KKP weekend in review!!

andrea and i spent the weekend visiting my friend kyle at slippery rock, PA this weekend... here's how it went:

7:27 PM - met andrea en route
11:00 PM - arrived at penn state/left andrea's car near her friend's apartment

11:30 PM - kyle picked us and we embarked on our trip to slippery rock

3:01 AM - arrived at kyle's apt.

after we toured kyle's apartment, andrea passed out on the couch and i made kyle give me a back massage. we probably went to bed around 4 am.

the next morning we walked through town and kyle gave us a tour of slippery rock university's campus where he is finishing up his master's degree. i shot a lot of photos of andrea (who is always a willing model) and kyle (who is uhhh, not so much but he was moderately patient with us). it was pretty hot outside -- which i wasn't expecting. we walked back to kyle's apartment; shot a few more photos; and andrea found kyle's "missing" keys. ugh, boys. after we browsed (and made fun of) party city's halloween costume inventory, we headed to Pittsburgh where we ate some REALLLLLY good thai food. our waitress was extremely pleasant, she even hooked us up with 6 MORE fortune cookies after we gushed about how good they were. Mmmm!! after dinner, we parked near a cluster of bars and clubs and walked around the docks. then we headed up the hill so i could take some night shots of the city. the skyline was pretty impressive and overall, Pittsburgh was much more appealing than i imagined. andrea and i ducked in a grumpy ice cream shop near closing time and managed to get ice cream cones. "do you have sprinkles?" andrea was almost afraid to ask. "ugh, yeah," the owner sighed. "as long as you don't get them on my floor." we were all pretty tired on our way back to kyle's but after a mini back massage session, we got our second winds and filmed some hilarious videos of awkward relationship moments (based solely on real-life events). after laughing hysterically at the finished products, we watched "Juno" and went to bed around 4:30 or 5:00 am. we slept in til 11 am; packed up our belongings; took some g'bye photos and were on our way. stooping to an all-new desperation, we managed to give each other massages during the car ride. at one point kyle was massaging andrea's knee while she was massaging my hand because it was ailing after i massaged kyle's back. we're obsessed!!

1:03 PM - left slippery rock

3:30 PM - arrived at penn state/i drove andrea's car to new jersey

7:00 PM - arrived in new jersey. ate chinese food with my mom and her beau.

andrea still had two more hours of driving ahead of herself.

total time i spent in a vehicle during the entire weekend: approx. 13.5 hours

andrea's total time spent in a vehicle during the entire weekend: approx. 18 hours

...but it was worth it!!

BUSY BEE

a look back on my busy, busy week...

monday: retouched photos for my favorite boss dave. :) i love working with dave because he's so easy going; a great person to talk to; and sometimes we even accomplish A LOT.
tuesday: modeled for james. i secretly love getting my hair and makeup done. the photos came out great.
wed and thurs: retouched photos for my favorite boss dave. and i even passed on getting pinkberry. wow.
friday: dealt with my car. retouched for a few hours and babysat from 6 pm to 12 am.
sat and sun: worked a two-day promotion.
monday: finished retouching photos for my favorite boss dave. ate thai food with rick and james. packed.

i have been incredibly busy lately... which is GREAT!! especially because i am taking a looong vacation and heading back to NJ til october. yes, i'm probably crazy for staying that long but i think it's a wise decision. my cousin is getting married in october so instead of flying back and forth, i decided to extend my stay in order to spend more time with family and friends. my grandmother recently broke her femur bone so i am glad i will be able to keep her company while she is living in a rehabilitation home. my birthday is in september, so i will be able to spend the day being showered with gifts from loved ones. ;) hahaha. as much as i enjoy living in california and am SO grateful for the opportunities i have been given, sometimes i feel like i'm missing out on the simple things in life... like being able to hang out with your best friends or spending the weekend with my mother. luckily nobody has a problem with visiting me in california (hehe), but being able to go back to the comfort of your childhood home is priceless.

sunday is funday

i went biking with my friend hal this weekend and we shot a lot of great photos in venice beach. you can see some of them here. we also grabbed "breakfast" at 2 pm and swung on some swings. (i'm a BIG fan of swingsets). the highlight of day occurred around 9 pm when hal and i were riding bikes to his office to pick up a few things. as much as drivers in Santa Monica seem conscientious of bikers, i was hesitant to ride to hal's office because our bikes didn't have lights and it was dark outside... but hal assured me we would be safe.

moments later...

*while laying on the horn* an angry driver yells to hal: GET OUTTA THE ROOOAD!!!!!
the angry driver goes through the intersection and meets up with hal again, driving closely next to him yelling "YOU'RE IN THE ROAD!!!!"
hal's retort??? "YOU'RE DRIVING A CAR!!!!

HAHAHA, it may have been one of those you-had-to-be-there moments, but it was hysterical!! the driver would have retaliated but hal's un-insulting insult sort of befuddled him. the irony was that hal was riding IN A BIKE LANE!! this person was just crazy.

p.s. i tried Red Mango for lunch because i was eager to taste their frozen yogurt since they were established before pinkberry and are more natural and... yeee-uck. the pineapples were canned, not fresh, and the raspberries were mushy. i tried a sample of the green tea flavor but opted with original and boy was i was disappointed. from now on, i'm sticking to pinkberry when i want of overload of sugary artificial frozen yogurt that appears healthy. are you a "crackberry" baby too??? check out the comic i made based on my experience at the pinkberry in beverly hills...

highly social weekend (and a record of my spending)

saturday: drove to rick's parents house at 10 am so he could go pick up a refrigerator for his mother since his parents are in mexico. now this is the funny part... i got up, put my glasses on, gathered up some stuff and left. on the way there (it's about an hour away) i started falling asleep in the car. and once we got to rick's parent's house, i took a nap. i guess i tired from... sleeping?! i have no idea -- but it was the best nap ever. i woke up around noon or 1 pm, i forget. then we went to the mall to buy rick's dad some dress shoes. i wound up blowing $68 at victoria secret. thank goodness we passed the store because i forgot about the semi-annual sale!! which isn't really a sale at all... it's just when VS decides to price items with a 10% markup instead of 30%. and sometimes even the "sale" prices aren't that great. ($27.99 for a BRA... on sale?! you kiddin me???) underwears are marked down to $3.99... but with tax (7.25%) they wind up costing $4.28 per pair which isn't really a deal because you can buy underwear there for 5 for $25 alllllll the time. yet women (like me) go NUTS and spend LOADS of money during the semi-annual sale. when i was at the cash register i could hear other people's totals and all i heard was $105... $117... $87... etc. .

after our mall excursion, rick and i picked up some crazy chicken (el pollo loco) and ate it at his parent's house while watching "50 first dates" on TV. then we met up with rick's friend james and james's wife and their daughter at a free outdoor concert... it was EDDIE MONEY!! i dunno how old Eddie Money is now, but his voice still sounded really good. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Eddie Money, he sings "Baby Hold On [To Me]" "Two Tickets to Paradise" and "Take Me Home Tonight" among others -- all of which i am SURE you've heard at one point (or multiple points) in your life. we stood really far from the stage (it was at a huge park) but it was still a good time with a 4th of july vibe.

after the concert, rick and i went back to james's house for rootbeer floats and vanilla ice cream with blueberries. (can you guess who ate what?! haha). i know i've mentioned this in the past, but james's wife sarah is one of thee nicest people i've EVER met. she's #2 on my nice meter. (#1 is mrs m, my former 2nd grade teacher turned close family friend). people like sarah (and mrs m) are rare, but i'm sure you know one person who is SINCERELY nice to EVERYONE... we're talking pure, selfless, unbiased niceness here. these people are all heart. not one ounce of deception or manipulation. anyway, i've hung out with sarah a few times now and i had a feeling she might enjoy etsy.com, so i told her about it. within a few minutes we were online and i was showing her my shop and other people's items that i adore. one minute led to twenty minutes and twenty minutes led to an hour... i never knew sarah was into thrift shopping or craft making!! (her medium is polymer clay) so now we want to do a craft night. :) i'm bringing shrinky dinks.

sunday: rick and i woke up relatively early to attend a birthday brunch at la paz for rick's friend mike's wife jessica. (got all that?! haha). la paz is a mexican restaurant that has money tacked to the ceiling; a collection of antique bicycles (also suspended from the ceiling); and a mexican/american buffet on sundays complete with mariachis that serende every table. of course, i wound up eating the most un-mexican food there -- belgium waffles piled high with fruit, hahaha.



after brunch, rick and i made a pit stop at our apartment before heading to dodgers stadium to meet up with his friend jonathan to watch the dodgers beat the indians. it was about 104 degrees and because i assumed we'd be in the sun all afternoon, i decided to wear long pants and close-toed shoes. bad idea. luckily, we were seated in the shade but it was still sweltering. and we had a bit of a walk since parking cost $15 and dodgers stadium doesn't accept debit cards or credit cards and rick and i didn't have any cash on us. but hey, saved us $15.

monday: went to the post office, put gas in my car (gas prices are ridiculous here. i've seen it as high as $4.86 and as low as $4.53 this week). then i went to the mall and spent even MORE money in victoria's secret. this time my total was $71. i bought two beach coverups (like i needed more of those) and a looooong comfy sweatshirt (as if i will need to wear it anytime soon) but everything was on sale. i also bought a nice, long-ish purple and white striped tee-shirt from express (on sale for $10) and a rainbow striped tank top from forever 21 ($14) that will look great in polaroids. i get major buyer's remorse... i ALWAYS feel bad after i go shopping and usually regret having spent any money at all. i was thisclose to returning that sweatshirt to victoria's secret while i was still in the mall but it was the only one left and i could picture myself all curled up on the couch wearing it. on my waya home, i called my friend lindsay (who is even more of a shopaholic) who consoled me by saying... "pffft, $100?! i spend that on my lunch break." haha, thanks lindsay.

lindsay's visit!!

saturday: lindsay arrived at 6:45 pm. rick and i picked her up at the airport then we went to santa monica and walked around the promenade. lindsay dropped $100 in about 20 minutes. (she's a bit of a shopaholic) she bought a cute dress though, hehe. i bought a kewl 80s-looking blue and black volcom sweater in urban outfitters for $9.99. SCORE!! we ate at the gaucho grill then headed to the pier and wandered around until our noses started running. then we headed back to the apartment and i gave lindsay a tour of our apartment and she got to meet the infamous miss gray (my cat). then we sang a belated happy birthday to lindsay and ate bday brownies i baked that morning and i gave lindsay her birthday presents. sunday: lindsay and i got up early and headed to hollywood. we drove up beachwood canyon and stopped at the hollywood sign. then we went to hollywood & highland and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. we took lots of photos. lindsay was wearing a summery blue bandanna-print tank top she purchased the night before and a random guy driving by on a bike said "nice shirt, but it would look better in red!" we assumed his comment was harmless, but in the back of our minds we thought, "oh crap, that could have been a gang reference." we shrugged it off until another guy passed us and said, "good color." so we ducked into a shop and lindsay bought a replacement shirt. then we walked around the open-air market; got our makeup done at napoleon; and ate lunch at pig n' whistle. we tried on wigs with all intentions of buying them, but then didn't buy them (which saved us over 85 bucks... mine would have been $35 and lindsay's would have been $50!!) then we headed to rodeo drive. while i was trying to decipher the fine print on the parking meter, a guy with a dog noticed my jersey plates and informed us we had just missed Bruce Springsteen coming out of Barney's. (i think it's funny people assume all new jerseyians like Bruce Springsteen). lindsay and i walked around and went in and out of shops. i found something for ricardo's birthday. when we got back to apartment, lindsay was ecstatic to see we had spinach and mozzarella raviolis from costco. we watched "the holiday" while eating dinner.
monday: woke up early again and headed to my favorite beach in malibu. stopped at the post office so i could mail a print to someone who purchased one from me on etsy. :) then we ran in a grocery store to buy some beach snacks and lindsay got starbucks. we sunbathed, took photos and chatted on the beach for 2 1/2 hours or so. then went back to the apartment, changed and got ready to go out. rick drove us to the santa monica promenade so lindsay could see the area during the day. we caught the sunset while freezing our toes off at the pier. then we ate at the cheesecake factory in beverly hills. when we got back to the apartment, we watched the hills and brutally made fun of everyone on the show.

tuesday: we got free jamba juice and dropped off lindsay's photos to be printed (98 of them, to be exact). then we took showers/got ready and headed to melrose. we saw Mischa Barton in wasteland -- one of my favorite shops there. i'm not particularly a fan of Mischa Barton but i'm glad lindsay got to see a celebrity and it was interesting (and a bit disturbing) to witness paparazzi stalking someone. they had their video camera lens pressed against the glass windows and waited outside to bombard her after she emerged from the store since they aren't allowed inside. Mischa was wearing a cute hippy-ish floral dress while trying on hideous fur vests but left the store wearing unflattering pink sweat pants (see the paprazzi's photos here). we bought a few things; ate lunch; then headed to CBS studios in studio city to watch the taping of "Secret Talents of the Stars." it's a reality show (already got canceled) that exposed secret talents of celebrities. John O'Hurley hosted accompanied by a celebrity judge panel (Debbie Reynolds, Brian McKnight and Gavine Polone). we got to see Sasha Cohen perform a contortionist act; Clint Black perform stand up comedy (he was so cute!!); George Takei sing a country song; and Mya perform a tap dance routine. we had prime seating among the wives and family of the mentioned celebrities and you should have seen the rocks on the womens' fingers!! holy goodness. lots of plastic surgery too. after the show, we made a special trip to pinkberry. if you're not fimiliar with pinkberry, there are only three flavors and it's waaaaay overrated. i sampled the green tea (awful sour taste) and opted for original, but i wasn't too crazy about that flavor either. lindsay got the coffee flavor with raspberries and loved it.

wednesday: we stopped at denny's before heading to the airport; took more photos (of course); then lindsay went home. :( all and all an awesome visit -- the weather was well-behaved; we packed as much as we could into each day; and we beat traffic every time!! and now we have lots of new photos and memories. :)

just loathing in las vegas...

so i spent last weekend in las veagas and i have to admit it was my least favorite vegas trip to date. las vegas used to be my favorite city but it's quickly becoming just like everywhere else, one strip mall at a time. they're demolishing all the kewl older hotels that actually had CHARACTER and replacing them with tall ugly buildings that all look the same.

my 311 concert experience at the joint in the hard rock hotel was horrific... but in a nutshell:

i was really looking forward to the vegas show. small venue + all GA pit. = awesome. after getting mangled in the pit, i stepped to the back of the venue to look for my guy and our friend. while i was trying to text my bf, some a**hole swiped my cell phone out of my hand as a poor attempt to catch my attention. i was like... "haha, funny" and took it back from him. after not being amused by this game, he decided to SHOVE people who were walking by INTO me. sooo i shoved him back and started cursing at him and asking him what the F his problem was. he then grabbed me by the throat. i was livid but for some stupid reason my initial reaction wasn't to kick him in the balls maybe because i couldn't believe what happened. or maybe because i'm a petite chick and this guy was bigger than me and he was with a friend and i didn't know if his friend would then kick the crap out of me. so i step back, curse at him and walk away and find a security guard. the a**hole LIES to the security guard and says i grabbed him by the balls. WTF. and the security guard can't kick him out because he didn't see it happen. but by this point, random guys who witnessed the incident approached the a**hole who grabbed me and were all in his face. and so the a**hole "decided to leave the concert on his own," as one of the security guys put it. his friend looked pretty PO-ed to be leaving. and i felt like a snitch but i wasn't about to let some a**wipe ruin my concert experience without having his own experience ruined.

and so, shaken up, i continued to look for my bf while avoiding drunk people sloshing drinks around; a LARGE area of floor covered in vomit and drunks with lit cigarettes in their hands. and i asked myself... "what the hell happened to 311 concerts?!!" this was my 20th? 311 show and by far my worst concert experience. (what i posted on the 311 bb)

however some of the highlights from the trip included rick drinking too much tequila and puking out the window of our rental car onto the door handle and down the side of the car door... Mmmm. he was pretty much a walking zombie after that but it didn't matter because monsieur qui sait tout about las vegas aldrin wasn't wearing dress code friendly shoes so we didn't get into any clubs. (who knew everybody had a stigma against chuck taylors at night?! apparently aldrin didn't, but pretended he did... so it's unclear why he wore those shoes anyway). i'm sure we didn't miss much (especially because ashlee simpson was singing her new single at LAX) and at least we're still $40 richer -- the cost of the outrageous cover charge.

on the bright side, i scored some terrific finds at a local thrift store while rick, tim and aldrin went go-carting. (i found a dress, a velour bodysuit, two pairs of shoes, two mugs, white stockings and a BUNCH of books... for $25.50. SCORE!!) i also took some kewl night shots of the Circus Circus and what remains of the New Frontier (just the sign) with rick's friend nate, who i finally got to meet. ANNNND i did take some kick ass photos of the las vegas sign in a way which i guarantee no one has ever done before!! 8) and rick bought me an awesome-looking 311 tee shirt i never saw before and a kewl roxy necklace.

and so, although i don't totally oppose las vegas, i am on the hunt for my next, new favorite city... unless las vegas wants to rebuild the boardwalk casino, the stardust, and the new frontier and promise me they won't tear down anymore kewl hotels... then i'll reconsider the breakup.

busy week!! :)

monday and tuesday: i worked for james. on monday we shot headshots for his new website. (look for mine, i'll be on there too!!) on tuesday i assisted him while he shot a line of jewelry for a client. the woman used two models, her husband and her 6'2'' best friend and the photos came out amazing. we ate a late lunch/early dinner at this tiny thai restaurant. i was a little weary at first because the sign said "thai-chinese cuisine," but there was nothing chinese about it (which is good because i like my thai food to taste like thai food) and so *drumroll* I HAVE FINALLY FOUND A THAI RESTAURANT IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THAT LIVES UP TO MY STANDARDS OF THAI FOOD!!! finally!!~hoo-ray.

wednesday and thursday: i worked for dave and his producer kevin. i built the production books with kevin and delivered them on wednesday. i also bought tons of junk food and over 150 cans of soda (that barely got consumed on thursday!!) on thursday dave shot four olympic athletes (tyson gay, amanda beard, reese hoffa and nastia liukin) for a sega's new "bejing 2008" video game. the shoot went really well. all of the athletes were friendly and down-to-earth, especially miss amanda beard. she liked the necklace i was wearing (one i purchased from stoopidgerl on etsy) and so i introduced her to the wonderful world of etsy.com!!

friday: i worked for dave again, this time on a last minute shoot for another video game cover. the inspiration for the shoot was lara croft and james bond. the female model was russian and in need of a green card and the male model the company chose was off the hook. he was british, full of energy and highly entertaining. at multiple points during the night, he was running up and doing back flips off trees. pretty crazy.

saturday: rick and i went to melrose to return the clothes and hooker boots dave purchased for the video game shoot. most of the garments were non-refundable or final sales (boo!!) but as a bonus, my boss dave is allowing me to use the store credit. so i have $150 to spend in on questionable clothing. (no, i'm just kidding. it's not that questionable). on one of the final sales, the guy working there allowed me to exchange one of the corset tops for a large, silver panther head necklace.

sunday: was supposed to be an LA Polaroid Nerd Out on the santa monica pier but not many nerds could attend, so there was a mini Nerd Out at jake and george's house with lou, and me and rebecca as models. jake is the proud owner of forty or more of wallace seawell's handpainted backdrops. so it was pretty awesome to be photographed against the backdrops that were once used for portraits of peggy lee, sophia loren and gregory peck. jake took some ridiculously awesome shots of me wearing my canvas mossimo cut-out dress, a blonde crackwhore wig and retro rollerskates. wait until you see...

box office weekend

this weekend i worked in the box office for Art LA, a contemporary art fair in santa monica that represented sixty-four unique local, national and international galleries.

despite the long hours, it was fun playing box office with a group of eclectic locals (actually, very few were locals. the majority were transplants like myself).
the dynamics of a group of freelancers never ceases to amaze me. there are always type-cast personalities, but this time those personalities were even more specialized. i worked with quite a bunch of characters. the cast included:

the bossy, take charge, been-there/done-that/know-it-all, 20-something "stunt woman" and her nice boyfriend (also into stunts), a theatre geek all grown up.

the middle-aged worldly writer who was trying to absorb as much as she possibly could. although she has lived in the united states for however how long, she still pretends she hasn't grasped "american" ways and phrases.

the likable, well-dressed, high-energy actress who quickly becomes every body's best friend (but not in a negative, fake way).

the bohemian art child with a unique name, soft-spoken annunciation and hippy clothing (also very nice).

the poor-luck guy with an outdated haircut who always gets suckered into doing all the bitch work because he's too compliant to say "no" and very few people pay attention to what he mutters under his breath.

and then... me. the cynic who nominates herself the "normal one" as she quietly judges all of the other characters, honestly not caring what they must think of her.

despite the awful weather, the event brought in quite a number of celebrities. patricia heaton (who plays the wife in everybody loves raymond) promptly showed up at 11:30 AM on opening day.

saturday celebs included daniel stern who was modestly dressed in attire that resembled what he wore in home alone (he played marv). he was also the voice of the narrator in the wonder years... i had no idea!!

karolina kurkova showed with a three-man entourage of guys who could easily pass as roadies. (the one with long blond hair was cute though).

keenen ivory wayans bought tickets for himself and his "sweet valley twin" brittany daniel toward the end of the night.

james franco was on the VIP list and was rumored to be inside, but nobody saw him enter the building.

todd oldham came to my line on sunday. he was so modestly dressed (in a blue sweatshirt, corduroy-ish khakis and with a backpack on his back) i wasn't sure it was him until he spoke in that gentle, todd oldam voice. he was so very pleasant and down-to-earth.

i didn't start conversations with any of the celebrities but when adam raspler (311's manager!!) was buying a ticket, i had to go over and say something!!

matt dillon snatched a VIP ticket and darted across of the box office to the front door like a weasel who just stole an egg from a hen house.

my stunt-woman coworker gave dustin hoffman major attitude. she didn't even so much as glance up at him because by the end of the night her goal was to say as few words as possible and make the the minimal amount of contact with people. hoffman seemed amused by her attitude (those infamous, twinkling character lines appeared in the corners of his eyes). i sat in disbelief and just as he was about to leave, i offered him one of the Art LA canvas tote bags (since miss stunt wasn't about to hand him one). he came back for it but i think it he was just being friendly because i highly doubt he really wanted the tote bag... although they were a hot comondity!!

what i've been up to the past two weeks...

monday, nov 12: had a job interview for a p/t receptionist position at a political consulting firm. "so i see you have a bachelor's degree... why do you want this job???" the lady asked. then she told me i was "over-qualified" for the position. lame.

tuesday, nov 13: i don't remember.

wednesday, nov 14: worked for my favorite employer dave. called ad agencies and employed dave's new targeted marketing strategy which seems to be working. saw dr. 90210's (aka: robert rey's) wife hayley at the grocery store. zero makeup. skinny. looks exactly how she looks on tv.

thursday, nov 15: worked for dave again. :) ate lunch at a lil greek place.

friday, nov 16: assisted a shoot for james which consisted of shooting 30 amplifiers at a small place where they're actually made. the brand is called Matchless and the amps are used by such artists as: johnny rzeznik, sheryl crow, carlos santana, joe perry, aimee mann, michael bolton, lenny kravitz, and jewel. pretty damn kewl. ate mexican food for lunch.

saturday and sunday: MADONNA INN with the polaroid nerds.

monday, nov 19: escaped a 7-hour-long video game focus group and hung out with hal all day long instead. tagged photos for him. ate lunch at wahoo's fish tacos. started to seriously plan our business venture. met hal's friend naomi. went wallpaper shopping. got lost in the fog on my way home. too embarrassed to say where i wound up.

tuesday, nov 20: re-shot a couple of amps with james. ate a late lunch. taught james some new diner table tricks. :)

thanksgiving: made a cheese pie. went to rick's sister's house. ate an early dinner. watched the beginning of shrek 3. colored. chatted. played with rick's nieces. spent the night over rick's parents' house (they were in mexico).

black friday: woke up at 7 am to go shopping. first time rick and i ever participated in crazyness of "black friday." hit up radio shack, kohls, the mall and a board shop. scored some good deals. bought a nice sweater zip-up from pac sun. covered a few bases for christmas. ate lunch with rick and aldo. jonathan stopped by. watched a marathon of the dog whisperer with rick and his brother. rick's parents returned home from mexico.

saturday, nov 24: my grandmother's birthday!! i worked a cosmetic promotion. rick went back to his parent's house to spend some more time with his brother (who is visiting until sunday). watched My First Mister which was eh, alright. definitely sad. the part that was the most unbelievable was the fact a 17-year-old girl drove herself from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, NM. and didn't get stuck in traffic to there or on the way back. yeah riiight. ;)

sunday, nov 25: polaroid nerd meet up in LA. tomorrow is not going to feel like a sunday to me...

pleasant and not-so-pleasant finds.

friday night i burnt our steamer pot again, for the third time now. i had just washed the dishes and prepped all the veges before rick called on his way home from work. i was all proud of myself for having everything started before he got home so we could actually eat dinner before 7 or 8 pm. after i threw some chicken into the oven, i turned on the stove. i heard some clicking noises but just assumed it was oven warming up. when i got up to stir the vegetables (10 minutes later), i noticed the smell of burnt steamer pot. Mmmm!! turns out i forgot to add water in the bottom pot. (i know, i deserve a "duh"). and so i ruined all the vegetables. :( but i did beat rick in scrabble later that night. :)

so saturday night rolls around and rick and i are hungry. the burnt pot is still sitting outside, full of water, on the balcony. we decide to check out a new thai restaurant for dinner that just opened by our apartment. on our way to the car, i collect the mail that we've neglected to get this afternoon. by the light of the car interior, i sort through it... there are two bills, the daily assortment of supermarket flyers and an envelop addressed to me with no return address, just "Court Leve" which threw me off because it was dark out and I only saw the word Court, but then I made the connection... it was from Dave's friend. inside the envelop was a check for $100 and a note:

Jena-

Thanks for your modeling help a few weeks back at Nagel's - I really appreciate you spending the time with us.

All the best

-Court

P.S. Send me some neat images to look at sometime.

my jaw literally dropped. first of all, this man did not have to send me a check. he didn't hire me to model. he wasn't even expecting a model!! Dave hired me because he thought it'd be more fun and he knows i need money and he knows i appreciate getting the work. that said, Dave paid me that day before i left. so this pleasant surprise is above and beyond the realms of generosity, WAY beyond. and so a HUGE thank-you to Court whose awesome work can be seen here!! :)

ohhh yeah... earlier today, rick and i checked out that guest house we were hoping to rent. the owners were super nice but the place was TINY. the bedroom looked like it would barely fit our bed!! there was a small bathroom and one kitchen/living room/dining room area. the deal breaker for me was the positioning of the house... it was attached to the backside of their garage making it constantly shaded. add in the small heater and tiled floors and we'd be freezing our butts off all winter long. and it was so far out in the middle of the woods that neither of our cell phones got service. :( and so the apartment hunt continues...

***update: even IF we wanted the guest house, the owners went with someone else, but we were "a close second."

what we've done so far.

wednesday: went to a taping of the ellen show. my mom and i were on tv!! :) and everyone in the audience received season three of Grey's Anatomy. (mine's for sale on ebay because i don't watch the show). we saw ellen pull out of the parking lot AS SOON AS the show let out. she waved, but didn't stop like jay leno did. my mom and i still can't believe they make allll that money and only work 1 hour a day. i think i'm in the wrong profession. : P

on our way home, my mom and i stopped at Trader Joes (my mom wasn't impressed) and then headed to Whole Foods (bigger, better selection). we made tilapia and during dinner we watched The Pledge.

thursday: beautifully warm beach day!! hung out in malibu all afternoon. took lots of beachy photos (to be uploaded on flickr). saw a photo shoot Rachel Hunter (Rod Stewart's ex-wife). chatted with the AD. left my name and number with the photographer for possible future PA jobs - nice lady, but i highly doubt she'll ever call me.

aldo stopped by and ate dinner with me, my mom and rick. we watched Wild Hogs which was pretty funny. comedies usually aren't my thing though (unless they're from 1989-1999, like What about Bob? or Black Sheep). i beat my mom in scrabble AGAIN, hehe.

friday: rainy, dreary day. went to radio shack (to buy a camera charger for hal since the one rick ordered online wasn't advertised accurately). then my mom and i went to two estate sales, a yard sale, a vege/fruit stand, a gardening center, the food store and the bank. (busy afternoon!!) my mom bought an artist's (Bill Anton) print of a Marlboro-looking man with a horse. and i bought an odd statue of dogs dancing and some other knick-knacky stuff.

saturday: worked a cosmetic promo. met a nice guy named Lyndon who gave me lots and lots of shampoo and conditioner samples (in such cute little bottles!!) my mom booked all of our arizona reservations, went for a hike and lounged by the pool. she was itching to go to the Viper Room, but i wasn't too keen on the idea. i'm more of a homebody. here's how the convo went:

me: you should be glad your daughter would rather stay home and make crafts instead of going to the Viper Room!!
mom: no, YOU should be glad your mother would rather go to the Viper Room instead of staying home and watching Doris Day!!

(yes, i had checked out Pillow Talk from the library).

and then she called me a "deadhead."

we were also contemplating going to a local country western bar, but we went to PetSmart, made Roxie a dog tag, my mom bought cosmopolitan mix, we ate dinner and watched A Simple Plan instead. we're going to the Viper Room next week. :)

what we did to roxie in PetSmart:



plans for tomorrow: heading back to malibu. or going kyaking and visiting rick's parents. and packing. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

my b-day weekend...

saturday: i picked up my mom from the airport. :) and it was pouring. :( first time it rained in CA in a LOOOONG time (CA certainly needed it) but by the time we reached the apartment, the sun was shining. when we got to the apartment, there was a bday package waiting for me from lindsay. miss gray met my [mom's] dog roxie and hates her. poor roxie just goes about her business and miss gray actually stalks, chases and attacks her. after rick got home, we went food shopping but for dinner we ate in a local restaurant that has thee biggest, most widest variety of a menu. and we all passed out early that night.

sunday: my mother gave me my present in the morning. :) she had my dad's Valley Forge class ring made into a bracelet. it came out really nice!! my dad would have been impressed. (and i bet he's happy i'm wearing it).

later, my mom, rick, aldrin and i got all dressed up (i wasn't aware as to why at this point) and ate sushi in hollywood. which was nice because i've been craving california rolls!! then rick surprised me with tickets to Wicked. we had never seen it (except for aldrin who has seen it three times now!!) and it was really good.

monday: (my actual b-day) my mom had decorated the apartment with balloons and banners and gave me flowers and a b-day card full of lottery scratch-offs. then we went for a hike/walk with roxie.

after lunch, we went to a taping of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. the guests were The Rock, Dennis Kucinich and Dinana Krall. we noticed former SNL cast member Victoria Jackson sitting a few rows diagonally behind us in the audience. we got to see Jay do the "Headlines" segment and *drumroll* afterward, we met him as he was leaving the studio and he signed an extra ticket we had and my mom took my photo with him. :)

on our way out of the studio, we were handed tickets to see Late Night with Carson Daly. (they needed more people to fill the audience). we accepted them, but remembered we don't even like Carson Daly... so we were no-shows.

when we got back to the apartment, rick gave me a star wars b-day card (yuck!!) and some pretty purple orchids. we watched Shooter and ate dinner. then we ate angel food cake with strawberries... Mmmmmm. all and all a very happy birthday!! :)

me wearing my new gnome pjs pants (part of a gift from my grandmother):

i feel so loved...
total # of birthday cards i received from my grandmother: 4!!
total # of happy birthday comments on my myspace: 6
total # of people who called to sing to me: 4 (plus mom and rick)
total # of "happy birthday" messages received on facebook: 24
thanks everyone!!!! :) :) :)

tomorrow: the new Foo Fighters cd comes out!! and my mom and i plan on lounging poolside and visiting a Chumash Native American museum. and wednesday, we're going to a taping of the Ellen show!! :)

busiest saturday ever.

9:30 am - 1:00 pm: assisted james during a product shoot.
1:00 pm - 1:30 pm: commute back to apt.
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm: ate and changed at apartment.
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm: commute to second gig.
3:00 pm - 10:45 pm: served/helped cater an outdoor wedding.
10:45 - 11:15 pm: commute back to apt.

assisting james was fun. he shot an assortment of day planners, greeting cards and gift sets designed for moms by a moms. i helped prep the set and the products. i've assisted a clothing line shoot before, but never a product-only shoot. the idea that most products aren't shot on a level surface never occurred to me. we actually stuck the products to a white seamless backdrop using a sticky putty. assisting a variety of photographers has helped me narrow down which photography fields i would like to pursue professionally. i'm working for james again on wednesday on location for a boating-product shoot. he's thinking we'll need extra C-stands which means... lots to haul and set up.

serving at the wedding was pretty hateful at first. the guy in charge was 45 minutes late because he had a lot of last-minute stuff to do. we were all scrambling around doing nothing because we didn't know how the guy wanted it to be done. there were 6 of us... quite some characters, almost stereotypical, as if from a movie:
1. the masculine woman of questionable sexuality (not that there's anything wrong with that).
2. the annoying chick/borderline know-it-all who is waaay too enthusiastic about the job.
3. the older (indian) guy who you wonder why or how he ever wound up doing this.
4. and 5. two girls (one tanned and of hispanic decent. the other, a redhead) who know each other and paired off.
6. and me. the judgemental girl. ;)

one of the chefs was french and i swear he said "hamBERGarr" over a million times. he also looked at my shoes (black vans with pink stripes) and said, "you're were those??? non, that iz not good. you need black shoes. those are not acceptable."
and i said, "are you kidding me?!!"

the wedding was semi-formal, meaning there were burgers, lemonade and port-o-potties, but nicely done and decorated to look classy. there were couches covered in brown seude-ish material, round paper lanterns, lots of candles and champagne dyed blue to match the color scheme. as the night progressed, i wasn't hating it and some moments were disguised as fun. perhaps the most memorable moment occurred while i was carrying a tray of (filled) champagne glasses and one of the guests was headed right for me. i made an "UH-UH-UH-UH" kind of noise and lightly swerved to avoid him. he noticed me and put out his hands as if he were going to dodge me, but he didn't move and just kept walking straight into me. spilt and broke all but two glasses. amazingly no champagne wound up on either of us. and he cleaned up all the broken glass.

so that was my night. i got paid more than i antipated. so perhaps this could become a semi-regular thing on the weekends. :)

labor day weekend.

saturday afternoon: rick and i went swimming!! we wound up playing frisbee in the pool for a looong time. surprisingly, there were only three other people at the pool for the majority of the day. rick and i watched The Manchurian Candidate while we were eating an early dinner. it was a decent movie, but predictable with every stereotypical character for its genre - the obscure older man/scientist who gives the protagonist the necessary meds; the female stranger who (has an interest in the protagonist) and switches sides to help him; and the whacko (who dies mid-movie) who is really telling the truth but no one believes him. it was definitely watchable, but i don't think it lives up to the 6.7 it received on imdb.com. the original Manchurian Candidate (with frank sinatra) received an 8.3 - VERY high for on imdb.com and sounds like the wiser option to watch, so rick and i are going to try to find and rent it.

saturday evening: i got my first taste of a rolling blackout when we lost power for 35 minutes. i really wish the government (the californian government especially) would subsidize solar power instead of SUVs. (a point my boyfriend brought up when we were discussing the matter). just shows you what the government deems more "important." gas. oil. owning energy. depleting our natural resources. i firmly believe the government killed the electric car and that if people just let the government continue to be as corrupt as it is, we are all screwed. so now i'm feeling inspired to write to my congressman. :) or i think you have an option to call them.

saturday night: rick and i watched Butterflies are Free while playing scrabble. the movie (starring Edward Albert and Goldie Hawn) is about a blind man who moves out and gets his first apartment, neighboring Hawn who becomes his friend. Hawn is 27 in the movie, but looks and sounds MUCH younger. definitely rent the movie if you are a fan of hers just to hear how high-pitched her voice is!!

sunday morning: went over rick's parent's house. we were going to go to church with his sister, but she's sick :( so we hung out with his parents and ate breakfast instead. then we stopped over tim's house and went to the dollar store (to buy a beach ball) and then went to my favorite spanish super market (to buy produce). after we got back, rick and i watched The Holiday with his mom. had to have been my sixth time watching it, but it's a really well-made romantic comedy. definitely the last relatively recent movie (besides The Simpsons that i actually enjoyed.

sunday afternoon: we picked up rick's neices...

and took them back to rick's parents' house. after eating some BBQ, we colored and painted these cute little ceramic animals rick picked up on our way there. after we returned the girls to their house, we were EXHAUSTED. they didn't want us to leave. isabel (the oldest) was hanging on my leg and Daniella kept wanting to be picked up and called me "her" jena.

sunday night: after finishing some laundry and checking out rick's mom's photos from hawaii, we headed back to the apartment. (oh, p.s. rick also showed me the blood stains that are still in the parking lot of the store he was in when he cut his hand. eww!!)

monday morning: we bummed around in the heat. i wrote a short story (see my blog from yesterday). rick and i walked to the store so i could buy pretzels (of course).

monday afternoon: we went swimming. the pool was SO warm that it was not-at-all refreshing, but it was still fun. there were A LOT of people there. i was being quite the "pool pest" to ricardo which entails hanging on someone when they're trying to swim and trying to dunk them under the water constantly. it's fun, try it. ;) note: it's important to know your boundaries because your friends might never want to go swimming with you again. my tip: in between pestering, leave them alone for sparatic intervals of 5 minutes. that way, you won't seem as relentless. after we got back, we lost power for 30 minutes which sucked because i was just in the middle of creating something really kewl (and unsaved) in photoshop and i lost it. :( so now i'm saving projects after every significant addition or edit. during the blackout, we started cleaning the kitchen since we couldn't go online. hehe.

monday night: we ate a late dinner and started watching People I Know (with Al Pacino and Tea Leoni). about 15-20 minutes into the movie, we finally had to read the back of the box because we still didn't know what was happening or what the movie was supposed to be about... it was that awful.

one day i will write a post that doesn't include a movie review...

but today is not that day. ;) hahaha.

friday: worked for michael/finished up some wedding albums. rick and i watched Children of Men, a post-apocalyptic movie set in england in 2027. it was a really griping film. definitely held our attention but then, the movie just ends. abruptly. which made me really disappointed (unless they make a sequel). however, after rationizing with myself, i finally concluded that it was acceptable for the movie to just end like that because the movie is based on a book and a book would end like that. but apparently (i've heard) the book is pretty lousy and the movie is waaaaaaaay better (and much different) from the book.

saturday: worked a promo event. rick met me for lunch and brought me cantaloupe. since the promo was in a store, people usually ask me where certain products are and usually i don't know the answer. so one guy approached me and said (with an english accent) "allo, love!! how are you today???" i inhaled, preparing myself to give the whole "i don't really work here" spiel... but to my surprise he simply said, "you have very nice eyes and eyelashes. but don't tell nobody." hahaha. another funny quotation occurred as an old lady was approaching me. she had a sample of some sort of drink. after taking a sip, she stopped in front of me, with a disgusted look on her face and said, "this tastes like that old milk of magnesia my mother used to give me when i wouldn't go to the bathroom." i laughed as she proceeded to finish drinking the rest.

after work, rick and i went food shopping and then watched Pan's Labyrinth while eating dinner. it's a spanish movie about a little girl's fantasy world as she deals with living in facist spain (1944) as the "step-daughter of a sadistic army officer." i was worried that i wouldn't like it because i'm not a fan of science fiction, but rick and i had heard good things and imdb.com gave it an 8.5. however, after watching it, we both felt the movie didn't deserve that high of a rating. it's captivating and all, but it didn't live up to all of its hype.

cd i finally listened to and wasn't all that impressed with: G-Love's "Lemonade." (but it is kewl the cd looks like a lemon).

cd i can't stop listening to because all of the songs are so good on it and it reminds me of summer: Foo Fighters "There is Nothing Left to Lose." Mmmm.

FACT: "There is Nothing Left to Lose" won a grammy in 2000 for "Best Rock Album."
FACT: early editions of the album came with an "FF" temporary tattoo... which i still have and am always tempted to wear whenever i see it. :)
FACT: David Eric Grohl is the Peter Pan of Rock n' Roll.

away for the weekend

rick and i stayed at his parents' house this weekend while they were away. i worked two promo gigs and rick and i watched a few movies and a lot of tv. (we were having cable withdrawals).

friday: we made dinner and watched Napoleon Dynamite because rick had never seen it. we both agree it doesn't live up to the hype. and the most hilarious part was after we finished watching it, we turned to the dvd player off and guess what was playing on MTV... NAPOLEON DYNAMITE!! hahaha.

saturday: rick and i went to jamba juice with aldrin. then we went into Nordstrom Rack and i bought a really kewl pair of plaid hurley board shorts, a pair of BRIGHT neon green roxy capris and a cute SOFT gray tee shirt. rick and aldrin actually left me there and came back for me because i take a realllllly long time to shop. then rick and i took his dog magoo to the beach. he loved it.

saturday night: we watched North By Northwest a really good Hitchcock film with Cary Grant. so good i even watched the extras/the making of the film and that was pretty good too!! Hitchcock takes the cake for suspense thrillers.

by sunday i was itching to hug miss gray and eat lots of pretzels and upload more photos onto flickr. and rick was itching to play resident evil. hehehe.

sunday: on our way home i bought a half crate of fresh strawberries, Mmmmm!! miss gray was REALLY happy to see us. she was meowing up a storm and even rubbing against rick's legs!! (she's still wary around rick). during dinner we watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High because i have never seen it. it make me feel like watching 10 Things I Hate About You (i really like that movie) but i actually liked Fast Times more than i liked American Graffiti. still, 10 Things and Clueless are tied for my favorite teen/high school comedy but maybe that's because i was a teenager in the 90s.

music i can't stop listening to: Charlotte Gainsbourg's "5:55" album and Susanne Vega's "Nine Objects of Desire" album. good stuff.

i'm a fruit whore./another productive weekend.

saturday: woke up at 5 am to meet kerry (wedding photographer) to drive to santa clarita where the bride was getting ready in her parent's house. (the bride and her family were all SUPER friendly, by the way. and her parent's house was really nice!!) after that series of photos were shot, we were off to the church in north hollywood. naturally we missed our exit because we were too busy talking. for the first time ever, i was glad i brought along my navi. i'm not sure how old the couple was, probably post-college, but the groom looked about fifteen. after a loooong catholic ceremony, we were off to the reception at the bel-air hotel. (fancy-shmancy!!) the centerpieces were amazing and the cake was really cute - it was three layers, looked like a castle and was adorned with clovers. (they were irish). the wedding ended by 4 pm and before the main course was even served, one of the groom's brothers had to be carried out to the newlyweds hotel room because he was THAT plastered. all and all, so far it's been my favorite wedding to shoot. kerry was a fun guy to work with (a bit... confident) but he really allowed me A LOT of room to take some awesome photos. and although i was working without a flash, i think this was my best wedding work to date. and while i was working, rick did the dishes and vacuumed the entire apartment. :)

sunday: rick and i went to his parent's house. i did laundry while rick, tim and his father fixed (and by "fixed" i mean hammered, torched and repaired) our broken patio chair. i mindlessly watched part of a marathon of Sweet Sixteen, a reality show about how spoiled brats blow $200,000-350,000+ on a birthday party. it's so bad it's entertaining. then rick washed my car because he's the best boyfriend ever. after the last load of laundry was in the dryer, we went out to eat thai food (are you surprised?!) in a restaurant we've never tried before. the food was pretty good and it's local, so we want to take rick's mother there when his parents get back from mexico. rick and i have probably eaten thai food together in 15-20 different restaurants. after dinner, then we picked up aldrin, went to target and then went to my favorite spanish food store. :) here's what we purchased... try to guess how much it cost. (without cheating!!)

8 or 9 nectarines (3.94 lbs)
9 mangoes
4 cantaloupes
4 large green apples
2 cucumbers
2 bags of red grapes (4.24 lbs)
1 bag of fresh mint
1 seedless watermelon

my fruit rolling down the check out belt:


guess how much our bill was... and then check the tags/labels for this post to see if you were right!!!!

monday: miss gray woke up me twice nudging me in the face. that's her new favorite thing to do in the mornings. she's starting to sleep on our bed a lot. it's so cute how much she loves me. i just wish she liked rick as much as she likes me. i called more ad agencies for dave, scanned some photos and caught up on emailing people back. when rick gets home we're going to the PO and then going swimming (after we deal with our patio and rick kills some resident evil zombies). usually our goal is to eat dinner before 9 pm, but i doubt that will happen tonight. i don't think we're even going to try.

some plans:
*calling back friends i've neglected to call recently :(
*meeting up with hal to discuss our brilliant plans
*buying polaroid film
*creating albums this week for michael brannigan
*working a promo this weekend

*****don't forget to guess how much alllll of my fruit cost!!!! (and then check below).

it's saturday AGAIN???

because the 4th was a wednesday... i have been totally unaware as to what day of the week it is. in fact, today felt more like a wednesday than july 4th did. the 4th flet like a saturday and now today is saturday. ahhhh!!!! the confusion. anyway... so here's the scoop.

thursday: MAJORLY productive day. i called a lot of ad agencies for dave. both lindsay AND andrea called me (my two best friends). i did the dishes, made the bed and cleaned every inch of the guest bathroom. then when rick got home we went to the bank; i ran into a foodstore to buy snyders pretzels; we went to costco; i dropped off film; we went to the library; we went back to costco and shopped; i picked up my film; we went to albertsons; then came home and made dinner and watched The Break-Up which certainly doesn't deserve the 5.9 rating it received on IMDB.com.

friday: worked for michael doing layouts and making templates. went to post office. aldrin came over. rick and i cut his hair. (his hair was getting LONG!! it grows so fast. the last time we cut it was in may!!) then we all went swimming. aldrin stayed for dinner and we watched Lucky Number Slevin which was actually really good. i didn't know ANYTHING about the movie before i watched it... and that's the best way to watch that particular movie. it's pretty violent, but not excessively gruesomely violent. but four or five characters die within the first 30 seconds of the movie, even before the opening credits are finished.

saturday: meeting up with kerry (guy who works for michael/dm photography) at *drumroll* 6:50 AM to drive to santa clarita to shoot a wedding. ohhhh my. and i am NOT a morning person. the good news is the wedding ends at 5 PM.

boogers, trespassing and a wedding.

thursday: i was sick. :( i worked for Michael (wedding photographer) arranging photos and creating layouts for an album he was working on. i took a roll of toilet paper with me and was quarantined into the main lobby room of the studio. Michael is letting me borrow a jacked-up Canon 20D, just to see if it's working correctly. which it's not. it won't autofocus or play back an image on any other setting except auto. but i did take some kewl photos of miss gray with it. i'll post them on flickr in the weeks to come because i do not want to overload my contacts with cat photos.

friday: met with Jeff to see about that barista job. mostly weekend work, but it's local and it sounds promising. i also took some kewl shots of a "sundog" i saw while i was stuck in traffic in camarillo. posted some new self-portraits on my flickr.

saturday: rick and i bummed around all morning long and totally forgot that the 311 presale for the santa barbara bowl went on sale at 10 am. that sucks. pit tickets were already sold out by the time we called. :( what sucks the most is that i could have bought the tickets last week, but opted not to in order to avoid the extra "convenience" charges tricketmaster is notorious for adding onto your bill. ugh!!!!! i'm never trying to save money again... unless it's over $10-15. so then we went to the mall so rick could find some new sunglasses. (after 10+ years, his favorite pair finally broke). i didn't wind up working with Michael, i worked for him on sunday instead.

sunday: photo play day with rebecca. went inside the Maddy house (an old, abandoned ranch house off of the 101) and explored every room. it was pretty creepy at first. every time the door between the kitchen and the living room would slam shut, we'd get freaked out. and even if we KNEW it was about to slam shut, we'd still get freaked out. the house was built in 1912 and it's really kewl (and dirty). there's three bedrooms, two bathrooms, green carpeting, huge windows, two nice porches and lots of feathers. there were little animal prints all over the kitchen range and bird nests in every lighting fixture. there's also a barn/garage with a workbench. the house is situated on 5.3 acres and was purchased (supposedly for $20 million) so a shopping center could be built there :( just want we need!! i hope the plans fall through. i really want to learn more about the people who lived there.

"According to local legend, Maddy's husband was a retired scientist who had worked at the top secret Area 51 site in Nevada. He died many years ago. Several years later, Maddy reportedly went blind and had to roll out strings between the rooms of the house so she could find her way around."

rebecca and i took tons of photos. (we wound up spending 2 hours there!!) and my shoulders got pretty sunburnt. EXPECT LOTS OF NEW PHOTOS ON FLICKR!!!! :D

sunday night: was 2nd shooter at a wedding in malibu. really interesting wedding. it was jewish man and a chinese woman. the bride had two wardrobe changes. people were hugging the groom goodbye while his best man was giving the toast while the maid of honor was translating what the best man was saying into chinese. (shesh!!) they had a salsa-sounding band whose singer was from Congo. the bride and groom only danced together ONCE and it was choreographed. it was just all really ODD, but we got to eat good wedding food. i had salmon. :) and then michael took me for a ride in his brand new lotus. can't believe how close to ground those cars are!! (six inches!!) highly impractical cars.

movies watched this week: Spanglish (wanted to punch the girl who played adam sandler's daughter in the face), Down With Love (really cute), Saturday Night Fever (always a classic) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (i *heart* william holden).

father's day.

rick and i went refrigerator hunting with rick's mother because her fridge just broke. :( you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find an off-white fridge. every one was either white, black or stainless steel. i personally am not into the whole stainless steel craze. i'd much rather have this fridge:

preferably an authentic, old one... but i guess it's safer to go with a newer model. and of course i'd want a teal stove top and sink to match. :) (sometimes i think i was born in the wrong decade, hehe).

so anyway, rick's mom had to pay an extra $125-165 just to get a "bisque" colored fridge, which is funny because at one point all refrigerators were off-white. my grandmother remembers the top three color choices being avocado, mustard or rust. Mmmm!! i'd actually like an avocado green fridge. hopefully when i'm looking to buy a new fridge, the color choices will be different because white fridges look sorta tacky, black fridges show scratches, stainless shows fingerprints and off-white fridges are boring.

after finally finding a decent fridge, we went food shopping, bought A LOT of food and BBQ-ed. rick's neighbors came over and we ate a lot. and then ate some more. and rick and i wound up leaving with an obscene amount of left-overs. we won't need to go food shopping any time soon.

check out my father's day tribute to my dad here and here and here and here.