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You may recall that Barrie and I went to the LAArtShow Premiere Opening Party awhile back. My Perfect Husband thinks most contemporary art is bulls@*t, and I needed some catch up time with the gay husband, so we made it a downtown night. We started with cocktails and nibbles joined by a couple of Barrie’s other “wives” at WP24, Wolfgang Puck’s place at the Ritz Carlton. Though we had originally planned to walk over to the party, one of the VERY smart wives hailed the Ritz’s limo to drive us the two very long blocks to the party – really a whole story in and of itself, but I digress. We opted to save our high heel clad feet and go the luxury route.

You may know that I was an art consultant and gallery director in my New Orleans days, so it was a great night to see what I’ve been missing since then that I don’t run across in my interior design business. We had a really fun night scanning the place for new sources and visiting with new and old friends. Top on my list for my own education was the China Pavilion, which featured a “classic collection of Buddhist Paintings, a retrospective of the works by master brush painter Xia Jingshan, accompanied by a selection of works from his preeminent student Tong Hongsheng, juxtaposed with the installation of a reading room from a Qing Dynasty house.” This was a great way to explore Japanese art and decor! After checking the pavillion and the contemporary art I was drawn to the Fine Art exhibits, and found some really wonderful pieces to gaze upon from my New Orleans favorite, M S Rau.

My original plan was to attend the premiere party only, but I knew I HAD to come back with the Critter and My Perfect Husband in tow so we could have the former work out his inner impressionist in a painting class with Alexandre Renoir (yes related to THAT Renoir, great grandson, actually) sponsored by the wonderful Galerie Michael of Beverly Hills. It was really interesting how different the experience was, attending at night with friends versus attending with the family (and more sensible shoes). I found all sorts of pieces I hadn’t discovered at the party, the PH thoroughly enjoyed the Fine Art portion of the show, and the Critter got a ton of creative stimuli. I think this could become an annual pilgrimage for all of us!

PBS KIDS will celebrate the 108th birthday of Dr. Seuss on-air, online, and on mobile. PBS stations nationwide will feature THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT-A-THON, a two-hour marathon of THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT! (check local listings). Kids will also be able to engage with the Cat and friends through games and video content online and on mobile, and parents will be able to enjoy a new Birthday Party Builder Tool on the PBS KIDS Shop website.

I’s so happy to know that PBS has developed a show from the beloved crazy cat of my childhood. The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That! was created in response to recent findings that children graduating from kindergarten are less prepared to learn about science than about other subjects. The series supports young children’s science learning by introducing scientific inquiry skills, teaching core science concepts and vocabulary, and preparing preschoolers for kindergarten and first grade science curriculum — all in crazy cat style.

I look forward to tweeting while I watch the red carpet arrivals and will be rooting for “Man or Muppet,” music and lyrics by Bret McKenzie to take home the gold statue for Best Music (Original Song). I also am very excited that a fellow Mississippian’s fabulous book has become a movie with FOUR nominations!

Keep an eye out for the snarking starting NOW!

I have been a heart loving baker lunatic for twenty four hours. I love Valentine’s Day and get excited about it just like Christmas, in fact, I think I stayed up this late Christmas Eve setting up Santa Claus! Here’s hoping everybody has a day full of LOVE xoxoxo

The Critter and I had a discussion a couple of weeks ago that made me realize that although he has watched Jake and the Neverland Pirates since it premiered, he doesn’t know who Peter Pan is. He challenged me on my opinion that Peter Pan is the boss of Neverland, thinking that Jake is the number one guy. It occured to me that how much fun it is that when I was a little girl I LOVED Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, and now he and I can enjoy a fresh interpretation of the stories.

It was so timely, then, that we were invited to a movie premiere of Jake and the Neverland Pirates, in which Peter Pan appears for the first time! We always enjoy partying with our friends from Disney, and as usual, they created a fun event for our family to see how one of my favorite fairy tales has grown into the cartoon that the Critter watches every day before preschool. Only 5 more days until Peter Pan’s return to Never Land in next week’s primetime special “Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Peter Pan Returns,” premiering Monday, February 13 at 7:00 p.m., ET/PT on Disney Channel. YO-Ho-Ho!!!!

Remember my post last year about my “date” with Chris Mann? I sat with four people at Genghis Cohen and he played his heart out for us, even though we were such a small group. I am so happy that I got to know him now, because he is now on the road to superstardom. A HUGE congrats, much fan love, many hugs and kisses to the guy I knew would be a star – you deserve it!

I just LOVE how the folks at Cirque du Soleil pay attention to every last detail – even the letters of the name OVO, the Portuguese word for “egg” create a visual of the eyes and nose of a bug! And that is what you will see in the first female conceived and directed show of the venerable institution of Cirque – the secret life of insects. My Critter, The Perfect Husband and I saw the show last week down at the Santa Monica pier, and we haven’t been the same since. It is not really easy to get either’s attention for very long, but after seeing this giant egg onstage under the Big Top, they both sat through both acts, eyes wide with big smiles.

Wonderment is initially the best word I can use to describe our reaction to the show, from the gravity defying acts including diabolo juggling, flying trapeze, high wire, and acrobats that contort and balance on a superhuman scale. Giant crickets, fleas, spiders, ants and butterflies interact with one another against a live orchestra and singer with a bossa nova beat. An adorably chubby ladybug flirts with a snazzy fly and twenty foot high flowers blossom from the stage in such a lifelike manner, I gasped. The costumes, the staging, the artists and the sounds are, well, awesome, and I wholeheartedly recommend that you take the whole family. The show runs until March 25, and OVO has graciously offered my readers a 30% discount. We’re still buzzing about it!

I always am thrilled to attend the biannual PBS Press Tour. You may have read this story about how they got me out of the “daughter doghouse” forever with the spectacular performance by her lifelong idol Tony Bennett, but there was so much more. I was fortunate to visit for a while with Lesli Rotenberg, the Senior vice President of PBS Children’s Media, and to learn more about the upcoming season at PBSKids. I am looking forward to experiencing more of the wonderful children’s programming this year, including a March 2nd “The Cat in the Hat-a-Thon,” a Super WHY Around the World Adventure program special on June 15, a special one-hour Dinosaur Train special in August, and a November holiday special featuring The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That!.

I got to hang out with my beloved MomsLA founders Yvonne, Sarah, and Elise – they are always my homies at this event, and they (along with Jessica) got to see me lose my mind over the B-52s and dance like a maniac to their performance, the third time I’ve seen them live. They clearly are still the best party band in the world. In March PBS is broadcasting a February ’11 performance in their hometown of Athens, Georgia that commemorated the 34th anniversary of the band’s first-ever live show on Valentine’s Day 1977. During the Q & A I was able to ask them how they managed to be so brave with their style and their sound in a small Southern town. Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson shared the reply and said that Athens was a college town and very liberal; they were pretty much able to let their freak flag fly.

I thank the Lord that they did, and that I was able once and for all to tell Kate Pierson in person that she has been my style idol since Planet Claire. Thanks, PBS for getting me ba-a-a-ack to the Love Shack!

You may have noticed that a lot of your favorite online content is protesting today. Check out my pal Jessica Gottlieb’s enlightening post on the subject today at MomsLA.

I knew that January would be a wash, productively speaking. My little family now has a history of getting sick one after another, usually completely killing off the beginning of the year, and this has been no exception. As a creative, I never can break past worrying about my guys’ (the four legged one too) ailments, so I have a hard time getting back to work. After looking over the photos from last year’s party, I decided that the attending this opening event with Barrie is the perfect antidote to spending a week at home with a croupy four year old. I also love the idea of seeing host David Arquette in real life, since lately he’s mostly part of my morning routine as Jake.

With so many genres to soak in, including performance artists, no doubt I will come away from LA Art Show inspired. Also fantastic is that the support of attendees ticket prices benefit Art of Elysium and education programs at the Getty. Join us!