Monday, January 14, 2008

In my Eyes and Ears

This weekend I got an email from K saying that she had started her very own blog (wahoo!). Her page has a section entitled "What I'm listening to", and when I saw that, I thought, "How brilliant!" So I thought I too would share what my eyes and ears have been tuned to recently...

EYES:



The Wire
OK, um WHOA. J and I heard from his friend Nicholas that this show was the bomb. Since we regard Nicholas' opinion highly, we dutifully put the first season on our Netflix. I'll admit, it took a good 6 episodes or so for us to get into it. But once we got there, we were HOOKED. This is seriously some of the best acting and writing on television today. In the past year or so, we've done: Six Feet Under, Weeds, Rome, and Deadwood...i.e., some pretty good TV. The Wire has been by far the show we are most addicted to. It is brilliant. Seriously. I won't lie, though...it can be difficult to get into and follow, but it occurred to me the other day that the reason why The Wire can seem sort of difficult is because the creator/writer expects his audience to be intelligent enough to follow him. And I appreciate that sort of faith in the audience.

OK, also, one of the main characters in the show looks like this:



MEOW! If that's not reason enough to watch, I don't know what is. (BTW, love you, Jeremy!) ;)

EARS:

- Wilco: Blue Sky Blue



You know how there are albums out there that have saved your life? (Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights, I'm looking at you). Well, I haven't listened to Wilco's Blue Sky Blue enough to really know if it is going to do the job, but I'll tell you what, track #3 (Impossible Germany) on repeat might just do the trick. That song is just everything in the world working right together at the same time.

- Rilo Kiley: Under the Blacklight



Just...HOT. Silver Lining? So dreamy. The Moneymaker? HOT. Under the Blacklight? Just pretty. Love it, love it all.

- Gaucho: Deluxe



I met a friend at a bar the other day for a quick drink and catch-up, and who was coming in to play a show but Gaucho. They describe themselves as a "Django Reinhardt-based gypsy jazz group" (and sure enough, I immediately thought of that cute Woody Allen movie "Sweet and Lowdown" when I heard them start playing).
They are cutest band! I'll admit I may have been swayed by the hard core swing dancers who were dancing their a$$es off in the middle of the bar to Gaucho's music. But you can't help but like their music...I mean, they have an accordion player...who wears corduroys! And a fedora! So cute!

Anyway, let me know what's filling your ears these days...I wanna hear it. :)

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Monsoonami!

Many of you have heard that SF got hit by an enormous storm last week that knocked power out all over the city, uprooted trees, and generally caused mayhem and disaster. The morning of the storm, a bicycle messenger stopped by the office and said that he had to pedal downhill due to the crazy winds (I think they clocked at 50+ mph)?

Jeremy, surfer that he is, was checking the surf report on Saturday AM when he got wind (he he) of the fact that the ocean was going nuts! So we drove down to the beach to check it out. Well, technically, I should just call it the "ocean" because there was no beach to speak of! The waves were going right up to the retaining wall! If you've ever been to Ocean Beach, you know that's a big beach! I am not sure if the pictures are going to do it justice, but the waves were very violent and big...

You can see a little guy on the right side, who was walking his dog (dumb!!!):

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Seconds later he had to jump up the hill to avoid the waves...and I was worried that his little dog was going to get swept away (again, WTF was he doing on the beach?!?):

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Crazy!!!

And this one, just cuz I like the photo:

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FYI, all photos taken with our fancy new lens, which rocks!

Monday, January 7, 2008

forgot to mention...

...that I've posted all our professional photos shot by Jennifer Kloss Heffner on our Flickr site here, so you can download as your little heart desires!

She took so many amazing photos; the emotions she captured were just incredible. Here are some of our faves...

The couple shots:

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This one deserves to be seen very very big:

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She made me look really good:

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And Jeremy even better!:

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I adore this photo of my mom and Jeremy's mom when they first saw each other at the tea ceremony:

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And Kim, Jen's assistant photographer and best friend, caught Jeremy's reaction the first time he saw me that day:

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Here's my dad losing it (one of many times that day!):

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And this one of my momma watching me and my dad come down the aisle just melts my heart:

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I loved her unique way of capturing the wedding party:

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And this one of Kara helping me into my Chinese dress...oh, the beauty:

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What a night, you guys...

See the entire Flickr set here.

XOX!

Friday, January 4, 2008

The Stats

Happy new year everyone!!! Sorry I've been a little late on the posts...I have a bunk version of Flickr uploader and had some problems uploading all our photos from the holiday season.

J and I headed down to SoCal this Xmas (as we do every year) to visit with family and friends. We decided on a more circuitous return route in order to break up the drive. We were away from home a total of 7 days and here are the stats:

- 4 cities
- 5 different beds
- 10 dogs
- 3 hikes
- 33 family members
- 6 friends
- at least 5 super delicious dinners

We started off our trip on the Saturday before Xmas, when it took us 12 hours to get down to SD. Y.U.C.K. From there it was a whirlwind of cooking, family, friends, and eating. Here's me and my momma in front of the flowers Laurie sent her:

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On Xmas day, it was off to Jeremy's grandparents' beautiful house on the beach in San Clemente, where we finally got to see the puppies again!!! It's been a while and they are really growing up. I took a walk on the beach with Laurie and Grandpa Bob (amazing man...he is 91, I think?) while Jeremy, cousin Frisco, and Randy went for a surf. I almost forgot it was Xmas day...the weather was so gorgeous:

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From there we were on to visit with Robert and Lucy in Montecito. Robert had been talking about an amazing seafood restaurant in Santa Barbara called The Hungry Cat. It was gooooooood! We also got to take a little hike in the hills behind Robert's house:

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The next day, we were off to Jeremy's Uncle Stan and Aunt Sally's house, where they had hosted 18 people and 7 dogs for dinner the night before! Needless to say, the dogs were in heaven.

That night, we drove to Solvang, where Jeremy's sister Amy lives with her partner Gerry and their two cats (Gustavo and Maizey) and chihuahua Mocha. It was funny seeing the tiny little dog try to figure out whether or not big ol' Aki and Mia (Randy and Laurie's dogs) were a threat. I don't think all 3 dogs ever got off leash in the same room, but given time I am sure they will be the best of friends. :)

The next day, before we took off for home, we took a nice hike in the Santa Barbara hills near Midland (where Jeremy grew up until he was about 8). There were some big, beautiful oak trees on that hike...

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Here's the entire Flickr set from our trip here

Getting married this year made us realize just how lucky we are to have such amazing friends and family. While it was tiring to be traveling to so many places in such a short amount of time this Xmas, we really felt lucky to have so many treasured people (and dogs!) to spend time with over the holiday.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. We love you. XOX