merry christmas!

Wishing all of you a happy Christmas!

{last year's card here}

summer love

Paul (the bro-in-law) and Alice got married in August. Five adult-sized people in a 2'x3' booth with a glitter hats, faux beards and boas? Fun times were had, my friends. Evidence here.
Pssst: looking for a photobooth for your wedding? Alice and Paul (aka TaDa!) got you covered.

blondie brownies

Brownies v. Blondies battle was never a big one for me (brownies win, hands down). But I saw this recipe for Blondie-Brownies and I had to try it. I made peanut butter blondies instead of chocolate chip, and I used the tried and true King Arthur's recipe for fudge brownies (I reduced the sugar in both recipes about 1/3 c, still sweet enough). Yummy.

just the three of us

We went for a weekend staycation at Dana Point (via Rincon, where Tim and I just could NOT lose, it was amazing) when Tim's dad went out of town for a couple weeks. These beaches I will miss. And also that french toast.

little tokyo

If we moved back to LA, I would live in Little Tokyo. Good food, lots of art, and sega ufo catcher.






1 mom and dad. 2 sega ufo catcher. 3 hello kitty explosions ~*~kawaii~*~. 4 we were in a commercial for a japanese reality show (that's what they told us anyway...) 5 japanese prayer trees. 6 daikokuya with my parents, and why yes, pinkies up while slurping soup!

the power of one

Remember this hysterical college essay? It's better than this book. The Power of One is told autobiography-style by a South African Englishman who names himself Peekay (you never know his birth name, he's too good for it). I think the story is meant to be an uplifting coming of age story about courage and friendship in World War II and Apartheid South Africa, but it is really one of the most egocentric and shallow books I have ever read. From Peekay's Nazi-fighting childhood to genius IQ to champion of the black African prisoners to perfect boxing record to becoming the-best-ever-miner-that-ever-was, the boy makes it seem like the whole world was against him and he prevailed through all his hardship. But let me remind you, he was a white man during Apartheid with a full scholarship to a prestigious English boarding school and a mean left hook. Plus, every adult around him catered to his every need and THREE people died for his self-absorbed butt. No pity party there. Peekay even gets a little preachy -- just believe in yourself, the power of one! And the ending was, hmmm, so dumb! I still can't believe that's how it ended. So yeah, that's how I felt about this book. No recommendation here.

cerulean

Backyard swimming.

dog days

Summer in LA is good for our succulents:

BRB

Pardon the lack of posts of late. We're working through this mess, slowly but surely. I'll post some pictures from this summer until I get around to updating on San Francisco.

the next big thing

Wow, we have found some gems while cleaning out Tim's high school bedroom. Tim calls this one his "winter tank top". I guess this one is his summer look? Watch out Project Runway!

Also: see all that stuff boxed and wrapped behind him? They are in a van headed to San Francisco right now. A new adventure! Come visit!

julian

On our way up to Philadelphia, we stopped in DC to see this hunky monkey.

I also made a sorting hat, and saw Ginny Weasley (courtney), Colin Creevey (nicole), Cedric Diggory (eric), baby Harry (julian) and someone muggle with a kitten in their pocket claiming to be Filch (tim) at a Hogwarts event in Alexandria. Mmmm butterbeer.

philadelphia

There are lots of places that I never went to whilst living on the east coast, including Philadelphia. Actually, I may have been there, but I just don't remember it (just ask my mom). In July, Tim officiated the marriage of our friends Pat and Jess in Philly, giving us a good great reason to visit.
We started out with ice coffees and pastry from Old City Coffee. Tim also got an amazing cheesey, yolk-y, bacon-y sandwich from the most efficient food truck I've ever witnessed.
Quick photo ops by City Hall (with that 27 ton bronze statue of William Penn on top) and the Rocky Steps aka the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
I heart cities with outdoor art and history. Philly's got both.
The Prides of Philadelphia: the Liberty Bell and the Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich (whiz wit!)
The most unassuming champion of all things Philly? Our friend Nicole (not from Philadelphia), who is quite the Philadelphia enthusiast. She recommended the Franklin Fountain, where we had a fresh peach and blueberry ice cream sundae. Delightful!

Sorry about the camera phone pictures. More photos to come (we forgot the camera and spent $9 on one of these).

back to NC and body hacking?

We went from a cool mid-60's in Alaska to the triple digit heatwave in North Carolina. One way to combat the heat? Put an icepack on it!

Albert is convinced that "body hacking" is going to work. And Tim, growing ever more concerned with his post-30 figure, is joining him on the bandwagon. But how to play games while holding an icepack to your neck for 30 minutes?? Tie it on with a belt...

the brief history of the dead

I found this book while sorting through our leftover boxes at my parents' house in NC. It was Tim's and he never read it, but I found the title intriguing and without any other reading material on hand, I decided to give it a try. It was good from the very first page. It's part end-of-the-world disaster theory, part living dead/twilight zone, part Antarctic adventure. There are some beautiful passages in the book, and I like Brockmeier's interpretation of the dead and afterlife. This book (like the last three I read, weird) is told by several different characters, some more well-developed and more interesting and more alive than the others...I skimmed through a couple of chapters because the character was annoying. There is a little suspense/eeriness that kept me going too, although it doesn't lead to the big movie-production revelation of an ending that I wanted. I won't tell you what actually happens, but I do recommend that you read it yourself and find out.

trying new things

Okay, I just realized that the blogging screen could be wider, so I'm experimenting with the larger format pictures. Like it? Or not?

I'm also experimenting with these:
Not the bike, or flaring my nostrils all the time. It's the Transitions lenses. Only the 6-month trial is over, and it's no longer an experiment. hahaha. I can't believe I got stuck with these. I've got corneas to take care of.

alaska: part iv

We took the Tonsina Coastal Trail as far as we could go. It was high tide and there's a bit that becomes completely submerged and inaccessible. It's a gorgeous walk up the wooded cliffs, into a field of wild irises (!!), through a soft mossy forest, past a clear deep stream, and then down to the windy pebble beach.


The sun didn't go down until 11 pm, and even then it was still light. We caught the sunset in Turnagain on our way home around 10.