i'm from barcelona

this evening we went to a concert for the band i'm from barcelona (who, incidentally, are from sweden). i was excited reading concert reviews, which talked about balloons, confetti, and leaving the concert happy and full of joy--and the reviewers were right! the band is comprised of 29 members, and literally started with a group of friends (i think i counted 17 members present at the concert). they sing about things like treehouses, the chicken pox, and sleeping in, and are just overall...happy. they don't take themselves too seriously, everyone on stage is having fun, and it just makes you want to leave all cares behind and sing along. it was slightly campy (in a good way) and induced giddiness--a great escape from work.

and yes, my hopes of confetti and balloons were fulfilled. i felt like i was at a birthday party.

the confetti aftermath

and for a little video:

six months

happy six months to us (well, as of yesterday). time flies when you're having fun! just wanted to say happy 6 months to the love of my life...i look forward to many many many more months to come. it's been amazing so far, and i can't wait for all the adventures waiting for us!

*photo courtesy of edyta szyszlo photography*

re:coachella

well, we're back safe and sound from coachella! it was a super fun weekend. we drove down to l.a. friday night, spent the night chez asuncion, then drove out to indio on saturday morning. luckily, it wasn't as hot as last year so we weren't exhausted so easily. we started out in one of the tents at mgmt, then wandered over to see a little st. vincent before we decided to grab a bite to eat because we had back-t0-back-to-back shows coming up and it was our only opportunity to eat. after food we were conflicted because hot chip and death cab were playing at the same time (well, overlapping times) so sara and i wandered over to hot chip while the boys went to death cab. as soon as we got to the hot chip tent, however, we realized the organizers MASSIVELY underestimated the following that hot chip was going to have. the tent was already overflowing--there was no way we were going to see anything. we decided to go back to death cab which ended up being a great choice--literally thousands of people were migrating over to the hot chip tent (that was in addition to the people already there). somehow we fought through the crowd and met up with the boys at death cab.

death cab was amazing as expected, and then we ran over to see rilo kiley. after that we went over to animal collective, which was a little too smokey for us, and then we ventured home. i have to say highlights: death cab and rilo....low-lights? my horrific HORRIFIC allergies. we're talking i went through multiple tissue packs and napkins and basically had watering eyes all day. as in it looked like i was sobbing. all day. i swear i was having a good time:


other than the allergies, the day was great!

on the way to indio

mgmt

having fun

walking around

death cab for cutie

rilo kiley

coachella at night

coachella 2008

well it may not be hawaii (eh hem...kelly) but i am getting away for the weekend somewhere warm and i can't wait! tomorrow night we're driving down to la, and will be making our trek to indio, ca on saturday for coachella 2008. in my crazy, heat loving way, i am really looking forward to being in the desert in the sun all day and welcoming a breeze, as opposed to freezing all day every day. this will be a welcome break and change of pace from the past few weeks. i have a wonderful cat sitter, a back-up cat sitter (there's a reason, and it's not just that i'm an overly paranoid mom), sunscreen and sunglasses packed and i'm ready to go. it's going to be exhausting but so much fun! there will definitely be a post when i get back with pictures.

on a side note, i got a hair trim today and i just have to say that i love my hair cut guy. he is so happy and always makes me feel good. he has a very positive outlook on life and it's just so refreshing! plus he gives incredible scalp massages and makes my hair pretty! kudos to lee...he's great!

wedding pictures...6 months later

so brandon and i have been dragging our heels on choosing our wedding album photos and the pictures for our framed "haiku" (a framed arrangement of 9 photos). after a facebook hello from our photographer (not related to us not doing this yet), i decided it was time to finally just bite the bullet and choose the photos. it was extremely difficult to basically rule out 900+ photos and condense the day to a very small amount, but i think we did a decent job and i feel better knowing this is finished. almost. just a few final touches and it will be off to the photographer for the final printing, etc. i can't wait to see the finished product!

in the meantime, here is what we chose for our "haiku":

photos by edyta szyszlo

rewind or fast-forward

lately life has sort of been in a rut. well, not really...i guess it's more that i haven't been happy with where i am lately. with all sorts of decisions coming up (like, 10 year plan type stuff) i've just felt completely overwhelmed. when faced with so many big decisions i tend to just sort of shut down and not make any decisions instead of breaking things down into smaller, more digestible chunks. i think i've finally gotten the wheels to start turning (slowly...very slowly) but all i can think of is i need a break/vacation.

the title of the post comes from the fact that part of me would love to be about 6 months back, on my honeymoon when i was carefree and my hair wasn't falling out; where i was having coffee beachside every morning, taking an afternoon dip in the hot tub, and partaking in mai tai happy hour at sunset. the other half of me would like to fast-forward to after these decisions have been made, the proper steps have been taken, the dust has settled and i'm getting a move on life. i know that neither of these choices are possible, and this phase of life right now is just a reality, part of living/growing/changing. i also am confident that at the end of this i will appreciate this period of struggle, because it will result in something better.

all in all, however, it would sure be nice to be back here:

weekly photo challenge

well, natalie has been hosting a weekly photo challenge, and every week i intend to participate and never do. this week i was determined, and yet again the week slipped away to work. this morning while getting ready, however, i thought of an appropriate photo for the word of the week, and took a quick picture before i left for work. while the quality of the photo isn't great (i snapped it using my computer's camera), it's a start and better than nothing. i hope, in the future, to be able to be more artistic and deliberate about my picture-taking. anyway, the word of the week:

Monday’s Word of the Day from Dictionary.com

pin money \pin money\, noun:
1. An allowance of money given by a husband to his wife for private and personal expenditures.
2. Money for incidental expenses.
3. A trivial sum.

the coffee mug. brandon and i have been making a conscious effort to make and bring coffee as opposed to buying it (if brandon didn't make it, however, this would never get done). we realized how much money we were wasting and decided to do something about it--our original intention was to set aside the money we would spend on coffee and use it as our rainy day fund. so far we haven't actually put the money aside, but i feel good about the fact that we're saving money, even if it is only a few dollars a day. for us, coffee money is pin money that adds up!

i look forward to hopefully a better photo next week!

who is this girl?

so, i've gone most of my life without liking a lot of things...at the top of my list of dislikes? fruit and sushi. for sushi, it was just the idea and the look of it--i wouldn't even try it. one day last year, however, i just out of nowhere said "i want sushi. it sounds so good." so i got some, and it was delicious. now i crave sushi all the time.

for fruit, it wasn't the flavor but the texture that was troublesome. i just couldn't get over it. they say your tastebuds change like every seven years or something, but i have gone 25 years without liking fruit one bit. around high school i decided that smoothies were okay, and i could get past the occasional seed or fruit chunk (barely) but that was the extent. it wasn't for a lack of trying, either. while i was in paris i developed a liking for clementines, but my fruit likes did not expand beyond that. it's been frustrating going through life disliking something that pretty much everyone assumes everyone likes. when it came up, i'd then have to explain myself, which always got quite a reaction of "how can you not like fruit????" my favorite part? frequently i would ask if the questioner liked vegetables, and often they would reply "not really..." well, you'd be hard pressed to find a vegetable i don't LOVE.

anyway, i digress. i'm just excited because of my latest development--a sudden affinity for fruit. around christmas i had a chocolate fondue party, and the lovely kristin brought over some pears and strawberries to dip. i decided to try and WOW, was it delicious! now, i realize it's smothered in chocolate, but that's a huge step for me. when in LA, chris took us to pinkberry and i decided, what the hey, i'm going to get some fresh strawberries with my fro-yo. i absolutely loved it. last night i decided berries sounded good, so we got a mix of fresh berries from whole foods, put it on some low-fat frozen yogurt, and sprinkled it with chocolate chips. sooooo tasty!

while i know i'm not eating pure fruit on it's own yet, i feel like i am close. although it's (very) late in coming, i am proud of myself--and i no longer have to explain to people that i don't like fruit.

punctuation [coasters]

for the past few months, i have had my eye on some industrial felt coasters at the moma store. i couldn't justify the purchase since i didn't need them (well, brandon helped me resist the purchase), but i really really really wanted them. this weekend brandon suggested that perhaps instead i should get creative and make my own, which would be more personalized and less expensive, not to mention more fun for me. we took a trip to britex and here is what i came up with:

they are some sort of nylon fabric backed in black felt, hand-embroidered with different symbols/punctuation. there is always room for improvement, but i am happy with the first batch...

beautiful weekend

i have forgotten (well, not really, i think i just choose to avoid thinking about) how much i love and am rejuvenated by the sun. this weekend was uncharacteristically hot for san francisco (don't worry, the fog has rolled in and the wind has picked up) and i loved every minute of it. saturday was spent walking around outside, running errands and such. today we took a jaunt over to the beanery and met up with sara, then brought our coffee into the botanical gardens at golden gate park to enjoy the continued sunshine.

afterward, we ran more errands and decided to prepare for some makeshift "home improvements." our cats like to find the highest part of the apartment that they can get to (as in the top of the fridge, on top of the window sash in our single-hung windows, the backs of chairs, on top of tables/counters, you get the picture...). typically there isn't cat furniture that isn't hideous (and ridiculously expensive), so i've been keeping my eye out. thanks to modern cat, i found this kitty condo that i really liked, but it was way over-priced at the store (when i looked up the price online when i got home it was about $160 less on amazon than it was at the store...glad i didn't break down and buy it there!). instead, brandon and i decided to make our own solution for now that will suffice. we just used typical shelf brackets and some laminate shelves and made a "ladder" on the wall. it allows the cats to sit up high and oversee the goings-on of the apartment from a perch. they may not be as pretty as the kitty condo, but it's something. we're hoping to add carpet tiles to the tops of the shelves to give them some grip and allow the cats to scratch at them.

let's go giants ::::clap clap clapclapclap::::

well, tuesday night was a fun (but freeeeezing) night at at&t park. brandon & chris' office have season tickets, which chris got for opening night. unfortunately for us, this year they decided to split up the 4 seats into two pairs to give more people an opportunity to attend, but that meant chris had to choose between brandon and i, since he had already promised both of us. chris chose me, so obviously i'm his favorite. well, actually the boys had also already spoken with adam about going, so brandon sat with adam in the upper deck and chris and i sat down in the season ticket seats. brandon was very nice and didn't make a fuss.

anyway, as i mentioned previously it was freezing, but what a great game! giants vs. padres, 11 innings, a walk-off home run by bengie molina to win the game, and then fireworks following! all in all, a fantastic night.*photos courtesy of christopher b. asuncion

the weekends

well, i know i haven't been as good about posting, but it's time to do some catch up. two weekends ago, i went to an exhibition game between the a's and the giants. while the outcome wasn't exactly what i hoped for, it was fun to get back into the baseball season on a sunday afternoon. we couldn't have asked for better weather (well, maybe a little less wind, but i don't want to be overly picky. the sky was blue at least)

oh, the beautiful field...

the view from the park

the 4 muskateers at the park

the next saturday, we decided to get out into nature and enjoy some of the terrain that makes the bay area special. chris, brandon and i hopped on a ferry and went over to angel island for a few hours of hiking. the weather, once again agreed with us, although my allergies did not....we had a fantastic time, and it was so beautiful to be on the bay, get to the island with minimal buildings, and be able to look back and see the beautiful skyline of the city. so close to the urban, but also removed at the same time. it'd be a great place just to get away for some solitary reflection...

the rock (which i've still never been to)

the sf skyline

getting a little excited about the day (i look like i'm sneaking around behind brandon's back)

taking some pictures

the golden gate

a little closer

land ho!

we finished up the day with some taylor's refresher and a nice walk home...i was so exhausted from the fresh air, allergies, and walking that when i got home i fell asleep in a chair. i love that kind of tired...much better than the "i've been looking at a computer screen too long every day" tired

*photos courtesy of christopher b. asuncion

excitement

well i've been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting until this day, and now it's finally here. i can at last announce

i'm going to be an aunt!!!!

as you can see, i'm quite excited about this. the baby is due on october 5. we've been waiting through the first trimester to announce (i found out when she was just a few weeks along) and now the time has finally come. my sister, jen, has had one ultrasound with an active little one moving about.

i will definitely be making occasion posts about the progress of things, and you can also follow along here:

the smith punkin patch

i'm so happy i could burst. i've been pretty much thinking about nothing but babies and baby gear and baby clothes for the past few months. i can't wait to decorate the nursery!

and no, this isn't an april fool's joke.