Unexpected

I've been catching up on editing my personal photos, and I'm right now working on my images from the last day I was traveling in London ....

.... editing along, minding my own business. ...

got to this image (which I've posted previously):



It's just kind of an interesting image of a London street vendor. Kind of comic, as it seems a bit over the top, but this is actually what it's like down in that part of London so it's a good documenting image.

Right?

And then, my finger slipped and I accidentally zoomed in on the photo and saw this classy British product:



See what I mean?

Yea.

Awesome.

Fourth of July

Independence day fell on a Saturday this year ... which means smack dab in the middle of a long weekend.

Soooooo relaxing ....

Andrew pretty much spent the entire weekend in the pool.... which is probably good for his spotty tan . ....







A bunch of friends and family came over Saturday afternoon (behind my mom is my cousin Dustin and his girlfriend Dylan) ....



showing my aunt/cousins Andrew's credit on the new Green Day album ....

(note: Andrew got that 3 disc LP as a gift from my parents. We didn't bring it all the way from CA to show off)



And after he blogged about his 'new' Walkman, Linda packaged up a bunch of old tapes of Randy's albums as a birthday gift for Andrew ... cute!



More friends and family ...































Then, at the end of the night ... after everyone had left .... the Hanns and the Schuberts went out for gelato (instead of fireworks)





(mine: Raspberry and Pineapple)














I need to find a gelato place here ....

Fun weekend. Too short, as usual, but we got to see a lot of the people in Phoenix that we love ...

Phoenix - Friday night

Last weekend a miracle occurred: Andrew and I BOTH had a 3 day weekend off work.
(OK, actually, I had a chance to 2nd shoot a wedding, but I chose to spend the weekend with the hubs instead).

So with this wealth of time, we decided to go to Phoenix - to visit my parents, for the Fourth of July, and to celebrate both Andrew's and my mom's birthdays.

Early (too early) Friday morning, we piled our clothes and technology gadgets into my truck for the 6 hour drive across the desert. Listened to several podcasts, listened to several CDs, I read a bit, didn't sleep even though I wanted to, Del Taco for lunch..... and arrived in Phoenix around 1p.

Just in time for Andrew to jump in the pool.

He spent much of the weekend in the pool.

My parents had been planning to take us to Richardson's for awhile. Spicy food, New Mexican cuisine. Right up Andrew's alley.

The specials are up on the wall on a chalkboard and (seriously) EVERYTHING sounds good.... the grilled salmon, the steak, the pizzas, the salads, ... after looking at the menu for a bit I had my choices narrowed down to about 12 different dishes...

Obviously we need to visit again ...

My dad got BBQ Chicken pizza ...



I got this combo platter with a sirloin quesadilla, bacon wrapped shrimp, New Mexican sausages and (super spicy) rice and beans ...



Andrew's: a pork chop stuffed with chorizo, and a green chile stuffed w/ baked potato ...



(for some reason I don't have a pic of my mom's dish, but she got a fish trio platter)

me & my BFF







after dinner pics ...
(isn't Andrew's arm ridiculously tan?)





My mom had bought a special dessert for Andrew's birthday ... (fake) Dippin' Dots! The Ice Cream of the Future. .... One of Andrew's faves ...



Although, frankly, it's a strange dessert that you have to bang against the countertop to make it more appetizing .. .







Cookies and Cream and Banana Split



(my dad was very confused .... wait, what are you doing? what is that? is that ice cream?)



Then the 4 of us went out back .... feet in the pool ... sunset in the sky above ...eating our dippin' dots ...



Such a relaxing evening (after the 6 hour drive) ....

Etcetera

• The next time I get married it's going to be at the Santa Lucia Preserve
• July is Anti-Boredom month
• can't wait til we have a backyard
• I'm really getting into reading home decor blogs in prep for our house-buying adventure
  
• People are still talking about my dad's 70s rock band.
• craving gelato
  
• Andrew had a crown put on his tooth Monday. ... he's gonna need dentures by the time he's 40. Neither of us have very good teeth.
  
• I think I would like a subscription of Uppercase magazine
  
• people keep wanting to come over and see our new place. No one believes us when we tell them it's small. ... and then they're surprised when they walk in.
  
• Summer desserts - makes me wish I had an oven
• I love Costco muffins. I wish I could buy less than 12 at a time.
  
• Michael Jackson's last footage - can you believe this guy was 50?? C'mon, Dad, get on that.
  
• It annoys me to no end that Andrew can fall asleep so quickly .. as in less than 10min after lying down - sometimes less than 5 min.
• Have you seen 'The Wrestler' ? ... sad sad movie. So depressing. Ugh.
• lots to do.
  
• city guide from design*sponge - I want to do something like this for where we live now ...
• Believe people when they tell you website design will take longer than you think
• I have trouble sleeping often. It's super annoying.
• Andrew's tan is getting uglier and uglier. Bizarre tan lines, several different shades on the same arm. And it's only the 1st week of July.
• I love seeing the Haugens.
  
• I'm so glad I married someone who likes to drive so I don't have to.
• Finally have all 13 of the Lemony Snicket books. Very excited to read them all ...
• It's nice for me that Andrew does laundry.
• It's strange having an address at a guest unit. I feel a little guilty having packages delivered to our landlords' front door.
  

you have GOT to be kidding me

(10 bucks says you'll cry)

Seen in L.A. (IV)

• license plate - "READ AYN"
• red Cadillac, with whitewall tires, white convertible soft top, and genuine (3-4' wide) bull horns on the front of the hood
• tiny, bent-in-half, old old woman
• tiny, bent-in-half, old old man
• old, frail man (in a nice sit) crossing the street, but going so slow he was in the crosswalk sstill when the light turned and he held up 10+ cars.
  
• gorgeous black vintage Rolls Royce
  
• license plate - "IM META"
• workers taking a break from building a block wall around the front yard of a recently bought house to eat popsicles
• dead squirrel on the front yard.
  

Mix Tapes

Some of you may know how I initially caught Andrew's eye*:

We had both very recently started working at Michael's Arts & Crafts. It was evening close to closing time and we were doing 'go backs.' And then the magical moment: I started in on my theory of how scrapbooking is a cult. .... or maybe it was the fact that I was a self-professed member of the cult.

Do any of you know how Andrew first won my heart?

It was with a mix tape.

How .... cliche.

Of course, it really was so much more than a mix tape.

• It was the generous, selfless act of driving from SCV to Glendale to surprise me by leaving the tape on my car.
• It was the strange and fascinating music on the tape - all punk rock. Very different from my preferred sounds of musical theatre. I found Andrew's music very interesting (not great, but interesting)
• It was the first of many many many (many) mix tapes and CDs Andrew has made me. Each one very different. Some to familarize me with music he has loved in the past. Some to introduce me to music he was obsessing over at the moment.
  

I knew this was a boy unlike any I had met before.

I was 18.

Fast forward 9 years ...

When we first moved to our current home, Andrew was SO excited about the walkman he borrowed from work, riding his bike to and from the studio, and digging out all those tapes we had kept.

3 full big tape cases PLUS a box. Not all mix tapes, but still ...






He went through A LOT of work with some of these cases/linernotes/song lists. A couple of them he did by spending HOURS at Kinko's copying, shrinking, printing, cutting-and-pasting, re-copying into 1 tape-case-sized document.

Others he hand wrote.

You just never knew. ...











Some of them are numbered so we can get a rough guess of what order they were made in ... and Andrew thinks he has a notebook somewhere when he kept track of all the song lists.

That boy and his lists.










Is it any wonder I love him so much?


*you'll notice I did not say "won his heart" -- you'll have to ask Andrew when that happened.

4th of July sneak peek

(sidenote: I REALLY need to get some water housing for my camera)

Happy Birthday Andrew!

(taken Nov 2007)



(taken Feb 2009)

Andrew's my best friend.

My favorite person.

The best thing in my life.

And he's 28 years old today. The ninth of his birthdays we've spent together.

love him.



(taken June 2009)