Amyblog

Based on a recommendation by Mr. BAW's cousin, we went to Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego near Little Italy on Valentine's Day. This place is simply amazing! They have the best desserts we've had in LA. They run the place like a restaurant, with seatings and tables. They also serve sandwiches and appetizers, which we tried and were also wonderful. But almost everyone there were simply having their desserts. The place had a constant line and we were lucky to get there early enough that the wait for a table was only about 20 minutes. You can also order the desserts to go, but we wanted to dine there. The only bummer is that they are only in San Diego for now. They need to open one up in LA by June so I can take my friend TNK there when she visits. It's just the kind of place we used to go to when we hung out in LA or SF.

This amazing chocolate mousse cake is what Mr. BAW ordered. Yes, that is gold specks on the rose petal!

I had to have the Tiramisu cake. It was simply divine! But it was so huge that even I couldn't finish it. I took half of it home and got to enjoy it again the next night at home.

Look how gorgeous the strawberry chocolate mousse cups are! All their desserts are delicious and beautiful.

There were no shortage of hearts and cookies on Valentine's Day!

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We took a trip down to San Diego over Valentine's weekend and went to Sea World. It was Mr. BAW's first trip to the park and I haven't been there since the early eighties! The park was smaller than what I remembered and the shows were less spectacular. But I guess everything was more impressive when you were younger. None the less, we had a blast. The weather was fabulous, no rain in sight. Toby spent the day with our aunt and uncle who live in San Juan Capistrano. They love Toby and he had a wonderful time with them.

They had a little coaster called Atlantis. I didn't go on it because I hate roller coasters. But here's Mr. BAW enjoying the ride. The is the shot of his boat as it came down for a big splash. Turns out that they had a couple of stations where one could put in a quarter and splash the boats at certain parts of the ride!

It's Shamu! We enjoyed watching the various shows at the park. Shamu was terrific as usual. Turns out that these Killer Whales do live quite a long time. The one performing was over forty years old! The only disappointment was the dolphin show. The dolphins were adorable, don't get me wrong. But the show was supposed to be 25 minutes long and it only lasted 15 minutes. They only had one dolphin perform a high jump. Maybe they were in between training new dolphins and retiring the older dolphins.
But I do admire the trainer and the animals. The whales and dolphins are such amazing creatures, I really felt the bond between animal and trainers.

My favorite show at Sea World is the Seal and Sea Lion show. They acturally do a little skit with the trainers. They are extremely smart creatures, just like dogs. Our favorite is Clyde the Sea Lion on the left. He was just adorable! He danced, he sang, and he completely stole the show.

Pink flamingos! They are such vibrant creatures it was amazing to see so many of them together.

One of the strangest thing we saw were these ducks. Of course we've seen ducks before, exactly like these. But we've never seen them walking around the cafeteria! That's where we saw these three guys just wandering the food court looking for hand outs like the pigeons! They were not afraid of people, just like the pigeons. I wondered if they had escaped from their own exhibit. But there was no Duck exhibit at the park! Odd...

I think the Sesame Street gang is the sponsor of Sea World! They had their own 4-D show and they were all over the park. Mr. BAW couldn't help himself when he saw a whole cart load of Cookie Monster and Big Bird!

It wouldn't be Anheuser-Busch without Clydesdales!! I got to meet all the Clydesdales upclose and personal! They are huge animals, but very gentle. Though we couldn't reach in to pet them, they came right up to us and stared at us.

I especially love DJ here. He was very sweet and listened to me as I said hi to him. They are simple gorgeous, their coats are shinny and they didn't smell too bad for such large animals.

Why were these guys all hanging out at one corner of their large habitat?

Turns out that the Feeder Tube was at that corner! But it looked like tough times for them because we didn't see anyone paying the $12 to buy seal food to feed them. But I'm sure the park feeds them well, they just wanted some extra treats!

I caught the Beluga Whale coming up for air! They are simply amazing looking creatures. I was surprised how white their skin looked. It was as if someone painted them with white paint!

One of my favorite animals is the Polar Bear! Who could not love the white cuddly bear with huge paws. This one reminded me of Toby because he was just chilling on the rocks people watching.

Penguins! There were lots of them! They also had several types of penguins living together including Emperors and Kings. A few awkward teens were going through a fur shedding period, they were very cute.

Magellanic penguins! Since they are warm weather creatures, they get to swim outside in the warm sunlight.

Little sharks everywhere! Yikes. They were kind of creepy. Not my favorite!

As part of our ticket, we got to ride the gondola across the Sea World bay. Though it was a little chilly, it was a beautiful ride. As you can see, the sky was blue with only some fluffy clouds in the distance.

We didn't have time to see the Pet's Rule show. But we did get a couple of pictures with the giant Golden Retriever and try out his giant bowl of dog food! We didn't show these pictures to Toby because he would be so mad that we didn't bring him back any of Fido's food. :-) The tickets we bought is good for a year, so we'll definitely go back in the Summer.

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This is Bug's Bunny! **In ~ Love** Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
We're going to spend our weekend in San Diego. Stay tuned for pictures of our trip.

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I do love being at home all curled up in a warm blanket with my dog and husband during a good winter rain storm. But after the rain, there's nothing more refreshing than a nice stroll around the neighborhood. Everything is so clear and bright. The sky is an intense blue color with scatters of puffy white clouds.

On Saturday we experienced a precious period in the afternoon perfect for a walk around the neighborhhood. The air was so clean that we could see clear across the Los Angeles Basin, all the way to the Santa Monica Mountains and up Malibu along the coast. The Downtown buildings appeared magically in the distance.

It's already the middle of Ferbruary and we've been living in our new house for almost a year now! We love our quiet neighborhood and are still doing some home improvment projects. So a stroll through the neighborhood allows us to get designing ideas from other homes to improve our curb appeal. Toby just enjoys sniffing and leaving notes to his buddies on the hiking trail behind our street.

I can't wait until we get more and more day light hours. Occasionally, we will all hike a mile down to Redondo Beach for some Sun and waves.

This is a shot of my Galileo Thermometer hanging in our backyard. It was a pleasant 65 degrees, as you can see. :-)

I hope everyone had a nice weekend too!

Downtown Los Angeles in the distance. It looks like it may still be raining in the San Fenando Valley, just beyond those mountains behind the trees on the left.

Beautiful blossoms along our walk. This tree was in someone's backyard.

The delicate blossoms up-close. They withstood the earlier rainfall.

Paw prints in cement! Uh oh, obviously there was an anxious dog not willing to wait until the cement dries.

Don't worry, those paw prints are not Toby's! But here he is enjoying our walk with his dad.

On our path home, you can see the Pacific Ocean on the left. Redondo Beach is just down the hill on the left.

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This is Bug the Rat. Isn't she adorable?!!? I'm in love!! I discovered her at Cute Overload. Apparently, she loves to sleep with teddy bears. It's so cute I had to feature her again here. There are more pictures of Bug here. Many people are afraid of rats, but they can make wonderful pets. They are extremely smart and affectionate, as Bug demonstrates. I can't get enough of Bug pictures! Makes me want to get a pet rat. Turns out Bug's owner is a young woman living in the UK named Jessica Florence. She is only 18 and is extremely talented. Her pictures are phenomenal. I hope she pursues her career in photography, maybe even become a photographer for National Geographic...one of my personal dream jobs.

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What does a cat have to do with Super Bowl? I attended a Super Bowl party at our friends' house on Sunday. The game was good, the food was excellent, and the commercials were fun. Everything was good until my nose started to run. My friends happen to be parents of a small black cat, kind of like the one shown here.

I ended up developing severe allegies towards the end of the game. That evening, my allergies turned into sinus infection and a high fever. Yikes! It looks like my allergies to cats has intensified over the past year and I can't even be in the same house as a cat. My fever broke the next day but I'm still exhausted and have a tough time breathing normally. What a way to start February!

Plus, the Cardinals didn't pull off a win against the Steelers. So sad.