Candlelight Concert: Abba vs. Queen

On Sunday afternoon, Steve and I headed to Old Sacramento State Historic Park. Old Sacramento is an 8-block historic district that sits on the Sacramento River. 

If you've never been, I definitely recommend it. The 50+ buildings are from the Gold Rush era, with cobblestone streets and boardwalks for pedestrians. It's the boarding location for the outstanding City Cruises Sacramento and the ending location for Sacramento's Urban Adventure Quest. There are tons of shops and restaurants and it's not unusual to find special events, festivals, or other things going on at Old Sac. 

One of the highlights of Old Sac is the California State Railroad Museum, which was our destination for the evening. It's a fantastic museum, but we weren't there to see the exhibits this time. Instead, we were there for a special event.  

But first, we walked around and enjoyed the outdoor exhibits. 

Remember this roundhouse for later.

We strolled along the river and through the rest of Old Sac before returning to the Railroad Museum. 

I love the artwork in the lobby. 

  

We walked past quite a few trains...

... on our way to the roundhouse. This was the venue for the concert we were there to see: Candlelight. 

The Candlelight experience is a one-hour classical music performance, built around a theme. In our case, the theme was Abba vs. Queen. True to the name, the concert is conducted entirely with candlelight. A LOT of candlelight. 

This is what the stage area looked like when we arrived. Candles, everywhere. 

For an hour, the string quartet kept us riveted with gorgeous renditions of all the biggest hits by Queen and Abba. It was so cool. We absolutely loved it. 

There is no photography allowed during most of the concert. During the last song, the musicians invited us to take photos. 

Candlelight concerts take place in more than 100 venues across the world, so if you're not local to Sacramento, check out the website to see if there is a location near you. If you end up going, let me know what you think!

Alameda County Fair 2025

I love the county fair. 

Alameda County Fair (affiliate link)

I missed the fair last year since I was busy having cancer. It was wonderful to be able to return this year and enjoy our favorite fair time activities: the exhibits, the shows, the food, and time with family.  

Silly Girl

There are some traits among rabbits that are universal, but every rabbit has their own distinct personality. Just like people. Tulip loves to play.  

Silly Girl (affiliate link)

In Tulip's world, everything is a toy. If she can get into (or onto) something, she will. If she can fling something, she will. If there is a neat stack of something, she will make sure it doesn't stay that way. She feels strongly that toys belong in the water dish. She's a silly girl. Not a day goes by that she doesn't make us smile. 

California's Newest State Symbols

I love the concept of state symbols. Whether it's a native tree, a homegrown dance, a descriptive song, an iconic sport, a vital crop, or whatever else, I love when states declare, "This is who we are." 

My home state of California has 47 state symbols. The newest three California state symbols were adopted in September 2024. We now have a state crustacean (the Dungeness crab), a state slug (the banana slug), and a state seashell (the black abalone). 

Source for all photos

All three are iconic in California and are great additions to our large collections of state symbols. Earlier in 2024, we added a state bat (the pallid bat) and a state mushroom (the California Golden Chanterelle). 

Other California state symbols include a state fabric (denim) and a state sport (surfing). Based on my lifeguard training where you had to wear a pair of jeans and jump into the pool, then remove the jeans and fashion them into a makeshift floatation device, I don't recommend combining those two. Wet jeans are uncomfy, difficult to remove, and a far less effective floatation device than a life jacket. 

California has an official State Silver Rush Ghost Town (Calico), which I've visited and an official State Gold Rush Ghost Town (Bodie), which I haven't. 

You can check out all of California's state symbols at the Capitol Museum website, which is an excellent resource. Enjoy!

The License Plate Challenge, Part 3

This is the third and final part of the License Plate Challenge. See if you can identify the remaining 17 plates!

 

Click the link when you are ready for the answers!

The License Plate Challenge, Part 2

Here is Part 2 to the License Plate Challenge. Good luck! 

 

Click the link when you are ready for the answers!

The License Plate Challenge, Part 1

Anyone remember Bumper Stumpers? If you weren't watching TV in the 1980's, you can see what you missed here. I didn't watch it religiously, but when it was on I enjoyed trying to solve the puzzles before the contestants did. 

I recently gave myself a fun challenge: make up a Bumper Stumpers style license plate puzzle based on each of the 50 states and Washington DC. I limited myself to 7 characters, the maximum number of letters and numbers allowed on a license plate in California. I tried to make it so each plate could only be one state. For example, PACIFIC is 7 characters long, but it could refer to California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, or Hawaii. Likewise, MIDWEST or POPULAR or BEACHES would not work for my challenge because the answer could be multiple states. 

I've divided the challenge into three parts, each with 17 license plates. See how you do with today's batch. 

 

Click the link when you are ready for the answers!

My Most Popular Posts

It's been a long time since I've shared a current list of the most popular posts at My Creative Life. I thought it had been four or five years, but the most recent list of popular posts I could find was from 2015! A lot has changed in ten years, so let's take a look.

Coming in at #10 is the DIY Light-Up Ratatouille Costume and an Eyeball Mocktail. As cool as the Eyeball Mocktail is, I know that it's the costume tutorial that is driving the traffic. I've made affiliate income from dozens of chef coats and hats over the past six Halloween seasons. 

The 9th most popular post on my blog is the Native American Stick Game. Kids love this game and it's fun for adults, too. I played it with 11 years' worth of 5th graders and several years' worth of Cub Scouts!

The 8th most popular post is another project inspired by Native Americans: Cardboard Tube Totem Pole Craft. This project originally came from the Little Passports Alaska Journal. 

The 7th most popular post is my Cardboard Tube Opossum. I never would have guessed it would be this beloved. And it was a complete shock that a Portuguese magazine published it!

My 6th most popular post is called Another Use for Foam Dots. It's from 2011, my first year of blogging. It shows how to get more value out of something most people throw away. This post has been really popular with cardmakers in particular. 

The 5th most popular post is my Boston Tea Party Drawing. Seeing it brings back a lot of happy memories from when I taught history to Trevor's 5th grade class. 

The 4th most popular post is Another Creative Way to Give Money. Like the title implies, I have many ideas for money gifts besides this one. Check them out!

The 3rd most popular post is the most recent among the Top 10. It's Sesame Street Characters Ranked and a Cardboard Tube Guy Smiley from 2020. Considering it has had 8+ fewer years to generate traffic than the two posts ranked above it, I'm impressed that it's doing so well. It turns out that people have really strong feelings about Sesame Street characters. 

The 2nd most popular post on my blog held the #1 position until just a year or two ago. The World's Best Classroom Birthday Treat has really resonated with people over the years. If my story stopped just one parent from being That Mom then I've done my job. 

Are you ready for most popular post on my blog, the one that unseated the World's Best Classroom Birthday Treat? It's the German Bells Christmas Card Ornament. 

What do you think? Any surprises on the list? Do you have a favorite or two amongst the ten? Let me know in the comments!

Fairfield's Taste of Downtown

On Thursday, our town hosted a really fun event called The Taste of Downtown. 

 

For $30, each participant got an identification badge and a passport with maps to 11 downtown restaurants to try during the 3-hour event. There was no requirement to visit them all, but anyone who did was entered into a raffle to win one of four $50 gift certificates to downtown restaurants. We would have visited all 11 without the incentive; we were really excited about trying some new-to-us places and hopefully discovering some new favorites. 

Our first stop was at Casa Agave. Like every other participating restaurant, we had never been there. 

We walked in and the friendly staff greeted us and led us to a table. That was a surprise! I was expecting to collect a tiny sample at the door. Within a minute or two, they brought out their chicken fajitas. They were fantastic. We will absolutely, definitely be returning to Casa Agave. 

Next up was Pizza Twist. They serve Indian fusion pizzas, traditional pizzas, and Indian sides. 

We each got a slice of pepperoni pizza from the counter. It was pretty good; in particular, the crust was fantastic. I do wish they'd served their fusion pizza. And I also wish they'd given out smaller slices. This was a very generous portion, considering we still had nine more restaurants to visit!

Our next visit was at Saffron. 

This time, we were led to a buffet and told to serve ourselves as much as we wanted. I took a tiny amount of rice (delicious), a single piece of butter chicken (fantastic), and a triangle of naan (yum). 

Restaurant #4 was Cedars Corner. 

It's a bar first and a restaurant second, but the food was very good. At least the food that I tried (fried chicken and french fries). Steve said the catfish bites were the best catfish he'd ever had. 

At this point, I was having serious concerns about being able to eat at 7 more restaurants. But I certainly wasn't ready to give up. Especially since the next place was a bakery, Famous Creations. 

The chocolate salted caramel cupcake was fantastic. And there were so many tempting options in the bakery cases!

Time for Restaurant #6: Million Thai. 

Our go-to Thai place closed recently, so we've been hoping to find a new one. Based on the amazing Pad Thai that they served us, I think we've found our new place! We will definitely be back to try more dishes. 

Next up was El Pitayo. 

We were very surprised that, instead of being served a ready-made sample, a waitress took our order from a list of options. The upside is that the food was hot and fresh and delicious. The downside is that it took a very long time for it to come out - almost 30 minutes from when we'd arrived. The restaurant was only 1/3 full, so concerns about the wait time will probably keep us from returning.  

Restaurant #8 was Baja Ice Cream and Bionicos. 

We learned that a bionico is a Mexican fruit salad. I wasn't a fan, but I LOVED their ice cream. It was absolutely delicious. They also serve crepes - we'll be back! 

Next up: Alejandro's Taqueria. It smelled amazing. 

We were invited to load up on food, but we were so full it was out of the question to have more than a tiny taste. Steve and I split a single taquito, plus I had their hibiscus drink (which was great). I'd like to return to sample more from their menu. 

There was a sign on the door at Restaurant #10, El Caracol, saying that unfortunately they were not able to serve food for the Taste of Downtown event. I'm not sure what happened, but we were actually relieved. 

Our final restaurant was China Palace. 

We were invited to take as much as we wanted from a buffet. We shared the smallest amount possible that still gave us a good idea of the food. The veggie chow mein and the fried spareribs were both excellent. 

We waddled back to the Farmer's Market where we'd picked up our empty passports two hours earlier and turned in our completed passports. What a fantastic event! I'm so glad we participated. I can't wait to return to try some of the restaurants again... on an empty stomach!