Sunday, February 28, 2010
La Jolla Winter
We love the winter in La Jolla. We get to see beautiful sunsets like this out our living room windows.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
A Little Pirate
Max has a little pirate. The little pirate goes everywhere he goes. He sits right on top of his pirate sword, just like how Mary Poppins has a parrot on her umbrella (yes, that's how he described it to me). Max also has a little parrot. The little parrot sits on his shoulder and needs to be fed crackers about 100 times a day. The little pirate and the little parrot (yes, invisible parrot) are often asked for advice. Like when Max is told it's nap time, or potty time, he often consults with little pirate and little parrot to see if it is in fact the appropriate times. Some day little pirate and little parrot might wear out their welcome. Only time will tell.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tempura Lia
Lia loves tempura shrimp. Actually, she pretty much loves anything she sees us eating. But she particularly loved this tempura shrimp. Went to town on it.
Kept her busy for a good 20 minutes!
Kept her busy for a good 20 minutes!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
SCROLL DOWN!!
Past the beach post and there are a few new ones I back-dated. Because I know how much you all love that!! So SCROLL DOWN AND DON'T MISS THEM!!!
New Couch
We finally did it! We bought a new couch! The one we had -- the $32 one I got on eBay three years ago -- had seen better days. It was stained, smelly and falling apart. Still comfy, but it made me gag every time I saw it. I finally convinced Tyler we should get a new one. We found a super nice comfy one just in our price range. I told Tyler I felt like we were a real married couple now because we finally bought furniture together! Yes, our first piece of furniture after 7 years of marriage. Go figure.
Anyway, we were so excited to get it, even though we had to wait a week. We paid the annoying delivery fees even though we live about 3 miles away from the place. We got the call they would deliver it Saturday between 1 and 5. So we stayed home and waited. And waited. And waited. And it got to be about 4:55 when Tyler called just to make sure they were coming. And wouldn't you know, they had screwed up the day (of course, because nothing WE do is ever just easy and nice) and would have to send it out on the late truck which would arrive at our house anywhere between 8 and midnight. So I'm thinking, that's enough of an annoyance to ask for our delivery fee back. But wait... it gets better.
Check these pictures out. Yup, that's our celing. And our door frame.
They FINALLY showed up at about 10 o'clock that night with our couch. After about 15 minutes of listening to the two delivery guys yell it out in Spanish one of the guys turns to us and says they only way he's going to get the couch through the door is to put a hole through the ceiling. Um, yes, shock, disbelief, weirded-out-ness. All of the above. The guy said he did it all the time and it was the only way they would get the couch in. Now, I will give them the fact that our entry way is a very hard turn to negotiate. It took a while to get our old couch in here when we moved it in -- a couch that is in fact bigger than the new one they were struggling to get in. We asked them if they could take it up over the baclony and they said it would damage the couch. But busting a hole in the ceiling wouldn't. We wanted our dang couch so we finally agreed that if they needed to, and it was THE ONLY WAY, to just do it.
Hence the hole. Sure, it doesn't look that big, but when we tell you that they could NOT get it in after making the hole, it seems a LOT bigger. The finally wedged it back out and decided they would, in fact, take it over the balcony. Thank goodness Stephen Baker came over to help because I'm not sure how those two guys would have gotten it over that either without him and Tyler.
After all that they wanted us to sign a paper that said they weren't responsible for the hole. Or the damage to our door frame (ripped the bolt right off). Tyler refused, they got mad, left, and many phone calls the next day (because of course we couldn't talk to anyone at MIDNIGHT about it) we're getting it taken care of. But my gosh. All for a couch. And, to make things worse -- it's the most uncomfortable couch I've ever sat on. I'm hoping we just need to break it in so it will feel like the one in the store (which felt awesome). But it's probably why I'm sitting here blogging instead of watching the olympics -- it makes my back hurt!!
Live and learn I guess. I still think it's a pretty couch! And Max is funny about the hole. When he first saw it he asked if pirates lived up there. He made sure to tell me he was a good boy and that the pirates didn't need to come down from there and take him away. I assured him no pirates lived up there. Every day he asks me about the hole -- if bugs live in there, if Grandma with the White Hair lives up there, if super heroes are going to fly out of it. Funny kid.
Anyway, we were so excited to get it, even though we had to wait a week. We paid the annoying delivery fees even though we live about 3 miles away from the place. We got the call they would deliver it Saturday between 1 and 5. So we stayed home and waited. And waited. And waited. And it got to be about 4:55 when Tyler called just to make sure they were coming. And wouldn't you know, they had screwed up the day (of course, because nothing WE do is ever just easy and nice) and would have to send it out on the late truck which would arrive at our house anywhere between 8 and midnight. So I'm thinking, that's enough of an annoyance to ask for our delivery fee back. But wait... it gets better.
Check these pictures out. Yup, that's our celing. And our door frame.
They FINALLY showed up at about 10 o'clock that night with our couch. After about 15 minutes of listening to the two delivery guys yell it out in Spanish one of the guys turns to us and says they only way he's going to get the couch through the door is to put a hole through the ceiling. Um, yes, shock, disbelief, weirded-out-ness. All of the above. The guy said he did it all the time and it was the only way they would get the couch in. Now, I will give them the fact that our entry way is a very hard turn to negotiate. It took a while to get our old couch in here when we moved it in -- a couch that is in fact bigger than the new one they were struggling to get in. We asked them if they could take it up over the baclony and they said it would damage the couch. But busting a hole in the ceiling wouldn't. We wanted our dang couch so we finally agreed that if they needed to, and it was THE ONLY WAY, to just do it.
Hence the hole. Sure, it doesn't look that big, but when we tell you that they could NOT get it in after making the hole, it seems a LOT bigger. The finally wedged it back out and decided they would, in fact, take it over the balcony. Thank goodness Stephen Baker came over to help because I'm not sure how those two guys would have gotten it over that either without him and Tyler.
After all that they wanted us to sign a paper that said they weren't responsible for the hole. Or the damage to our door frame (ripped the bolt right off). Tyler refused, they got mad, left, and many phone calls the next day (because of course we couldn't talk to anyone at MIDNIGHT about it) we're getting it taken care of. But my gosh. All for a couch. And, to make things worse -- it's the most uncomfortable couch I've ever sat on. I'm hoping we just need to break it in so it will feel like the one in the store (which felt awesome). But it's probably why I'm sitting here blogging instead of watching the olympics -- it makes my back hurt!!
Live and learn I guess. I still think it's a pretty couch! And Max is funny about the hole. When he first saw it he asked if pirates lived up there. He made sure to tell me he was a good boy and that the pirates didn't need to come down from there and take him away. I assured him no pirates lived up there. Every day he asks me about the hole -- if bugs live in there, if Grandma with the White Hair lives up there, if super heroes are going to fly out of it. Funny kid.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
I have new stuff...
I'm just too tired to post it up tonight! But here are some pictures from the beach we took about a week ago. It was so warm we headed down to La Jolla Shores to let the kids run it out for a while. They loved every second of it!! They love the beach. We all do! I'm pretty sure I'd shrivel up and die if I had to live away from it. I mean, look at how happy these faces are!!
One of my favorite pictures of Max! It's just so him. Digging, contemplating his next move before he bursts into a ball of speed.
Saw these on the beach. Pretty neat, especially the fish! It took a lot of effort to convince Lia that she shouldn't knock them all down.
Winter sunsets in Southern California are gorgeous! This one wasn't even that great compared to some we get to see.
Anyway, I'll have some new stuff posted soon. We haven't had that much going on lately, hence the not so many posts. But I have some cute pictures that I'll get up here!
Oh, and sorry about the branding on all the photos. I also posted these over at Blackbird Ink and it's just easier to reuse them over here. Have to brand them since I've had some stolen lately! Very not cool.
One of my favorite pictures of Max! It's just so him. Digging, contemplating his next move before he bursts into a ball of speed.
Saw these on the beach. Pretty neat, especially the fish! It took a lot of effort to convince Lia that she shouldn't knock them all down.
Winter sunsets in Southern California are gorgeous! This one wasn't even that great compared to some we get to see.
Anyway, I'll have some new stuff posted soon. We haven't had that much going on lately, hence the not so many posts. But I have some cute pictures that I'll get up here!
Oh, and sorry about the branding on all the photos. I also posted these over at Blackbird Ink and it's just easier to reuse them over here. Have to brand them since I've had some stolen lately! Very not cool.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Valentine's Day
This year Max had a good time celebrating Valentine's Day. He made his own valentines for his pre-school class all by himself. All I did was cut out the papers. He glued and designed them all.
Tyler and I double dated with the Bakers to Benihana's for their delicious food! It was awesome. TOTALLY worth the extra calories.
Tyler got me a massage as a present at my favorite place in OB and I got him LOTS of chocolate. Neither of us consciously planned to do much of anything for Valentine's Day, but stuff just fell into place and we ended up having a lot of fun. Not to mush it up in this post, but I sure do love my Valentines! All three of them!
Tyler and I double dated with the Bakers to Benihana's for their delicious food! It was awesome. TOTALLY worth the extra calories.
Tyler got me a massage as a present at my favorite place in OB and I got him LOTS of chocolate. Neither of us consciously planned to do much of anything for Valentine's Day, but stuff just fell into place and we ended up having a lot of fun. Not to mush it up in this post, but I sure do love my Valentines! All three of them!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Weekend Getaway
Remember that fabulous Christmas present from Tyler? A weekend getaway to Oxnard and Santa Barbara? We finally went!! And we had the best time. I'm glad that Tyler enjoys just bumming around cool places with me. It was fun to just take off and go and not worry about the kids (thanks to Tyler's mom and my sister -- awesome!!) or school or anything. We did what we wanted, ate what we wanted (well, sort of, I'm in the middle of a calorie counting marathon lose weight extravaganza), we drove where we wanted. It was wonderful!
Our first stop was, of course, the NEW Cafe Rio that just opened up in Orange County. Can I just say how happy I am to know it's only an hour car ride away?
We continued our drive up the 5 to the coast. One of the best parts about the weekend was that it was kind of rainy and stormy when we left -- our favorite kind of weather. So the sky and clouds and hills were so gorgeous.
The first night we stayed in Oxnard, a little beach town that's pretty special to me. Oxnard was the place that my mom, sister and I spent a whole summer when I was about ten or eleven years old. It was before we had any idea we'd be moving to California. My step-dad's family owned a tiny little beach house, literally, ON the beach. I'm not kidding when I say ON the beach. Like, backyard is sand and beach. Hopefully you can tell by the pictures. But, I have to say, that summer we stayed there is one of my all time favorite summers ever (tied with the summer my dad took us to Italy). My sister and I just played on the beach every single day. We didn't swim much, we waded mostly, because we weren't used to the huge waves. Long Island Sound is pretty dull in the wave department -- the ocean mostly just laps onto shore. When we arrived at the house it was pretty dusty inside. No one had been there for a while. I remember we re-painted the kitchen and swept all the sand out. The little house has since been sold, but it's still part of my happiest childhood memories. Seeing it again for the first time in almost 20 years was pretty special. And although it looks like a bunch of hippies owned the place, I still look at it and smile. I'm so glad Tyler decided to take me back there! And I'm glad I could show him and share with him those memories of mine.
Here's the back of the house. See what I mean about the backyard and sand? Not an illusion. Where the wall stops the sand starts.
This beach itself is absolutely amazing. It's wide and stretches on forever. It's breathtaking.
This picture is for my step-dad. He grew up going to this corner store in the summer.
We also had some amazing fish tacos from this place:
Some of the best I've ever had.
For breakfast we ate here:
One of the top rated breakfast places. It was awesome!
And one thing I couldn't get over on our trip was seeing all that snow on the mountains. I'm not used to being at the beach and seeing that. It was beautiful!
That afternoon we continued our drive up to Santa Barbara. Tyler and I had been there before a few years ago for my birthday but didn't get to spend much time there. This time we spent almost the whole day. I really love Santa Barbara. All the shops and antique stores and the beach and the views. It's got a nice little beach town feel but is still hip and young.
We drove down the beach and saw a lot of sail boats that had been stranded on shore. It must have been because of the storms from the week before. But it was pretty wild to see these huge boats buried in the sand.
Then we went up to the Mission. The grounds and the view is amazing from up there.
The skull and bones was for Max. And I thought the pointing friar was pretty funny.
We had a great trip together. We missed our babies but we were glad we had the chance to spend some time just the two of us for more than just a few hours on a Saturday night (we don't get many of those either). Definitely need to make it a regular thing, like once a year or something.
Our first stop was, of course, the NEW Cafe Rio that just opened up in Orange County. Can I just say how happy I am to know it's only an hour car ride away?
We continued our drive up the 5 to the coast. One of the best parts about the weekend was that it was kind of rainy and stormy when we left -- our favorite kind of weather. So the sky and clouds and hills were so gorgeous.
The first night we stayed in Oxnard, a little beach town that's pretty special to me. Oxnard was the place that my mom, sister and I spent a whole summer when I was about ten or eleven years old. It was before we had any idea we'd be moving to California. My step-dad's family owned a tiny little beach house, literally, ON the beach. I'm not kidding when I say ON the beach. Like, backyard is sand and beach. Hopefully you can tell by the pictures. But, I have to say, that summer we stayed there is one of my all time favorite summers ever (tied with the summer my dad took us to Italy). My sister and I just played on the beach every single day. We didn't swim much, we waded mostly, because we weren't used to the huge waves. Long Island Sound is pretty dull in the wave department -- the ocean mostly just laps onto shore. When we arrived at the house it was pretty dusty inside. No one had been there for a while. I remember we re-painted the kitchen and swept all the sand out. The little house has since been sold, but it's still part of my happiest childhood memories. Seeing it again for the first time in almost 20 years was pretty special. And although it looks like a bunch of hippies owned the place, I still look at it and smile. I'm so glad Tyler decided to take me back there! And I'm glad I could show him and share with him those memories of mine.
Here's the back of the house. See what I mean about the backyard and sand? Not an illusion. Where the wall stops the sand starts.
This beach itself is absolutely amazing. It's wide and stretches on forever. It's breathtaking.
This picture is for my step-dad. He grew up going to this corner store in the summer.
We also had some amazing fish tacos from this place:
Some of the best I've ever had.
For breakfast we ate here:
One of the top rated breakfast places. It was awesome!
And one thing I couldn't get over on our trip was seeing all that snow on the mountains. I'm not used to being at the beach and seeing that. It was beautiful!
That afternoon we continued our drive up to Santa Barbara. Tyler and I had been there before a few years ago for my birthday but didn't get to spend much time there. This time we spent almost the whole day. I really love Santa Barbara. All the shops and antique stores and the beach and the views. It's got a nice little beach town feel but is still hip and young.
We drove down the beach and saw a lot of sail boats that had been stranded on shore. It must have been because of the storms from the week before. But it was pretty wild to see these huge boats buried in the sand.
Then we went up to the Mission. The grounds and the view is amazing from up there.
The skull and bones was for Max. And I thought the pointing friar was pretty funny.
We had a great trip together. We missed our babies but we were glad we had the chance to spend some time just the two of us for more than just a few hours on a Saturday night (we don't get many of those either). Definitely need to make it a regular thing, like once a year or something.
The Getty
On our way back home from our fabulous weekend getaway we stopped at The Getty -- an amazing art museum in LA. Neither of us had ever been there before and it's free! So we stopped in for a few hours. We love art museums. We especially liked the Rembrandt exhibit. He's one of my favorites. His paintings are so natural and real looking they almost look like photographs.
These are just a few cool things I noticed there.
Two of my faves.
King Henry the VIII -- he wanted to be painted this way to show off his legs. And let me tell you -- they are pretty dang good looking legs -- FOR A GIRL.
And I kind of dig how the french decorated. Apparently hot pink has always been cool
These are just a few cool things I noticed there.
Two of my faves.
King Henry the VIII -- he wanted to be painted this way to show off his legs. And let me tell you -- they are pretty dang good looking legs -- FOR A GIRL.
And I kind of dig how the french decorated. Apparently hot pink has always been cool
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Lia's First Piggies
Her hair is just long and wild enough that I can do them! So exciting! If only she'd hold still long enough...
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Just two for today...
I just wanted to post these up today. Because they are cute and funny and silly and well, that one of Max is so serious. They make me smile.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Healthy Breakfast
This is what Tyler thinks is a healthy breakfast.
Yes, that is a banana with a spoonful of nutella and a spoonful of almond butter. I'm pretty sure he'll explain to you that adding the banana to those things makes them healthier.
Yes, that is a banana with a spoonful of nutella and a spoonful of almond butter. I'm pretty sure he'll explain to you that adding the banana to those things makes them healthier.
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