Music Box


Saturday, February 14, 2009

Cupids Target Practice


Henry's been intrigued by the idea of archery for a few weeks now and as luck would have it Kenny discovered that lessons were available at a nearby park! After weeks of trying to work it into our schedule they successfully made it to their first lesson last weekend. So in honor of Valentine's Day I'm posting these photos of their lesson.



Saturday, January 10, 2009

Friday Fun


The worst part about having kids attending different schools is when their schedules don't synch. A pefect example is while Henry gets off early on Fridays (lucky kid)Rhys' early days are Tuesdays. Well this Friday Rhys didn't have school so I decided as a treat to drive them down to see Auntie and Uncle John. We had lunch and then spent some hours at the local Boomers!


Monday, January 05, 2009

Rhys Takes the Pets on a Walk

Over the weekend Kenny accompanied Rhys on a walk with the pets (Kitty our dog and Caramel the kitten). It's pretty hilarious watching them try to walk the cat. It was Caramel's second outing and they sure had an adventure.





PS

I was going through an SD card today completely forgetting that Kenny took pictures and video of our New Years Eve doctor's appointment!




I was unable to upload the video Kenny shot but was successful in uploading it onto FaceBook.

Hopefully you can see it embeded here.


Thursday, January 01, 2009

Announcing a Fresh New Year!


Happy 2009! I'm hoping that this year will be filled with much happiness and good fortune all around.

Our Christmas was a hazy blur of our usual activities. Christmas Eve mass and dinner with the Ahern cousins and Fred. We will miss Fred who will be moving to Hawaii this year to be closer to his son. Christmas Day was a mass of presents both at home and at Grammies and Grandma and Grandpa. And even Grandpa Ken surprised us with 4 huge bags of gifts for the boys! Needless to say we have spent much of the remainder of the week, much like most of you I imagine, making room for the new toys.

The weather has been a pleasant change but abysmal in motivating me to take pictures. It's been raining on and off, and oh sooo cold! The few pictures I've managed to snap can be found here.

We started today the first day of 2009 off with lunch in Malibu with Mike, Maria, Emerson, and Gus, Vel, Nicolette and Tom. It was our first chance to drool over three month old baby Emerson. He is just the cutest, sweetest and most mellow baby! Our three hour lunch gave us time to catch up and make new plans for future outings.




One of my New Year's resolutions this year is to take more photos and blog more. I've really been slacking off the last few months and have blamed much of it on a hectic schedule. The hectic schedule was only part of the reason; if all goes well there will be no slowing down. I have about 5.5 months before it gets even more hectic.

This is the real reason.


11 week ultrasound. We saw the baby scratching it's head before deciding to wave at us! My wonderful doctor added the "HI".

13 week ultrasound. The doctor was so delighted with the baby's cooperation she proclaimed the baby a natural ultrasound model.

This is our new project due in June! My parents' Christmas present for the baby was a set of beautiful bibs in white, purple and pink. Do they know something I don't?! Because yesterday morning at our appointment, while we were all squeezed into the exam room for the ultrasound, yes this included Ken, Henry and Rhys, the doctor got a good look at the baby and said that she was 90% sure it's a girl! When Kenny asked how she was so sure she pointed to the screen where the image of the baby with legs spread showed no visible signs of boy parts. Henry who has been referring to the baby as a girl, stated that he was 99% sure! While I'm still holding out for 100% confirmation.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

OMG it's December!


I can't believe it's already December. There's so much going on that sometimes I feel like I'm in the middle of a tidal wave, just about to be pulled under.

We got home Saturday afternoon from our annual Thanksgiving trip. I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked. I'm moved by light and there was not a lot up North this year. In fact it felt pretty appropriate in anticipation for Twilight, that far from the usual autumnal dappled sunlight of Napa Valley the scene was more reminiscent of Forks, WA.

We managed to sneak away Monday evening to catch Twilight. It left me needing to see it again. Catherine Hardwicke again blew me away, but to really do these books justice we need to change the format to a mini-series!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

So EXCITED!





This is an excerpt from the film; Not a trailer!

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

November-ish


Can you believe Twilight is set to open in less than 2 weeks? I have been seeing the ad campagin for the movie for months now, but to see this billboard with my very own eyes took my breath away. The momentum just keeps building. I just read that for all intents and purposes the premiere showings of Twilight have SOLD OUT. So I don't really expect to be able to catch it until the following week, perhaps in Napa over Thanksgiving break we may sneak out to sink our teeth into it? (Nannoo nannoo! Hilary!)

I am ashamed to note that it's been weeks and weeks since my last post. It's either so dead that I have nothing to talk about, or it's been so busy I haven't the time to write anything coherent. Lately it's been the latter, that and throw in the fact that I am just too tired these days to form a straight thought in my head.

We spent last weekend in San Francisco participating in the Alternative Press Expo (APE). Most of the pictures of our trip can be located at ganerda.com under the blog section. It was quite the adventure and we are very glad to have gone. The only sad thing was that we missed Halloween with the boys. We are so lucky that Angele, Hilary and John are consistently up for babysitting duties!

Elizabeth, Eric and I in the lounge room at Last Gasp.

Our Friday, Halloween night, was spent at a mixer for APE at Last Gasp's offices. There we got to check out the awesomeness that is Last Gasp. We explored the offices, storage stacks for their mail order as well as their lounge area. We also got to mingle with a lot of the other exhibitors. That night we had the pleasure of meeting Elizabeth Guizzetti (Faminelands and Out for Souls and Cookies) and her brother Eric who drove 16+ hours from Seattle. Afterwards we celebrated our San Francisco weekend with a dinner at a local Vietnamese noodle house. Yum! It was the perfect antedote for a cold and drizzly night.


Saturday arrived too soon and we were up and off running early. Arriving at the locale a little before 8:30a to set up, we were greeted with rain! We quickly got things up and running and introduced ourselves to our neighbors; Brian Apodaca and Laura Feucht (Reunion Comics), who is also a biology teacher at St. Bernards!; Sina Grace and Sean Seamus McWhinny (Diary of a Catering Whore). I want to comment on how hilarious Sina's stuff is! He's got a series of comic books about the life of a girl working in a comic book store. In this case Hi De Ho in Santa Monica. What I find especially amusing about this series is that Kenny's dragged me in there many times and I am somewhat familiar with some of the staff and boy was it hysterical to see his very good caricatures of them!!With the exception of Sean, who is local, all of us are from LA.

I was able to roam around the expo and bumped into a few friends and Kenny's co-workers: John Bahn (doodledose), Chris Bennett, Albert Calleras (Hot Mexican Love Comics) and Jackie Huang (shadowbugs) who was nice enough to give me two bug buttons (so cute!). I also had the opportunity to meet Camilla d'Errico of whose work I had caught at a recent showing at Copro Nason in Bergamot Station a few months back. She was there with a bevy of books and misc. items.

Brian and Laura.

Sean Seamus McWhinny and Sina Grace.

John Bahn of Doodledose and Christopher Bennett at their table.

Albert Calleras of Hot Mexican Love Comics stopping by our table.

Once the show doors opened we got to work. Our first sale of the day was to Stuart Ng. Stuart remembered us from Comic-Con where he had a huge area roped off to display for sale some of his amazing mass of unique and rare books. He has a store in Torrance as well as an online site.

Before long my stomach took center stage and I decided to hunt around for something yummy. I found it at a place across the street called the Holy Grill. There I found the most amazing salmon burger. Perfectly grilled salmon, cooked but moist to the bite, sandwiched between an artisan bun accompanied by slices of tomato and lettuce along with a tasty mildly spicy chipotle sauce! Aaah! Heaven.

At the end of Saturday we drove around San Francisco looking for dinner before finally settling on a Cambodian restaurant. It was a beautiful night in a beautiful city and it was also the night we were to set the clock back an hour for daylight savings. Aah another hour to sleep in and without the boys to wake us up! Not to be! That night at 3:00a a fight erupted outside our room and we were riveted!

Sunday passed much the same as Saturday with the exception of this funny incident... while running around checking out the competition a guy came up to me and complimented me on my hair, which I had recently got cut (Thanks Jenn!) and proceeded to ask if I was available! Hahahahhaha!! I told him, "no I was married" and he commented that he could see why. Awwwww!

Lunch was another delicious meal, though my first choice, the Holy Grill was not open on Sunday. Instead I got some spectacular burritos from a taqueria across the street. Yummy!

Before long it was time to call it a day, we cleaned up, packed up, filled up and were soon back on the road on our way home. We had a wonderful trip filled with incredible memories and a stash of comics and artwork signed by the artists!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Went to Dom's Party & Came Home With?!


Whew! I am still reeling from the past few days. I was very excited to dust off my camera and take it for a spin. We went to Dominic's amazing pirate themed birthday party (I can't believe the little guy is FOUR!) on Saturday and came home with the newest addition to our family. Caramelle. Initially her name was Marmalade... but then we settled on Caramelle Butterscotch. Okay I know it's kind of lame; it's a work in progress.


My sister-in-law Jamie was super encouraging full of helpful advice. She even took me to their local pet store, before we went home, to gather supplies for little Caramelle. Thanks again Jamie.

Caramelle's sister Autumn.

They also have a new kitten and her name is Autumn. Autumn and Caramelle are sisters from the same litter and now we get to arrange playdates! Needless to say all the boys are smitten with our little kitten! Both Henry and Rhys are constantly bickering over who gets to hold her. I am happy to report that she is getting along perfectly with our dog Kitty. She is just the sweetest little thing.

Sunday was my birthday and it felt like a flurry of constant feasts. Hilary and John arrived on our doorstep bright and early and I wish I could adequately describe the expression on Hilary's face when the boys greeted her at the door with Caramelle. She was blown over and fell fast in love. The same cannot be said of Angele when the scene was repeated some time after. The horror! LOL!

We started our adventure Sunday with mass and then it was off to lunch complete with dessert and singing waiters. Afterwards we went home for a few hours to play with Caramelle before heading out again this time to Third Street and the Pier, and ending the evening at Buca with an Italian feast.








Yesterday my little guy Henry turned 8! You can't imagine how incredible that sounds. He's almost a decade! I still remember when we took him home from the hospital. We had to stop off at the CVS on Santa Monica Bl. and bumped into Tracey Ullman who took a look at Henry and remarked on how cute he was.


We were able to throw a little party for him at school. Hilary and John were soo nice to help me out with picking up the pastries and setting the tables for the third grade class. Thanks again guys! The party wrapped up with dinner and presents!


This was in Rhys' folder from school today. It's a very bad resolution because I scanned it from a very small image; it's originally his school ID card. It's also his school picture this year and now I can't wait to get the set of school photos!

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Need I Say MORE?

Twilight HD Exclusive Trailer


If the application does not work click on this link for the
Final Twilight Trailer

Monday, October 06, 2008

Monday Catch Up

Fresh from my morning walk, I came back to messages from people wondering who Ganerda Grul is... well she's a publisher whom my other half (Ken) is helping. You can find out more about her at ganerda.com; the site is still under construction so check back often for updates. Remember: She's shy. She's lonely. She can be found on FB and myspace. She wants to be friends!

This weekend we got a chance to catch 'Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist'. I know I mentioned in a previous post that I didn't want to see anything until November 21, but Kenny wanted some popcorn on datenight so we agreed on this flick. When we went to pay for the tickets the cashier asked me if I had a Student ID! I could have kissed her!!

It was a very charming story. The leads were very cute; I love Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. It was refreshing to see Kat who is absolutely gorgeous and not your typical stick figure. I don't know if I'm getting more prudish with age, but I found the hinted at sexual behavior of some of the kids (granted they were supposed to be about 18) alarming. I had to remind myself that even in the tamer John Hughes films this was the norm. Ah well... it's memory vs. looking at the world through the eyes of a parent.

I have been neglecting my camera lately, but will be looking through my SD card for new photos to post this week. Until then Happy Monday.

PS I was very happy to see the official playlist for the Twilight soundtrack on Stephenie's site this morning. Included in the mix is both Muse's 'Supermassive Black Hole' and Collective Soul's 'Tremble for My Beloved'. I'm pretty anxious to check out the rest of the songs especially 'Bella's Lullaby' and the one song from Rob Pattinson that made the cut.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

cheese


Rhys' lovely new earrings.

Monday, September 29, 2008

gasp! sigh.


Photos taken from edwardandbella.net.


Is it very wrong of me to not want to see anything until November 21?

Stephenie included in the Movie section of her site '6 fun facts from the set' the first of which is: 1) While watching the playback from a very intense scene with Bella and Edward, the girl next to me literally slid right out of her chair—I think her bones melted. She also may have stopped breathing for a few seconds, too. I know I did.

Can November come any sooner?!

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