LA Times Festival of Books

April 24 & 25
UCLA

We've been going to this festival since before Rachel was born. It's a wonderful free event for the whole family (need to pay for parking, though). Fox Home Entertainment will have Michael Damian (Young & the Restless), the director of Flicka 2, at their booth on Saturday. Flicka 2 is the modern version of the story of a girl and her horse. Hilda the Talking Goat will, also, be at the Read Aloud booth. They will be using cutting edge animation to allow Hilda to interact live with children and families.

Target has a chldren's stage and some of the highlights this year are:

Saturday
10:00 AM: The Fresh Beat Band
10:40 AM: Caitlin Sanchez - Voice of Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer
12:20 PM: Jade-Lianna Peters - Voice of Kai-Ian from Nickelodeon’s Ni Hao, Kai-Ian
12:40 PM: Bernadette Peters - Author of Stella is a Star!
2:40 PM: Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver - Authors of Hank Zipzer: A Brand-New Me! #17
3:25 PM: Shawn and Marlon Wayans - Authors of Sneaker Madness
5:10 PM: Justin Roberts & the Not Ready for Naptime Players

Sunday
10:00 AM: The Fresh Beat Band
12:00 PM: Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary - Author of Puff the Magic Dragon
12:55 PM: Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete - My Brother Charlie
1:40 PM: Justin Roberts & the Not Ready for Naptime Players
2:55 PM: Robin Preiss Glasser - Illustrator of Fancy Nancy: Poet Extraordinaire!

I've noticed a difference in the children's lineup this year. They used to have music going all day, but this year there is more storytelling. Maybe there's a desire to get back to books? I'm wondering if this will make a difference in the "camp-outs" in the children's section. In years past, it was super crowded and you'd have to go an hour before to snag a good seat. However, as we all know, children are not about to sit for an hour even if it's to wait for their favorite star. Perhaps this will cut down on the crowds in that area.

As for parking, get there when the festival opens. Structure 2 off of Hilgard is a good spot.

For more info, go here.

Get $50 worth of organic veggies for $25!

We did this last month and it was so easy. Go to spud.com and enter GREATPERKS. Your shopping list will auto-fill, but you can make changes. Besides lots of wonderful veggies, they also carry other grocery items.

Deliveries to the Long Beach area occur every other Wednesday. When you've placed your order, you will get your delivery date.

No worries -- you can change your order up to 2 days before delivery. Stay close to home on that day as they leave your order on your doorstep. They do have cold bags for dairy products, though.

Click here to check it out.
Offer is good till May 31st and only for new customers.
http://www.spud.com

Intro to Felting Class

This sounds like so much fun and look at this cutie!

Tuesday, March 23, 7-9pm
Maple Village School, 4017 E. 6th St., LB
$25 plus $10 materials fee
RSVP to Mary at 213-703-7729 or maryvangeffen@gmail.com

Bubblefest!

March 27 - April 11, 2010
Daily Show Times:
11:00am • 12:30pm • 2:00pm • 3:30pm

Float your way to Discovery Science Center for Orange County's most astounding spring break bubble spectacular! It's good, clean fun for the entire family as Bubble Scientist Fan Yang brings his Mega-Bubble Show to Southern California.

Discovery Science Center
714-542-2823
2500 North Main Street
Santa Ana, CA 92705

Ticket Prices:
General Admission + Bubblefest show ticket
Adults $19.95
Kids (3-17) $16.95

Click here for more info.

Free photo canvas offer

Another cool gift and this one is free (except for shipping). I ordered a canvas of one my sister's photos of Rachel. The 8x10 is free and shipping was $15.

I can't wait to see how it turns out. I would actually recommend using a vertically-oriented photo, because I'm not sure if they will change the orientation of the canvas for a horizontal photo.

This offer is actually for a free 8x10 or $55 off any size, so you can go bigger if you like.

Check it out here: The Canvas People

https://secured.canvaspeople.com/freegift

40 in 4: A fundraiser for Haiti

Fundraiser for Haiti
Sunday, January 31
11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
El Dorado Community Center, 2800 Studebaker Street, Long Beach, CA 90815

A group of Long Beach residents, led by the Livesays, will find out if they can meet a very ambitious goal — to raise $40,000 in just 4 hours. 100% of ALL funds raised will go directly to the American Red Cross for the Haiti Relief Fund (American Red Cross will be on site to collect all donations).”

The 40 in 4: Haiti Relief fundraiser will be filled with great activities for the whole family. It will include hot dogs, drinks, desserts, bounce house, face painting, live music by The Elm Street Band and more.

Donors have the choice of staying and participating in the events or they can choose to drop off their donation at the convenient “Drive Thru” donation center. Although, monetary gifts are preferred, non-perishable foods will also be accepted.

Shutterfly 40% off or free shipping

Shutterfly has an amazing deal right now. Alot of their stuff is on sale, including Valentine's Day cards at 30% off. Then you can use the FORTY promo code for an additional 40% off! That's pretty much pays for your shipping. OR if you order more than $30 and get free shipping with SHIP30. Offer good till February 2nd. I wasn't going to send VDay cards till now. :-)

Shutterfly

http://www.shutterfly.com/valentines-day