Happy birthday Pops!

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OK Go!

I love OK Go. I love their music, I love their style, and most of all, their videos. This latest one for "White Knuckles" has the group performing with a bunch of trained dogs, it's the coolest. AND they encourage animal rescue throughout and at the end, by listing their website: http://www.okgo.net/dogs. I love the big dog in the middle at the end, who you can tell is trying so hard to get his trick right by looking up at his master for the cues. :)



via Dog Milk

Is it weird to have another wedding?

Because this dress is making me want to. Mmm... swiss dot tulle. The only problem is it's $3000 and that would mean we could only afford to have like 10 guests attend. And Jeff would have to wear his old suit. And we'd have to cater with a taco truck. And no booze. Or at least really cheap booze. I'll start the party planning.

Fun fact: my real wedding dress was also J. Crew but only cost $150 (yay eBay!) plus $100 in alterations and the addition of vintage swiss dot tulle sleeves. That's why you all got to eat yummy food and drink stuff other than PBR at our wedding. Sacrifices. These I make.

J Crew's latest stroke of genius, the Lorna.

New lawn!

Our poor little Daisy home went unloved for 9 months as it sit on the market waiting, nay, begging, for us to buy her. The weeds went crazy, trees grew huge, lawn died, flowers molted. We've been trying to bring her back to her former glory, trimming the trees (and ripping one out that was growing through a fence), planting a vegetable garden, cleaning up the irises on the side of the house, and now dealing with the lawn.

Jeff did a few rounds of Weed n' Seed in the hopes of killing the weeds that had taken over our lawn and making it green again, but it didn't work. We called in the big guns and they overhauled it all this week. The old lawn was ripped up, the dirt was leveled and fertilized with compost, the sprinklers were tended to, and Marathon 2 sod was put down. Our lawn dude told us to go with the Marathon 2 sod because it's a hearty grass that does well in our climate and requires not as much water as other lawns (believe me, I still feel guilty we put down lawn instead of gravel and California natives. I just think the house looks so cute with little matching lawns in front of it!). He did a great job, you can't even see the seams of the sod strips!

My job for this weekend is to schedule the planting of the standard (not dwarf) meyer lemon tree we ordered, to replace the crazy palm tree we had to rip out. I hope it will start fruiting soon! I want to make lemon bars.

I should probably learn how to run first...

Jeff and I signed up this morning for the Be The One Run which is a 5K fundraiser for the Be The Match bone marrow registry that I'm on. It's on November 6th in Long Beach and I'm pretty excited. Jeff has been wanting to start running in races (me, not so much) and this will be one we can both do (hopefully, I might just cough up a lung and walk the rest of the way) and it's special to me.

We also signed up for the Memory Walk 2010 which my research group at UCI does every year to help support Alzheimer's disease research. We work with a lot of AD patients and their families and it's a nice event to get together with other researchers and families and patients affected by cognitive impairment and raise money and awareness. That walk is only 2 miles so it's an easy one. And it's on Jeffy's birthday! We'll do the walk in the morning and his Glam Rock costume party at night (stay tuned for invite details...).

I'm not really doing any fundraising for these events, but if you would like to donate to either cause, I'd really appreciate the support (as would the foundations)!

Here is the link for my fundraising page for the Memory Walk for Alzheimer's disease research: http://memorywalk2010.kintera.org/fullerton/liv

And here is the link for my fundraising page for the Be The Match Be The One Run (there's a link embedded in the post so you'll have to go to the blog instead if you've viewing this on your Reader!):

Anthology!

A new shelter and lifestyle print magazine!! I so esciiiited! After my rough year of losing Domino, while still reeling from the loss of Budget Living, Blueprint, Gourmet, and Cookie, the news of Anthology's release is SO welcome. I love me some online print mags (Lonny, Rue) but I love curling up in a cozy chair in a sunny room with a cup of coffee and an empty day in front of me with a favorite magazine to flip my fingers through even more.

It's only a quarterly magazine right now (sad face) and it's a bit pricey ($38 for the four issues) but that's what I would have paid for my cancelled subscriptions anyways. Plus it's supporting the movement to bring back the print mag. I'M FOR IT! And hello, it's Anh-Minh Le and Meg Mateo Ilasco behind it. Of course it's going to be good. They are style powerhouses. I can't wait for it to grace my mailbox... the metal one nailed to our porch, not my inbox. Yay!

This is what I miss when I'm out of the country and not looking at my Reader

This macaque monkey found a kitten in the Balinese forest and adopted it. I can't tell if the kitten likes it's new mother, but the monkey is totally into her. The photographer said that the monkey didn't like pictures being taken of them and was trying to shield the kitten in this picture.

Via Saipua. I need to join the group she's starting.

In other cat related news, Jerod and Karen adopted a kitten!! Jerod claims she's Siamese, maybe a flame point? He's bringing her to work tomorrow for show and tell, I can't wait to meet her! Her name is Sadie (short for Mercedes) and she's shown here on the left, next to her brother Bentley that Karen's sister Natalie adopted. SO cute! I want to rub them all over my face.

Now I need new hair

Hi, Alexa? I want your hair. Gimme.

The length is perfect, the bangs are perfect, and the ombre color is perfect.  I'm making an appointment.

Picture from the Madewell site for the Alexa Chung collection. Very adorable.

J. Crew

This may shock you, but I didn't not buy anything on the trip. Well, sort of. A couple souvenirs and two cheap H&M shirts mostly because I was running out of clean ones in my suitcase, but that was it! We were pretty frugal on this trip which is why I feel a bit justified going crazy on a J Crew sale. It's an extra 30% off sale items AND free shipping! I need some new fall fashions for work and got some great deals. Here are my scores:

The Cupro Elan Trouser (a drapey, silky fabric):

The linen/cotton Elan trouser:

Sweatshirt dress (in graphite though, looks sooo comfy! This and tights will be a winter favorite.):

Leather platform peep toes (I was tempted to get these in the black suede but I already have a good pair of black suede heels. The tan leather is new for me. The chunky heel and platform and peep toe will make for one comfy shoe I bet. I plan on pairing them with everything else I bought on this page.):

Silk neon (!) paisley scarf:

Rimini cardigan in black forest, a dark dark green. I hope I love this sweater as much in person. It looks like a new favorite sweater to me.

The zipper denim Minnie pant:

3 pairs of pants, a sweater, a dress, a scarf, AND nice leather heels for the price of a pair of clogs and a shirt I was oogling but resisted in Copenhagen. This will satisfy my new clothes fix for awhile now... I hope.

Holy Squash!

Look at the bounty of produce we came home to! Our friends did an amazing job keeping the garden alive and thriving (and Lily Mae too!). Double gold stars to Mandy who coordinated and did the lion's share of house/kitty sitting/cleaning. Seriously, bestest friend ever.

Back to the squash- CRAZY!! I was expecting the cute little pattypans that you buy at Trader Joe's, not these behemoths! Jeff is cutting one up as I type to saute and see if they're as tasty as they are pretty. I love how pure white they are. And our jalapenos, bell peppers, lettuces, and basil are all progressing nicely too. We're excited to eat all this. Except for our dinners at Jon and Hanna's, the Folkman's, and Britt and Rui's, we weren't eating too many veggies and healthy meals on our trip. It will be nice to get back into our usual cuisine.

If anyone that lives in the area wants any squash, you let us know. We got you covered.

Chi-town

Chicago's buildings are incredible. The architecture of the city is truly impressive. That being said, I don't think I like Chicago much. Maybe I was just tired from the 2 week vacation or flight, or was comparing it to the Scandinavian cities we just saw, but the subway was dirty and loud and filled with annoying t'nagers, the middle of the city was dark from the buildings shadows, a fat guy on a very busy walking street peed into a cup while sitting down right in front of us, and the wind took my breath away. I was fine leaving. On the plus side, thanks to Jerod's Chicago-in-a-nutshell tour that he emailed me, we had an excellent lunch, got to stretch our legs before our next flight, and Jeff liked it. Here are the few pictures we took there:

BUH-BYE Windy City!

Our last day in Stockholm

I was too busy traveling 27 hours to post about our last day in Stockholm! It was great. **DANG IT! I just finished this post, clicked "Publish Post" and realized I'm not connected to our wireless anymore and lost it all. ARGH!**

Okay, over my tantrum. Let me try to recreate... THIS was the super good Japanese breakfast Brendan and Evah made for us on our last day. I am more of a salty breakfast lover than sweet (usually) so this hit my delish spot. Miso soup, a salad with sesame oil and bonito flakes, soy sauce omelets, rice, and nori wrappers. We're definitely going to try this again.

After breakfast, Brendan took us to the petting zoo around the corner from their house- THE SAME ONE MY COUSIN JOHANNA USED TO WORK AT! Small world indeed...

The goats, lop-eared bunnies, baby chicks, and horses were so cute, albeit a little standoffish. Can't blame them, considering screaming kids are constantly trying to pet and grab them.

After the zoo we went to Brendan's studio to check out his Swedish workspace. Super cool! And we met Linda, another artist, and Amy, the studio bull terrier. So ugly/cute!

Another beautiful sunset from Britt and Rui's balcony...

And yet another fantastic meal served up by our lovely hosts. It was the perfect end to our perfect vacation. Thanks everyone who helped us have these two and a half weeks! 

The last of the Flickr pictures are here!

Chicago!

Almost home... On our 8 hour layover in Chicago, eating this at Giordano's:

Yummy!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Stockholm Day 3!

It's actually Stockholm Day 4 right now (just woke up) and I realized I didn't post any pictures last night (sorry Dad!). We came home from a fantastic fish soup dinner (10 out of 10 stars!) with Britt and Rui, and Johanna and Jonathan, and got to see Brendan and Evah who had just arrived from gay Paris. We stayed up late chatting and playing with Jalapeno, so we all slept in late too.

We're going out on the town today to check out some stores and a few more sights, and then once again we're all invited to Britt and Rui's for dinner. Another day of good weather so it looks like the last day of our Scandinavian super tour will be a great one!

Yesterday, Britt and Rui took us out on their boat for a water tour of what we saw the previous day. It was warm and lovely on the way out, and started to look threatening and cold on the way back so we kicked the boat into high gear to jam on in.

We met at the boat harbor, look how pretty the morning was!

The ducks went crazy and thought we had bread. I was starting to feel bad for them but in the 20 minutes we were there, about 19 people came with bread to feed them. I think they were doing fine. 

Here is Jeff recreating the famous one of my dad on the fjord, looking like a "special" kid on a boat ride. 

Rui was supposed to be driving the boat here.

Britt got a ton of good pictures, hopefully she'll pass them around to us. She is a MUCH better photographer than I am.

We parked the boat outside of the city hall in the old city and had lunch on the dock. The birds quickly befriended us and this little guy was so brazen. It was worth it for him though, we weren't mean and we gave him all our treats.

More pictures here!

Stockholm! Day 2!

We slept in late this morning (sooo nice) and my aunt Britt and uncle Rui came and met us to take us out for the day. We had so much fun with them (and my cousin Johanna who met up with us for a few hours before work) and got a great walking tour of the city and then an even better dinner at their beautiful home. It was the perfect day.

I waited for Britt and Rui this morning out on the balcony with Jalapeno who enjoyed his cat grass. Another gorgeous Scandinavian late summer day... cold and crisp but sunny with clouds.

We "hiked" up to a rock that is the highest point in Stockholm for a view over the Old City. It gave a full 360 degree view, and gave a lot of Kodak moments (see here!).

We went to the Museum of Modern Art and saw a lot of great art by contemporary Swedish artists, and several other non-Swedes (that's Andy Warhol in the background obv).

We also saw an exhibit on royal weddings, since the country basically shut down in June for their last royal wedding. Check out the bouquet Mandy! We need to start making them this big. It will be the We Like Flowers signature bouquet.

This was a sidewalk planter in the city. Billy balls in their natural state!! I squealed.

We had cappuccinos on this boat close to the Museum and across from the castle. It's also a youth hostel! Was this the one you stayed at Jerod??

After sightseeing for 7 hours we went back to Britt and Rui's apartment. It's soooo awesome. They have a wraparound balcony with this view:

Not too shabby. We had a fantastic dinner, great wine, and lots of happy family time. We're looking forward to it again tomorrow, and getting to see Jonathan and more of Johanna!

Mora!

We had a long but good day. We woke up early to travel to Mora, in the Swedish countryside, which involved a walk to the metro station (about 5 minutes usually, unless you think you left your Eurail passes in the apartment and make your husband run back only to find them at the bottom of the backpack you're carrying), a 10 minute ride to the central station, a 4 and half hour long train ride (supposed to be 2.5 hours but riddled with delays), a 1.5 hour taxi ride from our train's connecting stop to Mora (the delays made us miss the connecting train, but the Swedish railway arranged for a taxi to take us and 7 other people to Mora free of charge- nice!), and a 15 minute walk from the train station to the Anders Zorn Museum. And then back.

It was totally worth it. We met up with our friends Sean, Gretchen, baby Gunnar, and Gretchen's mom and uncle who were coming from Ostersund, up in the north. Totally weird timing that they too were visiting Sweden, so we thought we'd meet in the middle, at a museum Jeff was dying to see. It was an incredible show. The museum was celebrating 150 years since Zorn's birth with a big retrospective of his work. So amazing. All the pics I took are on flickr (or will be, they're taking forever to load. Just check back to my flickr site from a past album and click on sets to see when it goes up), and I'll post my favorites.

This first one he did at 18 years old, and really launched him. It's a watercolor, and it's fantastic.

These next two are from the same watercolor. It's amazing how much detail he gets in the faces from watercolors. I don't get it. 

And because it's not enough to be a master painter, he was also an expert woodcarver. These busts were of his mother and sister and are thought to be his best woodcarving works.

This painting was so neat to see in person. I tried to capture it as best as I could on my camera, to get the faces (and the skull at the bottom) that are shadowed in the frame in the shot.

This was a self-portrait he did. I like his fluffy coat. I could use one of those in Sweden.

See the lines going through this next one? It's because he didn't like how it was turning out so he cut it up and a sneaky fellow artist snagged the thrown away pieces and put it back together. 

This one was Jeff's favorite. It was huge, and had so much detail. He liked something about the lighting I think. We both loved the little baby on the floor playing with a potato.

Close-up of the baby:

We're exhausted (again) but looking forward to sleeping in and then seeing my aunt and uncle and cousins tomorrow! Let's hope for good weather so we can walk around the water and enjoy some sights...