Emily Chaffin

New Puppy!!! (not mine!)

2012-01-22T16:48:00.000-08:00

We visited Justin's dad this weekend to find he had a brand new puppy! Justin's dad recently moved into a new house, and sadly a bobcat got one of his two dogs, Daffodil. She was such a sweet, quiet little dog, and we were sad to hear she was gone. Hopefully this new adorable Border Collie (which Karl named Colleen, but Justin and I have named Zuley...) will grow up to be a strong, protective dog to ward off bobcats and coyotes.

Recent Movies (worth seeing)

2012-01-09T11:13:00.000-08:00

I've seen two great films in the past two weeks!

Girl with the Dragon Tatoo: I had seen the original version and loved it, so I was very skeptical about the US one. But this one was just as great as the OG.

Mission: Impossible, Ghost Protocol: A lot of the guys wanted to hang out and watch football on Jan. 2, so my mom, gram, Suzy, Josh and myself went and saw this film. It is so much fun! I so so loved it, and I love telling Justin how "amazing" it was, since he didn't see it.

Holidays in Michigan 2011

2012-01-06T11:38:00.000-08:00

Justin and I got to spend over 2 weeks in MI this past holiday season!!! We spent a ton of time with family and friends (which we are always grateful for), did a lot of relaxing, celebrated Christmas, New Years and even went to Canada!

My mom holiday-ified the dining room with gorgeous turquoise and silver accessories. It looked so stylish. She even bought and glittered the words "Noel" and "Joy", and then framed and hung them!

We celebrated Christmas Eve at my grandparents. My Gram always makes an amazing meal! After dinner we watched old videos of holiday skits we put on at Van Dyke Church of Christ. They are SO FUNNY. I'll have to transfer them from VHS to something that I can put online.

We opened up presents afterwards and then played some board games (well, my dad, Gimmy, Justin and I played board games while my mom and Gram slept sitting up...). Josh and Suzy were both working (missed you guys!!!).

Our church had it's first candle-lit midnight service on Christmas Eve. We had a great turnout and will be doing it again next year!

Christmas morning! Josh and Suzy came over and we opened our gifts from Santa (yes, Santa still brings us presents...). The best gift was by far the remote control helicopters that Josh and Justin got. They flew them around the house from the time they opened them til the time we left for CA (my mom's cookie cooling trays made for great landing spots when propped up on board game boxes...). My dad also came out on top with an awesome MSU Sparty hat (see below)!!!

We were so comfy in our sweats that we made it an all day thing. Also, I am aware that in one of the family photos it looks like Justin's arm ends at his wrist/he has some weird nub for a hand, but it looked like that in all of the ones that included Gram and Gimmy, so I had to put it in.

I've said before how great of a cook my brother is, so I was so excited when he offered to make us an entire meal from scratch. Butternut squash ravioli (with homemade pasta!), spinach risotto and chocolate souffle! It was so yummy!!! Thank you Josh (and Suzy and Mom, Josh's helpers)!!!

Whenever I go home I get to see my friends and their babies! Cali is so hilarious and has so much personality, and Alex is adorable and is growing like crazy!!!

We had a large group gathering at Brio for New Year's. After that everyone came back to our house to ring in the new year!

We just made it back in time! We got to our house at 11:58pm, just in time to quickly fill glasses with sparkling cider and see the ball drop!

We had such a great time in Michigan hanging out with family!!! I'm sad it's over and I miss everyone already, but I'm so thankful that we got over 2 weeks with everyone! I really am blessed with such amazing family and friends! Love you guys!!!

2011-12-28T09:24:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Photoshoots!

2011-12-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

We got to do two photoshoots when we were in MI for Thanksgiving. You can see Amy, Jeff and baby Alex's Yates Cider Mill photoshoot here, and Ginger and Cali's George George Memorial Park photoshoot here.

Both photoshoots were so much fun, and it is so great to be able to capture these moments for two of my closest friends. I had to post some behind-the-scenes photos from Ginger's shoot. Cali was cracking me up. We could barely get her to sit still for the shoot because all she wanted to do was hug Justin. She'd run up to him and just hug and hug him. It was ADORABLE. Seriously one of the cutest things I've ever seen. And she'd just hug him until one of us pried her off of him!

I had so many pics of her cuddling up to Justin that I had to make a special folder for it! I've shared a few below!

For Your Consideration

2011-12-03T11:07:00.000-08:00

Every year SAG (the actor's union) randomly picks members to be on their Nomination Committee. One of the benefits of that is that these chosen members get EVERY MOVIE UP FOR NOMINATION SHIPPED TO THEM. So, basically, every movie out in the theatre right now (except the Muppets... sadly). The members then get to vote on these films, and everyone can see the outcome at the SAG Awards.

Justin was randomly selected this year, and when we got back from Michigan he had a boat load of films in his mail box. It was like Christmas. We started watching last night with War Horse and are currently on Anonymous. I'm really looking forward to J. Edgar, Like Crazy, and Drive.

Yay!!!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

We got to spend 10 days in MI for TG this year. It went by way too fast, but we squeezed in a lot of stuff.

We started out the week with the Warren Woods Tower craft fair! My mom sold her Mabel Hoo owls, mirror garland and homemade candied almonds and pecans (with help from my gram!), Ginger sold her homemade vanilla (that went like hotcakes, thanks to Linda for making vanilla pudding samples... also, there was vodka in the vanilla), and I sold my glitter matchboxes and pillows!

Thanksgiving dinner was AMAZING!!! I was kind of too busy eating to take that many pics... but I did get a few!

The day after TG we went downtown. We went into the Guardian building (an art deco building built in 1929, super cool, is in a popular Cadillac commercial, and is also my dad's bank). We also went to the Renaissance Center (which has the GM building/cars) and to my dad's work.

Photoshoot

2011-11-29T12:14:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a while since my last post, AND to make things worse, if you do visit my blog you have to keep looking at that ugly cricket. I have some great pics from our Thanksgiving in MI (which was awesome, as usual), but until I get those up here's a sneak peek at our latest photo shoot.

We shot a wedding on 11.11.11 at a gorgeous park in Marina Del Rey. Go here to see the entire shoot!

What IS this???

2011-11-10T15:16:00.001-08:00

We found this at my apt. building right outside the laundry room. Even in my four years in TX I've never seen anything this big. I mean, it's like 2+ inches long... and scary...

I risked my life and slid a quarter next to it so you could get an idea of its size.

Anyone???

UPDATE: Justin's quick research skills have solved the mystery! It's a Jerusalem Cricket. Apparently it's native to the western United States and part of Mexico... And, they can bite. People.

Dallas!!!

2011-10-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

We spent last weekend in Dallas for Lindsey's wedding. A lot of our extended family came as well (and we missed everyone who couldn't make it!), so it was like a mini family reunion! On Saturday morning, Lindsey and Jason had a rehearsal brunch at the Bread Winners Cafe. It was so good and we had a ton of fun at our table (we missed you Abby!!!). A special thanks to Jaycie for having a random funny faces app on her phone... as you will see below.
Justin and I were honored when Lindsey and Jason asked us to be their photographers. You can see the post dedicated to the bride and groom here. On this post you'll find all of the other wedding randomness, including: my dad and Joe having the same tie, Aidan's love/hate relationship with the camera and my parents making out. So nothing out of the ordinary.

Breaking Bad

2011-10-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

I really do love finding great shows. Like that show that you just can't wait til the next episode. They're few and far between, and honestly, I usually end up steering clear of all those "critically acclaimed" shows because, in my experience, they're mostly hype.

So that's why, in four, "critically acclaimed" seasons of Breaking Bad, we've never seen an ep. Justin kept insisting we watch it (it's on Netflix and Amazon), so, somewhat against my will, we started up about two weeks ago.

Oh. my. gosh. This show is AMAZING.

I mean, AMAZING.

The acting, the writing, the characters they've created and are continuing to develop... the story line is crazy and original and awesome. I'm totally impressed by everyone involved with that show. And being able to watch almost four seasons in two weeks (it's that good, and if you start watching it, you'll do the same) was great (so maybe I shouldn't disregard all shows critics go crazy for). Not having to wait a week to find out what's going to happen! Love it !

So, that's the bitter sweet part. We'll finish season four tonight, and then have to wait til "mid-2012" for the fifth and final season. Still, totally worth it. And if you're looking for "that show", and are in the minority like me and aren't already watching this, do it!

Photo shoot at Leo Carrillo Beach!

2011-08-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

Justin and I went to Leo Carrillo beach over the weekend to do a photo shoot with his sister Ursie and her boyfriend David. The photos turned out gorgeous and you can see them at the Chaffin Cade Photography blog here. Justin's brother Alex, his sister Chandy and her husband Johnny were there as well, and we got some great pics of them, too! Thanks everyone for spending the day at the beach with us! We had such a great time!

Leo Carillo Beach

2011-08-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

Loved it!!!

2011-08-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

Saw this yesterday and fell in love with it! Definitely check it out this weekend if you haven't already!!!

Arizona

2011-08-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

I just spent a week in Arizona with my parents and Justin. Our resort was in Phoenix, but we drove all over the state.

I had no idea what to expect from AZ. I knew there was desert... and that was about it. But after spending a week there, it is at the top of my list of favorite places ever.

The resort was amazing. It was on a HUGE plot of land, with a gorgeous view of the mountains and nature everywhere you looked. Along with the main hotel there were pools, a golf course, an equestrian area and a spa. Much like Arizona, the hotel was strongly influenced by the surrounding western and Native American culture.

You can see below that they had American Indian paintings on the ceiling. Also, every time you went into the lobby you had a GREAT view of the mountains (they're kind of hard to see in this pic, but they're right outside the windows). They also had very calming Native American music playing in the hotel 24/7 (I downloaded a few songs by Nakai, one of the artists on their soundtrack).

One of the paintings on the ceiling.

We LOVED the spa. It was the first time we had taken advantage of a spa on a vacation. They had all of these rooms for you to just sit and relax in, drink tea, use hot towels and eat healthy looking snacks. They had indoor and outdoor jacuzzi tubs, steam rooms, saunas, and all of the things you would think to find at a spa (most of it men and women separate). Then, outside there was a relaxing, adult-only, co-ed pool. It was SO nice because on the first visit there were only like 3-5 other people in it, and then on the second visit we had it to ourselves! Also, they give you this SUPER COMFY robe and slippers that you can wear around while you're being pampered. My mom and I even got a facial one day!

Behind my mom is a replica of an Indian hut, made specifically for meditating.

Along with the many amenities the resort had to offer, there was this little imitation western town called Rawhide a motor boat's ride away. The boat picked us up in a (man-made) lake right behind our hotel and and took us about a mile down to the town. It was really cute. We ate dinner at Rawhide Steakhouse on two of the nights. They even had entertainment! One night we went there was a group of maybe 60-something year old cowboy looking men playing music, another night there was a man on the keyboard and a woman singing old country songs.

Here's a shot of the lake.

My dad loves baseball, so whenever we are on vacation we see a ballgame. We saw the Arizona Diamondbacks play the L.A. Dodgers at Chase field. They were giving away Kirk Gibson bobbleheads so we got there early to make sure we got one (or four). We even had time to eat at a TGIF's located in the stadium! In the photo below you can see us eating right next to the open window, looking out on the field as the players warmed up!

Here's a shot outside the stadium.

We took three different day trips, the first being to Sedona. On the way there, we visited Camelback Church of Christ (we really loved it there-- they had an amazing service and seemed like a really warm and friendly congregation). If you haven't been to Sedona you HAVE to put it on your list of things to do. There are all of these huge, red rock formations, and such gorgeous landscape, which the pictures can't do justice. We drove all around to different parts taking pics. It's SO quiet and most of the time you can't even see any signs of civilization. It was a really cool experience.

This is the Chapel of the Holy Cross. The person who commissioned it was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, hence the influence of blending the outside with the inside. The building is nestled right in with the surrounding rock. It's a Catholic church, and pretty small inside, and I imagine it has to be a pretty spiritual experience getting to worship there every Sunday and seeing all of this around you.

The rock formation below is called Cathedral Rock (they have different names for all of their rocks, there's even a "Snoopy" and a "Coffee Pot"... once you see them you know exactly why they named them that). The "Cathedral" aspect of this rock is on the other side.

There were tons of trails for hiking. We're really not "hikers", so we didn't go on any crazy hikes, but if you love that kind of thing, I would imagine this would be the perfect place for you. But, you don't have to be a hiker to enjoy Sedona (good for us!).

I've mentioned how beautiful Sedona is, and how at times you can't even see civilization. That goes for their "city" part as well. Most of their buildings and businesses blend in with the local scenery. We read that when McDonalds moved in, the people of Sedona were worried that the yellow arches would clash with their red rock. When they requested another color, turquoise was the first color that McDonalds came back with. Sedona accepted. Apparently, this is the only McDonald's in the world with turquoise arches.

Our next day trip was to the Grand Canyon. On our way we stopped off at "Montezuma's Castle". A "castle" made hundreds of years ago by the Pre-Columbian Sinagua people. Despite the name, Montezuma never actually lived here.

Here's some cacti we passed after seeing the castle.

Now, in Phoenix the weather had been averaging a crazy hot 105. We heard it would be cooler in the Grand Canyon, but when you're in 100+ degrees, it's hard to imagine ever being too cold. So my mom and I dressed for super hot weather, while my dad dressed for temperatures in the 80's. We were like "Dad! You're going to burn up!".

But, instead...

We were freezing!!! We got there and it was pouring rain! And windy. And super cold. And I'm wearing jean cut offs and a tank top. Luckily my mom had a sweater in the car, along with an airplane blanket. I wore both.

It was the weirdest thing, though. It was down pouring and freezing, but then after like ten minutes it stopped. The sun came out, it warmed up, and I was able to go without the airplane blanket!

Here's a gorgeous shot of a rainbow over the Grand Canyon, right after the rain.

Right before the rain let up.

After the rain, there was this fog on the top of this rock. I love how it looks!

At one point it was raining so hard we had to take cover under a tree!

Now, the Grand Canyon was way different than I thought it would be. There are a bunch of areas where you can go see it, so maybe I've seen pics of a different part or something. But it was very cool! I had no idea how the Grand Canyon came to be. The little learning center (the Geology Museum, where you can also look out over the Canyon) explained that basically (and don't quote me on this) the Colorado River, along with it's tributaries (which are rivers that flow into the Colorado River) is like a saw or liquid sand paper, and just keeps cutting deeper and deeper into the rock. Then, when it cuts deeper, the side rocks wear away (I forget how...). Anyway, it's taken like, millions of years to do, and it's still doing it!

There were people getting so close to the edge! Like, sitting-and-dangling-their-feet-over-the-edge-with-their-hands-in-the-air kind of close, or having-a-picnic-and-not-watching-their-kids-while-their-kids-get-really-close-to-the-edge kind of close. Looking at this picture I feel like we're too close!

I forgot to take my sweater off for this pic. It comes past my shorts, and kind of makes me look like I'm wearing a cape.

Our last day trip was to Tombstone. I had heard of Tombstone, but didn't know ANYTHING about it. But I do now! There is a lot of pioneer and mining history there, but the thing that it's most famous for is the gunfight at the O.K. Corral (I didn't know anything about that either).

Basically, back in 1881 there were a bunch of cowboys shooting at each other; some died, some lived. Click here for an even more descriptive re-telling.

The town still has an old west feel.

We went to Boot Hill Cemetery to see some of the infamous graves. A new cemetery, called the "city cemetery" was started in 1884, leaving Boothill closed down and neglected. It's unclear when it was restored (we read both the 20's and the 40's), but by that time grave markers were missing. They relied on public records and accounts of family and friends as to who was buried there and where.

The three cowboys killed in the O.K. Corral shoot out.

I saw this old building on the way into town and thought the turquoise paint coming off the wood looked interesting!

When traveling, It's always fun to eat at places that are only in that area. My mom had read about this restaurant in Phoenix that was on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" with Guy Fieri. I've always wanted to go to those restaurants you see on the Food Network! So we were really excited to try out Matt's Big Breakfast!

The food was really good! And I will say they are the best pancakes I've ever had.

My mom had also read about an olive oil press that was worth visiting. It was called "Queen Creek Olive Mill", and it was really cool. It's basically an olive farm and they grow all their own olives (along with a lot of other fruits and vegetables). We took a tour and they explained how they grow and press their olives (which was really interesting!). Afterwards we shopped for some oils (they had every kind of olive oil you could imagine, all made right their on their farm), and had lunch. Their food was super tasty, and if you're going to Phoenix anytime soon I suggest you take an afternoon and head out there. They, too, have been featured on TV, on an episode of Mike Rowe's "Dirty Jobs".

We had such an amazing time!!! The week flew by! We got to see so much and still had time to relax and enjoy Arizona's gorgeous scenery!!! I think this is one of my favorite vacations. Definitely take a trip here if you get a chance!!!

Hollywood Shoot

2011-07-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that we went down to Hollywood Blvd. and took some night shots. Here they are!

Photos

2011-07-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in forever! I'm actually wanting to re-do my blog, which I was planning to do last week. But I didn't get around to it, and then also forgot to post... anyway.

I'm wanting to take more pics of CA, maybe even sell them on Etsy, we'll see. Above is a shot I got not to far from my apartment. There are these colorful flowers growing all over the place this time of year. They're just hanging over people's fences onto the sidewalk.

We did a night shoot as well, down on Hollywood Blvd., I'll post some of those pics tomorrow!

Health and Beauty Blog!

2011-07-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

I started a beauty blog a while ago, but I got distracted and busy... and well, sort of neglected it. BUT, I wanted to start one up again, and actually stick to it this time.

So, I started BubbleGumRadar.com. It's all about beauty and health products, with new posts Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I'm thinking I might even make some special BGR matchboxes and use them as giveaways. We'll see.

So check it out! I only have two posts so far, but if you end up following I'd love to hear your comments and feedback! You can find BGR on Facebook here!

Another MI Photo!!!

2011-06-30T21:20:00.000-07:00

I've finally gotten through all of the photos from MI, (it took me forever). The above photo is one we took in my grandparents back yard on the last day. I think it's funny. hehe.

I have to mention a conversation I had with Tim Rimer while we were there. Growing up, Tim was one of Josh's best friends. That being the case, I got to know him pretty well, and hear a lot of his stories. I remember one in particular about when he was working at Big Boy's and how he hated it. One day while he was there, hating it, they asked him to take out the garbage. So he picked up the garbage, took it out back to the dumpster, and then just walked home and never went back!

Brilliant, right? I've always loved that story, and I think a lot of people can relate. You know, hating a job and just wanting to leave it and walk on home, never to return? I've told that story for years, any time someone would say how much they hated their job, "oh, my brother's friend Tim took out the trash and Big Boys and then just walked home! hahaha!".

I sat across from Tim at Josh and Suzy's reception, and had the opportunity to remind him of that hilarious story, and how I've repeated it over town. Only, Tim had never heard that story, nor did he live it. He did work at Big Boy's, and he didn't care for it... but, he had never done the trash/walk home thing.

So where did I get that from??? Are you telling me I not only made up some random story, but thought it was so hilarious that I re-told it to a million people, and did so for like, a decade?

Well, regardless. It's provided me with a funny story to tell, and have maybe even inspired some to quit their jobs in a creative manner!

More Wedding Pics!!!

2011-06-23T23:53:00.000-07:00

So, I was organizing my MI photos, and I found a whole batch of wedding pics that I didn't even realize were there! That's what happens when you take a bazillion photos in one week...

Anyway!!! Here are some great pics of the guys getting ready for the wedding!

Groomsman Aaron getting ready.

Dad.

Doug, the minister, looking over his notes.

Joe.

Joe and Dad.

Groomsman Tim.

Josh.

After the ceremony we all hung out in they guys room for a bit.

Susan and Keri.

Waiting to go into Brio.

Me and Dad.

Wedding Week & 80th B-day Party in MI!!!

2011-06-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

Our past week and a half in MI was crazy busy!!! We had my brother's wedding and my Gram's 80th birthday, and almost all of our fam had come in for both occasions.

This is a super long post, but it's mostly pics!!!

Bachelor/Bachelorette Parties
Justin and I had gotten in a week before the wedding, which allowed us each to throw separate bachelor/bachelorette parties for Josh and Suzy (also known as "Juzy"). Justin had set up for a bunch of the guys to go shooting, and do other guy things, and we threw Suzy a surprise "Old Hollywood Glam" Bachelorette party!

I had done up these invites and sent them out a few weeks before, and I had also made up some "Old Hollywood Glam" matchboxes to give away as favors. We flew in the morning of the party, so my mom had set everything up. She did an AMAZING job. The place looked so gorgeous and wedding-y.

Wedding-y looking house.

She even had a local bakery make up these adorable bra and panty shaped cookies!!!

My mom also put together a "Hollywood Glam" worthy lunch, including an awesome cheese plate (my favorite)!!! Oh! And I have to mention what a huge help Keri Murphy was!!! She came early to help my mom set up! Thank you!!!

After eating and opening gifts, we passed around a bowl of fortune cookies and read them aloud. You know how to read fortune cookies, right? I don't know where this originated, but for the longest time we have read them by adding the word "in bed" at the end. Why? I have no idea. Is it an appropriate way for a bunch of people eating at Pei Wei's after church to read their fortune cookies to everyone? Maybe not. But it's so funny.

So, in this appropriate setting, we went around the table three times reading Suzy her "fortunes". Hilarious!!! (notice the glitzy table cloth!).

Susan (bridesmaid), Suzy's Aunt Carolyn, Suzy's mom Helene, Keri Murphy, Keri (Maid of Honor), Suzy, mom and Gram. I, am of course, taking the pic!

The Rehearsal

We did the rehearsal the Thursday before the wedding. Here's Suzy rock'n the stairs with super excited fam on the sidelines.

On the left Justin (the Best Man) and Maid of Honor Keri. On the right, Aunt Karen, a.k.a. stand-in for Groomsman Tim, and Bridesmaid Susan.

Suzy's mom Helene rehearsed meeting her at the end of the stairs and then walked her down the aisle.

Rehearsing at the altar.

My parents did an amazing job on the Rehearsal Dinner!!! My dad grilled chicken and beef kebabs, and my mom set up a ice cream bar for dessert.

Have an old computer desk lying around? Use it as a ice cream bar!!!

It did start to get a little cold, but we didn't let it ruin our night. We started piling on afghans and sweaters and leaned in close to/put our hands over a candle...

The guys wimped out (or were smart?) as it grew chillier and went inside, and the girls piled on the remaining afghans and sweaters... and leaned in closer to the one votive candle.

Hehe. We crack ourselves up.

Hanging out with Fam
We have extended family all over the country, and most of them got to come up for the wedding and party (we missed you Amy and fam, Katie and fam, Joe, Lindsey and Ryan and Rebekah!!!).

Below, in front of Juzy's new house, we have Heidi, Caitlin, Karen, Vicki, Nancy, mom, Liz, me, Gram and Whitney holding Abigail.

Cousins! Liz, Caitlin, me and Heidi.

On the left, Juzy in front of their new house!!! On the right, John Thomas and Will hanging out in a tree on Juzy's front lawn!

Juzy's cat, Slinky.

When Erich, Whitney and fam arrived, the boys immediately wanted toys. Luckily we had a huge tub of Legos, AND luckily for the boys Justin was an expert at these plastic interlocking blocks! He helped them make a plane, a spaceship and a robot! David also joined them building an awesome robot for Will, which after seeing it, John Thomas tried to claim as his own.

Justin and Gimmy!

Little Abigail was having a hard time staying awake, but it made for a great pic!

My parents pool table is always a source of entertainment for the guys.

Flat Lindsey! If you've heard of Flat Stanley then you should get the idea. My cousin Lindsey couldn't be there, so they made a "Flat Lindsey" to come and be in pictures, so it's like she was there! Sort of. And to clarify, there is no actual "Stanley".

Here's Gram and Gimmy with Flat Lindsey.

The Wedding

Sunday, June 12th, the day of the wedding!!!

We started off the day by Suzy and the bridesmaids coming to my parents house. The hair and makeup people met us there to make us all look beautiful. Mission accomplished.

My hair in the back.

Suzy!

After being made beautiful, we all headed to the chapel. We had a huge bridal suite to get ready in.

Suzy's Aunt Karen, her mom Helene, mom and Suzy's Aunt Carolyn.

The flowers for the wedding were gorgeous!!! Here's a shot of Helene's corsage and a bridesmaid's bouquet.

The pictures don't do it justice, but my mom's necklace was gorgeous! It was so sparkly! Very red carpet, hehe.

Suzy's "something old" was this antique pin of my mom's, pinned to her bridal bouquet.

Bridesmaids! Me, Keri and Susan.

The dress!!! Isn't it gorgeous?

Because both Justin and I were in the wedding, I have no pics of the actual ceremony... but it was beautiful!!!

After the ceremony we had hors d'oeurves for the guests while we all took photos. And while the photographer was taking photos, Justin and I took photos!

I love these shots.

Josh and Justin.

Me and Justin.

Siblings!

Groomsmen Justin, Aaron and Tim.

Mom and Karen.

The Winegeart siblings minus Lindsey.

Gram and Granddaughters!!! "The Facts of Life" meets "Hot in Cleveland"...?

Erich and Whitney.

Jeff and Derek, two of the family members who played during the wedding (They did an AMAZING job).

Gram, Gimmy, mom, Karen, Jeff and Nancy.

And you can always count on my family for one of these...

Gram, Gimmy and Caitlin.

The Winegeart Fam!

Mom and her best friend from high school, Cathy.

The Groomsmen hanging out in their manly, leathery room.

Mr. and Mrs. Chaffin!!!

The reception was held at our favorite restaurant, Brio. They did an amazing job!!! Brio, along with the event planner my mom had hired, Creative Events, made the place look stunning!

In lieu of favors, Josh and Suzy made a donation to the Humane Society. I did however make some plum, lime green and hounds tooth glitter "C" matchboxes for people to take home.

The cakes!!! They were so good!

Mom and Dad.

Juzy's menu!!! Brio personalized it for them, so cute. The food was amazing!!!

Justin and I kept telling Austin how much he looks like Prince Harry, because HE IS HIS TWIN. So Justin did the logical thing and printed up a picture of PH and got into Brio before everyone else did, and put the picture at Austin's seat.

Fam having fun (except for Nancy who looks very concerned)!

Mom and Linda. Linda was a HUUUUUUUUUUGE help this entire wedding/party week.

Josh and Dad.

On the left, Nancy stealing flowers and food, on the right Heidi and Liz.

Erich and Whitney.

They had Juzy's initials on the floor. I caught Bob severely confused by this, looking hard to find where this light source was coming from.

Stealing cards from the card box!!!

Gram's 80th!!!

It was my Gram's 80th birthday this year, and we had a special party for her! The timing was perfect, since not only was most of the family there, but we also got to use the leftover wedding flowers and cake. Yay!!! Along with new, non-wedding desserts as well.

The newlyweds! Come Honey Moon in our backyard, with all of our extended family!!! hehe.

Jeff and Vicki.

Heidi and Will.

Liz.

We had decorated the backyard just for the occasion.

John Thomas and Whitney. I love this pic!!!

Hahahaha!!! (Pregnant) Amy confusing John Thomas.

Doug and Cathy Allen holding superstar Cali.

Cali's love/hate relationship with lemons.

You know what's fun at parties? Hula-hoops!!!

Work it Liz!

Also, ladder golf...

For a while now we have been aware that when you take a picture with one person sitting down, and everyone else in the picture standing up, it looks like the person sitting down is either an invalid, or being visited in the nursing home. So when we went to take this picture and my mom insisted someone sit next to her for the very reason listed above, we of course now had to take the invalid/nursing home pic. And man is that consistent. It even looks like my mom (the nursing home patient being visited) has a lap blanket. "Here Gram! You want to hold the baby?".

And a non-nursing home pic.

On the left, Heidi and Liz and on the right, Abigail.

For my Gram's 80th birthday the entire fam chipped in and we surprised her with an iPad2!!! She has an e-mailing machine, which only e-mails, so we wanted to get her something that would help her keep up with all the kids and grand kids, and vise versa!!! She was VERY surprised, as you can see. She's already a pro and is e-mailing, taking pics with it and video chatting!!!

Justin, David, Karsten and Austin were on video chat in the house, so that when she opened it they were on screen!

And another use for the box! hehe.

Gram got to video chat with Amy, Katie and fam right away!!!

We had such a fun week and a half! You get so used to seeing everyone every day, and every second packed with activity that you feel out of sorts once it's all over. I already miss everyone!!! Thanks for making it such a fun trip!!!

No More Braces!!!

2011-06-10T22:22:00.000-07:00

I recently got my braces off, yay! I have to say, the whole process, including the surgery, flew by so fast and really was not a big deal. And I'm so happy with the results!

I am now rocking an awesome retainer, which, instead of what I did when I was younger and got my braces off, will wear every single night for the rest of my life. I also decided to treat myself to Crest White Strips, which I am loving so far (about half way through them).

Yay dazzling smiles!

2011-05-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

Whenever I go through magazines (I get a ton) I always find great inspiration for photography, hair, makeup, recipes, etc. So I rip the pages out and put them in a special binder. I've had it for a while and it's full of all my favorite things... and a million recipes that I hope one day to try, hehe.

I do the same thing when I find something online. I take a screen shot and organize it in my desktop folders. That is until my friend Rachel introduced me the MOST GENIUS THING THE WEB HAS EVER CREATED. Pinterest. This is SO COOL!!! Why didn't they think of this sooner? In a nut shell, you can organize anything and everything that you find on the web and want to keep for future reference/inspiration. You organize them on "boards" and you can create as many boards as you'd like. I really can't explain it better than Rachel did, so I'm going to link to her post here.

And like Rachel did for me, if you want an invite to Pinterest (you have to have an invite, I think), leave a comment and I'll send you one! You can check out my Pinterest here (above is a shot of my "photography" board).

Lunch at the beach!!!

2011-05-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

I like to take pics (or in this case have someone else take pics) at the beach so I can use them for my desktop photo...

We took Sunset on the way back from the beach. There are tons of huge ads on Sunset, but there is this one HUGE building where the advertising spaces is obviously owned by Disney. Again, they are always large, but the new Pirates of the Caribbean one is crazy big (technically the ones on that building are always the same size, this one just appeared larger...). It's just Johnny Depp's face and you can see it from a mile away. It looked really cool.

I was like "THAT PICTURE IS HUGE! STOP THE CAR SO WE CAN GET OUT AND TAKE A PICTURE!!!!!!!" So we did.

The Puppies are Back!!!

2011-05-02T11:43:00.001-07:00

Free video chat by Ustream

So, I stumbled upon these Shiba Inu puppies a few years ago. This family in San Francisco had set up a web cam to keep an eye on their pups while they were at work, and it became this sensation that everyone around the country watched. That was a few litters ago, but I always check back in every few months because they are like an addiction and I love them.

So I checked the site yesterday, and low and behold, A NEW LITTER!!! They were just born April 14th and are so furry and confused about their bearings, adorable!!!

Check them out but be warned. You will find yourself staring at them for hours.

Personalized Matchboxes and Site Makeover

2011-04-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I started my creative blog, "Cosmic Jane Tangibles". I've just sort of been making things that I liked and wanted to make. If you follow the blog at all you know my current creations are matchboxes.

I've sold a number of them (yay!) and I recently did an order that I absolutely love. I just started doing personalized matchboxes, and this girl wanted some for a Chanel themed bridal shower. She had found a few vintage images she wanted me to work with, and this is what I came up with:

My "Tangibles" site has undergone a bit of a makeover as well, along with the "Graphic Design" site. To be honest, since I also design blogs and websites, my own are constantly changing.

So check it out when you get a chance! And I'll have more personalized matchbox orders, so pics to come!

Josh and Suzy's Bridal Shower!!!

2011-04-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

The inspiration for the shower came from the plum color of Josh and Suzy's wedding. My mom added in a chartreuse green to compliment it.

My mom and Linda (who from here on out will be known as "The Moms") along with gram, myself, Ginger, Andrea and Keri all set up for the shower. The Moms headed the whole thing, doing a TON of work. They are amazing!!! And I have to point out, these pics don't do it justice.

So, here's a view of the shower from many different angles.

We had fabric hanging from every wall, tons of garland, and dark purple and silver mini disco balls hanging from the ceiling. Gram had sewn all of the green fabric used on the tables, and wrapped each silverware setting individually!

Here are some of the details close up.

The mirrored tray with the glitzy disco balls held all of the coffee condiments.The bubbly glass with the purple satin ribbon, and the votive candle is what we had at each table. A glass apothecary jar holding the purple and silver balls was placed at each end of the dessert table. And the last photo is a close up of a flower arrangement my mom made for the food table.

Here you can see the canning jars we used for punch cups. We had an eclectic collection of lace table runners on every table. And in the last photo you can see the flower arrangement mentioned above.

On one of the multiple trips my mom and I made to Target when my she was here in CA (back in December) we found these purple glass tear drops. They were actually Christmas ornaments, and they went perfect above the dessert table. Below you can also see the silverware that gram wrapped!

My dad led a very nice prayer for Josh and Suzy. Helene and Carolyn were a big help in putting together chicken salad hors devours. In the last pic Josh is holding up a gorgeous one-of-a-kind card my aunt Karen made just for them!

Suzy and Helene, Mom and one of her best friends Kathy, Josh and Nell, and me and Gram (I still have a bit of swelling in my cheeks...).

The Moms in their aprons!

For drinks we had water flavored with fruit. We also had this amazing punch, a mix of sparkling cider, lemonade and club soda.

As usual, The Moms had an amazing menu! The brunch theme included breakfast casserole, pineapple bread pudding, chicken salad in their own individual crunchy buttered toast cups, croissants, fruit and veggies.

Helene, Josh, Suzy and Carolyn.

The desserts were amazing!!! My favorite were the chocolate cherry wine cookies.

Me and Suzy, The Moms, Josh and Geraldine, Suzy and Keri.

Josh and Gram, mom and Bob (Bob came at the end of the shower to help shuttle the shower gifts home).

The favors were so cute! My mom had found these adorable bird clothes pins/chip clips. She got a mix of colorful tea towels from Target and we pinned a bird clip to each. Each guest also got cinnamon coffee cake pop. They were dipped in white chocolate and had small pearls and edible purple flowers on them (homemade!).

Seven lucky winners won a prize of two floral/bird hand towels, red, pink and white ceramic measuring cups, and a cute spatula. Amy got to take home one of these prizes!

Keri, Susan (two of the girls standing up in the wedding), Suzy, Josh and me.

It was a gorgeous shower, and I was so glad I had the opportunity to go home and be part of it. Josh and Suzy make each other so happy, and I love seeing them excited while they prepare for married life. We are so blessed to be adding Suzy to our fam, and even luckier that her extended family are so great!

Shower #1

2011-04-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

I'm in MI for Josh and Suzy's wedding shower. The one we're working on will be on Saturday, but some good friends and church members of Suzy's threw them a shower this past Sunday.

It was really cute and it gave my mom, grandma and I a chance to meet some people in Suzy's life. Everyone was so nice!

Someone had made them this quilt, personalized just for them!

(Below) Suzy's mom Helene, me, mom, Suzy, and her aunt Carolyn.

Raining in L.A.

2011-03-21T17:29:00.000-07:00

So we've had crazy weather in L.A. the past day and a half. Pouring rain, psycho winds. Branches have been blown off trees and there was a rock slide down the street from my place, blocking off part of the road.

As I was running errands today I noticed another storm coming in, so I ran back, grabbed a camera and brought it along with me.

This was across the street from the post office. I loved that white billowing cloud.

This is another angle from the post office, looking towards the Hollywood sign that is hidden by buildings and such.

The grocery store I go to, Ralph's, has parking on the roof. Here's a shot from there.

And by the time I got out of Ralph's It was raining again.

Battle: G.I. Joe Dolls

2011-03-15T11:19:00.001-07:00

I love alien invasion movies, so I expected "Battle: Los Angeles" to be an exciting watch.

I could tell it wasn't going to be the awesome nail biter I was hoping for right from the beginning. I accepted that, that's fine, I guess it will just be an hour and forty five minutes of getting to know these characters and seeing most of them die at the hand of aliens. Still potential... maybe...

Well... it turned into what you might see if you were watching a kid play with his G.I. Joes. The dialogue got really detached-from-reality-ish, and the events got so random. I kept picturing a kid, mainly my brother (when he was little), sitting in his room, a G.I. Joe in each hand and more on the ground. Making noises and narrating the events. It was seriously like:

Kid playing with G.I. Joes: Pew! Pew! Pew! (those are the gun sounds) get to the main board thing! Whao! there's more aliens! Get to the top of that rock! (where did that rock come from?). Whao! there's a huge mother ship! make a call! Pew pew! Pew! Ah! They're coming up on my side! Whao! Use this thing that looks like an Atari gaming set to put a laser somewhere! Sir! Where should we put the target?! Over there by the striper pad! (what's a striper pad???). Did the striper pad get through? Yeah! Woo! Pew Pew! Explosion! Ahhhh! The soldier on the rock exploded! Whao! Here comes one missile! P-Koooooowwwwww! Yeah! We exploded the thing! Yeah! High five! Striper pads! We did it! (in a lower voice with a different doll... or maybe a Batman doll to make him look different from the other soldiers): Congratulations. You saved the earth. Would like some pancakes? (back to the regular soldiers) Yeah! Yeah! Wait! No. We already ate. We will fight more! Yay!!! The end.

You could go see the movie to decide for yourself, or you could just look at this poster I've enhanced that basically tells the whole story:

Caesar Land

2011-03-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

When I was a teenager I worked at a pizza place called "Caesar Land". It was Little Caesar's version of Chuck E Cheese. I know that sounds like it would be awful, but we got to eat tons of pizza and occasionally some Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, so it really wasn't that bad.

I mainly worked in the kitchen and made pizzas, which was actually a lot of fun. My friend Amy had it kind of rough though. She did parties. People would book parties there and they got a server (Amy) who would be at their whim. Much more stressful than the safety of the kitchen.

Caesar Land was actually a family affair. My cousin's wife was one of my managers, and my brother worked there as well.

Anyway. I always remember this one CL incident. We had these really long, purple tables with equally long, purple, padded benches.

I was out on the floor (where the tables and benches were) cleaning or something. I sat down on a bench and felt this pinch. A nail had come through the bench and poked me in the butt. Not like a good-thing-I-had-my-tetanus-shot poke, just maybe a small tear in my pants. But enough to where if the nail wasn't taken care of it would eventually come through more and hurt someone.

I went back and told our manager Mike.

Mike was 26 and for whatever reason seemed to be thought of as cool by the other employees. I was always slightly intimidated by him. I don't know, maybe it was because he was labeled cool, I just remember always feeling stupid around him.

So I was of course thrilled that he was the manager on duty and I got to tell him I got a hole in my unflattering work pants by sitting on a nail.

After reporting the incident to Mike, I went into the bathroom to make sure my underwear wasn't showing through. After coming back out I noticed that Mike was just sitting there. Hello? There's a nail+kids out there!

So I'm like, "uh, I sat on a nail out there. You might want to put something on it." I remember he got a weird look on his face. He takes a minute and goes into his office and then brings out a band-aid and hands it to me.

I was a little confused. Okay, I guess we can put a band-aid on the bench but I don't really know if a band-aid is sharp-metal proof... I was like "oh... okay, so you think this will work?". And he got a weird look again. Come on! What's going on??? So he tells me he doesn't know and that's something I'd have to check out myself, and asks if it was bleeding.

Then it hit me.

When I said "you might want to put something on it", he thought the it was MY. BUTT. He thought I was actually asking for assistance in that way. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I quickly explained that I didn't mean for/need his assistance, and I was referring to the bench, but the damage was already done. You can't block out the fact that you accidentally asked your boss to put a band-aid on your bare butt at work.

"LOL" is the "Bless their heart" of the internet

2011-03-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

I've noticed growing up that there is a way a person can say something kind of disparaging about someone, but then put a magical "I'm only saying this because I care about them" twist at the end. It's known as "bless their heart" and you know what I'm talking about.

"Did you hear? The Smiths got little Billy tested and he is slow, just like we thought. Bless his heart."

"I don't care for when Jenny cooks, she doesn't have a domestic bone in her body, bless her heart."

"Caroline has really put on a ton of weight. And it's mostly in her face and butt. Bless her heart."

See how that works? As the person starts to say it, those listening are thinking "Yikes! This is rude!" but then it's all forgotten at the end when the person says "bless their heart". They just care! Really it's just so you can say something mean without feeling bad/appearing evil. It's wrong and I don't condone it however am ashamed to say I've used this tactic myself.

I bring it up because I notice that there is a form of this on the web. When commenting on people's status updates, articles, blogs, what not, commenters can't help but leave their opinion, but don't want to seem too rude about it, so they throw an "LOL" on there.

Wonderful day! I got up, ran errands, and then had a great lunch at McDonalds!

Comment: I don't know if anything at McDonalds could be considered "great". Or if you can consider stuffing your body with all of the chemicals and low-grade garbage that McDonalds offers to be a "wonderful day". But hey, if adding on pounds and taking years off of your life is "wonderful", then I'm glad you had a good day. LOL.

Tricky.

Now, while I have used "bless their heart", I cannot stand LOL. I don't know if it's because it's in writing, or because it's used sooooo much, but there is something so demeaning about it (okay, BTH is demeaning as well...). Maybe it's because, unlike the magical smoke and mirrors of "bless their heart", "LOL" is so transparent. And people try to get away with much more than they ever would with "BTH".

Status Update: On a plane to Denver and this stupid person next to me won't stop making weird noises and taking up more than half the arm rest! I want to say something but I don't want to be forced to communicate with this sorry excuse for a human being. LOL.

Harsh, right? (ps- these are all made up to prove a point). You wouldn't dare try to get away with that with BTH.

Status Update: On a plane to Denver and this stupid person next to me won't stop making weird noises and taking up more than half the arm rest! I want to say something but I don't want to be forced to communicate with this sorry excuse for a human being. Bless their heart.

See?

Also, people throw LOL on to things that are neither Laugh-Out-Loud worthy, or super rude that it needs an LOL.

Eating my favorite pizza. Pepperoni and pineapple!
Comment: I'm eating pizza, too! LOL!

I see this a lot, and I'm always confused. Why the LOL? Are two people eating pizza funny? So funny that you would laugh out loud?

So basically, they're both annoying/wrong. I guess if you want to LOL at things that aren't L-able, then that is your prerogative. Bless your heart.

San Diego

2011-03-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

We met up with one of my best friends Amy and her husband Jeff in San Diego this past weekend. She's a doctor and was in from Michigan for a medical conference. Jeff had met her out there so they could stay a few extra days for fun.

We had gorgeous weather for the most part, and a great view from the hotel! Here's a look outside the window of the US Grant, a gorgeous historical hotel in the heart of San Diego. Also, a shot of some chandeliers in the lobby.

We spent a lot of time in the Gaslamp Quarter, and on Monday went to La Jolla to check out the Birch Aquarium.

The aquarium was right on the water, appropriately.

Here are some shots of us in front of the water. I kind of cringe when I see myself in these because I thought that all of my visible swelling had gone down. Until I saw these pics. These are the first pics I've had taken of myself face-on since the surgery, and I feel like I look like a chipmunk... but everyone else looks good and I don't get to see Amy nearly enough... I had to post them!

Jimmy Fallon is Charlie Sheen!!!

2011-03-03T15:57:00.000-08:00

I saw Trudy Monk!!!

2011-03-01T16:11:00.000-08:00

We finished our "Monk" marathon about two days ago. We watched the entire 8 season series in about a month and a half, and I am sooooo sad that it's over!!! It is, without a doubt, my favorite show ever.

I'm definitely having "Monk" withdrawal, so what happened at Michael's today was perfect!

I was standing in line waiting to be called to the next register. The check-out line at the Michael's here is very confusing. It's the one-line-wait-to-be-called thing, but there's so much space between the line and the register that it's hard to tell who's even in line.

Anyway, I was waiting to be called when a woman walked up with her cart. IT. WAS. TRUDY. (If you don't watch "Monk"-you should- but Trudy is Monk's wife who was killed, but we see her often in flashbacks. She's also "Jan" from The Office).

I couldn't believe it. She was asking about the line, and saying maybe we should move up, someone was opening a new register, I don't know. I knew that if we moved up the line would mush into a chaotic mess, but I didn't want to upset Trudy (real name Melora Hardin). I kind of moved up, which turned into...a chaotic mess. And then we just stood there. I usually don't say anything when I see celebs, but this was different. We had JUST finished watching Monk!!!

Like a huge, nervous dork I was like "I'm sorry, but my boyfriend and I just finished watching a 'Monk' marathon, and we love you!!!" She was super nice and said thank you (Trudy told me thank you!!!), and then I got called to the next register. Trudy Monk told me to "have a nice day"!!! EEE!!!

My nervous energy followed me to the register. All of a sudden I didn't know what to do with myself. I put my stuff on the counter and started to put my sunglasses on. Inside. Why??? I realized as I was putting them on my face that they weren't needed just yet, so I acted like it was all part of the plan and then I put them on my head. Smooth.

As the clerk was scanning my stuff I noticed that there was a piece of scrap book paper that had gotten in there that I didn't want. But I didn't say anything! All I could think was "Trudy Monk is right behind me! JUST BUY IT!!!" Thank goodness it was only a dollar.

It all happened in a slow fog, and when the clerk handed me my receipt and bagged my stuff, I wasn't even sure the transaction was complete, but I just sort of grabbed my bag and ran out to my car. I called Justin and was like "I'M-AT-MICHAELS-AND-I-JUST-SAW-TRUDY-EEEEE!!!".

Good grief. I'll probably spontaneously combust if I meet Tony Shalhoub!

I am a Legal Genius!

2011-02-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

I recently got a red light camera ticket in the mail (we have cameras here that take pics of people going through red lights, and then it mails you a ticket). There was a warrant out for my arrest, and my bail was one million dollars.

Okay, not exactly. But that's what it felt like. I did get the ticket and they wanted me to pay $486. FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY SIX DOLLARS??? ARE YOU INSANE???

They attached a picture of the driver, and a video. The car didn't run through a red light into the intersection, but was turning right as the light changed to red. Bright side? I wasn't the driver. Woo-hoo! Now I can't say who the driver is... but let's just say he looks like this:

Here's the video, too. Just to see how INSANE this is. Keep in mind they wanted me to pay a billion dollars for this. And it's a right on red, a just turning red. It's the green Honda CRV, the third car to go through.

I checked the "not the driver" box, mailed the ticket back and was done with it. But that wasn't enough for them. They wanted the insane amount of money they were charging for the two-mile-an-hour-safely-done right turn that was made on a red, and they were going to try and get it.

With Justin's law background he knew my rights in this situation. He informed me that all I had to do was tell them I wasn't the driver, and I didn't have to tell them who the driver was. He said they would ask and ask, but just not to tell them.

The days leading up to my court date only got me more and more prepared. The scenereo played out in my mind at least a hundred times, each time I came through more super-power-attorney-ish than the last. I imagined walking in the court room and up to the police officer, who in my mind was rude and out to get me. I imagined it like this:

Police Officer (standing at a podium, wearing his sunglasses, inside): Were you the driver?
Me (full of confidence): No.
PO: Who was?
Me: I'm just here to show you I'm not the driver.
PO (getting angry): You HAVE to tell me who the driver is.
Me: I'm just here to show you that I'm not the driver.
PO (getting even angrier): Do you not understand the question??? Who was the driver????
Me: Am I obligated to tell you?
PO (annoyed but incredibly shocked and impressed by my legal knowledge): Yes.
Me: And what if I don't? I want to see the section code on this.
PO: WHO. WAS. THE. DRIVER???
Me: Not me.
PO: I WILL ARREST YOU!!! JUDGE!!!
For some reason in my mind the judge was walking around, with his hands behind his back, surveying everyone's work. In my mind there were multiple podiums with a cop at each one, trying to get people to tell who the driver was.
PO (as Judge comes over to check his work): She will not tell me who the driver is!!!
The judge looks at my paperwork and is extremely impressed by me knowing my rights.

Judge (with an approving nod): You gotta let her go, Murphy.

The police officer is mad, but he does what he's told, and I skip off and Justin and I go get breakfast.

What really happened:
Upon arrival to the courthouse, everyone fighting the red light tickets was escorted to a room where we were given the low-down on how things would go. Then, if we wanted to skip the first part (watching a video), we were able to get into a line to speak with an officer. Which I did.

As I stood in line I surveyed the cop. He was sitting at a table, and he seemed nice as he spoke to each person. My turn was getting closer and closer, and as the seconds dwindled down I leaned over to Justin (sitting in the row next to where I was standing) and whisper-asked "if the cop asks if I own the car" should I tell him yes? Yes. Ah, the sign of a truly confident red-light-ticket-fighter.

While I was waiting I noticed another cop, female, sitting at a different table. She was trying to get someone to tell her who the driver was. The woman didn't want to, so the cop told her, in a demeaning way "it's the right thing to do". No ma'am, the right thing to do is not to have a machine hand out a million $500 tickets to people going two miles an hour on a safe right turn! That's the right thing to do! Anyway...

I was on deck as the person in front of me sat and talked with the cop. It dawned on me that once the person got up, I wasn't sure if I should go sit down? Or do I wait for the cop to say "next"? The person got up and left. Not wanting to be presumptuous, I stood there like a moron. After a few long seconds, the cop looked up and said "next" like he shouldn't have had to say it.

He was really nice, though. I sat down and started to giggle at the thought of the legal battle I was about to partake in. So I'm sure that was pretty intimidating for the officer.
PO (looking at the pic and then me): This isn't you!
Me: No! (giggle)
PO: Who is this? Is this your husband? Who?
Me (giggle): No, I'm just here to show you I'm not the driver. (giggle).
PO: Is this your brother? A friend?
Me (giggle): I'm not the driver (holding my ground! Take that!)

He asked me a few more times, but I was firm with my giggles and "I'm not the driver", so he sent me up to the judge for the case to be dismissed.

So, yes. I replaced the impressive mistake-me-for-a-lawyer performance for an all out giggle-fest, but I did get out of the ticket, and I did get breakfast after. So everything worked out in the end!

Another Mabel Hoo Giveaway!

2011-02-08T12:56:00.000-08:00

Check out Mel V Designs for another Mabel Hoo mention and giveaway!

Sonic!!!

2011-02-05T16:26:00.000-08:00

Going to college in the south, we went to Sonic almost every day. There is no other carbonated drink that can hold a candle to a cherry limeaid. I definitely miss it.

Living in Los Angeles, Sonic is such a tease. They advertise constantly, but there are only a handful in the state, and there are none within a reasonable driving distance of my apartment.

So when I was researching -- like I do with all southern restaurants I wish were in L.A., Taco Bueno --if Sonic was coming to L.A., I found that there was one on the way to Justin's dad's (Lake Arrowhead)!

I was so excited!!! And I got Justin excited about it, too. He's never been, but I talk about it enough, and he's seen enough commercials to know how awesome it is.

As we entered the Sonic driveway, I found that my explanations of Sonic weren't as detailed as I had thought they were.

Justin: So should we eat it inside?
Me: No... We pull up in our car.
J: We go through the drive through?
Me: No, we pull up and sit in our car and they bring food to us (didn't he understand that this is what separated Sonic from the rest???).
J: Ohhhhh! So that's why they're always in the car in the commercials!
M: Yeah... why did you think they were in the car???
J: To make the commercial cheaper...
M: Ah. Also, we can buy some ice here (we had cold cuts in the car we were taking up to his dad's).
J: At a fast food place? Isn't that kind of weird?

Okay, I can't blame him for not knowing anything about Sonic, but I just assumed the commercials and my talking about it spoke for itself...

Anyway, here are a few photos (I snapped with my new phone). For the record, Justin loved it, and felt that the cherry limeaid was the best drink ever.

Monk-a-thon

2011-02-01T23:27:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned before how I discovered - after the series was completely over - how awesome the OCD detective series Monk is. With the re-runs playing all over the place, we decided we wanted to see the series in order.

We've ordered and got through four seasons, and will get Season 5 tomorrow. We are obsessed. We talk about how it's the best show ever created, written, acted... we love it!!!

We've been watching 3-5 episodes at a time. For the past few weeks my dreams have consisted of Monk episodes. Justin and I compare things we see to Monk, and talk about how he would handle situations. We sincerely miss Sharona, Monk's first assistant. I had the Monk theme song as my ringer, until I realized I'd probably associate that song with needing to answer my phone, so I changed it.

Also, did you know that Captain Stottlemeyer used to be Buffalo Bill? And that Monk's new assistant Natalie was on "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place"? And that Sharona was in "A League of their Own"???

It's a jungle out there.

Mabel Hoo Featured on "The Tuckers Take Tennessee"

2011-01-26T11:45:00.000-08:00

My mom's brand of adorable and unique owls, Mabel Hoo, was featured on an adorable blog called "The Tuckers Take Tennesee". She's also doing a Mabel Hoo giveaway, so make sure and check it out! Support Mabel Hoo!!!

Cosmic Jane Tangibles

2011-01-21T12:30:00.000-08:00

I've added on to my Cosmic Jane site by creating Cosmic Jane Tangibles. I've been looking for an outlet for fun, creative projects I like to do, and this new site is perfect.

It's a blog about the projects with links to their Etsy shop. These mustache matchboxes are my first project. You can see more of them here!

Germany Back Pack

2011-01-17T11:16:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before, when I was in the 7th grade I was obsessed with Germany. So when my Aunt Nancy gave our family a piece of luggage she had used in Germany, I naturally adopted it as my new back pack.

The bag was a huge, canvas, olive green over the shoulder bag, with a maroon and cream pocket on the front.

It was very sturdy and would be considered a large carry-on for an adult.

For a 7th grader it was so huge that it probably made the side of my body that I carried it on off kilter for the rest of my life.

The bag barely fit into my locker, especially squeezing it in with my locker partner's regular sized back pack. Two regular sized back packs, sure, but a large, cultured, carry on luggage that I was sure everyone thought was cool because it was from Germany even though no one could actually know that it was from Germany considering it was green, maroon and cream with no visible signs that it originated from Germany anywhere. Plus a back pack? Things were tight.

So one day, at the end of the school one day I ran to my locker, threw my books in my bag and headed for the bus. Upon sitting on the bus and talking with my friends, I reached into my backpack for something. What was this? It was a whole nother backpack.

MY BAG WAS SO HUGE THAT I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT IT HAD SWALLOWED UP AN ENTIRE EXTRA BACK PACK.

So there I sat, with my bag that had kidnapped my locker mates bag. But it was too late! If I got off the bus then I'd miss the bus. Oh well! I just went home.

Dinnertime came and I had forgotten all about the extra backpack. Durning dinner the phone rang, and it was for me. It was my locker partner. Oh yeah.

She was upset and wanted to know if I had given out our locker combination because her backpack had been stolen. "No!" I told her in shock! Gasp! Thieves! Well, what can you do? I couldn't tell her I had taken it home, I'd look like an idiot. It had finally hit me how unnecessarily huge my bag was and I was super embarrassed (although I continued to use it for the next year and a half).

So I hung up and sat back down. And started nervously laughing. I told my parents the crime my backpack/airplane luggage had committed and, after having serious concerns about my judgment in this matter, I'm sure, they drove me back up to the school and I returned her pack back and never mentioned to my locker partner.

I either a) made her think she was crazy, or b) made her think her backpack was stolen and then randomly returned... which I guess it was.

Danielle, I'm sorry about your backpack!!!

Kittens Inspired by Kittens

2011-01-15T15:00:00.000-08:00

Justin and I were at Sprint yesterday looking for a new phone (yes, I got a new phone, yay!!!) and we were testing out the screen on one of the phones by watching videos on YouTube. Naturally I typed in "kittens" in the YouTube search box, to ensure a large variety of great videos.

This one came up and it was hilarious. This girl is so funny and really excited, and opinionated, about her book.

My favorite part (and there are many) is when she says "We are eating pepper and chips!"

Bring Taco Bueno to Southern California!!!

2011-01-13T15:10:00.000-08:00

Aside from my mom and grandma's cooking, the best food is in the south. Specifically Texas. When I was at school in Abilene, we had the best (and extremely affordable) food! You can't get BBQ like that anywhere else (believe me, I've tried), and even their fast food was amazing.

Taco Bueno's menu is FULL of the best Tex Mex (is it Tex Mex?) fast food I've ever had. I catch myself day dreaming about it. My favorite is a Chicken Muchaco with extra cheese and their Cheesecake Chimichangas. The Chimichangas are GENIOUS and I can't believe no one else makes them. They re the best of both worlds. Fried food and cheesecake.

So I've done the only logical thing. Started a Facebook page to bring Taco Bueno to Southern California. I know, why hadn't someone started this already? I have no idea, but you can join the page here, and go to the official Taco Bueno page and tell them how much you want them in California here.

I'm also going to add a button on the side of my blog in hopes to get more "Bring Taco Bueno to California" followers.

Summer Jam

2011-01-06T13:28:00.000-08:00

I was the type of kid that if I didn't want to do something I made a very big deal about it. And most of the time, after my parents forced me to do it because they knew better, I ended up loving it, forgetting that I was ever disinterested.

And my parents would have had a perfect record.

Except for Summer Jam.

The details of this whole Summer Jam incident are really hazy, I must have blocked most of it out.

I know it was the summer between 8th and 9th grade. We were sitting at the dinner table and my parents announced I was going to Summer Jam. I announced back that no I wasn't and they couldn't make me. They had already made arrangements.

Summer Jam was a week long event held at Rochester College (Michigan Christian College at the time). You stayed in dorms, ate in the cafeteria and did who knows what.

Besides the fact that I was going to be in the youngest category (age ranged from 13-18), I didn't even know anyone that was going. I DIDN'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS THERE! Who does that to a 13 year old?

We were to leave Sunday, right after church services. I still cringe thinking about it. I remember thinking "I just won't get in the car, they can't force me". Well, somehow I ended up in the car with my NKOTB sleeping bag (not that I was still a fan, but it was the only sleeping bag I had) and they drove me up and dropped me off and left me there.

The reason you can't attend Summer Jam until you are at least 13 is because it's "more mature". I guess you do "cooler" things there, I have no idea. But when they said 13 they meant the "cool" 13, not the I-wear-the-same-striped-denim-shorts-every-day-and-don't-know-how-to-do-my-bangs 13.

The college was on a tiny piece of land, with like, two run down dorms, one of which I stayed in.

Coincidentally, when I got to my room and met my new roommates, they were on the same level of cool as I was. I remember none of them wore makeup, or did their hair (I think I at least wore some eyeshadow and mascara), and we hung out all week. Not that that made the week awesome.

I can only remember the week in bits, and I remember hating every minute of it. I remember doing a car wash in a K-mart parking lot, having to walk alone in the dark on a dirt road in a forest to some devotion and feeling like it was dangerous (who knows if it really was), I remember wearing the same shorts every single day, and eating in the cafeteria and thinking how lame it was that we only got one option given to us from this tiny little window. I also remember some kind of tour of their library. I think. Like I said, it's a little hazy, but I hated it. And when my parents picked me up I let them know. Every. Day. Since. (okay, not every day since, but I bring it up a lot).

To this day, whenever they bring something up that they're "sure" I'll like, I'm just like "Summer Jam".

PS- I Googled Summer Jam and there is no record of it ever existing. No doubt because IT WAS SO LAME.

Pajama Jeans

2011-01-04T14:57:00.000-08:00

There is one commercial that I saw more than any during my past month of recovery.
PAJAMA JEANS!!! The "jeans" are comfy like pajamas but "look" like jeans.

I think you get a coupon for a pair when you get your first mom cut.

It seems as though the advertisers, or whoever is responsible for the commercial, went
out of their way to make these "jeans" unflattering. They make no effort to hide the pj
jeans’ crumpled-up pocket and crotch material, the hugging of every unwanted curve, and
baggy butt.

My favorite part -- after the woman with the stylish French twist walking up the stairs to
show off her pajama jeans -- are what I can only assume are moms standing at some kind
of bar/island in someone's kitchen (talking about how great their pajama jeans are, no
doubt) as they randomly swerve their backsides around. Especially the lady second from
the left.

Now this next video we found is from six months ago, and most people have already seen
it (and/or its remix). But somehow I missed it, so I'm going to re-post it here.

The thing I love about this is that if someone crawled into my apt. and attempted to rape
me, I'd be crying on the news like "I WAS VIOLATED!!! I WILL NEVER FEEL SAFE
AGAIN!!!", but this family reacted as though someone didn't let them use a coupon at
Michael's.

And the awesome remix.

Recovery

2010-12-30T11:40:00.000-08:00

For over three weeks now I've been recovering from my surgery. We all thought I'd be
sitting in bed in major pain, just staring at the TV and sleeping. However, I was only
really stuck in bed for two and a half days.

Don't get me wrong, I was still super swollen, couldn't turn my head, could only eat
through a syringe (and still do), and had to sleep sitting up. But I was able to get up and
walk around.

Justin thought it would be a good idea to get out. He suggested the dog park. It's a really
nice and relaxing dog park right under the Hollywood sign. It's a lot of fun to sit and
watch the dogs (even though I don't actually have one).

We went to the dog park with my disproportionately huge face, bruising on my neck and
chest, and my inaudible grunts mixed with made-up sign language (and a jaw still rubber-
banded shut). I think people thought I was either deaf or had some sort of fatal disease. Or
both.

Because we went to the dog park a few days in a row, I started to fantasize that maybe
people thought I was fatally ill and I was spending my last days at the place I loved most.
I mean, I'm sure no one really noticed my swelling and noises (although I did pretend to
be a little sick when I noticed people looking at me, just so they'd know my swelling was

from a procedure and not how I normally looked).

Here are some of the other fun things we got to do while I was recovering.

Movies
Tron, True Grit, Gulliver's Travels and a Netflixed Charlie St. Cloud. I think I was
annoying the guy in front of me during Tron. Every time I took a drink of my soda, I had
to turn my head sideways, push the straw into the side of my mouth, and (kind of
successfully) suck up some liquid. I thought I was doing it all quietly, but I noticed every
time I did it the guy in front of me would turn his head and kind of look behind him...

Monk
I have recently discovered how awesome Monk is, along with the Sleuth channel. Sleuth
has provided me with many Monk episodes during my recovery, including an awesome
Monk marathon on Christmas day!

Ensure Melt Down
I had to drink Ensure, a protein drink that, I've been told, sick people or surgery patients
drink to get all their vitamins. Everything else was too thick, so it was all I was able to
eat. It wasn't that good, and it had me dreaming of all the foods I could eat once I could
open my mouth, even a little. I thought that at my one-week-appointment my rubber
bands would be loosened a little, and I'd be able to squeeze in some food. They were not
loosened, and at my next Ensure meal (after shooting Ensure in my mouth so fast that it
went everywhere) I had a breakdown. I was so hungry!!!

Worrying about my jaw
I would constantly keep Justin and my mom busy by making them tell me if they thought
I messed up my jaw surgery or not by: a) sleeping on a certain side b) hitting a wire with
a syringe c) defining certain pains, and d) wondering if my swelling would last forever...

Forcing Justin to take us to Target
I couldn't drive, so Justin had to go with us everywhere, and at one point we were going
to Target every day. Justin was great and happily took us everywhere we needed to go.

But he finally hit a breaking point.

For like the tenth day in a row I was like "TAKE US TO TARGET!!!" and he was
like "no more Target!!!" but he took us anyway. When we got there I could tell how much
he didn't want to be there, and I felt like we needed to really hurry. I was so worried about
hurrying that I wasn't even looking where I was going, and practically ran over some guy
with my cart. He turned around and gave me this annoyed look (understandably) and I
looked at him with my swollen face and rubber banded shut mouth and squeezed out a
muffled "SORRY!!!". I was so embarrassed I ran away with the cart to where my mom
was.

Running into the back of some random guy with my cart (plus my huge face letting out a

noise that certainly no one knew meant "sorry" but me) played through my head until I
reached my mom. I cried out of embarrassment when I re-told her the story and that was
the last time we forced Justin to take us to Target.

Organized My Apt.
I thought I had cleaned my apt. before my mom got here, but then she got here and I
realized I hadn't. We spent two days really cleaning it, and then every few days we would
re-organize cupboards. It is so much easier to find things now, and I have so much more
space!

Saw a Rainbow
It rained for like five days straight… and when it finally stopped there was this double
rainbow!!! We saw it out the window just as Justin called and was like "look at the
rainbow!!!". Obviously, it was quite the event.

The bottom part of the double rainbow.

Stalked by a Roach
I have a studio apt., and in the middle of the night my mom got up to go to the bathroom.
I sat up and turned on my lamp to take my antibiotic. Just as my mom came back out
and I reached to turn of my lamp, I saw this huge black thing kind of trailing behind my
mom's heels. I turned to see what it was, and it was this MASSIVE roach. It was huge!

I started screaming and my mom, not knowing why I was screaming, ran for the door
and started unlocking it in preparation to leave the apt. I announced it was a roach and
we spent the next ten minutes smashing it and trapping it so that Justin could get rid of
it when he came over. We piled so much stuff on top of it, and when Justin came over
and uncovered it, it was gone. Gone!!! We slept the rest of the time with a small light on
(because we think that roaches don't like light...). We never saw him again.

The dog park.

Should We Tie Her Arms Back?

2010-12-28T15:02:00.000-08:00

My two worries in my recent jaw surgery were a) that the anesthesia would kill me, or b) that I would wake up during the surgery and then I would die of the pain.

I was pretty sure of b).

So when I was laying in my pre-op room visualizing ways to get the doctor's attention when I would wake up mid-surgery, I was pretty upset.

The thing is, things had gone really well up until this point. My doctors were great, the facility was brand new, and I got a nice surprise in having a very talkative and alert anesthesiologist (I had met someone else a few days earlier who I thought was the anesthesiologist. He didn't speak very clearly, and I'm not exactly sure he knew what I was saying. When I would ask a question like "will it be 'a' or 'b'", he would answer "yes").

And I'm sure the anesthesiologist understood when I started crying in front of him (after all, the details he was giving me were facts that I used to confirm I would never make it through surgery).

So really at this point any surgery fears were coming from my own worries and delusions.

Until this unidentified nurse(?) walked in. I'm not really sure what her position was because she never introduced herself. She may have been a nurse, a doctor, someone's mom or a janitor. I have no idea.

She walked over to me like she was my boss or something and started questioning me.

Lady with un-identified job description: Why are you having this surgery?
Me: Because I have to.
L: Are your braces staying on?
Me: Uhhh... (looking at nice-will-answer-my-questions-properly anesthesiologist for support)
Anesthesiologist: Oh yes (and gives a short explanation).

I was scared of dying and was super annoyed that this lady wanted me to explain my detailed reasons and back story for needing this surgery 20 minutes before I was about to go under.

In what appeared to be her continuous mission to torture me, she went by the door, facing me, and started talking to the anesthesiologist about me as if I wasn't there. I could tell the anesthesiologist didn't feel comfortable doing so.

Lady with un-identified job description: How long is the surgery?
Anesthesiologist: (being quiet) oh, we have six hours scheduled.
L: (Opens eyes really big and looks at me worriedly as to say "you will never survive that").
L: What tube are you sticking down her throat and are you using nose or mouth?
A: (trying to make light... for my sake I'm sure) Oh, you know, etc. etc.
L: Are you going to wrap her arms and tie them back?
WHAT??????? Why are you going to tie my arms back??? How am I supposed to alert you when I wake up in surgery??? GET OUT OF HERE!!! I COULD DIE (probably not) LADY AND I DON'T WANT THE LAST FACE I SEE TO BE YOURS!!!

The anesthesiologist wrapped up the conversation (after quietly saying that yes, they were going to tie my arms back. Great). He apologized to me and I pretended like I hadn't even noticed. As visions of tubes in my face and my arms tied back go through my head, another nice doctor came in and took my blood, straight-forwardly saying it was "in case they needed to save my life". Great! The cherry on the top of this pre-op conversation! Thank you!

The next thing I know the very-nice-and-trying-not-to-talk-about-tieing-my-arms-back-in-front-of-me anesthesiologist was giving me "something to make me relax" and then I remember being wheeled into another room. And then I woke up and it was over! Isn't anesthesia amazing???

I remember a really nice lady telling me that they only had to do my bottom jaw (they were supposed to do top and bottom, but when the surgeons got in there, they found that only the bottom one was necessary, a huge blessing. That also made the surgery only 3 hours and 45 minutes, yay!).

I'm pretty sure the nurse in the recovery room had plans and didn't want me to stay too long, because she was like "the goal is to get you out of here in an hour".

You're going to miss your date lady, because I'll spitting up blood for the next three hours (totally normal).

The recovery room also provided my mom and Justin with horrified looks, as they helped me spit out blood and helped me try and not throw up because I was afraid of choking (my mouth was rubber banded shut). Fun! At the time, I'm sure because of all the anesthesia, it didn't really seem like a big deal, but thinking back I cannot believe I did all that.

I was provided with my own horrified look when I accidentally saw myself in the mirror right after surgery. I looked like Mike Myers Scottish character in "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me". Eeesh.

Random lady with no job description and trying-to-get-me-out-of-there nurse aside, I had really great care there. I loved the hospital and all of my doctors, and I'm so thankful for this entire process so far. Thanks for all of the prayers, I was really blessed with an amazing surgery and an incredibly smooth recovery so far. And thanks for all of the calls and texts!!! And a HUGE thanks to my mom, who flew back to MI today, who was out here for three and a half weeks helping me recover!!!

Most of the swelling has gone down, and I still have to have the splint (this plastic mouth guard) in for four more weeks. I can open my mouth a little now, and have a diet of Nutella and peanut butter shakes, and mashed potatoes. Which are both awesome.

Yay surgery!!!

Christmas in L.A.!

2010-12-06T13:53:00.000-08:00

Because of my surgery (that I'm having tomorrow, Dec. 7th!!!) this will be my first Christmas in L.A. I was thinking that it wouldn't seem much like Christmas, considering it's still warm and it just isn't the same as back home. But!!! My mom came out a few days ago (she'll be here all of December to help me recover from my surgery) and she got me a little Christmas tree and some adorable ornaments. And then her, Justin and myself went to the Cheesecake Factory at the Americana, an outdoor shopping center in Glendale, it was so Christmasy!!!

All the trees were decorated with lights and they had a HUGE Christmas tree with lights and ornaments. The little trolley had garland, a wreath and bulbs, and the fountain there was set up to go along with the Christmas music! It was so cute, my mom keeps saying it "looked like Disney World!".

For Customers Only

2010-11-30T12:42:00.000-08:00

I pretend I am a laundromat customer to get quarters.

The laundry room at my apt. doesn't have a change machine, and the laundromat that gives change for dollar bills is so close, that it only makes sense that I get change there!

But it's for customers only.

While this is not enough to deter me from getting change there, it is enough to worry me that if the owners realize I am not a customer, they'll come chase me out by my car with a baseball bat and beat me.

So I must pretend to be a customer.

And I put a lot of work into it.

I get out of my car and I look into the back car seat, as if I'm checking on my laundry. Yep, just another laundry day! Man there's a lot of laundry in the back of my car. Then I walk into the laundromat (which up until about 6 months ago I thought was called a laundry mat, which, if you ask me, makes much more sense).

As soon as I'm inside, I walk around checking out washers and dryers, as if I'm checking out which will be the best for me and if there are any left over articles of clothing. Then I check out the powdered detergent you can buy. Do I need some? Maybe that's why I need quarters. Hmmm... many laundry decisions to make.

Finally, the reason I'm there. The change machine. I wander over, put my dollar bills in, and look around for someone who might be the owner. By the time my quarters drop down I'm afraid they've ("they" being the quarters-for-customers-only owners who I don't even know exist and have never enforced that rule) caught on to me. So I grab my quarters, stick them in my jean pockets and run for it! I run to my car and hop in, still pretending like there's laundry in my car and I forgot something.

I then speed home and do my laundry!!!

Pat Downs!

2010-11-29T13:28:00.000-08:00

So I got a pat down at the airport.

Yes, one of those pat downs that you've been seeing on the news. The ones that I thought were going to come close to rape. I was so scared to get one, the news made them sound AWFUL. Like, super super scary!!! But the body scanners are so new, and I'm not convinced that that technology is safe (I'm more concerned about getting cancer than them seeing me naked).

So, when I was told I had to have a body scan I opted out. They didn't have a female ready, I think they want to make it harder to get a pat down because it's more work for them. But I waited for a TSA to come over and make out with me so I could get on the plane. One finally arrived.

She was super nice. The process was pretty simple. We walked over to a little rug with feet marks (much like if you had to get a pat down in the past) and she grabbed all of my luggage that was coming off of the security conveyor belt and set them next to me. She loved my carry on (the super cute turquoise one with the hot pink lining!) so we chatted about that.

The "infamous" pat down was much like the ones they've given before, except slower. They did check a few more areas, like my under wire, but they did it so fast, it was not a big deal. Justin got one as well, and we both agreed that we'd take a pat down over the scanner any day.

I don't know where the wide spread fear of the pat down is coming from. I have a conspiracy theory that it's the company selling the scanners to the airports and they are trying to scare people so that the scanners catch on and they will profit... but don't quote me on that. And while I'm sure the few people on the news were genuinely not happy with their experience, I highly recommend the pat down. I'm seriously convinced, mind you on no research, that the scanners give cancer.

Yay pat downs!!!

Mabel Hoo Craft Fair and Cali Capri!

2010-11-22T22:18:00.000-08:00

We are in MI for the holidays, and the timing worked out perfect because I, along with Linda, my grandma and Ginger, got to help my mom with her first Mabel Hoo craft fair.

We had a pretty good turn out. We went up the night before to set everything up. I loved the way my mom's little corner looked. Gimmy had built a portable curtain rod holder so that we could hang some ever-versatile IKEA curtains from them. We had Mabel Hoo owl ornaments/gift tags, pins, bookmarks, key chains, and magnets. Here are a few pics.

Another great part of being home is that I finally got to meet Cali!!! She is sooo adorable!!! Justin and I had found a lavender baby shawl when we were in Venice, and Ginger and I put it on Cali the other day. It is ridiculously cute. She looks super fancy with it on.

Updated Website

2010-11-16T14:21:00.000-08:00

I recently updated my Cosmic Jane Designs Website! I'm mainly focusing on blogs, websites and photobooks. Check out the site and you can see my most recent photobook here.

Happy Birthday Justin!!!

2010-11-11T12:59:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday to one of the smartest, funniest and most handsome guys I know. I love you babe!!!

Dove Affirmations

2010-11-08T18:46:00.000-08:00

Dove Chocolates thinks you're lame. And they want you to feel okay about it. There was an ad in a magazine for Dove's new peanut butter and milk chocolate promises, so of course I had to go buy them immediately.

When I say "promises" I mean the little cutesy messages Dove writes on the inside of each wrapper. And when I say "cutesy messages" I mean affirmations that you can read to feel better about yourself because Dove thinks you know more cats than people.

The first few were kind of entertaining. It gave me something to read before I crumpled up the wrapper and set it next to my computer where it would stay for the next few days. But then they started to get annoying. Not only were they unoriginal and trying too hard, they weren't even promises! And they were for people with major social issues.

I've listed and interpreted a few:

"Curl up and take a cat nap!" That's less time you have to interact with other humans.

"Listen to the Wind." Because no one else is listening to you.

"It's not only okay to be different, it's fantastic!" You are weird.

"It's okay to live without a big picture in mind!" You are going nowhere.

I must have missed the ones that said "friends are overrated", "go check on your cats" and "maybe next time!"

One of these so-called "promises" actually angered me the other day. I was annoyed for some reason and reached for a Dove "promise", only for it to tell me to "make a date with my favorite book tonight". It was like, really? I'm in a bad mood and you have the nerve to tell me to "Make a date with my favorite book tonight?" How low are your expectations of me, Dove? Am I so lame that the only date I could get is with a book? You make a date with your favorite book, Dove, tell me how fun that is.

Whatever. I will no longer read your "promises"... but I might still eat your chocolate. I don't know. We'll see.

Since we're on the subject of sayings inside of packaging, I'd like to highlight a version well done. My new favorite drink, Honest Tea, has a "Six Word Memoir". Basically, you can submit a six word sentence to their website saying something about you, an idea, philosophy, etc., and they pick the best ones and put them under their caps. And they're actually interesting (Dove)! I saw one the other day that said "Met wife at her bachelorette party". What does that mean? Was he the entertainment? How did her fiance react? I don't know, but it was way better and much more thought provoking than "Listen to the Wind".

My Brother is Engaged!!!

2010-11-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

I am soooooo excited for my brother and my future sister-in-law Suzy!!!

Two nights ago a video chat invitation came in on my mac from my brother. When I clicked "accept" I saw Suzy and Josh (much like the first time I was introduced to Suzy... via video chat) and I saw her ring. I didn't say anything because, I don't know if you've ever used video chat, but while its awesome, what could look like a gorgeous high end diamond ring could actually be a twisty tie. So I didn't want to yell "AMAZING!!! YOU ARE TO BE MARRIED AND BE MY SISTER-IN-LAW!!!" before I actually knew.

So Justin came over to the computer screen and they announced their engagement. I proceeded to react how anyone who wins "Publisher's Clearing House" reacts. Holding my head, crying and yelling "YAY!!! YAY!!! I'M SO HAPPY!!!". And I really am. They're so lucky to have each other. Like the rest of my family, I love Suzy. She is not only such a perfect fit for Josh, but she's an amazing, smart, and funny person that anyone would be lucky to get to add to their family. I feel so blessed. I cannot wait to have her as my sister-in-law. I see how my brother acts around her and I'm so happy they found each other. I love seeing him that happy.

I cannot wait to go home for Thanksgiving and celebrate with them in person!!!

New Favorite Movie

2010-11-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

There has been so much buzz about "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", that I really had no plans to see it. When things are over-hyped like this, more often than not they're a disappointment. But we were up at Justin's dad's this weekend and he had the movie, so we figured we'd throw it in.

I loved it. It was well worth the hype, it was so well done. The casting was great, the writing kept us interested every step of the way and the actress who plays the lead Lisbeth Salander did such an outstanding job.

This movie, and the two that follow it ("The Girl who Played with Fire" and "The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest") are adapted from the books. I haven't read the books, but unlike a lot of books-to-movies, this one is easy to follow, even if you haven't read the novels.

I will warn you though, it can be pretty graphic and at times disturbing, but it totally serves the story. The third and final installment (Hornet's Nest) is in selected theaters right now, and Justin and I got to see it tonight. Best trilogy ever!!! I seriously loved it. I am so impressed with the whole storyline and how they get you to become so invested. You are so pulling for her and anyone on her side. She is basically awesome.

A crazy thing about the author, Stieg Larsson, after finishing the third book, and before the trilogy was published, he had a heart attack and died. So he didn't get to see how successful it was. There are actually some interesting parallels between the author's life and the characters in the book/movie. You can read more about him here.

They are making an American version. It will be interesting to see their interpretation, but personally I think the original Swedish version is so great, that I wish they'd just show that one.

The Delphine with Candice!

2010-10-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Justin and I got to meet up with one of our favorite couples Candice and Jay this weekend. Candice and I worked together at "How Do I Look" a few years ago and we had so much fun. I remember for lunch breaks we would go to Ralph's grocery store and buy a whole rotisserie chicken, bring it back to the office, and watch "Grey's Anatomy" on her computer.

This time we were eating at The Delphine, and no computer TV shows.

Here we are in the lobby of The W (a gorgeous residence and hotel that The Delphine is part of). It looks like I'm wearing the same shirt I wore to bowling the night before, but I assure you it's not. Just incredibly similar and I decided to wear them back to back...

Glow in the Dark Birthday Bowling!

2010-10-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

My friend Catrina always has really fun get togethers for her b-day, and this time it was bowling. There was a black light, so all white and neon things end up glowing. Including tons of white specks all over Justin's black sweater because it was washed with a Kleenex.

Sometimes I'm a good bowler, and sometimes I'm an awful bowler, so I usually cover myself by announcing at the beginning of the game what a "horrible bowler" I am. That way if I bowl a good game I surprise everyone, and if I don't then they can't be shocked at how bad I am because I already told them. Most of my balls ended up in the gutter, but we still had a lot of fun. Justin did pretty good and I came in last. Yay!!!

Long Lost Photo

2010-10-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well, not really long lost, but forgotten. Since most of my pics are taken with my larger camera, I often forget to upload the pics on my pocket cam. I was going through them today, and I found this super cute pic of me and Ginger posing on the stairs while she was still pregnant!

I got to video chat with Ginger and Cali the other day, and Cali is sooo cute!!! She kills me. I can't wait to see her in person. I grabbed a screen shot of her making this adorable face! How cute is she?

California!!!

2010-10-18T21:01:00.000-07:00

We are back!!!

The past month in Europe has been such an experience! I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to travel around, experience new cultures, food, driving, and everything else that goes with it for a whole month!

There are a few things I learned while jet-setting, specific things I would have never realized had I not visited these places. I have organized them into a list below.

Things I've learned while traveling in Europe:

The extra pages in your passport are not for journaling.

Scotland is actually part of the U.K., and not entirely its own country.

You do not need to bring a swimsuit to Europe in September.

The Simpsons are prevalent everywhere.

Every man in Italy wears a scarf.

Man-purses are okay in France.

In most of Europe there is no awareness for personal space. If you can wedge a Kleenex between you and the person next to you, then they're going to move closer.

There is no need to know what day it is.

When you've visited multiple places in a short period of time, you will undoubtedly be asked what your favorite spot was. The thing is, every place was so different and fascinating, that picking a favorite would be like comparing apples and oranges. So since I can't pick a fave, I have done the next logical step. I've come up with an award for each one.

The award for Roomiest Cabs, Best Italian Food, and Wittiest Talk Shows goes to...
London!
Going from Westminster Abbey to the Tower Bridge? Big Ben to Trafalgar Square? While your subway system is amazing, your cabs are roomier than the Curling section at the Winter Olympics, and as comfortable as one of those "Heavenly beds" they have at the Westin. And what better combination than taking the best cab ever to a wonderful restaurant? You are not actually Italy, yet you have the best Italian food I have ever had! And after a long day of sight-seeing, what's better than relaxing with a great show? I'll tell you. Relaxing with a really funny and witty show. Which you have (called Q.I.)! Thanks for being so clever London!

The award for Super Intense History, Most Gorgeous Scenery, and The Cutest Accent Ever goes to...
Scotland!
While you have stories of be-headings, scheming murder plots carried out by 10-year-olds, and a pair of money-making-murderers whose story is told again and again on a night walk, you have the most stunning scenery I have ever seen. Gorgeous historical sites and the coolest castle ever set against mountains, parks and trees that are incredibly green and lush. And as if that weren't enough, you have the cutest accent ever!

The award for Best Pastries, Extremely Impressive Art and Most Blinged Out Palace goes to...
France!
You love all of the finer things, and that includes your baked goods. Your chocolate croissants, fruit tarts and brioche rolls are second to none! And just like your tasty treats your art stands on it's own. Your collection at the Louvre could have someone roaming the halls for days! But no halls compare to the glitz and glam of Versailles! Fabulous!

The award for Nicest People, Tastiest Potato Salad and Best at Celebrating goes to...
Germany!
With a hearty hand, extremely reasonable prices and a warm smile, your people are a breath of fresh air! Weather they're telling you where you are supposed to drop off your rental car or selling you a hot pretzel, you are always happy to help. You even smile when you serve up your most common and tasty side dish, potato salad. And who wouldn't smile when being around such a simple but delicious dish. It makes perfect sense that you know how to party and that your celebrations are so loud, packed and long-running. Only you would take a party that happened 200 years ago and keep it going! Ausgezeichnet!!!

The award for Best Shopping, Most Photogenic Streets and Fascinating Statues goes to...
Italy!
Your colorful scarves, wraps and leather goods makes someone want to spend every Euro they have! But that's not necessary because you have such great prices! With great deals and your love for haggling, a shopper can walk away with scarves in every color. And good thing. You want to be looking good for all the pictures everyone is going to take of you. With your distinctive buildings and characteristics, even your simplest street is picture-worthy. But there is nothing simple about your statues, is there? Even after hundreds of years, you've still got some of the best sculpture around, and you know it. Look at you, Italy, getting better with age.

Europe collage!

The trip was amazing, but we are so glad to be back. Traveling gave me the chance to learn more about and discover these countries, but it also made me appreciate my own country even more, especially Michigan and California (my homes!). Yay Michiganders, CA warm weather and palm trees and tons of restaurants and shopping (how is there not a Target in every country?)!!!

Rome

2010-10-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

I’ve heard stories about crazy driving in Italy, but hadn’t experienced it. And then we got to Rome.

Driving here is like a video game, with the main goal being to almost-but-not-quite hit a vespa or pedestrian with your car. All of our cab drivers are very good at this game.

We were only going to be in Rome for a little over a day. The first thing we did was head to St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. There were so many people!!! The entire outside was shoulder to shoulder people.

Next we went to Castel Sant'Angelo.

My perception of Rome has been shaped by bits and pieces I’ve learned through school, other info and characteristics that I thought were about Rome but were really about Athens, Greece, and movies. Mainly “Gladiator”.

This being the case, I measured the importance of things by if Joaquin Phoenix's character or Russell Crowe's character stayed there. Many historical sites were accompanied by me asking Justin “so is this where Joaquin Phoenix would have lived?” or “is there where Russell Crowe would have fought?” or “okay, so he would have been a Caesar like Joaquin was?”. Justin was very knowledgeable on the subject.

This was originally a mausoleum for Hadrian (a Caesar) in the 2nd century A.D. and later fortified into a castle.

Here is the castle. No "Gladiator" characters were here.

Right in front of the castle, there is the Ponte Sant'Angelo bridge. It has an amazing collection of statues on it that fascinated us.

On our way to the Pantheon, we passed through an interesting square called Piazza Navona and snapped a couple pics.

From there it was a short walk to the Pantheon. Built during Hadrian's reign on the ruins of a previous building, the current Pantheon was built in the 2nd century and was the largest dome for over a thousand years until the Duomo of Florence (aka the dome that made me cry).

Next was the Roman Forum, which I knew as the Roman Ruins. This graveyard of stone and marble is what's left of buildings built two thousand years ago, and lies between two of the main hills that Rome was built on (the Palatine and Capitoline hills). It's so interesting because it’s cool that we can see the ruins of something so influential from over two thousand years ago, but at the same time I find it kind of ironic that a people who built things to impress and show off their innovation are now okay with having remains of buildings that really aren’t serving any function, just taking up space. But then again, I guess it would be hard to destroy something with so much history, even if it appears to be just damaged stone and marble.

When we got to the Roman Ruins, naturally we were looking forward to dancing while using hairspray, bathing in a bidet and throwing trapezoids at the ground. You can imagine our disappointment when we saw this sign.

Luckily it did not prohibit knife fighting with yodelers while skateboarding, so we plan to do that next time we're here.

The ruins. Joaquin looked over this area a few times in the movie (before they were ruins).

Right next to the ruins is the Colosseum (a huge part of “Gladiator”!). This was very cool. Apparently in that time people would go to school to become gladiators. And successful ones (meaning those that weren’t killed) reached the type of popularity that movie stars or rock stars have today.

Along with fighting each other, gladiators would also fight slaves and animals. And Russell and Joaquin.

Finally, after a little stroll we got back to the Capitoline Hill and the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II (first king of unified Italy).

In the morning, it was back off to London before heading home.

Venice Day 2

2010-10-10T02:25:00.000-07:00

In movies that take place in Italy, you always see laundry hanging out on a line, waving in the wind. I didn’t actually think they still did that, but they do! We saw laundry line-drying around every corner. Although, it smells like saltwater and fish here, so I wonder how fresh the laundry is…

In the morning we took a (very crowded) water bus around the city. It’s a great way to see everything. It’s very colorful here, I kept telling Justin that Venice is such a “photogenic city”. Every street, canal and alley way is so distinctive.

Oh, by the way, I think this city is sinking. And I didn’t know until I got here that it's been something of a potential issue for a while now. But you look around and you can see that a lot of the buildings once had usable steps, porches and first floors, and they are now uninhabitable because they are full of water! It’s crazy (I don’t know the actual prognosis for Venice, if it is actually sinking or if it just seems that way because of high/low tides-- wikipedia says it was subsiding throughout the 20th century because of Artesian wells that were being dug all over, but that has been mostly stopped).

Here are some pics we got during the day.

The Basilica of St. Mary of Health.

The Rialto Bridge.

We found a little pizza place for lunch. I had potato and bacon pizza and Justin had pepperoni.

We took a gondola ride while the sun was setting. It was so nice and relaxing! Our gondolier would tell us facts about certain buildings we passed, and although he did not sing, we did pass a gondolier that did.

The Rialto Bridge at night.

We spent a lot of yesterday on the water. Three water bus rides and one gondola ride, I still feel like I'm rocking back and forth! Eesh.

I'm amazed at the variety of boats here, it's all of the service vehicles you see at home, but in boat form. For you to better get an idea, Justin helped me come up with this guide.

Happy Birthday from Venice!

2010-10-07T18:32:00.000-07:00

Today is October 8th... my Mom's birthday! Happy Birthday Mom!!!

We are in Venice!

After our two hour train ride from Florence, we arrived around 3:30pm.

It was time to explore the city!

But first, a bird had to poop on my head. And then Justin had to spend twenty minutes trying to find a free restroom because I forgot about the Euros in my pocket. And then a water-taxi-driver had to offer us a ride to our hotel for only 100 dollars. Then the lady at the water-bus ticket place had to tell us they were "not a bank" when we didn't have exact change for the tickets.

Another two hours later and we were finally ready to tour the town! It is so amazing here! I didn't realize that there were like, canals instead of roads.

I thought there was just one big canal and then little streets with cars. But no... except for the buildings and maze of narrow walkways, it's almost all water! We even saw a water ambulance race by.

The sun was just setting, so everything looked even more interesting.

A shot I got from the water bus.

I can't wait to see this town during the day!

Florence Day 2

2010-10-07T02:46:00.000-07:00

Another gorgeous day with no coats!!!

The first thing we did today was see the Statue of David. Well, actually, the first thing we did today was stand in line to see the Statue of David. Florence is gorgeous, but there are a lot of people here!

We thought the line would go by pretty quickly, but we were wrong. We had to wait though, I mean it's the Statue of David. We couldn't come to Florence and not see the Statue of David. Plus we had to get pictures! Three trips to the near-by cafe (pastry, then another pastry, then pizza) while Justin waited in line, and two hours later we were finally in.

I excitedly got my camera out and was taking aim at the first statue you see when you walk in, when some lady ran halfway across the museum yelling at me "no PITCHers... NO PITCHers!!!" and waving her arms as though the camera would somehow cause the marble to explode.

She was so angry! I didn't know! Good grief! Had they put a sign up outside while we were waiting, or even when they inspected our stuff at the metal detectors, then we would have known... and taken pictures more discretely.

She kept shaking her head as though she couldn't believe it!

And then she ran to the other side of the museum yelling "no PITCHers!" at someone else, so we figured it was a good time to get pictures. Here's one of David.

So shopping was next! They have so much cool stuff here, and for such reasonable prices. I wanted to buy everything!

After dinner we walked around the city. It's so pretty at night.

A man was playing guitar for some tourists on the Ponte Vecchio bridge. It sounded so nice.

Florence, Italy!!!

2010-10-06T02:59:00.000-07:00

We are in Florence!!!

And we got here by sleeper train!

When we booked the sleeper train I imagined a luxurious private car, like in every movie I’ve ever seen. When we got there I saw a coat closet with six beds. Three attached to each wall.

I was kind of worried at first, but once you lay down it’s actually really roomy! We even met a nice couple from Orlando, Florida-- they had the top bunks. It was a nine-hour ride, but it went by really fast. For me. There was a disturbing screeching noise that came out of nowhere not too long into the ride. I was able to fall asleep but it kept Justin awake until he found his earplugs.

Florence is so gorgeous!!! I love it here. I love the way the city is laid out, the way the buildings look, the color and size of the cobblestone streets, the food and the shopping!

We ate lunch at a café across from a palace and near one of the major art collections in Florence (the Uffizi). It’s so warm here that we sat outside. We were not even wearing coats!!!

After eating we walked down to some shops that are actually on a bridge (the Ponte Vecchio). I guess it started over a hundred years ago with merchants selling gold, and just caught on and turned into a major jewelry shopping area.

Here's a shot of the bridge.

Next we went to the Duomo. The Duomo is a 700+-year-old church, which is famous for its dome. The architecture and the detail on the outside are gorgeous and when Justin asked if I was up for a hike to the top I said “sure!”.

We entered the building and walked up a ton of really narrow million-year-old cinder block steps. The walls seemed to be closing in on us, but Justin said we were close to the top of the inside of the dome, so I pushed through.

Then we got to the inside of the dome. And we walked around it.

Imagine being up really high in a circular shaped building. And then there’s a tiny ledge built during a time when people were lucky to live thirty years, with some old railing topped by some not-so-sturdy looking plexiglass between you and the floor a thousand feet below. And you have to walk single-file halfway around this massive dome, with tons of people in front of you stopping to take photos and tons of people behind you prodding you on!!! And you can’t move!!! And you’re going to fall off and there is no room!!!

That is how I felt.

I wanted to cry, but I saw the door out of the ledge circle room of anxiety so I held it together.

I did it! Now we can get out of here!

But that was only the halfway point.

We had to climb what felt like even narrower stairs with even narrower walls. It was like the worst MRI ever. It was getting insane. I had no idea when we would be outside, or when these stairs would end, or how much narrower the walls would get. As soon as I got to a little cubby I ducked into it and lost it. I saw Justin, along with everyone else, was going on his way, and I managed to squeak out “Justin!”.

He turned around, with a few others, to see me crying in the corner blurting out “it’s the height and the narrow walls, it’s too much!”.

After him consoling me, and everyone passing getting a good look at the grown adult who couldn’t do what small children and elderly people could do, he convinced me to keep going.

So I did.

And it was totally worth it!

We got to the top of the dome, outside, and had an amazing view of the city, and I was hardly anxious at all from the height.

Until I found out we had to take an even scarier ledge to get down from there.

Here is the dome.

And a view of the city.

Our train bunk partners (Jose and Melissa) had been to Florence before and recommended a restaurant called "Il Latini". We made a reservation for 7:30 and showed up on time. There was a massive crowd at the door.

The staff was eating inside, and they hadn't opened up yet. After they opened up and we all forced our way in, we were seated at tables with other people. We thought it would be like a regular restaurant. You sit, you order, they bring you food, you pay.

But instead, they brought us like, five appetizers, which we loved, and then asked us what kind of pasta we wanted, which we thought was our dinner so we filled up on it, then they asked us what we wanted for our main course, then brought out little desert scones, and then brought us actual dessert! Everything was so good, and since we all sat down at the same time, it had a family vibe.

When it was time to pay, the waiter brought the "check guy" over to our table. He ran through what we ate, and the check guy thought for a minute and then wrote a number. I don't think there are actual prices, they just sort of come up with what seems fair in that moment.

We loved it.

We also ran into our train bunk friends! They were at the restaurant, and after dinner we all went out and got gelato!

Munich Day 2, 3 & 4!

2010-10-06T02:56:00.000-07:00

With BMW being a Bavarian company, there is a really cool BMW museum here! We went to one car museum first, part of the Deutches Museum.

Onto the BMW museum! The cars were cool, but I loved the way the museum was set up! It was so sleek and clean and futuristic. It was also right next to something called BMW Welt (BMW World) where they showcased new cars/motorcycles and features and even let you get onto pretty much every motorcycle they make.

After that, it was back to the city. Every day at 11am (and 12pm and 5pm in the summer) there at the clock building, music plays, and animatronic people in the clock tower, built over 100 years ago, start to dance. We came back the next day at 11, and there were tons of people there waiting for it to start. At one point during the statue dancing, a Bavarian jouster on a horse knocks over a jouster from a rival region. The crowd gasped as though it was happening for real. If you want to see a video clip just leave a comment and we'll put it up.

We also happened to be there during Oktoberfest. And not just any Oktoberfest, but the 200th anniversary! I didn’t know this until Justin informed me, but Oktoberfest got started because when Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese got married in 1810, there was a celebration that lasted two weeks! It turned into something they celebrated every year and eventually turned into what it is today;

A mob of really friendly drunk people wearing dirndls and lederhosen while sporting heart cookie necklaces.

There are tons of “tents”, which are really just huge restaurants made out of tent material with more ornate facades. We went to the Spatenhaus Tent (which had four peasants spit-roasting a van-sized pig on its facade) and found a sea of people. We walked around forever before we found a seat next to some very talkative and excited people.

The excited people were telling us how they were from Salzburg, Austria, and they loved Oktoberfest and that their job was either to take a Euro every time someone went to the bathroom, or they were truckers. It could be neither or both, I’m not sure.

When the waiter brought us our food, whole chickens, they stopped chatting and let us eat. I did what I always do... I ate the white meat and then put the rest of the chicken on Justin’s plate. Our friends happened to look over right after I did that and were like “WHOA!!!” and kept pointing to my plate with looks of amazement on their faces, thinking I had eaten the entire chicken in like, two minutes flat. And I wanted to point out that, since my plate was empty, I would’ve had to have eaten like, 100 bones. But since there was a bit of a language barrier and I didn’t know how that would sound, I just let them think that.

I hoped I might find a piece of jewelry or something on my trip as a souvenir. When we were walking down a shopping area in Munich I found it!

It’s so cute! I got it from Swarovski and it’s by some Japanese artist. I thought it was perfect because it reminded me of the art we just saw in Versailles!

Our last day in Munich was a relaxing one. We just kind of walked around the city, visiting parts that I hadn’t been to, including this huge, gorgeous park called the English Gardens. Apparently hanging out nude is a normal thing here in the summer, but I'm pretty sure I still saw several shiny, fully-naked people while we were there!!!

Fall in Germany reminds me of fall in Michigan. All of the leaves have turned here. I’m usually in California at this time, still thinking it's summer, so I loved seeing some autumn weather in autumn.

Germany was very cool, and we will have to buy lederhosen and dirndls for our next visit!

Munich Day 1

2010-10-03T23:13:00.000-07:00

Our drive to Munich wasn't that long, and our 116 mph made it go even quicker! Thank you autobahn!

Munich has been settled for over eight hundred years, and they still have four of the city gates here (north, south, east, west). Here is Karlstor, the western gate.

We walked around the main area, looked in shops, etc. Munich is really interesting because ever since the 1972 Olympics, much of the central part of the city is closed to vehicles, which makes for easy walking.

There is a church in that area called the Burgersaal where a Jesuit preacher named Rupert Mayer is buried. Back in the time of Hitler, Mayer warned his congregation against following the Nazis, and so he spent most of the war in prison. Once the war ended in 1945, he was able to preach again but sadly died the same year.

We had lunch at a very traditional German restaurant. I had a pretzel, sausages, and potatoes, and Justin had sausages as well as a potato salad that I really liked.

Back in the day the royalty of Bavaria used to live in a palace right here in the center of Munich. The palace is still here today and open to the public.

I'm realizing that people who built palaces were the type of people who had to have a room for every little thing. It's always like "and this is the room where they received their guests, and this is the room where they discussed political affairs, and this is their audience room (whatever that is), and this is the room where they made cookies, and this is the room where they ate them, and this is the room where they swept the crumbs into". Good grief! They would have saved a whole lot of time and money if they just could have done everything in one room!

We spent a lot of the day walking around, checking out the town. There are a lot of people here because of Oktoberfest, so things are pretty packed and you can't go anywhere without seeing people in lederhosen and dirndls.

The sky looked really cool at the end of the day by the train station. Blue and white also happen to be the official colors of Bavaria!

Sleeping Beauty Slept Here

2010-10-02T00:05:00.000-07:00

There are two castles in this area, close to the Bavarian town of Fuessen. Hohenschwangau was built by Maximillian II, King of Bavaria, and Neuschwanstein was built by his son Ludwig II, who succeeded him as King of Bavaria in 1863 at the tender age of 18. Ludwig II is the more famous one mostly because of his tendency to build ornate and expensive castles which nearly bankrupted the country. Ironically, these castles now bring in so much money that Bavaria might have been better off if Ludwig II had built a couple more.

Along with being the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle (and the castle in the Disney logo), Neuschwanstein has a very odd history. Although it looks pretty medieval, it was actually started in 1868, long after most people stopped building such castles. Ludwig built it in dedication to Richard Wagner, a famous and controversial composer of the time, and every room in the house was to be dedicated to one of Wagner's fantasy-epic operas. While the castle was still being built, Ludwig was declared insane and was forced to abdicate. A day after being put into "protective custody" at a different castle, he was found dead along with the psychiatrist who declared him insane. They had apparently drowned in the very shallow water of a nearby lake. To this day, it's unclear what happened.

We had quite a hike up to the castle. We got some great pics, though.

Once you get up to the castle you have a gorgeous view of the "city".

The castle gates.

Inside the gates, you can see where parts of it were unfinished. If you look closely at this pic of the upper courtyard, you can see an outline on the floor for what would have been a keep with a really tall tower.

Inside, less than twenty of the planned 200+ rooms were finished at the time of Ludwig's death but the parts that are finished are very interesting. It's like a lot of the other castles we've seen... ornate, paintings on every ceiling, every inch of every wall covered, etc., but this one was a little different because of its dedication to Wagner. They don't allow photography inside, so we only got a few sneaky pics in (usually to disapproving looks from non-rule-benders).

This room was for showing Wagner's operas. The painting on the back wall depicts one of these operas, and was painted by the same theatrical artist who drew the concept for the exterior of the castle.

When you look out from Neuschwanstein you have a great view of the other castle, Hohenschwangau.

Here it is closer up.

On the walk down we came across these amazing looking donuts... a good end to that part of the day.

Germany is Awesome!!!

2010-10-01T01:12:00.000-07:00

We had a four hour drive from France to Cologne, Germany. It went by pretty quickly, however I wasn't the one driving.

On our way, we stopped at a Belgian McDonald's. I was excited to order, because not only did I know the word for "fries" but I also knew the word for small, "petit".

I got up to the counter. I was excited.
Me: PETIT FRITES!
What I really meant: Look at me! I am bilingual and awesome! Aren't you impressed???
McDonalds Worker: Small Fries? Okay.
What she really meant: Don't go acting like you're bilingual and awesome because you know two words in French.
Me: ...yeah.
What I really meant: fine.

After our bilingual McDonald's meal we hit the road. I was surprised by the amount of English speaking music they play here in Germany. We were excited when we first heard what sounded like contemporary music, and so we left it on that station. After hearing songs with lyrics like "you're just like my yellow boomerang", "you think you're a movie (long pause) star" and "she's a ten but she wears a 12", we realized this was music we'd never heard in America.

Thank goodness.

It was like the singers were very familiar with the English words, but were unfamiliar with the flow of the language. And why would they record music in English if they're only playing it in Europe? The music itself is really rough, and there is an endless amount of it.

Our first day in Germany was spent in Cologne. And the first thing we noticed is that they're big fans of Ursula (Justin's sister)!

We had the best weather since we've been in Europe. Everyone was so nice and helpful and there were pretzel, pastry and jelly doughnut stands everywhere!

I had been asking about hot pretzels ever since we arrived in Europe, and knew Germany would have them for sure, so it was the first thing I wanted to get. When I thought Justin said there were "pretzel shops" nearby, I instantly perked up and I was like "PRETZEL SHOPS?!?!?!?!!". He had actually said "plenty of shops", but he realized from my reaction that it was time to get me a pretzel.

So we did and it was good!

After that we checked out the cathedral.

It was such a nice day out! We walked down this street filled with shops, cafes and even a Dunkin' Donuts!

Upon heading back to the car, we saw a man in front of the cathedral drawing this "3D" picture.

We only got to spend the morning and early afternoon here since we had a long drive ahead of us to Neuschwanstein. But this town is definitely worth coming back to sometime.

Japan + Versailles = ?

2010-09-30T00:30:00.000-07:00

So we finally made it to Versailles! And it was totally worth it.

Versailles is a palace that was "built" by Louis XIV, king of France from 1643 to 1715.

Of course, most of the work was done by talented artists, architects and other skilled laborers, in addition to a massive amount of money provided by 17th century taxpayers (thank you). There are many guesses why Louis moved from the Louvre in Paris to what was just an old lodge in the boonies before all the renovation, but I think he did it so he could have a fully blinged out palace and gardens without too many people asking questions.

The palace is gorgeous, and while it's hard to believe someone said "The Louvre is too modest. I must have fancier!", I'm glad they did because it is beautiful.

When you walk up, you see tons of gold and impressive statues all over the place.

The floor is really cool, too.

Every room inside is insanely ornate. There isn't an inch that isn't covered in some sort of art, fabric, gold, etc.

Literally every room had a beautiful, extremely detailed painting on it. Here's the ceiling of the chapel.

Another stunning ceiling.

Marble statues lined the first hall we went down.

The most famous room is probably the Hall of Mirrors. Apparently the Venetians were the best mirror-makers in the world at the time, so Louis had to lure a few of them over to France even though Venice threatened death upon anybody that shared the mirror-making secrets outside of town. Clearly that wasn't enough.

Here I am holding my audioguide in the Hall of Mirrors!

Although used by several queens, the Queen's room is kept the way Marie Antoinette decorated it. I can totally see why she thought cake could keep people from starving.

Works by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami were also being showcased at Versailles when we were there. At first we were like "this totally clashes!" but it quickly grew on us and by the second piece we loved it.

The gardens. They're huge, and on a warm day I'm sure it would be a great place to spend tons of time. Note, we paid extra to see the gardens that day because they were playing music. So when we entered the garden and heard the classical music, we were looking for the live orchestra. Only we never found them. It was recorded music played over outdoor speakers!!! And although it was nice, the first question is why make us pay extra for them to hit "play" on their ipod? And the second question is how much do they pay the person who hits "play" that they can only do it on Tuesdays and charge an extra 7 Euros per person?

Just keep two things in mind when you visit. First, even on Tuesdays, it gets crowded so get there early.

And second, try to go to the bathroom before you get there. This is what the bathroom line looked like.

Those women might be smiling, but they haven't seen a 17th century bathroom yet.

Bougival, France

2010-09-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

We left Paris yesterday and drove to a nearby town, Bougival. It's a small, charming suburb of outer Paris that's very close to Versailles.

We walked up to "The Center", an area recommended to us to look for our dinner (it was 1pm, but the lady at the hotel said that everything closed early on Sundays so we'd better go now). The Center ended up being these really cozy, quaint and windy streets filled with shops and cafes, and in front of them was every citizen of Bougival selling their used stuff. Basically a block sale.

We found a place to eat that looked really cute, and when you can't really read the language that's how you pick a place. It ended up being pretty good and I now know how to say fries in French-- "frites"!

The best part came after lunch. We had seen a crepe stand earlier and made our way back there. I get a little anxious whenever I am asked something in French because what am I going to say? I either a) look at Justin so they'll think he speaks French and defer to him, or b) try and act out exactly what I'm saying (my performance for requesting hot tea might win an award).

The crepes were really good. And really close to what we thought we ordered! I got a nutella one, and Justin ate a sugar and butter one.

We relaxed the rest of the day, getting ready for the next day, which was to be Versailles and then on to Germany.

But the next day was Monday.

And Versailles isn't open on Monday, nor is anything else in Bougival.

Bougival was not the hopping block sale, open cafe, crepe-selling city it was the day before, either. We walked down there hoping to get breakfast and found one bakery open.

So, back to Paris.

We headed to the Hotel des Invalides, which despite the name is not where the French send all the tourists they don't like. It was originally their form of a VA hospital, and is now home to Napoleon's tomb and an army museum.

This was decorative armor given to what would have been a future king.

Being in another country you can't help but watch their TV. We've seen a lot of celebrities doing commercials that don't air in the U.S. Here's one for a Dior fragrance starring Jude Law that we see all the time.

The Louvre, Notre Dame, and a Sparkly Eiffel Tower!!!

2010-09-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

Much like I had a preconceived image of the Eiffel Tower, I also had one of the Louvre. In my mind it was a small, unimpressive building, and basically only housed the Mona Lisa. I knew this wasn't true, but after you hear "the Louvre" and "the Mona Lisa" together so many times, that is what you start to picture.

Instead, the Louvre was gorgeous and extremely impressive.

Outside, the architecture and size are breathtaking. It was a gorgeous day and we spent a lot of time outside just taking pics.

After our outdoor Louvre photoshoot we finally went in. We were both starving so we ate at a cafe there. They had really great pastries! I got a brioche roll, yum, a blueberry tart, loved it, and Justin got an almond croissant, which looked amazing.

The art. It's amazing! The paintings are huge, and the detail, the lighting, and the feeling they convey are stunning. The pics below don't really do them justice. I'd strongly recommend anyone who has not been here to plan a trip.

Ceiling in one of the rooms.

There are many tours in the Louvre, and from what I gathered, they are not necessarily led by Louvre employees. More like someone who speaks the same language as the group they are leading, and happens to know a lot about the paintings. These tour leaders always use something to hold up so that their followers can always spot them, like an umbrella or a colorful stick. One guy was super creative, and I don't even think he realized how awesome his choice was. We got pics.

When I saw the fluffy over-sized cat paw sticking up in the air with an older Japanese gentlemen attached to it, with many Asian followers, I had to get pics. They all looked dead serious, including the leader, as though holding a cat paw puppet attached to a cane was a completely normal thing to do.

Another thing I noticed about the Louvre was the hype about the Mona Lisa. I mean, there are tons of huge, gorgeous paintings there, and it's hard to understand all this hype about one small painting.

The room housing the Mona Lisa was chaos. Against one wall of the huge room is the Mona Lisa. It's encased in protective glass, and then around that is about 7 feet of space, and then a half circle wooden railing, so no one can get that close. There are tons of people crowded around with their point and shoot cameras, holding them up, trying to get a pic. On the other three walls are huge, gorgeous paintings. I feel like they were saying "Really? We're right here! And we're bigger! And we have more people! And they're doing stuff!"

I guess the hype of the Mona Lisa comes more from its creator, Leonardo da Vinci, than from the painting itself. Although it's hard to really see it as anything with all of the precautions surrounding it, and tons of tourists crowded around it.

The walk through the museum made us hungry again, and on our way to Notre Dame we stumbled upon a cafe. It ended up being really good! I got chicken and Justin got a chicken panini. For dessert we got salty caramel ice cream and crepes and chocolate mousse.

On to Notre Dame! This was very cool, however I did't realize it was a running church. I guess that makes sense, I just assumed that because it was so famous that it would be preserved and not used? I don't know. Anyway, it was very impressive. There was actually a mass going on while we were there, and I thought it was a little odd that they let us in to take pics. I mean, here's a church service, and then here's two thousand tourists walking through, taking pics, talking, etc.

The sun was setting so I wanted to head to the Eiffel Tower at night. Okay, I'm not crazy, the Eiffel Tower is sparkly! We got to the tower and there were lights blinking all over it! It does it every hour, so we got some pics and video at the next hour.

Since we got here I've been like "I want to go up to the top!", and then when we went to get our tickets I was like "It's too high!!! I just want to go to the first part!". So, we took the stairs up to the first level. Even though the stairs nearly killed me, the view was worth it.

Here are the pics and video of the sparkly tower!

And We're in France!

2010-09-25T02:54:00.000-07:00

We are in France! Poor Justin had to drive three hours in the middle of the night to get us here after flying into Belgium. I had fully intended to stay awake and keep him company... but I was tired!!!

First thing this morning was to go to the local Starbucks (becoming a ritual in every country) and see what their internet situation was. Okay, Starbucks in Paris? Insanely impressive snacks! It was like, pancakes, french toast, crepe suzette, awesome cupcakes and tons of muffins and stuff I've never seen/heard of! I had actually just filled up on on the hotel's continental breakfast, so I didn't try anything yet.

But finding internet has been more than a challenge. Here's Justin trying to get some sort of internet connection.

Next we hit the Eiffel Tower. It's so funny how you see pictures/movies of something your entire life, and you have a very specific image/feel in your mind, and then you go there and it's totally different. This happens anytime you go to a TV set, you will always say "wow! I can't believe how different it is from watching on TV!". Not that the Eiffel Tower isn't impressive, because it is. It's just different than I imagined it.

Here's what I imagined: The Tower is sparkly. In front of it is a wall and tons of people lean against it and have their picture taken. Across the street there are tons of expensive shops, cafes, bakeries with colorful macaroons, etc. You sit at a cafe and look at the Tower.

How it really is: It's not sparkly. There are not cafe's, shops or walls to have your picture taken at. There is a government building across the street (about a mile away), and under the tower are hundreds of people trying to sell you small replicas of the Eiffel Tower. There are some snack stands and they sell good snacks. It's still awesome.

I did get a tasty ice cream, and a free rose! Well, sort of. I was standing under the Tower with Justin and this guy came up and gave me a rose. It went like this:

Guy: (handing me a rose)
Me: No.
Guy: Here.
Me: No.
Guy: It's okay, take.
Me: No, no.
Guy: No problem, take.
Me: Okay!
Justin: No, don't take that.
Me: It's okay! It's free!
Guy: (moves over to Justin) Four euros.
Me: Oh.

Justin gave him three and I got a rose to carry around all day that was cleverly sold to me.

Statue on building across the street.

As the weather turned colder and rainy, we made our way over to the Arc de Triomphe. A large, sculptured arch in the middle of a large, circular cobblestone road.

The rain really picked up by the time we got over there, so instead of going to the top, we headed for shelter back at the hotel. I'd like to point out that we pretty much agreed that I'd be in charge of the umbrella and Justin would take care of everything else. Not only did I lose the umbrella we brought over here (in the Castle of Edinburgh), but I left the one we re-bought in my suit case at the hotel.

After a rest we needed to figure out a place for dinner. While France is very beautiful, the French themselves have not yet been extremely helpful. Now we've only been here 24 hours so that may not be a fair assessment, but that is what we've encountered so far. When we asked about internet, none was working. When we asked for a cab, we weren't going far enough for them to take us. When we asked for a recommendation for dinner, well, hehe.

We went to the one on-duty hotel employee, who was currently helping a group of guys in front of us. After his half hour explanation to them was finally over, we stepped up and asked for a "good recommendation for dinner". We explained that there are so many restaurants and it's hard to know which one will be good.

He said, "Ah, yes, you just go out the door and either go left or go right, and then walk around. There are restaurants all around." We asked for a more specific recommendation, but he just repeated the directions we could walk in.

HELP US WE ARE HUNGRY!!!

After being overwhelmed by my picky-ness along with menus only in French, we found a pizza place. From our window we saw one French guy in tight clothes kick another guy in tight clothes holding a Louis Vuitton man-purse. They acted like they were going to duke it out, but a peace maker kind of stopped them. This was actually the second tight-clothed-fight we'd seen today.

The streets are cool looking at dusk and on our walk back to the hotel before dinner we got some shots.

Scotland Day 4

2010-09-25T01:59:00.000-07:00

We miss you Scotland!

Here are a couple photos of St. Giles Cathedral that we got on our last day.

Here I am in front of the White Hart Inn, which has been around for almost 500 years.

An interesting thing about this little pub is that a couple guys named Burke and Hare would hang out here in the early 1800s. Since Edinburgh was a center for medical teaching, there was high demand for bodies that medical students could dissect-- some doctors were offering up to the equivalent of four months pay for a suitable body. Burke and Hare were really good at finding dead bodies to sell to a local doctor, mostly because the dead bodies weren't dead when they first found them. They would often get people drunk, lure them away from others and then suffocate them so as not to damage the bodies. They were finally caught after delivering as many as thirty bodies this way, many of them lured from this very pub. So, fun place to eat at!

Hey Dad, did you know Arthur Conan Doyle was born and went to medical school in Edinburgh? I assume, being born there and living in that time, these kinds of events (there seemed to be a lot of them in Edinburgh) must have really inspired him.

On a lighter note, a Burke and Hare movie will be coming out this year! And starring Simon Peg!

Scotland Day 3

2010-09-24T04:26:00.000-07:00

Every day in Edinburgh, we had breakfast at this little cafe right by the hotel, called Circle. I would get some form of pastry and "filter" coffee, while Justin would get the "Americano" coffee and Eggs Benedict. We quickly became regulars because when we went in the girl was like "filter and Americano?". Yes (what is the difference???).

We had found out, with less than a day of notice, that our flight to France was cancelled due to France's air traffic controllers going on strike (Justin says they were negotiating for longer cigarette breaks and more berets, which we both think is reasonable), so we spent a lot of our day trying to re-route the trip to Paris without losing too much time since we couldn't get a refund on the hotel. We finally found an option of flying into Brussels, Belgium and then driving into Paris.

Also, credit where credit is due. Justin and I take pics all day, and when the day is over, I upload them, choose which ones to post, and then one of us edits them. I write out the blog and position the pictures, and then Justin goes through and fixes a bunch of obvious grammar and spelling errors. He also sometimes adds information. For example where I give some historical details, he'll quickly check to see if it's accurate. If it wasn't for him, you'd be reading a lot of "some king led his people" or "murders happened here". hehe.

Anyway, hope you're enjoying the blog! Be sure to comment so I know what you think!

Scotland Day 2

2010-09-22T03:07:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Palace of Holyrood (pronounced Holly-rude), which is the Queen of England's vacation home in Scotland. Being built over 500 years ago it's obviously filled with history.

Over the past few days I've also learned that back then people would have done anything for the throne. There are stories of royalty killing everyone from their rivals to their own children. In one of the rooms in this palace, a "heavily pregnant" Mary Queen of Scots had her "private secretary" taken away by her second husband and stabbed to death in an adjoining room.

This is what remains of a 12th century Abbey connected to Holyrood.

This is something we've seen from afar the entire time we've been here. Justin keeps saying it looks like it's right out of a sci-fi movie. We saw it up close today. It's a monument to Sir Walter Scott and it even has some viewing decks up pretty high.

After our trip to Holyrood we walked up the Royal Mile. We are getting the begining of colds, or at least I am, so I went into a store to get some medicine. While there I found something amazing. A Cadbury Egg in candy bar form, not on Easter!!! Bring it to the states!!!

I heart Scotland!

2010-09-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

We are in Scotland. Home of the cutest accent ever.

We landed yesterday early evening and had a very scenic drive from the airport to the hotel. It is so beautiful here and the buildings are gorgeous. You can quickly see how much history there is. The hotel is in a great location, located in New Town (which is as old as 250 years), a ten minute walk from Princes Street (one of the main streets here).

Our very pleasant and informative cab driver pointed out a favorite pub of his, just a block down from the hotel, so that is where we decided to go for dinner.

Admittedly, ordering was kind of a struggle for me. If you think I'm picky in America, watch me when venison is a main item on the menu. After ordering our dinner, our waitress asked if we wanted to share an appetizer. When Justin asked what "Haggis Fritters" were, she got a look on her face as though she was going to deliver bad news. She pointed to her stomach area and said, with a kind-of frown that "it's the gross part of a lamb, like from 'this' area, and it's mixed with other bits. But you can't really tell what it is and it's really good".

Sold!

Justin was anyway. She brought it with two forks (no need), and Justin loved it.

After dinner we walked up to Princes Street. Gorgeous. We could see some cathedrals and government buildings off in the distance. It was pretty dark, so the pics are a little blurry, but still cool. And let's just take a minute to acknowledge that in the photo above I look like Sue Heck from "The Middle".

Here are some of the night-time pics.

Today was our first full day here, and we were anxious to take photos in the daytime. We ate at a small cafe nearby, really good, and then walked up to Princes Street. I say "up" because it seems like a very steep hill.

It is so gorgeous here. I feel like I'm repeating myself in saying that, but it is! I've never seen anything like it. It's cool because it's a busy town, but there's a calmness about it. In London, and in L.A., while they're really great cities, there's this sort of "get out of my way, I'm busy!" sort of vibe, but not here.

There's also a large amount of open land, trees, grass, beautiful.

The first thing we took pics of was the Castle of Edinburgh. It's a stunning view. It's just like in any Scottish movie I've ever seen. Which by the way I am definitely re-watching "Braveheart" when I get back home.

Some version of the castle has been there since like the 1000's. The version that is there now has been there since around the 1500's, I think (I sort of had a super-fast-crash-course in the castle's history so I could be off by a few years/decades/centuries). Here are a few shots of the castle and surrounding area.

Next we walked up to the castle. It's open to the public, so there were a lot of people there. We did an audio tour, learning a lot about the castle. It was kind of emotionally overwhelming. You know, you go to this place that all of these intense and/or tragic historical events have happened like all the way back to 900 or more years ago, and then there you are, just standing there. Right where they were and where everything happened. And it boggles my mind, and some of it makes me kind of sad, all of the stories they tell you about the kings, queens and other people that lived there. I kind of wanted to cry at one point, but I felt it would be out of place while tourists with panda hats took pictures smiling in front of cannons, so I did not.

One story, referred to as the "Black Dinner", talked of how a ten-year-old king (James II) invited a sixteen-year-old rival Earl (of Douglas) and the Earl's fourteen-year-old brother to dinner at the castle, served what apparently is an omen of impending death (a black bull's head), and had then had them beheaded right outside.

Another story involved Margaret (very religious and later made a saint), who died of a "broken heart" in one of the castle's rooms upon learning that her great love had died in battle. King David, her youngest son, built a small chapel in her honor close to where she died, and it is the oldest surviving part of the castle (built around 1100).

I also can't help but look out at the city-- it's an amazing view from the castle-- and wonder what all those people thought centuries ago when they were doing the same. And I also wonder, like with the bloodline and the royalty, did they think that the way they did things would last forever? Did they know there would be a souvenir shop in the maids chambers or a ticketing booth by where they used to bring in the artillery? Obviously not. It's just kind of odd (not in a bad way, just odd) when you see this great historic castle with these new, commercialized things. But, also extremely cool that we are able to see that stuff.

At one point I told Justin, with great enthusiasm, that Scotland was like a "time machine!", and then I realized how loud and excited I said it, and I told him I hoped no one heard becasue I probably sounded like a huge dork. "SCOTLAND IS A TIME MACHINE!!!"

Here are some pics we got at the castle.

After checking out the castle we walked further down "The Royal Mile". I'm thinking it's called that because one end leads up to the castle and the other end goes to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is one of Queen Elizabeth's vacation homes. We got some more pics of the scenery.

221 b Baker Street

2010-09-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we hit the Sherlock Holmes Museum, the British Museum, and the Tower Bridge. The subway entrance is right by our hotel, yay! Whenever we went through the subway I had to get a Ben's Cookie, the best cookies I ever had. The one I always got was the milk chocolate orange. Sounds amazing right? It was.

Here's Justin buying our train tickets, and then me looking awesome in a photo I made Justin take of me sitting on a bench.

Our first stop was the SH museum. For my dad's sake I've included a ton of pics (and I have a bunch more, dad).

After that we headed to the British Museum. Now, I imagined it having tons of info on England and then an awesome gift shop where I could get stuff with the U.K. flag on it. It had neither of those things. I was like a regular museum, filled with tons of info on cool stuff, but too overwhelming at the time. We did however see the Rosetta Stone, which, until yesterday I thought was a software program for you to learn any language you want. This was the actual Rosetta Stone. Justin was excited.

The real highlight of the British Museum was waiting right outside. Justin got the best hot dog ever. It was like they had a fan and were sending the smell to everyone leaving the museum. I had a bite of Justin's and it was amazing!!!

Lastly we went to the Tower Bridge. It was very cool. There is so much historic stuff here, I love it. I wish I knew more about it. I plan on Wikipedia-ing everything when we get back.

London Day 2!

2010-09-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

We hit a lot of London’s historic landmarks today. Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and Trafalgar Square. Westminster was closed because the Pope came to London today, and would be doing his service at Westminster.

After hitting those places we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside, which we were bummed about, but we did end up getting some great photos inside of St. Bride’s Church, a church we came across on our walk around town today.

We did so much walking. Our feet are killing us, but it was totally worth it! Here are some of my faves from today.

Westminster Abbey

Justin about to take a pic of Westminster.

I don’t remember what building this was. We were about to cross a street and I looked up and saw it.

Westminster Palace.

Big Ben. I didn’t really know what Big Ben was until today. It’s the bell inside this clock.

Buckingham Palace.

My dad loves Sherlock Holmes. So when we saw the Sherlock Holmes restaurant, we had to eat there.

Justin waiting for the subway.

St. Paul’s Cathedral

Statues in front of St. Paul's.

St. Bride’s Church

More pics of the subway waiting area.

Mind the Gap... And my Crying

2010-09-17T02:48:00.000-07:00

We are in London!

I’ve said before how terrified I am of flying and how nuts it makes me, but the flight over her was extremely stress free. I was using my new carry-on , so I was able to fit all of my stuff in there and do away with any ghetto grocery bags.

Also, instead of a crazy, panicy security line, we somehow ended up in this slow paced, zen security room. The room was small, the TSA explaining how to do everything was really calm, and the employees were really friendly! I even heard one of the employees responding to a talkative customer with, “thank you so much for that helpful information, you have a nice day” and smiled.

The difference between past airport security experiences and this one was like that episode of Seinfeld where Elaine gets stuck in coach and Jerry gets to be in first class. Jerry has a much better deal.

Another stroke of luck was that on the plane to London we were sitting smack in the middle. It was a huge plane, and thanks to not seeing windows, a viewing of “The A Team”, and many episodes of “Monk” (which I am now Netflixing every season because I now love that show), I forgot about plummeting into the ocean! Yay!

Things were looking up (literally, hehe)!

We landed and went straight to the immigration control line. It was long and winding but was moving fast, and we were in high spirits. An old lady came up close to where we were in line, with plenty of people behind us, and I could tell she was going to try and cut. I get anxious when people try to cut, so I kept a close eye on her. I was torn between not caring if she cut because she was an old lady, and not wanting her to get in front of me (she was older, but not like 100—she was quite capable). Just as the elderly cutter tried to make her move, a girl in front of us was like “the beginning of the line is back there”. And the woman played the “I’m an old lady and I’m confused” card by going “Huuuuh? Waaaaah?” after which she deftly found an unsuspecting bunch of ladies behind us not paying attention, and she cut right in.

But we were in London! Who cared!

We got up to the immigration counter. On accident they told us to go to the wrong counter and we had to wait again, but we were all jolly and laughing.

And then we got our immigration officer.

For anyone who hasn’t done this, like me, you wait in line, and then when you get to the front of the line someone points out a podium with an immigration officer there. There are a whole bunch of them right next to each other.

I don’t think she liked us from the start. I had put “TBD” on “address you are staying at” on the landing card. She kind of told me a thousand times in a Jamaican accent that “TBD” was not an address… which I knew… but whatever, she’s just doing her job.

Then she asked us where our return itinerary was.

And we didn’t have it.

We told her that we didn’t print it out, etc., and she kept being really condescending, and saying “so you were absent minded” and “you weren’t thinking” and “did you look up what you were supposed to do when you came here?” and “do you know what we have to go through when we come to your country?”. She kept going and going and going. She seemed to hate us, which I’m okay with, but I didn’t know what to say. We had established that we didn’t have the return itinerary, and she kept asking us why. All I could think was “If we don’t produce our return itinerary out of thin air right now, she is going to make us fly back to America!!!”

And then I felt myself want to cry.

First I was like “no I won’t cry”, and then I was about to lose it. And then thirteen hours on a combination of airplanes mixed with three hours sleep in the last day took its toll and I lost it. I started crying.

That’s when it took a whole nuther turn. She was like “you don’t have to cry” (but like, not nice, just like “stop crying”), which made Justin notice I was crying, which made him get loud and ask for a supervisor, which made the employee next to her get defensive and say “I was a witness” (which she ended up saying so many times I forgot whether I was in church or an airport) “and I didn’t hear anything that should have made her cry!”, which made me feel stupid.

So the supervisor came and Justin told her what the deal was and the supervisor cleared it all up, apologized and told our immigration officer to finish up with us and just before leaving she whispered that she would like to speak with her later.

A passport has never been stamped so hard. I think it probably left indentations on her podium.

It did not ruin our entry into London though. Mainly because we were so tired it felt like we were on drugs, so what just had happened just rolled off our backs. (Just to be clear, I have never done drugs, I’m just assuming that is kind of what it might feel like.)

After a long and sleep-drug train ride we got to our stop. Before heading to our hotel we stopped at Starbucks (where we got an awesome Starbucks card with the U.K. flag on it, seen above). We were SO TIRED. We talked about taking a nap once we got to the hotel, but we didn’t want to lose any time here.

After Starbucks we headed to the hotel. It’s super cute. It’s kind of small, but like, really tidy. We tried to get online but their internet is down. I needed to send an e-mail to my parents letting them know I’m okay and not kidnapped like in the movie “Taken”, because as my mom says, my dad would not be able to save me like Liam Neason. Also, Justin wouldn’t let me get kidnapped.

So back to Starbucks.

Our sanity was slipping because of lack of sleep. But we did not want to take a nap.

We set up in SB. I was successfully able to send out an e-mail and check my Facebook, but for some reason when I handed the computer to Justin, the internet went out.

That did it. We were like “what???” And Justin pretty much thought the internet was out to get just him, taking its powers away right when he needed it most. Our reaction to the internet not being available proved to us we needed to rest, so we headed back to the hotel.

It was the best nap I ever had.

Being almost totally recharged we headed out for dinner!

Here’s a pic of Justin just outside our hotel.

On the way to dinner, ugh, I dropped my camera. It actually ended up being fine (yes, 100% fine Mom), but I was freaking out. I was so upset, I wanted to cry. Luckily Justin checked it out and it was working perfectly (yay!!!).

So on to dinner. We didn’t really know where to go, but we totally lucked out and ate at this great Italian place. The food was so good and the waitress even hugged me as I was ordering. I can’t remember why. I got garlic-butter-and-basil-stuffed fried chicken, very good, and Justin got a flattened breaded chicken. And then we split tiramisu. We loved it.

Outside the restaurant we got this photo. Justin insisted I turn this into a “see if you can spot” photo so… see if you can spot all the “English” things in this photo.

In this pic you can see our hotel way in the background. And by the way, I found the Muffin Man. Apparently he doesn’t live on Drury Lane, he lives on Wrights Lane.

And that was our flight/first day in London! I have no phone service and not as much access to the internet as I had dreamed, so I will update my blog when I can!

Justin in "Night of the Living Trekkies: The Book Trailer"

2010-09-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

A good friend of ours is an amazing director. He's always doing really interesting and unique projects, and this is his latest. You may have heard of those books, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", or "Sensability and Sea Monsters." Well now there's "Night of the Living Trekkies". Basically these books take a classic story and throw in monsters.

Anyway, this is a trailer of a potential "Night of the Living Trekkies"movie he made. Justin plays Captain Kirk.

Europe in 3 Days!!!

2010-09-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

So I go to Europe in 3 days!!! I haven't even started packing yet, but I did buy a travel jewelry holder from QVC online, and an umbrella from Target.

I watch a lot of "I Love Lucy", so I am fully expecting my trip to pretty much follow the trip of the Ricardo's, minus Justin playing music for famous Europeans.

Just like Lucy, I expect to ride on a train where we can eat in the dining car and look out the window and watch the scenery go by (I have never been on a train like that).

I also want to go on a wine tour in France, which I'm pretty sure they did in "I Love Lucy", although I will not be stomping my feet in grapes. I am particularly excited about the wine tour because I imagine us sitting outside with nothing to see but grape vineyards for miles and miles and they keep bringing us different kinds of wine and cheese. We don't understand the language but everyone is speaking French and we feel super cool. I also hope to find a bottle of wine to take back for myself and one for my dad.

Another thing I really want to find in Europe, specifically Italy, is an awesome pumpkin or butternut squash ravioli. As I've said before, there used to be a restaurant here that carried an amazing pumpkin ravioli. But they closed down and I haven't been able to find a replacement since. They've all been very disappointing, but I feel like Italy is the place.

Other than that I'm not sure what to expect. I'm going to try and update my blog daily! If anyone has any suggestions of things to try in Europe I'd love to hear them!

Mabel Hoo is here!

2010-09-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

Today my mom is introducing her new brand, Mabel Hoo! My mom is very talented and creative and she has created these adorable little owls. She has them in pin, bookmark, hairclip, and keychain form. They are really unique and have their own personalities.

The name comes from her grandmother, Mabel Howard. She loved owls, so the brand was named in her honor.

You can check out the site here. Along with shopping, you can find the MH Facebook, Twitter and Etsy pages, along with many other fun things. You can also follow the main owl, Mabel Hoo, on the blog. Mabel is a social and adventurous little owl, and loves to post about all of her adventures in her small town of Harrisburd. She has lots of fun little friends and is always meeting new owls!

Check it out, look around, and visit often for promotions and contests. There are a few owls for purchase now, and there are a lot of new ones to come!

Happy 60th Anniversary Gram & Gimmy!

2010-09-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

My Grandma and Gimmy are one of the best examples of marriage that I know. Besides being one of the cutest couples around, they're best friends, true partners and wonderful Christian examples. Even after 60 years everyone can tell how in love they still are. I love them both so much and am so grateful that I get to have them as my grandparents! I love you guys!!!

Fruit Beans

2010-09-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

I was obsessed with Fruit Beans when I was a kid. Every memory of an event in my young life is accompanied by Fruit Beans. School lunch, Fruit Beans. Waiting out tornado watches/warnings in the basement, Fruit Beans. Church, Fruit Beans.

I actually remember purposely waiting until communion in church to eat my Fruit Beans. I would eat one when the bread plate was passed, and then I would bite one in half and pretend to drink it when the wine plate was passed. I thought that everyone in church would think I was taking communion. In reality I'm sure no one noticed. Or they did notice and wondered why a 6-year-old was pretending to drink a half eaten Fruit Bean. It's a wonder I didn't put a Fruit Bean in the collection plate.

I've told people over the years about my love for Fruit Beans, hoping they'd join in. "Remember Fruit Beans? I used to eat them all the time!" "No", they'd reply. I told my friends in college, my friends out here in LA, I've even mentioned them to Justin tons of times. No one ever knew what I was talking about. (wow, why do I talk about Fruit Beans to everyone? People probably call me "Fruit Bean" behind my back).

So while I was home last month I was sitting in the living room with my mom and Ginger. I brought up my favorite topic of conversation, Fruit Beans, and started telling Ginger how much I loved them. She, of course, had no idea what I was talking about. My mom even joined in, telling me how many cavities the FBs gave me, and how when she would take me to the dentist, the dentist would be like, because of the cavities I guess, "does she eat Fruit Beans?". How did the dentist know?

So anyway, I was relaying this important FB info to Justin the other day and, again, he had no idea what I was talking about. He decided to look them up on Google. Nothing. I was like "look harder!". He said they didn't exist, or that I was calling them the wrong name. I told him that "even the dentist" knew what they were. Justin said that it was very possible that my mom was calling them the wrong thing, too, and that the dentist may have never said that.

He started to convince me they were a figment of my imagination.

Finally, on a mission to find my beloved Fruit Beans, I typed "80's Fruit Snacks" into Google. A few blogs later and I found them!

They are not called Fruit Beans.

I've been calling them that for years! Admittedly, I shouldn't have been calling them anything because they were a regular fruit snack and there was no reason for me to bring them up past the age of seven... but I did. They are called "Sunkist Fun Fruits". They do look like beans, so, I must have just given them that name, and my mom never corrected me/adopted the name as well.

Here is a photo of what they looked like.

And an old school commercial.

My Phone is so Ghetto

2010-08-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

The middle silver circle thingy on my phone fell off on my flight back from MI to CA a few weeks ago leaving a ghetto, bubbly, white plastic thingy. The dark plum color on the inside has been randomly scratched off the buttons for months, leaving it looking like a worn out children's toy, and the middle purple menu thingy will probably be gone by this Wednesday.

But as much as my phone has been falling apart, I never really thought too much about it because it was doing its job. I mean, it makes phone calls! It's a phone, that's all it needs to do. So what's the problem?

Well, "the problem", I have realized, is that you can get a better phone out of a gum ball machine, and probably a better plan as well (I have 40 free text messages a month, and have never even thought about a data plan. That's for rich people!).

You'd think the L.A. crowd would have made me feel insecure about my phone a long time ago. I mean, people in the entertainment industry are on their super cool, iphone-like phones 24/7, calling, texting, checking e-mail, FB, and sharing cool YouTube videos! All I can do is play a minute and a half demo version of "Gems". But I just thought that was because this is Hollywood, and it wasn't realistic.

That was until I saw my mom's phone.

Keep in mind this is my mom, who on her last phone didn't even know she had texting capabilities. She was whipping out her new phone left and right. She was texting like a teenager with all of her other adult friends, young adults at church, and my dad (also with an up-to-date phone), on her new, sleek looking, text-efficient phone. With one letter per button! (my phone has like, 50 letters per button).

Well, after seeing that my parents and all of their adult friends had 2010 appropriate phones, I told Justin I needed (needed? okay, wanted) one as well. We checked it out, and once you have a plan with a cell phone provider, they really don't budge. I can't even think of getting a different phone until January (if it lasts till January).

At first I was like "Whaaat?!?" But it's probably for the best, because I will probably realize that I don't need no fancy phone! This one here works just fine! hehe.

I am going to Europe!!!

2010-08-21T16:21:00.000-07:00

England, France, Italy and Germany to be specific. I know, it's very glamorous.

When I was in the 7th grade my brother and I got to go to Germany with my Gram and Gimmy to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins. It was awesome. On the plane ride over we got mini versions of real food, three meals! Josh and I were obsessed with the mini coke cans. And it was our first plane ride with a movie screen. At one point I was asked to close my window shade to that it would stop shedding sunlight on the screen, and so that the rest of the passengers would be able to see the movie. Not wanting to give up my view, but also not wanting the passengers to hate me, I put a blanket over my head, covering me and the window. Win win!

In Germany I remember going to this little outdoor village market thing with Gimmy. We would get bread at one place, meat at another place, cheese at another, hot pretzels, etc. I remember thinking it was just like Beauty and the Beast, (you know, when Bell goes to the outdoor market thing with her grandfather and they get hot pretzels...).

I also did something awesome. The house that my aunt and uncle lived in was connected to another house. The family in the connected house had two kids, both girls, and we hung out with them while we were there. They had a balcony that was right next to, but a bit higher than, the one connected to my aunt and uncle's. So, I wrote a letter addressed to the oldest girl (Josh's age) "from Josh". Her name was Laura, and I remember making the L like, all fancy, like from the beginning of a fairy tale (we had read a lot of Brother's Grimm while we were over there).

The letter "from Josh" consisted of how amazing and beautiful he thought she was. He finished off the letter with an "original" poem, just for her. It went like this:

I told the witch doctor I was in love with you.
And then the witch doctor, he told me what to do.
He said that Ooh, eee. Ooh, ah ah. Bing, bang, walla walla bing bang.
Ooh, eee. Ooh, ah, ah, bing bang walla walla bing bang.

On our last day in Germany I put the note in a plastic bag with a rock and threw it over onto their balcony.

Josh got a letter in the mail a week later, back at home in MI, from Laura, saying it was the most beautiful poem she had ever read. Josh was confused.

And that was the last time I was in Europe. I remember crying when I left saying I wanted to live in Germany forever!

I'm really excited for this trip. We're planning to go some time in mid-September, for 3 or 4 weeks. Yay!!!

We went to the post office to get my passport all taken care of. The Hollywood Post Office is an eccentric one. There are always long lines with interesting people and some post office workers who seem to be doing this job because they are forced to. Anyway, I went to the designated passport line, and I had all of my passport papers in my hand. I walked up to the lady and she started staring at the papers in my hand like I was holding a jar with guts in it or something. Her eyes were all bugging out and she was all paralyzed. So I smile and tell her why I'm there, fully knowing that she's going to give me some reason why she can't help me. Not taking her eyes off my papers she's like "No... no, you have to go way down there", and points to some other random window that is not designated as the passport line. But it worked out fine, because the lady at the non-designated passport line was super nice.

It was so hot, like 100 + degrees, and they had this huge, loud, industrial fan right next to the passport photo taking section. So basically they had me sit on a stool, in front of a white backround, next to an industrial fan. So the fan and I were preparing to have our picture taken, and she's like, saying something, but I can't hear her because the fan is trying to cool off the entire Post Office, and that requires some hard work and noise. So she yells "look here!", pointing to the side of the camera (instead of right at the camera), which I thought was weird. Then she was giving me more direction and the fan was being too loud and the next couple minutes were bascially the lady trying to talk to me and her moving her hand in a way that made no sense communication wise, and me smiling for the pic and yelling "what? what?".

Finally the picture was taken. Yay! It looks like right as the picture was taken someone that I knew came in and I looked off to the side. And it looks like I'm wearing blue eye liner. And I'm really shiny. But remember, it was really hot that day. All that said, it's actually not that bad as far as passport pictures go.

Dimples

2010-08-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

When I was in the 3rd grade a box of kittens was left on our church doorstep. After begging to keep one and crying all through church (I had been asking for a cat my whole life!) my parents finally agreed. We took the gray striped one, and I named her Dimples.

I loved her. My mom even brought her into my 3rd grade class with neon pink, yellow and green ribbons around her neck to show her off.

She was kind of a crazy cat. She would stand growling on a half wall by the front door and attack visitors that came in (why didn't we put her in a room when we had company?). People were definitely scared of her. The only person she liked was the one person that didn't like her. My dad. He would hold her and tell her nicely that he was going to throw her into the fire place, and she would just stare up at him lovingly and purr.

Scary-crazy-cat-who-only-liked-my-dad or not. I loved her. And she hated me. But I didn't care. I would stick her in my shirt so she couldn't get away. I would close all of the doors in the hallway at night and chase her down and grab her, and then I would tuck all of my sheets in so that when I put her in my bed she couldn't get away, no matter how much she hissed or growled. She attacked me a lot. I would dress her up, take pictures with her, all fueling her hatred for me.

But that didn't stop me from bringing her in the shower with me. Literally.

My shower routine went like this:

1. Turn on the water.

2. Set Dimples up on back of toilet and turn on the radio.

3. Wrap myself in a towel and pretend it's a gorgeous strapless dress.

4. Dance in front of the mirror.

5. Dance some more.

6. Wrap Dimples in a towel.

7. Get in the shower holding towel wrapped Dimples, shielding her from water, assuming she loves this even though her pupils have widened and are completely black.

8. Dimples attacks me.

9. Let her go.

10. Shower.

There is one time that Dimples hanging out with me in the shower was threatened, and it was my fault. We had a small, flat, wooden duck that hung on the wall. On the duck was a little half circle shelf that stuck out. It hung between the toilet where Dimples was and the mirror in which I danced. On that shelf sat a small terracotta pot with a little fake plant in it.

So one time I was dancing and my dancing got a little insane. My arms flailing in dance mode, I hit the shelf, spring boarding the pot through the air and against the wall, breaking it. My mom heard it and angrily ran to the bathroom door. "That's it! Dimples is not going in there any more!" She assumed it was Dimples that had broken the pot.

I could have let Dimples take the fall, but that would mean hanging out in the bathroom for my 10-step shower routine alone. And I didn't want that. So I blurted out "I WAS DANCING AND I HIT THE POT AND I BROKE IT BECAUSE OF MY WILD DANCING! IT'S NOT DIMPLES' FAULT"

I don't remember my mom's actual reaction, but I know I got to keep Dimples in there. Yay!

Dimples lived a very long time, like, 11 or 12 years, and had lots of love and all the people food she could eat. But, sadly, she eventually started having seizures and progressively got sick (and more scary) over the years. My mom had to secretly put her down when I was in college. Meaning when I was home from college one year I caught my mom running out the door, crying, with Dimples in a carrier. I was like "what are you doing?!" and my mom was like "putting her down!" and she ran out the door and drove away. In my mom's defense, Dimples needed to be put out of her epileptic, really sick, crazy cat misery, but none of us were able to do it. So my mom was basically the only one brave enough. Still...

Merry Christmas Thief, Here's a Lamp

2010-08-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

I found this pic when I was home this past week. I was looking for pics of me and Ginger to put on my recent blog post, and when I opened up the page to this one I was laughing so hard.

There are so many awesome things about this pic. I mean, why is my brother wearing a ski mask? And more importantly, why did he get a lamp for Christmas? And when my parents said "hold up your gifts! We're going to take a picture!" my brother chose to hold up the lamp?

Here are some possibilities:

1. The lamp was the best thing he got that year.

2. We were short on money and my parents had to give us things we needed, and not just wanted.

3. My parents showered me with gifts like a cat in a basket, boots, a Barbie Ice Cream Shoppe, a flying dinosaur, a mouse in a mug, and much more, and then grabbed a lamp from our basement and a ski mask from the closet for Josh.

4. Josh REALLY likes lamps.

5. Josh was caught off guard.

My parents saved all year for our Christmas presents, so being short on money wasn't an option.

Also, our parents were very meticulous about spending the exact amount on each of us. My mom always made sure we knew the gifts were exactly even. So either that lamp is way more expensive than it looks, or most of Josh's presents are sitting on our other couch, out of the shot (the more likely option).

What I'm guessing is that we both got lamps that year, (I probably got a pink one), and Josh was just really excited about it (why still remains a mystery). While looking through pics I also came across a full blown photo shoot of Josh and me holding brand new desk fans that my mom had gotten us (again, me with a pink one and Josh with a green one).

We did live in Michigan with -30 degree weather, so the ski mask makes sense... And again, why he was so excited to highlight that in the picture instead of the super cool Power Play Hockey game behind him is beyond me.

Also notice that the hockey game behind him is still in the box, while the lamp looks like it was taken out of it's box immediately.

April

2010-08-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

When I was in the 7th grade I got to meet my second cousin from Arkansas, April. We clicked immediately. I even remember her making me a black, red and white friendship bracelet. I wore it on my ankle and swore I'd never take off. It came off two months later because it was so worn. Apparently string from Michael's did hold up forever like I dreamed it would.

We even went to summer camp together. My mom bought her and me matching MSU/Mickey Mouse themed shorts and t-shirts to wear while we were there, and a matching UofM/Mickey Mouse t-shirt and shorts for Ginger (we all went together, and Linda, Ginger's mom, was our camp counselor).

We had a ton of fun at camp. Leather crafts, shrinky dinks, cantine (buying slurpies, pop and candy from the camp store), and eating food out of the back of Linda's trunk (the food at camp was notoriously bad, so Linda would always bring food with her).

Anyway, April and I hadn't seen each other in like, 17 years. The timing worked out perfect, because she planned to visit MI the same time I was going to be there! Her husband Brian, three kids, Ford, Loralea, and Mabry-Kate (the youngest), and her mother (my mom's cousin) Pam, came up as well. It was so great to see them! Her kids are so cute and her whole family is so sweet!

They were only in MI for the weekend. Our first day started out as a road trip to the popular German town Frankenmuth! Which ended up being a two-hour car ride because of traffic. Two "alternate routes" and a viewing of Shark Tale on the car DVD player later we gave up and went to Partridge Creek. Which was just as awesome. I love PC, so that was fine with me!

The next day we went to church and then had a cookout. I love having cookouts and I never get to have them in L.A. Loralea was so sweet and was my buddy all weekend. I'm pretty sure it's because she was fascinated with the necklace I was wearing.

Even Ginger got to reunite with April! Here's a pic of the three of us:

My gram is so cute. We'll be taking a picture and everyone's like "oh, get one with mine, too!" So there'll be a line of new, sleek, up-to-date digital cameras. Then my grandma pulls out her rectangle cardboard camera. Which I love and is hilarious.

I loved seeing everyone! I know we're all hoping to get together some time next year!