Save the Living Coast Discovery Center!

A view of downtown San Diego from the edge of the estuary

On October 1st The Living Coast Discovery Center (aka Chula Vista Nature Center, aka Nature Interpretive Center) announced that they needed $200,000 by October 27 to remain open. People had answered that call, quite generously, but the center is still around $20,000 short of its goal. The UT says that there are two very awesome donors who have offered to match donations dollar for dollar, so, in reality, it's more like $10,000 now. Here is the Center's S.O.S. with details and a way to donate, and here is a recent article from the Union Trib that has information about how they will use the money and about how they could use even more.

My favorite: the burrowing owl.

The main focus of The Living Coast Discovery Center is education. They focus on the estuary, which the center is built in, and the animals that live in and around San Diego bay. This place is an annual field trip for most elementary schools in the area. It was my favorite field trip as a kid. They have animals on display, offer interactive exhibits, and encourage exploration of the Sweetwater Marsh.

Tree frog!

I went to the Center this past Wednesday and had a great time. It's been a few years since I'd last visited, so it was great seeing the new shark and ray pools. All of the pictures in this blog are ones I took.

Readers of The Oatmeal will recognize this guy.

 As I was wandering around, I caught the tail-end of the eagle feeding. Then I got a tour of the birds of prey from one of the volunteers. All of the birds of prey (and there are many) have some sort of medical issue which prevents them from surviving in the wild. The Center takes in these birds, cares for them, and uses them as educational tools.

The only bird I could get a good shot of.

 The Center has all manner of wildlife on display, from an octopus and a snapping turtle, to a bald eagle and three different kinds of owl. Out front, welcoming visitors to the Center, are three sea turtles. They are a reminder that San Diego has a healthy sea turtle population.

Look at this handsome guy.

Sea horse doing its best coral impression.

 While the Center might be small, it is surrounded by a large amount of land, all belonging to the nature preserve. Along the bay run walking paths which offer views of the bay, downtown, and random wildlife encounters.

The walking trails offer beautiful views and wildlife.

The Living Coast Discovery Center has been a fixture in Chula Vista since 1987, long before the amphitheater or water park ever existed. I would like to help keep the Center open, that's why I wrote this blog, but also, I have made earrings that I am selling on Etsy to help raise money for the Center. Check out my Etsy shop, support a good cause, and get some awesome earrings as a reminder. :)

Things That Make Me Happy

This is going to be an ongoing segment celebrating happiness, in whatever form it comes. :)

1. My cat, Max. He is awesome, cute, and completely devoted to me, unless I leave for an extended period of time, then he's devoted to my mom, but I totally understand. He is amazing at snuggling and has beautiful green eyes.

He was a horrible little feral beast when I first saw him, so his transformation was quite extreme. I didn't want a new cat but I got one. And, you know what? He has me.

What the Enchanted Tiki Room has taught me.

Yesterday I went to Disneyland with my dad. We were celebrating my degree conferral (which is technically Sunday, but that's a blockout day) and we had a great day.
I warned him well in advance that I wanted to go to the Tiki Room. See, I am one of those few and proud people who love the Tiki Room. My family has come to terms with this fact and they still speak to me, so I guess it's not that bad.They also put up with me dragging them to the Tiki Room as often as possible.
While Dad and I were sitting there enjoying the show, I started thinking about how much the Tiki Room has dealt with in its long life at Disneyland and what can be learned from that.


1. If you realize your original plan for life isn't going to work out, find one that works with who you are and go with it.
The Tiki Room was originally supposed to be a restaurant with the birds providing a dinner show, but Disney decided that would not be best use of the space and decided to make it a walk-in, walk-out show. The plan for tables and a coffee bar was replaced with benches and an enchanted fountain (big improvement), and the Tiki Room suddenly became a different type of venue.
What can we learn from this? If you have to makes changes in your life, even pretty major ones, don't be afraid to go for it, and never look back.
I learned this lesson many years ago when I realized a life in Biology was not for me. I was pretty sure that I wanted to teach, but I didn't know what else I wanted to study. I walked out of the counselor's office with a plan to major in English and I haven't looked back since.

2. Say it out loud! I'm campy and I'm proud!
The Tiki Room opened in 1963 and I don't think they have changed much in the meantime. The main host-birds are funny in the way your grandpa was funny; something current generations will never quite understand, but will politely laugh at anyway. The music and show were right-on with trends in the 60's, now it seems dated and showy, which is a major part of the appeal to me. Disney has left in the original soundtrack, even though it is sexist (Jose starts every show with "Hello Seniorita!" even though men were added as hosts of the room years ago), old-fashioned, and not fully understood by most of the current population, because it offers a snapshot of a time that was.
Lesson to learn: Geeky? Retro? Social misfit? Celebrate it! This even applies to smaller issues, like physical features. If you're short adopt the Ringo Starr approach to life, I certainly have, or wear super tall platforms, which I do too, but even then you're still short, you're just farther off the ground. Whatever it is that makes you unique: rock it.

3. Look old and frumpy? Don't overhaul your look, just clean it up!
About seven years ago Disneyland closed down the Tiki Room for renovations and I got nervous. Were the birds going to be covered in something other than feathers?, something that wouldn't fall off during performances? Were the benches going to be replaced with something more comfortable? Were the tiki's going to have their eyes fixed so they pointed in the same direction and blinked at the same time? Had Disney taken away the charm?
The answer was a happy 'NO.' Disney simply polished everything up, replaced lost feathers, and enhanced the audio track. It was nothing major, but it was enough.
I guess this one ties in with the previous lesson: don't fight who you are; embrace it. But it never hurts to look good too.

Happiness is...

...Realizing you are on the right path in life.
I am so happy to be in education, I am so happy to be a teacher, and I am so happy I have students who are 'getting it.'
And this comes at the end of the first week of the new semester. I am very excited to see where this goes.

Oh, and Nathan Fillion and the show Castle received People's Choice Awards tonight.

It's nice to know there are some things right in the world.

I am going to end this post with a picture of a red panda that I took at the San Diego Zoo on Sunday, because it makes me happy too.

A Salute to Friends

Friends are awesome. They come in so many different forms and provide many different types of friendship. I have friends that I met 22 years ago, friends that I met one year ago, friends that only come in book form, friends that are covered in fur, and even friends that I happen to be related to (there are probably more types, I just can't think of them right now).
I honestly do not know how I could handle much of what life has thrown at me without friends. I am eternally grateful to my friends who are always there, whether I need them or not, but boy do the times I needed them stand out. I don't know how many times I have spent hours with friends crying over break-ups, and they sit, listen, offer 'He's scum' comments when appropriate, and buy me stuffed animals to help. My two best friends are excellent at this. One of my best friends even stood next to me in the examining room at the vet's while I had my beloved cat of 12 years put down.
These same friends are the first to be down for random lunches and dinners, are fine with sitting around and hanging out, and are great shopping buddies.
I try my best to be a good friend too. I take the crying phone calls, drop what I'm doing when someone needs to get away for a bit, and am always down for celebrating the good things in my friend's lives.
I was honored to officiate the wedding of my longest running best friend two weekends ago. I stood on the rim of the Grand Canyon (sans guardrail) and helped my best friend join her life to the man she loves.

So, along with stopping to smell the flowers, stop and appreciate your friends.

Earrings!

I love earrings (and basically all other jewelry for that matter), but I especially love making earrings. I guess it is because something so small can make such a statement. Anyway, I have been experimenting with various beads and buttons to make small dangle earrings. 

For this first pair I used vintage buttons.

This pair teams a vintage bead with a modern glass bead. I named them "Polka Dot?" after an Animaniacs episode.

This pair just looks like a party to me; purple glass beads combined with green glass beads. And they're good dancers.

Here I paired vintage buttons and vintage beads to create "Spacy Earrings": I think the beads look galaxy-ish and the buttons look like moons.  

Fused Glass Necklace

I found this fused glass bead and fell in love. The dichroic elements make this subtly beautiful and I think the black beads provide a good contrast to the pureness of the glass.