During college football season I have to beg and plead to get Morris out of the house on Saturday--Game Day. For a week I had been talking about "Pasadena Fun Day" so when Saturday came around he would not be surprised that I wanted him to spend the day with me in Pasadena. Every time we went to Pasadena there was never enough time to see any of the great landmarks in this city. I decided the only way to see all of the things we wanted to see was to devote a whole day there and this brings us to Pasadena Fun Day.
Our first stop was Huntington Library. This place is huge, it is over 200 acres of gardens, art museums, and an amazing library that has a copy of the Gutenberg Bible. The weather held out just long enough for us to get through the Japanese garden before it started to sprinkle on us so we were on to our next location.
Lately I have been missing my life as an interior designer and I had heard about a great Arts and Crafts home in Pasadena built for the Gamble Family of Proctor and Gamble. The house was built in 1908 and is in its original condition. The house is now owned by USC and tours are given on the weekends of the interior. I love Arts and Crafts style homes and this one is beautiful. The home as well as all of the furniture was designed by the architects Greene and Greene. I can't wait to design my own arts and crafts home one day. You must go see this house if you live in LA.
Last but not least we ended at the Norton Simon Museum. I now have a new favorite art museum in LA. This is a small museum located on Colorado Blvd. and is so absolutely perfect. I love Degas and the Norton Simon has one of the largest collections of Degas's work. Morris and I both love Impressionist art and this museum has a great collection. The museum store was not my favorite but Morris was with me so I couldn't really do any shopping anyway.
My favorite pieces of the day. Vincent Van Gogh--Mulberry Tree
Edgar Degas--Waiting
I had planned a trip to the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain to put the cherry on top of our wonderful day but I thought I should let Morris catch at least one of his football games so we headed home. I guess we will need a Pasadena Fun Day part II with a second helping of the Norton Simon.
For two years Brandy (former Rainey Homes co-worker) and I have been planning her trip to LA. Last week she finally made her appearance, she stopped here for a day and a half on her way home from Hawaii. We had a great time shopping, eating and catching up. I love having visitors because I get to visit new sites and some of my favorites I could see over and over again. I recently read "Night" by Elie Wiesel for the second time and have been anticipating the opening of the Holocaust exhibit at The Museum of Tolerance. Brandy was up for a depressing afternoon so we decided to visit the exhibit on WWII, we spent a few hours there before we headed over to The Grove for some shopping and dinner. While Brandy was here we also spent an afternoon at the Getty--an LA gem that every visitor must see. We spent the majority of our time in the museum store-that is always my favorite part of any museum. Thanks for coming Brandy, it was so fun to see you.
Favorite piece of the day:
Edgar Degas---The Milliners
Last month my sister Brooke asked me if I wanted to run a 5K with her in Huntington Beach. My sister forgot to mention that this race would be taking place on the sand, yes that is correct not only had I agreed to run 3 miles without training but I agreed to run 3 miles in the sand. I knew my sister was going to smoke me so I had to drag my friend Brooke Hendry along so I would have someone to run with me and come across the finish line with me in dead last(no offense Brooke H.).
This is just as we are coming to the finish line. A great night for a run.
