanky for his suit pocket.

For you fellow plus-sized ladies, my waist is about 36", and I had to add two entire extra panels to this six-panel wrap skirt. This means that I also can't use the waistband and ties part of the pattern, either. I haven't finished the waist, but I'm 99% sure that my solution will be a bias tape hemmed waist, and kilt pins (read: safety pins) to fasten the skirt. Instead of the hand-sewn rolled hem that the instructions also called for, I machine-stitched a rolled hem with a satin stitch set to a short stitch length, and I think it looks very nice.

Now...shoes?