Park Hotel, Turku, Finland

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERATurku is the oldest city in Finland and the country’s original capital (Helsinki became the capital in 1812). It is also where you will find The Park Hotel. This quaint, boutique-style hotel is situated in the heart of the city at the end of a quiet street that leads to a small neighborhood park (hence the name?). If you are planning a trip to Turku, this is the place to stay.

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Best Skin Care Travel Kit

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In case you haven’t heard, skin care while traveling can be tricky. The airplanes with their wonky air, lack of sleep due to time changes, differences in water while visiting new cities or countries all add up to a lot of fatigue for your skin. To the rescue, intraceuticals rejuvenate travel pack.

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Fly Fishing at the Arroyo

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFly fishing never really sounded that interesting to me until my brothers started talking about it with such excitement. They started sharing stories, comparing notes, planning adventures. Suddenly I wanted in, but I don’t fly fish — what do I do? I was mulling this over in my head when I stumbled upon the Pasadena Casting Club’s practice pond in the Lower Arroyo Seco Park in Pasadena, bingo!

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LA Times Exposed

TimesLobbyA while back my cousin and I toured the Los Angeles Times buildings (there are two: the printing press on Olympic and the staff offices on 1st). I had “won” the tour at a silent auction and was excited to explore this city landmark (first paper was printed in 1881). After missing the parking garage entrance and circling the block a couple of times (signage people!), I cruised into a parking space and sauntered over to the Times’ lobby.

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Pompeii Exposed

Pompeii1Pompeii is erupting at The California Science Center! On a recent visit there I got “schooled” on the finer points of Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius, and why such a catastrophic event was not a more feared risk.

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The Beauty of Lacy Park

lacyparksignA while back I wrote about the Lacy Park Stairs as a good “public gym” option and promised a follow-up regarding Lacy Park proper. Seeing that the holidays are fast approaching and my jeans are already getting tighter (I think the wash machine has shrunk them), now is a good time to share what Lacy Park offers.

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Perch Yourself on top of Los Angeles

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThere is something so special about a lunch date with a small group of close girlfriends. This past weekend I left my husband happily watching a hockey (or was it football) game at home and met some of my good girlfriends at Perch Los Angeles, a restaurant in the heart of downtown.

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The Last Bookstore Los Angeles

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIn an era of declining number of traditional bookstores, The Last Bookstore stands proud in an obscure building of downtown Los Angeles. This place is easily overlooked as you walk along the “up-and-coming” neighborhoods of downtown — meaning this area can be a bit grimy.

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Oasis Date Garden

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERADuring a recent heat wave in Los Angeles my husband turned to me and said, “Let’s go to Palm Springs!” He said this as if the desert was the most logical place to escape a heat wave. The crazier thing was that I said, “Let’s do it!” I have spent most of my life going down to the desert for weekend get-aways as my grandparents and parents have had vacation homes in the area. Now one of my brothers and his wife have a vacation place there too so it is really fun to get out of the city and have some mini family pow-wows under the desert sky.

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Ojai Studio Artists Tour 2014 Weekend in Review

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAs I mentioned in an earlier blog, Ojai Artists Tour, my husband and I had made plans to attend the 2014 Ojai Studio Artists Tour — what a great weekend and display of talent, varied personalities and artistic mediums! We even stumbled upon some llamas, pets of one of the artists.

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