yesterday, i did the laundry

trio
staples of a farmers market: kettle corn + snow cone





look at the size of those artichokes?!







eli on sock match and roll duty

{this shot is for you megan}

so, yesterday morning i gathered up all our dirty clothes.  i needed a laundry-mat stat.  

i decided to drive back to our old stomping grounds:  south pasadena.  i knew exactly where i could get my clothes clean.  it probably sounds silly to make a drive to another city to do laundry, but it was the perfect opportunity to step back in time.  i got on the 10 heading east then merged onto the 110 and did the lazy back and forth drive up into pasadena.  

{as we have come back to los angeles several times since we moved, i have never been able to spend any real time where we lived in south pasadena.  getting to do the laundry at our old laundry-mat would be a real treat}

while c.j. and i lived in south pas we had no laundry facilities.  so, for 4 years we went to a laundry-mat.  interestingly enough, a lot of people don't have a washer/dryer of their own around here due to apartments, older homes, etc.  it was a pain at times, when the laundry was a 2 week old monster that would take several washers and dryers all running at the same time to finish up, lugging it all into your car, folding your ginch in front of the weird dude standing next to you folding his ginch.  it is a public place and for some reason, your dirty clothes seem like a private matter.  anyho............ 

back to yesterday....  i made it to my old laundry-mat, threw the clothes in and eli, ida and i started walking.  we walked up to busters {a little corner coffee/ice cream shop}, we walked past my old stationary shop where i worked part-time {it is now a cupcakery and yes i did buy some, i give them a B- the cupcakes were moist, the icing was lardy}.  i was amazed to see how many little boutiques and shops and tasty treat places had sprung up everywhere. south pasadena has changed over 7 years.  eli and i walked ALL DAY.  it was so therapeutic and wonderful.  

every thursday south pasadena has their farmers market {what a bonus to end our laundry day!}. when we lived here we would hit it every week, grab a tamale, some lemon-aide and a bag of kettle corn.  so delicious.  i think i called c.j. 3 different times during the day quickly telling him what we were doing and wishing he was enjoying it with us.  emily and the kids met up with us and we sat on the lawn, chowed down and enjoyed the atmosphere. 

we ended the day getting more cupcakes in burbank at a place called cupcake and company {i give them a C-, the cupcakes were dry, dry, dry and the icing was kind of whippy/foamy.  come on people how hard is it to make a cupcake???  i am on a quest to find the best cupcake in l.a., i am going to try yummy cupcake today, another burbank establishment}.

on tap for today:  universal studios with emily and family

on tap for tomorrow:  santa barbara with stacey and family

on tap for sunday:  family party with dave and family + stacey and family

on tap for monday:  house hunting with mason {our realtor}

on tap for tuesday:  hopping on a plane, going home

ok, got to go, enjoy ida and her fun smile!  

trip, so far

love it.




#4, due september
post-natural history museum

mom & dad & the kids

hotel pool {c.j. on the balcony and stacey/aaron with the kids swimming}
stacey and ida
eli
c.j. working

well, it is hot.  we have been blessed with a heat-wave here in los angeles.  for the last few days it has been at least 95 degrees + here.  

we have had a good time thus far.  tomorrow we are going to disneyland and the next day to universal studios.

my eyes are heavy and tired.  i have to go to bed.  enjoy the pics.

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

freaky

the view from our hotel room window.  wow.
eli at the very top of the mountain

riding up the gondola



fondue-ing at the grizzly house



chewing like crazy on her hand

c.j.'s quilt top is complete

i think i had a picture like this of me chewing dads thumb, but it burned in the fire...

it is thursday.  do you know what we are doing tomorrow?  flying to l.a..  do you know what that means for today?  laundry, fold, sort, pull out bags, clean, pack, consolidate, pay bills, return movies, email teacher, the list goes onnnnnnnn.  

what happens to me right before a trip is kind of like watching the weather channel when a hurricane is brewing.  things are pretty calm about a week out, maybe some clouds forming, winds are picking up, then as the days go on and the time draws near, i get bigger and windier and freakier and pretty soon i am a category 5 hurricane coming down on haiti and there is no stopping it.  i am a big ball of freak out and it stinks.  

SO, yesterday i started thinking ahead and began the laundry.  it is done, just strewn throughout my house now waiting to be packed.  BUT it is done.  when eli got home from school yesterday, we packed his bag.  DONE.  now i just need to worry about me and ida and the house.

 

*

the other day on my way home from getting my hair done, i stopped into crave.  they sell cupcakes. enough said.  i haven't been down there in ages, due to the gestational diabetes and all, so when i walked in and they asked me what i wanted i bought a dozen large and 1/2 dozen small, just to eat in the car on the way home.  that was 2 days ago.  i am pretty certain that i have eaten 75-80% of those cupcakes.  it has been a haze.  the scale however has confirmed that and i am showing i have gained 5 pounds.  that is not good.  i had the fortune of becoming 20 pounds lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight about a week after ida was born.  it was kind of freaky, i thought maybe i was dying or something.  but now when i look back at that i can attribute it to the heathy choices i was making when i ate.  isn't that funny, eat well and lose weight?  eat crap and gain weight?  i think i am on to something...

*

easter in banff.  it was great.  the hotel was perfect, 2 thumbs up.  the weather was super.  the gondola was fun, fun, fun and the mini-hike to the top of sulphur mountain was sweet.  we ate at the grizzly house which is a fondue joint.  the food was good, i always forget how labour intensive fonduing is, the ambiance was slightly freaky, kind of kinky weird, a little too "swinging '70's".  i mean any restaurant that sells a thong with their restaurant name plastered on the tiny little piece of fabric that makes up a "thong" is kind of creepy in my books.

all in all it was a good little get away.  we ate way too much banff crap like fudge, carmel apples, pez, more fudge, hot chocolate, pastries, another carmel apple...........  maybe that is why my scale is screaming at me.

*

lastly, i finished c.j.'s quilt top yesterday in efforts to be able to fold it up and think about it when i get home.  i think it turned out good!?!  it is a quilt for a guy, kind of dark, more masculine than anything.  with the neptune-ish fabrics as the theme, i wanted the quilt to feel like and be like a big blue wave washing over him, hence the navy sashing and border.  i am trying to find dark navy minkee for the back so it will be soft, soft, soft and will bind it with the sea wave pattern in the quilt to tie it all together.  such a process.  will be fun when it is all done.  now i just need to find some freaky old lady to quilt this sucker. 

*

will post next from sunny l.a.

i will make it, i will make it, i will make it.

get away

i am sitting in a big fluffy bed eating chocolate dipped pretzels.  c.j. and eli are asleep and ida is grunting around  beside me.  we decided, since eli has monday off from school, we would bug out. we have ended up in banff.  

over the past 8 years living in calgary, we have taken day trips to banff, rushing out, seeing this, running here, then drive home.  we have never been able to spend time and enjoy ourselves or explore the area.  well, we have checked ourselves into the rimrock and are going spend the next couple of days experiencing banff like everyone else that comes from all over the world does. {you wouldn't believe how many australians we have run into!}

pictures will follow, you will just have to wait.

new news

ida's ear actually doesn't stick out this far, it is just bent on c.j.'s face. however, i think she would actually look really cute if she had huge dumbo ears.

blahhhhhhh.

i feel like i haven't posted in a while.

• i got a sunburn today.  A SUNBURN FOLKS.  the weather has been so nice we have gone on walks outside two days in a row.  my pale skin hasn't seen warmish, sunnyish weather like this in MONTHS.  
• conference was on this weekend.  it was good.
• i have been sewing like there is no tomorrow.  i began a quilt for c.j. because he rules and he bought me a new sewing machine and i saw fabric that reminded me of him.  the above 2 pics are the fabric i am using.  it is going to be very cool.  {i love how in the description of the sewing machine it begins with some thing about "demanding expert sewers...", ya, that is what i am.  ha ha ha}
• ida got her 2 month shots today.  she was a trooper.  big tears were shed.  
• ida is a few days away from being 3 months old.  WHAT?!?!  {yes, her shots are late..}
• i started a quilt for myself this weekend.  it is the one with the fuchsia mermaids...
• yesterday i finished a quilt top for ida.  it is the one with the pale pink mermaids...{i am not so much into mermaids, just heather ross, the fabric designer}
• our house is still for sale.  come on calgary, someone buy my house.
• eli finally wore out a pair of pants.  his first hole on his knee happened.  usually he just grows out of clothes, never actually wears them out.
• ida loves eli.  eli loves ida.

that is all i can think of right now.  maybe this post will change if i can think of anything else.

later skaters.  enjoy the pics.