The California Dream, as portrayed by vintage fruit crate art, inspires visions of a healthy horizon of gleaming sunshine, warm, temperate climate and an endless spread of sweet, colorful fruit. In the early 1900s, California was depicted as a land of promise where eastern city folk migrated west in hopes of farming the widespread and fertile land. This prized picture of California, in part, grew out of the railroads that helped deliver bountiful harvest coast to coast and spread the message of the new frontier through fruit labels. A collection of these artistic fruit crate labels can now be seen by visiting, “Pick Me! Fruit Crate Art & the California Dream,” an exhibit  shipped and pre

Grrrrr.....just.....one.....more......inch....and....I've......got it!  I thought the days of lying down to zip my jeans were over years ago.  Ugh.  An unexpected by-product of 13 months of unemployment has made it's presence known, unfortunately, in a really BIG way.  At 11.6%. there are countless stories of unemployment in the big city;  the pounding of the pavement;  the plethora of interviews; hours of staring deeply into the 'eyes' of an lcd screen, peering at one job search engine after another.  I'm here to touch on those, but to clue you in on a lesser known side-effect of the unemployment scene.  Sacramento is a terrific place to live.  Great weather, a booming arts scene, hip