Everything Glendale

Filed Under: Florists, Ivy's Flower Station, Shop Reviews, Shopping

Valentine's Day came only two weeks after my first date with Matthew, and, as young college students, we were both unsure about how to handle the holiday—to what extent we should declare our feelings, how to tiptoe around the "L" word. He chose a single, long-stem rose. I still have the flower, dried now, 14 years later.

I don't care if Valentine's Day might be a corporate hoax designed to leech our hard-earned dollars. I love that it is a holiday whose sole purpose is to declare our love: our love for our husbands and wives, our children and friends, our love for each other, even if it's through exchanging simple gifts of beauty.

Ivy's Flower Station offers such lovely creations. Each bouquet is a unique artistic creation, specially designed by Marianne the owner, and she will make a lovely bouquet for even the smallest of budgets.

Marianne possesses a joyful kindness that is reflected in the shop, a converted gas station originally built in the 1930s. Marianne opened in Kenneth Village four years ago and made a concerted effort to retain the original details. Paint peels over red Chinese lanterns; a large wooden counter reminiscent of 1950s soda pop stands invites walkers-by to place orders; and goldfish swim in a square pond over the mechanic's pit, reflecting Marianne's sense of humor.

Besides flowers, the store also offers handmade cards and gifts, and just the charm of the shop makes you want to spoil your loved one with such unique little tokens.

Unfortunately, my husband doesn't play on the Internet as much as most of us do. If any of you reading this knows Matthew, tell him he can go to Ivy's Flower Station for Valentine's Day this year. Who knows? He might be getting a little something from there, too.

Ivy's Flower Station
1435 W. Kenneth Road
Glendale, CA 91201
818.500.7599
www.ivysflowerstation.com

Price Range:
$10.00 and up

Hours:
Monday-Friday: 8:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Saturday: 8:00 a.m. until they run out of inventory
Sunday: Closed

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Filed Under: Automotive Services, Chevron, Gas Stations, Shop Reviews

When you move to a new town, you tend to seek out your local necessities so you can start feeling at home. In my book, these include the local post office, a nice market, a gym, and a smattering of reliable food options. Before I moved to Glendale, this short list never included a local gas station. Service stations are so ubiquitous that I just gassed up whenever I needed it. Or rather, my husband gassed up, since princesses don't pump gas.

When my family moved to Glendale about five years ago, we settled in pretty quickly. The fact that a lot of the north-south streets are alphabetized and on a grid helped a lot, but we really started to feel at home when we found "our" gas station.

Located just a few blocks from our home, this 24-hour Chevron station (formerly a Mobil) has everything that other gas stations offer, including good snacks, gift shop items, and a car wash, but this one was special. When we walked into the convenience store, we found it clean and well-stocked, with very friendly staff, especially a gentleman named Rimon.

We are still impressed that they are on the cutting edge of gum and breath mints. Sometimes we buy breath fresheners here that we can't find anywhere else, such as Hershey's Ice Breakers "Pacs," mouthfuls of goodness in meltaway packets that dissolve on your tongue. Mmmm.

But what really won us over was the bathroom. As you know, if you're out and about and really desperate, you don't care what condition a gas station bathroom is in, since you'll take anything. But this one is wonderful: clean, spacious, and lovely. It even has a chandelier! If the owner cares enough about his customers to maintain such a nice bathroom, then we'll do our part to patronize his business, even if it sometimes costs a few pennies more.

As much as we can, we fill up here. When that little red gas pump lights up on my dash, I will push my gas-guzzling SUV (don't judge) home, so we can make it to "our" gas station. And, now that my daughter has her own car, she has become a regular, too. She always gets a friendly greeting and she wouldn't think of going elsewhere.

It's the little things in life that make us happy on a day-to-day basis, and this Chevron station turns an unpleasant chore into a pleasant respite.

Chevron
Owner: Feiruz Ennabe-Ayoub
825 N. Central Avenue
Glendale, CA 91203
818.240.6134


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Filed Under: Bella Donna Beauty and Wellness Center, Hair Salons, Shop Reviews

I have become vain. I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but I have a good idea as to why it happened.

I've always considered myself an average-looking person. Cute, but not beautiful. I have healthy self-esteem, but I'm realistic when it comes to my looks. In fact, when my daughters turned into beautiful young women, my husband and I looked at each other, scratched our heads and asked ourselves, how did we do that?

Sometimes I look at old pictures of myself in my 20s and think, Wow, I really was a lot cuter than I gave myself credit for.

But this vanity thing is new. Complete strangers come up to me these days and compliment me on my hair, and I accept it as my due. I agree: I just love my hair. If I'm feeling really generous, I may mention my hairdresser and my mother. Because they're the real reason people love my hair: a good cut and genetics.

My whole life hairdressers have always said I have good hair. It's thick and shiny and straight. Pretty boring to me. Until I realized that I have very few gray hairs compared to other people. Hmm. Maybe I'm on to something.

For years, my hairdresser (Thu, pictured above) tried to get me to use a blow-dryer. I'd see her in the market, and she'd say, "Please, oh please, use the blow-dryer. Maybe just a little bit. You'll look great. You'll see."

But no. I was stubborn. Who needs blow-dryer when you can walk out of the house in ten minutes with wet hair?

So when I finally decided to use the blow-dryer, it made her so happy. And when a few months later I decided to add some streaks, she almost cried with joy.

Now my hair is short and hip, with colored streaks. Some months these are bright red; right now they're green, and I'm working toward pink. But since I am now vain, I make sure that people can see a few gray hairs here and there, so they know that I don't add color to hide the gray.

My hairdresser is fantastic. She is a modern artiste with vision. She sees potential even in a rabid feminist who proudly eschews traditional female trappings. She'll tell you what's going to look good on you and what will look like crap. Go and see her; she'll be happy to work a miracle for you, too.

Thu Tran
Bella Donna Beauty & Wellness Center
1154 N. Central Avenue
Glendale, CA 91202
323.369.3710 (Thu's direct line)

Base Price for Men:
$20

Base Price for Women:
$25

Hours:
Tuesday-Saturday: 9:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
By appointment only

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