The Annual Spring Garden Show

Yesterday I went on a date with my mama. 

Every spring Crystal Court of South Coast Plaza holds a garden show and this was the first time we had ever gone.  And I gotta say it was AMAZINNNGG..
There was two or three floors of just PLANTS!
We both can't even remember what had happened that day because there was just so much to see.
What seemed like every millisecond we were saying "Oh my gosh! Look at that! Over there! Look at this!" I swear I could've probably injured my neck just looking at everything.
The bottom floor had landscape designs from companies and bonsai plants, garden plants, etc.  The top floor was all exotic orchids and tropical plants.
I'm too afraid to even calculate how much we spent on plants. We walked out of the mall beaming with excitement with about four bags of just plants.

I can't believe for years I've seen advertisements for this and have not once thought about going in there. But now I think I'm definitely going to go every year. (:

This was the first thing we saw walking in and guess what? It's made from my school! I LOVE the community college I came from and I could not be more proud of my school. I wish I had joined their horticulture team for this!

I have never seen so many air plants in one place. You can bet I bought some. ;) 

Orchids on a stick! How neat is that?!
 

Pet Expo 2013

Over the weekend, the annual Pet Expo was here in Costa Mesa.  Usually I like to go every year because some of the booths bring in my most favorite dogs. And being that I don't have one, I like to go to look and play with them. :)
Also, I am part of SCAPE fish club which also features at the expo every year.  A few years ago I even brought in my own tank for display.  The members there had the most amazing tanks this year and it's inspired me to focus on my hobby again.

THE WEEKEND

This weekend has been a busy one consisting of a ton of family time and vitamin D.
Two of my cousins came to visit from Australia and they brought their friends and girlfriends along with them. So Steven and I went to meet with them in LA.
On Saturday we left in the morning to have breakfast at Mary's Market. It is a quaint little cafe/antique store within a small hippie-like neighborhood in Sierra Madre. I had the Gio Metro which is a bagel sandwich with eggs, avocado, turkey, tomato, cheese, and onions. Steven chose some type of muffin sandwich that came with salsa. Both were superb and we finished breakfast with an order or yogurt with granola and fruit. The service was amazing as well, the people there made us feel like family. Everyone was very kind and since it was a small community, they knew we weren't from the area and asked us questions.
After breakfast we explored the neighborhood and then went off to Santa Monica.

So I'm a bit of a fish geek and wanted to stop by Nature Aquarium. It's is one of the few stores in Southern California that caters to aquascaping (an art technique of making the illusion of a fish tank to look like a landscape). I will explain more on that later since this is one of my favorite hobbies. Seeing all the tank displays inspired me to start working on my tanks again.

While waiting to meet with my cousins for lunch we stopped by 3rd Street Promenade and checked out the farmer's market and stores.

After having lunch at The Grove, we all headed over to Hollywood.

Today, my family had our annual family reunion. Relatives from all over come to our picnic and we all get to see faces missed. We had lunch and proceeded to our family games. Starting off with soccer, then a water balloon toss, musical "hugs", bike riding, etc. 

photo by Duc Nguyen

photo by Duc Nguyen
A not-so-great attempt at a jumping picture

photo by Duc Nguyen

I think we've had enough sun exposure for the weekend. 

With another addition to my summer adventures, good night!