Adventures in Wonderland

Long time no blog!

2010-01-07T12:31:00.000-08:00

I'm going to catch up in the next two days though. I have a nice list of things to add, and part of my New Year's resolution (yeah, yeah, they suck, we'll all break them, oh well) is to keep up with my blogging! Everyone else should too, so I can properly stalk you online.

Painting Aiden's room

2009-05-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

Aiden's room was declared a governmental disaster zone a few weeks ago. I finally got the guts to go in, strip everything out, and start over last week. I had discussed with Aiden what he wanted his room theme to be, and once we saw this, we knew it was perfect. So it began. We still entrenched in reorganizing and decorating, but here is our progress thus far.

Before (dun dun duuuunnnnnnn):

That's his new Ikea loft/desk we got for FREE off Craigslist. Good score on that one.

Step one has been painting his walls blue:

And his shelf green (shelf was also free, given to us by a neighbor:

So that's where we stand now. I need to order the decals, which will be awhile since they're kind of pricey and I need to save up for them. Then I have several smaller projects to complete the room, including painting his toy box to look like an NES and making a wall clock into a chain chomp. All in time!

Letters from Aiden

2009-04-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had a particularly tough day with Aiden. He was just having typical kid attitude problems; nothing major, but out of character and therefore tough nonetheless. Constant talking back, arguing, that kind of thing.
I finally sent him to bed (he sleeps in my room when Scott is gone, so he went in there) and settled on the couch to watch Heroes in HD and edit some pictures on my computer for some friends. About five minutes later, he comes out, drops this on my lap, and runs back to bed (click to make any bigger):

Translation: Please forgive me I made your bed for you. ♥Aiden

(These are all written on random papers he found in my room, by the way. Rough budgets Scott was working on, packing lists I made, etc)

Another few minutes rolled by, and he came out with another note:

Translation: No or Yes, Loryn You can watch Heroes if you want in the bedroom.
I told him thanks for being sweet, but I needed to get some work done and that I would be in when I was through. So he crossed out yes and checked the no box, which made me laugh when I saw it later, because he did this privately.

Another five minutes, and:

Translation: Yes or No, ♥Aiden PS I love you Loryn If you change your mind you can come in if you want?

I just about died. I just asked why he wrote Loryn instead of Mama, and he said "because that's your real name!"

The back of that one:

This is a recreation of the scene from The Giving Tree where the boy carves "Me + Tree" into the tree. It says "Aiden + Mama = ever." So now, this little turd not only knows that he's getting to me and softening me up with these notes, he's quoting the one book that always make me cry when I read it to him.

Finally he fell asleep, I finished my work and Heroes was over (god I love Sylar!). I went to bed to find one final note slipped under the door waiting for me:

Translation: Loryn You know what when I am a adult I will not move out of the house just for you okay! ♥Aiden
Obviously, this is my favorite. I'm pretty sure I'll be framing it, because it just made me laugh so hard. Seven years old, and he already knows exactly how to try and manipulate me. I'm in for it when he's a teenager.

Easter, or Happy Zombie Jesus Day (I'm going to Hell)

2009-04-21T15:19:00.000-07:00

We're not really religious, so Easter isn't a very big deal around our house. Aiden really likes the crafts/candy aspect of the holiday though, so we still do those things for him.
We colored eggs and staged a mini egg hunt in our yard for Aiden and his friend, Brianna.

Aiden refused to take off his Spongebob jammies.

His favorite egg:

My zombie egg (told you I was going to Hell):

BBQed eggs?

The nephew visits

2009-04-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

My nephew (Scott's sister's son Gilbert) came to visit for a couple of days over spring break, so we decided to use some passes we had saved up and took the boys whale watching.

Click the thumbnails to embiggen!

The weather was great; we didn't end up seeing any whales, but we did see a pod of like, 500 (no exaggerating, there were that many!) dolphins. We also saw jellies, pelicans (my favorites) and sea lions. It was awesome, though Gilbert got a little bored by the end. He's 10, so I guess that's what I have to look forward to in the future on family outings! I think the boys still had a great time.

Newport:

"Arsty fartsy" pics by me:

Contemplating the vastness of the ocean, or, trying not to get seasick:

Dolphins!

I took the boys to the beach that evening for a little body boarding and tide pooling.

The next day, we took them to Mitsuwa for lunch. It's this amazing Japanese grocery store that has a killer food court and specialty shops in it. It's definitely one of our favorite places, and actually a big part of why we went to Japan, since they have a cheap ass travel agency inside too.

Gilbert had never had Japanese food before, so we ordered the boys Aiden's favorite, udon, which earned rave reviews from them. One of these days I need to head there with the express purpose for writing it up on my food blog.

Here're the kidlets practicing their proper slurping:

I've got more blogging to do today, including Easter and some on my other blog, but right now I have to take Aiden to the pool and enjoy the sunshine!

Blaurgh!!!

2009-04-09T19:59:00.001-07:00

I went to change my layout, and with it lost the code for creating the "read more" link. It's pissing me off and I need to step away, so this will be fixed later. Grumbletupidgrumble...

Aiden is the smartest child in the world!

2009-04-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

I think so anyway. He recently got an award in school for great reading and math skills. Atta boy!

With the principal:

There is no more, ignore the click. You can, however, click the pics to make them bigger (still proud of that).

Spring days

2009-04-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

These are just some pictures I have from a recent trip to the park. Nothing exciting, just taking advantage of the nice weather! More pics under the jump, and click to make larger (I finally figured out how to do that...I'm dumb).

"Photography"

2009-04-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

I love taking pictures. I hate referring to myself as a photographer or what I do as photography though. It's a personal hang up; I did the same when I played music regularly, never called myself a musician. I guess I feel like anything I do artistically isn't worth a title like that.

Armchair psychology aside, I love taking pictures! Lately I got the opportunity to sell some of my pictures at a local cafe. I'm working on printing some and getting them matted, and then they'll be hanging in the restaurant.

So for now, I thought I would share some of the pictures I've taken recently. These are all just ones I've taken locally as examples for the owner of the restaurant. I'll add non-local ones soon. Click below for my pics.

My stuff!

Here are a few, click to embiggen:

Christmastime!

2009-03-21T22:45:00.001-07:00

I'm going to be lazy and mostly post pics for the last few months worth of things I need to put up here. It's the American way!

My mom and dad came for Christmas, and in general we had a nice, low key time. Kind of sparse on the presents (since we were still hurting from Japan) but we had a great holiday anyway!

Here Aiden in bed on Christmas night; he's sleeping with all his stuffies like I used to as a kid:

Back into the swing of things

2009-03-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

I need to update here so I don't just let this die like so many other things I've started. On my days off this week, I'll upload new pics of Christmas and Aiden's birthday. Those are about the only two exciting things that have happened; mostly we've just been working and getting Aiden through the school year.
I also plan on finally updating my food blog with all the great (and, erm, not so great) things we ate in Japan.

Blogging Japan: Days 11, 12 and 13, or back to Tokyo

2008-11-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

I've actually been home for a few days now, but have avoided writing about our final days partly out of exhaustion, and partly because I already miss Japan a lot.

We left Kyoto and got back on the shinkansen headed for Tokyo. Unfortunately, the only car with available seats when we made out reservations was a smoking one, but other than that it was an ok trip. Even managed to snap a shot of Mt. Fugi out the window:

Oh! I also shot a nifty video of our train pulling into the station. Have a mentioned I love my new camera? Cause I do.

Can you hear Scott saying "badass" in the background? Indeed.

So back we headed to Tokyo, the Aizuya Inn, and our same tatami mat room. It felt like home base for us; really nice to be back in a neighborhood and hotel we knew, with familiar faces, especially after traipsing through Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto.

The next few days, we took it pretty easy, all being very worn out from the constant traveling and walking. We went back to Akihabara, and hit Harajuku even. That was utter insanity. We had gone in hopes of seeing and taking pics of those famous Harajuku girls, but it was so, so, so packed just walking down the street was difficult.

Most nights we hung out in our rooms, playing poker or other random card games with the "Pooh and Piget" deck Troy found in a Kyoto 100 yen shop. Turns out Aiden is really awesome at poker; he actually beat everyone several times.

There may have been some beer drinking involved as well. Including the smallest, cutest beer in the world:

And thus ends our two weeks spent in the land of the rising sun. We came home on about a nine hour flight, which was pleasant enough. More movies and games to keep us occupied, more tasty airplane food and good service from Singapore Air.

The weird thing about coming home was the time differences. We left on Tuesday, the 25th at 6:30 pm from Japan, and arrived in LA on Tuesday, the 25th at 10:30 am. Back to the future baby! Unfortunately as a result, our sleep schedules are all messed up. Yesterday, Aiden and I slept until late afternoon and were up until 4 am. I set the alarm to wake us up today, and I have him in bed right now, trying to fall asleep. We need to get back on track since school starts again soon.

Thanks for reading, if anyone made it all the way through my ramblings. And if you did, comment and let me know! I'd like to think someone out there read these XD. I'll also be making some additions to previous Japan entries, so if you haven't read them yet, they'll have even more boring content to waste your precious time with! Woo!

Sayonara, Japan. It was an absolute blast.

Blogging Japan: Days 8, 9 and 10, or Effing Monkeys

2008-11-23T22:38:00.000-08:00

We headed to Kyoto on a regular train. I was looking forward to Kyoto after Osaka, since it's a milder town with a high concentration of temples and shrines. We all ended up sharing a tatami mat room at a hotel called The Sparkling Dolphins, so it was like a three day long slumber party.

Troy and Aiden pillow fighting.

We quickly discovered a nice grocery store around the corner from us, which ended up saving us a lot of money. We bought most of our meals there, and our hotel had a common cooking area, so I was able to cook several times.

Our first full day, we headed to the Imperial Palace. It was gorgeous with all the fall trees, and there were lots of little shrines scattered about. For some reason, there were a lot of cats around (which Aiden dubbed “Buddha Cats”), and I liked seeing them chilling out, stretched out on the shrines and sunning themselves.

Paper cranes.

We finally made it to the actual palace, but found that you needed a special permit to enter, which we obviously didn't have, so we headed off. The train system in Kyoto doesn't really work like in Tokyo; the trains basically only go two directions, so we were stuck buying a bus pass and trying to navigate the bus system. It was pretty confusing and the buses tended to take forever to arrive, so that was a but annoying to say the least.

The next morning, I happened to read in my Lonely Planet guidebook (I've used that one a lot more than any other on this trip and really recommend them) that there would be a big flea market down the street that only happens once a month, so we decided to check that out. It was packed with people, and a ton of vendors selling everything from bottles, to clothes and tons of food. I had a good time looking through all the things for sale, and picked up a couple of trinkets to bring home.

We got a map that showed pictures of landmarks in the area, and there was a monkey icon. Monkey icon had to equal monkeys, so we hopped on the buses again (more long waits, and Kyoto is cooooold this time of year) and got off in the general vicinity of the monkey picture. We ended up at a really beautiful shrine with a little brook going past it, so we played Pooh Sticks and Troy won. The area was beautiful, lots of really nice houses with pretty yards. We started up a street that seemed like it went in the right direction, and just kept walking. After a long, long way and no monkey town, we turned down another street and ran into a couple of ladies hanging out and letting their kids play. We asked them “monkey park?” and they, very animatedly, mimed the way we should go, and finally drew us a little map.

At the Pooh Sticks temple:

Turns out we were going the right direction, just not far enough. So we started back on our original path, and after maybe 20 more minutes of walking, made it to a really pretty river area at the base of a mountain. And there was a monkey sign! So we bought our tickets at the kiosk, and headed up a flight of stairs to see the monkeys finally.

Now, I had looked online and the site described the walk to monkey town as “up a small hill.” That was no small hill. It ended up being an actual hike up that damn mountain; took us about another 30 minutes to make it up to where the monkeys were.

When we FINALLY did make it all the way to the top, the view was unbelievable. All of Kyoto was spread out in front of us. And there were macaque monkeys everywhere. There's a troop of 170 of them that live wild there, so we couldn't pet them, but we did go inside a little cabin that's covered in chicken wire to feed them. Aiden chose to buy peanuts, and we fed the monkeys through the wire. I'm a terrible person, so I teased the monkeys by pretending to have food in my hand when I didn't. That seriously pissed them off, and those damn monkeys are strong when they grab you. And scary when they scream at you.

We went back outside, and I took some monkey beauty shots with my awesome new camera. I tried to take some pics of a really darling baby monkey, but was very nearly attacked by the mom, so that was axed.

We had to hike down the mountain, and went over to the river to take some more pictures. Guess what came next? More walking! We had to hoof it a few more miles back to a bus stop to get back to the hotel. Halfway there, it started pouring rain. I had my umbrella, but it didn't stop it from completely soaking the bottom half of my jeans and my shoes. I had stupidly warn fabric ballet flats that day, it was night time already, and my feet were so wet and cold.

Finally we got on the bus, and after a long ride made it back to the hotel to change in to warm clothes and make dinner. Thanks to those fucking ('scuse my French) monkeys, we had walked like six miles and gallivanted all over Kyoto in the rain.

Stupid monkeys.

Blogging Japan: Day 7, or Hey, There's Some Deer

2008-11-22T02:35:00.000-08:00

We spent the next day taking a train to a mountain town called Nara, which is famed for it's old temples and tame deer roaming the streets. I had no idea how absolutely breathtakingly beautiful it would be though.

Nara is home to both the largest wooden building in the world, and the largest Buddha made of metal. Nothing can possibly compare to seeing them in person, but here are some pictures I took in my feeble attempt at trying to encapsulate their beauty:

Hundreds of tame deer also call Nara home, which was funny at first. They did get a bit pushy once we were out of deer cookies though, and I actually had my ass bitten by a few angry ones.

Deer video shot by Scott; you can now witness it bite my ass!

We are so lucky to be here in the fall, and the colors of the trees were so awe inspiring. Nara was like a magical wonderland to me; I honestly wouldn't have been surprised if a unicorn had walked through the woods in front of us.

Back in Osaka, we spent out last night having a mini kuidaore again in Shensekai, and prepared to head to Kyoto the next morning.

Internet issues

2008-11-20T03:46:00.000-08:00

We're in Kyoto now, but I'm having really bad internet issues, which is a big part of the reason posts are so lacking. I'll keep writing everything though, and post things when I can! I'm still working on even getting the pictures from the aquarium loaded online. But they will be there!

Blogging Japan: Days 5 and 6, or Kuidaore!

2008-11-18T03:29:00.000-08:00

I decided to combine both of our days in Osaka in one post, mostly because I'm lazy and also because we've been crazy busy. My main hope for Osaka was that I would be able to eat some really great food, and I haven't been disappointed at all.

Homework on the train, bummer.

We took the shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka. It's a bullet train, so it was really fast and cool. It actually made me feel a but queasy at the beginning, but once I was used to it I really liked it. We passed by some amazingly beautiful countryside, and since it's fall we were able to see a lot of nice foliage too.

Our hotel is pretty funny here; we're staying at a business hotel, so there are a lot of salarymen staying here. My favorite thing is when they're all walking around in their robes in the morning. There's a communal bath downstairs, and you can hear them laughing and talking down the hall.

Osaka is like night and day compared to Tokyo. The pretty clean streets have been replaced with a bit more grime and trash, and the people dressed to the nines are not really to be found here. It's more of a working class, blue collar kind of neighborhood. The great thing about Osaka is that when they do get off of work, they know how to relax! Everywhere you look are places to eat, pachinko parlors, even "pleasure clubs" (you can guess what those are).

Scott found a beer vending machine

The main reason we came here (like I said before) is for the food, and specifically to experience "kuidaore." It translates roughly to "to ruin one's self with food," and I wanted to do just that. The main area for kuidaore is called Dotonbori, a hive of food stalls, arcades, and bars. We found that there's an area right near where we're staying that is a smaller, seedier version of Dotomburi called Shinsekai. I was still set on heading there for my kuidaore experience though.

Our first night, we walked a long, long way to find an ATM that accepted American cards so we could get cash out, then split up for dinner. Lindsey and Troy went to an Italian place at a mall, and Scott, Aiden and I headed down to Shinsekai for a tasty dinner of kushiage and yakitori. I keep meaning to take pictures of all this amazing food, but I get so excited about eating it I forget.

The next morning we decided to make a trip to the aquarium so that Aiden could have a special day. I loved the layout of the aquarium. We started at he top and worked our way in a circle through the building; that way we got to see each tank top to bottom. The stars of the aquarium are the whale sharks, which were huge and beautiful.

Again, I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures now so everyone can see all the neat things we saw: jellyfish, sea otters, the whale sharks, sunfish, etc:

We decided to kuidaore that night, and headed to Dotumburi to get down. After Shinsekai, however, Dotunburi seemed too commercialized. I had the grilled carb legs at Kani Doraku that I had been so looking forward to, and then we decided to head back to Shinsekai for our full out kuidaore experience.

Back in Shinsekai, we bounced from place to place, ordering food and rounds of drinks. I definitely feel like I accomplished all my kuidaore dreams. We also started going to arcades in between, and things were getting a little silly by night's end.

There, I hope those million pics I just put up make for a lack of posts (sorry Mom!). The most important thing to remember about the whole thing is for relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

Blogging Japan: Day 4, or No Wonder the Japanese are so Thin

2008-11-16T03:18:00.000-08:00

This was our last day in Tokyo, at least until the end of the trip. By this point, my feet are in constant pain from all the walking. And here I thought I brought along my most comfy pair of shoes. My pinkie toes beg to differ, however, as I honestly have blisters on top of blisters. I swear to Jebus, if I haven't lost weight from all the walking and healthy food by the time I get home I'll freak.

Since Scott and Aiden were as tired as I was this morning, we decided we'd make a mellow day of it. We grabbed breakfast at the local market (I had small pieces of chicken, spaghetti, potato salad, and rice...odd indeed) and then hopped on the train. Lindsey and Troy decided to brave Shibuya on a Saturday for shopping, while Scott, Aiden and I headed back to Electric Town in search of a new camera.

Electric Town, or Akibahara, has a ton of stores selling gadgets for cheap, including some stores that sell them duty (or tax) free to overseas customers. I ended up scoring a great deal on a new Canon, which is my new precious. I need to figure out all the different features of it, since it has a ton more than my old, crappy camera.

We made it back to the hostel and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. The three of us headed back to the same sit down restaurant from a few nights ago and had a smaller, chicken version of the simmering pot. Here's where I go on and on about how amazing it was: the veggies were fresh, there were delicious chicken dumplings, and this time in the ponzu sauce she cracked a raw egg. That meant that every time we scooped some of the goodness into our bowls, the egg would cook. Oh my god, so good. Scott and I decided that we're going to invest in a table top cooker like that and start to eat this style regularly.

Again, the chef came out and visited with Aiden. This time at the end of the meal, he presented him with three kids' books in Japanese. We looked through them with him at the table; it seems to me they're kind of like Aesop's Fables, or stories with a message. Really cute drawings, and Aiden liked to look at the kanji and thought it was funny that the books are read backward.

As we were leaving, we told them we were heading out of Tokyo the next day, but that we would be back for sure. Aiden said “arigato gozimas” to the chef, and he gave Aiden a big bear hug. I told the owner I didn't want to leave and she said we should just move here and stay. I really wish I could.

Back at the hostel, Troy and Lindsey were home with some cute things from the stores downtown. They were heading out to see Troy's friend Kimi, and I'm an ass so I invited myself along. We met her at a restaurant in Ginza, which seems like a pretty fashionable and pricier neighborhood. The restaurant was kind of spendy, but since I had already eaten I ordered a drink called a Harvey Wallbanger, just because it made me laugh. Troy got some really amazing duck and veggies, and we sat and visited until around midnight. We got to experience the last minute crush of drunk people running through the stations and trying to catch the last trains of the night. The cars are so different late at night; in the day time, people are very focused on being quiet and respectful, but that night everyone was talking much more loudly and animatedly, trying to stay standing against the swaying of the train.

We got back to the hostel and headed to bed; Aiden and Scott were long asleep by that point. The windows were all open, and I noticed that Scott had hung some laundry to dry in the window, which was now getting rained on. I was so tired and lazy I just left it for the morning and another round in the dryer.

Blogging Japan: Day 3, or Past and Present

2008-11-14T22:41:00.000-08:00

We started the morning at the same breakfast place, trying to recoup from the long night before. I felt much better after the soup and yams I ate, and Troy, Scott, Aiden and I headed back to the same temple we visited the night before. Our impromptu guide was right; it was packed full of hundreds of worshipers there for the festival.

Since we had had a crash course in etiquette already, we were able to assimilate into the crowd and do everything correctly. We purified ourselves in the smoke, washed out hands and mouths in the fountain, threw coins into the offering area, and finally went inside the temple. It was so beautiful I had to fight back tears.

We left the main building, and walked through the courtyard areas of the grounds. It was so different from the night before. Everything was open and teeming with people looking through the hundreds of shops, more small shrines, and entertainment.

We left the temple grounds, and just walked until we reached a river and a fun park. Aiden was happy about that, since he hasn't really had a chance to run around much on the trip so far. It was especially pretty since the leaves are turning for fall.

We went back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit before heading out for our big night in downtown Tokyo. We went to Shibuya and Shinjuku, which is the busiest and brightest part of the city. My camera unfortunately decided to crap out in the train station on the way there; I'm going to try to salvage what pics I did manage to take later and hope that some came through.

Shibuya was very crowded with Japanese and tourists alike, all dressed in their best, shopping and dining. We had dinner at a restaurant there...let's call it our Bizarre Foods dinner of the trip. We started with an appetizer of fried eel spines, followed by fried pork cartilage, fried noodles, and yakitori consisting of the following chicken parts: breast, egg yolk, hearts, livers, gizzards, wings, thighs, and tail. It was an interesting dinner to say the least.

We hopped back on the rail and headed to the Times Square area of Tokyo. At this point I was exhausted, my feet hurt, and I was feeling a bit queasy from dinner; the absolute crush of people and being blinded/deafened by the lights and sounds of it all was just a bit overwhelming for me in the moment. I consider myself more of a city girl, but this was entirely new and just too much. It's weird, but I think if I had had my camera I would have been able to isolate it into segments and concentrate on one thing at a time instead of being just bewildered by it all. I hope to go back when we come back to Tokyo at the end of our trip, my new camera in hand and knowing what to expect.

I did realize, through the two absolute different Japans that I experienced from the day to the night, that I prefer the old, quiet version to the new, modern Japan. That makes me excited for the rest of the trip, as we're headed to Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara next, which progressively get more traditional. We'll see!

Blogging Japan: Day 2, or Getting to Know You

2008-11-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

We woke up early our first morning, about 7 am. Scott had to go out and take care of some banking issues (Bank of America put a freeze on our accounts, lame but understandable), so Aiden and I got ready for the day and watched insane kids' shows on TV. I mean, really crazy. Like, this crazy:

We wandered around Minami-shenju for awhile until we smelled good things coming from inside a small restaurant, so we stepped inside to eat. Troy took Japanese for several years (which has been really helpful so far), and asked the man "what's good to eat?" The cook just laughed, as Troy ended up actually saying something along the lines of "what do I like to eat?" He mimed his way through showing us how to order what we wanted. For the three of us, we ordered three miso soups, one fried onion croquette, two big bowls of rice, and three hot teas. The total was $6. And here we were worried about the high cost of eating in the city. It was really awesome food too; the miso soup was the best I've ever had. It had cabbage in it along with all the regular ingredients, and that made it so much tastier. We said thank you to the cooks and decided that we'll have all our breakfasts there while we're in Tokyo.

We got on the train, and after a few missteps and backtracking made it to our sight seeing destination for today, Electric Town. It was busy, but pretty cool. Lots of anime, gadgets, DVDs and toys. Lots of shielding Aiden's eyes from cartoon boobies. The only bummer was no one wanted to eat, and I kept passing all these amazing looking food places. Next time I'm just going to pig out anyway. I can't pass this stuff up.

Our plans for tonight are to eat dinner, and hit the karaoke bar down the street. If we get enough sleep, we're planing on heading to the Tsukiji Fish Market tomorrow morning for the best sushi breakfast in the world.

*******************************************

Last night ended up being so crazy that I have to write about it.

On the recommendation of the hotel staff, we went to dinner at a traditional family restaurant down the street. It was the type where you took off your shoes and kneeled on the floor in front of the table. We ordered sake and asked the owner to give us what she thought we would like. We ended up ordering a simmering hot pan, cooked on a stove on the table, of tons of veggies, tofu, and pork. It was so amazing; there aren't even words. We had a ponzu sauce to dip it into that gave it a really nice, crisp after taste.

Aiden was the star of the restaurant though; he quickly gained the attention of the chef, who continued to bring him out goodies from the kitchen and visit with him. He even got two desserts, some ice cream and then a darling little chocolate/cake piggy.

We finished dinner and walked several blocks to a temple we heard was in the area. I had no idea what to expect, and it was so beautiful beyond anything I could have imagined. I'll let the pictures do the talking here:

In another display of the amazing Japanese hospitality, a random business man took us under his wing while we were at the temple and explained every last detail of it to us. It was truly awesome; we learned things we otherwise would have had no clue about, like the fact that we happened to be here at the time of a festival for the Buddha. This is one of the only times a year that the temple is actually open to the public, and though it was closed last night, we got to do some of the rituals, like "shaking hands with the Buddha" via a long series of ropes. That was pretty special.

He took us to a game in front of the temple, where you draw a stick with a number, open the corresponding drawer, and receive your fortune. I managed to draw a good fortune, which he was very happy for me about.

We said "arigato gozaimasu" to him, dropped Aiden and Scott off at the hotel, and hit the karaoke bar around the corner. And what a little karaoke bar it was.

It was clear from the start that it was a local bar; there were about four or five old men in there, one younger guy, and the woman owner. She gave us beer and some snacks, and we ate while listening to some of the super song stylings of our new friends. Of course we had to sing as well; we got several good songs in throughout the night. Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, Mack the Knife, Like a Virgin.

Part way through, a drunk and stumbling dude came in and sat right down with us. He said he was from Czechleslovakia (here in he shall be referred to as "The Czech"), and began yelling loudly that he wanted a beer and to sing David Bowwwwwwwwieee.

He started singing, and that was about the time Lindsey turned to me and said "this guy's full of shit, he's not Czech." She was 100% right; we called him on his crap and he admitted he was from America, especially after Troy read his work visa to him and told him where he was from. He was drunk and annoying, but a relatively big guy, so we basically put up with him and his weird stories/sexual advances the rest of the night.

Jan Bo was also quite the guy, a younger Japanese man than the other guys in the bar. He challenged us to a lot of singing contests (sadly, he won them all), and also to some arm wrestling (which he also beat me at).

We walked home, and The Czech followed, mumbling that he couldn't find his hotel. He went inside ours and asked for directions; on the way out he kept saying "this place is so much nicer than mine, and cheaper!" I really hope he doesn't show up here.

Later Troy and I were sitting outside on the porch and Jan Bo wandered by and sat down in from of us. He was really trying to tell us something, but we just couldn't understand. We thought at the time that he was wanting us to get him a room here; later, Troy talked to the front desk about it. Turns out he came in and was asking to make sure that we got home ok, since The Czech had followed us. Maybe we'll run into Jan Bo again before we go and buy him a drink.

I stumbled upstairs, got into my jammies, and then decided that a cup of ramen sounded really great. I headed back down the three flights of stairs to the living room, and walked into a pretty animated conversation about Nutella between a Frenchman and the Japanese hostess here. "Do you know Nutella?!" he asked me; heck yes I know Nutella! That got me wrapped up into a two hour long visit with those two, which was really fun and enlightening, since I got to hear two different foreigners' views of America. Alex, the Frenchman, told me that I didn't seem like an American, which actually was a really nice complement considering what they had just told me.

I finally headed upstairs with my cup of noodles at 2 am, took one bite, and decided they were too spicy and just went to sleep instead. I was awakened, very unhappily though very amusingly, but a battalion of Japanese men, marching in formation in the street under my window to a bullhorn. Nice wake up call.

Needless to say, we did not make it to the fish market this morning.

Blogging Japan: Day 1, or And so it Begins

2008-11-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here in the lobby of my hostel, drinking green tea and unwinding while everyone else takes a nap, so I thought it would be a good time to start journaling the trip while everything is still fresh in my mind.

Scott, Aiden, my brother Troy, and his girl Lindsey have all made the very long trip to Tokyo, Japan. We left the house at 9 am on Tuesday, flew for almost 12 hours, and arrived Tokyo time at 6 pm the next day. So technically, I'm in the future! Ha.

Anyway, the flight was tedious, but we all made it though. I was especially impressed with Aiden, as it was his first very long flight. We flew Singapore Air, which I highly recommend. The food and service were great, and the best part was that each seat had their own TV, equipped with video and shows on demand, as well as a bunch of games. That kept us all pretty busy.

We made it through customs and to the trains no problem, but when we finally got to our destination station were totally lost. Luckily, a nice man noticed (not that it was hard to notice five fumbling Americans in the depot) we were lost and helped us find exactly the way to get to our hotel.

We're currently staying at the Aizuya-inn, which is a three story hostel in the Minamishenju area. It's pretty sweet; we have tatami mat rooms, and even though we share shower and bathroom facilities, everything is very clean and everyone is super nice and helpful.

We were so exhausted by the time we got all settled in that we laid out our beds and crashed. It ended up working out perfectly; we fell asleep at about 10 pm Tokyo time and woke up at 7 am. So we're already on Japan time, and with minimal jet lag.

Viva Las Vegas

2008-10-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

Some friends and I headed to Las Vegas last weekend for the New Kids on the Block reunion tour. Yeah...and it was AWESOME! I haven't been to Vegas since I was about 17 and way too young too fully appreciate it. Lots of pics of the debauchery after the click!

We got there on Friday afternoon and headed out to the strip. We stayed at a nice little hotel right off the strip and behind the Hooters Casino, which was the way we always found our way stumbling home at 4 am.

Vegas has changed a lot since I was last there; tons of new casinos and things to do. The first night we had dinner, then my friend Cristy and I wandered around the strip, harassing/getting harassed by random people. We even got those massive two foot tall souvenir drinks.

We spent the rest of the night partying at the club LAX at the Luxor. Now, I have never been to a club before, and was sure I would hate it. I actually had a freaking blast! I even danced. Criss Angel was randomly there, being all douchbaggy like usual. We left the club at about 3:30 am; I don't even know the last time I was up that late.

The next day we spent trying to find Cristy's ID that she had lost the night before. We had no luck until right before the club opened, when a security guard came through and found it for us just in time. Good thing too, because it was Cristy's 30th birthday, and that would have really sucked. We did manage to go on the roller coaster at NY NY; it was really scary and awesome. Different than regular coasters because you're flying around a building and above the strip.

That night was the NKOTB concert. Honestly, it was fabulous. The guys sang great live, and were as hot as ever.

Me and Cristy at the concert:

The best part was their after party at LAX. We were waiting by the red carpet for them to show up, and when they did I jumped to the front and took a pretty sweet pic:

I also grabbed to touch Joey (my love since I was 10) but got Jon's arm instead, which is also super ok with me!

We waited in a herd of people (all of us were "on the list") trying to get into the club for the after party, and it just wasn't happening. Finally one of the girls bribed a bouncer and we were let in, much to the chagrin of the snooty girls in the crowd. I'm glad we did, because even though it was packed, New Kids were in there and played another small set. I'll have multiple videos of that soon; I'm still going through and editing them all.

I loved Vegas way more than I thought I would. I had such a good time with everyone; hopefully we can have a girls' weekend there once a year!

Fall fun

2008-10-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

Aiden and I had a whole day off together, so we made it into a fall celebration day. We had the perfect weather for it; it was in the mid 50s and raining. We got home from his soccer game and blew bubbles in the rain:

Then we made Halloween cookies...they may have been premade-bake-only, but we had fun!

I also put in a whole chicken to roast in the crock pot, since nothing is better to me on a cold day than the smell of roasting chicken in the house when you get home.

Aiden loves roasted pumpkin seeds, so we bought a pumpkin to make some.
Before (salt, garlic, and butter)

And all done!

Finally, we carved up the pumpkin instead of letting it go to waste, even though it will never last til Halloween. I made a Meepit from my work.

It was a really fun day! We capped it off by eating all our goodies and watching "Enchanted." This really is the best time of year.

Orb weaver season

2008-09-30T16:24:00.000-07:00

Every year at this time, we get a ton of orb weaver spiders outside. I hate spiders generally, but these are pretty unobtrusive and make nice webs. Today I was walking outside and found the biggest one I've seen yet, so I took some pictures of it. They're all behind the jump in case anyone is scared of creepy crawlies!

This is on my avocado tree. The leaf it's sitting on is the length of my hand and about half as wide, so this is a big guy! I got as close as I could without freaking out.

Sewing project

2008-09-29T16:13:00.000-07:00

I made a liner for my bike basket! It was pretty easy, and I think it turned out very well. Can't wait to take it out tomorrow. And yes, I got my pink streamers and Hello Kitty bell :P. Isn't it great?

Stuff

2008-09-19T20:03:00.001-07:00

I'm still running the couch to 5k program, and it's going well. Run number four is tomorrow, and I think I'll add 5-10 more minutes to my time. Getting easier!
I started a new project; it's linked over there --> under "Other Projects." It's called Disposable Moments. I hope it works out, cause I think the concept is pretty interesting.
I got a bike today. I am in love with it. I named her Betty, and I'd marry her if I could. I also ordered a basket, pink sparkly streamers, and a bell! She'll be the pimpin-est bike there ever was.

C to 5k: day 2 (and other random exercise crap)

2008-09-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I let it go a little long in between runs because I was busy, but I did go today for number two. Surprisingly, it was much easier! I had a watch this time and it was much better for keeping track of when I had to jog and when I had to walk. I plotted the trail I took on Google's Gmap Pedometer, and I went a total of 2.25 miles. I also plotted out my route when I walk Aiden to school, and if I walk him there and back morning and afternoon it equals 2 miles. So at least I can feel like I'm doing something good then.
Monday was my first yoga class. I was scared to go, since I've only ever done one yoga video, but it was really really awesome. It was 1.5 hours, but it went by so fast. The room was warm and dark and smelled really good, and the teacher was great. There was even some guided meditation at the beginning, and a really nice quiet meditation at the end. I sweat my face off and struggled with some of it, but I think I did pretty well considering I'm a newbie. I can't wait for next Monday.
No more, ignore that -->

September 11, 2001

2008-09-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

I tried to watch MSNBC's coverage of 9/11; they were replaying it exactly as it happened on-air. I remember vividly our roommate at the time, Lester, calling us sometime in the 6 am hour to wake us up and turn on the news. I did, just in time to see the second plane hit the Twin Towers. I saw it replayed today and had to turn it off after that point. Quiet moments of remembrance are one thing for me, but seeing it all over again it is still just too much.

So instead of reliving the horrible things that happened that day, I'm going to take the lead from one of my favorite blogs, Pinkisthenewblog. com, and post the names of those who lost their lives seven years ago. Let's read through, remember, and vow to never forget.

And yes, this is horrifyingly long.

Gordon M. Aamoth, Jr.

Edelmiro Abad
Maria Rose Abad
Andrew Anthony Abate
Vincent Abate
Laurence Christopher Abel
William F.
Abrahamson
Richard Anthony Aceto
Jesus Acevedo Rescand
Heinrich Bernhard Ackermann
Paul Acquaviva
Donald LaRoy Adams
Patrick Adams
Shannon Lewis Adams
Stephen George Adams
Ignatius Udo Adanga
Christy A.
Addamo
Terence E. Adderley, Jr.

Sophia Buruwad Addo
Lee Allan Adler
Daniel Thomas Afflitto
Emmanuel Akwasi Afuakwah
Alok Agarwal
Mukul Kumar Agarwala
Joseph Agnello
David Scott Agnes
Brian G.
Ahearn
Jeremiah Joseph Ahern
Joanne Marie Ahladiotis
Shabbir Ahmed
Terrance Andre Aiken
Godwin Ajala
Gertrude M.
Alagero
Andrew Alameno
Margaret Ann Alario
Gary M.
Albero
Jon Leslie Albert
Peter Alderman
Jacquelyn Delaine Aldridge
David D.
Alger
Sarah Ali-Escarcega
Ernest Alikakos
Edward L.
Allegretto
Eric Allen
Joseph Ryan Allen
Richard Dennis Allen
Richard Lanard Allen
Christopher E.
Allingham
Janet M.
Alonso
Arturo Alva-Moreno
Anthony Alvarado
Antonio Javier Alvarez
Victoria Alvarez-Brito
Telmo E.
Alvear
Cesar Amoranto Alviar
Tariq Amanullah
Angelo Amaranto
James M.
Amato Joseph Amatuccio
Christopher Charles Amoroso
Kazuhiro Anai
Calixto Anaya, Jr.

Joseph Anchundia
Kermit Charles Anderson
Yvette Constance Anderson
John Andreacchio
Michael Rourke Andrews
Jean Ann Andrucki
Siew-Nya Ang
Joseph Angelini, Jr.

Joseph Angelini, Sr.

Laura Angilletta
Doreen J.
Angrisani
Lorraine Antigua
Peter Paul Apollo
Faustino Apostol, Jr.

Frank Thomas Aquilino
Patrick Michael Aranyos
David Arce
Michael George Arczynski
Louis Arena
Adam P.
Arias
Michael Armstrong
Jack Charles Aron
Joshua Aron
Richard Avery Aronow
Japhet Jesse Aryee
Patrick Asante
Carl Asaro
Michael Asciak
Michael Edward Asher
Janice Marie Ashley
Thomas J.
Ashton
Manuel O.
Asitimbay
Gregg Arthur Atlas
Gerald T.
Atwood
James Audiffred
Louis Frank Aversano, Jr.

Ezra Aviles
Sandy Ayala
Arlene T.
Babakitis
Eustace P.
Bacchus
John J.
Badagliacca
Jane Ellen Baeszler
Robert J.
Baierwalter
Andrew J.
Bailey
Brett T.
Bailey
Tatyana Bakalinskaya
Michael S.
Baksh
Sharon M.
Balkcom
Michael Andrew Bane
Katherine Bantis
Gerard Baptiste
Walter Baran
Gerard A.
Barbara
Paul Vincent Barbaro
James William Barbella
Ivan Kyrillos F.
Barbosa
Victor Daniel Barbosa
Colleen Ann Barkow
David Michael Barkway
Matthew Barnes
Sheila Patricia Barnes
Evan J.
Baron
Renee Barrett-Arjune
Nathaly Barrios La Cruz
Arthur Thaddeus Barry
Diane G.
Barry
Maurice Vincent Barry
Scott D.
Bart
Carlton W.
Bartels
Guy Barzvi
Inna B.
Basina
Alysia Basmajian
Kenneth William Basnicki
Steven Bates
Paul James Battaglia
Walter David Bauer, Jr.

Marlyn Capito Bautista
Jasper Baxter
Michele Beale
Paul Frederick Beatini
Jane S.
Beatty
Lawrence Ira Beck
Manette Marie Beckles
Carl John Bedigian
Michael Earnest Beekman
Maria A.
Behr
Yelena Belilovsky
Nina Patrice Bell
Debbie Bellows
Stephen Elliot Belson
Paul M.
Benedetti
Denise Lenore Benedetto
Maria Bengochea
Bryan Craig Bennett
Eric L.
Bennett
Oliver Duncan Bennett
Margaret L.
Benson
Dominick J.
Berardi
James Patrick Berger
Steven Howard Berger
John P.
Bergin
Alvin Bergsohn
Daniel Bergstein
Michael J.
Berkeley
Donna M.
Bernaerts
David W.
Bernard
William Bernstein
David M.
Berray
David S.
Berry
Joseph J.
Berry
William Reed Bethke
Timothy Betterly
Edward Frank Beyea
Paul Beyer
Anil Tahilram Bharvaney
Bella J.
Bhukhan
Shimmy D.
Biegeleisen
Peter Alexander Bielfeld
William G.
Biggart
Brian Bilcher
Carl Vincent Bini
Gary Eugene Bird
Joshua David Birnbaum
George John Bishop
Jeffrey Donald Bittner
Albert Balewa Blackman, Jr.

Christopher Joseph Blackwell
Susan Leigh Blair
Harry Blanding, Jr.

Janice Lee Blaney
Craig Michael Blass
Rita Blau
Richard Middleton Blood, Jr.

Michael Andrew Boccardi
John P.
Bocchi
Michael Leopoldo Bocchino
Susan M.
Bochino
Bruce D.
Boehm
Mary Catherine Boffa
Nicholas Andrew Bogdan
Darren Christopher Bohan
Lawrence Francis Boisseau
Vincent M. Boland, Jr.

Alan Bondarenko
Andre Bonheur, Jr.

Colin Arthur Bonnett
Frank Bonomo
Yvonne Lucia Bonomo
Genieve Bonsignore, 3
Seaon Booker
Sherry Ann Bordeaux
Krystine Bordenabe
Martin Boryczewski
Richard Edward Bosco
John H.
Boulton
Francisco Eligio Bourdier
Thomas Harold Bowden, Jr.

Kimberly S.
Bowers
Veronique Nicole Bowers
Larry Bowman
Shawn Edward Bowman, Jr.

Kevin L.
Bowser
Gary R.
Box
Gennady Boyarsky
Pamela Boyce
Michael Boyle
Alfred Braca
Kevin Bracken
David Brian Brady
Alexander Braginsky
Nicholas W.
Brandemarti
Michelle Renee Bratton
Patrice Braut
Lydia E.
Bravo
Ronald Michael Breitweiser
Edward A.
Brennan III
Francis Henry Brennan
Michael E.
Brennan
Peter Brennan
Thomas M.
Brennan
Daniel J.
Brethel
Gary Lee Bright
Jonathan Briley
Mark A.
Brisman
Paul Gary Bristow
Mark Francis Broderick
Herman Charles Broghammer
Keith A.
Broomfield
Ethel Brown Janice
Juloise Brown
Lloyd Stanford Brown
Patrick J.
Brown
Bettina Browne
Mark Bruce
Richard George Bruehert
Andrew Brunn
Vincent Brunton
Ronald Paul Bucca
Brandon J.
Buchanan
Gregory Joseph Buck
Dennis Buckley
Nancy Clare Bueche
Patrick Joseph Buhse
John Edwards Bulaga, Jr.

Stephen Bunin
Matthew J.
Burke
Thomas Daniel Burke
William Francis Burke, Jr.

Donald J.
Burns
Kathleen Anne Burns
Keith James Burns
John Patrick Burnside
Irina Buslo
Milton G.
Bustillo
Thomas M.
Butler
Patrick Byrne
Timothy G.
Byrne
Jesus Neptali Cabezas
Lillian Caceres
Brian Joseph Cachia
Steven Dennis Cafiero, Jr.

Richard M.
Caggiano
Cecile Marella Caguicla
Michael John Cahill
Scott Walter Cahill
Thomas Joseph Cahill
George Cain
Salvatore B.
Calabro
Joseph Calandrillo
Philip V.
Calcagno
Edward Calderon
Kenneth Marcus Caldwell
Dominick Enrico Calia
Felix Calixte
Frank Callahan
Liam Callahan
Luigi Calvi
Roko Camaj
Michael F.
Cammarata
David Otey Campbell
Geoffrey Thomas Campbell
Jill Marie Campbell
Robert Arthur Campbell
Sandra Patricia Campbell
Sean Thomas Canavan
John A.
Candela
Vincent Cangelosi
Stephen J.
Cangialosi
Lisa Bella Cannava
Brian Cannizzaro
Michael Canty
Louis Anthony Caporicci
Jonathan Neff Cappello
James Christopher Cappers
Richard Michael Caproni
Jose Manuel Cardona
Dennis M.
Carey
Steve Carey
Edward Carlino
Michael Scott Carlo
David G.
Carlone
Rosemarie C.
Carlson
Mark Stephen Carney
Joyce Ann Carpeneto
Ivhan Luis Carpio Bautista
Jeremy M.
Carrington
Michael Carroll
Peter Carroll
James Joseph Carson, Jr.

Marcia Cecil Carter
James Marcel Cartier
Vivian Casalduc
John Francis Casazza
Paul R.
Cascio
Margarito Casillas
Thomas Anthony Casoria
William Otto Caspar
Alejandro Castano
Arcelia Castillo
Germaan Castillo Garcia
Leonard M.
Castrianno
Jose Ramon Castro
Richard G.
Catarelli
Christopher Sean Caton
Robert John Caufield
Mary Teresa Caulfield
Judson Cavalier
Michael Joseph Cawley
Jason David Cayne
Juan Armando Ceballos
Jason Michael Cefalu
Thomas Joseph Celic
Ana Mercedes Centeno
Joni Cesta
Jeffrey Marc Chairnoff
Swarna Chalasani
William Chalcoff
Eli Chalouh
Charles Lawrence Chan
Mandy Chang
Mark Lawrence Charette
Gregorio Manuel Chavez
Delrose E.
Cheatham
Pedro Francisco Checo
Douglas MacMillan Cherry
Stephen Patrick Cherry
Vernon Paul Cherry
Nester Julio Chevalier
Swede Chevalier
Alexander H.
Chiang
Dorothy J.
Chiarchiaro
Luis Alfonso Chimbo
Robert Chin
Wing Wai Ching
Nicholas Paul Chiofalo
John Chipura
Peter A.
Chirchirillo
Catherine Chirls
Kyung Hee Cho
Abul K.
Chowdhury
Mohammad Salahuddin Chowdhury
Kirsten L.
Christophe
Pamela Chu
Steven Chucknick
Wai Chung
Christopher Ciafardini
Alex F.
Ciccone
Frances Ann Cilente
Elaine Cillo
Edna Cintron
Nestor Andre Cintron III
Robert Dominick Cirri
Juan Pablo Cisneros-Alvarez
Benjamin Keefe Clark
Eugene Clark
Gregory Alan Clark
Mannie Leroy Clark
Thomas R.
Clark
Christopher Robert Clarke
Donna Marie Clarke
Michael J.
Clarke
Suria Rachel Emma Clarke
Kevin Francis Cleary
James D.
Cleere
Geoffrey W.
Cloud
Susan Marie Clyne
Steven Coakley
Jeffrey Alan Coale
Patricia A.
Cody
Daniel Michael Coffey
Jason M.
Coffey
Florence G.
Cohen
Kevin Sanford Cohen
Anthony Joseph Coladonato
Mark Joseph Colaio
Stephen Colaio
Christopher M.
Colasanti
Kevin Nathaniel Colbert
Michel P.
Colbert
Keith E.
Coleman
Scott Thomas Coleman
Tarel Coleman
Liam Joseph Colhoun
Robert D.
Colin
Robert J.
Coll
Jean Collin
John Michael Collins
Michael L.
Collins
Thomas J.
Collins
Joseph Collison
Patricia Malia Colodner
Linda M.
Colon
Sol E.
Colon
Ronald Edward Comer
Sandra Jolane Conaty Brace
Jaime Concepcion
Albert Conde
Denease Conley
Susan P.
Conlon
Margaret Mary Conner
Cynthia Marie Lise Connolly
John E. Connolly, Jr.

James Lee Connor
Jonathan M.
Connors
Kevin Patrick Connors
Kevin F.
Conroy
Jose Manuel Contreras-Fernandez
Brenda E.
Conway
Dennis Michael Cook
Helen D.
Cook
John A.
Cooper
Joseph John Coppo, Jr.

Gerard J.
Coppola
Joseph Albert Corbett
Alejandro Cordero
Robert Cordice
Ruben D.
Correa
Danny A.
Correa-Gutierrez
James J.
Corrigan
Carlos Cortes
Kevin Cosgrove
Dolores Marie Costa
Digna Alexandra Costanza
Charles Gregory Costello, Jr.

Michael S.
Costello
Conrod K.
Cottoy
Martin John Coughlan
John Gerard Coughlin
Timothy J.
Coughlin
James E.
Cove
Andre Cox
Frederick John Cox
James Raymond Coyle
Michele Coyle-Eulau
Anne Marie Cramer
Christopher S.
Cramer
Denise Elizabeth Crant
James Leslie Crawford, Jr.

Robert James Crawford
Joanne Mary Cregan
Lucy Crifasi
John A.
Crisci
Daniel Hal Crisman
Dennis Cross
Kevin Raymond Crotty
Thomas G.
Crotty
John Crowe
Welles Remy Crowther
Robert L.
Cruikshank
John Robert Cruz
Grace Yu Cua
Kenneth John Cubas
Francisco Cruz Cubero
Richard J.
Cudina
Neil James Cudmore
Thomas Patrick Cullen lll
Joyce Cummings
Brian Thomas Cummins
Michael Cunningham
Robert Curatolo
Laurence Damian Curia
Paul Dario Curioli
Beverly Curry
Michael S.
Curtin
Gavin Cushny
John D’Allara
Vincent Gerard D’Amadeo
Jack D’Ambrosi
Mary D’Antonio
Edward A.
D’Atri
Michael D.
D’Auria
Michael Jude D’Esposito
Manuel John Da Mota
Caleb Arron Dack
Carlos S.
DaCosta
Joao Alberto DaFonseca Aguiar, Jr.

Thomas A.
Damaskinos
Jeannine Marie Damiani-Jones
Patrick W.
Danahy
Nana Danso
Vincent Danz
Dwight Donald Darcy
Elizabeth Ann Darling
Annette Andrea Dataram
Lawrence Davidson
Michael Allen Davidson
Scott Matthew Davidson
Titus Davidson
Niurka Davila
Clinton Davis
Wayne Terrial Davis
Anthony Richard Dawson
Calvin Dawson
Edward James Day
Jayceryll de Chavez
Jennifer De Jesus
Monique E.
De Jesus
Nereida De Jesus
Emerita De La Pena
Azucena Maria de la Torre
David Paul De Rubbio
Jemal Legesse De Santis
Christian Louis De Simone
Melanie Louise De Vere
William Thomas Dean
Robert J. DeAngelis, Jr.

Thomas Patrick DeAngelis
Tara E.
Debek
Anna Marjia DeBin
James V.
Deblase
Paul DeCola
Simon Marash Dedvukaj
Jason Defazio
David A.
DeFeo
Manuel Del Valle, Jr.

Donald Arthur Delapenha
Vito Joseph DeLeo
Danielle Anne Delie
Joseph A.
Della Pietra
Andrea DellaBella
Palmina DelliGatti
Colleen Ann Deloughery
Francis Albert DeMartini
Anthony Demas
Martin N.
DeMeo
Francis Deming
Carol K.
Demitz
Kevin Dennis
Thomas F.
Dennis
Jean DePalma
Jose Depena
Robert John Deraney
Michael DeRienzo
Edward DeSimone III
Andrew Desperito
Cindy Ann Deuel
Jerry DeVito
Robert P. Devitt, Jr.

Dennis Lawrence Devlin
Gerard Dewan
Sulemanali Kassamali Dhanani
Patricia Florence Di Chiaro
Debra Ann Di Martino
Michael Louis Diagostino
Matthew Diaz
Nancy Diaz
Rafael Arturo Diaz
Michael A.
Diaz-Piedra III
Judith Berquis Diaz-Sierra
Joseph Dermot Dickey, Jr.

Lawrence Patrick Dickinson
Michael D.
Diehl
John Difato
Vincent Difazio
Carl Anthony DiFranco
Donald Difranco
Stephen Patrick Dimino
William John Dimmling
Marisa DiNardo Schorpp
Christopher M.
Dincuff
Jeffrey Mark Dingle
Anthony Dionisio
George DiPasquale
Joseph Dipilato
Douglas Frank DiStefano
Ramzi A.
Doany
John Joseph Doherty
Melissa C.
Doi
Brendan Dolan
Neil Matthew Dollard
James Joseph Domanico
Benilda Pascua Domingo
Carlos Dominguez
Jerome Mark Patrick Dominguez
Kevin W.
Donnelly
Jacqueline Donovan
Stephen Scott Dorf
Thomas Dowd
Kevin Dowdell
Mary Yolanda Dowling
Raymond Mathew Downey
Frank Joseph Doyle
Joseph Michael Doyle
Stephen Patrick Driscoll
Mirna A.
Duarte
Michelle Beale Duberry
Luke A.
Dudek
Christopher Michael Duffy
Gerard Duffy
Michael Joseph Duffy
Thomas W.
Duffy
Antoinette Duger
Sareve Dukat
Christopher Joseph Dunne
Richard Anthony Dunstan
Patrick Thomas Dwyer
Joseph Anthony Eacobacci
John Bruce Eagleson
Robert Douglas Eaton
Dean Phillip Eberling
Margaret Ruth Echtermann
Paul Robert Eckna
Constantine Economos
Dennis Michael Edwards
Michael Hardy Edwards
Christine Egan
Lisa Egan
Martin J. Egan, Jr.

Michael Egan
Samantha Martin Egan
Carole Eggert
Lisa Caren Ehrlich
John Ernst Eichler
Eric Adam Eisenberg
Daphne Ferlinda Elder
Michael J.
Elferis
Mark Joseph Ellis
Valerie Silver Ellis
Albert Alfy William Elmarry
Edgar Hendricks Emery, Jr.

Doris Suk-Yuen Eng
Christopher Epps
Ulf Ramm Ericson
Erwin L.
Erker
William John Erwin
Jose Espinal
Fanny Espinoza
Bridget Ann Esposito
Francis Esposito
Michael Esposito
William Esposito
Ruben Esquilin, Jr.

Sadie Ette
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Etzold
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Robert Evans
Meredith Emily June Ewart
Catherine K.
Fagan
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Keith George Fairben
Sandra Fajardo-Smith
William F.
Fallon
William Lawrence Fallon, Jr.

Anthony J. Fallone, Jr.

Dolores Brigitte Fanelli
John Joseph Fanning
Kathleen Anne Faragher
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Farrell
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Farrell
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Joseph D.
Farrelly
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Faulkner
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Bernard D.
Favuzza
Robert Fazio, Jr.

Ronald Carl Fazio
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Fegan
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Fehling
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Feinberg
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Edward Thomas Fergus, Jr.

George Ferguson
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Fersini
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Finnerty
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Paul M.
Fiori
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Fiorito
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Fischer
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Fisher
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Fishman
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Fitzsimons
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Fletcher
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Flickinger
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Fodor
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Fontana
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Foreman
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Virgin Francis
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Frank
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Fraser
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Frawley
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Freund
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Froehner
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Fumando
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Gallo
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Galvin
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Thomas Gambino, Jr.

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Ganesh
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Gardner
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Gardner III
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Gartenberg
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Geis
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Gelling
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Geyer
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Giaccone
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Glick
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Gooding
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Gray
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Guza
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Gyulavary
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Hall
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Hatton
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Herkness III
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Higley II
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Hoey
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Hoffmann
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Holland
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Houston
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Howley
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Hynes
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Iskyan
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Jacobson
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James
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Jerath
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Luis Jimenez, Jr.

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Jones
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Jones
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Jones
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Judge
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Kane
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Kaplan
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Charles Karczewski
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Kates
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Keane
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Keane
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Kelly
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Kelly
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Kelly
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Kennedy
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Keohane
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Kerwin
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Kestenbaum
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Ketcham
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Kim
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King
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Kobus
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Koestner
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Kren
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Patricia Kuras
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LaFalce
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Lang
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Langone
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Larry
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LaTouche
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Laverty
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Lederman
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Ledesma
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Lee
Gary H.
Lee
Hyun Joon Lee
Juanita Lee
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Lee
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Myoung Woo Lee
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Lee
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Yang Der Lee
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Adriana Legro
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John Joseph Lennon, Jr.

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Lesperance
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Libretti
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Lillo
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Lim
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Lindo
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Alan P. Linton, Jr.

Diane Theresa Lipari
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Litto
Ming-Hao Liu
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Llanes
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Logler
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Lopez
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Lowe
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Lozier
John Peter Lozowsky
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Sean Thomas Lugano
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Marie Lukas
William Lum, Jr.

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Lunden
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Lynch
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Michael F.
Lynch
Michael Francis Lynch
Richard D. Lynch, Jr.

Robert Henry Lynch, Jr.

Sean P.
Lynch
Sean Patrick Lynch
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Lyons
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Patrick Lyons
Robert Francis Mace
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Jennieann Maffeo
Joseph Maffeo
Jay Robert Magazine
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Maggitti
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Daniel L.
Maher
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Mahoney
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Abdu Ali Malahi
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Maldonado
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Maldonado-Agosto
Alfred Russell Maler
Gregory James Malone
Edward Francis Maloney III
Joseph Maloney
Gene Edward Maloy

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Peter Edward Mardikian
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Marino
Vita Marino
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Marti
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Martin
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Martineau
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Robert Gabriel Martinez
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Martinez-Calderon
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Mascali
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Rudolph Mastrocinque
Joseph Mathai
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Mathesen
Marcello Matricciano
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Mattson
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Charles A. Mauro, Jr.

Charles J.
Mauro
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Mauro
Tyrone May
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Mayo
Kathy Nancy Mazza
Edward Mazzella, Jr.

Jennifer Lynn Mazzotta
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McBrayer
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McCarthy
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McDay
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McDermott
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McDonald
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McDonnell
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Eamon J.
McEneaney
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McGinn
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McHale
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McHugh
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McHugh III
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McHugh
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McIlvaine
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McKeon
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McKinnedy
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Robert C. McLaughlin, Jr.

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McMahon
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McNeal
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McShane
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McWilliams
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Medaglia
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Meehan
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Merino
Yamel Merino
George Merkouris
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Miah
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Henry Alfred Miller, Jr.

Joel Miller
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Philip D.
Miller
Robert Alan Miller
Robert Cromwell Miller, Jr.

Benjamin Millman
Charles Morris Mills
Ronald Keith Milstein
Robert Minara
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Diakite Minata
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Wilbert Miraille
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Mircovich
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Joseph Mistrulli
Susan J.
Miszkowicz
Paul Thomas Mitchell
Richard P.
Miuccio
Frank V. Moccia, Sr.

Louis Joseph Modafferi
Boyie Mohammed
Dennis Mojica
Manuel Mojica
Kleber Molina
Manuel De Jesus Molina
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Franklin Monahan
John Monahan
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Krishna Moorthy
Abner Morales
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Paula E.
Morales John Moran
John Chrisopher Moran
Kathleen Moran
Lindsay Stapleton Morehouse
George Morell
Steven P.
Morello
Vincent S.

Couch to 5k

2008-09-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

I started a new program today in an attempt to eventually train for a marathon. It's called Couch to 5k, and is basically an eight week program with the end goal of being able to run three miles (5k) in one go by the end of two months.
This is pretty ambitious for me because I HATE running. But, I want to try something new, and I really want that feeling of accomplishment upon crossing a finish line (even if I'm last!). I figured if I keep track of my progress here, it will be a great motivator for me to keep it up.
Today I did day one, which was to warm up, then do intervals of walking and jogging for 20-30 minutes. It calls for you to run 60 seconds and then walk 90 seconds, and it was not as easy as it sounds. But, I'm glad I did it and Lucy was really happy to be out running.
My next run is on Saturday. Assuming I go. :P
(There is no more, ignore click)

First soccer game of the year!

2008-09-08T13:39:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday, Aiden played in his first soccer game ever. He's getting better, and he really seems like he's enjoying it. I think he likes the social aspect of the game way more than the actual playing though. We still have to remind him to pay attention all the time. The game was Aiden's team (the Red Dragons) vs the Green Cobras. They lost 1-0, but since the kids are so young still, an official score isn't kept, and all the boys are happy just to play.

Another blog

2008-09-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

I started a new blog to chronicle all of my foodie adventures. Please check out It's Eating that's Believing.

(Ignore the click, there is no more.)

First day of first grade

2008-09-05T22:24:00.001-07:00

Aiden started first grade this week. He was a bit apprehensive, but he's really enjoyed it so far. His teacher is very nice, and he's really getting a kick out of eating in the cafeteria and playing on the "big kid" playground. He walks by the kindergarten and says, "there are the little kids!" which made me laugh.

Just a few pics (I left my camera in the truck when Scott went to work so I had to buy a disposable and need to get it developed; these are from after he got home); no jump, so ignore the "click!"

With a school buddy:

Yearly pic:

Second day outfit from my mom:

Soccer!

2008-09-05T21:40:00.000-07:00

Aiden has started playing soccer! He's absolutely terrible :P, but he loves it so much. I managed to get some pictures of practice this past week, and tomorrow I'll have more as it's his first game! His team is called the Red Dragons.

Weezer shoot: video of fans!

2008-08-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a short video I managed to take of the fans in the holding pen during the Weezer Troublemaker shoot. The Sweater Song, getting interrupted by another World Record breaking attempt, after the click!

Weezer "Troublemaker" video shoot

2008-08-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had one of the most fun, amazing days of my life. I was somehow picked and invited to participate in a day of World Record breaking attempts and to be in the new Weezer video for Troublemaker. This post is going to be very long, just a warning to you all before you click! I'm going to put a few pics in here, but I'll link to my photobucket at the end so whoever wants to can see them all. :D

I woke up at 5:30 am, got ready quickly and headed out to the LA Forum, where the day's activities were taking place. Took me about an hour and 15 minutes to get there, and I was surprised at how few people were there so far. I was number 18 to get in; I guess they only ended up accepting as many people as the needed for the various activities. We started with 100 in the morning, and by the big video shoot at the end of the day we were up to 250+.

I had dressed in red (we were told to dress in red or black; the only red I had was an old thrift store shirt, so I'm "Renee" in those :P) to split up into teams, but that ended up not happening and we were just split into 50/50 for the dodge ball game. I haven't played dodge ball since like sixth grade, but it was still really fun, even if our team did lose all three games played.

Next we hung out in the holding pen for awhile, trying to drink water and stay cool as it had heated up a lot by then. I wandered over to the shooting site, and managed to make it on on the tail end of creating the largest Weezer logo out of nachos! It didn't break a world record (the Guinness World Records guy explained "we don't have a category for this!") but it was still really funny.

The band showed up after that, and Rivers was dressed like a cholo, complete with baggy shorts, pulled up socks, a wife beater, hair net, and fake tattoos. Hilarious look; I don't have a pic of him (he wasn't into getting pictures with fans, which is cool) but a friend I made managed to take one at least, so hopefully I can yoink it from her (hi Cristal!).

Rivers did a shot for the video of him "breaking" the record for longest length anyone has pulled a station wagon full of fans with their teeth. Yeah...it was pretty sweet to see that. Then Pat did a record for playing the tiniest drum kit in a music video. It was seriously small and darling, and he had the tiniest little drum sticks ever! Later in the day, Brian did a record for longest cord in a rock video; he was at one end of the Forum parking lot and we were all at the other end. He was rocking out over there all alone, while a camera on a cart ran along the cord at him; should be a pretty cool shot.

We got to break for food finally; the crew bought us Pizza Hut. We were all starving and wilting in the heat at that point, so it was like the best pizza of my life even though it was super greasy and nasty.

Let's see, other awesome things we did throughout the day: world's largest air guitar performance (that was a blast), got to see four dudes break the record for longest time playing Guitar Hero, the Hootenanny (so effectively, I actually played in a band with Weezer! I rocked that tambourine, let me tell you)...there was just so much it's hard to remember the order it all went down!

We shot the video shoot last. Weezer would play through the entire song and we were instructed to "rock out" in the background. I was right behind Scott and Rivers, so I should be in the background there, dancing around like a complete dork.

And the coup de gras, the custard pie fight! There were 120 of us, each with one pie, and we had to go at it for one minute to break the world record. The whistle blew, pie started flying, and it was absolutely insane. I ran up to a dude and said "are you ready?" and he yelled "do it!" so I smashed a pie in his face. Then I found a guy to smash one in my face; luckily I got a banana one and not a tapioca one.

I had to drive through Inglewood to get home, covered in pie, and I was home for about 10 minutes and Scott said "go take a shower, you smell like bananas." Both those things made me laugh a lot.

It was an unmatchable experience all in all. I am so glad I got to go, and I can't wait to see myself looking like a dumbass in the video!

Click here for my pics

Clone Trooper photo shoot

2008-08-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

Aiden just got a Clone Trooper helmet, and decided one night he wanted to do a photo shoot with it. I have a feeling I'll be using these to pull out when he brings dates over some day.

I honestly was rolling on the floor laughing by the end.

NEA's top 100 books

2008-08-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

I'm stealing this from Alyssa. I figure it will be a good way to keep track of books I need to read, and those I have.

"The Big Read is an NEA program designed to encourage community reading initiatives and of their top 100 books, they estimate the average adult has read only six. According to another blogger, they encourage us to:

*Look at the list and bold those we have read.
*Italicize those we intend to read.
*Underline the books we LOVE"

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (In the middle of this one)
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (Seriously, who the heck has read this?! I've read maybe 10 plays)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (My #1 of all time!)
19 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (And here's another favorite)
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (Isn't this part of the Chronicles of Narnia?) I agree with Alyssa's comment there.
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne/
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding (Vastly overrated.)
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (Highly recommend!)
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

So looks like I've read about 40? Only 60 to go...

Top Chef Tour: San Diego

2008-08-01T00:59:00.000-07:00

I was privileged to get to attend the TC Tour courtesy of the site Blogging Top Chef. Behind the cut is the (very long) write up of my experience, which all in all was wonderful (blasted city of San Diego and their towing procedures aside). Hope you like!

Top Chef Tour: San Diego

I had a bit of a hard time finding the big Top Chef bus hidden near the beach in San Diego, but I finally did and made it about 10 minutes before the first show. I found our contact Fred, signed in and stood in the queue with the 30 or so other fans who were waiting. Pre-show, we caught glimpses of both the featured chefs for that day, Brian Malarkey and Ryan Scott, preparing the bus kitchen. I have to say it was pretty fun to see them sweeping and getting in their jackets. Of course, Brian was sporting one of his signature hats.

Since I was on "the list," we were brought in first, and my son and I were able to get seats in the second row. The chairs were so closely packed however, we were still only about two feet from the chefs' workspace. TVs were situated on either side of the seating area so that people further back could still get an up close view of what the guys were working on.

The two cheftestants were introduced and came in. They gave us a rundown of what we would get to see, which was them preparing an appetizer course for us, while they told us anecdotes about their show experiences, and fielded audience questions.

Both chefs were very fun, warm, and open, and seemed really easy going in front of an audience. They spoke about their show experiences, including that the stew room was like hell: a tiny space with a heater were they were holed up for six-plus hours at a time. Ryan said judging was always a scary experience, especially when Bourdain was on panel. No surprises there!

One audience member asked if Lisa was really as bad as she seemed. Ryan paused for a moment and said "my mother always told me if you don't have anything nice to say..." and then laughed. He went on to explain that she was a very talented cook, but wasn't perhaps the most pleasant person to be around. Both Ryan and Brian (aww, rhyming!) did say how cool many of the chefs were, including Tre, Stephanie, CJ and even Marcel.

Ryan told us a story about Mark that took place during the movie challenge, in which they picked the movie "A Christmas Story" as inspiration. The two were shopping for the challenge at Whole Foods, and had budgeted to spend all their money, when Mark came over cradling a squash like a baby, and asked of they could buy "Baby Jesus," as their menu was Christmas themed. He pinched pennies enough to afford the squash, which he continued to refer to as Baby Jesus and cradle/pet the entire duration of the challenge. Ryan said that by the end, Jen was so sick of the Baby Jesus-squash (and was maybe a bit tipsy) that she picked it up and smashed it on the floor... Mark and Ryan scooped up the parts as best they could, but thus was the end of Jesus-squash.

Another person asked what the cheftestants ate during filming, which evoked grimaces from both guys. Brian said they usually just got the leftovers of the craft services cart, saying that the pecking order went Padma, show big wigs, the rest of the judges, the crew, then the chefs. Ryan chimed in and said once they complained so much they were able to get McDonald's, and that that was the best thing he ate the whole time. Pointing to a large duffel bag on a shelf, Brian said that he had carried that during taping, and that after challenges, he and the other chefs would sneak whatever they could out of the kitchen: "bottles of whiskey" he laughed, leftovers from challenges, etc.

I did manage to get one question in. I asked (hypothetically of course) if they were on death row or had to plan a last meal what it would be. Ryan said that although it was sappy, his favorite meals were Thanksgivings with his family since he doesn't get to see them that often. He did say if he had to pick a last meal for death row it would be "a lot of pizza and a lot of beer!"

Brian echoed Ryan's sentiments and said that his favorite dining experiences were those he had growing up on the Oregon coast, having Dungeness crab and clam bakes. Both chefs said that while they have had many extraordinary culinary experiences, the most important and special ones were those in which good company and loved ones were present.

They were both cooking for us the whole time, which for me was the most exciting part of the day. Brian had managed to procure some special local tuna, which he sliced into sashimi. He did two different cuts so we could taste the difference between the fatty belly and the upper part, and dressed them in a soy/wasabi dressing. The toro was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth fantastic. Some of the best I've ever had.

Ryan chose to do a savory summer salad, including watermelon, cucumber, baby cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced red onion, micro-greens, basil and some lovely, creamy cheese from Whole Foods on top. The dressing was a vinaigrette. It was also really, really yummy, and something I feel like I could even reproduce at home.

Toward the end, Brian mentioned that he was trying to get some of the chefs together for the San Diego Food and Wine Festival, which will be held in November. I'll definitely be planning to attend!

After the show, the guys came outside to sign the Top Chef book, promo pictures, and take pictures with fans. I hate to say it, but neither of them were my favorites during their seasons. Now, they were far from my least favorites, but they both probably fell somewhere in the middle of the pack for me. After this, I am a much bigger fan of both of them. They were so nice and gracious to everyone, taking the time to chat with everyone and really seeming to enjoy themselves as well. Ryan in particular was just a doll; he shook my son's hand and talked to him about video games, then scooped him up for the picture we took with him. Super, super sweet guy. Brian was great too, taking off his hat so my little one could wear it in the picture.

I would also like to mention the names of the chefs' restaurants in case anyone would like to visit them there: Brian is currently at Oceanaire, San Diego. It's located at 400 J Street, San Diego, CA, 92101; www.theoceanaire.com. (By the way, Ryan had eaten there the night before, and though he was a vegetarian, he says that Brian has converted him to a pesco-vegetarian, the fish was so well prepared.)

Ryan is chefing it up at Mission Beach Cafe in San Francisco. The restaurant can be found at 198 Guerrero St. at 14th St., San Francisco, CA, 94103, and online at www.missionbeachcafesf.com.

I know this was long, but I didn't want to leave one part of our fun day out! Minus that fact that at the end I got my car towed and had to shell out a few hundred bucks to get it back (that's a whole separate post, however!), it was worth it all. I got my book signed, I ate some great food, and just had an all around fun experience. Thanks so much to BTC (I represented with a shirt!) for helping to make this possible!

Sappy entry ^_^

2008-07-28T21:46:00.000-07:00

Scott is away on a big fire in Yosemite, CA. I will be posting links to info on the fire for family members, but first, I have to say that he sent me the most beautiful bouquet today!

He is so sweet; this is the third big fire he's been on this year, and the third bouquet I've received with the card attached reading: "I will be home soon! Love, Scott"

This week in Loryn

2008-07-28T21:35:00.000-07:00

Aiden and I went to the petting zoo:

Miniture donkey:

Cookie, the best cow ever:

And listening to Gorillaz on the iPod at the end of the day:

I redid my room!

2008-07-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

But I forgot to post it, so here it is!

Close ups:

And Aiden's contribution: a hermit crab!

I'm planning on adding shelves with shells and pics with us at the beach to the blank walls, so it's not done yet!

New recons

2008-07-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

Here are a few new reconstructions I've made in the last two weeks.

Clicky for more!

This is a actually a dress, but I failed to take a picture of the whole thing on my own:

A cool tee I got from the thrift store + scraps =

And finally, my shirt I made for my Blogging Top Chef gig coming up on Wed.:

I'll be heading to San Diego to meet and interview random contestants from TC. The writers of Blogging Top Chef asked that we represent the site, which I am more than happy to do since they hooked me up with my super rad back-stage passes! This is what I came up with; it was no sew, which is awesome, and the letters look much more uniform in person.

I'm so excited!!!

Whining

2008-07-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

Everyone can completely ignore this; I just need to vent somewhere.

I am having a bad week. Here's why! Only click if you want to read annoying, self-indulgent whinery.

1) I'm worried about my mom. My grandpa, who is in ill health mentally and physically, is moving in with them, and it's basically up to my mom to handle everything. I don't think this is fair to her, especially in light of all of her own health problems. It just makes me sad I can't be there to help her out.

2) Work has sucked lately. We keep getting attacked by porn sites, and the kids all went mental to top it all off. It's always on the weekends when there's no one in the office to help. Plus, the site is so laggy it's next to impossible to get anything done, other than become terribly frustrated.

3) Scott is on a fire in Yosemite. This sucks for the following reasons:
a) I hate when he's gone for the danger factor, and this is a particularly bad fire. It's spreading quickly, and the terrain is bad, which are both causes of firefighter injuries.
b) He was supposed to be home this morning and have several days off. We had such a nice mini-vacation planned. We were going to visit his sister and our niece and nephew, and go hang out at the casino, which has awesome pools and a spa.
c) My Blogging Top Chef gig is up in the air. The three of us were going to go to San Diego together for the Top Chef Tour event, and Scott was going to watch Aiden while I got to go in and get backstage to interview the chefs, see demonstrations, take pics, etc. Now, it will just be Aiden and me, and I don't know how open Bravo TV will be to having a six-year-old in there. :(

4) The DMV is screwing me over. Last August, I paid my registration and ordered a change of address for my license. Fast forward to now: I realized that they never sent me my stickers or my new license, meaning according to them I have been driving unregistered this entire time. I showed them my check proving I paid it; they wanted a bank print out. I got a bank print out; they wanted one that shows front AND back. Not to mention the forms...if they try to make me pay fees for this I am going to go ape shit on them, I swear to god. I have to go tomorrow and hope that I get an employee who isn't a jerkface and can finally help me. I'm not optimistic however, as we are talking about the CA DMV here.

Anyway, those are my rants as to why I'm angry, disappointed, and bummed today. I'm going to try really hard to get things together tomorrow and get everything dealt with so I can make it to SD and have fun. I'm trying to be positive here, but it's tough. :/

*********************************

This just made me feel better though. While I was typing this, Aiden came over and saw a Rogain commercial on TV. He said "that's the greatest invention I have ever heard of! There will be no more bald people, and then when the aliens come, we can give it to them so they have hair! And bald cats too; we'll have no more bald cats!" Okaaaaaay. XD

Bonus! Flipping video

2008-07-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

I had forgotten I took this! After the jump, since it stretches past the text box.

Summer fun

2008-07-16T17:42:00.000-07:00

The weather's been really great lately, so we've been outside a lot on my days off this week.
We were at the pool yesterday, and Aiden randomly decided that he should start back flipping off the edge of the pool. I was nervous, but he loved it!

A few more from the pool:

Today we took a walk to the park by our house.

If this great weather holds out, I think well head for some beach time tomorrow. I've been having a lot of fun getting pummeled in the big waves lately, and last week we saw a pod of dolphins when we were out swimming, but I didn't have my camera! So I really want to try to find some again and get some pictures.

Two new shirts

2008-07-10T15:04:00.000-07:00

I scored a bunch of awesome shirts for a buck a piece from a thrift store, and managed to make a couple of new shirts on my days off.

Before:

After! This one was no sew; I just hacked it up and added ties.

I'm an official Air Force One crew member!

Number two I did sew. It was a large men's shirt, so I had to resize it first. Then I added flutter sleeves and some more red from scrap that I have. I'm really happy with the way this one turned out:

Hi Aiden! :P

I also made a dress, but I don't have pics of that just yet.

Mid June: surfing competition and graduation!

2008-07-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

These are a bit old, but still well worth posting. My baby graduated from kindergarten! *sob*cry*sob*

With his wonderful teacher:

Chatting with a good friend:

We also got to attend a surfing competition at the beach down the street from us. We managed to catch about 3 rounds while we were there and make a sand castle; it was really fun!

The Getty

2008-07-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, we finally made it into LA to visit the The Getty Museum, which I have been wanting to do since we moved down here.

A close up of his signature <3

Awesome sculpture, I believe ancient Greek:

Monet:

Munch:

The grounds outside:

And finally, Aiden rolling down the big hill; he had people stopping to watch and cheering him on!

Celebration at the park

2008-07-05T23:52:00.000-07:00

I had to work on the Fourth, but I did manage to take an hour long lunch and walk with Aiden to our local celebration, which was luckily only about two blocks from us.

We managed to squeeze in a few rides in our hour, plus he got to play water tag, which he loved:

He needs a haircut XD.

Fourth of July Sky

2008-07-05T23:20:00.000-07:00

Just some pics I took on the Fourth; the fireworks ones are shaky due to lack of tripod, but I still think they're pretty neat:

Daytime sky:

Sunset and fireworks after the click:

Sunset that night:

And the big show!

My mom's birthday presents!

2008-07-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

Since I've been into more crafts lately, she asked that I make her something. Here are the results!

I made this bowl out of an old record I had. I am definitely planning on getting some more from the thrift store just for this purpose.

More pics after the jump!

I also made her a tote bag (my first try) out of an old shirt she had sent Scott that was funny. I forgot to take a picture of the inside, but it is fully lined and has a pocket:

Not bad for a first go. I really hope she likes them!

My first shirt reconstruction

2008-07-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

I've been getting into sewing lately, in particular reconstructing old items like t-shirts that I already have. I just got my first sewing machine, and here is my very first t-shirt surgery:

Before:

And after! Please ignore my weird pose and facial expression; it's harder than you think to get a decent mirror shot of clothes. :P

Today I made Aiden a ninja set out of scraps:

And finally, my darling new sewing machine:

More craft posts to come!

Jumping on the bandwagon...

2008-07-05T15:17:00.001-07:00

...and finally creating a personal blog. In the next few days, I'll be adjusting the layout and styles, adding features and inviting friends and family. I plan on keeping this as an online diary of sorts to chronicle the fun times our family has, as well as my many and varied silly hobbies/undertakings.

Coming up:

Beach/4th of July pictures
My new obsession with sewing and showing off my projects
My field reporter stint with Blogging Top Chef in San Diego!

We'll see how this goes. :D

Ignore the jump on this one; this is the end of the post. There's no editing out that hack on single posts unfortunately.