miss me much

Today I'm back!

Mostly out of boredom as I wait for the official head nod that says my work here is done. Somewhat because I was feeling a bit creative and stifled of that creativity what with all the work I've been doing.

So... hello there.

I just started this post on a whim with nothing exciting to come back with and now where do I go with it? So much to catch up on. So little to say. I think that was my problem in the first place!

Anyway.

Well, the past couple of months have been great and they have been busy...
We went on vacation with some of our bestest friends and it was beyond amazing. I have photos so I'll have to post more on that later.
We threw a huge Halloween party. Also a few photos so another post later.
And we lived life. It had it's ups and now I'm going through a few downs but it's life and ain't life grand!?
Next week is a big one for us so that'll be another fun post... 3 new posts for you to anxiously await already and I've only been back for 3 minutes!

Ok, so I will leave you with this... what good movies have you seen lately? And, have you seen Where The Wild Things Are? What did you think? My opinion on a later post (#4!!!)...

XOXO

long and short of it

Thank you family, I love you all too but I am officially on hiatus until further notice...

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Hi.

Happy September.

Hey, so do I still have readers because I'm thinking of quitting this blog thing.

it can only go up

Cough (cough) Cough! Uh, excuse me... I can't seem to stop coughing. The hills behind our house disappear each morning in a cloud of smoke and the air quality is far less than perfect. To say the least, it hasn't been a great weekend.

(night photography not great because I still don't have a tripod!)

This is what's being called The Station Fire. It's not threatening to our home, just our health.

And speaking of health... The Captain had a rough weekend.


We're lucky he's such a trooper! Bad Mom and Dad are too scared to trim his nails and have been lazy about taking him to get it done. Last Thursday Little Bear and I went on a run together and he came home licking his paw. There was a little crack in his nail but nothing serious. Then on Saturday we were out on the deck cooking dinner when all of a sudden he jumped into the air and wouldn't walk on his back paw. He had cracked the nail all the way down. Luckily the emergency vet is right down the street. They removed the nail and wrapped the foot in a little boot. Poor guy!

they look like big, good, strong hands

Last year an acquaintance of mine (more like a friend of a friend) sent an email about her niece. Her niece needed to have open heart surgery. This friend of a friend decided to do what she could and raise some money for her sister and brother-in-law. She made bracelets and sold them to anyone she could. I was one of those anyones.

The bracelets are basically a piece of hammered metal slipped onto a vintage watch band. I ordered 2 as gifts for my sisters. She was doing this as a gift to hers so I felt it appropriate to make it a gift to mine. I had the words VIDA SANGRE AMOR hammered long ways down the metal. My sisters are exactly that to me, LIFE BLOOD LOVE.

I don't know at what point I decided I wanted to have these words tattooed onto my skin but I held onto that notion for a while, waiting for the right time.

A few weeks after giving my sisters the bracelets my friend Stuart was diagnosed with leukemia. The call for blood and platelet donors was put out and I responded. As a platelet donor you have to meet a lot of criteria, one of them being no ink in the past 12 months. So I waited for Stuart to recover before going in for my new tattoo. And then it took on new meaning. I was giving my blood to someone I loved in hopes of helping to save his life. Unfortunately, that's not how the story goes.

So on the first of August I went and got it done. Celebrating the love I have for my sisters and the special life of my dear friend Stuart. Blood never felt so important...

(close up)

(in context but backwards because i took it in the mirror!)

around the bend the rooster

I'm into my 2nd week now of getting up at 6:30 (okay, the alarm goes off at 6:30 - I don't always get up!). I wake to the silence and the sun in order to spend an hour or so with just me... focusing on my food for the day and exercising this body of mine. So far it's been a good experience. I've never enjoyed diet and workout like I am this time around. The beauty in doing something just for me outweighs the desire to indulge. I feel happy. I feel healthy. I feel like I am finally on the right track. Now, I know that the first week is either the hardest or easiest time to stick with something new. But the second week has been even better. I've just got to start setting the alarm a little earlier so that I will get up by 6:30!

Here's one of the joys of waking so early. There are fires all around us that are making our amazing sunrises spectacular sunrises.

(this is the view from our bedroom)

this is a love story

A couple of weeks ago My Heart also entered his 31st year. It's a lot of pressure having his birthday just over a week after mine. I always have big shoes to fill in order to make sure his day is just as special as mine was.

This year I took inspiration from the movie (500) Days of Summer. It's not out wide yet but we saw it a while back and both really loved it. It was filmed entirely in downtown LA and the city really felt like a character in the movie. I also took a page out of a Mr. Dadd's (our financial adviser) book. He took his wife for a weekend out in the city and they pretended they were in NYC.

Step one was recreating the movie poster with personal touches (too personal to show here, sorry!). (31) Years of My Heart began early Saturday morning when I secretly left the poster with directions for the day next to my sleeping love as I went to run some errands. It cryptically said:

Please pack an over-night bag
1 outfit = dressy, fun, punk rock but with shoes to walk in
1 outfit = casual & comfortable

Be prepared to be away from home for most of the weekend.

Have your ID on you.

Relax. Enjoy.

P.S.
Car service leaves Avenue 37 promptly at 2pm today.
Be ready!

I think he was a bit anxious - not sure how much he really likes surprises but in the end he LOVED it!

First Stop:

The Omni hotel in downtown LA... the service there is amazing and you can sign up on their website to become a member (for free!) and receive even more perks - they saw that it was my husband's birthday so they sent up a complimentary bottle of champagne!

Next was a stroll through the city where we hit the Bradbury building and then hiked up Angel's Flight to the benches in the little park above that over looks a small piece of the city:





Then back to the hotel for a change of clothes before the big night... We had dinner at this great restaurant called Traxx that is located inside Union Station. We opted to sit outside which was really the great entrance hall to the train station. After dinner we walked over to Olvera Street to listen to the band and watch the people dance. And then the big event of the evening... Cirque Berzerk! We actually ended up running into some friends there which made the evening even better.





I had also arranged with the Omni to have a little cake and a bottle of champagne that I brought to be delivered to the room at midnight (his birthday was officially on Sunday).


The next morning we slept in, enjoying the peace and quiet (no furry kids!) until we decided we were hungry. We then went to this cute little diner a friend had told us about for an amazing breakfast:


Then we headed home so that we could spend the day in the comfort of our own home with our family - no pressure, just relaxation (I know that's important to My Heart). Oh, and for dinner I made this: