Posts filed under 'Santa Monica'
Ok, I’m a little obsessed with outdoor showers right now. I mentioned a couple of fine showers you can buy from Amazon in a previous post on showering in your backyard. And now this nice little shower design book has come to my attention to help you design and build your own outdoor shower.
I had no idea that outdoor showers are becoming the hot new luxury item. I just know that my significant-other has a soft spot for them because as a kid she would visit their family’s homestead shack out in the Mojave desert and use an outdoor shower. Years later we visited Costanoa, a luxury fake camping resort where you sleep in tent cabins under electric blankets and use shared camp style deluxe bath facilities. The bath house floors are heated with radiant heat and you can shower (in private stalls) under the open sky. And now we are renovating our decrepit bathroom with that style in mind. Most of all I just remember as a kid, some of my favorite times were coming home covered in dirt, mud or sand so that I needed to be hosed off outside. Now I just need the time and energy to build a shower to make it more fun.
Beware– I’ve found that you may need a permit to build an outdoor shower. My plumber warned me that in Santa Monica (where we have a lot of very good strict building requirements) it is technically illegal to build a shower without proper drainage and permits. I need to find more info, but this action by the City Council points out that outdoor showers are really supposed to be used for recreational purposes like if there is a pool or sauna. But it shouldn’t serve as the primary shower for a granny flat. Who knew it was so complicated to hose off in your own yard? You have to admit though, it is important to keep untreated water out of our ocean! It is contaminated enough. So get your permits!
Anyway, this shower design book has received some nice reviews and I’ve got to order mine.
July 17th, 2007
A couple of years ago we started a little guide to our favorite restaurants to visit with kids, babies and/ or toddlers in Los Angeles. It is a little Westside heavy, but, hey, that’s where we live. Looks like it has hit a chord because a lot of people are visiting. But now I need some help….
Where do you go in LA to get good sushi? Preferably in Santa Monica or on the Westside…. Oh, yea, and it should be kid friendly. I know it is a lot to ask, but we had a groovy little neighborhood spot in San Francisco that was a favorite when we had babies. But just haven’t found anything in Los Angeles yet. (I admit, we haven’t tried very hard. We’ve been stuck in a rut with the spots on the aforementioned list. And we’ve been cooking again. Wow, with bigger kids you have time to cook. Whoah….)
Any ideas?
Oh, and while your at it… where do you get great Chinese takeout? Excellent froo-froo pizza delivery (ya know, with veggies and unusual toppings)?
February 19th, 2007
Our twins celebrate December birthdays so every year we consider a party in our yard or park or house. Then due to weather and our own sanity, decide we need an outside venue. Oh, and we’ve attended a couple partys here and there. So we decided to offer a list of some of our favorite birthday locations for kids and toddlers. I’m sure we’ve missed a few so please, send us your favorites.
This list has a Los Angeles + Westside focus. But if you have some great suggestions, we’re compiling other lists, so please don’t hold back!
February 6th, 2007
Just these week I posted a little article about the Crows here in Santa Monica. I had been curious about these amazing flocks of birds. Well, as I had suspected, some people are getting riled by them.
Santa Monica Mirror whining about crows
What do they want animal control to do, round up the crows in big nets? Poison them? Knowing Santa Monica liberals, by next week we’ll have a bird birth control program in place that costs enough to provide health insurance to all of the domestic help in Los Angeles. And the real reason this is happening? Our hedges are now so tall the crows are nesting in them.
Honestly, it is not that bad. Enjoy the fact that we have a little bit of nature here in the City. Or cut down your trees and replace them with native scrub.
January 26th, 2007
At least it seems like it! Every winter crows take over our Santa Monicaneighborhood, having wild partie like a bunch of insane winged bikers. They gather in the evenings and mornings and if they choose our part of the neighborhood, the racket can be loud and intimidating.
So I thought I’d get to the bottom of it. I had a little conversation with Kimball L. Garrett from the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. You can read the Los Angeles Crows article here. Particularly poignant are Mr. Garrett’s comments at the end about the poor job we are doing protecting upland habitat such as sage scrub, grasslands, while we focus so much on wetlands. Sounds like a we’ll need to do another article! And feel free to leave you crow and other experiences in the comments!
Oh, one PS to the article. Just after completing it, our local crows were making a particularly big ruckus. Next thing we knew, a swarm of them flew over our heads chasing a huge hawk who appeared to be clutching something (or someone, ooh hoo ha ha). We don’t get big old hawks in our neighborhood very often, so it was pretty impressive!
January 23rd, 2007
We have a new guide: Los Angeles Activites with Kids + Toddlers . It has a Santa Monica / Westside point-of-view, but there’s a little for everyone, even folks visiting from out of town. Let us know if we missed anything!
December 20th, 2006
We’ve listed our favorite restaurants with kids. So far we have a Los Angeles version (ok mostly Santa Monica and the Westside) and a small San Francisco list. Anything fun, silly, funky and GOOD.
So now it is your turn! Share your favorite kid joints. We’ll even give you credit. We’re not looking for chains here, unless they really do something special. Oh, and feel free to share your faves from other cities too!
December 19th, 2006
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