For the Love of It All October 28, 2008
Happy Anniversary, Love. What fun our day was together. I’d do it all over again with you. xo
Professional photos by Michael Graham
We’re Off October 23, 2008
Our trips to New York and Boston have been postponed for the timing being due to a new project deadline for Paul. Although I’m bummed because I was going to tag along, I still have a few upcoming holidays to cheer me up. Paul and I are about to leave for New Orleans to meet up with his immediate family. We’ve never been to the Big Easy so I’m looking forward to checking it out.
Right after New Orleans we’re off to Las Vegas to meet up with some Aussie friends that are traveling the US. I haven’t been to Vegas in years so it should be interesting to see how it’s changed and it will be fun to see some of our friends, again.
Although I’m grateful for being able to travel and get away, it’s going to be hectic with the back to back trips. I have a feeling we’ll need another trip just to recover.
And if that wasn’t enough… at the end of the month, it will be our second wedding anniversary followed by Paul’s 30th birthday, Halloween and our first USC homecoming game since our days at ‘SC!
Have a lovely weekend and week, everyone! Fight On!
A Choice is a Voice and a Voice Should be Heard October 19, 2008
Californians listen up! The last day to register to vote for the November elections is fast approaching. Voter registration must be postmarked by October 20, 2008, in the state of California.
Here is the link to the Secretary of State’s website with instructions.
Here is the online registration form.
If you’re not sure if you’re registered to vote, don’t know you’re polling location or need another online registration form, then click here.
Please, register to vote and make sure you actually get out to vote on November 4th. Many states, including California, offer early voting and voting by mail. In California, sites and start dates vary by county, so check with your local election officials to find out where and when you can vote early.
Make your choice and let your voice be heard!
Sarah Palin As President October 16, 2008
Click Here for a good laugh. Don’t forget to click on the various objects in the office for audio commentary. Enjoy!
The Bane of My Existence October 10, 2008
In what seems to be like the never ending story lately, my days have been spent painting the house with Mom. At first I thought I was a terrible painter but now I think I’m just cursed. Let me start at the beginning.
On September 1st, Mom and I began painting the house. You see, we’re going to put it on the market so we’ve decided to spruce it up a bit… apply some fresh paint, plant some new flowers, de-clutter, re-organize, etc. So, we’ve started with the painting. Well, we are now six weeks in to painting and let me tell you, we’re nowhere near done. When I signed on to paint the house, I thought to myself, “sure, painting will be easy. We’ll have this place done in no time.” Mind you, I have never painted before but figured it can’t be that hard. All I have to say now is that I have completely underestimated the difficulty of painting.
My troubles with painting begin with my petite stature. Since I am a mere 5′ 2”, I can’t even reach the top of the walls with a long painting poll standing on a ladder. And since I am short, it makes it difficult to even apply enough pressure to the poll brush to get an even coat of paint on the walls, especially up high. Right off the bat, I’m at a disadvantage. I can’t give the walls an even coat and therefore I end up having to apply two coats of paint which means double the amount of work and time, and, twice the amount of paint and money.
Add my petiteness to my clumsiness and it’s just a very bad combination. I have fallen from the ladder, sliced my fingers with a razor, spilled paint on the carpets, splashed paint on the light fixtures and hardware and so forth. Really, it doesn’t stop. I’m not looking forward to the clean up.
Then, we painted all of the bathrooms and doors only to find out we used the wrong type of paint. We used a flat paint but for any type of surface that could collect moisture, you’re suppose to use a semi-gloss. Wish we knew this before we started! So, we’ve had to re-do all of the bathrooms and doors.
Just the other day, we were painting Mom’s bedroom and it was a total disaster. Mom fell off of the ladder and hurt herself. While painting, soda cans were spilled when the painting poll knocked them over. Now we have soda stained carpets to go along with the paint spills. Needless to say, we’ll be getting the carpets cleaned. Then, we were moving the bed to get at the wall behind it. Well, we picked up the mattress and it feel forward smashing in to the mirror dresser. It snapped in the dresser in half, the mirror went crashing to the ground and the bureau pushed in to the wall leaving a gaping hole. I quickly dubbed myself a plaster expert, ran to Home Depot and picked up some spackle. I’ve had to patch the hole three times now due to my mad skills. (sarcasm) The spackle alone isn’t going to work so now I’ve purchased a “patch” that will have to go over the plastered hole in order to match the texture of the walls. This area of the wall will, of course, have to be re-painted. Seriously, what a pain!
On Wednesday we moved on to “my bedroom.” I started painted the room by myself and did the doors, the frame work first. Mom comes in the room in the afternoon and says, “where are you at, I’ll start painting the walls.” I tell her I still have to paint the bottom trim before you can start. She comes back with, “well, what have you done? You’ve been in here the whole time and that’s all you’ve done? You should have started with that first and done the doors and frames last.” NOT the words I want or need to hear when I’ve been working my arse off all morning, thank you very much. Needless to say I was rather biatchy afterwards but in my defense, deservedly so! (Sorry, Mom) Anyway, we finally get to painting the walls, I’m standing on my bed with my painting poll and I’m finally able to reach the top of the walls. Things are going well when all of a sudden I hear, CRACK from under my feet. Yep, my bed frame cracked. Ok, I get it, time to the hit the gym, again. I know!
Since we’ve been painting for so long and I’m buying paint at least twice a week, I’ve become a VIP at the paint store. In fact, I’ve been given the nickname of Hollywood or ‘H-W’ for short by the employees because I’m in there so often. I’m guessing they chose ‘Hollywood’ b/c of my first name. I got that all throughout high school…. geesh! At least my VIP status is working to our benefit. I’m now given a 50% discount because we’ve been buying so much feakin’ paint. Go me! For the discount I’ll let them nickname me whatever they want.
So, here we are well in to October and the painting is not done. In fact, we have the dinning room, the laundry room, the closets, the kitchen, the pantry, the casita and the garage left to complete. I’m sure we’ll have many more mishaps to come. I about to give up except that I just want to finish what we’ve started. I think painting has ruined any sort of grandiose dreams I have for future home renovations of my own…. maybe that will change with time. Better yet, I’ll just hire someone!
Back in 1999 October 4, 2008
Today marks nine years since Paul and I had our very first date. Although we are married now and have a wedding anniversary, I still like to think of October 4th as our anniversary, too. Afterall, it was the day that kick started it all for us.
The build up to our first date started early our senior year at uni. It began with his casual, non-chalant visits to my door because he “happened to be walking by.” Then he woo’d me with his sweet and personal emails, letters, and CD compilations of music he thought I’d like, complete with his own artistic CD labels and cases. For not really knowing me that well, he did a good job in the music selection department. His kind gestures were cute and got my attention. Soon something clicked for the both of us and we each decided we could be good for each other… why not give it a go.
Paul asked me out and I said yes. Off to the Cheesecake Factory in Beverly Hills we went. Over a Chinese chicken salad for myself and the Thai peanut noodles for Paul, we talked, laughed and tried to hide our nerves. He was the perfect gentleman picking me up with flowers in hand, opening all the doors and of course, he paid the bill. He was sweet, we had a great time and as the saying goes, the rest is history. Whenever I think about that day in 1999, I still get all warm and fuzzy inside. I guess we’ve still got it after all those years.
By the way, doesn’t 1999 seem so long ago? Like a whole other century! God, we’re getting old.
Autumn, Fall… What in the World? October 1, 2008
October is here and apparently it’s Fall. At least that’s what I heard on the news but living in the desert it’s far from feeling autumnal with temperatures over 100 degrees and palm trees all around. With Fall supposedly in effect, I thought about going apple picking this past weekend because I wanted to wear a scarf and drink apple cider. Growing up in Boston, I loved apple picking and pumpkin picking season. There was something fun about whipping out your old scarf, loading up the family car, and heading to a little country farm to press your own cider and scour the fields for the perfect carving pumpkin. Having spent the last three years in Sydney, I’ve been deprived of any sort of apple and pumpkin season all together. First off, the seasons are reversed and so going apple picking in March didn’t quite do it for me. Second, they don’t actually have pumpkin like American pumpkins. If you ask for pumpkin, you’ll get a squash.
So, now that we are back in the US, I had the brilliant idea to relive my New England days and get back to my American roots. The nearest apple picking country is about an hour away from us, in the mountains. I looked up the weather report and saw it was still going to be 95 degrees. What?! 95 degrees in the mountains? How do the apples even grow in that heat? Coming from Boston, I long for the apple picking days when it was sunny with a crisp, fall breeze lightly blowing… just enough to rustle the leaves from the trees with the smell of a log fire burning in the distance. Is that too much to ask for? Well, it’s not going to happen here. In fact, the pool is still calling my name at a warm 85 degrees heated solely by the sun. So October might be here but it’s not Fall in my book.
However, October is shaping up to be a busy month for us. Paul has gotten word that he’ll probably head to New York City for a business trip which means, I’m going to tag along. We’ll probably tack on a few extra weekends at each end of the week and head to Boston to check out some real estate or at least the area. At the end of the month, we’re heading to New Orleans for a small family reunion with Paul’s immediate family. Then, it’s the big second anniversary for us followed immediately by Paul’s big 3-0!
Maybe I will be able to experience some of that New England fall feeling after all.
