Category: 365

Last week, our friends at the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce invited me to meet them for lunch at the Hilton Costa Mesa. I’m embarrassed to admit that I have literally never stepped foot in our hometown Hilton, not once. So out of touch am I, that when I plugged the address into my GPS, I assumed it would lead me over to Segerstrom Center For The Arts. How wrong I was! Instead, my phone took me to a large hotel directly across the street from Ra Yoga, a block from The LAB and The Camp, within stumbling distance from Barley Forge and Gunwhale Ales…

On Thursday, I was meeting up with some friends at Balearic Park, here in Costa Mesa. As I rounded the corner leading up to the Community Center I noticed a giant, temporary wall – along with a big tent and a small crowd of people. Whoa. What’s up at Balearic? The park is normally pretty dead on a Thursday afternoon, what with most community events making more sense on the weekends. The biggest crowds tend to be the “after-work, throwing tennis balls to their dogs” people. I parked and went to check out what the wall was all about…

Well, today’s news is going to make it really difficult to see #costamesa365 through to the end of 2019. It’s exciting news, but a really big change… both for me, and for the project. I hope you’ll be excited for us, too. As of next week, we will be winding down coverage of Costa Mesa and ramping up a new brand iteration: I Heart Los Angeles!

My relationship with rainy days is… complicated. Some mornings, I throw open the blinds and welcome the soggy sight with a big AHHHHHHH, I LOVE RAINY DAYS! I crack the window to listen to the pitter-patter. I celebrate all the good the rain can do. After years of drought and miserly watering schedules, it’s nice to watch my grass grow emerald green, fueled solely by Nature’s sprinkler…

I named my microphone. He’s “Mike the mic.” Not very original, I know, but he makes me smile, anyway. Our photographer, Brandy, wants to get him a little tuxedo and bow-tie. We brainstorm…

I *heart* small businesses. The courage, the hard work, the moxy it takes to go out on your own and start something – or even to buy someone else’s something and run the ball further down the field. I also *heart* the makers, the side-hustlers, the volunteers, the coaches – anyone stepping up to do just a little more than expected. Neighbors taking their art, their community, their city just a little bit further than it might otherwise have gone.

Of all the things I’ve had to adjust, modify, restrict or remove on my quest for #costamesa365 – my kids’ extracurriculars aren’t one of them. That’s because both my girls have gone full thespian and seem to want to sink their teeth into as many scripts, productions and performances as possible. (One of my daughters proudly wears a “Theater Is My Sport” tee-shirt, to illustrate the full scope of devotion.) Thankfully, we live in the City Of The Arts, y’all…

I don’t like conventions. I don’t like board games. So, of course, it’s 9:30am in the morning, and I’m due to spend the next twelve hours at a board-game convention. All I can say about that is: The things we do for our kids!

Last year, my extended family – the parents, the siblings, the nieces, the nephews – we all piled into a vacation house on the Central Coast. At dinner, one night, we pulled out our Table Topics deck – a game were you pull a card, ask the question, and then go around the table answering it. It’s a great prompt for sharing stories and perspectives that might otherwise never come up in conversation. The kids also learn a lot by listening to how adults of different generations answer various queries…

Some days, I wake up and my life doesn’t feel real. I go to work on I Heart Costa Mesa and can’t even believe this is what I get to do with my day. So honored. So humbled. So blessed. Our team shows up to a neighborhood place for an interview – or welcomes a guest into our podcast studio at The Music Factory – and it feels too good to be true. How is this real?

Over the holidays, my husband and I got totally hooked on the Orphan X series by author Gregg Hurwitz. Very “spy-thriller” genre – with clean, punchy writing, good suspense and refreshing character depth and development. So we collectively blew through books one through three and were so excited when we heard book four, Out Of The Dark, was coming out in late January…

I am haunted by Stonefire dreams – obsessed with finding a Costa Mesa-based alternative…

Earlier this month, I connected with Madison from FitNFlow. It’s a new app she’s created. A sort of “Uber for yoga” here in Southern California. With FitNFlow, you can order up a yoga instructor to come to your home, office, backyard or other outdoor location and flow with you. I was intrigued! As a die-hard runner, I don’t really know my “down dog” from a hot dog…

I caught my kid’s cold. It’s been going around the family and has finally landed on me. I’m home, shuffling around the house in sweats, blowing through kleenex like nobody’s business. I’d like to have something more exciting for you, today. More beautiful. More profound. More #costamesa365…

I tied one on for my birthday. I didn’t mean to do it. Things just got out of hand as things sometimes do. So, if you remember yesterday’s post, hubs and I were at Two Bit Circus in DTLA’s Arts District (read it here) and then he had dinner reservations for us at Church + State – a beautiful bistro within walking-distance from the arcade…

I want to fly. Not in an airplane. Not in a jetpack. Not in my imagination. I literally want to FLY. Shoot up into the air merely of my own ability. Soar amongst the clouds and birds with nothing but air rushing past. Swoop and cruise, just me and my powers of flight…

My 10-year-old woke up one day, a couple weeks ago, and decided that she absolutely, positively MUST OWN BLACK-AND-WHITE CHECKERBOARD SLIP-ON VANS THIS INSTANT OR SHE WILL DIE!!! And with that one request, everything changed. GONE are the days when any old hand-me-down Crocs will do. GONE is the convenience of just sheathing her feet in whatever random thing was on clearance at Kmart. It’s over. Because now? She CARES.

Yesterday found me chaperoning a field trip to the ENC – or more precisely, the Environmental Nature Center. I personally love chaperoning field trips because I find that, by tagging along with the students, I actually learn so much I didn’t know. When it comes to hands-on learning in the fields of conservation and the natural sciences, the ENC is really second-to-none. Their facility is literally located right next-door to Newport Harbor High School – near Irvine Blvd. and 16th – just across the southern Costa Mesa border…

I am what you might call a super-heavy user of Canyon Park, Fairview Park and Talbert Nature Preserve. Most mornings you’ll see me trail-running along the paths. (Yes, I trail-run for fun.) Sundays are my “distance day.” I wake up before dawn and get in my longest trail-run of the week. So by Monday morning? I’m not running. At. All. I’m limping along through the canyon, plugged into a podcast, and trying my best to “walk it off.”

Yesterday’s post was all about struggle. (And it’s real.) Today’s is all about… veggies! Some may be thinking, “Oh great. Two sad-sack posts in a row.” But no downer here. For me, veggies and fruit are topics of pure, parsnip-pickled perfection! I love me some produce – almost as much as I heart Costa Mesa. Luckily it’s been easy-breezy to get all my fresh veg here in Costa Mesa since going #costamesa365…

I am nearly three weeks into the #costamesa365 challenge and I’m beat! Being mindful about my every purchase was exhilirating at first – like a fresh-born fawn excited to test those wobbly new legs – but today, it’s hard and I’m tired and I’d rather just nap in the grass than figure out a new place to get my car serviced, thank you very much. Yes, I’m hitting a slump as we round the corner into Week Three…

Last spring, we became the proud owners of Disneyland Annual Passes. They are the cheap ones, so we can only go on select weekdays – and then not-at-all for large swaths of summer and most holidays. We actually didn’t end up going that often. Maybe 3 trips, total, this past year? So even before #costsamesa365, I was already 50/50 about whether we’d renew again in 2019. Then, I just heard that with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opening this summer, word on Main Street is the park will get SUPER packed. They anticipate turning people away at the entrance. Whether that rumor is true or not, the park’s going to be crazy busy. Which means this introvert is hanging up her ears…

Today, photographer extraordinaire Brandy Young and I went over to Anthill Shop N Play. We were there to interview the luminous Elvira Kud for our first feature article of the year. Yay! Interviewing again felt so good. I mean, hanging out with Brandy is always a good time. We crack each other up and love looking for fun little things to shoot on location. But also, it’d been a few months since I’d done my own feature. As I Heart Costa Mesa grows, I find myself busier with things that pull me away from my first love… writing!

Day 16 of #costamesa365 and I’m still on the search for the perfect, Costa Mesa salad to replace my beloved Stonfire Grill. Sigh. I’m calling the mission “Roughage Reconnaissance” and it’s DEFCON 1 – or DEFCON 5 – whichever is the most serious DEFCON. So far, my first foray resulted in a very delicious banh-mi sandwich, which – being a sandwich – is also not a salad. So let’s try this, again…

All eyes on Costa Mesa since Jan. 1. So much so, that I seem to have forgotten something. Whoops! It just occurred to me that sooner or later, I am going to need to address the issue of all the shops and services I have left behind…

I always feel a bit unmoored between podcast seasons. Partly it’s because our producer, Danny Thompson, is an *actual* rockstar, which means two things: 1) He’s, like, the coolest person we know, and, 2) he’s touring a lot. So we get creative and work our podcast schedule around his tour dates. When we are recording episodes, it’s a wild spree. Bam-bam-bam – interview after interview – very fast and furious so we can squeeze them all in before their air dates. Then just as quickly as it begins? It’s over…

This week, I was delighted to deliver a big box of I Heart Costa Mesa shirts and stickers to Estancia High School. The swag is to be included in a welcome gift for a group of student delegates visiting us all the way from Australia. It’s all part of a “sister city” exchange program where a group of Costa Mesa teens visits Australia, and then a group of Australian teens visits Costa Mesa. So cool!

We’re a dozen days into the #costamesa365 challenge – an entire year where I’m trying to spend money only in Costa Mesa – and the ripple effects are already playing throughout my life. I’m unexpectedly saving money on gas and just on shopping in general. I’m discovering new foods and better ways to move through discomfort. Sure I’ve had a setback or two, made some mistakes, but I’m learning and growing – a lot!

Who else has discovered Gas Buddy? It’s an app, or website if you prefer, that tells you the current price of gas around town. Super easy to use – I like the map feature so I can just visually check out “the lay of the pumps” near me.

This post is really about Love Costa Mesa Day 2019, coming May 18th to our fair city. (More info on this awesome, citywide event, below.) But first, I have to come clean about a doh! mistake on my quest for #costamesa365. So, I was planning to meet up with Sharon Hurd for coffee. (She wanted to talk to me about Love Costa Mesa Day and what they had planned.) Since we are both Westsiders, I suggested Common Room Roasters just down the street…

January is a busy month for birthdays in my family. We’ve got four. Usually, about this time of year, I’m still recovering from the holidays. Just settling back into my routine when suddenly I panic, “Sweet cupcake! It’s my dad’s birthday tomorrow!” The “old me” would be one-day Prime-shopping like a boss and get it all done via the Interwebs and UPS. The #costamesa365 me packed up the kids and drove over to Metro Pointe and South Coast Plaza…

Frugal. Such an unpleasant-sounding word. Like a mealy, green toe fungus. “You’ve got a bad case of frugal.” Or when a judge really throws the book at you. “Verdict’s back: you’ve been frugaled!” Everyone likes to save a buck, get a good deal. Most people want to stash some rainy-day funds, feel secure. But frugality? “Blech. You kiss your mother with that mouth?”

Day 3. I look up from my laptop just in time to see the van slow to a stop. It’s here! I glance furtively around as anxiety builds in my throat. Which neighbors are out? Anyone walking dogs? No, too early. Good. With school on break, it’s an unusually low-traffic day on my street. Satisfied that we’re alone, my eyes find the van, again. The door opens. It’s him!

The response to #costamesa365 from friends, family and neighbors, so far, has run the gamut. Most people are positive and cheer me on – which is so appreciated, I need the support! A handful of reactions has been, well, less than enthusiastic…

Yes, Roughage Reconnaissance has begun in earnest. It was time to find a Costa Mesa replacement for my beloved, now unrequited, Stonefire salad. So, on the advice of the lovely, helpful neighbors in our Facebook Group, I made a plan to swing by Mendocino Farms for lunch…

I’d like to share that I calmly transitioned to #costamesa365 in a state of serene mindfulness. I’d like to say that it was “no biggie” to just scrap my fatal attraction to Amazon. I’d like to tell you that three days before this challenge started, I absolutely did not panic-buy extra bricks of toilet paper and laundry soap at a certain Fountain Valley Costco. I’d be lying.

Yes, I am writing this post with a clear head. No, I’m not talking about giving up the drink. But the headline is more appropo than you know because I am currently in the throes of some seriously cold-turkey detox… off my deep dependence on Stonefire salad…

My problem is that I live on the very edge of town. That pic is from Fairview Park right near my house. From there, you can literally look off the edge of a cliff, across the Santa Ana River, to Huntington Beach below. Over here in Westside Costa Mesa, it’s all too easy to just “pop across the river” into nearby Huntington Beach for things like gas, Trader Joe’s, Target – oh and a quick coffee pick-me-up while I’m at it. Nothing personal, it’s an edge thing.

“Wait…WHAT!?!” I had just told my husband we’d be making 2019 a “let’s only shop in Costa Mesa for 365 days” kind of year. He was less than enthused. Which is weird, he’s usually game for anything. I mean, I’ve sent him to ride sidecar at the Costa Mesa Speedway… with no prior experience; get in the ring with a professional MMA fighter… with no prior experience; and get an enema on camera with… well, you get the idea.