A Few Good Chairs

Last year I bought some chairs. From an actual store. And they've been horrible. Zach broke one within the first week by leaning back in it. Bad chair. 

New chairs to the rescue! I picked up this ragtag bunch this morning, and had a nice afternoon fixing them up. Work time for all 5 chairs was less than for the 1 devilish chair I showed in an earlier post. I'm gettin' better at pickin' 'em.

Before

After

These will also be great when we want extra outdoor seating!

The Yuts

We had such a good time celebrating our anniversary at Treebones in Big Sur last year we were really looking forward to returning this year. Zach had a terrible allergy attack on the day we left, and it's not an exaggeration to say that he sneezed over 100 times on the 5 1/2 hour drive up there! I drove, and was so engaged in our audiobook that I missed a turn and we ended up taking a slight detour (oops!). But we did see some deer and several tarantulas (that Zach wanted to get out the of the car and poke with sticks). We later learned that the road we took is one of the great scenic drives in the area. Hooray for happy accidents!

The yurts, or yuts as we now call them, were just as we remembered. We spent almost the entire first day on site. We did take a brief venture around the property and made a little trek to a coastal trail where we tried to spot the sea lions who woke us up the night before (no luck).

It rained in the afternoon, and we were happy to spend time snugged in the yut with books and naps.

We proved more adventurous the second day, and we took a drive up the coast to Big Sur proper. We stopped for lunch at the popular restaurant Nepenthe, and walked a trail in one of the national parks. 

This trip was a powerful reminder that it's good for us to pack up and get out of LA sometimes. I think some camping items shall be on our wish lists this year...we're looking forward to getting out more often!

This post would not be complete unless I mentioned that we did indeed see an otter on our last day. Did I mention that there is a campground near an otter preserve in Big Sur?!? First stop with tent. 

Many, many more pictures can be found here. 

My Sweet Misery

Zach worked on this film a few years ago in South Carolina and it is finally being released. And it's getting great reviews! It will be playing at Carmike Cinemas in the following cities:

OCTOBER 16, 17, 20 & 22 (2 SHOWS PER DAY)

Carmike 10 – Panama City, FL
Royal Palm 20 – Brandenton, FL
Carmike 10 – Asheville, NC
Wynnsong 15 – Durham, NC
Carmike 12 – Greenville, NC
Carmike 14 – Hickory, NC
Carmike 16 – Wilmington, NC
Wynnsong 12 – Winston-Salem, NC
Chapel Hills 15 – Colorado Springs, CO
Carmike 14 – Fort Smith, AR
Broadway 16 – Myrtle Beach, SC
Carmike 9 – Minot, ND
Carmike 12 – Kennewick, WA
Oakwood Mall 12 – Eau Claire, WI
Carmike 15 – Apple Valley, MN
Wynnsong 15 – Mounds View, MN
Horizon 10 – Traverse City, MI

NOVEMBER 6,7,10 & 12

Carmike 14 – Columbia, SC
Crossroads 16 – Conyers, GA (just outside of Atlanta)

NOVEMBER 6

Orlando Film Festival – Orlando, FL

Enjoy the trailer, and visit the website for more details.

Lake Shrine

Yesterday I checked out a place I had read about in our AAA magazine. It's called Lake Shrine, and it's a multi-denominational spiritual center in the Pacific Palisades. There as a wedding there yesterday, so I couldn't explore everything, but the grounds are beautiful. They hold Sunday services, but the rest of the week the property is open to the public. There's a little chapel in the windmill, and a temple in a section I couldn't get to.

More pics here.