wishlist

My birthday (the BIG one) is coming up in July. I was taught as a child to make lists of gifts I wanted, since we kids returned more than half the things our family bought us. This isn't to say we were hard to buy for, or ungrateful for what we were gifted with. Often it was due to things like wrong size, wrong color, duplicate toys...so my grandparents always asked for a list. It was one of my favorite things about birthdays and Christmas- getting to search the store ad books for goodies to add to my list.

Now I just take to the internet..


size small

brown, size 8




black or white, size small

how do I NOT own this? Need it!


size small

silver

here

randoms

I have a 3 year old. How is that possible? Who entrusted me with this kid?

Sawyer's 3rd birthday was great. Started out with a quiet morning at home with his few little gifts from us. That afternoon we had a picnic party at his favorite nearby park. Included in his morning gifts was his costume box. I've been collecting little costume/dress up items for him for a while and put them all in a nice box for him to play with. He was obviously very excited to be Captain Hook.

I am very excited to be Captain Hook's mom. He's pretty great.

digging up the past

I started a tumblr account, which I sometimes post to, so I kind of forgot about posting here. I know the one person who reads this was wondering...

I have musical A.D.D. I like a huge variety of music. But I have a hard time allowing my iPod to just shuffle. I am constantly skipping to the next song, "No...hmm...no...eh...no...", click click click on the iPod wheel. Lately I'm trying to just let the iPod chips fall where they may and see what shuffle gives me. The shuffle has brought to the table a few things:

1. I need to clean out my iPod. Why is there so much Pearl Jam on there?? (Spencer loves PJ, so every b-side is in our Library, and apparently also on my iPod)

2. I really love and miss a lot of bands that are no longer making music. It makes me kind of sad, but really happy that they made such great music before moving on to other things in life.

3. I also really love a lot of new music. I've felt out of touch with what's happening in music for a while, and Vegas has hardly no local music scene anyways. But I've been trying to stay current and aware of new bands/artists and not turn into an old lady who surrenders to Sunny 106.5. It's a slippery slope.

In honor of bands gone-by, here's a few I'd drop everything for, and even get a sitter, to go see live if they were still playing shows.

AT THE DRIVE-IN. One of my favorite bands to see live back in the day. I lost track of how many times I road-tripped to California to see them play in high school. Listening to their albums now makes me want to track Cedric down and orchestrate a reunion tour.

THE FORMAT. I liked their first full length album, it was fun to sing along and drive to. But then their 2nd album came out and it was...blech. But then they were playing a show in town and my sister and I decided to go hoping they'd play old songs. Then they played mostly the 2nd album and it was CRAZY good live. It's one of my favorites to this day. Seeing a band live can be a real game-changer.

THAT DOG. They actually recently played a couple reunion shows in Southern Cali. Really sad I missed that chance. Love them and never did see them play live. Retreat from the Sun is all about boys and crushes and it defines me at 17.


PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS. Saw them play a handful of times. They always smelled like the bottom of a garbage can and played loud, fast and heavy. Seriously, the dirtiest dudes ever, it was kind of a trademark. I mostly loved watching Spencer go nuts to their songs, it was a rare treat.


RAINER MARIA. Luckily, I saw them play with The Format years back. I'd loved this band for a really long time and I never made it to Cali for any of their west coast shows. They were amazing live, just like their recordings. They wrote beautiful songs.

THE MOVIELIFE. Some of the nicest guys and they played really fun shows.


Never saw Operation Ivy live and as much as I know people gasp when I say it, I've never loved Rancid. I know I should, since I loved Op Ivy, but I just can't get into them. Would love to see Operation Ivy live. I might even wear wingtip shoes and my hair in ringlets like I did a LONG time ago. Boy, I thought it was a good look at one time.

Clearly, clearly, I have total musical A.D.D. Look at that sprawl of music!

like father, like son

Playing around with my new lens and capturing some great glimpses of life with this crazy kid.

Watching a little person turn into a slighty less-little person is entertaining, to say the least.

Noteworthy things Sawyer has done/said recently include, but are not limited to:

Telling us "This is not a joke! This is serious!", sometimes in correct context, sometimes not. Funny anytime.

Using his Lightning McQueen potty as a step stool instead of a place to deposit stools (like how I wrapped that up?)

Crouching down, yelling "Mark? Set? GO!" and running as fast as he can down the hallway over and over and over.

Lots of time with Dad with the summer off. August is going to crush him.

Asking if we can go to the beach again. Attaboy!

Refusing lunch or dinner. "I just need a snack!", meltdown ensues.

Outgrowing baths and wanting to take showers. At least he isn't refusing to bathe, waiting for that one.

"Bless that the bugs won't bite and the monsters won't bite" - said every night during his prayers. Do we have bed bugs I don't know about?

Lots of "helping", we'll use that term loosely. Helping me cook, helping Dad with the trash, helping clean up toys.

Being awesome, in general.

new lens, new life

For Mothers Day/Anniversary/making up for any holidays inbetween, Spencer got me a new camera lens. I've had a hard time adjusting to a fixed lens, but man, it is pretty.

baby, you're a firework

I'm a yankee doodle dandy. Truly, born on the 4th of July. It's a great day to have a birthday. Always a party, always explosives.



*I promise I'm not aging that rapidly. My eyes are bloodshot from lots of marco-polo in the pool.



It was another good birthday. This year there were several bbq's, prezzies (presents), and time with friends and family who I love. And not to mention spending a week on the beach in an amazing house a few weeks before my actual bday. 29 is gonna be a hard one to beat.

free

"Cause you're going home
You're running free
As only you would be if you never owed them anything
And now you've found your way out
In the trust you've seen your path on home" coheed & cambria



There aren't enough grains of sand or stretches of boardwalk to explain how happy San Diego makes me. Thank you for the bike rides, shopping, the zoo, sunburns, parks, slurpees, ocean breezes, sandcastles, and a calm within my soul like only anesthesia can deliver. San Diego is my haven. It is where I should live. Come to think of it, when my time comes, bury me on it's sandy shores.