Ooey Gooey

In addition to my little cupcake obsession, I've been sampling all sorts of yumminess at various bakeries. Today, I stopped at Milk for the first time and I'm almost sorry I did. Not that it was bad... it's just that I have to go the Art Store fairly often and Milk is located just off the same intersection (Beverly & Poinsettia.) Unfortunately, I can absolutely see myself picking up one of their "ooey gooey double chocolate" cookies every time I need to pick up some mat board or pencils. Those cookies are the most chocolatey and rich double chocolate cookies I have ever tasted. I was happily buzzing for hours. And at $1 a cookie, I can't wait to have another one.

In addition to those cookies, I also bought a slice of blue velvet cake for one of my coworkers and a square of chocolate croissant bread pudding for K. The reviews were very positive.

Milk is probably best known for its milk-derived goodies, like shakes, pudding and ice cream. Perhaps next time, I'll try something from their food menu (I hear their cobb and media noches are good) and wash it down with a chocolate malt...and, of course, grab some of those cookies.

Yelping

A quick note that I've started to Yelp. Click here for a link to my page and my first review.

I'm not sure how much I'll write (see how many postings I've written here), but people often come to me for advice on where to eat and hang out, so I thought that I would at least give it the old college try.

Speaking of college, now that I've told certain people key people at work, I can be more open about the fact that since September, I've been busting my butt in the Interior Design program at UCLA Extension. It's a lot of work, especially because of the intro design class I'm currently enrolled in. Even though I make my living doing graphic design, I never had formal design training (outside of a few courses here and there), so creating art without a computer is pretty intimidating to me (and time consuming!) However despite that, I love the program. I love my teachers, who are all so interesting and encouraging. I love my fellow classmates, who are more or less in the same boat as me (working and tired but very inspired.) And I love that I am becoming a better designer overall.

I like graphic design, but to me, the best kind of design envelops you. I've been obsessed with built environments since my undergrad days (hence the Urban Studies degree,) and my various work experiences in the architecture industry helped to enforce that. A couple of months ago, I decided to go beyond a mere appreciation of architecture and interior design and actually take the steps to be able to create the kind of spaces that inspire me and (hopefully) others.

I've got about three years of going to school plus working full-time ahead of me, but that really doesn't bother me. Three years of intense focus is nothing compared to thirty years of searching for a purpose.

Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes...

Click here to check out
The Los Angeles Cupcake Meetup Group!

I just signed up for this and I can't wait for the next meetup. I've been a cupcake devotee since Sprinkles first opened their doors several years ago and try to try all the latest cupcakeries around. (I even read the cupcake blog, Cupcakes Take the Cake, at least every other day.)

I love cupcakes for their precious smallness, their yumminess & endless possibilities for cute design. I have this beautiful cake plate at home and the thought of placing perfect cupcakes on it makes me perfectly happy.

As for what cupcakes are my favorite, I'll save that for another time (hopefully accompanied with a pic of them on my cake plate.)

Cherry's Jubilee

While in Monterey this past weekend, K & I happened upon the annual Cherry's Jubilee classic car event. This was definitely a treat, probably more so for K, who couldn't stop snapping pics of his favorite cars. I was able to wrest the camera away from him to snap a couple of shots of my favorite car there:

The lines on this car are so gorgeous. I love the creamy color and the burnt orange. They just don't make 'em like this anymore. (Truth be told, on the safety side, I'm glad cars have all sorts of airbags, etc., nowadays. I just want them to be designed a little bit more elegantly)


I tried to do a search on this car, but came up with nothing on the name below:


Anyway, this reminded me of L.A.'s own treasure trove of classic cars: The Nethercutt Collection. If you love classic cars, especially pre-war ones, this is the place for you. K & I went there several months ago and he certainly got a kick at seeing all of the Packards (especially since he's a descendant.) To see the best cars and hear some unusual automated instruments, reserve a spot in the San Sylmar tour.

Art Deco

If you haven't visited my blog lately (as I haven't written much lately), you'll notice that it looks a little different. I got bored of the standard Blogger template I was using, so I put together this Art Deco-inspired background.

Art Deco is one of my favorite architectural styles and I spend a lot of time scoping out Art Deco buildings and objects. In fact, in addition to living in an Art Deco building, I lead an Art Deco walking tour of downtown L.A. for the L.A. Conservancy. My next tour is scheduled for Saturday, September 22 at 10 a.m. If you are interested in walking through downtown with me, visit the Conservancy's Web site and reserve a spot.

Art Deco exterior molding from my building.

Shark Obsession

Hello, my name is Annabel and I'm a shark-aholic...

Most people who know me know that I'm pretty obsessed with sharks. You know those little boys who go around spouting random facts about dinosaurs, insects or cars? I'm like that with sharks, except I'm a 30-year-old adult woman. I can identify most species of sharks, tell you what the Ampullae of Lorenzini are, locate primary feeding and spawning grounds, etc.

I go to aquariums with one primary objective... to see the shark tank. I've seen zebra and other carpet sharks in the petting tank, ragged tooth/sand tiger sharks (the scariest-looking shark, but fairly benign), a bull shark, numerous types of reef sharks, and some hammerheads. But next week, I get to see a (knock on wood) great white!!!!!

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has had several great whites in the past, but eventually they would have to return them to the ocean because the sharks get too big. They are usually housed in the Outer Bay exhibit, which is one of my favorite tanks in the world. I could spend hours in front of the glass there, watching the sharks, tuna and other large fish whizz around.

Last Monday, they introduced a young great white into the tank and will keep him there as long as things go smoothly (in other words, as long as he doesn't eat the other fish or get really depressed). Hopefully, he'll still be there when K & I go to visit. If so, I promise to post pictures.

I do have a feeling that this little viewing will have me wanting more. Perhaps, one day, I'll get to go on a tour of Seal Island in False Bay, South Africa and see this:

Testing out Mobile Blogging

Most of the time when I'm out and about, I see things that I think warrant a blog post, but then I get home or back to work and I forget or I just don't have the time. So in order to possibly (hopefully) increase my blogging productivity, here's my first attempt at mobile blogging. After this post, a flood of new posts should follow (crossing my fingers)