the pomegranate tiger

So I was switching purses the other day and found a booklet of coupons for Chapters (a Canadian version of Barnes & Noble or Borders). One of the coupons was for $5 Off any online purchase over $35. Egad! The expiry was in a few days. So, like any sensible, budget-conscious booklover, I signed into my online Chapters account to see how I could make use of the coupon. I keep an ongoing wishlist of desired and interesting titles and watch for them to go on sale or clearance (I almost never buy books at full retail anymore, which I'm sure doesn't make publishers very happy). I get a further discount by using my Chapters' loyalty card. When my budget allows, I send in an order of just over $39 (to take advantage of the "Free Shipping over $39"). An additional $5 off was just too irresistible. Oh, and I almost forgot. I still had an unused gift card balance on my account (imagine me jumping up and down with glee). What I got today for an out-of-pocket gra...

My husband's side of the family lives in the US. Most of them are in and around Los Angeles. He's the only one who ended up in Canada (long story), so it's always been expected that we visit them . The logic being that it's easier for our compact family of four to travel than an extended family of twenty-odd. When our sons were young, we made yearly visits. We wanted them to grow up knowing their grandparents, aunts, uncles and two first cousins who were almost exactly the same age as our two. The LA cousins tried to get our boys interested in basketball and baseball; and our guys introduced the cousins to hockey and inline skating. As a young family, we made the rounds of Disneyland, Universal Studios, and Knott's Berry Farm. Sometimes we went with our relatives, sometimes we went on our own. No matter what we did, we had a blast. During our many visits, I also discovered that there are more shopping malls in Southern California within a half hour drivin...

Los Angeles County Museum of Art I could have spent days here, but only had a few hours. These are mostly architectural details I found interesting, rather than the displays themselves (any art book will do a better job at reproductions than me). And terribly meta: From the Asian Arts building: