Torrey Pines State Reserve

Torrey Pines was a great location for pregnancy pictures.

The photographer: Us.

Glen Ivy Hot Springs

Marla and I spent the ENTIRE day at Glen Ivy Hot Springs.  I think we have had this in the works for  months!  And we got the works too, massages and everything.

Luckily when you book a massage you are guaranteed entry.  We arrived at 9:11 (the open at 9:00) and it had already reached capacity!  

The more you know... arrive an hour early if you don't have a treatment booked.

What a fun day!  I cannot wait to go back.  

The last time I was here was for Marla's bachelorette, almost a decade ago!

UCSD Stuart Collection

Summer is the best.

I have been wanting to take the girls to one of the newest pieces of art in UCSD's Stuart Collection, the Fallen Star, but it is only open in Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11-2.  

The Stuart Collection is part of a 1982 agreement with UCSD that the entire campus may be considered as sites for commissioned sculpture.  After the Stuart Collection Advisory Board submits a project for a campus review, the Chancellor has to approve it.  It is a process.

This is a view of the Fallen Star from below, but they aren't open yet.

Alexis Smith's Snake Path was approved in 1992.

Inside Geisel Library is a large collection of Theodore Seuss Geisel's (aka Dr. Seuss) work.  

It is open to the public, and fitting since we just saw the Lorax at the Old Globe the previous weekend.

Besides children's books, Seuss was also known for his political cartoons.

Niki de Saint Phalle's Sun God (1983).

Terry Allen's Trees (1986).

It was fun to take Eric and the girls through my alma mater!

UCSD is such a beautiful campus.

I remember many times that I was walking through campus between classes, listening to the singing trees (not realizing that it was art...).

It is open!  Do Ho Suh's Fallen Star.  

The South Korean artist wanted to depict his feelings of culture displacement.  He recreated his house in Seoul, but tilted, to show how he felt attending school in the United States in the 1990s.

You can only stand to be in the building for about 15 minutes.  It really throws off your equilibrium.  

We didn't explore all of the Stuart Collection, but I think we saw the highlights.  

Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix AZ

Eric and I try to visit my aunt and uncle in Arizona each year, and see something new while we are there.  This time we visited the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, built in 1929.  The hotel was designed by Albert Chase McArthur, an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright.  Since Frank Lloyd Wright was also hired on as a consulting architect, there is a lot of his influence around the 39 acre property.  

It is a beautiful (and surprisingly affordable) hotel.

William Wrigley Jr. (the gum tycoon) owned this hotel for 40 years.

I would have loved to have stayed there then, when people like Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, or Dean Martin were visiting.  Phoenix used to be so remote.