Breaking through the fog

 I know it's no comparison to the heaps of snow

or bone-chilling temperatures many of our 

friends are dealing with right now, 

but winter in the valley

is colder & grayer than I'd anticipated.

For a place that gets above 110 in the summer, 

I admit that I didn't expect to see the 30s in the winter.

Besides the temps, though, there is often a heavy 

blanket of fog/smog, 

and honestly, 

it can be really depressing.

So we try to take advantage of our sunny days.

Below you can see Z & Mr. Wilson

hanging out on the front porch

while Z does a bit of old-fashioned writing.

This & that in LA

This past Saturday we headed over the

mountains to LA.

We started out with a trip to IKEA

for a few items we'd been needing.

This recycling sorter, for example.

Nothing fancy, but it saves spaces

& makes recycling easier,

which is always a good thing.

Plus it came with blank labels,

so I had fun customizing them!

From there we made our way to the Fashion District

to visit Unique LA. All the jewelry, clothing, crafts,

talented designers, and food were awesome.

We had so much fun browsing

& picking out a few special items.

From the Fashion District we made our way

over to Echo Park.

We are big McSweeney's fans

and had been interested in 826LA for all the

awesome work they do.

So when we found out they were having

a writing workshop for adults,

we had to be there.

We were so busy writing & editing

that I didn't take any photos,

but both of us had lots of fun

and met some really great folks.

Finally, we headed home,

grabbing veggie 'burgers' & fries

from the most crowded In-N-Out Burger

ever in Santa Clarita.

I'll leave you with some images of the

'Christmas' light show from our trip back to Bako.