Another sign for the art studio in downtown Paso Robles. I peeked in the window and saw they have everything from oil and watercolour paintings, sculptures, pottery and jewelry. It looks fun and I wish I'd had more time to go explore inside.
This evening I finally went and saw Breaking Dawn, Part One with my friend Amber. The movie was awesome, and I can't wait for Part Two! Before meeting up at the theater, I wandered around downtown Paso Robles and discovered this awesome new art studio/gallery. I didn't have time to go inside, but plan to do so one day soon!
Last night I went to the California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles with my friend DeeDee and her two girls. I hadn't been to the Fair in at least 10 years, but it really didn't look too different. There were a couple new things, like this statue and waterfall:
... and this Frontier Town set up:
But pretty much everything else was the same. DeeDee gave the girls some money to go away and leave us alone go have some fun, and the two of us headed out to see the displays. We never did find the giant fruits or veggies, but there were some amazingly decorated cakes and other delectable goodies, beautiful quilts and clothing, amazing wood sculptures and hand-made furniture, pretty (and ginormous!) flowers and landscaping, and amazing art and photography (which we didn't get to see all of because they shut down the art/photography building just before 10:30 p.m. - so annoying!)
The stepping stones in this FFA display are actually water meter covers! How clever is THAT? And, also, there were a LOT of spirits interested in it. Check out all those orbs!
I intended to try some Fair fare this year - diet be damned! - but we all had a healthy dinner at Subway, so I was too full to get a corn dog, giant sausage, funnel cake, slice of pizza, deep fried Twinkie, dish of gelato or strip of chocolate covered bacon. I'm kinda bummed about that, but at the same time, my tummy is thanking me!
DeeDee and I did stop by the Cliffs Resort booth for margaritas. They came in these super fun glasses with flashing LED lights! (Trust me, the lights were flashing!)
All the people in the above photo are standing outside the Main Grandstand listening to the singing foetusJustin Bieber. I'm totally NOT kidding. And, no, just in case you're wondering, I did NOT go see him! Gah! Everyone and their DOG has been asking me that today! The only concert DeeDee and I were even interested in seeing was America, but we missed them. We didn't go on any rides, either, as they had all just been to Magic Mountain the day before, and were tired of rides, and we totally avoided the "carnival" part with all the games where you can win cheap, giant stuffed animals or goldfish in plastic baggies because all the games are stupid, way too expensive to play and we didn't feel like being yelled at by carnies. The overly-aggressive salesman in the commercial building who kept wanting to clean our rings when neither of us were wearing rings was bad enough. Unless "cleaning your rings" is a euphemism for something I'm not aware of.
Anyway, it was a gas to go to the Fair again after such a long time, and I'm so glad I was able to go with one of my BFFs! Who knows, maybe we'll meet up for the Fair again next year!
The Mitchell Family: Jessica, Garett and Jeremy
February 20, 2010, my cousin Jessica got married to a wonderful young man who has an adorable son. Congratulations to the new Mitchell family and may God bless you all!
More wedding photos can be found here. Enjoy!
So, yesterday was Cesar Chavez Day - a court holiday. Since I had the day off, I made my chiroprator appointment in the late morning so mom and I could go over to Paso Robles and have a nice lunch and browse the beautiful downtown.
It was a gorgeous day! Sunshine! Blue skies! Light breeze! After getting my back cracked (GOD that felt good!), mom and I had lunch at Berryhill Bistro where we once again messed up and didn't share a plate! We both ordered two different paninis thinking they'd be small sandwiches, but they turned out to be HUGE! We could've easily shared one sandwich! We always do this,a nd every time we say next time we'll share someting, and then next time comes and we never do. le sigh.
After lunch we browsed some quaint little shops (wondering how they could possibly make enough money to survive!) and popped our heads into a few of the wine tasting rooms, but were too full from the GIANT glasses of wine we had at the Bistro to try anything else. Next time, we decided, we would have a LIGHT lunch (or share a plate), NO wine then do some wine tasting downtown, and finish up with a fancy coffee and dessert. Next time. For sure.
One of the shops we went through was the antique store on the main drag. It was fun, but kinda depressing, to go through and look at all the old junk sitting there collecting dust. Kinda fun to see some of the really old stuff from the early 1900s; kinda depressing to find record albums I still have in my collection, and Barbie stuff and other toys I had as a child. It made me feel pretty darn old. Of course I AM pretty darn old, but still I don't like to FEEL it!
After browsing the antique store (and not buying anything, although if they'd had the boxed set of the Sunshine Family I would've bought it, but they only had the grandparents), we checked out a couple other artsy fartsy shops, then headed home. Paso has done a great job with their downtown. It's really a beautiful, fun and pleasant place to visit.
This afternoon I attended the Grand Opening Celebration for the new Paso Robles Courthouse. The ceremony included a flag raising featuring our resident Marine Toby Richards, speeches, and a ribbon cutting complete with a giant pair of scissors! Afterwards there were tours of the state-of-the-art courtrooms, jury assembly room, clerk's workstations and the counter area where the clerks will be assisting the public. It's nice. Really nice!
See more pictures here. Enjoy!
