Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, love the Flinns

4 Easy Steps to Become an Oompa Loompa

1. Turn your face orange. Resist urge to use self-tanner - you only want the orange glow for a single night, not the next 2 weeks. I found putting on a liquid foundation and then heavily coating yourself in bronzer worked very well.
2. Create costume. Brown long sleeve shirt with some brown/white striped fabric sewn to sleeves to form cuffs, white skirt, brown/white striped tights and a pair of white gloves and you're set. And don't forget the wig - I found that putting on a wig cap first was a huge help - it kept all of my hair in place.
3. Don't put wig on backwards. You're going as an oompa loompa - not Cousin It. It doesn't matter how many attempts it takes you - put the wig on correctly. This step will come in very handy at 2:00am when attempting to walk down street to hail a cab.

4. Find yourself a Willy Wonka. Otherwise, you're just some crazy broad in a green wig.

Lessons from a Dumbass Homeowner

We bought a house! Woo-hoo! We decided to paint the walls of our house before we moved in.
We thought that we’d be able to knock it out in a weekend. For the most part – things went well; we were able to knock out the living room, dining room, office and bedroom in 2 days with no problem. However, being the dumbass first-time homeowners we are, we had NO idea how f-ing impossible it would be to paint the kitchen and bathrooms because nobody told us that painting over glossy paint is a mother-f-ing nightmare, what with the sanding, wiping, washing, and repeating multiple times. We invested at least 20 man hours trying to paint the 2 bathrooms. After 3 weeks the paint in the powder room was still tacky and it was peeling off in other spots – at that point we knew we were in over our head and needed professionals to tackle the kitchen and fix our bathrooms.

We're glad we decided to paint before we moved in - that saved us major hassles and headaches. However, we learned a few lessons that we'd like to share with you:

1. Spread the wealth. Take stock of the work needed, determine what your time is worth, and then decide what’s more important: A) spending the money on a professional who’ll do it right the first time, or B) saving a few dollars to do it yourself just so you can gain the knowledge that hiring someone to do it was the correct choice to make.
2. Don’t trust the word of the 18 year old working at Lowe’s or Home Depot. Ignore the "Hi, I'm Bob your trusty paint specialist" button they're wearing - wearing the button doesn't make him a specialist.
   
3. Buy your paint directly from Sherwin-Williams or Dun Edwards, not Home Depot.
4. If your wife says, “let’s put the couch on the 1st floor, rather than try to squeeze it upstairs,” listen to her. (story to come later)
   
5. Painting your living room, office or bedroom by yourself = good idea. Flat enamel paint is easy to use for even the most amateur of painters.
6. Painting your bathroom or kitchen yourself = bad idea. See rule #1. Glossy and semi-gloss paint are now 4-letter words in my book. We sunk at least 20 man hours into painting the guest bathroom and powder room and we STILL had to hire a professional to fix what we couldn’t.
7. If, after 3 weeks, the semi-gloss paint in your powder room is still tacky, hire someone who knows what they’re doing to fix it.
8. Be prepared to feel like a complete and utter Eddie Bauer-certified yuppie when discussing paint colors. Our colors are Expedition Khaki, Corn Husk, Spiced Acorn and Windsor Haze. In other words - tan, light green, orange and dark blue. I can't say our color names without feeling like a complete schmuck. The only color that's not dumb - Milk Chocolate. Mmm, that just makes me hungry.
   

...And I'm Off

First off – I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who donated to fundraising efforts!! I have the most wonderful and thoughtful friends and family who helped me totally exceed my fundraising goal. I couldn't have done it without your help! Thank you so much. As my team - The Underwires - walk throughout Minneapolis, St. Paul and the surrounding suburbs, I'll be thinking of you and your support. And trying desperately not to think about the thousands of footsteps that lie ahead of me each day. (Seriously – what was I thinking?!?)

I still can't believe I leave tomorrow morning to head back to MN. It's crazy - but I haven't been back there since I moved to CA over 5 years ago. I'm really looking forward to heading back to the state that I called home for 6 years and catching up with friends and, most importantly, relaxing at the cabin for several days. Hello pontoon boat!

See you on the other side of 60 miles.

We Did It!

We did it! We met my fundraising goal for the Twin Cities Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk! Thank you all SO much for your generous donations! For the first time in my life, I can use 'literally' in the correct context: I literally could not have reached this goal without your donations. Thank you SO SO SO much!
Exactly 2 weeks from today I'll be on Day 2 of the walk - I'll have already completed 20 miles and will working on miles 21 - 40. Luckily, I fit some training walks into my weekends over the last few months so I'm feeling really good about the 3 Day - I know my legs will carry me through.
I know that I wouldn't have been able to commit to any of the training walks (each training walk was 10+ miles) without Sean. He was my source of entertainment when my mind would shut down and he was my source of encouragement when my thighs would feel like a ton of bricks. I'm not sure how he trained for 3 marathons all on his own - because I couldn't have made it through any of these 3+ hours-long training walks without him.
The highlight of the training walks was knowing that I'd be walking along the ocean at some point during the walk, whether it was on the beach itself or along the cliffs. I know MN won't have nearly the same views - but given that I'll get to spend 3 days with one of my closest girlfriends during the walk I'll gladly trade the view for time spent with her.
Again, thank you all so much for your generous donations to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund.

I'll be taking lots of pictures documenting my experience during the 3-Day Walk and will be writing a full blog post when I return. Thank you!!

OC Mud Run (or How I Spent My Saturday)

The next time someone asks you, 'hey what you doing next month - want to do a 5k with me? and oh yeah, it's through some mud' - you should say 'yes.'

Yesterday, some co-workers and I ran the Orange County Mud Run. The day started out hot - at 7:30am it was already in the high 80s - and it just got hotter. Luckily, we had pits of mud and lagoons of dirty water to race through and keep us cool.

Our two teams: Oz Clodz and the Mudder Fruckers

...and cleanliness ends.

Obstacles included crawling through mud pits...

...and hopping over mud-encrusted walls.

The Mudder Fruckers post-run.

It was a great time and I'm looking forward to my next one!

I’m your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb

Well, 5 years, hundreds of concerts and countless celebrity-spottings and shoulder-rubbings later, I finally have an “I met so & so story” to tell my relatives about back home.

Last night, thanks to an incredibly generous offer, we watched the Joan Jett concert back stage and then were invited into her trailer.

Our view from backstage

The woman is my hero. Onstage, she’s still as intense and intimidating as she was 30 years ago. At one point during the show I was watching her and wishing I could be her when I grew up. At the same moment, Sean leaned over and whispered, “I’d be afraid she’d beat me up.” *huge grin*

After the concert, we were invited into her trailer, where we met Joan, her longtime producer, and a couple people from the production company producing The Runaways (the movie based on the first band she was a part of). She was incredibly generous and polite, letting us into her space after the concert. And it was thrilling to meet her. It was awesome to say the least, but also slightly awkward because she has no idea who we are or how we know the same people she knows. But, it was cool to hang out with her for a few minutes. And ever the guilty Catholic, on the way out the door, I thanked her for letting us invade her space for a few minutes.

(apologies for the sideways angle)

We took another trip to the house site and I was pleasantly surprised with all of the progress that’s been made since the last time we visited.
1. It feels real now!
Up until this point, when I would walk through the house I never got a sense that it was ‘my house.’ It always felt like I was simply walking through a construction site. But once the drywall went up I was finally able to see the rooms for what they were and that’s when the switch went off in my head and I realized that this is our home.

2. We have kitchen cabinets!
I am absolutely salivating over all of the cabinet space we’ll have in the kitchen. This is at least 4 times more cabinet and storage space that we have in our current 2-butt kitchen.

3. We have railings!
4. We have a roof with shingles!

I’m now getting pretty anxious to move in. To clarify, I’m actually getting pretty anxious to start painting. After living in a condo that we couldn’t paint for the last 4 years, I’m super excited to finally create an environment that suits us perfectly by adding some color to the walls.

I’ve also been spending an inordinate amount of time each night on Craigslist scouring listings for furniture (patio and living room). We don’t need a lot of furniture, just a few pieces that we’ve always wanted to purchase (hutch, bar) but we never had room for in the condo.

One Sentence Review - Dandy Warhols

Where: The Glass House
When: Saturday, June 6, 2009

I forgive Courtney Taylor-Taylor for looking bored out of his skull when he first took the stage (and during most of the first song) because I’m a sucker that’ll forgive anyone* as long as he plays “The Legend of the Last of the Outlaw Truckers.”


* anyone named C T-T

More from the House Site

This past weekend, we continued with our now traditional Sunday trip to the home site. This time, Sean’s dad, Steve, joined us. (As always, Sean did a much better job writing about the trip at his blog.)

Always wear a helmet, kids! Talk to Sean about the perils of getting hit by a car while on your bike if you need convincing.

Since the house is only 7.25 miles away – we decided to ride our bikes there along the San Diego Creek Trail, look at the house, ride to lunch and then ride home.
It was a perfect day for riding – a little overcast and a little chilly. The first few miles of our ride took us through Back Bay. I’m going to miss being so close to this place – great bike paths and beautiful scenery. But, there are some great trails near the new house, so we’ll still be able to ride on weekends.

The ride hit a few snags along the way. The first, being that our fearless leader decided to take us on the extra long route to the new house. Since I’m trying to curb my backseat driving, I tried to bite my tongue as long as I could and not start a new habit of being a backseat bicyclist. Finally, after reaching the entrance to the community after having gone on a 3 mile detour, Steve’s bicycle chain snapped right off. Lesson learned on this trip: bring a repair kit with you. Luckily, we weren’t that far from the home site so we walked the last quarter mile. (Big shout out to our friends, and new neighbors!, J. & A. who gave Steve a ride to our place so he could pick up his car (w/ bike rack) so we could get home later that day.

We now have windows! Seriously, this is exciting to me because up until this point I haven't been able to see any of the progress being made on the house. This is the first real "cool! this is shaping up to be an actual house" moment for me.

And this would be the second. We now have a tub in the guest room bathroom. Wasn't planning on going for an electric blue theme in the guest room - but I can make it work. :-)

That's all for now.

We're Buying a House!

It's official, the Flinns have bought their first house. Sean is putting his English degree to use and is keeping a more detailed account of the process on his blog (part 1 and part 2). Me, I'm a fan of bullet points, so here are some fun factoids about the house.

1. This is what it currently looks like:
2. This is what it will look like (2nd from right):

3. No more 2-butt kitchen for us! Come Christmas time, that island will be covered in cookies.

4. It's near a blimp hanger. 5. After signing all the paperwork we went to Memphis for celebratory (and bottomless) mimosas.

OMG - can I please have one?

Since a baby isn’t on our agenda in the immediate future, I think I may talk Sean into getting one of these guys in the meantime.

Picture source: San Francisco’s Zoo baby gorilla page

One Sentence Review – Rufus Wainwright

When: Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Where: House of Blues – Anaheim

Took the stage in customized Mouse ears, voice sounded amazing, enjoyed the playful banter with crowd and a tribute to my favorite lady, Bea Arthur (who’s not your f-ing grandmother), and I remembered why I’ve already seen him 4 times and will never ever miss him on tour.

Also – the 'where' should be amended from House of Blues – Anaheim to House of Wainwright. His sister, Lucy, accompanied him on several songs and for the last song of the evening, his dad, Loudon, joined them on stage – it was awesome.

Lessons in House Hunting

Day Two of house hunting was 100 times more successful than day one. Here are a few things I figured out from the day we spent looking at homes in Costa Mesa.

1. All houses smell the same. It’s a weird, but distinct, combination of stale air and musk.
2. I’m convinced that there are people living amongst us who were raised by wolves, based on the state of disrepair and filth some of the houses we visited were left in. How on earth were these people able to buy a home, while Sean and I are struggling with it? (Answer: interest only loans and ARMs).
3. I can only describe our real estate agent in one word: batty. She seems super knowledgeable about real estate and selling/buying properties (she’s a pretty aggressive sales person) – but man alive, is the woman insane. Whether it was asking us for umpteenth time the terms of our pre-approval from the c.u., or insisting on taking us to see “educational” properties (i.e. properties that were at least $50-$75k over our budget – just so we could see what we were missing, thereby ‘educating’ us on how much more house we could get for more money) – I spent most of the day admiring my husband for the restraint he showed in not strangling her.
4. Falling for a house is very similar to falling for another person. You’re willing to overlook the small annoyances in favor of the more important, and impressive, qualities.
5. Who knew I wanted a large kitchen? Not me. Especially since I only cook 3 times a year – and those dates all correlate to a major holiday. But apparently, I’m a big kitchen kind of girl; so much so that not having a large kitchen is a deal breaker for me.
6. It’s true – you know the MINUTE you walk into a house whether it’s right for you or not. Despite how much construction and updating your real estate agent insists you can do.
7. Second sign you know you’ve found the right house: you compare every other house you look at to that particular house.
8. Looking for a house has only fueled the baby fever.

Coachella Round Up

Coachella! Woo-hoo!! My favorite 3 days of the year. The Whip reared her head a few times but just to keep everyone on somewhat of a schedule; the beautiful people kept the Rock Garden hopping; the Beershoe was invented; and we discovered we had a ninja among us. We’ll all be hard-pressed to fill the void left in our hearts, but are looking forward to doing it all again next year.

Sean did a MUCH better round-up and review of the acts, being the darling rock critic that he is, but here's my take on the weekend for what it's worth.

No one act really stood out as my favorite, or the best, act of the entire weekend. I just saw a lot of really solid sets from really solid bands.

Favorite Acts of the Weekend

• Bob Mould Band
• The Presets
• Black Keys
• Etienne de Crecy

Solid Sets, Had Fun (no particular order)

• Thievery Corporation
• Franz Ferdinand
• TV on the Radio
• Peanut Butter Wolf
• Crystal Method
• Chemical Brothers
• Groove Armada
• Christopher Lawrence

Wished it hadn’t been so f-ing hot so I could have stayed and listened longer

• Amanda Palmer. Super self-possesed broad; felt less embarrassed about drinking straight from wine bottle after seeing her set. .
• Brian Jonestown Massacre. I’m glad I at least sat through a few songs because the universe rewarded my venture into the 100+ degree weather by having Zia from Dandy Warhols take the stage. Totally worth sweating through my ENTIRE outfit to see that.

Best new finds
Peanut Butter Wolf
Etienne de Crecy
Late of the Pier. Benefits of having beer gardens set up near stages – you can still discover new bands while doing absolutely nothing.

Worst Act of the Weekend
Crookers. O. said it best: it’s like the 909ers found techno. And then ruined it.

House Hunting in Whiteytown

Sean and I have decided it’s time to act like the adults we should be and purchase a house. There are many reasons behind this decision:

1. We don’t anticipate the housing prices getting any lower than they are now (and neither does our realtor).
2. We have baby fever. Badly. And we’d prefer to be in a house we own (and at least used to the mortgage payments) before bringing a bambino (and all of the expenses that come with them) into the mix.
3. It finally seems like the right time – everything’s clicking.

We met with a realtor over the weekend. The initial meeting went very well – we spent a good 2 hours just talking about our loan, down payment and learned more about the real estate industry that I can remember. About three-quarters of the way in, I reached the super-saturation point - luckily Sean was soaking everything in.

Our realtor then took us on a tour of some homes in Aliso Viejo. For those not familiar, it’s a bedroom community south of where we currently live. It’s the land of strip malls and sub-division hell (which come to think of it, describes most of Orange County). How did we end up touring houses there: a series of miscommunication between myself and the realtor. I’d prefer to stay in the area where we currently live; it’s a good mix of urban and suburban. I’m not ready to move to whiteytown.

Anyways, we loaded into the realtor’s car and headed south on the 5. The further south we went, the louder my heart started to beat and the harder it became to breathe. We got off the freeway and drove by tract after tract after tract of the exact same looking house. By the time we stopped in front of the first house, I was almost hyperventilating. A single (loud) thought was coursing through my body: I cannot live here. I cannot live here. I cannot live here.

We looked at 5 properties. Each time I walked in the door, I hoped the sinking feeling would disappear; it never did. Every property we looked at was exactly the same. I felt out of place. I knew I didn’t belong there; I knew that the life I want to continue to live and to provide for my kids involves more variety, options and color. We have friends who live in these southern suburbs and god bless em: it works for them. It won’t work for us.

Over lunch with the realtor, we were finally able to tell her exactly what we wanted and the area that we want to live in. It was so liberating to finally tell her exactly where I wanted to live; I could finally breathe. I know that there are certain trade-offs we’ll have to make in order to continue living in our neck of the woods. Houses cost a little more and are a bit smaller. We’re more likely to spend the first year in the house updating it. It’ll probably take longer to find a house in our price range with the number of bedrooms we need. But, you know what, that’s fine. Bring it. We’re up for the challenge. We know what we want and we know we’ll find it.

One Sentence Review – Lily Allen

When: Thursday, April 2, 2008
Where: Wiltern

Unbelievably adorable – she makes sequined hot pants look like a great idea; it blows my mind that so many people prefer to waste their time listening to over-produced schlock from Britney to this cheeky Brit.

Dear Diary

Dear Diary,

Today I dragged a tire truck around a parking lot. I don't have a truck.

Love,
K.

P.S. When I say dragged, what I really mean is that I ran with a tire attached to a harness that was slung over my shoulders. I did it in the name of exercise. I think my trainer did it to push the boundaries of how far he can go before I call him out on his craziness.

One Sentence Review – Dave Grohl at the Greg Proops Chat Show

When: Wednesday, March 18
Where: Largo

Fuck. That man is magnetic. Whether it’s sharing Amsterdam stories, reciting Manawar lyrics with Jon Brion accompanying him, or WAILING on the drums to an awesome cover of Frankenstein the man is fucking magnetic.

One Sentence Review - Beck

When: Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Where: Echo

For a benefit show that was announced just 5 days prior, it was a great concert – super tight set, great energy from Beck (and the band) - it made me like him even more than I already did (despite the fact that he's a crazy Scientologist); plus I noticed that Beck and Kate share the same hair stylist.

One Sentence Review - Michael Gira

When: Sunday, March 8, 2009
Where: The Echo

He plays with a pain that's achingly familiar.


Sean interviewed him a few years ago, you can read the interview here.

Two Mensches' Day in L.A.

Sean and I decided to take this past Friday off so we could head up to LA and basically enjoy a day away from the office.

The day started off with a visit to the Skirball Cultural Center to visit the Zap! Pow! Bang! Superhero exhibit. The exhibit focuses on the golden age of comics (1938-1950), while the Skirball’s mission is to explore the connections between four thousand years of Jewish heritage and the vitality of the American democratic ideals.

In case you didn’t know, the early beginning of comic books (and super heroes) has its roots deep in the Jewish art of storytelling; most of early artists and writers were sons of Jewish immigrants. Since the Skirball focuses on Jewish culture and its various permeations into our lives, it’s a great fit for the museum. The docents there are wonderful – think of an entire docent staff made up of the sweetest bubbes you’ve ever met. We took the 10 minute docent tour of the exhibit, just for kicks, and it was surprisingly funny (imagine having your grandma teach you about the history of comics and then throwing in some really cheesy jokes).
The exhibit itself was informative, but a little on the small side. Lots of original artwork, informative bios on the main players, some interactive displays (which were geared more towards little kids, like a ‘draw your own superhero’ area and a telephone booth where kids could change from their clothes into Superman or Batman costumes.
The highlight of the trip was seeing Jerry Robinson, curator of the exhibit, being interviewed by the LA times. Jerry Robinson helped name Robin (of Batman and Robin) and co-created the Joker, among other superheroes and villains. As we all slowly realized who this elderly gentleman was that was being interviewed, we slowly made our way over to him and this hush came over the entire exhibit. (Well, except for the two tiny terrors who couldn’t care less about him and just wanted to try on costumes and run around the entire exhibit banging on tables.) As an aside, Jerry had quite the entourage of lovely ladies with him.

The next stop on our tour was Greenblatt’s Deli. You haven’t lived until you’ve eaten at Greenblatt’s. It’s a great deli that has an excellent wine store attached to it. The wine store’s something else: on one shelf you’ll see a 92 point $600 bottle of wine and right next to it you’ll find an equally good wine for only $10. Crazy. And no trip to LA is complete without a star-sighting. (You think I kid, but 90% of the time we head up to LA we run into an actor/actress.) This time, Ethan Embry came into Greenblatt’s right after us. I never get tired of seeing people I see in movies/on tv in real life; never. And at this point, we’ve turned it into a game to see who can spot the first actor of the night; and then who can spot the most.

The third stop on our tour was Amoeba. Also known as the abyss in which Sean will lose himself for hours at a time. We’ve never been able to get out of Amoeba in less than two hours (I’m only slightly exaggerating). Luckily, with my well-honed shadowing abilities, I was able to keep us both on target and get us out of Amoeba in a fairly decent amount of time, while still giving Sean time to wander around absent mindedly.

The fourth stop on our tour was Secret Headquarters, a comic book store on Sunset, where we picked up a few items.

The fifth, and final, stop on our tour was seeing Candice and Jeremy. They showed us their sweet new scooter and then we were off for some crazy-good Japanese food at Haru Ulala.

More Kudos for Santa Ana

Thursday night we went to the Grand Central Art Center in downtown Santa Ana for a yelp event. Downtown Santa Ana's awesome - lots of great restaurants and bars, cool-looking lofts and almost everything's within walking distance. After helping ourselves to appetizers from Memphis, wine from MAWL , random interpretations of reviews by Improv Schmimprov, and some raffle prize booty, we weren't ready to call it a night quite yet. So we went across the street to Lola Gaspar.

I've gotta say - that place is awesome. If I were still in the dating game - Lola Gaspar would be my go-to first date place. It's such a great place, I was surprised it was in Orange County, it belongs in LA. Great music, great atmosphere, and wonderful food. It's a small, darkly lit place with a long wooden bar and intimate seating. They have a great wine and cocktail menu - I went with caipirinha with strawberries. And their food - holy crap. We had a duck feast - duck confit french fries that were covered in cheese and green chili sauce and some spicy pulled duck tacos. So, take the advice all of my single friends - go to Lola Gaspar on your next date; what with the low lighting, cozy seating, super strong Brazillian drinks, and enough food to put you in a coma - you'll walk away willing to kiss anybody: