Courtney's Big Ass Parks Project

I love taking Pippa to new parks, but it is so easy to get into a park rut and keep visiting the same two or three parks over and over and over. Then we both get bored and sick of the same effing slides and tunnels. If I visit the same park too frequently, it turns into A Place Where My Happiness Goes To Die. But if we visit an ass shit ton of parks, Pippa and I both have fun and crack up as we run around.

In order to avoid the Park Rut, I'm going to keep track of all the parks I visit. My goal is to visit 100 different parks by the end of the year. (I reserve the right to realize that I'm insane and extend the deadline.)

I thought a lot about whether this list may include indoor playgrounds and decided it may NOT. This is about parks with fresh air and birds. Most of them will involve playgrounds, but the point is to visit new outdoor places.

But I have another list in mind that will include indoor playgrounds.

Parks I Have Visited - Woot Woot!:

1. Singer Park - 7/5/14 - I have driven by this park at least 100 times and always thought that I should take Pippa there. Finally, this morning, I did and it was awesome. From the street, it looked ok, but once we parked and walked over, we could fully appreciate its awesomeness. It's shady in the morning, there are lots of different things to do, plenty of greenery, and there are fences to prevent little ones from bolting into traffic. We will definitely visit this gem again - but not too soon! I don't want to transform it into A Place Where My Happiness Goes to Die.
2. Brookside Park - 7/7/14 - The mother of all Pasadena parks.  There are not one but two playgrounds. Lots of open space for toddler adventures. The Rose Bowl Aquatic Center (which I still haven't visited - someday). And of course, there is Kidspace. Today we went to the Pirate Ship Playground behind the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center. I know I will be tempted to include Brookside Park multiple times on this list since it feels like three different parks but I shall resist temptation!  
3. Memorial Park (the Sierra Madre edition) - 7/9/14 - A small SHADY park. The playground's main structure is simple, but Pippa played happily for 90 minutes.
4. Tournament Park - 7/14/14 (Bastille Day! And my brother's birthday!) - Tons of shade, Pippa wandered around listlessly thanks to some wicked teething; but the park is great so we will be back. I'm sure she will love the slides and sandbox when she is not in pain.
5. Mason Park - 7/15/14 - This was another miserable teething day. I had to drive around to help Pippa fall asleep and then schlepped to Chatsworth because I had read good reviews about this park and figured Pippa deserved a diversion from her gums.  The park is fantastic. Amazing playground, even more amazing splash pad. We shall return when Pippa's gums are not torturing her. Poor girl had zero interest in the splash pad, which is very uncharacteristic of her.
6. Eaton Canyon Natural Area - 7/17/14 - More teething, but since we were having a lovely reprieve from the summer heat, I decided it was time for some Nature. There is a little nature museum with some snakes and bugs in terrariums and turtles outside. There are also a ton of stuffed animals (by stuffed, I mean both "taxidermy" and "cute sewn teddy bears.") There is an easy nature walk, but my teething tot was not interested in walking. Also, there were signs warning about rattlesnakes and recent bear and mountain lion sightings. So yeah, we won't be going back any time soon! (Unless we have daddy to protect us from snakes, bear and lions - oh my!)
7. Vina Vieja Park - 7/20/14 - Another amazing Pasadena park, but this one has a bonus: there's a dog park! Pippa is obsessed with dogs and she loved watching the dogs romp around, and even got to pet a friendly chocolate Labrador; but she had even more fun at the playground. 
8. Victory Park - 7/21/14 - The toddler area is pretty shabby, but I still love this park.  Spectacular views of the mountains, lots of open space, shade, and Pippa loves the big kid playground.
9. Dunsmore Park - 7/21/14 - WOW! Love this place! The playgrounds are fun, clean and safe. There is a ridiculous amount of shade. And during the summer, on Mondays and Thursdays from noon-5, they fill up the little skating rink and turn it into a wading pool. It's FREE and only for kids 8 and younger.
10. Gwinn Park - 7/23/14 - No playground, just a big ass open green space with lots of pretty old trees. Perfect place for picnics, tossing a Frisbee, cloud gazing and letting a toddler explore the world. 

As of mid-July, I have visited seven different parks which means I have 27 weeks to visit 93 parks. That's 3.44 parks/week. Chop chop, I better get a move on!

    11.  Some park in Southampton - first half of August 2014 - Pippa and I spent two weeks in New York and visited the local park many times. We both loved it, especially the ducks. We need to find a local park with feathered friends.

    12.  Garfield Park - 8/16/14 - Love love love! Easy parking. Lots of trees and shade. Great playground for toddlers. The bathrooms REEK of death, despair and diarrhea, but we shall return.

Two weeks in Southampton slowed down this project, but we are back! Watch out parks, here we come!

    13.  Central Park - 8/17/14 - Love! I can't get over how many amazing parks are so close to home. Great playground and bonus, walking distance to Old Town. Win-win.

    14.  Lacy Park - 8/20/14 - Love the new playground but the slides were too hot to use - next time we'll go in the morning. But this park is spectacular. The grounds are so lovely to wander. Also, I saw a Mom Fight.

    15.  San Rafael Park - 8/21/14 - Great playground, tons of shade, but no restroom. And if your bladder is a time bomb like mine, you will appreciate what a liability this is.

This project is fun but ridiculous - how the effity eff am I supposed to visit 100 different parks in six months?? But I love visiting new parks - new people, new playgrounds, new neighborhoods fresh air, nature. So I will soldier on, for shits and giggles, just to see how badly I end up missing the mark.

Movies for Cranky Ladies

Sometimes, I just need to sit on the couch, be in a bad mood, and watch a movie.  Alone.  (Unless a glass of red wine counts as companionship).  I might parktake in some mindless knitting, or I might just huddle under a blanket and be cranky.  If I watch one of these movies, I am always in a better mood by the end of the film.

In no particular mood, these are my favorite movies to watch when I'm cranky:

1.  Bridget Jones Diary
2.  Pride & Prejudice (either the long BBC version with Colin Firth or the shorter version with Keira Knightley)
3.  Mama Mia!  The Movie
4.  Four Weddings and a Funeral (which is only available from alternate sellers on Amazon - WTF?  I mean, seriously, WTF??)
5.  500 Days of Summer (I had to make sure something with Zooey Deschanel made the list - sorry, minor girl crush)
6.  Chocolat (Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, and lots of chocolate in Paris?  Yes, please!)
7.  Like Water for Chocolate 
8.  Eat, Pray, Love (This book and movie seem to have a lot of haters, but I just love them both).
9.  Easy A
10.  Julie & Julia
11.  My Big Fat Greek Wedding (one of the few Nathan-approved movies on the list)
12.  13 Going on 30 (I'm probably going to lose a lot of credibility putting this on the list, but I don't care.  I watched it the night before starting the California bar exam and it took me to a happy place.  Maybe it will help you).
13.  Bend It Like Beckham
14.  Amelie
15.  A Room With A View (Of all the movies on this list, I've probably watched this one the most).
16.  Breakfast at Tiffany's
17.  Coco Before Chanel (for the fashion)
18.  Strictly Ballroom
19.  A League of Their Own
20.  Paper Heart (I love Charylyne Yi, the writer and lead actress of this film.  I could listen to her talk about sandpaper for hours).
21.  Away We Go (Maya Rudolph, I love you!)
22.  Marie Antoinette (costume porn)
23.  Bridesmaids
24.  The Joy Luck Club
25.  Disney's Beauty and the Beast
26.  Disney's The Little Mermaid  (I could list more Disney movies, but I won't).
27.  Dirty Dancing
28.  Grease
29.  Clueless
30.  Under The Tuscan Sun (Warning: you might accidentally buy tickets to Italy after watching this).
31.  Ever After: A Cinderella Story
32.  The Help
33.  Hairspray (The movie starring John Travolta in drag).

Please note: I intentionally omitted the Sex and the City movies from this list.  I believe that show turns women into crazy psychotic emotional vampire bitches.  Yes, the clothes and girls are fun.  But if you are already in a cranky mood, just say NO to Sex and the City.

My Favorite Sci-Fi Novels

About ten years ago, when I was in law school, I went on a huge sci-fi reading bender.  I spent hours upon hours in the Borders sci-fi aisles and inhaled dozens of books that took place in outer space.

A decade later, these are the books I still think about (and will reread when I get bit by the sci-fi bug again):

1.  Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card (I read and enjoyed many of the follow-up books; but of the sequels, I loved Ender's Shadow the most.  I wish I could force all of my loved ones to read this book.  It is one of my favorites of all time).

2.  The Hyperion Canto, by Dan Simmons (This is a four book series that start with Hyperion.  Entertaining and thought-provoking.  The term "sweeping epic" was invented for series like these.  Plus, it's called a "canto" which will make you feel extra smart).

3.  The Foundation Novels, by Isaac Asimov  (I loved this entire series and wanted to cry when I finished the last).

4.  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (Why yes, science fiction can be funny).

5.  Dune, by Frank Herbert (Just the first book; the second one got weird in a boring sort of way).

6.  The Mote in God's Eye, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (The only bad thing about this book is I can never remember the name of the title or the authors.  It should just be called The Mote, by Jerry Niven.  So much easier).

Just writing this list makes me want to read some sci-fi in the pool this summer.  But where to start? 
 

Damn Good Novels For Women

I finished Gone With the Wind on Sunday morning, and it is now one of my favorite books.  I was not emotionally prepared to start reading another novel, so instead, I started listing all my favorite books.  Men might enjoy a lot of the novels on this list, but I created this list with the female reader in mind.  (The world would probably be a better place if all men loved Austen as much as I do).

I have read all of the books on this list (and I've read some of them already four or five times).  These are books that I could not put down.  And, once I finished the last page, I kept thinking about them.  I'll keep updating this list as I read new books or remember books that should be here.  

In no particular order:

1. Pride & Prejudice, and anything else written by Jane Austen (including her grocery lists, if you can get your hands on them).
2. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now With Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! Seth Grahame-Smith (If you've read the original, this is hilarious).
3. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
4. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough (I read this on my honeymoon, which in retrospect, was a weird choice but it was great to read by the pool).
5. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
6. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
7. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
8. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith (I've been reading this at least every five years since I was ten).
9. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
10. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zola Neale Hurston
11. Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner
12. Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
13. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
14. The Midwife's Tale, Gretchen Moran Laskas
15. Midwives, Chris Bohjalian (apparently I like books about midwives)
16. The Blood of Flowers, Anita Amirrezvani
17. The Blue Castle, L.M. Montgomery (This might be heresy, but I like this book even better than Anne of Green Gables).
18. Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann (Warning: this book will make you feel stupid, but it's entertaining as hell).
19. The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
20. The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger (I refuse to watch the movie because the book is perfect and I don't want it ruined).
21. Dogs of Babel, Carolyn Parkhurst (have a box of Kleenex handy).
22. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley (the King Arthur tale, for women).
23. Bel Canto, Ann Patchett
24. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
25. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
26. The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende
27. Cold Sassy Tree, Olive Ann Burns
28. Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Marisha Pessl (Full disclosure: some of the members of my book club hated this book and thought it was overly contrived/pretentious.  But I loved it).
29. Prep, Curtis Sittenfeld
30. Frangipani, Clestine Vaite
31. American Dervish, Ayad Akhtar
32. The Help, Kathryn Stockett (The movie was great, but the book was even better).
33. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
34. The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
35. The Crimson Petal and the White, Michel Faber (The adventures of a prostitute named Sugar in 1870s London - sooooooooo gooooooooooood.  It only gets a 3 star rating on Amazon, which is just stupid).
36. The Hunger Games Trilogy, Suzanne Collins
37. The Princess Bride, William Goldman (While I was reading this book, my cousin Julie was standing ten feet away and dancing like a chicken.  The book was so engaging, I didn't notice).
38. East of Eden, John Steinbeck
39. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
40. The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein
41. The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory
42. The Clan of the Cave Bear, Jean Auel (This was actually assigned reading for my ninth grade history class.  As a fifteen year old, I loved it.  But I haven't reread it as an adult).
43. Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
44. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See
45. Life of Pi, Yann Martel
46. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
47. Wifey, Judy Blume (Judy Blume has been my guilty pleasure since I first read Are You There God?  It's Me, Margaret in the second grade).
48. The Eight, Katherine Neville
49. Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
50. Twilight Saga, Stephenia Meyer (Shameful, but entertaining, so shut up).
51. Sookie Stackhouse Series, Charlaine Harris (The HBO True Blood series is based on these books, but the books are less gritty and more about clothes and romance).
52. The Hotel New Hampshire, John Irving
53. The Cairo Trilogy, Naguib Mahfouz (Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize and rightfully so).
54. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green (A book about teenagers with cancer that will make you cry, laugh and remember how precious life is.  I cannot say enough good things about it).
55. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
56. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (I like reading Hornby's novels because I feel like it gives me a glimpse of the male brain). 
57. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith (The journal of a 17 year old woman living in the English countryside during the 1930s.  If you like Austen and L.M. Montgomery, you'll love this).