A Kitschtastic Father's Day

For Father's Day, my husband's dad surprised us with dinner at this joint not too far from our house. He loves the 50s movies, cars and music, and knows that I love everything retro, and he thought we'd love it. He was right! It was kitsch overload and 1950s Americana retro heaven!

The menu is huge, and I was delighted to find a delicious avocado sandwich on rye amongst all the burgers, hot dogs and fries. If my readers from other countries have ever wondered why Americans can get so fat, just look at the next two photos.

Our food, Grandpa and Daddy-O and two hungry and over-stimulated kids.

The whole place was jam-packed with repro tin signs, old toys, movie posters, etc.

Even an old Chevy coming right through the wall. I tried to do one of those "look, I'm holding up something really heavy" shots with Miss June...these are really hard to do with wiggly kids.

A couple of my favorites: Elvis, of course...

and my perennial favorite, Marilyn...

This one is especially for Keith of The Dino Lounge:

And for all of you retro-renovators wondering what to do with those unsightly vertical blinds, here's an idea:

Just spray-paint giant portraits of your favorite stars of yester-year! Just kidding - that's a bit too kitschy, even for me!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day and a great weekend!

Disneyland and Tikimama's Photo Debut (sort of)

This post took me an extra day to do, and I don't know if I'm going to get to my Paint Chip Fun because....I have been having all sorts of troubles getting my photos to import from my camera to my computer using Picasa, but after diddling with it off and on all day yesterday, I think I found the solution. I hate it when computer things don't work right, and I don't have the know-how to fix them!

On Wednesday, we went to California Adventure and Disneyland to celebrate Miss May, Miss June, and their now-2-yr-old cousin Mr. June's birthdays! My sister and her boyfriend both work at the Land, so we are lucky enough to get signed in for free, and are able to use their employee discount - still spent about $150. I was taking photos all day, with my blog in mind! Seems I'm always composing posts in my head these days...I wonder how you daily bloggers manage it!

When we finally managed to get all ready and in the car, it wouldn't start. Went to grab my car-savvy neighbor (husband was at work) and it started right up for him. Whew, problem solved, right? Ha! We were meeting up at a McDonald's near D-land so I wouldn't have to pay for parking and after a quick bite, same thing happens. My sister and Mr. June had gone on ahead, so my bro-almost-in-law did his best to figure out the problem. Finally called AAA (for you non-Americans, a membership car service) and they got it to start by banging on the underside with a big metal pipe! At least we were finally off. So, on to the photos....Here is how the day started.

We got into California Adventure, which we had never seen before. It was really nice, and we only ever saw a small corner of it - we'll go back another day. They were closing at 6 pm (!) for Grad Night.
I liked the snacks available in the Monsters, Inc. ride - Sugar, Salt & Fat! Finally truth in advertising!

We had a reservation at Ariel's Grotto for the birthday meal. It was expensive, but at least it was worth it. The food was delicious and the kids were beyond thrilled to meet, talk to, and hug the princesses!! I am going to try to select just a couple of photos (family can go check out my Flickr account for all the kid-overload you can stand).
Beautiful atmosphere, and under-the-sea theme.
Excellent chow. Nom, nom, nom.

Very happy kids!
Miss June, Ariel, Miss May and their cousin Miss August (almost 16!)

Little Mr. June - he's wearing a Jack Skellington t-shirt that says "Your Worst Nightmare"!

The one thing I had in mind to get done for sure during this trip was an official coming-out-of-relative anonymity photo. I say relative because of that photo I posted of me with my Crafty Pals a long while ago; not my best look. (Hope some of my good blog buddies will follow suit - it's fun to put a real face to a blog's personality!) Figured it was a good opportunity to get me dressed decently, hair done and makeup on. The plan was to get the Official Tikimama Portrait, where else but outside The Enchanted Tiki Room, with my two girls. Well, first of all, this happens, of course:

But Miss June happily posed with me (she never falls asleep when there's fun to be had):

Yes, for those of you who see me IRL, I took off my glasses because I'm vain.
Then, inside with a still-sleepy Miss May, posing by Pele, Goddess of Fire:
So there you have it. My hair is currently flaming red (husband does not like it so much, but I do!), I don't have any cool vintage clothes to wear, but I do have a fab new necklace and I'm carrying my amazing bag from Atomic Livin' that the familiy got me for Mother's Day. More on that later!

So what if this is how the day ended?!

Sitting in the parking structure in our car that wouldn't start...again. Miss June got it to start with her magic finally, after waiting about 45 minutes, just as the AAA towtruck was showing up with security. Headed straight for our mechanic, got hubs to pick us up, and finally bed at midnight.
But it was a wonderful day!
Tikimama with Miss June in The Enchanted Tiki Room

Stay tuned for more Tiki Goodness in an upcoming post!

Hot Times in the Desert

A typical view in Yucca Valley


Actually, it was quite cool and lovely.

We all had a fantastic time at the Stagecoach Festival, and spending the weekend at the lovely Miss Katie's home.

Knowing that the weather out there can be unpredictable, I had checked out the forecast and packed accordingly. Let me tell you, I got quite a kick out of passing by all the honky-tonk tarted-up ladies in their low-cut babydolls, Daisy Dukes and high heels, knowing that they were FREEZING and I was all snug and warm. Of course, I had the requisite envy of the same young women in all of their head-turning glory, but by the time it was in the low 50s in the evening and I was bundled up in my big jacket, I didn't care! They and their male counterparts had all been drinking soooo much beer, I didn't worry about their discomfort too much.

It took us until after 2:00 to even reach Katie's house in Yucca Valley, and then we visited and lazed around, and finally left there around 4:30/5:00 if memory serves. Indio is a whole hour away, normally, but it took us at least 40 minutes just to get through the lines of traffic to park. Then a big hike in to the Polo Grounds, etc., etc.

We got to see Reba McIntyre, who's about as country as it gets. She puts on a great show.

Then...finally... Brad! We've seen him once before, and his show's are just perfect. This time, we were very excited to take our girls, and Katie's granddaughter, because they are just crazy about "Rad" (as Miss June calls him)! Miss May was sound asleep by the time he came on at 9:30, but we managed to coax Miss June to stay awake and she was just screaming in excitement. It was wonderful.

If you are not already a fan, and even if you think you don't like country music, just go watch a video or two on his website - you might be surprised!
I recommend:
Online - c'mon, it's got William Shatner, Jason Alexander...and Marcia Brady!
The World - just so cute

If you DO like country, this one's got smokin' guitars, funny lyrics, rockin' piano and blazing fiddles - whew!:
Me Neither

Here are a few less-than-perfect photos for you to get an idea of the event.

Miss May, ready to rock in her cowgirl get-up, complete with red boots


Miss June - 4 dollar churros are de-li-cious!


I think this was called the Bamboo Tower - it had flames shooting from the top


BRAAAAD!!



People are disgusting. This is just a TINY idea of the trash that was left behind.


The only bummer of the evening was that we discovered-when we got all the way out to the parking lot-that Miss June had lost one of her beloved pink cowgirl boots. I mean, she wears them Every Day! She was really good about it, and Daddy and Katie walked all the way back to try to find it - no luck. I feel kinda sad thinking that it was probably lost somewhere in that sea of trash....

But, we had a great weekend, and I finally got lots of current shots of our Yucca Valley house so I can do a post about our remodeling adventures in the high desert...sometime!