one of my favorite photos of my mom and me. pure happiness.

Happy mother’s day, 媽媽.

We arrived late Thursday afternoon and drove to the Bywater section of town for dinner.

We stopped at this amazing wall and wondered, what’s behind this?

a peak in the opening of the wall revealed Music Box. Click here to listen in.

We were invited to come back the next day to go inside. So we came back.

This is a white tent filled with found objects that created a tambourine of sorts

It really was beautiful

I love that we’re able to discover new art every time we go to New Orleans.

We stopped at Satuma for some lunch.

I love how they copy the street signs that are embedded in the sidewalk.

I had a beautiful, earthy, beet lemonade. Freshly squeezed

There was a gator ready to eat fingers in the cafe

including iPhones

The next day we got to Jazz Fest early – early enough for free street parking.

There is always a celebration at Jazz Fest

We all felt the music, including Uncle Vince.

We saw some great music and ate some wonderful food.  Sorry no pictures of the food this time.  They got gobbled before I could remember to take some.

We enjoyed Plum Street Snowballs – twice.

On Sunday, I wanted to make sure we took at trip to Cafe du Monde – to make sure QT got to experience a beignet.  Really had nothing to do with me.

They were pretty hot, so QT had to wait a few minutes before jumping in.

She quickly determined that she preferred eating the powdered sugar.

sugar anyone?

There’s always a party going on somewhere in town. We saw this glitter on one of the sewer lids in the French Quarter. photo by Al

On Monday, QT and I slept in. While Al and Mona caught a celebration of Jazz in Congo Park.

Love the colors and vibrancy. photo by Al

Another successful trip. We were able to see many friends while we were town. Can’t wait to go back.

So what have we been up to? Well things actually haven’t changed much.  Food is always a highlight, but now it’s usually kid-friendly.

Pasta! Mange!

Vegan cupcakes at $4.75 each from Babycakes. Was it worth it? Only if - I didn't know how to bake. But I make vegan, gluten-free cupcakes without soy. But QT enjoyed the frosting and chocolate chips!

yummy in my tummy!

And a trip to the museum

I love these devices they used for the Mid-Century design exhibit.

Someone else loved it too. I had to persuade QT to continue through the exhibit.

And how about some arts and crafts?

Dressed as "princess" and ready to watercolor.

Her first rainbow and signed too.

a dog in clay

a great weekend.

I've never grown broccoli before and didn't really realize how many stalks could grow on one plant.

everyone had to take look.

We also went to the Culver City Art Walk.  This year’s experience was a little different.  We didn’t wander around like last time.

several people were interested in Al's fish sculptures

I really love how the single fish turned out. Al's brother did a great job.

Rhonda Voo had some "delicious displays"

do you think the members of KISS would like these?

Jeff used found objects to create this. The vaccum cleaner was rescued from a dumpster.

the end.

Filed under: Art, Family, weekend ]]> http://the-qs.com/2011/06/05/bits-of-my-weekend-vol-31/feed/ 1 janetq88 garden_6.4.11-9 garden_6.4.11-8 culver_art_6.4.11-15 culver_art_6.4.11-12 culver_art_6.4.11-21 culver_art_6.4.11-20 culver_art_6.4.11-17 culver_art_6.4.11-25 http://the-qs.com/2011/05/18/bits-of-my-weekend-vol-30/ http://the-qs.com/2011/05/18/bits-of-my-weekend-vol-30/#comments Wed, 18 May 2011 15:00:35 +0000 janetq88 http://the-qs.com/?p=1923 Continue reading »

This post was a bit delayed due to our lack of internet connection. It felt so strange to be without internet service for 4 days.

a really fun exhibit - a feast for the eyes: MOCA's Street Art

The exhibit actually started outside.

space invader

ouch

I particularly liked this pimped up “candy truck”

glittery and shiny

this reminded me of the "Union 76" balls from Dodger Park professing it's love for LA

he loves mom too

luckily our daughter is too young to recognize candy. or else she would have swiped some of the art

the artist

another crazy car

the interior

the inspiration for Shepard Ferry's "obey"

banksy

all the art was inspiring our own artist to be creative.

Filed under: Art, weekend Tagged: Banksy, MOCA, Shepard Ferry, Space Invader, Street Art ]]> http://the-qs.com/2011/05/18/bits-of-my-weekend-vol-30/feed/ 0 janetq88 MOCA_May-13 SD_May_21-21 SD_May_21-22 SD_May_21-9 SD_May_21-6 SD_May_21-8 SD_May_21-7 SD_May_21-5 SD_May_21-2 SD_May_21-3 SD_May_21-4 MOCA_May-2 download-1 http://the-qs.com/2011/04/25/bits-of-my-weekend-vol-29/ http://the-qs.com/2011/04/25/bits-of-my-weekend-vol-29/#comments Mon, 25 Apr 2011 23:03:57 +0000 janetq88 http://the-qs.com/?p=1911 Continue reading »

]]> The Marina is always filled with people enjoying the water.  This weekend was no different.

QT observed every seagull she saw

It's always great to see family. Ally's pops was in town to join us for Easter.

Our friend Bobby celebrated his 60th with a wonderful party and a spectactular cake.

His rock/wife, Barbara, threw another amazing party

The only problem with the photo is the other brother is behind the camera.

can't have an Easter celebration without a hunt for eggs

It was a great see family this weekend.

Filed under: Family, friends, weekend ]]> http://the-qs.com/2011/04/25/bits-of-my-weekend-vol-29/feed/ 0 janetq88 AlQ_quinn_MDR-16 AlQ_easter-14 AlQ_easter-11 AlQ_easter-12 AlQ_easter-15 AlQ_easter-7

NY pizza dough or at least descendants of

Alas, we forgot to check hours of operation and didn’t discover it only serves dinner until we got there.

as luck would have it, Umani Burger was across the street

Umani is all about tasty everything.  And even their ice tea had a little something extra.

a hint of coconut. it was refreshing!

Al loved it.

We had some great portabello mushroom burgers, sweet potato fries and truffle beet salad.

the ice cream sandwich was pretty yummy too.

I believe we’ve had a chocolate dessert at every wedding anniversary celebration.  How could we not, when we choose to serve chocolate wedding cake.

chocolate ganache cake with one layer of raspberry cream. photo by Suzi of Q Weddings

there were barely crumbs left of our wedding cake. photo by Suzi of Q Weddings

post-party at the Prince O' Whales. photo by Suzi of Q Weddings.

This year’s anniversary celebration was extra sweet because we shared with a giggling two-year old.

who like mom and dad, appreciates chocolate!

watering isn't my thing, lucky for me - Al is willing to do it

can't wait to eat some fresh basil

First buds due in about 45 days.  Hoping by Memorial Day, we’ll have something to eat from the garden.

An artist that never disappoints!

I may have hit an all-time record for the musical artist seen the most.  It’s really not a lot when you compare it to a Dead Head or other groupies.  But this week, I saw Neil Finn for the fifth time.  Fourth time with Al.

Every show, whether it is with Crowded House or alone – is an amazing show.  Obviously my love for his music helps this, but he’s entertaining.  Some artists come on and never say a word to the audience.  Neil loves to engage the audience, give opinions and tell stories.  I don’t recall him with a perm in the ’80s – but after he talked about it, I’m going to search for some memorable images.

The other thing is that Neil always picks cool venues.  Coach House, Orpheum Theatre, Greek Theatre and of course the El Rey.

love these art deco theatres

I love that he also went way back and sang two Split Enz songs.

a great encore

We haven’t been going out much as a couple.  So this was really a great treat.

Obviously the new addition to our family and the desire to get ready for work in 60 seconds (okay it takes more like 15 minutes in total) also prompted me to cut my hair.

10.5 inches worth

I remember for a long time that my hair represented something powerful for me.  From an early age, short hair wasn’t something I enjoyed.  Maybe it’s because people thought I was a boy at the age of 7 with short hair.

Now I realize, it something that can come and go as life goes on.  I was worried that QT wouldn’t recognize me when I picked her up from “school.”  There was no hesitation from her and she saw me across the playground.  So I’m just happy to cut my hair for a good cause and give myself more time to hang out with the QT in the mornings.

my little buddy still recognized me