Neglected No More

Sorry the posting has been sparse. Been busy as all get out and having lots of fun on the side. Here is a very brief and probably boring update of some of the goings on:
Halloween is afoot! The kids have class parties on Thursday which I'm helping with, our Halloween party is on Friday - still have to finish costumes, make award ribbons and our video for that, a little party for the kids on Saturday and then Trick-or-Treating festivities that night. It's going to be a helluvaweek at sea, sir....
Finally finished my book and hosted book club, checked out our friends band down at House of Blues, joined some girlfriends on an impulsive attendance to Justin Timberlake (oh he's just as yummy in person, me thinks), caught the Leadville 100 screening (fascinating), and went to U2 last weekend. This I will expand on a little bit (see below).
Scott and I also got mountian bikes and have gone out half a dozon times in the past two weeks. It's been fun to go through the learning curve together. It's definitely different than road biking and a challenge- but I've been bored with my fitness lately and am enjoying the change. Even if it is kicking my rear (for reals, yo). I've decided it's like an abusive boyfriend: I'm bruised and I curse and yet... (cue romantic fan blowing on my bike) I fall in love deeper each time and can't stop myself...when can I go again?
Here's a snap of JT singing to me. "It feels like sumtin's heatin' up- Can I be wich yoo?" LAY-DEHZ

So here is my small sum up of U2. Scott got tix and I didn't know until a couple of week before. I wasn't really that stoked to go (he knew this already so don't feel bad) but hey, he wanted to go so "I will follow". I dig old U2 but haven't gotten much into newer U2, and these mega-thon concerts are kinda annoying. But I also know that of all mega-concerts, U2 does go all out on production and knew it wouldn't disappoint. And I was right! Here is what the stage set up looked like before the show. I swear half the time they performed I had so many engineering questions and design curiosities enter my head. I want someone to do a backstage/behind the scenes show on that. I bet it would be wickedawesome. That black half-cone shape thing above the stage was a TV screen compiled of hexagon panels that stretched down into a funnel during the show (the next pic).

The colors and design were so so so impressive. I loved watching what changed with each song. And they did sound great and put on a good show because, hey, that's what they do so it's expected. It was a perfect 70 degree calm night for an outdoor show. Thanks, Scotty-man for taking me on a fun date!

Grande Greed

I want all this dinnerware by Paola Navone.
I love the delicate beading on the edges of some of the pieces. It's actually not as expensive as I thought it would be, but that means nothing ... saying that is like isolating a pillowcase from the bed set you want... and I want the whole bed. You can understand, I'm sure. These are fab.

RICHSKEY

Happy Birthday to mine broder Richard-Ricarldo-Manto-Bahn.
Rich! You are like a fine wine- aged well, full of flavor and... smell good from a glass?
I LERV YOU ever so much. How could I survive without my mirror sibling? You are creative and fun and full of life. I'm proud of you and love you to bits. I hope you have a 'heppy' day.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE GROUND!

Get Ready...

I have Halloween on the brain. Not only is my office littered with projects to do, I am reading a spooky book for book club next week (has anyone read this?! Holy Holmes, eh?). This time of year is so fun, even if I am over ambitious and underachieving. Soon I should have fruits of my labor posted so you can see what I've been up to but until then- I MUST share the glee of this years display at Rogers Gardens. It's in Newport and it was the one place I wanted to stop while we were there for Disneyland. Yes, yes - I realize that, as a courtesy to you, I put a collage of family photos together of our trip so as not to bore you with tons of pictures. But this is Halloween. It is so very serious. And obviously more important that family memories because I am sharing these images with you one by one. :) Skip now if you don't like the holiday. Read on if you can appreciate it. Tally Ho!
Rogers Gardens is an extravagant and beautiful nursery and outdoor store with a few small enclosed buildings that contain housewares, yard decorations, etc. At Halloween they transform one of these rooms entirely and it NEVER disappoints. They really 'get' it and have some great effects and ideas that I keep tucked away. So here is your little tour of the place:

In the back corner of the store was this old wheelchair. How creepy is that thing-just sitting there? Uh---Changeling?? And nearby was an old stuffed chair and lamp, little side table with oddities, empty and bare, facing the dark back wall shelved high and full of old televisions turned on displaying static. Um, yeah. Again-uber creepy. Uh...Poltergeist?
This was from the potion/lab area. I thought the skeleton chandeliers were cool.
After making Halloween award ribbons last year, I have noted any others I come across. I may try my attempt (and probably fail miserably) at some of this ribbon folding nonsense...
Last year at the store they had elaborate dining tables set up with black dishware and the tables were covered in all these great, black ceramic busts. This year they were up on a shelf, all mummied up. If you don't have busts, just give Benadryl to the kids and use them.
Some cool paper mache styles and face ideas...
I was very impressed with this part. A table with a make shift laboratory, complete with electricity buzz and friction sound effects, slow blinking strobe lights, and hoses that came down from the ceiling into the water tubes/vials making things bubble.

Thought this was a cool hat. And Patch girls, note that this would be a cool way to use the skull masks?
There were piles of glittery stuff everywhere but I liked these little coffins the most. Small, glass glittered skeletons were rested on moss in little white paper boxes. And WAY overpriced. So I'm funna make me one.
Old dolls painted gray. I mean, ALL gray. Hair, clothes, eyes, everything. Very very eerie. Last year they had an old black victorian stroller near these dolls that was motorized to rock forward and back invisibly. Dude- it was spooky, folks.
And lastly, cards running along wire arches to look as though they are flying invisibly. Cool effect. Last year they did this with books a lá the "Ghostbusters" famous library scene.

The Latest

So yeah, been a bit since an update. But I'm full of love for you, my readers... because I am keeping it simple and sweet. Updates here for family and condensed photos so you non-family peeps don't have to gag at it all. :) (And because I am a wee bit blog lazy.)

Last weekend we went with our little family to Disneyland, or favorite October trip. It is always the best time. The weather is perfect, it's much more empty and DUH- it's HALLOWEEN. We did something different this time and spread the visit to two days. I have to say, as nice as it was to try out some new stuff, that's probably all I can do. I enjoy Dland as much as the next guy, but I got a little maxed out on Mickey. How do people go for a week? Enlighten me on whether or not I must stay open minded to this.
A few deets to mention that made this trip unique:
-Scott was our park planner and lined up some new things to try. We did the drawing workshop in CA Adventure and drew Winnie the Pooh. All the kids did great!
-The new Toy Story ride is super fun (and Scott and I slipped in CA Screamin' again!)
-We finally got to ride the much acclaimed Soarin over CA. It's as good as people say (and way better when you go first and have no wait)
-We rode a few more mature rides again.... the kids are getting braver but Space Mountain's new Halloween fright theme was a bit too much. But Splash Mountain? I think the girls faces in the bottom left image says it all.
The kids are so fun to hang out with. We had a good time and am so proud of how they tromp all over two days in a row and handle it fine.

On to other minor things, the kids were drawing and taping little Halloween deco's throughout the house so I finally put up some black paper to contain everything in one place. Since taking this picture, a few have been removed yet again and found their ways on bedroom doors and walls... oh well.


















And Luke's soccer team took pics again this year and I so thriftly snapped a few behind the photographer (check out his arm... I'm so good, right?). Luke loves playing soccer and scoring goals for the opposite team. Go Lucas!

I'm An ADULT!

Oh man, this is one of the best Andy Sandberg shorts yet. If you missed this on SNL when (the delicious) Ryan Reynolds was hosting, you must check it out. (er.... rated PG-13 for language. I mean, it is still Sandberg...)

Scott and I have been giggling for days and quoting some of our favorite moments:
"My Dad's not a PHONE!".
And our most favorite...
"HappyBirthdaytodaGROUND!"
Ahhh, so funny. As a result, we now end half of our sentences with that. "Eat your green beans todaGRAOUND..."
Good stuff.

Professah?

Now THESE are clever.

I think I will make some for homework time.
Because, you know, it's so serious.

Spooky Spooks

October is here and the kids have been antsy to get the decorations up. As much as I love this holiday, and as much as I love to find cool holiday stuff, I realized last year I am hitting my storage capacity limit. Yes. It's so sad for me, too. So, even with my commendable discipline in not purchasing more this year, I still have much to face for the process. I wasn't that motivated last week to attack it but now I'm glad we did it so early. It's done and we can enjoy the month. Scott says it looks like Halloween throws up in our house.
And he's probably right (probably).
I remember as a kid how much I enjoyed this so it's fun to see my kids get into it.

Last night I had a couple of friends over to make a Halloween banner (pictured at the end. I have more pics/instructions in Academe if you are interested). We talked about getting together for something like this for a while, so it was good to begin doing what I keep talking about. I feel lucky to know great friends and especially friends who will do silly stuff like this with me. As we sat there with glitter all over, we kept coming up with more ideas of things to make. Interested in joining our 'Make-Dates'? Let me know-anyone is welcome. We're gonna make some groovy stuff!
Jennie posted about how this month she is going to start a lot of the 'doing' in her ambitions and I need to commit to that myself. So here's to a month of fun and accomplishing. Let's see if I can prove it to myself with results.
In the meantime, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Mini MacGyver

Cool little recycled bikes on CB2.
I don't care how bored you may be at the office using paper clips. This is good.

October

Happy first day of month #10!
Temps are cooling down (though I loved summer) and I am glad to be back into jeans again. Here we go- diving into the seasons once more. This is when it all rolls fast until January. I'm looking forward to some fun stuff this month with family and friends. Hope you are excited, too!