In honor of Black Friday, we wanted to share a tee design we did for Daydreamer LA that’s currently available at Urban Outfitters!

Buying a Daydreamer LA tee from Urban Outfitters is a way to shop with one of your fave major stores while supporting Small Business Saturday at the same time. The indie t-shirt line by my friend Laura Glover is growing every day, and poised to do big big things!!

(Photo of Urban Outfitters website)

Phil and I paid a visit to El Dorado park yesterday. Our mission was twofold – 1, get details at the Parks and Rec office about the Municipal Band concerts that start there next Friday. 2, check out the playground and have some picnic snacks.

So here’s what we found out about the band concerts! Starting next Friday July 1, there’s a concert every week for the next month in El Dorado Park. The band plays at various places around Long Beach on other nights of the week, but the El Dorado location is the most popular. The recommendation from the Parks Dept was get there much earlier than the 6pm start time. She said some folks start trickling into the park to claim their spot as early as 3pm! El Dorado park is huge – to help ya out, the band plays in the southernmost chunk of the park off of Studebaker, near Willow. If you’ve driven on Studebaker on a weekend and have seen all the kids playing soccer, that’s about the right area to head towards for the municipal band concerts. Concerts happen every Friday night through the end of July.

So once we got the scoop on that, it was play time! Phil and I advanced token to the little kid playground right next to the Parks and Rec office. Phil didn’t really care about the slide too much, but he was way into the swing. At one point he looked like he might be getting bored so I picked him up out of the swing and he did a massive lean maneuver back towards it to let me know “No muhmuh, I’m totally not finished yet.”

Then we checked out the sand. I think one of the coolest things about Phil is watching his first reactions to things. Sand blew his mind. We sat there for 20 minutes at least, and he dug his hands and toes in, watching how the tiny little bits fell through his fingers.

He also ate some, because he’s a hooligan.

We shared a picnic of nectarines, celery and cheese on the grass nearby before heading home. Such a cool park near home for us to walk to!

(In case you haven’t heard, muhmuh is the best seat in the house.)

One thing is majorly different in life these days.

Ok wait, lots of things are majorly different in life these days.

But one thing… I never wanted to be the kind of person that needed coffee every single morning to function. To the point where I’ve gone through chunks of time where I’d stop drinking coffee for a while so any dependence I had on it would go away.

Nowadays, with the little one’s wakeup calls throughout each and every night, not only am I back on coffee but I have a cup every morning. And it’s delicious. But money’s tight these days, and time’s even tighter. Sometimes I just can’t make it to Starbucks for Fancy Coffee Friday, so I came up with a quickie fill-in for the mocha lattes I love so much.

Ready for the super easy how-to? Scoop 2 tablespoons of dry hot chocolate into your coffee mug. Pour your coffee over it, add a dash of half and half. Stir. Drank. Rinse. Repeat. Win!

Who else has tasty, easy coffee recipes to share?

If you follow Hearts and Laserbeam on Twitter or get our newsletter then you already know – we’re having a big fatty sale this holiday weekend!

Visit our Etsy shop and use coupon code TURKEY2010 through 11/29, and you’ll get 30% off your purchase along with our usual free shipping. And free gift wrapping is available upon request!

Pick up some stocking stuffers like mousepads or magnets, or save big on original drawings and paintings!

Etsy finally has coupon code functionality on their site, which means no more waiting for revised invoices or partial refunds when you use a coupon code. Make your selections, and when you are all set to pay, Etsy redirects you to Paypal — keep an eye out for the new “enter coupon code” box! It takes care of the discount right then and there. So much easier!

Happy shopping folks, have a great weekend!

About a year ago when I was commuting 40 miles south to Mission Viejo every day to a job that was in a less than positive environment, I started doing Fancy Coffee Friday. Instead of drinking the free coffee at work, I’d detour to the Starbucks on the way to the office, get a medium mocha with no whip cream on top, sigh, and pat myself on the back for making it through another week.

Now, a year later, I’ve kept that little ritual going. Except now I’m doing a job I love with zero commute (except for the occasional drive to L.A. for a meeting), and with the prego-ness I’ve made the temporary switch to Fancy Hot Chocolate Friday. It’s nice that the ritual has a happier tone to it now, a more “YAY it’s the weekend!!!” and less “Good god how am I going to do this again next week” feeling.

Do you have little weekly rituals like that, and what are they? Happy weekending everyone!

is it just me, or do short work weeks sometimes feel even longer than regular ones? the work day is over, the swollen prego cankles are propped up, and I’m about to catch up on this weeks episode of work of art while knitting while Josh sleeps off last nights work for a bit. life is good. have a great weekend folks!