Last Thursday Keira & I headed to the Calabasas Hilton for her Hanna Andersson casting. It's essentially a suburb of LA, I think, but has a historic & pretty downtown area, which I love! Here is Keira, enjoying the fountain in front of the Hilton.
I love the orange color of the fountain!
Positively giddy over the breeze splashing water on her!
After the casting & a bite to eat at Mickey D's, we headed to the local Barnes & Noble for a much needed break from the long drive.
Keira loved the toys, animal puppets, & of course, books! They had this cute little stage in the children's book section, where Keira went to look at a few books she had picked out.
A little bummed that it was time to head home, but also ready for a nap.
LA traffic stresses me out, but I try to focus on the positive. We drove the I-210, which is one of my fave local freeways. Since traffic was moving slowly, I decided to pull out my camera & get some shots to document the drive & the things I enjoy about it. Here is the metro rail station we pass on the way to & from.
Keira loves freeway bridges, too bad she was napping most of the way home. We even recently got her a book about trucks & freeway systems & such! She had Bob reading it to her just today! Part girly girl, part tom boy...that's our Keira! She even wants to be a princess pirate for Halloween this year!
I love the carpool lanes! I totally counted Keira as one of the two required passengers! My reasoning? First of all, she's old enough to require full air fare on an airplane. Secondly, she wasn't just along for the ride, as the purpose for our trip was her casting. I, on the other hand, was merely the chauffeur!
I really enjoy the designs they put in the concrete along the freeway. It does a lot to beautify it!
I like this overpass, too, as they actually have it planted with lots of vegetation! Yay for more beautification! Another plus of the I-210...smooth surfaces & plenty of lane room, most of the way!
I love to see the mountains!
Here's another shot of the wall designs.
...and daily smog, typical of the LA/Greater LA Area I'm afraid.
I like the color of this San Bernardino train bridge.
The home stretch.
Keira finally wakes & asks that I open the windows. She loves the crazy blowing of the hot air! Ah, brings back memories for me of my childhood, driving around with my dad in the Arizona heat with the windows down as our only source of air conditioning! My hair was always a mess!
As you can see, although it is officially fall now, it is still bright & sunny in Southern California! It was 92 degrees just today! Yikes! I'm ready for hot cocoa & slippers already! Unfortunately, it won't begin to feel like fall until Halloween, if last year was any indication. While I do miss the seasons of the Pacific Northwest, I suppose we will just have to go to the zoo or the beach again! Woe to us poor souls! tee hee!
Dear Shiloh, I loved seeing your trip to the Hanna Anderson outfit. I saw my first Hanna Anderson catalog back at WSU. I fell in love with it. It was a Christmas catalog and all the wooden Scandinavian toys caught my eye along with the cute outfits. And PJ's were so cute. It is one of my favorite catalogs. How many hours did you travel down the freeway? 3, 4, 5 hours? Did you get home after 10pm at night?
ReplyDeleteWas the fountain, the San Bernardino Bridge, and Keira's Swim Suit all the same color of Orange or was it more a Coral color with Pink undertones in it? That foundation was spectacular. I loved seeing Keira's facial expression as the wind blew the misty water in her face. She is such an expressive little girl. I guess orange is one of your favorite colors.
You talked about the paintings on the freeway walls. I couldn't see any drawings. What did they paint on the walls?
I love CA Freeways too. I love the vegetation that separates the roads. One time Ted was driving down a CA Freeway and he had a black out and ended up in the Oleander bushes that separated the roads. Yikes!!!
I hope Keira ends up in a Hanna Anderson catalog. Did Bob stay at home?
Love Joy
Oh, the trip was only 4 hours of driving, probably not so long as I made it out to be, but the LA traffic makes it seem like double!:-) We left about 11am & got back around 6pm. The orange in the fountain makes me think of clay pots, only shiny & wet. The red/orange of the bridge is similar I think. But the orange in Keira's swim suit is much brighter, more like the background colors of my blog, I think. I do love orange, but really, I just love colors & contrast. Keira makes so many colors look good though. She looks great in pink, blue, green, yellow, white, orange, etc., & the brighter the better! I didn't mention any paintings on the freeway walls, just designs that they put into the concrete. When we went to the beach a couple weeks ago though, we drove through a section of freeway in LA that had these huge art banners hanging on the sides. I pointed them out to Bob. I thought those were cool, too! I think I recall that time about Ted! Yikes is right! We haven't heard back about the shoot yet, but if not, there will be others, I'm sure. Bob was working that day, so it was just Keira & I that went to this casting.
DeletePS. I forgot to mention that I loved the picture of Keira in front of your hotel in the pink and white dress with white socks, white shoes, and the beautiful greenery surrounding the courtyard.
ReplyDeleteLove Joy
Are you talking about the shot in front of the bookstore? The only shots at the Hilton were with the orange fountain. Yes, it was a really lovely downtown with lots of pedestrian friendly areas, which I love! I really like the little dress of Keira's, but she has just about outgrown it. It was from Grannie. It used to belong to Keira's cousin, Aniyah. It's size 24 months! It's got a pretty blue & pink plaid on it with silver stripes along the plaid design, too. Also lightweight, for hot days.:-)
DeleteDear Shiloh
ReplyDeleteI guess on the wall designs, I guess I was looking for some paintings. Maybe CA should start a new tradition of letting artists paint the freeway walls. Are the designs more concrete designs? In the form of raised concrete etc? I think I saw some raised lines made up of concrete. Did I see some squares?
I re-read your blog and I guess when Keira was standing out front in her beautiful plaid dress, it must of been the front of the Barnes and Nobles store or such. It was so scenic I thought it must be the Hilton. I loved the orange fountain in front of the Hilton. I wish Bob could of seen it. It reminded me of the Iguanas in front of the Mary Pickford Theater that you posted one time. No wonder Bob is an artist growing up in CA.
A four hr drive with a toddler isn't too bad. You're right, it sounded so long I thought there is no way Shiloh and Keira could visit that in one day.
What is the difference from a "casting" and a "photo shoot". Casting seems the same as a photo shoot. Pardon my ignorance.
Remember to let Bob know I have been thinking about him a lot lately and I love and miss him.
Love Joy
Yeah, they should let the artists paint the freeway walls! That would be so cool! Yes, the designs I was referring to are just designs in the concrete. They are waves with a sort of cobblestone design in it. Click on the photo itself to see it larger. Maybe that will help. I remember those iguanas! They were neat, too! A casting is like an audition except you don't have to perform or do anything. They take your information, your photo card, get measurements if they need them, & usually take some photos as well. The shoot is the actual job, where they shoot the photos for the ads. So if they decided to book you from the casting, then you go to the shoot. No booking, no shoot. We like the direct bookings best though, where they look at Keira's portfolio on the Zuri website & decide they want her for the job. That way we just skip the whole casting part altogether. That's the way GUESSkids.com did it. It's definitely the way to go! You're more likely to get direct bookings with professional photos, which I would love to get for Keira sometime. Anyway, no apologies necessary. I did let Bob know. He's been working hard these past several weeks, doing construction with a friend of a neighbor. Not getting paid anywhere near enough, but we're not complaining! Every little bit helps! We hope you are well, too! We'd love to be able to visit sometime! xoxo
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