new music!

so brandon and i went to a ben kweller concert. if you've ever talked to me in person about ben kweller or a ben kweller concert, you know how giddy i get. i immediately transform into a 14 year old girl (thankfully without the squealing).

anyway, this time we were beyond pleasantly surprised with the amazing opening acts! in the past, i've liked some opening acts, i've not liked others, but rarely do i get as excited as i did about jones street station and princeton. princeton opened for jones street station, who opened for ben kweller. both are relatively new and unknown bands, but i think they have great potential!

just a tip: jones street station is streaming their entire album on their website. i highly recommend a listen! they are a folksie/bluegrassy kind of good summertime jam band....i hope you like! two of my favorites: last time and tall buildings

happy fathers day!

just wanted to give a great big "happy fathers day!" to all the fathers out there, especially my own fantastic dad, and josh ( my brother-in-law), seeing as it's his first official fathers day.

dad, you're the greatest!

photo courtesy of edyta szyszlo photography

claire and her gecko friend

when my sister, josh and claire were in hawaii (they just got back last week), they had a little gecko friend that visited them in their room. here is yet another moment showing claire's affinity towards animals...makes me crack up every time...

8 months

i can't believe this muffin is already 8 months old. i love this baby so much! she's such a little joy and blessing. i got to spend saturday with claire, josh, jen, my parents and brandon for my dad's birthday and boy did we have a lovely time, although as you can see most of the time i was distracted by the baby.

she's not crawling yet, but she gets close. she also is all excited to stand up and take a few steps--with help, of course.

as you can see in this picture, claire's hair is finally becoming apparent...

she likes drinking water out of a straw, although she makes a funny face and ends up with half of it down the front of her...

she also loves animal. if you saw the gecko video on my sister's blog, you could get a taste of that. at my parent's house, she saw miss kitty and giggled and smiled and tried to move towards her however she could--looks like she takes after her dad's affinity for animals (that's what she's doing in this photo--going for miss kitty)!

i love spending time with claire, and thankfully she enjoys me (so far). i got in the car on saturday when we got picked up from bart, and claire got a big grin on her face. i was able to walk around the store with her away from my sister and she was fine (i even caught her smiling at little boys in the shampoo aisle). i can't believe 8 months have already gone by! i can't wait until i see this little pumpkin next!

ny times

image courtesy of James Estrin/The New York Times

so, the headline on nytimes.comright now is regarding this dusk-to-dawn drop-off program for people with alzheimers and dementia. the idea is simple--it's a place for people to go to occupy them during restless nights, and to give them a place to be to ward off night terrors--to generally help them avoid "sundowning." just read the article--it's adorable and an uplifting article to read in times where 99% of the news is depressing and heart-breaking.

busy girl

so, i've been a busy girl, although i'm not really sure what i've been doing. training has been a failure--i've been uber exhausted, my legs have felt tired and achy, i'm not really sure what's going on. work has been really busy, so i've been working late and laying low in the evenings. i feel like i've sort of neglected the blog, but mostly ben and stu on the blog! it's not because they haven't been up to cuteness and mischief, either. i haven't captured a picture yet, but ben has been jumping on our flat screen tv nightly, which has been his go-to bad cat behavior as of late. when this happens we quickly whisk him into the bedroom, at which time he cries and cries and cries until we let him out. he usually has to go in a few times, but it seems like he's learning...maybe. stuart has been..well, stuart. the loaf/walrus/blob of the house, he wallows around, rolling on his back, squeaking when he hears plates clanking around. everyone want to join me in a round of "ooooh stuuuuuuuuu..."?

anyway, i finally uploaded some pictures and also took a few of these devilish boys showing their softer side...

group groom





and now, a little video showing why one of stuart's nicknames is growlypants...