Outdoor Venture: Peacocks and Mosaics

I took the opportunity to enjoy the radiant sunshine and headed out for an adventure with the family this Memorial weekend. We set course for The Arboretum in Arcadia, California.

Upon arrival we were greeted by this regal creature.

Take a drive in any part of this neighbourhood and you’ll find these majestic birds just roaming around freely.

Many of them have made homes in the Arboretum, and who can blame them? I too would happily set up house next to the enchanting rose garden here.

The Arboretum’s mission statement is that it hopes to “foster an awareness and appreciation of the role of plants in nature and in human affairs”. Mission accomplished, I say! Their botanical gardens are just magnificent.

We wandered past their carefully manicured lawns and gardens. We investigated their twisted, enchanting tree groves and bamboo forest, and we ambled past the still waters of their lakes , stopping only to admire the exquisite orchids in their hothouses. The air was ripe with the scent of blossoms, fruit trees and herbs.

I was charmed by this ornately decorated path.

Designed in the form of a snake, and patterned sporadically with these delightful mosaics, it weaved its way through the plant life.

Each mosaic embedded with colorful jewel-like stones, reflecting the sun.

I was immediately inspired by their color, pattern and design.

My mind racing with ideas about creating mosaics. But what to use?

Paper? Card? Clay?

Hmmm.... a little experimentation is in order, I think. I'll keep you posted on what I come up with.

Maybe they inspire you too? Perhaps you have a suggestion for a mosaic project yourself? I would love to hear about it. Or even see mosaic artwork created by you!

Until then...

A final word (lest we forget the reason for this long weekend) for those who have served and those who have fallen, we remember and thank you.

MSTTF

(My Submarine To The Future)

Ahoy mateys!

I literally jumped out of bed with excitement this morning!
One of my posts “Paper Houses” is being featured on Ohdeedoh today!
You can check it out here. Thanks so much to Carrie McBride and the team for the mention. You made my day!

If you are an Ohdeedoh reader who has stopped by, then welcome!
You’re probably curious about what My Submarine To The Future is all about. Please click to find out more. I would love to hear what you think of the site, or even if you just want to say hi.

Please feel free to stretch your legs and explore all decks of My Submarine. You'll find many other posts about fun ideas and projects you can do with your children, but also interesting creative ventures for yourself too.

Hop aboard, grab a seat and join me on my voyage of discovery.

MSTTF
(My Submarine To The Future)

Bubble from the blue: Perfection

I find it interesting that MY idea of 'perfection' may be completely different to what YOU perceive perfection to be. For example, take a look at this painting....

It's an explosion of color, noise and fun.

But would YOU say it was perfect? Probably not, and I wouldn't blame you.

It doesn't have the best composition. I'm not in love with the color choices and I couldn't even tell you which way it's supposed to hang... but to ME, this painting is perfect. Now let me explain why.

This is the first painting my son ever made. His first expressions with paint on paper. This painting is one of a kind.

I took this original artwork and chopped it into 4 equal pieces. Each individual piece was framed and dated. One hangs on the wall in my son's room. Another, sits pride of place on my parent's sideboard in their home in England. My husband's parents have a cherished piece adorning their wall, and my son's uncle also has one of his very own too.

They represent our family.
The pieces are scattered over the globe but they are always connected.
Small parts of a greater whole.

To me that is perfect.

As a mother I spend a lot of my time trying to achieve "perfection" in my home. I organize, prep, clean and tidy, all in an effort to make things run smoothly...flawlessly. I get very frustrated when things don't go the way I plan.

The truth is that life is not perfect. It is messy, unpredictable and spontaneous. But that's what makes it interesting! I have come to realize that to truly be able to enjoy life's adventures, I have to let go a little. To stop striving to achieve this crazy concept - this "perfection" that is perceived to be a different thing to each person.

So, today I'm officially giving myself a day off from it...
Let the toys overtake the living room. Let the blocks go in the wrong boxes. To hell with those dishes! Let anarchy reign, I say! Let’s take all that precious time and energy worrying about perfecting, and go and create instead. Let's...

Explore. Learn. Play!

Besides we can always make it all perfect again tomorrow. Right? :)

You with me?

MSTTF
(My Submarine To The Future)

Secrets, surprises and LOST... oh my!

Are you good at keeping secrets?..... I am, especially if they are surprises!

After days of clandestine planning and stealthy scheming, I was finally able to TRULY surprise my husband this weekend. Here's what I did and how I achieved it....

My husband is a HUGE fan of the show "LOST' which airs on ABC.
The show has been on for almost 6 years now and he has devotedly tuned in to each and every episode. Yes, it's a bit geeky, but I just adore how passionate he gets about the things he likes, no matter what they are. This past weekend (Sunday 23rd May 2010) was the final episode of the series and now LOST is, alas, no more.

As you can imagine, for a dedicated follower, it was a sad but momentous occasion. To honor this milestone event, I decided to arrange a surprise for him.... a LOST themed viewing night!

I immediately enlisted the help of a trusty ally (my friend Claire who is also a die-hard LOST fan) and "operation smoke monster" went into effect. Here’s a peek at what we did….

First we worked on the food. We decided that the provisions should be inspired by the show. That meant doing a bit of research and planning. During play dates leading up to the event Claire and I began transforming our regular tins and packages into...

...Dharma Initiative issued food rations!

We printed off labels we found on a cool website (called Max Pictures) that had LOST related product packaging,

Then pasted them onto our own store bought products.

Check out those little packs of Dharma Initiative mints
(no one wants bad breath when they're stuck on the island)

Or, my favourite, Dharma Initiative chocolate bars!

Little by little, we made all the stuff we needed to change my kitchen into a
Dharma Inititative Station

With the rations covered we set to work tackling the decor of our viewing room. We were able to get hold of some old white bed sheets which we hung up. Then, using poster paints, we painted palm tree backdrops to create a beachy tropical island setting.

These island backdrops (4 in all) were made a few days prior to the event and hidden away until the finale night.


We laid out old sand colored curtains to represent our beach floor. Then painted paper leaves to spread around the room randomly, as if they had fallen from our painted trees. We also dotted our "sand' with pebbles and scattered a few tropical fruits around to dress the set (pineapples, mangoes, bananas and coconuts).

Luggage was spread randomly around the living room representing the crash scene from the first episode of the show and we even printed up some Oceanic flight 815 luggage tags and boarding passes, with our characters names on them, to add to the authenticity.

With the scene set we got busy transforming ourselves into the characters on the show.


The last thing left to do was surprise my husband. He came back home thinking he was returning to a quiet night in to watch the final episode alone. Little did he know he was about to be whisked off into his own LOST island adventure....

He absolutely LOVED it!

Hope you enjoyed sharing our event.

Remember it doesn’t have to be a birthday, or a special occasion, to plan a surprise. It’s even more of a curveball when it's comes totally out of the blue.

Happy planning!

MSTTF

Quick meal: Broccoli & Bow Ties

I can't imagine that I'll be writing many posts about recipes, but tonight's meal was so outstandingly good (and easy to make!) that I just had to share....

As usual our fridge was sorely lacking in the food department (I have no idea how this happens given that I spend most of my life at the grocery store) but I did have a few basic ingredients to knock up something simple. After perusing my many varied cookbooks, I stumbled upon this recipe from the "Barefoot Contessa family style" cook book....

Broccoli & Bow Ties

I'm a big fan of simple dishes that cook fast and leave little clean up and given that I did indeed have both broccoli and pasta we were good to go!

The meal was a HUGE hit with the family (including the three year old) and took only about 15 minutes to cook up. To make it healthier I reduced the amount of salt added to the saute pan and used whole wheat pasta instead of regular pasta. It was delicious!

Check it out, you may find yourself with a new recipe to add to your list of family meals too.

(serves 6 to 8)
Kosher Salt
8 cups broccoli florets (4 heads)
1/2 pound farfalle (bow tie) pasta - I substituted this for whole wheat rotini
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup toasted pignoli (pine) nuts - I omitted these from my recipe
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook the broccoli for 3 minutes in a large pot of boiling salted water.

Remove the broccoli from the water with a slotted spoon. Place in a large bowl and set aside.

In the same water, cook the bow-tie pasta according to the package directions, about 12 minutes. Drain well and add to the broccoli.

Meanwhile, in a small saute pan, heat the butter and oil and cook the garlic and lemon zest over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Off the heat, add 2 teaspoons salt, the pepper, and lemon juice and pour this over the broccoli and pasta. Toss well. Season to taste, sprinkle with pignolis and cheese, if you are using, and serve.

To toast pignolis, place them in a dry saute pan over medium-low heat and cook, tossing often, for about 5 mnutes, until light brown.

Please let me know if you try it out yourself.
I would love to hear what you think of it.

Enjoy your weekend!

MSTTF

Kid's Craft: Make a Mars Rover Robot & Planet

It's amazing how something with humble beginnings can grow exponentially if given the right conditions to thrive. Nurture a spark of curiosity and it may become a lifelong passion.

Following a recent trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab our home has become a hive of activity. The planet Mars, the new Mars Rover, and space travel have become dinner table conversation. (Don't you just love when that happens!) I'm amazed by how much we all learned from our short visit, and have decided to make something creative to remind our son of the experience.

Using cardboard boxes and tubes

...aluminum foil, masking tape...

...and glue...


...we built our very own...

Mars Rover!

As you will notice, our version is considerably more shiny than the original, as a result of our "space foil". But we tried to represent all of the other unique features of the Mars Rover as accurately as we could.

Like the six wheels for climbing over rocks and rough terrain

And the arm (or as my son calls it, the "digger boom") which collects and analyzes samples from the rocks and soil.

Pretty sweet eh?

But no Mars Rover would be complete without it's own Martian landscape to explore, so...

...with a piece of stiff cardboard, glue, tape...


...parts of an egg box...


...and some left over takeaway napkins we knocked up a bumpy terrain that we could paint to represent the red planet.

Not sure whether Mars is quite this red though!

Just a quick tip - if you do make this project yourself, be sure to paint over your final Martian landscape with Mod Podge glue (the gloss version). It will seal everything down, so that no pieces will fall off. It also gives everything a nice glossy finish. Liberally spread the glue over the top of the paint, brush it all over and leave it somewhere with plenty of ventilation (it's not toxic but it does smell gluey!). In about 24 hours (approx) it will be dry to the touch and the white glue will turn clear.

Then enjoy your Mars Rover explorations and investigations!

If you have a little one who is also a space fanatic, check out some of the kid's projects on the J.P.L. site. I'm sure we'll be trying a few.

Happy pasting!
MSTTF

Outdoor venture: Space Exploration at JPL

There is nothing like that joyful rush of feeling like a kid again. For me that giddy sensation happens when I think about planets, stars, galaxies and just about anything to do with the whole darn universe!

When I was a child I would gaze up at the stars imagining what was out there.
As an adult, consumed with my daily grind, I have been more concerned with what's going on down here. Recently, that has been changing though....

My son just discovered the solar system!

He received a small cluster of tiny toy planets as a gift and, just like that (snap fingers here!) he was hooked. Now my days are filled with lengthy explanations to questions like... What are planets made of? Why is there a spot on Jupiter? Why can’t I walk on Saturn’s rings?... and, well, you get the gist.

Now, I'm no genius so, when he asks me these questions, I sometimes have to go away and do my homework. But it's so nice to see that the same interest I have for all things celestial, has passed on to my little one.

To encourage this curiosity, we decided to take a family trip. We headed out to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (J.P.L.) in California. A fascinating place! Definitely worth a visit if you've never been. They were having one of their annual tour days, which was brought to my attention by a wonderful friend of mine. Her husband is part of the team of geniuses working there on the Mars Rover, which is scheduled to launch in fall 2011.

(Photos are of the full-sized display model of the Mars Rover)

The Rover's mission (as explained on the J.P.L. website) is to... "assess whether Mars ever was, or is still today, an environment able to support microbial life. In other words, its mission is to determine the planet's "habitability.""

The Mars Rover is an ingenious, technically brilliant (and, I imagine) very expensive piece of machinery. Unfortunately there is no return trip for this fella though, so once he's up there on Martian soil, he's on his own. I can't help but feel a little sorry for him when I think of him roaming around there all alone. I realize I sound nuts (he is just a machine after all) but look at that big camera eye and tell me you don't feel the same ;)


I can imagine it's also stressful for the scientists who continue to work so long and hard, day in and out, trying to prepare for their baby to "leave the nest". It's almost like being a parent! They have only one shot at getting it right, before he's out on his own, taking care of himself.

The treasures of information he will discover on his solo trip are invaluable.

So here are some quick facts for you geeks out there (like me)…

1) It takes 7 months to fly to Mars
2) The Rover makes all of it's own repairs, powers itself up and is calculated as having an operating lifespan of at least a full Martian year (687 Earth days), all going well.
3) It can scoop the soil and drill rocks to take samples. It analyzes these samples at the site and transmits the data back to Earth. (Future plans include missions to bring these samples home - but that is still on the drawing board).


4) The wheels of the Rover are made of metal (not rubber) as they are more durable and less likely to contaminate the environment.

As you can probably tell, we came home from the J.P.L. buzzing with excitement. Our brains were loaded with new information, our interest was peaked and a new creative venture was on the horizon.... details of which I will share in my next post.

Happy Voyages!
MSTTF

Improvements aboard My Submarine!

I've had a face lift!
Well, not me actually... although I'm sure some could argue that I could use a little nip and tuck here or there myself.. but nooooo, I'm talking about my blog.

As I feel more at home here (and to be honest, more comfortable with the technical side of blogging and htmlwhatever!) I'm starting to want to make My Submarine more personal. My new header is a photograph I took at a beautiful beach on a wonderful family vacation. My new serene color scheme makes me feel like slipping off my shoes and sitting here a while to chat and relax.

I hope that it does the same for you too.

My husband will tell you that I have this annoying habit (just the one - ha!) of changing the furniture around in our house every few months. He'll go to work, come home, open the door and do a double-take thinking he entered the wrong house! Thankfully, he usually loves the end result.

My reasoning is simple... I like the energy and inspiration I get from a new space. I like looking at the things I've grown accustomed to, in fresh new ways. I like making our space more reflective of who we are as a family.


Now, please don't worry.... I don't plan to change things around here on My Sub as often as I do at home (well, at least I don't think so anyway!) but I love that I feel invested, motivated and enthused about my new venture.

I believe when you try something new, it’s like opening a door to a place you haven’t been before. New opportunities bring new experiences. New experiences bring new life.

Let me know what you think of the changes.

Tried anything new yourself lately?
I would love to hear about it.

MSTTF (My Submarine To The Future)