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Coming down to the South Bay I expected everything green to be a little.. well.. bland... Not so the case with the hottest nail salon there!  Mani Pedi Cutie is an eco-friendly salon, filled with amazing people that greet you with a smile, cucumber mint water, and meditation rocks (of course I picked 'Passion').  The beach babe pedicure is a diva's dream!  If you'd like to celebrate your birthday there, the restaurants around will cater and you and your fabulous friends can enjoy a bottle of your favorite wine while you are being pampered.  Since I've found them, I will make up any excuse to go there and feel girlie again!  Mani Pedi Cutie gets this diva's seal of approval.  ;) PS:  I always make sure to get there around 5:30pm for my complimentary glass of wine. MANI PEDI CUTIE 507 Pier Ave. Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 T 310-376-9988 F 310-376-9981 W www.manipedicutie.com E info@manipedicutie.com HOURS Tuesday thru Friday 10am-7ish Saturday 10-7ish Sunday 10-5 Closed on Mondays. Please book an Appointment!

Forget Disneyland. And all the colorful made-up characters. Surprise your grandchildren - introduce them to real genius - Degas, Raphael, Monet, Pissarro and other great artists, whose works are displayed at the singularly splendid Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California. Will they be bored? Perhaps… But more likely they'll be intrigued. Imagine, someone they don't even know collected beautiful things for them to see and placed them all together to be enjoyed over and over. This is a concept even a three-year old can grasp. One day my then-tiny granddaughter, Michelle, looked around at all the old toys I'd saved from my childhood and my children's and said :"Nani, you kept all these for me." She understood! I treasured the items and wanted her to treasure them, too. That's exactly what successful industrialist, the late Norton Simon, did, as he set about collecting works of art he loved. He bought what pleased him and arranged for the display of approximately 1,000, of the 12,000 objects in thecollection, in the eponymous museum on Colorado Boulevard (seen by millions as Rose Parade floats pass by), Pasadena, California. You are right, I told her. Then explained that strangers gathered lovely things for us to see and asked if she'd like ...