Fabric District, Never-Ever #2

Working towards my goal of doing 19 things I have never-ever done this year, I am happy to report I have added to my list! Yesterday, I had the privilege of spending the day with my mom, sister, and a few co-workers that we met up with in the Fabric District in downtown Los Angeles, California. It was amazing, overwhelming, fast paced, tiring, and all around a great day! There were blocks upon blocks of stores stacked on top of one another full of knickknacks, ribbons, buttons, and FABRIC, blocks and blocks of fabric. I was in Heaven. We took our time heading up there, and met up with a few co-workers who headed up before us. We parked, and started our adventure. I am not going to lie, it was beyond overwhelming, sensory overload for sure. The fist few stores we were trying to figure out prices and get a feel of the place. The group ended up splitting up the majority of the day, like most buying adventures with multiple people wanting different things do; but we ended up meeting again later in the day, and that was perfect.

I was as happy as a clam, I was in my element and loving every second of it. Being the red-headed, blue eyed person I am, there is nothing more amusing than hearing the guys try to figure out a price in front of you in Spanish, then break out my Spanish and barter with them. I think half the time they are shocked that I am fluent in Spanish, but I think they are trying to figure out how this can be, and with my Argentine accent, thy are trying to figure out where I am from. I LOVE it!! Well needless to say, I was able to get some really stellar deals on some items that I had been looking for. All around an amazing day.

Mom and Jess

Here is an idea of what we were dealing with.

We took on the whole adventure, including street vendors!

The craziness of the crowds...

Oh, the choices!

The shopping ladies :)

Buttons, buttons, and more buttons

 I hope you enjoy the photos!


Hints if you are headed that way:

• Go in knowing regular retail prices of items
• Look into how much the items cost online buying in bulk if you are planning 
• Bring bottled water
• Bathrooms are few and far between, and most are the pay-to-pee type
• Don't be afraid to barter for a cheaper price, yes everything is cheap, but remember they are still make a profit!
• Pace yourself, there are more stores than you can imagine
• Keep in mind a lot of the stores start closing shop around 3/3:30ish
• Have a blast!

Happy crafting!!

~Lou

Just Kidding Around

In pre-school Little Man is learning about Seasons. Currently, the season that being taught is Winter. Being that we live in San Diego, Winter does not come as the traditional cold, snow and ice, so we were asked to help bring Winter into the classroom.  Little Man's teacher asked all of the children to bring in a piece of ice; large, small, shaped, colored, etc. As the loyal Pintrester I am, I came across this. I had been saving this idea for a time that we could actually put it to good use. It was such a fun activity! Little Man's class ended up making an ice sculpture by using salt (bringing down the freezing temperature) to have the pieces of ice to adhere to one another as they melted.

The good 'ol How To:

Grab a party balloon that is laying around. 
Place some food coloring inside of it and fill the bad boy with water. 
Tie knot at top and freeze. 
Freeze overnight and remove balloon once frozen.

We started with the green marble and as you can see got more and more brave as the activity continued.    With the green balloon, we did not shake it to mix up the colors, so the bottom section was a lot darker than the rest of the marble unlike with the blue and yellow; those were given a good shake once the knot was tied up top. I really wanted to bring the circular marble into effect but knew that I was going to limited to some tupperware and a freezer to make this happen. I decided that flour would be the best representation of snow, so that was added to the tupperware before adding the balloon to avoid a flat bottom.

These were a hit at school, and such a fun activity for Little Man and me to do together. This will definitely be a repeat activity!!

Wonderland

My Little Man and me were lucky enough to spend the New Year with my family up in the mountains in our own little Winter wonderland. The days were spent finding the perfect spot, walking up the run and sledding down (repeating time, after time, after time!) The late afternoons consisted of warming up, College Football Bowl games, and board games (my favorite being "Things") and lots and lot of family time!

Stunning to see fresh snow on the mountain tops

One of my favorite things about the snow!

Sporting his Husker Pride, our Mini horse found himself a cornhead.

It was SO cold this day and Little Man enjoyed every second of it

Izzy practicing for next year's auditions to pull Santa's sleigh 

Can you tell he LOVED the freezing snow in his face? 

Packing his snowball, and finding his next victim 

Collecting memories!

This picture explains our whole long weekend.

Best run of the weekend 

The whole clan 

My Little Man <3



My hope is that this will turn into a family tradition! Best.weekend.EVER

~ Lou