A little bit of nature

We had a little getaway. It was fun even though we were rained on most of the weekend. We learned some things. One, our tent is waterproof. (YAY!). Two, Dottie prefers sleeping with me in my sleeping bag. (Note to self, bring extra blanket to cover Dottie.) Three, we own a ridiculous amount of camping gear. Four, our companions like to take LOTS of photos, but never share. (You know who you are.) Lastly, we need to get out of town more often.

Here are a few photos that Rob snapped.


The rain cleared and he snapped these.

Bella is 10

Note: I've been happily working on a multitude of design projects. So, I've been a teeny tiny bit behind in my blogging. This means that there is a blitzkrieg of design-oriented posts on their way. In the meantime, here's another personal post.

Sunday July 20th
I trekked out to the O.C. for my niece Bella's 10th birthday party. (Bella was a Jr. Bridesmaid and Reader at our wedding last year.) Rob had to work. So, I was on my own. Bella's mom, my cousin Janine had planned an Ice Skating party. I was stoked. I haven't ice skated in years. As I was getting dressed and frantically searching for a pair of jeans, my oh-so-brilliant husband said to skip the jeans. He added , "It won't be that cold at the rink. You'll be fine." For the sake of argument, I put on a pair of shorts. Bad idea.

When I arrived fashionably late courtesy of L.A./O.C traffic, my hopes of landing a triple axel were dashed. (Okay, I exaggerate about the triple axel. It's more like my hopes of circling the rink were dashed.) It was freezing - teeth -chattering, lip numbing cold. Thankfully, I keep a hoodie in my car for such occasions. The hoodie helped a little, but not enough to prevent hypothermia. So, I huddled with the other "grown-ups" in the party room, which was a couple of degrees warmer. There would be no ice skating for me. I would have cried, but the tears would have frozen onto my cheeks.

I have no culinary photos to share. Contrary to popular belief my whole existence does not revolve around food. Besides, this was a kids' party. The food spread consisted of every kind of pizza imaginable, cake, chips, dip, and the politically correct fruit tray. I was in heaven. I am not too high brow to appreciate the deliciousness of junk food.

Bella - the Birthday Girl & Me

Bella in action

Janine lights the candles

Cake Carnage

Bella's Birthday from Anne K. on Vimeo.
I love the way kids sing "Happy Birthday". Their level of embellishment cracks me up.

After the party, I hung out with my relatives at their house in Rancho Santa Margarita. We watched Bella open her gifts. The rest of the night was spent with catching up and goofing around. For those that don't know, I come from a family of comedians. If you're not quick-witted and thick-skinned, you have a rough time. I had a great time and snuck in a little after midnight.

I'm a dork related to dorks

Recap - June 11, 2008

Warning: This post contains absolutely silly and ridiculous behavior. This is not for those lacking a sense of humor. No model home furniture was damaged in the taking of these photographs. View at your own risk.

After my grandma's birthday lunch, my cousins Janine & Jo, my brother Nate, and I decide to go out and run some simple errands. On the way to Michael's, we decided to check out my sister Cathee's house that is under construction. It started out innocent enough. Then we got silly and each person felt the need to be progressively more ridiculous than the last. Here are the photos from the silliness that ensued.

101 Years

I am the proud daughter of a working mom and the very fortunate granddaughter of a stay-at-home grandma. My grandma is my second mom. She took care of my siblings and me while our mom and dad were at work. She has always been my number one supporter. I attribute my sense of adventure and wanderlust from her. More importantly, she taught me how to be an independent woman with thoughts and ideals of my own. When I was a little girl, I told her that I wished that she could live to be 100 so that she would be around for a looooong time. Today, my wish was granted plus 1. Today, my grandma turned 101.


Doesn't she look great for 101? At 101, she still has her wits about her. She remember every last family member's birthday and can crack jokes with the best of them. Her only complaint would probably be that she doesn't hear or see as well as she used to and that she tires easily. I told her that her impairments give her an automatic b.s. filter and that if it were REALLY important she'd hear it or see it. I also told her that her body was finally slowing her down. Up until 2 years ago, my Grandma was still jet setting.

The Cake and Candle Carnage

Today's celebration was simple and small with just immediate family at my parent's house in Virginia. (I've been hanging out with my family since Saturday.) My cousins Jo and Janine flew from O.C. with Janine's daughter Bella and Janine's boyfriend Joe in tow. We had Filipino food and cake per Grandma's request. The birthday girl had a good time and was able to blow out all her candles in one pass. I hope she gets her wish. I am very happy to have gotten mine.

The Birthday Lunch Spread

Blowing out the candles

Me & the Birthday Girl

100 and 1 degree!

I got up bright and early for my cousin Jasmine's graduation. I was told the ceremony started at 8AM. In order to get to the university at a relatively decent time, I had to get up at 6AM. This is a huge feat because I have really become accustomed to my lady of leisure status. These days 9 o'clock is early. Because I am supportive Cousin Anne, I got ready and hauled myself out to Fullerton.

I found out once I got there that I probably could have gotten a few more Zzzz. Jasmine wasn't scheduled to walk across a stage until 10AM. Oh well. I took the time to catch up with my other cousins Janine & Jovan. It was miserably hot. At peak, it was about 100 degrees with minimal shade.

Some people brought umbrellas for shade. I wish I had.

While others got REALLY creative and made their own hats

After baking in the sun for a few hours, Jasmine finally walked across the stage and was acknowledged for her undergraduate degree in psychology.


Jasmine graduated cum laude with a Bachelor's of Art degree in Psychology.

Jasmine with her proud parents - my Uncle Bo & Aunt Jean

Fred (Jasmine's friend) & Jasmine

Group Photo with the very hot & tired grad.
(L-R) Aunt Jean, Me, Jasmine, Janine, Jovan, Bella, and Fred

After it was all said and done, this is what I had to show for it.
SUNBURN! I had to take a picture of this because I only burn once every 15 years. I am usually fanatical about sunblock. For those who have outdoor graduations to attend, don forget the sunblock!

Home again , home again

I'm off for a trip to Virginia. I'm overdue for a visit with my family. I'll be back in a few days.

Here's a shot of Virginia Beach's boardwalk.

Hopefully, the weather will be as nice as it looks in this picture.

Kids wear me out - Part 2

Day 2 -Sightseeing around L.A.
Rob and I traded tour guide duties. Cathee, the boys, and I had a big breakfast at Foxy's in Glendale and headed out. The boys are both fans of Gundam models. We made a stop in Chinatown at a few stores that I knew had deals of these models. The stunned looks on their faces were priceless. They had never seen stores with variety quite like that. They shopped until they dropped or something close to it. We refueled with some boba drinks or bubble tea. Then, we headed off to Olvera Street. We wanted them to see a bit of L.A.'s history. We took a short tour of Avila Adobe. We continued the buying frenzy with purchases of Luchador masks. The kids were ecstatic. We had dinner at Brownstone Pizza and cupcakes for dessert from Dots Cupcakes. We finished the day by passing out in my living room while watching "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".

Franky & I at breakfast

Ethan & Cathee
Clowning around with the super candy machineChinatown
Toasting with their Boba drinks
At the Avila Adobe
Luchadors!
Dots Cupcakes in Pasadena
Franky enjoying the aroma
Doesn't this pizza look ginormous?!
Franky trying to make a dent in the Pizza

Kids wear me out - Part 1

These are my nephews Franky & Ethan. Franky is 10 and Ethan is 4. They and their mother Cathee (my younger sister) came out here for a visit. Rob & I loved having them here. The boys are hilarious and are quite the little characters. It was such an action-packed mini-vacation that it's taken me a whole week to recover. I kid you not. (Pun intended). They had what my sister and I call a "Mamma Lynda Vacation". When we were kids, my mother would plan our family vacations with as much activity as possible. When we were done with the vacation, we'd need a vacation from our vacation. In the four days they were here, we took them snowboarding at Mountain High, sightseeing in Chinatown L.A., hanging out at Legoland, and dinner in Koreatown.

Here is a recap:
Day 1 Snowboarding at Mountain High - Wrightwood, CA
As always, work kept me from enjoying the snow. So, Rob took my sister and the kids up to the resort. This was Ethan's 1st time snowboarding. According to Cathee, Ethan was crying hysterically because he was afraid to snowboard. She said he cried all the way until the beginning of his lesson. Once he started, he LOVED it and there was no stopping him. This was Franky's 2nd time snowboarding. This put him in a more advanced class than his little brother. It was great for Franky, but sucked for taking pictures of him in action. I got a reprieve from all the excitement and met them for dinner afterwards at Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles. Yummy!

All day 1 pics and video were taken by Cathee

View of the Mountain
Franky strapped into his board and waiting for his lesson to start.
Ethan on the "magic carpet" lift for kids
Franky, Cathee, and Ethan

Video of Ethan Snowboarding.

Black Friday

For the fourth year in a row, I have skipped the shopping frenzy known as "Black Friday". While growing up, it was considered a sport by my family. My mother would have us scour the sales papers and we would come up with a "plan of attack". Our clothes would be laid out the night before. The woman was a machine. She would have us up promptly at 4 am with breakfast already on the table. To some this may be considered a smaller form of child abuse. To us, it was fun. It was the one time that we were ALLOWED to run around the store and grab what we were assigned to pick it up. What kid wouldn't want that? It was a weird form of family bonding. My mother had our undivided attention while we stood in line. She would subtly pick our brains as to what each of us wanted for Christmas. The woman was good.

Flash forward several years. I now live in Los Angeles which is considered a major shopping mecca. I tried "Black Friday" shopping with my cousin. I have never seen pushing shoving and maneuvering quite like that. These people were professionals! The thrill was gone. It was then that I realized that I was completely out of my league. As a realist, I decided that standing in line for $5 DVDs was not worth it for me. I have respectfully chosen not to participate.

As a result, I have become an online shopper. Last year I bought 50% of my gifts online. This year, I intend to buy 75% of my gifts online. To add to the challenge, I am attempting to buy mostly handmade gifts. Handmade gifts no longer mean ugly sweaters made by your Aunt. With sites like Etsy, unique and well-made handmade gifts are much more accessible. I plan to post my finds. We'll see how this goes...