Don’t miss the Annual Cinco De Mayo celebration at the Mar Vista Farmer’s Market this Sunday from 9am until 2pm at the corner of Venice and Grand View. The Mar Vista Arts and Crafts Collective will be on hand, as they are each first Sunday of the month, at 10am don’t miss the Community Sing-A-Long of Mar Vista’s Gone Green with Didi Pop, and the amazing 9-piece Opa Opa Orchestra at 11am.
Earl’s Gourmet Grub is coming soon, very soon… Just look at how cool it is inside: 
And then get ready to eat fantastic grub right about the middle of May.
UPDATE: Word just came in that all inspections have been passed and Earl’s is a Restaurant On The Verge of opening!! Stay tuned…
Avatar was released on DVD on Earth Day, which you probably know unless you were out of town on Pandora last week, and my kids and I were given a copy to review. 
Well, here goes: We love this movie!! Even on DVD, even on our puny TV set, even though it’s not in 3D. We all love this movie. We stood in line at the theater on opening day last December because we were so excited for it to come out and we were thrilled with the 3D — it was truly magical. 
And the DVD does not disappoint, even though it’s only 2D. The story is still gut-wrenching (there are tears shed when Home Tree falls — and not just by me) and exciting (who among us can resist a blue guy flying in on a giant red dragon?). It’s sure to be watched many, many times in our house. 
What’s very cool about the DVD launch is that Fox has also launched the Home Tree Initiative and aims to plant 1 million trees worldwide – here on Earth. 
We were invited to watch James Cameron, the writer/director/producer, and Jon Landau, the producer, (among others, including CCH Pounder, pictured above) participate in the ceremonial planting of the first tree in North America as part of said initiative, and while there, Charlie got to ask them some questions. He got to ask 2 questions of Jon Landau, the first was, “How did you like working with James Cameron?” And here is Mr. Landau’s response:
Then he got to ask James Cameron a question, “How’d you get inspiration for writing the script for Avatar?”
Great questions, Charlie! Nice job! And now it’s time for mom to Avatar-ize:
Photos provided by me and Fox Home Entertainment, video provided by Charlie.
Great colors.
Today I was thrilled to have Anna Getty as my Sunday Shopper. 
She’s making the arugula and strawberry salad that’s on page 127 of her new cookbook, Easy Green Organic. She gave me a signed copy to review, by the way, and I can’t wait to start cooking from it — it’s filled with delicious-looking recipes and beautiful photographs. Stay tuned for a review in the coming days…
Anna bought the strawberries, 
the arugula, 
and the pumpkins seeds (pepitas) 
plus the lemons for the vinaigrette 
here at the market. She’ll still need agave nectar and olive oil to complete the dressing, plus these edible arugula flowers 
and lemon zest for a garnish. Sounds delish! And the famous Greens restaurant in San Francisco agrees: they’ve added it to their summer menu. Thanks, Anna!
Well, OK, not at night. But the wait is over — my solar panels are hooked up and I am powering my house and this computer right now with electricity generated by the sun on my very own roof! And on all sunny — and even overcast days — any electricity that’s leftover gets sent back to the grid to help power the rest of LA, or at least a little corner of it. And yes, I’m pretty excited about it!
Here’s what my new electric meter looks like: 
It’s specially made for solar, I guess — and unfortunately they didn’t design it with blog photos in mind, because the only way to tell when we’re drawing from the grid or producing extra for the grid is this little tiny triangle. 
See it?
I thought not — let me point it out. Here’s what it looks like when we’re generating power: 
And here it shows that we’re taking from the grid: 
(Could they have made it any smaller? Doubt it. But I digress…)
The point is we’re really producing electricity with solar panels on the roof and I think it’s really cool, even if not very visual.
I’m posting this on Earth Day for obvious reasons, and not that I feel like the Greenest Mom around, but I did feel like pointing out a few things we’ve done around the house that at least attempt to do less harm to the Earth. 
When we moved in years ago, we took out all the grass and planted drought-tolerant plants instead. And quite frankly, we didn’t even do this to be Green; we did this because my husband didn’t want to mow any more lawns and I was too bored by watering. We tried a soaker hose irrigation system, but even that was annoying. (To me.) So we just never water our yard at all now. Only when starting a new plant, which is pretty rare, because all the plants we have thrive year-to-year through the summer and fall droughts and just soak up all the rain in winter and spring. Turns out, however, this is a very Green thing to do and people all over LA (and especially in Mar Vista) are doing it. This weekend’s Green Garden Showcase on April 25th boasts on nearly 80 homes in Mar Vista doing similar things — feel free to check it out.
This past fall we got one of the rain barrels the City was giving out as part of a pilot project, so now we have a little leftover water after each rain that we can give to the driest of the plants. 
A couple of years ago, we got a tankless water heater so as not to store 50 gallons of heated water all the time. 
By the way, check out their motto: 
I think there’s something naughty going on, but I’m no expert…
And now, the solar panels. 
I’m feeling pretty green after all. Happy Earth Day!
Special thanks to DWP for connecting my panels to the grid and to SolarCity for installing them. And extra special thanks to John Ayers of GravityTen for adding the red arrows to my shots of those very small triangles you might not otherwise have seen. John’s very skilled and very nice to those of us who aren’t.
Meet Shane Gudlow, Zephyr Gudlow (on guitar) and Rashna Elavia of Timewarp music, Mar Vista’s source for all things musical. Timewarp’s been here since 2004, but last year they moved into the bigger space next door and it’s clearly been a nice improvement. They’ve added a recording studio and offer private lessons in guitar, bass, drums, vocals (and piano coming soon) for all ages, all levels and all styles.
Known as a source for vintage keyboards, tube amplifiers and studio recording equipment, as well as excellent instrument repair, 
Timewarp also has its share of celebrity Rock and Roll clients as well, including members of Tom Petty’s band, Jane’s Addiction, Mars Volta, Norah Jones, Nickelback and Billy Idol. 
And on Saturday, April 24th at 8pm, there will be a benefit concert for Venice High right there in the store with no fewer than 5 bands playing. Check it out on their Facebook page.
I recently finished reading The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart with my kids and 2 of us have declared it a fantastic book. My 10-year-old and I both loved it, but my 7-year-old wasn’t that enthralled. He still prefers books that have illustrations and this is a real-live chapter book.
The story is a bit bleak, with a genius madman named Mr. Curtain who’s trying to take over the world with evil mind-control methods. But the protagonists are 4 kids who never intended to be, but must become, super secret agents in miniature! They each have a special skill which they employ at just the right time to get them out of a tight spot. There’s Reynie, Kate, Sticky and Constance, who are all recruited for the dangerous yet vital work of saving the world by Mr. Benedict.
There are fantastic characters, mayhem, peril and no shortage of adventure. And the cliff-hanger chapter ends are very exciting! More than once, we stayed up a little bit extra late to read on.
We were overjoyed to have found that it’s the first of a series, and so we’re deep into book number two: The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Perilous Journey. Then comes book three: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma. Can’t wait!
Love the colors, love the lines.