natural history

Just days left to finish everything on my summer to do list.  Last week we went to the Natural History Museum, and I fell in love with it.  It was awesome, the staff was friendly and helpful, and if it were closer I would apply for a job there, what a great place.  Oh, and Nicole Sullivan sat next to me at the dinosaur encounter.  When I first saw her I thought Amy Poehler--funny & blonde, and looked for Will Arnett. When I didn't see Will, I thought the man must be the manny.  But then I heard her voice and remembered her from Mad TV. Anyway, super cute family. 
Made it to Vet's stadium last weekend, and found what I was looking for and more, but have yet to photograph those items.  I am so intimidated by still photos that I just don't want to take them. Maybe I'll have Chloe hold them up for me, that would erase the intimidation factor.
Yesterday we made it to Laguna for some beach time.  Had a little lunch at Scandia and went to Pearl Street, for no particular reason other than that's where I finally found parking.  It was beautiful.  I don't know why a beach 29 miles away is so much more beautiful, but it is, and I will happily drive there any time.  
Did I mention I want a job at the NHM?  Look how beautifully these are hung and lit.  I'm not a fan of buck heads in general, but this is so pretty and thoughtful.   

I couldn't help but sing They Might Be Giants while walking through the new dinosaur hall. 

I am savoring these mornings where we get to linger without alarm clocks and have breakfast when we're hungry instead of when we need to in order to get out the door in time for school.  But I also welcome the routine and schedule, and gym time alone.  

with shoes on

My friend Jessica is an awesome source of good internet links, and is always a step ahead of me. Could be because she is actually a day ahead, hee hee. This one isn't super new, but it is cute and kid-friendly.   She posted Marcel the Shell with shoes on on facebook and we enjoyed it, so I thought I'd share.

Then Chloe started narrating herself in Marcel the shell's voice, and that isn't at all annoying.  Nope.

thirty seven

This is how it looks on me.

I've had those wrinkles on my forehead since I was five.  Too much squinting with light-sensitive eyes, I suppose.  So, I'm used to them, but they are more pronounced these days.  I've been wearing fringe in recent years to hide them, and make me look younger.  My pores are bigger.  I have a lot of sun spots, those started in my twenties, and were officially noted at twenty-seven.  I remember because I saw a dermatologist shortly before my wedding and he double-checked my chart to see how old I was.  "You are prematurely aging."  Yes, thanks for saying so, may I please have the prescription for excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis) so that I don't have Niagara Falls from my pits on my wedding day?   Thanks.  

So yeah.  That's me, multi-tasking--on the phone with my mom while taking a self portrait in my bathroom on a warm summer afternoon.  

Here's to a great 37th year.  

*I didn't do anything to these photos besides a midtones bump on the bottom two.  

le weekend part deux

When I'm out socially I'm awful about taking photos, I just don't think about it.  My cell phone isn't a smart one, I don't like the flash (it's too bright!!), and I'm too busy chatting and sipping.  So it looks like
I only have two friends, but I swear there were more people there!  Pretty people, too.  Photo-worthy for sure.   You'd think I would have taken a picture of my pina colada, at least.  But it had no garnish, not even an umbrella, only a sunken cherry.  Tasted good though, and my second one was free because I had to wait twenty minutes for it.
From there, we went on to the Pike, where I got the grilled cheese and steak fries I desired. Geoff filled the jukebox with some of my faves:  Prince, Willie Nelson, Tom Waits, Frank Sinatra.  The young hipsters arrived and we filtered out.

it was a good night. 

*photo credits go to Geoff, Rachel, and Sonia.

le weekend

My husband is working next weekend so we decided to celebrate my birthday a few days early.  Here's what I had hoped to do this weekend.  And here's what we actually did, in pictures.

The Runyon Canyon hike has been rescheduled for September as my friend had a big work project to launch, and that was just fine because it ended up being a very full Saturday.

We hit The OC Mart Mix and had lunch at the food trucks. I had a great salad at from Louk's Greek, which featured some the freshest, most delicious feta cheese I've ever had. Geoff had lunch from Barcelona on the Go, and Chloe had a quesadilla from The Lime Truck.  Everything we had was tasty.  We bought some peaches and pluots at the little farmer's market, which is about the prettiest farmer's market I've seen display-wise.  The fruit was delish.

The baristas at Portola Coffee Lab are serious about their brews, and  I wholeheartedly appreciate their commitment to good coffee; it was a treat.  I was disappointed that I didn't get a fancy design in my foam. I ordered a cappuccino solely for the pretty foam art, as I prefer coffee with cream.   Am I missing it?  Is it a heart or a snail?

We shopped, we ran to H&M at South Coast Plaza so I could get something new to wear that evening, Chloe got some cute new duds for school, she rode the carousel, I tried on some makeup, we ate some dark chocolate at See's to keep our energy up.  It was a whirlwind day!

I will post le weekend part deux very soon.

cheers!

Here's to a great weekend! Hope you have fun things planned. 

On my list: 

• hiking runyon canyon
• o.c. mart mix & food trucks 
• pretending i'm in Hawaii and drinking fruity cocktails with umbrellas (and pineapple and a cherry!) 
• visting with friends
• vet's stadium flea market 
• breakfast out 
• maybe some bluegrass festival, maybe some s'mores
• maybe some beachy
• maybe take some pictures

hang with my peeps (photo taken by geoff)

let's go to the movies

We took advantage of the $1 summer movie series last week and saw Despicable Me.




Chloe had only been to the movies once before, to see Snow White at the El Capitan in Hollywood. So it seemed like a good time to give it a go again. She thought it was a little too loud at first, but soon enough she was saying, "I love it at the movies! Next time can we get popcorn?"











 I just don't know if I can do popcorn at ten o'clock in the morning. The $1 movie series ends this week. We hope to get to another one, because it was a good time, and a steal of deal, and you know I love a deal!

The middle two photos of Chloe and the showtimes are edited with one of my new favorite tones, One Hour Prints from Sesame Ellis' Spring Cleaning Actions.  I use her Basics  actions on almost everything you see on my blog, I highly recommend them.

so many changes

Perhaps my favorite diptych ever.  This so illustrates all the changes this summer.  As June began, she didn't swim, and she didn't want to write her letters.  We would do workbooks and she would do everything but the letters--math, puzzles, colors, shapes.  Last night she wanted to write.  She wrote mommy for the first time.  I almost exploded.  While working on these photos I asked if she would write her name for me with the mouse, she humored me.  But then she wanted to write mommy again. I melted.  

Thus, my favorite diptych ever.  

I'm not sure if I can take any more growth this summer.  The changes are proud-making and heartbreaking at the same time.  She's not a baby anymore.  I know next year I will look back on these pictures and think she was sooo little, but I can't wrap my head around that, not without my heart aching and tears welling.


Hope your weekend goes swimmingly!

quickly!

Since the arrival of the month of August I have felt a sense of urgency to complete everything on my Summer to-do list.  Hence, I've been sitting at the computer a lot less and doing a lot more.  Time is flying by; that is, with the exception of time that goes by without dairy.  Dairy-free time is crawling, it has been three long weeks yesterday.  One week to go.  I started at once when the doctor told me to try it for thirty days, quickly calculating in my head that I'd be done before my birthday and able to eat cake and ice cream.

Still on my list:
Dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum
Palm Springs
Vet's Stadium flea market
Tim Burton at LACMA
OC Mart Mix
Water Taxi to Queen Mary, Maya

Anything I'm forgetting?
Off to do more!

I like this photo because it is hard to tell what is indoors, and what is out.  My waist seems to disappear in the rug at my front door, which appears to be much closer than it actually is.   The messy table, and the faceless neighbor at my feet.  I just like it.

summer update

We played shoe store.
We played with makeup.
We had a dance party, just the two of us.
We took some pictures; we don't have to wonder
what she'll look like as an angst-filled teen.

I am on week two of being dairy free.
We made it to two concerts in the park:  one in the old hood, one in the new.
Had Chinese food.
Logged some hours at the bay.
Took Chloe to teppan for the first time, it was pretty darn fun.  She thought our server was very handsome, she told him so.
Visited with a friend in L.A. and felt recharged afterward.
Had Brazilian food.
Soccer was better than ever.
Chloe got a haircut while I got my brows threaded.
Had Lebanese food.
I swear she has grown two inches.

stretch

I taught myself how to make an animated gif this morning using this tutorial by wonderful photographer Marina Miller.   It was definitely a good brain exercise.  Poor Chloe was very patient, as I could not walk away from it until I figured it out. I did, and then we played shoe store.  The girl could try on shoes all day. Loves them.  She didn't get that from me.

Now I don't know why it's not playing as an animated gif all the time, but if you click on it it will play.  I didn't take these photos specifically to animate, just found some that might kinda work to learn on.  Sure, there's a picture out of order in there, but the picture is moving! Now that I can kinda do it,  I'll have to think of something fun to shoot and animate.

Okay, brain sufficiently stretched, now to stretch out on the sand!