Princess Book Party

Speaking of Halloween costumes, Greta got to test drive her Queen Elsa costume over the weekend at the Friends of the Burbank Library's very cool Princess Book Party. Held at the Burbank Library's central branch on Glenoaks, the event featured Princess trivia, bingo, crafts, cookies, gift bags and even a visit from everyone's favorite Disney Princess/Queen du jour, Queen Elsa from Frozen! Hooray!

As you can see, Greta had an awesome time. And despite the fact that there are already piles of library books scattered all over her bedroom, we came home with another big old batch of new ones as well. Now if I could just remember when they're all due back at the library, all would be right with the world. Either way, enjoy the pics!

Posted with Blogsy

Beating the heat: Burbank style

Whew, I don’t know what the weather’s like where you are, but the dogs days of summer are definitely upon us down here in beautiful downtown Burbank. Seriously, the past couple of weeks have been total stay-inside-and-watch-movie weather. Actually, we stay inside and do other things too, but, movies are more fun to blog about.

So, our movie of the moment is “Enchanted”, which, in my mind, is pretty much a perfect film. Great story, fantastic cast, awesome songs and best of all, it makes New York City look even more lush and magical than it already is. So cool! And let me tell you, as far as re-watchability goes, “Enchanted” is right up there with the best of them. Trust me, I’ve watched it at least once a day since Friday, so, I know of what I speak.

Another way we beat the heat is by going to IKEA. Yep, the Swedish-furniture-shopping mecca is actually home to one of the coolest indoor play areas in town. Actually, it might be the only indoor children’s play area in town…um, you know, that’s free.

Anyway, we’ve been going there since Greta was a baby (seriously, “IKEA” was one of her first words!) and lemme tell ya, she could play on that Virre kiddie slide and PS Lömsk swivel chair for hours. Hell, she even gets a kick out of arranging and re-arranging the pint-sized Mammut furniture. She’s so meticulous too, it’s like she’s setting that shit up for a party or something. Hilarious!

And finally, our third, and favorite, way to beat the heat in Burbank…the good old public library! Specifically, the Buena Vista branch. Not only do they have a super cool playground and park just outside their back door, but their children’s department is excellent and beautifully laid-out with fake trees and stuffed animals everywhere you look. We started coming here as soon as Greta could leave the house without the fear of large birds snatching her away from us and she loves it. And yes, “library” was also one of her first words.

Oh, and best of all, the library, like IKEA, and one tiny little corner of our living room, is totally air-conditioned! So, yay for that!

First day back…

Today was my first solo day back “at work”, and lemme tell ya, it sucked. It wasn’t Greta’s fault, she was actually really good for large chunks of time today, but rather, it was me. I guess after two-plus weeks of having two parents around, I lost my touch or something.

I didn’t leave her in the car or anything like that, but, seriously, every little shitty thing I could do wrong today, I did wrong. For instance, pulled out some meat to defrost and left the freezer cracked open for like, hours. Looks like Superman’s fortress of solitude in there, ice everywhere!

Then self-checked-out — and can I just say how much I hate self-check-out anything? I mean, WTF? Machines like that are not a frazzled parent’s friend! — a bunch of books and DVD’s from the L.A. Public library to help celebrate the fact that they are open on Mondays again. Yay! But in my zeal to participate in this very big day for the libraries, I forgot to self-remove the locking mechanism on the side of the DVD boxes, which means, none of them will open. Of course, didn’t discover this till AFTER the library was closed, so, you can imagine how much fun it was to explain to a sobbing Greta why she couldn’t watch “Barbie Presents: Thumbelina” tonight after dinner: “Sorry, kid, Daddy fucked up. But, here, look at the pretty pictures on the box!”

And then, on top of all that, found out that a large chunk of money that I am owed is not only not coming my way anytime soon, but, may, in fact, never be paid in full. Ah, the glamorous life of a Hollywood screenwriter…

If I could punch this fucking Monday in the face, I totally would. You sucked, dude.