Pining for the Fjords

One of the most awesome benefits of living in a major metropolitan area is the overabundance of amazing museums.  In the greater LA area, there's a museum for everything - every sort of art you can imagine, history of all types of peoples and places and things (sloths and space and tar pits, oh my!), and smaller spots focused on a myriad of various and sundry things.  We're slowly working our way through a good selection of the museums, checking out both their normal collections and any cool exhibits that may come along as well. We hadn't yet had a chance to check out the Skirball Cultural Center, so when I heard about its special exhibition this summer - focused on the art and works of Jim Henson - I figured it was about time to head north on the 405.  The Skirball is named after Jack and Audrey Skirball, and its main focus is being a cultural center rooted in the Jewish traditions of education and welcoming all who would like to learn. Outside the Skirball Center

Living in a massive metropolitan area like LA, it seems like every week of the calendar has some sort of special event - beer weeks, summer concerts out the wazoo, and multiple dates dedicated to dining.  While we never find ourselves with a shortage of amazing spots to eat, we enjoy taking advantage of the various "Dine LA"/"Dine LBC" events, as it gets us into new places and allows us to try multiple courses, all for one set price. This time, we decided to go for broke, and we booked a reservation at Jose Andres' spot, the Bazaar, which is inside the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills.  Although the price point was high - $110 per person - it came with 15 different courses, all of which were tapas sized (tapas seems to be the main focus of the restaurant - mainly neuvo Spanish flavor with a modernist preparation and presentation).  The menu sounded cool, the reviews were good, and we were happy to support Jose Andres; he's done an amazing job with his group Wo

As I mentioned on the blog about the harbor tour we took a few months ago, we love checking out fun local spots; this is something we've always enjoyed, and we credit our families for instilling a healthy sense of adventure in both of us when we were just tiny human beings.  As part of this, I mentioned receiving several different email lists for local attractions, but we also subscribe to LA Magazine .  While it sometimes frustrates me to see so few amazing Long Beach options mentioned in the mag, it does give us a ton of good information on fun things happening in the northern regions of the county.  As you've probably seen on the blog in the past, one of the things we love most is a tour where we get to learn things (preferably about things being made), so when I read about Lost Spirits Distillery, I knew we needed to plan a visit.  Last weekend, we finally did! Ta da! We started out our day in our normal Saturday fashion - I went for an 8 mile run and Chris made i