Don't Worry Grandma, I'm Still Alive

CO-SLEEPER TO CRIB: DAY 1

2011-09-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

After 5 months, the girls have finally outgrown their co-sleeper - literally. When they lie in the co-sleeper, their heads touch one end and their toes touch the other end. Any movement on their part results in the co-sleeper shaking. And one morning, we found that Abigail had wiggled herself down and her legs were hanging out of the edge of the co-sleeper. So, we decided to make use of the two cribs in the nursery and put them in their cribs Friday night.

How'd it go? One word: FAIL.

We started the evening with the normal bedtime routine: wash face and hands, put on pajamas and then time to eat. Normally, the girls feed themselves to sleep, but for the past week they've still been somewhat awake when they've finished eating and they normally fall asleep after a few minutes of fussing. So, it wasn't a surprise to me that they were still awake Friday night after their last feeding. We wrapped them up and put them in their cribs and said good-night.

And then the fun began.

Abigail found a new decibel in her already wide-range of shrieks and started wailing uncontrollably. It was as if she was terrified. Nothing Sean did would console her - and for the first time the 5 S's failed us (swaddle, shush, side, sway, suck). In the end, the only thing that comforted her was me. And in a night of new experiences, that was a another new one. For the first time Abigail would only be consoled by mom and not dad. During the shreiking, Fiona seemed to be fine being in her crib. But, you could tell she was getting annoyed with her sister's crying because after a while she started fussing, too. The shreiking wore on each of us and the inconsollable crying got to us, too.

In the end, we caved and put them in their co-sleeper for one more night.

Hands and Fists

2011-09-05T17:38:00.000-07:00

Hands. Abigail has recently (within the last 2 weeks) discovered her hands. She’s fascinated by them. She’ll stare at her hand and just watch it do tricks for her: she’ll close it into a fist, open it up and will repeat that over and over. She’ll also face her palm to her face then turn her hand around and she’ll repeat that over and over. Last week she used her newly discovered hands to discover her right ear. Although, it seems like she only notices she has a right ear when I’m feeding her.

Fists. Fiona has taken to shoving her entire fist in her mouth and chowing down on it. She’s also become a non-stop fountain of drool. Combine the two and this results in her hands occasionally smelling like feet. Not that that stops her. I have a feeling that the fist chowing and the constant drool are telltale signs of teething – at least that’s what the internets tell me. I’ve tried to give her toys to chew on but she hasn’t mastered her hand-eye coordination, yet, so she toy winds up in her eye, rather than her mouth. And her mouth is still tiny so the toys don’t quite fit in her mouth, which leads her to drop the toy and shove fist in mouth.

Best Things About Maternity Leave

2011-08-28T17:17:00.000-07:00

Naps. Waking up in the middle of the night to tend to a fussy baby is much more palatable knowing I can snooze during the day to catch up on missed sleep.

Wearing pajamas until 7:00pm. Why even bother changing out of pajamas at 7:00pm? Because that’s when we take the girls out for a walk and I’ve seen enough episodes of What Not To Wear to know better than to leave my house in pjs.

Catching up on 2 seasons of Supernatural. Dude – that’s a great show. I’m so sorry I missed out on watching it from the beginning.

Quality time with my folks. I spent a full week with my dad and 3 weeks with my mom. This is time that I’ll cherish forever (if I can remember it through the blur). Plus an additional week with each of them at the end of my leave.

These guys.

Maternity Leave and Going Back to Work

2011-08-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

I was going to write about the end of maternity leave and having to go back to work, but I am just way too tired to do that. And that perfectly sums up how I feel about going back to work: I operate in a state of utter exhaustion all day long. Why? Thanks in large part to my 1.5 hour commute each morning and evening I’m up at 5am, home by 5:30pm, take care of kids from 5:30pm-9:00pm, and in bed by 9:30pm. (Back story – my department moved to our LA office 50 miles away from our current office while I was pregnant. Since I was pregnant, I worked out of the old office, now that I’m not pregnant I have to make the commute). Luckily, this schedule won’t last too long – I start a new job next Monday and the commute is less than 15 minutes. I just have to power through 5 more days of living like a zombie.

Our Little Feces Monsters

2011-08-05T14:43:00.000-07:00

16 weeks ago this past Monday, two of us went to the doctor's office for a routine ultrasound and non-stress test. Five days later, four of us walked out. As my maternity leave comes to an end, I've found myself reflecting on how much the girls have grown and changed since those first stress-filled, sleepless, crazy weeks; and I've also thought about how much our lives have changed since we brought them home.

Once upon a time 4am meant I was stumbling into bed. Now it means I'm stumbling out of it
Disco naps have been replaced with "nap while the kids nap" naps
Poop and toots have become the primary conversation topic at casa de Flinn
Living with babies is like living in Italy under Il Duche - the trains (or rather, the food) will always arrive on schedule
Last-minute drives to LA to catch a concert have been replaced with last-minute drives to Target for everything.
Before kids - I would never leave the house in pajama pants. Now, I consider wearing pajama pants being dressed up.
A continuous night's sleep has become a myth - oft-talked about yet never seen.

As crazy as they made me those first few months (I seriously think I should have been put on meds at one point), they're pretty awesome dudes. I remember what our life was like before they arrived, but now I can't imagine my life without them.

Sleepless Nights

2011-04-05T06:33:00.000-07:00

It's 6:00am in the morning and I'm awake. Awake, people. Something is seriously wrong with this picture. I can't remember the last time I slept through the night. It has to have been at least 4 months. I used to be a champion sleeper - I could sleep for at least 10 hours at a stretch. The interrupted sleep started a few months ago - I'd get up every 2-3 hours a night because the babies were squishing my bladder. But over the past few weeks things have gotten worse - I've been waking up every hour. Every hour, people. Naps last longer than an hour. These sleepless nights have less to do with bathroom breaks and more to do with the babies making life miserable for me. If Baby B isn't wedging her head under my rib cage, then Baby A is practicing her soccer kicks against my stomach. Well-meaning people tell me it's my body getting ready for night time feedings. Which is little comfort as I'm propping my eyelids open with toothpicks at 2pm.

Luckily, I'm on maternity leave now - which frees up my mornings and afternoons for naps. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch up on all of the sleep I'm currently missing.

Nursery Sneak Peek: Valence

2011-03-23T18:05:00.000-07:00

Domestic and handy. I'm slowly, but surely, becoming a lethal combination of being both domestic, like Martha, and handy, like Bob. Mom was in town visiting for the weekend to attend the California family baby shower. I took advantage of her being in town and roped her into helping me make a valence for the nursery. I then roped her into showing me how to hang it up.

Turns out making the valence was a lot more difficult than hanging it. Making it from our own pattern took almost all day. Although, part of that can be attributed to the fact that we spent so much time in Jo-Ann's looking at fabric and coming up with too many fabric combinations to choose from. Compound that with the fact that my sewing machine - which I hadn't used since mom shipped it to me in November (and before that I hadn't used in at least 5 years) didn't work. Luckily, that's what neighbors are for! A friend lives around the corner and lent me hers for the evening.

Like I said, hanging the valence was a lot easier than making it - in fact we were able to finish it in just 3 steps:

Step 1: get the right tool.

Step 2: use tool to make hole in wall.

Step 3: Hang valence and viola! Admire your handywork.

Belly Photo: Week 31

2011-03-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

Babies are the size of lettuce (18", 3.2 lbs)

Belly Photo: Week 30

2011-03-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

Babies are the size of butternut squash (17", 3.1 lbs)

Belly Photo: Week 29

2011-03-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

Babies are the size of small cabbage (17 in", 2.9lbs)

Belly Photo: Week 28

2011-02-27T12:46:00.000-08:00

Babies are the size of cauliflower (2.5 lbs, 16")

Things I Miss

2011-02-24T19:24:00.001-08:00

Sashimi
Being able to stay up past 9pm
Going to concerts on weekdays (see point 3)
Getting off the couch on my own
My old workout routine
Running. (Sean - there I said it. I miss being able to go outside and run)
Stringing a complete, and coherent, sentence together. Baby brain has made this impossible.

Belly Photo: Week 26

2011-02-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

I'm catching up on belly photos. This one's only 2 weeks late.

Babies are the still the size of eggplants (9.2", 2 lbs)

Nursery Sneak Peek

2011-02-21T12:33:00.000-08:00

The inspiration print for the nursery.

Based on the print, we picked out several shades of light purple and yellow for the wall color. Not sure what color we'll pick, yet.

Walking Cliche

2011-02-13T10:35:00.000-08:00

Up until this point, the pregnancy has been great. I've felt awesome during the majority of the pregnancy (with the exception being the migraines I was getting during the first trimester). Not only did I feel good, but I felt comfortable. I enjoyed being pregnant. Don't get me wrong, I still like being pregnant, but man, this week I've felt like a walking cliche of a pregnant lady.

Preggo Brain: my brain officially stopped working Monday morning. I can barely string together a coherent sentence. And tasks at work take at least 4 times as long to complete as they should. I've completely given up even trying to hold a conversation with people because I lose my train of thought so easily now.

Bottomless Pit: My stomach is never full. My satiety hormone has stopped working - that's the only explanation I can think of. I can't say no to food.

No Room: At 27 weeks, I still have at least 10 weeks to go before the kiddos are done cooking. But good lord, I have NO IDEA how they can get any bigger because it already feels like they're running out of room in here. Things are fine in the morning and throughout the day. But around 7:00-ish, that's when things start to get really uncomfortable. My stomach feels like an overfull water balloon, if I'm laying down and move positions it feels like bowling balls are knocking around in my uterus, and I can't get off the couch by myself anymore - Sean has to pull me up because my ab muscles are so stretched out that I can't contract them anymore to pull myself up when I'm lying down. (Poor ab muscles - I'm so sorry for what I'm doing to you. You're going to be wrecked after this pregnancy. I promise to fix you.)

So there you have it - I've now become a walking pregnancy cliche. The only thing that hasn't happened are over-emotional outbursts. Like morning sickness (which I also managed to skip) I have a feeling you won't catch me crying in the middle of a grocery store.

Belly Photo: Week 25

2011-02-09T18:59:00.000-08:00

Babies are the size of eggplants (1.7 lbs, 9")

Yes, that is coffee. It's my one vice in the pregnancy. I tried giving it up for a week and my head almost exploded. I cannot live without coffee. The good news is that I'm allowed 8-12 oz of coffee a day and it doesn't harm the babies.

Belly Photo: week 24

2011-02-09T18:46:00.000-08:00

Babies are the size of an ear of corn (8.5", 1.5 lbs)

Belly Photo: week 23

2011-02-09T18:30:00.000-08:00

Woah - this is SUPER late. Between the extreme exhaustion and preggo brain - I'm just now finding the energy and focus to put these photos together.

Babies are the size of papaya (8" long, 1.2 lbs)

Music 101

2011-02-08T19:11:00.000-08:00

As a self-professed audiophile / music snob, Sean has been obsessing over how to introduce music to the girls. According to the gazillion pregnancy e-newsletters I’m receiving – they all said that the girls would start hearing sounds (or at least become aware of sounds) that week. So, Sean decided to play DJ for the girls.

The first step was to determine how to play the music for them. We hooked Sean’s iPhone up to our portable iPod speaker and placed the speaker on my belly. The next step proved to be the most difficult. Not surprising to anyone who knows him and how he feels about music – he obsessed over which song to play first. He decided that because we’re having two girls – and our goal is to raise strong-willed broads – that he would start with some music by a strong-willed broad.

He started with “Respect” (Aretha’s version, not Otis’). Followed that up with “Femme Fatale” by the Velvet Underground & Nico. After that, we played songs from Neko Case, Wilco, Sonic Youth and Solomon Burke. He played more songs than I’ve listed – and I’m sure he’ll fill in the missing artists in the comments.

I was surprised that the babies actually responded to the noise. At a few points, I caught sight of the speaker and it was vibrating violently on my belly. It was pretty rad. They didn’t react to all the songs that way – but to a few.

I’m not sure if they actually heard the noise through all the noise they currently hear in their amniotic sacs – but it was a fun night for us and we’re looking forward to introducing more music to the girls. Next on my list – Jimmy Buffet, of course.

Belly Photo: week 22

2011-01-09T16:51:00.000-08:00

Babies are the size of spaghetti squash (8" long, 1 lb)

Belly Photo: Week 21

2011-01-09T16:22:00.000-08:00

This photo's almost 2 weeks late - but better late than never.

Babies are the size of bananas (7" long, 11 oz)

A Week of Firsts

2011-01-03T20:28:00.000-08:00

Well, the new year has started off with a bang, or more precisely, a kick. The lava bubbles have officially turned into kicks and punches. I felt the first kicks/punches on New Year's Day and man, they caught me by surprise. I knew instantly what they were. And it was one of the most awesome feelings I'd ever felt. Once the kicks/punches started, I didn't want them to stop - but they eventually died down.

And today I actually saw one of the girls (both of the girls?) kick/punch me. I was lying on the couch and felt some kicks/punches so I looked down at my stomach. And the next time I felt a kick, I saw the movement on my belly. It happened a few times and I have to say it was strange. And awesome. I have these little active kickers in me and it's definitely making the pregnancy seem even realer. I think I saw the kicks because my bladder was super full, crowding the babies and pushing them tighter against my ab muscles. But I'm totally making that up because I'm not a doctor and have no idea why I was able to see the kick. (Who knows, maybe it was just really big gas bubbles popping.)

Now that I know that I can feel the girls kick, I keep hoping they'll kick again so I can feel them again.

Belly Photo: Week 19

2010-12-19T14:30:00.000-08:00

Babies are the size of mangoes (6" long, 0.5 lbs)

Oh Sweet Jesus!

2010-12-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

Best parts of being pregnant, so far:

no more sucking in my stomach when I'm standing around people.
maternity pants!! holy crap - I think I'll wear these for the rest of my life.

And combine those two - sweet Jesus! Best part of being pregnant so far!

Belly Photo: Week 18

2010-12-14T21:05:00.000-08:00

Babies are the size of sweet potatoes (5.5" long, 5 oz)

Lava Lamp

2010-12-10T22:29:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official, I've felt the babies move. It finally dawned on me a few days ago that the rumblings I'd been attributing to gas were actually baby movements.

I kind of feel like a lava lamp - the amniotic fluid is the liquid in the lava lamp and the babies are the lava bubbles.

2010-12-08T20:46:00.000-08:00

Following G-ma's tradition, I put up the Christmas tree the Friday after Thanksgiving. And to get into the holiday spirit, I popped in "Die Hard 2."

Belly Photo: Week 17

2010-12-04T18:17:00.000-08:00

I'm holding a turnip because the pregnancy books and websites use fruits and vegetables to explain the baby's size each week. This week they're the size of turnips - approximately 5" long and weigh 5 oz.

Personally, I think the books use the world's smallest vegetables and fruits because the turnip I'm holding in my hand is 10 oz. So technically, the cubs weigh the same as 1 turnip.

Hormones

2010-12-02T21:15:00.000-08:00

I’d heard the stories – friends bawling at a Kleenex commercial or breaking down looking at baby clothes. Hormones, they said. Don’t worry, they laughed, it’ll happen to you too. So, I was prepared for water works. I wasn’t prepared for what’s actually happening.

Annoyance. Anger. Irritation.

I’ve always had a pretty low tolerance for bs. I’ve never suffered fools. And I can’t stand incompetence.

Now, normally this hasn't been a problem, because I’ve tried to do a good job of being as neutral as possible (friendly, even) when I’ve come across people who irritate and annoy me. Well, not anymore. I’m not saying I’m mean or rude, I’ve just noticed that the mask I’ve been able to put up to block my disdain, annoyance and exasperation is on its way to completely disappearing.

In short – I’m starting to act more and more like my brother.

Huh.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T20:15:00.000-08:00

From the shoulders up, I recognize the girl in the picture. But I don't recognize that waist at all. I swear it's not mine.

This Sidewinder Isn't Sleeping Tonight

2010-11-27T09:56:00.000-08:00

A full night's sleep - I miss that more than my waist. I haven't slept through the night in over 2 weeks. Perhaps it's my body prepping me for the sleepless nights I'll have once the babies arrive? It's more than just an overactive bladder because I'm waking up at the exact same time every night/morning. I wake up at 3:00am, 6:00am and more recently - I've started waking up at 4:30am, too. And let's not forget the 45 minutes worth of tossing and turning I do before falling asleep - I feel like a dog who walks in circles before finding a comfortable place to sleep. Who knows - I may start up a new hobby during those bits and spurts I'm awake.

Week 16: Doc Appointment

2010-11-25T10:33:00.000-08:00

Had another ultrasound at Tuesdays’s appointment (my certified nurse midwife does an ultrasound at the beginning of every appointment to check on the kiddos and their fluid). Starting as early as ultrasound number 2, I've noticed they’ve each had very distinctive movements. Twin A continues to rock and roll inside the womb while Twin B just sits back and chills*. I wonder if that’ll be indicative of their personalities outside the womb?

* this observation is based purely on the ultrasounds – I haven’t felt them kick, yet

It's Alive! It's Alive!

2010-11-25T10:31:00.000-08:00

I’m giving the blog a second chance at life. It was hard keeping it updated when the blog didn’t really have a purpose to it, aside from assuring G-Ma that I was still alive out here in CA. Now that I’m incubating, I’ll use it as a way to keep family updated on how things are going.

4th of July cake

2010-07-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

Some friends invited us to their house for a 4th of July bbq and block party. Since I don't cook - I always bring desserts with me to bbqs and potlucks. The last time these friends invited us over for a potluck I made Guinness & Bailey's chocolate cupcakes, so I knew I had to step up my game for this one. I decided to try my hand at a cake. For all the cookie and cupcake baking I do, I can't remember the last time I made an actual cake. Not content to make a regular cake, I decided to make a Red and Blue Velvet layer cake with cream cheese frosting.

No need to adjust your computer monitors - the batter turned out turquoise and dark pink - not quite the blue and red I was going for. I'm so used to dealing with cookie batter - that I momentarily freaked out when I saw how runny and liquidy the cake batter was.

I love my Pampered Chef cake pans. They cooked the cake so evenly and were a breeze to clean. I cut each of these cakes in half (vertically) to make a 4-layer cake.

My favorite part of the cake is the frosting - I used a cream cheese frosting. Buttercream is too sweet for my taste - it makes my teeth hurt. But the cream cheese frosting is perfect. I have no idea how people get their frosting to look so smooth. I was proud of myself for putting on a crumb coat and letting it harden in the fridge for an hour. But even going that extra mile I couldn't get the frosting to look smooth. So I embraced the messiness of it and made the swirls part of the decoration.

The original decorating plan was to frost a small American flag on the cake. Seeing as how this was the first cake I've ever frosted - that was a lofty, unreachable, goal. Instead, I broke out a star cookie cutter and used it as a stencil and poured sprinkles onto the cake. Viola!

I wish I had a better picture to show you of the inside of the cake. It looks unappetizing, but I gotta tell you, it was DELICIOUS! I'm bummed I couldn't evenly divide the cakes in half - but I figure that just takes practice. As yummy as the cake was - I think I'll stick with cookies and cupcakes.

One Sentence Review - Dengue Fever

2010-06-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

Where: Detroit Bar

When: Saturday, May 29, 2010

Dengue Fever: Awesome, awesome, awesome - I don't understand how Cambodian Pop Psych Rock isn't the most popular music out there.

Pocahaunted: Ugh - they're everything that gives acid-rock a bad name - with a dash of pretentious d-baggery by 'playing Indian' in feathered headdresses and facepaint. (Is this the new accepted form of blackface?)

One Sentence Review

2010-04-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

When: Sunday, March 28, 2010

Where: Detroit Bar

Turbo Fruits: This opening band was the highlight of the evening for me – they outshined (outshone?) the headliner in every way: energy, mad skills (their drummer’s a machine and their lead guitarist plays with his mouth) and wicked stashes.

Surfer Blood: Unfortunately, it was a case of ‘the album sounds better than the live band.’

Thought of the evening: When did I become older than the people in the bands I see? Especially Surfer Blood – I’ve never seen a more baby-faced lead singer.

DeVito Watch 2010!

2010-01-19T22:29:00.000-08:00

Hotel rooms are booked. Line-up's announced. More excited about the line up (Grace Jones! Sly & the Family Stone! John Waters!) than last year's. I'm ready for afternoons baking in the sun, evenings braving the crowd in front of the stages and late, late nights dancing in the Sahara tent. 87 days.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T11:16:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas, love the Flinns

2009-12-12T11:09:00.001-08:00

4 Easy Steps to Become an Oompa Loompa

2009-11-02T20:38:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-15T21:53:00.001-07:00

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:

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.
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.
Buy your paint directly from Sherwin-Williams or Dun Edwards, not Home Depot.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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

2009-08-19T19:19:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-08-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-07-19T17:07:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-07-15T20:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-23T17:46:00.001-07:00

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?

2009-05-12T18:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

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.

All houses smell the same. It’s a weird, but distinct, combination of stale air and musk.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Second sign you know you’ve found the right house: you compare every other house you look at to that particular house.
Looking for a house has only fueled the baby fever.

Coachella Round Up

2009-05-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

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

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

2009-04-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

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:

We don’t anticipate the housing prices getting any lower than they are now (and neither does our realtor).
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.
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

2009-04-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-03-09T18:51:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

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:

View from a Window

2009-03-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

Seeing mountains in the distance never ceases to amaze this flatlander. I'm starting to understand why Sean says he'd miss the mountains so much if we ever move to Chicago.

Gopher Pride

2009-02-28T15:22:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago we were in LA to see Andrew Bird play at the Orpheum. Great show - probably shouldn't have gone to a show the day after I spent 14 hours in airports and airplanes, but that's another post. Passed this classy joint* on our way back from dinner. Ever the proud alum, I had to take a photo. Go Gophers!

* the consensus is that it's a strip joint.

Wooooooooo!

2009-01-31T09:45:00.001-08:00

Tickets bought yesterday. Hotel rooms reserved 3 months ago. Is it April, yet?

23 Years Ago Today

2009-01-26T21:28:00.001-08:00

... the Bears won the Super Bowl. And America got to see the greatest rap video EVER. While I was just a wee lass when this came out - I remember the video. And I remember thinking Jim McMahon was pretty cool - must have been the wrap arounds and sweatband. Enjoy.

Christmas Eve

2009-01-04T18:43:00.000-08:00

G-ma, I didn't forget to update this. We just haven't really done anything worth blogging about over the 11 days we've been home. But, we do have some pictures from Christmas Eve so I'm finally getting around to putting those up.

Sean set the mood by putting on the animated fire, courtesy of the Xbox.

We put out a variety of Spanish cheeses as part of the appetizer spread. This is exactly how Sean set it up. I wonder if having both of his parents over is what caused him to stab the cheese knives so violently into the cheese?
How do you make the holidays more enjoyable for all? Share the gift of good hard liquor!

Dinner was pretty easy - we bought a Honey Baked Ham, I made stuffing with andouille sausage, and everyone else brought a dish or two. The leftovers lasted for a week. And then, we taught them to play International Rummy. The Flinns definitely don't play as enthusiastically as the Grobles / Jorns do - but it could be because it was their first time. I think one game with Jimmy would show them how much of a contact game it can be.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-19T16:38:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to taking pictures of the tree and village. The major news in the Flinn house is that the village is finally large enough to go on the floor - it's no longer relegated to the top of the CD rack. It's still nowhere near as large as G-ma's, but I still have years to catch up to her. :-)

What our village looks like to all the random bugs that make their way into the condo.

The View from My Seat

2008-12-04T20:44:00.000-08:00

The view from my seat, many many many feet above ground, on a flight back from Indianapolis.

Friendsgiving

2008-12-04T18:18:00.000-08:00

We decided to go up to San Francisco for Thanksgiving. Nothing against our families, we just decided to take advantage of having a long weekend (that we didn't have to use vacation time on) and head up to the city.

We stayed at my favorite hotel in the city - the Serrano. The weekend included spending Thanksgiving with friends, trying to go to the CA Academy of Sciences, viewing the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit at the De Young Museum and wining our way through Napa.

The trip got off to an auspicious start - I spent the majority of Wednesday with one of the worst migraines I've had in years (sending me home sick from work a scant few hours after arriving) and convinced I wasn't going to be able to stand the flight. Luckily, some sensory deprivation in the form of a completely dark room, cold compress on my head and hours and hours of sleep before having to catch our evening flight helped a little.

Luckily, Thursday the migraine had subsided to simply an irritating headache and we were able to spend Thanksgiving with friends. Everyone brought a dish. Sean cooked the turkey with a great Giada recipe that involved stuffing the turkey with wedges of oranges, lemons, onions and herbs and slathering it with enough butter to make Paula Dean blush. I made stuffing with andouille sausage, mushrooms, onions and celery. And his friend K. made the most amazing whipped sweet potatoes with a pecan/brown sugar crumble topping. I almost cried when I ate them they were so good.

Here's Sean devouring the turkey...
While we waited for the turkey to cook, we played a bit of Rock Band. And we played it after we ate the turkey, too. -
Our original plan on Friday was to go to the CA Academy of Sciences, but when we got there the line to get in was 2 hours long. I had no intention of standing in line for 2 hours - that's insanity. The museum was offering to refund tickets given that the line was so ridiculous. It was super disappointing - aside from Napa that was the one thing I was really looking forward to. If you visit the website you'll see why - it's a museum, aquarium, architectural wonder all wrapped into one. Luckily, the De Young Museum was right across the park, so we walked through the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit where Sean surprised me with his in-depth knowledge and appreciation for the man and his contribution to the fashion world. Here's a view of the city from the observation deck in the museum.
The rest of Friday evening was spent discovering bars in San Francisco, eating at Shalimar (home of some of the best Indian food I've ever eaten) and then crashing in the hotel.

Luckily, I had Napa to look forward to. After getting off to an early start - I misread the Google Maps directions and thought it was a 2 hour drive (as opposed to the 1 hour drive) to Napa we made it to the first winery on our tour, Nickel & Nickel. I won't bore you with the details, so here's the quick recap: they produce single-vineyard, single-varietal wines. This was some of THE best wine I've had.

This barn was originally built in New England about 200 years ago. The owner of Nickel & Nickel decided he wanted a barn on his property, so he bought it, dismantled it, then re-built it exactly as is in Napa. Without any nails. (Save for the mandatory earthquake structural safeguards.)

This is a view of a part of their vineyard - currently waiting to be re-planted.
Next up was Chappellet. The drive up to the main building was beautiful - we drove through their vines and had a spectacular view of the surrounding area.

Makes me want to pack up and stomp grapes for a living.

2008-11-03T18:53:00.001-08:00

To cap off my aunt's visit to CA - we took her with us to a "No on 8" rally in Long Beach. Her visit all weekend had been a pretty accurate "Day in the Life of the Flinns." We hung out and caught up on TV; took her to a party; went to the beach; saw Janeane Garofalo at the Improv; ate a lot of great food and drank a lot of great wine. So, adding a bit of political activity into her trip made it that much accurate.

I'm sure the majority of you have heard about it, either because you live in CA or because of the attention it's been getting on the national news. Or maybe you're a member of one of the LDS churches that's made it their mission to ensure my mother-in-law isn't treated like an equal citizen.

This is an important matter to me for several reasons: 1) my parents didn't raise an intolerant jack-hole. 2) it's personal - like I said earlier, it directly affects my mother-in-law. With the onslaught of media attention this item has been receiving, here's a more personal account - my husband wrote his feelings on the whole thing and he does it much more eloquently than I ever could. (I don't think he uses the word "jack-hole" once in his whole blog.)

Sean's blog

For those non-Californians, here is the wording of Prop 8 as it will appear on our ballots:

Proposition 8
ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

That's it. It's that simple. It's a constitutional amendment to take rights away from people.

I know that by the time most of you read this, it'll be Tuesday, and you'll probably have already voted. But, I thought I'd share a few more links with you:

Los Angeles Times

Newsweek: Can I vote on YOUR marriage?

Beach Visit

2008-11-03T18:43:00.000-08:00

What do you do when your aunt from Wisconsin is in town visiting? You go to the beach, of course. Never mind that it was in the high 60s/low 70s and breezy. In Wisconsin it' s freezing and wintery - so coming to the beach so you can gloat to your co-workers (and kids) that you went to the beach for the weekend is a lot of fun.

Here are some random shots I took:
The waves were a lot larger than the pictures make them out to be.The clouds were pretty cool looking, too.
I hate seagulls. They're the rats of the sky. Whenever I see them, I picture the seagulls from "Finding Nemo."

Halloween

2008-11-02T10:56:00.000-08:00

Friday night my friend S. invited us to a Halloween party thrown by some people at her office. This meant coming up with a 3rd Halloween costume (costume #2 consisted of a Black Angels tee and a guitar controller from 'Rock Band'). Our friends K. and C. lent us their AWESOME wigs and boots so we built our costumes around them.

This is S. and I book-ending my aunt, who's in town visiting for the weekend.
Technically, we were going as Cotton Candy and Black Licorice - but at some point in the evening we also thought we could pass as dolls...

Halloween

2008-10-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

Our Halloween costumes...TARDIS and Dr. Who.
...due to getting the inspiration so late for our costumes, the TARDIS isn't as awesome as it could have been. The day of the party we kept coming up with ways to make it better - doors that open, lighted windows, etc...

They Just Took a TARDIS Out Of That Bar

2008-10-21T19:53:00.001-07:00

Last night we went up to LA to a screening of the show "Heroes." Why? To watch Sean's friend David make his big screen debut as Eric Doyle aka The Puppetmaster. It was great! David's character was the highlight of the episode - his character is so creepy. But, David's one of the nicest people on the planet, so it was really hard to appreciate the creepiness of his character because I was just so excited that he got was on TV and got a lot of screen time! His character even has his own graphic novel!!

After the screening, we stayed for the burlesque show - or more specifically - the Villains Burlesque Show. I know - you're confused. David's wife produces a weekly burlesque show up in LA - so they they performed afterwards, each girl performing as a villain. It was awesome! Here are the highlights:

Dr. Who and the Weeping Angels: Ack! I freaked out. The first performer not only performed as a villain from Dr. Who - but as a villain from one of my favorite episodes (the episode is incredibly tense, stressful and the writing's tight). Did I mention she built a TARDIS to use during her performance?

PLUS! this served as the inspiration for my and Sean's Halloween costumes - stay tuned to see how they turned out...

Cruella DeVil: Two words explain it all: puppy bath.
Boris and Natasha: comedic burlesque

This Past Weekend

2008-10-14T07:57:00.000-07:00

Bike ride
Saturday morning I went for a bike ride after Sean guilted me into it. He’s training for his 3rd marathon and Saturdays are his long, outdoor runs, which meant that I could either lay on the couch and clear out the DVR while he was training for his 3rd freakin’ marathon, or I could get off my a$$ and ride my bike. I chose the latter. It was great – I need to remember to bring my camera with me while I ride around Back Bay – there’s a lot of great pictures to be taken. Also, this girl’s in need of some padded bike shorts – my tush was sore after my 10 mile ride – please leave your suggestions in the comments section.

Yoga
I have discovered yoga and it is wonderful. I am kicking myself for ignoring my friend G.’s invitations to join her at her Sunday morning yoga classes for so long. Yoga is the cure for all that ails you.

Cookie baking
Our vows included something about me continuing to bake cookies…so when we both got a craving for chocolate chip cookies after watching a character TV bake them – I whipped up some cookies Sunday night. I am going to try my hardest to ignore the Tupperware container of cookies taunting me from the kitchen counter.

Wedding!

2008-10-06T19:39:00.000-07:00

This weekend friends of ours got married. We both know the groom because Sean use to work with him and I use to live with him. And we both got to really know the bride once they started dating. Both are excellent, excellent people and we couldn't be happier for them.

There was a 2 hour break between the end of the wedding ceremony and the beginning of cocktails at the wedding, so Sean and I headed out for a pre-cocktail hour drink...

My two favorite loves.

Proof the bride and groom are good people.

Friends in front of Newport Harbor.

I think Sean is practicing for B.'s James Bond themed party in a few weeks.

Further proof the bride and groom are good people - dancing robots as centerpieces.

... and speaking of the bride and groom.

O. and his date spent the ENTIRE night kissing. The entire night - and every single camera at our table has proof. After a while the kissing got a bit old (for those of us forced to watch) - so we had to make things interesting...can you spot my husband?

One Sentence Review - Dandy Warhols

2008-10-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

...better late than never...

When: Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Where: Belly Up

Dandy Warhols : LOVE them - go see DiG! to find out why.

A Place to Bury Strangers: Their drummer is a machine; he went non-stop through the entire set - an absolute machine.

P.A.N.T.H.E.R.

2008-09-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

The Vice-Presidential debates are next Thursday. Remember to watch. While we wait, let's enjoy this little video, shall we?

One Sentence Reviews - Hot Chip & IO Echo

2008-09-23T18:27:00.000-07:00

When: Sunday, September 21, 2008
Where: Wiltern

IO Echo: Perfectly captured the "aaaaaagggggggggggghhhhhhh" feeling of every teenage girl ever.

Hot Chip: Completely blew away my expectations; crazy-dizzy strobe lights plus dancing equals awesome.

One Sentence Review - Stereolab

2008-09-23T18:21:00.001-07:00

When: Saturday, September 20, 2008
Where: Detroit

Sooooo much better than Monade (one of the band member's side project, that Sean made me see a few years ago) - a hundred times better than Monade.

Beach

2008-09-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

Things I could never when I was living in MN:

Pack big blanket in car
Pick-up Thai food
Head to Newport Beach
Eat dinner on beach w/ husband

The beach.
The husband.
The food. Mmm ... pad se-lew.

Our Weekend

2008-09-08T20:22:00.001-07:00

It was a lazy weekend, broken up with a brief burst of productivity and going out to eat.

Organization
We ran out of bookcase space about 1 year ago. We’ve spent the last year piling the new books we’ve bought on the floor, on desks and next to our existing bookcases. Last weekend we finally bit the bullet and bought the bookcase we’d been eye-ing at Ikea for the last year. This was a big commitment, because while the Ikea bookcase fit our price range, it came at a heavy cost (literally); those pesky Swedes expect you to put it together yourself. Which we did. Or, rather, Sean did while I alphabetized our books. (although I did offer the occasional help pounding the shelves together – and came up with a few brilliant suggestions to help make the shelves line up so the screw would make it into the hole).

Did I mention – after living together for 3 years – we FINALLY merged our book collections. Yes, I waited until I knew the marriage was actually official before I merged our books together. There’s something very final about merging the last bastion of your singlehood with another person. It’s important to note that Sean hasn’t once brought up the topic of merging our music collections. I think it’s because, secretly, he doesn’t want my Boyz II Men Christmas Melodies CD (my taste in junior high was shockingly embarrassing) knocking boots with his Joy Division albums.

…Which brings me to this weekend: I finished putting away the books that didn’t fit on the new bookcase. We put those on the old bookcase in the living room.

Good Eats
We went with our friends G. and A. to Jason’s Downtown in downtown Santa Ana. We discovered this place during the Santa Ana pub crawl last month. And it almost didn’t happen. This place is open at the weirdest hours – every time we could make it there, it was closed. It was as though the restaurant didn’t want to get new customers. Luckily, we were able to make it

The food was great food; so was the interior design – very polished. And the bathroom had the best sinks: glass, almost flat with a slight curve so the water would drain. And the water didn’t come out of a regular faucet; the faucet looked like a regular open pipe and you moved a portion of the pipe up and water gushed out. And the white sangria was delicious.

They Say It's Your Birthday

2008-09-01T17:58:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was my birthday. It wasn't a major milestone birthday - but I celebrated it in a major way - I went skydiving. Why? It's simple: I've always wanted to, so my birthday was the perfect excuse. We sky-dived up from 13,000 ft and it was incredible. Amazing. So freaking fantastic I can't even explain it. We have video documenting the entire dive (from start to finish) but DVD keeps shutting down our computers. But, as soon as we figure out a way to download the DVD onto our computers, I'll put the video up. For now, here are some pictures and a short video clip that Sean took with my camera.Have a safe flight, indeed.
Sean kissing his wife good-bye and good luck.
The plane I jumped out of was very similar to one of these planes.
And here I am getting all harnessed up. After I got strapped into the harness, Jack (the guy I would be strapped to) and I went over to our plane. There was another girl jumping, so in total there were 4 of us sitting in this itty bitty plane. I hop into the plane and sit on the floor. I put a seatbelt on and then the plane starts taxiing. Did I mention, that the door to the airplane is still open? It is. At this point, I've had no training whatsoever. No one's told me what to do. So as we're taxiing, I thought we were simply going to a different part of the airport. Then I noticed the plane going faster and faster. Jack leans over to me and says, "see that yellow line? that's the point of no return and no refund!" I laughed, thinking it was a funny joke, and still believing that we were going to a different part of the airport for training on how to jump out. Then I notice the plane IS IN THE AIR!! And the only thing keeping me from falling out is this little seatbelt. A SEATBELT! I'm in a plane, right in front of an open door. Like any sane person - I start to freak out internally. At that point I realized there was absolutely no turning back.

Jack was great - he saw that I was getting nervous so he kept talking to me and telling me lame, but funny, jokes. Pacific Coast Skydiving is located in south, south San Diego - we were really close to the Mexico-California border. So up in the plane, I could see Tijuana and all the way into Mexico. It was a gorgeous site. Jack pointed out a bull-fighting ring to me and I started to actually relax a little bit. But then, the plane banked hard right, so the plane tilted over the ocean - and THE DOOR WAS STILL OPEN! And I was still in front of it!! Needless to say, I was getting more and more nervous the higher we flew. I was pretty proud of myself for not freaking out out loud. Like I said, it was all internal.

Once we were halfway up, 6500 feet high, Jack started to strap us together. It was at that point that I FINALLY relaxed and went completely calm. I was now connected to a guy who knew exactly what he was doing and I had no control over the situation - it was actually pretty liberating.

Then, the moment I was waiting for happened. Jack and I scooted our butts to the edge of the plane. I tucked my legs underneath the plane and I looked outside. It was as if my brain shut off. I was blissfully calm. Then we threw ourselves out of a perfectly good plane.

The free fall was the most exhilarating feelings. The adrenaline just shoots through your body and you feel like you can conquer the world. I felt like I was flying. Not falling, but flying. After we fell for a while, Jack pulled the parachute and I was chucked up into the air (or at least it felt that way). Jack let me hold onto the parachute reins for a little bit and guide us. Then we did these crazy spins in the air. The float down was pretty amazing to - I felt so calm the entire time. And happy - freaking happy.

And before I knew it, I spotted Sean and my friends on the ground. We came in for a landing, and true to my klutzy nature, I totally boffed the landing and came in on my ass instead of my feet. But, it didn't matter because I just jumped out of a plane on my birthday.

Here's some video that Sean took with my camera - turn your speakers on because there's a little bit of sound. As soon as I figure out how to transfer the DVD onto my computer, I'll upload the FABULOUS video of my entire jump.

Afterwards, we went to the Turf Club for dinner and drinks. The Turf Club is awesome because 1) they haven't changed the decor since around 1967 so it's like sitting in someone's awfully decorated basement and 2) you grill your own meat.

Work Trip

2008-08-24T21:32:00.000-07:00

Last week, I was in Indianapolis for work. We were on a site visit of both the Convention Center and the brand new Lucas Oil Stadium. It was a pretty fun trip for several reasons: great city, an inside look at a pretty cool stadium, and great food.

Great City

Indianapolis reminds me of Cleveland. It’s an underappreciated city with lots to offer, but people dismiss it because it’s in the Midwest. Now, it could be that I’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid, but I like Indy. Lots of old architecture, including ornate churches, that is missing from the sterile-strip-mall-vastness that is Orange County. Its downtown has a lot of personality with cool little bars and (non-chain!) restaurants. It’s a shame that so much of the city’s personality is covered with snow during our show.

Pretty Cool Stadium
Great Food
A real NY deli in the middle of Indiana? Believe it. Shapiro’s is the real deal. I had half a pastrami sandwich, half reuben, broccoli salad and boston cream pie. It was the best reuben I’d ever had and will probably go on a mission of eating reubens to see if anything else can compare to Shapiro’s.

Yes – I ate it all. And I loved it.

Cleaning House

2008-08-23T15:24:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a major purge of the condo this weekend and next. If you, or anyone you know, needs wine glasses, drink glasses, or matching plates & bowls - PLEASE let me know. All items are gently used. I'm going to take everything to Goodwill, but I thought that I'd offer it out to friends/family beforehand.

Wedding Weekend

2008-08-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we had two weddings to go to and they couldn’t have been more different. One was held on a yacht in a harbor while the other was held in the desert. One was an intimate gathering of 40 close friends and family; the other was a bash of 300. One was for a friend and I knew close to 90% of the people there; the other was for a family member where I knew 2% of the people there.

Friday’s wedding was my favorite for a very obvious reason: the bride’s an incredible friend of mine. And that evening was great for so many reasons:
1. Enjoying cocktails while sailing around the harbor
2. Catching up with fabulous ladies I haven’t seen in a while
3. Randomly finding a bright red clown’s nose on the ship during cocktail hour and thinking about the sad, sad clown walking around without his nose.
4. A wedding DJ who’d actually heard of the bands and songs that I requested

5. Really good food – especially the mashed potatoes with the green onions and the wedding cake.
6. After party in the backyard surrounded by white Christmas lights

7. Having a husband who’d race clear across the country after one missed flight and another re-directed flight, just so he’d be able to make it to the last hour of the after party

B-R-E-A-T-H-E

2008-08-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

*big sigh*

Today is the first day since June 25 that I’ve been able to take a breath. And a short breath it will be, because tomorrow starts another long stretch of busy-busy-busy time that includes 2 weddings and a bridal shower within a single 24 hour period, a trip to a water park and then a trip to Indianapolis.

I don’t know how it happened, but this summer has flown by. Between the wedding, the honeymoon, concerts, birthday parties, Sean’s various work trips and out-of-town guests, I feel as though I haven’t had time to slow down and relax. So I'm going to utilize this one free evening for everything its worth. This includes such lovely tasks like laundry, catching up on some of the shows currently clogging the DVR, and playing some serious catch-up with various blogs.

And did I mention that Sean’s gone? So I have the entire house to myself after a summer of feeling constantly crowded by people or always on the road. It’s nice.

So far, the best part of the day has been standing in the middle of Target, chatting with E. in China (via my cell phone). It was totally worth draining all the battery out of my phone just to chat with her for a few minutes. *waves hi to E*

Vino in Temecula

2008-08-12T21:14:00.000-07:00

We signed up for a wine tour with a company called The Grape Line. This tour is great because everyone hops onto a little bus and the bus driver and tour guide take you to 4 wineries in Temecula wine country. Since this was our 3rd time on the tour (it’s the ‘go to’ activity every time someone comes out to visit us in CA) – it was pretty old hat for us. Here’s a breakdown of the events.

Holiday Inn Express
Get picked up at the Holiday Inn Express by the bus and meet our tour guide, Phillip. Since both the bus and our party arrived 15 minutes early, the day got off to a great – ahead of schedule – start. Then we left and picked up the other 10 guests on our tour at various hotels in Temecula. Then we hit the road for our first winery – Callaway.

Callaway
Used to be owned by the same Callaway family that owns Callaway golf items. I don’t know golf, so this doesn’t mean anything to me. The wine was great. Very crisp whites and full-bodied reds. Had my first Sangiovese – and now have a new type of red to explore.

We completely missed the tour of this winery – we were too busy talking and sampling. But that was fine for the three of us (Sean and I had already taken that tour) and my aunt was fine with skipping it so we gave her the condensed verbal tour: you grow grapes, you pick grapes, you put them in a machine; the machine crushes them, put it into barrels, barrels sit for a while, the wine’s put in bottles, you buy the bottle, you drink the wine. Viola.

Wilson’s Creek
Ahhhh – the Disneyland of wineries. I don’t like Wilson’s Creek. Like most things in Southern California, they put more emphasis on the appearance and ignore the substance. After reading the “family history” pamphlet they put on our table – I dislike it even more. Basically, a family with money got bored in the late 90s and decided they wanted to do something. Owning a vineyard was the popular thing to do in California at the time, so they bought a vineyard. They didn’t know what they were doing so they paid someone else to grow the grapes and make the wine for them. They built a ton of buildings on the land so they could have events and it seems like they sell the wine as an after thought. The woman who greeted us was the daughter of the owners. She was an over-medicated mess who made us guess how old she was (and I’m convinced she lied about her age). Lovely.

It’s worth noting that they were very stingy with their tasting size.
Bella Vista
My favorite. This is the oldest vineyard in Temecula. It’s a no frills, focus on the wine vineyard. Full bodied reds and no pretentiousness.

Mount Palomar
This was the only winery that was new to us and I really enjoyed it. I had a delicious cream sherry and their port was my favorite of all the ports I tried on the trip. Palomar has a very nice set up – lots of shaded outdoor seating (which is a big plus considering Temecula gets into the triple digits) and live music. It was a very relaxing, laid back winery.

All in all, it was a great trip.

Crawling in Downtown Santa Ana

2008-08-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, downtown Santa Ana sponsored the Santa Ana Pub Crawl. 6 restaurants in the burgeoning downtown participated by offering specials on food and drinks to people participating in the crawl. We were given ‘crawler cards’ at the first restaurant we went to and each additional restaurant would then stamp it once you bought something. At the end of the evening, you could turn your card in to win fabulous free prizes.

I’m really glad our friends told us about the crawl. Sean and I discovered a bunch of new restaurants that we really enjoyed and if it hadn’t been for the crawl, we wouldn’t have ever known about them. Lucky for us, but unlucky for our wallets, we discovered at least 1 restaurant (Jason’s) and 1 bar (The Crosby) that we want to try again.

I really like Santa Ana. But too many people in Orange County think it’s a nothing more than a series of barrios. One – those people are fools. And Two – they don’t know what they’re talking about. Downtown Santa Ana is awesome and I can't wait to make to hang out in the area more often.

Honeymoon Recap

2008-08-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

Friday night
Took the red-eye from LAX to San Juan. Sat 2 rows behind Oscar de la Hoya. Sean refused to believe me that it was de la Hoya until every single guy who passed him, loudly whispered to the person in front of them, who they saw.

On Saturday, after our plane landed in Tortola, we took a quick ferry ride over to Virgin Gorda.

Our home-sweet-home for the week (as taken from the ocean).
The view from our living room and patio. The Caribbean is so different from the Pacific; the water was incredibly calm (no pounding surf like in So Cal) and was so warm it felt like walking into a bathtub.

Our week consisted of lots of lounging…
… reading…
… and snorkeling.

We did manage to drag ourselves out of the condo for a day – we rented a sail boat (complete with skipper) for half a day. Here's the boat we were on. It was much larger in person.
The skipper even let Sean help out.
He sailed us around the various islands, dropped anchor just off the coast of one of the smaller islands so we could scuba dive while he made us lunch, and then we continued to sail around for the next few hours.

After spending a week drinking as many rum-filled drinks we could possibly create, staying in the water until we turned to prunes, reading until our eyes crossed and generally being as lazy as we possibly could, it was time to go home.

Or so we thought. Thanks to the uber-smart pilot on our first flight off Tortola, our entire plane missed their connections. This meant we got to spend the night in the wonderful Best Western hotel in the San Juan airport. But rather than sit in our hotel room and mope, we hopped in a cab, went to Old San Juan and ate dinner at a fabulous tapas bar.

The sangria helped take the sting out of missing our flight home and made our night in San Juan all the more enjoyable.

Our Weekend

2008-07-09T21:27:00.000-07:00

We went down to Carlsbad for the 4th of July. Wanted to steer clear of 'amateur hour' at HB.

This photo's for E in China.

Note to E: Technically I was looking toward you when I took this picture since the sun was setting over the ocean and you're on the other side of said ocean.

By the Way...

2008-07-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

...we got married.

But since I'm pretty sure the only people who read this blog are family and friends, you all know the story. But for those who don't, here goes: it was sunny. it was cloudy. it rained on us. it stopped. it rained on us again. we wised up and stood under a tent. and we got married. the end.

Sean's Bday

2008-06-23T22:03:00.001-07:00

Sean's birthday was this past Sunday. His day consisted of: Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles. Amoeba. Thievery Corporation at the Hollywood Bowl.

Our favorite thing about the Bowl is that you can bring in your own picnic dinner (including wine). Since a cake would be too big to fit into our backpack, I made cupcakes instead.
You would think fried chicken wouldn't taste delicious with waffles and syrup. You'd be wrong.
Hollywood Bowl. Garden box seats. And a red silo cup. Yeah... we're classy people.
Heading to the car from the Bowl.

Coachella

2008-05-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

It feels like Coachella was so long ago, yet it was just a month ago. Here are a few pics and thoughts from the fest.

Goldfrapp. Awesome show. Got so close to the stage. Had to miss The Ranconteurs, but totally worth it.
Another great act - Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. You'll know the Dap Kings because they backed Amy Winehouse on her last album. Sharon Jones kicks Amy Winehouse's ass to the moon. (And I say this after praising Amy Winehouse after seeing her at Coachella last year). Imagine if James Brown and Tina Turner were the same person. That's Sharon Jones.
The Black Lips. I wasn't their biggest fan going into this. After seeing them live - I'm a fan. I'm convinced they're one of those bands you can only appreciate live. They're too insane otherwise. Also, I'm convinced the lead singer is Eugene Hutz's doppelganger.
Rilo Kiley. Great show. That's all. Plus, she's one tiny, itty bitty girl.
Kraftwerk. I hadn't really listened to them before Coachella. I'm now a fan.

The man himself - Prince. Fantastic. Highlight of the fest for me. I'm sure it's because we were so FREAKING close to the stage. It was awesome. Loved it. He also, is a teeny, itty bitty person.

Awesome.

Bridal Shower #1

2008-04-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

This Saturday was my bridal shower; actually, it was the first of two bridal showers. The second one being in Chicago in two weeks. Here are a few highlights from the shower - I'll send you a link to all of the photos. (Thank you A & C for taking over 160 photos!)

The weather was very nice - low 70s once the sun finally came out.
This is gift number 1. It is also the first of three skillets that I received. We only registered for one. This also starts the trend of me realizing that while this is my bridal shower, most of these gifts are for Sean. You see - he's the one who cooks. He'll get up early on weekends and cook us fantastic fat-laden breakfasts; while I'd just as well throw some milk in a bowl of cereal. I do bake however - and I did receive wonderful baking items.
Continuing the trend of receiving gifts for Sean. When he saw this electric griddle in Macy's - I thought his eyes were going to bug out of his head he was so excited. I'm not sure what I'm doing. I think I'm taking an oath to never get between my fiance and his griddle.
And the tradition of gifts for Sean continues...
Since I'm new to this whole bridal shower thing, I'm glad my friend J had the wherewithal to gather all of my ribbons and create this bouquet for me.
After a long afternoon of opening gifts, we were exhausted.
These are the favors I made for my guests; the boxes include lavendar soaps and flower seeds that come in a container decorated with a silk flower (the silk flower represents the type of flower the seeds are for).
Can't wait for Chicago!

Other People's Wedding

2008-04-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

Tis the season for weddings. Last weekend we went to our 2nd wedding in a month. It was very nice: big, beautiful, lavish. Everything our wedding will not be.

Theirs: Catholic ceremony (with mass) in CA's oldest mission
Ours: Civil ceremony in parents' backyard

Theirs: Mariachi band (!!!)
Ours: iPod playlist
Not much else to report except to say that it was a beautiful ceremony (although I did think God was going to smite me for not being in a church for over 5 years). But, the Catholics sure know how drill a routine into you: I still knew every single word the priest (and the parishioners) uttered during the entire mass.

And here's a picture of us looking pretty.

Baking

2008-04-02T19:47:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I wound up baking. We had friends over Friday night for a marathon "Lost" view-fest - which was a perfect opportunity for me to try out a new cookie recipe. (Well, the recipe is new to me - I'm pretty sure it's at least 40 years old given that the cook book I got it from was first printed in the 60s). I made Chocolate Mint Sandwich Cookies. Like home-made Oreos that tasted like Christmas.

Rather than glob the filling on the cookie with a knife, I decided to add some excitement to my cookie-baking and try my hand at icing out of a bag. It turned out pretty well, I think...

And here are the final results... like I mentioned earlier - they tasted like Christmas. And they were super, super easy to make. Just a chocolate refrigerator cookie with icing.

For the past two weeks, I've been telling Sean that I'd make banana bread once the two lone spotty bananas were bad enough to be turned into banana bread. And Sunday afternoon I finally made Banana Bread with Flaxseed and Pecans. I like this recipe because it calls for whole-wheat flour and it doesn't call for sour cream (it seemed like every recipe out there for banana bread called for sour cream).

We also went on a 12 mile bike ride. One of these days I'll buy a little bag to attach to my bike so I can take pictures of all the places we ride our bikes to.

Our Quick Jaunt to Yosemite

2008-03-27T21:28:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Sean and I spent a short weekend at Yosemite (just outside it, actually) to attend the wedding of two friends of ours. We stayed at the Chateau d'Holy Crap this is Expensive. Here are some pictures of the Chateau and our venture into Yosemite.

Let me tell you, when you pay Chateau d'Holy Crap prices, they reward you with wonderful, fantastic service. We pulled up around 11:00pm - and they greeted us with a wonderful plate of snacks....

... and then kept topping off our wine.

Apparently, people who stay at the Chateau like to recreate episodes of "I Love Lucy"...
Need proof this was a classy joint? We had real flowers in the loo...
Since we were so close to Yosemite, we figured it would be a shame not to go into the park while we were up there. So we decided to walk to the Swinging Bridge, via the appropriately named Swinging Bridge Trail. But first, we had to fill up the car - bet you're glad you're not living in California..
Sean and I could never be on "The Amazing Race."
This is probably the closest we'll get to snow all year. Wait a minute... I just spent two weeks in IN and OH... Well, it's the closest Sean'll get to snow all year.
This is a river in Yosemite. I have no idea which river it is.
And that was our quick jaunt into Yosemite. It's a beautiful park. Next time, we'll try to spend an entire week up there.

Will It Never End?

2008-02-26T18:01:00.000-08:00

For the past week and a half my life has consisted of these...

After 7 nights of interupted sleep due to body attempting to liberate all of my organs via my 80-year-old's smoker's hack, I am looking to this single bottle to do what an entire pharmacy's been unable to do. Give me a single night of uninterupted sleep; a night without coughing my throat raw.

*note to Gma

Although, on the bright side, due to last night's coughing jag, I was able to catch up on 3 episodes worth of "Cashmere Mafia" and 2 episodes of "So Graham Norton." (there's an ad sales pitch to Robitussin in there somewhere...)

*I would like to point out the blurring. Look how careful I'm being about stalkers and whatnot.

Best Show You're Not Watching

2008-01-16T21:57:00.000-08:00

I knew Barack was my man for a reason.

His favorite TV show is The Wire.

(Read the article where this information came up here.)

Bear with here - I don't want you believing I base my vote on whether the candidate's pop culture tastes reflect my own.

I am in no way eloquent enough to explain the awesome-ness of this show. Nor do I have a good enough grasp on the English language to get you to understand how righteously indignant you'll get watching this show (and who doesn't like getting righteously indignant?). But, this columnist - along with producer David Simon (he's the same man who brought you Homicide: Life on the Street) does a pretty job explaining it all.