I Got My Baby Box, Baby Box!

Several years ago, my mom gave me a big box of toys and nursery wall decor that were mine when I was just a wee, little Baby Anthony. My family actually called me Tony (and still do), but I tried to put a stop to that at some point in my teens when I had decided that Anthony sounded more mature. Besides, that is the name on my birth certificate!

Anyway, I know that it must have been a bitter-sweet moment for my mom when she gave me these things because she told me that she had been saving them for the day when I might have a child of my own. Well... back then, adoption by gay couples wasn't as prevalent as it is now (may not have even been legal), and she certainly knew a grandchild wasn't coming by natural means! So figuring it was a lost cause to save it, but also knowing how special it would be to me, my mom went ahead and handed over that magical box of babyhood memories.

It's interesting how I can remember some of the things perfectly, and others not at all. What really amazed me was the smell inside the box and on the stuffed animals. After lo these many years, it all still has a very distinct scent that (((WHOOSH))) instantly takes me back to the nursery. Fascinating, the way our sense of smell is so strongly connected to memories. It can almost evoke more than a photograph. Or, at the very least, the scent of certain things can conjure something that a photograph just isn't capable of capturing. Know what I mean?

Speaking of photographs, the one at the top is of my mom and me. Just thought I should clarify that in case it somehow wasn't totally obvious to everyone. And below you'll see a few that I took of two very psychedelic pieces of wall decor which came from grandparents on my dad's side. I imagine that they probably hung over my crib. The wall hangings, not my grandparents. When looking at them, keep in mind that I was born in the '70s!







Colorful enough for ya? Both wall
plaques are likely responsible for
why I'm so drawn to color...







This one is my favorite of the two!
Not quite sure if it's because of the
particular color combo, or that this
bear is cuter blowing bubbles with a
horn while wearing a nightcap?
Probably both.





That is all, for now. I plan to continue sharing the rest of my Baby Box contents as a series of exclusive posts, much like the 'Happy Music' and 'A Boy's Toy Joy' series!

Stay tuned...

My New Zoo Review! (w/Family Foto Fun, Too!)

The San Diego Zoo isn't new, but this review of our family visit last Saturday is. And actually, the Elephant Odyssey exhibit that's there is a beautiful new addition, only a few months old. But I think, now that I've seen it in person, it's a bit overrated.

The 7-acre habitat is quite impressive. However, the way that it's designed does not allow for any kind of close-up encounters with the elephants. Not even nearby encounters! They were way off in the distance, and even if they wanted to come closer, they couldn't. Their enclosure, and the landscape within it, prevents them from doing so. There was an area where, thanks to fortunate timing, we were able to witness one of the pachyderms getting a bath in fairly close proximity. Well, a shower was more like it because the animal keeper was actually hosing it down. And, boy, did it like the attention! You could just tell he was loving it so much that it must've felt like a Burke Williams spa treatment!

We came along just in time for Ranchipur's shower.

And if you listened real closely, you could hear

him quietly singing this cute little song:

"A sprinkle a day helps keep the odor away...

Have you had your sprinkle today?"

A hydro-massage and a pedicure?

Now, that's what I call service!

Among other animals featured in the same exhibit, and one of my favorites, is the capybara. I'm not real sure what it is about those guys... it has something to do with their cute, bloppy shape. They sorta remind me of Moomins, I guess. And they are certainly cute!

Capybara and Moomin via Google Images

See, don't these two look similar?

Well, I think they do...

Speaking of cute, after we walked out of the Odyssey exhibit we came across the meerkats. I could sit and watch those little guys for hours! And they're just always so busy... I was particularly taken with the designated sentinel of the mob. He sat atop the highest rock formation attentively watching for predators, his tiny head twitching in every direction. I wish that we had spent more time at their enclosure.

I was glad to get this meerkat shot! His little

noggin was jerking all over the place, looking

for anything that might be a threat...

I felt this was an interesting shot, too, because it shows

some of their many digging holes. They were all very

busy scurrying around, or digging. Lots of digging.

Another of my favorite animals is the giraffe. They are so tall and graceful. I'm pretty sure I overheard a tour guide say that a newborn, on average, is about 6 ft. tall! Could you imagine if a human mother had to suffer such a burden? Of course, women are strong, and they would be able to endure it... The pattern on giraffe hides is beautiful, too. It's just those long, dark tongues that aren't. In fact, they're kinda gross! Oh, well. Nobody's perfect.

Tommy and me, posing in front of the giraffe enclosure.

"Where are the giraffes?", you say. Well, see, they're

not in the shot because Mom was taking the picture...

We also managed to see lots of different exotic birds, some bears (including polar), a monkey or two, snakes, a komodo dragon, a few tortoises, two rhinoceros, an anteater w/baby riding around on its back and a few other creatures I can't remember at the moment. Still, after being there for an entire day, we only managed to see about half of the zoo's inhabitants. We were there until almost 9 pm, too!

I feel bad that I don't remember the name of this

animal. It was some sort of hairy, piggish looking thing.

But how super cute are they, all cuddled-up together

like that, in a ditch?

Why, what do we have here? I don't believe it's

anything we've ever seen before! It appears to be

a tame creature, at least... Let's take a closer

look, shall we?

Yikes! Look out! Whatever it is, it's fierce and most

unpredictable! We must use extreme CAUTION...

It's real neat that they do the whole Nighttime Zoo thing in the Summertime, so you can see the nocturnal animals when they're awake and more active. The zoo itself is very pretty at night, with its lush landscaping of trees and plants dramatically illuminated. It was especially impressive from the vantage point of a Skyfari bucket. We rode one of those twice! Once during the day, and then again at night. Even the buckets were lit up all purty-like, in the dark.

It's a bit hard to tell because it's at night, but this

is Tommy & my mom in our Skyfari bucket as it

whisked us along, high above the "jungle" below.







Yours truly, "impersonating" a dorky tourist.

We all had a great time! It was a wonderful Saturday at the zoo, as well as an awesome birthday gift from my mom! If you've never been, I highly recommend a visit to the San Diego Zoo. But if you go, Mom says, "Don't forget the sun-block and comfortable walking shoes."

Lions, Jaguars, and Elephants? Oh, My!

Please, oh please, don't let us run into this guy, tomorrow! His name is Maynard Livingston, and he's the official Park Master & Greeter for both the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park. Ugh... Maybe, we'll luck out and he'll be over at the Wild Animal Park, instead.

Whatever the case, my mom, Tommy and I will have fun at the zoo on Saturday, anyway. The outing was my mom's idea, and it's also her birthday gift to me! She knows that I like elephants (and animals, in general), so she thought that I'd like to go check out the new Elephant Odyssey exhibit that just opened this last May. It's a $45 million, 7-acre addition to the main zoo that features elephants (obviously), lions, jaguars and California condors. The habitat has several pools for the elephants, including one that holds 137, 000 gallons of water and is 7.5 feet deep at its deepest end. That's certainly big enough for a swim, even for an elephant!

On these hot Summer days, I would love to join these guys.

I wonder if Esther is in the pool, somewhere...

Pinky TUSK-adero, taking a relaxing bath.

Lions are so majestically beautiful...

They make me proud to be a Leo.

I've always wanted to drive one of these.

It's probably crazy of us to go on a Saturday in August, what with Summer crowds and all, but it should be a fun family adventure! Then, the following Saturday (A.K.A. my actual birthday), Tommy and I will be going to Disneyland because I'll be getting in FREE! Did you know about that special promotion? They're letting people in for FREE on their birthdays, all this year! But you had to have registered for it by a certain deadline last year. They even aired T.V. commercials about the whole thing. I guess that it sucks to be you, if you didn't take advantage of it... (Hee-hee!)

Have a great weekend, everyone!


~All photos via Google Images~

Summer Nights @ the County Fair

I'm excited! Tonight, the moms & sons are venturing out to the Orange County Fair for a few thrills and some bad, unhealthy food. Should be a lot of fun! I plan to take my camera, so I might do a photo doc as a follow-up post...

In the meantime, enjoy these evening shots at various fairs which I gathered from the internet. I picked ones that I thought really captured that whole "fair-at-night vibe" best. You can almost smell the popcorn and funnel cake. Thank goodness, we can't smell the carnies!

"Wheeeeee!" This looks so fun.

Oooh, how pretty!

Around and around she goes...

"Step right up, win a prize!"

These folks are really swingin'!

I totally want these vintage carnival prizes.

"Carnie" (Wilson) holding a chicken?

The fair at dusk, right before its electric transformation

into neon flash and flicker.

~All photos via Google Images~

A Boy's Toy Joy: The Fisher-Price Musical Ferris Wheel

Photo by Allison Jones

It is time, once again, for me to reflect on another one of my favorite childhood toys. Today, I am talking about the Fisher-Price Musical Ferris Wheel!

This toy was MAGICAL. Not only did it play music when you wound it up, its wheel also spun around, and around, and around as the "mad boy" cranked it! AND you could put your Fisher-Price Little People (Even the dog!) in the chairs so they could go for a ride! You'd have to ask my mom, but I'm pretty sure that this toy had the power to entrance and almost HYPNOTIZE me. Even today, if I just think about it, I can still hear the tune it played, 'In the Good Old Summertime'. It was such a cheerful little song!

Photo by Raya


As I've mentioned in at least one other post, I LOVE to collect the toys that I can remember having enjoyed the most when I was a child. It's sort of my way of recapturing the innocence of my youth, I guess. Maybe, that's the basic reason why, as an adult, I still enjoy toys in general? Of course, I also just like having fun... Whatever the reason may be, toys, especially the best from my childhood, make me HAPPY!

Photo by Raya

Hopefully, one day I will own this toy again. Yes, I know that I could buy one on eBay or from any number of other vintage toy retailers, BUT it must be just right! I cannot accept just ANY old Fisher-Price Musical Ferris Wheel... It must be absolutely perfect, or as perfect as it could possibly be for a vintage toy. I'm very persnickety when it comes to these things, what can I say? It's most likely psychological, same as with the whole "recapturing the innocence of my youth" thing. At least, I'm aware of this "problem". And isn't THAT the first step to recovery?

An Evening with Kathy Griffin

Just this last Saturday night, my husband and I went to see one of our favorite stand-up comediennes, Kathy Griffin. Her show was at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the place was packed! SOLD OUT, in fact! Sort of surprising for the largely conservative O.C. when you consider the type of comedy Kathy is known for. But she's got a BIG following, obviously, and she deserves it!

Kathy also has a HUGE gay fan-base, and they certainly "came out" for the show, same as we did. I mean, they were everywhere! It was so nice to be with a crowd of our own peers for a change. Believe me, it's not a common occurrence around these parts!

Anyway, back to Kathy... She opened the show with a video montage of all sorts of different media appearances she's made, everything from bit parts on 'Seinfeld' and 'X-Files' (I know, 'X-Files'? I didn't remember that, either!) to commercials she's done, her stint as the 'Celebrity Mole', and even a role she played in a horror movie! Oh, and of course, her break-through role on 'Suddenly Susan' which I think lasted about 4 seasons. The montage concluded with clips from her T.V. reality show on Bravo, 'Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List', that was most responsible for making her a household name. I'm not entirely sure that the show's name is even accurate anymore. Is she STILL really only on the D-List? I think her popularity has bumped her up the list a bit, by now! Of course, Kathy's an "A" in my book...

The material Kathy covered was all over the map. She talked about having seen Britney lip-syncing in concert, and that led into a story about how Kathy was just "hanging out" with rapper T.I. at Roscoe's Chicken & Waffle House and how she got him to call Justin Timberlake on his cell phone. Let's see, she also talked about Oprah, and then Kirstie Alley's latest guest-appearance on Oprah's show where Kirstie talked about her weight gain since the whole Jenny Craig thing. Of course, she talked a bit about 'The Real Housewives of Orange County'. I think that she probably felt she had to since that was where she was! Tommy and I kinda "checked out" during that part because we've never watched the show. But then she went on to talk quite a lot about her 88-year-old mom, Maggie. That's ALWAYS entertaining because Kathy can't talk about her mom without impersonating her, and she's a real crack-up as her mom!

She also talked about Donald Trump and his 'Celebrity Apprentice' show. And she couldn't talk about that without mentioning Joan Rivers. Kathy really admires Joan, which makes total sense. I know I've forgotten stuff, but you get the picture! She keeps her act fresh and always has new material on the latest pop culture for each show she does. In fact, I don't know that she EVER does the same set twice. That's one of the great things about her!

If you are at all offended by curse words, you should NOT see Kathy live! She doesn't hold back ANYTHING! When she doesn't have to worry about things like the FCC, she just drops the F-bombs like it's Pearl Harbor all over again! And dirty, dirty, dirty... She's got a real potty mouth! And we just loved it!

I hope that we get out and do things like this more often because we had a great time and laughed a lot! You know what they say about laughter...

Fun with Mom at the Aquarium!

My mom & me



Tommy & his mom


I know this doesn't really have anything to do with pop culture, but I just had such a nice time spending Mother's Day with my mom and mom-in-law that I wanted to tell you about it!

My husband and I took both of our moms to the 'Aquarium of the Pacific' for the day. It's a beautiful aquarium located in Long Beach, California. They're actually celebrating their 10th Anniversary, already. So hard to believe because Tommy and I were there shortly after it first opened and it does NOT seem like it was that long ago! Oh, well. Time flies...

Some of the more exciting exhibits were the Jelly Fish, Sea Horses/Dragons, Sharks and Sea Lions! At the Shark exhibit, you could actually reach into shallow water and TOUCH some of the smaller ones! They felt strange, too! Some were velvety soft and others were rough, almost like sand paper. My mom was cutely apprehensive about reaching in... she didn't want to lose a finger!

The Sea Lions were a lot of fun to watch! You could either watch them swimming under-water through big windows below, or you could go up above and see them whenever they surfaced and/or jumped out of the water. We got to see them being fed, too. They do all kinds of tricks for their food, including waving at the audience, kissing and barking. We were told that the way to tell the difference between a Seal and a Sea Lion is that Sea Lions have visible ear flaps. Seals do have ears, but they're basically just holes in the sides of their heads, without the flaps. Good to know.

This Seal is an exception

because it DOES have ear flaps.

The Jelly Fish were just literally awesome! I think that I could sit and watch them for hours. The way that their delicate forms undulate through the water is completely mesmerizing! Kinda like watching a Lava Lamp, but way more interesting and impressive. I think I heard somewhere that they don't even have brains! So, so bizarre! At one point, while watching these alien-like creatures, I couldn't help but wonder that if something this strange and beautiful exists here on Earth, what must be "out there" on other planets?

Such beautiful creatures...

Another ocean animal that fascinates me is the Sea Horse. I find their little horse-like heads and curly tails so cute! And I like the way they propel through the water with that little flipper/fan sort of thing on their backs. But even better than the way they look, is the fact that they mate for life with the same partner! It's really neat to see two of them swimming around with their tails intertwined, like their equivalent to our holding hands.

This little guy values monogomy.

I wish that more of us humans did, as well.

I'm fairly sure that the Sea Dragon is a close relative to the Sea Horse. You can tell just looking at them, but the Sea Dragon is typically bigger and certainly appears stranger! They have all sorts of little leafy branch-like things covering them and it looks like they have wings on their backs! I think that these were what fascinated my mom the most.

They look like swimming plants...
But they're NOT!

There was lots of cool stuff to see at the 'Aquarium of the Pacific', but I wanted to share with you the things that I found to be most interesting and noteworthy. I hope that you enjoyed my take.

The whole outing was fun, and a great time was had by all on this Mother's Day, 2009!