Santa Claus in Beverly Hills

Last chance to see Santa!  He's at the Paley Center for Media every Saturday in December.  I saw him two weeks ago and told him what a good girl I've been.  He said, "Are you sure?  Not just a little bit naughty."  Okay - maybe he's right.  A little.

Travel Fact

The first California Welcome Center to greet tourists with self-serve wine tasting machines isn't in the vineyard gateway cities of Salinas or Pismo Beach.  t's in Oxnard.  When it opens to the public Friday at its new location in The Collection at River Park, the center operated by the Oxnard Convention & Visitors Bureau will offer visitors one-stop shopping for tickets to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, souvenir dish towels printed with strawberries, and free pamphlets for attractions from San Francisco to San Diego.

First Person Singular

Once again Neiman Marcus, Beverly Hills, wins my vote for best holiday windows.  Dedicated to their favorite designers and fashion trend setters, each window bedazzles with the best party picks.  As Diana Vreeland said, "Your don't have to be born beautiful to be wildly attractive."

Flight of Imagination

Seeing Peter and the Star Catcher at the Ahmanson Theater this week was a flight of imagination.  Of course we all know the story of Peter Pan so there is some anticipation of flying.  But it's really about how Peter came to be a 'boy'.  The cast had great fun with the peculiar mermaids and the movable parts of the set.  In this case, there is nothing like the magic of live theater.  Through January 12, 2014.

Pumpkin Pie

You would think that we would have had enough pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.  But for the holiday hostess and I, that just wasn't enough.  Since neither one of us got any pie on Turkey Day, we went straight for the nearest grocery store, and then another one and another.  Only to discover that Burbank was sold out of the famous squash!  The man behind the deli counter at Ralph's pointed us to the display at the front door (which we had passed on the way in).  We walked back thinking that we must have missed something only to find an 8' table, two wooden cartons with some lonely display straw.  Nothing.  Nada.  Rien.  Nienete.  We promptly bought all of the ingredients and baked one.  It was delicious.

The pies were gone by the time we got to the dessert table.