New Friends

The internet is a funny thing, isn’t it? Well, I guess social media in general. I swear I could have a philosophical conversation with you about how instagram has made a better photographer. But I guess that’s a separate post.
I started this blog nearly two years ago and it amazes me how many connections I’ve made because of it. The fact that anyone other than my family even takes the time to read what I write still makes me scratch my head. It’s been an incredibly humbling experience thus far.
Back to the connections.
We met up with Sisilia and her adorable family a little while back (I’m always behind on posting, grrrrr) and to say we all hit it off would be a gross understatement. We had plans to hang out for an evening, take some family photos, and maybe grab a bite to eat. Instead we hung out, took some photos, hung out at the restaurant until the waitress actually left for the evening before us and then the bartender kicked us out so we moved the party to the parking lot where it too got broken up by four sets of tired eyes looking at us wondering why it was nearly 11pm and they weren’t in bed. How’s that for a run on sentence? Willy and I drove away ranting and raving about Sisilia and Joshua and got a text a few minutes later that they decided to book a room at the Ace as well and wanted to hang out again the next day.
So we met up again, swam in the pool, met for dinner, and had breakfast the next morning before we said our goodbyes and reluctantly went our separate ways.
The desert heat, the cicadas buzzing all around, the cold beer, the endless flow of conversation, the boys and their cars, the quietest little baby girl, the occassional click of a camera… it was magical.
There’s a lot to be said about new friendships. I’ll be sharing some of the family shots I took of them tomorrow.
*The pool photo was taken by Sisilia and several of these are from my instagram feed. You can check out more of Sisilia’s work by clicking here.
Side note: I’ll be announcing the winner to the Broken Tricycle giveaway on Wednesday. There’s still a couple of days left to enter!!

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Joshua Tree

Janet and I have been to Joshua Tree loads of times. There was that one time we went on a whim, just before we were set to board a plane for Thailand, because our feet were so itchy we just couldn’t wait for an adventure. We stopped again, I believe, on the way back from Louisiana. I’m totally being dramatic now, aren’t I? There were obviously a few other stops along the

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way. Then there was the time we went, just the two of us, and called it my bachelorette party just before I got married.

We spent the evening there, enjoying the cooler weather (It was 98 degrees there, as opposed to the 120 in Palm Springs) and listening to music in the back of the pick-up truck. We climbed some rocks,

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played around with my new handy dandy camera remote, and shot the shit until the sun went down and the dark sky invited us to make our way back to Palm Springs.

On the way out, I spotted a lovely couple on top of a rock. I pulled over, hopped out, yelled for them to stand up, and snapped that last picture because I’m so daring like that now (I’m being facetious. There are a thousand pictures I regret not taking. I kick myself often for that. Trying to grow hair on my nuts is always on my to do list).

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Salvation Mountain

Salvation Mountain is in an area referred to as “Slab City”, in Niland, not far from the Salton Sea. Slab City used to be the training grounds for the Marines back in 1942, but when operations ceased a few years later, the buildings were removed and sold. Since then, it remains abandoned with only cement foundations, hence the name “Slab City”. Today, RV campers occupy the area mostly in the winter months. Be what it may, when you ride up to it, it feels completely random and odd; Like walking through a weird dream.
We only encountered one other couple on our visit to Salvation Mountain. I guess there are some perks of going in the dreaded summer heat because I’ve read you can battle up to 100 people in the winter and well, it just wouldn’t have been the same.
Salvation Mountain was built by Leonard Knight who is currently 82 years old and resides in a nursing home in San Diego. He has volunteers that rotate watch on his mountain and are available to ask questions to if going up to a seemingly abandoned trailer in the middle of nowhere is your thing. And, you better believe, it’s my thing.
You can read about Leonard Knight by clicking here and more about the history of the mountain by clicking here.

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The Salton Sea

Oh the Salton Sea. There isn’t a place like it, that’s for sure. And any picture of the place only tells you a small sliver of the story, let me tell you. It’s kinda like looking at a picture of a men’s urinal from a dirty truck stop, you just can’t smell the urine and filth. Same same, but different.
In a photo, it looks like one of the most stunning places. Am I right, or am I right? Please allow me to ruin it for you now.
Use your senses: The temperature is 120F / 47C. It feels like you opened the oven door after you had it closed and heating for a couple of hours. The heat consumes you. It’s difficult to breath. Sweat trickles down your back and your dress becomes stuck to the back of your leg with each step you take. Your hair is crunchy, proof you’ve gone between the sweltering heat and the air conditioned car. Oh ya, and the air is completely stagnate. In 2012 the Salton Sea was confirmed as the source of the rotten egg smell in the LA Basin. The LA Basin is 150 miles away from the Salton Sea. Can you imagine how bad a fart would have to smell to travel even a mile? I’m trying to put this stench in perspective, people. I could tell you it smells like sulfur, but it’s worse than that. It’s more like sulfur with rotten egg with rotting corpse. As soon as you step out of your car, you hear the buzzing of a thousand flies. They land on your face and they invade your car. There is no amount of shooing that will stop them. As you walk closer to the water’s edge, you hear crunching only to look down and discover that what appears to be sand is really just mutilated fish bone and with each step you are making more, um, “sand”.
But oh it’s a site to behold, isn’t it?
We stopped in at a local bar in Bombay Beach to beat the heat, enjoyed some cold beer, and watched as the locals swatted flies with their oversized fly swatters. 
I mentioned the Bombay Beach documentary a while back. Here’s the trailer for it. Gotta love any documentary with music by Beirut and Bob Dylan. It was… interesting.

Want to read more about why the Salton Sea is the way it is? This article is one of the best I’ve read.

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A Girls Long Weekend, Palm Springs

Those who follow me on Instagram know I was recently in Palm Springs for some much needed girl time. I returned back just a few days later with Willy and the boys’ and had an awesome time hanging out with this beautiful family, but there will be more on that later.
I had been feeling so down and out after weaning, wondering when the funk would pass. I knew it was hormonal, but having the knowledge of the culprit did absolutely nothing in terms of digging myself out of the hole. I cried for two days. And I napped, which sounds dreamy – I know – but it was more of the depressed I-don’t-have-energy-to-do-anything kinda nap as opposed to the physically drained I-earned-a-nap kinda nap.
It lasted two days and even though those two days felt like marathon days, in hindsight it passed pretty quickly. Like having a newborn, when you’re in the trenches, not only do you not see the light but you don’t even know if you’re walking in the right direction. For all I knew, life was getting darker. Looking up depression after weaning, like everything else, was both a blessing and a curse; cool, I’m not alone… Ho hum, sometimes this lasts months?!
We had that nice weekend I spoke of here and a few days after that, I hit the road with my best friend.
And there’s nothing like the open road with your best friend. There just isn’t.
Sometimes when I’m away from the kids it feels like all I do is talk about them. But while our children came up in passing, we talked about so many other things: memories, work, dreams, travel, our husbands, things we are working on around the home, design, photography. We threw around quotes we had come across that made something clear that was a bit fuzzy before and we talked about some of the new documentaries we had watched. We listened to music, pulled over often to stretch our legs, and threw stuff in the back of the truck as if we had assistants back there to sort it all out for us.
It was just what I need and right when I needed it.
So please excuse the next few posts as I get caught up on sharing some photos from our adventure. There were no kids, so – ya know – we stopped a lot and drove a lot and photographed a lot.
Take that, you evil mom guilt. I’m not even feeling guilty about a

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few days away. I’m not. I said I’m not. And if I say it three times, I must be true.

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The Perfect Ending

You can’t always get what you want, but in the end you get what you need.
I spent the first days after stopping breastfeeding mopping around, declaring myself to be in “a funk”; Unable to enjoy things that normally excited me, unable to be truly present to my children. I’m writing this in past tense because I didn’t feel like writing anything but dark, sad, moppy posts like this just a few weeks ago when all the tears were streaming down my I’m-so-sad-I’m-done-breastfeeding face.
Willy and I had been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. We had tickets to see Willie Nelson at the Hollywood Bowl and plans to leave the kids at my parents for the entire night. But I just couldn’t seem to shake the post-breastfeeding-blues.
I can’t tell you when the change occurred but what I can tell you is that Willie Nelson played his Stardust album from front to back and it was beautiful. There really is nothing better for the soul than music, in my opinion. We woke up the next morning and went to the Rose Bowl Flea Market by ourselves and in the absence of the munchkins, we got to dig through buried treasures and stroll leisurely through the aisles. We picked up the kids in the afternoon and went to the Ventura County Fair. We rode rides, pet goats, ate chocolate covered Twinkies. And when we got home and put the kids to bed, Willy and I climbed up on the roof and laid there under the stars to watch the meteor shower.
And, just like that, my funk disappeared. It only took a country phenom, some time with my main squeeze, a ferris wheel, and a sea full of falling stars to shake it. But alas, I shook it.
Then again, it was probably that chocolate covered twinkie because, um, hello they don’t even make Twinkies even more. Hash tag: deadstock. Oh ya, and I didn’t have to worry about breastfeeding. That was nice.
Oh ya, and you see that little San Francisco shirt Hooper has on? It’s something I bought when I lived in SF years ago, before I knew my husband as my husband… when I had only dreams of motherhood. And seeing my first born in it now not only makes me one happy Mama, but also puts things in perspective. Life is good.

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LACMA

The day after The Huntington Gardens, we hit up the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Good company, good art, good food (complete with

bottled Coke from Mexico, because um, he-low it’s the best)… are you believing me when I tell you, again, this was the best weekend ever?

Gonna be in the LA area? The LACMA better be on your list.

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The Huntington Library

There’s nothing in the world like a best friend. When I’m with mine, it feels like the stars align. Things that are normally a chore are no longer a chore. Parenting responsibilities become shared and picking up after her munchkin doesn’t feel the same in terms of “work” as picking up after

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my own; and I know she would say the same. When she’s in town, the sun shines brighter; I swear by it.

We enjoyed an evening at the Huntington Gardens complete with music, beer & wine, and family. This was part of Van’s birthday weekend, aka the best weekend of summer yet.

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Bits + Pieces, A First Birthday

We spent Van’s first birthday weekend with family and friends and it’s been my favorite weekend this summer thus far. You just can’t beat friends, family, and celebration.
As a side note, I think the pictures of Hooper and Van eating cupcakes sums up their differences in eating quite clearly… one licks, the other engulfs. In that respect, those two could not be more different. I mean come on Hoop, it’s a cupcake. I don’t think he ever actually ate the entire thing.

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Summer

One night, as some friends and I walked out of our book club meeting, I said, “Lately I’ve been feeling very wistful. Childhood is speeding by so fast. It’s such a cliche, but it’s true.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” one friend answered. “Whenever I get annoyed by the mess stuck to our refrigerator door, or about having to keep a stroller in the hallway of my apartment, I remind myself that these are the good old days.”Gretchen Rubin (as seen here too)
Side note: Many congrats to Darby, you are the winner of the Little Sweet Pea

 

giveaway. Remember you can still get free shipping with coupon code StorkFreeShip.

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Summer

We headed down to Duke’s the other night for dinner and ate at their barefoot bar. After dinner we went down to the beach to watch the sunset. It was a bit cold and Hooper pissed his pants but the sunset was nice and our bellies were full.
Also, Hooper’s poncho came c/o of Lishyloo. And my apologies for the Spring/summer video that keeps coming on automatically. I tried to turn it off, but have had no luck. It should be gone tomorrow. Sorry for the annoyance. Ho hum.

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Bits + Pieces

I’m allergic to mornings too (shirt c/o Sweet Threads) // Dreaming of eating the rocks outside // A flower on our way to dinner // Hoop escaping // Play time in the crib // Hanging plants at my 95 year old grandma’s house (yes, she lives independently) // A first birthday party that ended with Hooper being swept off his feet // Potty training is complete, he’s trained // Conejo Valley Days Carnival a few months ago (I’m so behind) // And what bits + pieces would be complete without Hoop with those fings in his mouth?
Happy (almost) Friday!

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A Birthday Recap

We celebrated my birthday by heading to the beach, again. Minus the influx of teenage girls in scantily clad bikinis talking about making out with boys*, it was a b-e-a-u-t-iful day. Nothing beats a good day at the beach, right? And Van seems to be transitioning out of the shoveling-sand-in-his-mouth-phase, so that’s cool too. We headed to Neptune’s Net for a bite to eat afterward and then drove home along PCH admiring the view. Sometimes another year older doesn’t feel so bad…
*and then some

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Summer

“Summer afternoon — summer afternoon, to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
-Henry James
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July 4th

Images from the 4th of July: The day started ominous, with cold weather and cloudy skies // We ate lunch at Surfside Seafood // Walked along the pier // Sat on the beach (the sun finally came out) // Ate sandy watermelon // Got sunscreen in our eyes // Dealt with skipped naps (though the tears were very momentary, thank goodness) // Spotted a Rolls Royce // Swam at an indoor pool.
It was a great day, really. How was your 4th of July?Click To Vote For Us @ Top Baby Blogs Directory!

Summer

“Make mudpies. Jump in puddles. Climb trees. Lie in the grass. Dream big. Build a fort. Run barefoot. Slay dragons. Play in the rain. Reach for the stars. Imagine. Tread gently. Sleep soundly.”
-Unknown
Hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July. We spent the day at the beach and plan to do so again today because it’s my birthday and I want to spend it with the sun on my back, sand in my toes, and my family by my side. Happy Friday!
Side note: Congrats to Heather Manu for winning the gift card to Sweet Threads! I’m emailing you right now! And thanks to all who entered. Remember you can still use promocode STORK20 for 20% off your purchase through 7/20/13!! And the grand opening of their shop in Long Beach is tomorrow. Click here to find out more details! 

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Bits + Pieces

Van & Carla, two peas in a pod // Welcome home, Papa. We always miss him when he has to leave on a business trip // Shoveling dirt, all day everyday // Brothers // A scene out of a toddler horror story // Spring flowers blooming in a field of grass // Family bagel dates always include Sarah // It’s true, we still give Hoop a bottle when we’re feeling lazy or need to do the dishes // Willy helpin’ Van out on the 4-wheeler // And two fings, cuz that’s how hoop rolls.
Happy Friday!

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Bits + Pieces, Arizona

We piggybacked out trip to Palm Springs with a drive out to Arizona to visit family. We welcomed a new member into the family and spent time soaking in that newborn smell. Though, truth-be-told, neither Willy or I miss those beginning days… or months, for that matter. What can we say? We like to sleep. In any event, I’m a first time Aunt. I’ll post some pics of her next week. She sure is a beaut.
Happy Friday!

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