pasadena!

i made plans to hang with dave before i even made my way to california and what epic plans they were. lunch at pei wei followed by camera shopping at samy's! since the rancho pei wei closed down everyone has to make the commute to pasadena if they want to enjoy that delicious asian treat of a restaurant. well damnit, we made that commute.






man i miss my friends =(

we made our way to samys and dave almost hit david caruso with his car. random. my intentions [at samys] were to buy a fisheye for my camera, an offshoot cable for my flash and a filter for the lens rob bought for me. check, check and check.




the guys ended up buying some film cameras to mess around with... as soon as i develop the film from those ill post em =)

orange county.

i guess i anticipated visiting every county in southern california during our visit. this particular trip was to see our dear friends the sallers. i havent seen ashley since i moved and boy did it feel good to vent! theyre looking as fabulous as ever and it makes me miss southern california more than i thought i would. anyway, here come the photos:







man i love them...

angi bane!

FINALLY! yesss! got some much needed quality time in with angi! she cut/colored my hair, which i now LOVE. im not quite sure why i dont have any photos with her. this kinda bums me out. we ate panera - YUM! we then saw yes man with carynn and shaye. that movie was surprisingly good. jim carey still has it for sure. last but not least we trucked over to the fishers abode to watch the UFC fight. one guy had his head split open - reassurance that i dont like watching fights. i had a chance to play with the fisher children, whom are some of the loveliest kids ive ever laid eyes on! seriously-- look:






i was going to stay with angi but rob said he wanted me to go with him to one of his best friends birthday party. so off i went. =( it was fairly entertaining... but it made me feel old. i guess if i wouldve partaken in the debauchery surrounding me i may have had a better time.


(the new cut and my gross dermatitis/eczema whatever you wanna call it)

(rob found his old ski hat, nuff said)

(rob & the birthday boy)



this party was full of homemade tattoos. i managed to catch two good ones.


(thats a burrito with "no cheese" underneath)

and yes that is a panda wearing a morrissey shirt.


off to tomorrow.

snow!

today we decided to go to visit with kyle and take my stepdads "sic" jeep up to the snow. i actually really liked off roading the jeep. it almost made me want one? we snatched josh up from his moms house and headed to good ol mentone beach. kyle is doing well. i guess hes traveling a ton for work. his girlfriend jen bought him new tires and shocks for his truck since the old sets he had werent happening. here are some photos we took that day.



(yes those are spiderwebs)


we made snow ice cream!


and boy was it beautiful!

k, bye.

christmas!

man, being in california has been joyous<-- wtf?! hahaha. we stayed with my mom the night we arrived (after a crazy ass shuttle ride from LAX to colton). the next day was christmas eve which is when my step dad's family celebrates christmas. it was wild as always and pretty awesome since my mom gave us kites! KITES! seriously, a genius gift for the kids who dont want anything.

late that night we headed up to robs parents to spend the night there (so we could wake up with them on christmas morning). good god that house is creepy santa zone. i think his mom had 200+ santas on display? i only captured the hearth area. just to give you an idea of the creepiness; we fell asleep next to a 4' tall santa with life size clothing and glasses. robs dad informed me that sometimes he falls over in the middle of the night and bumps you while youre sleeping --- HOW SCARY IS THAT?!?! geez.





even our syrup was santa shaped =(


lootwise we totally made out - not that christmas is about presents, but im just sayin'! his parents were on point (i guess sending a christmas list causes that to happen?) rob was given new flip flops, some tank tops and swimming trunks... pretty much all that guy needed =) aside from the xylophone i surprised him with. i was blown away when i opened a box from rob with a brand new 17-85mm canon lens in it! what a sneak! he totally surprised me and made my christmas. best hubby ever award is given to him. travis gave me some blythe post cards and a blythe book, sweet.



the encouragement to have a grandchild was also in full effect. it was coming from so many directions and frustrating me so much. robs cousin just had a baby 6 months ago and they were having me hold her in attempts to make me want one. it backfired when the creature threw up on me 3 separate times. ew. here she is.


travis and theron had a party that night also. here are a few shots i took while i was there. (only of logan since i was working on how to change the iso on my camera)



kkkk bye.

travels.

while we were driving to the airport this morning i was trying to count how many times ive flown this year. i cant really remember, that sucks. somewhere along the road air i developed this weird fear of flying. now that i pay close attention to plane crashes ive come up with this theory that sitting in the back of airplanes increases your chance of survival. yep.

now im sitting in the honolulu airport doing what i do best.

nothing.

we were playing with sorry last night and somehow he snuck inside and i snapped this.


i also purchased some new fabric from fabricworm. pretty excited about it =)


i think my favorite are the fruit and octopi.

okay fly time soon, PEACEEE.

volcano.

sunday has been coined "adventure day" since val, javy and michael dont have a car. yesterday we had this grand scheme to drive to mauna kea (the tallest mountain in the "world" if you cheat). once we reached the half way point we realized you had to have four wheel drive to make it to the top. we got out, stretched and took a few photos to commemorate the effort.



we deliberated on where to go since we had "special plans" for the day/evening. rob suggested volcano national park. that realllllly struck my fancy and since nobody else had truly experienced it we decided that was the place. we headed out, drove through hilo and down the coast to the ominous mouth of the park. we paid the $10 entry fee and prepared for the most bizarre time i think we all may have ever had. we explored lava tubes, hiked through craters, saw geysers of steam and some of the most beautiful views any of us have ever witnessed. the stars were extraordinary and it was one of the best nights ive had since weve lived here. i guess the one quote from michael that sums things up for me was that it looked like we were taking a tour of "tim burtons brain". end of story.





and this is my favorite photo of them all... rob is looking out over what we called "the end of the world". notice all of the gases in the air from the volcano.


what a gratifying day.

okay i want this week to end.

christmas shopping in the middle of the pacific is WAY too stressful. we will NOT be spending next christmas out here. also when i hear "rockin around the christmas tree" while its 85, sunny outside and i see people playing at the beach i know something is wrong. im sorry dear friends but you wont be getting any gifts from us... shipping is just stupid.

ive been waiting for this doll i ordered for almost three weeks now. since i paid for expedited shipping this irritates me even more =( its not the sellers fault... its hawaii's!!! getting mail here is just ridiculous. anyway, here she is:

shes so pretty. maybe this will give me more time to think of a proper name for her?

also, ebay is stupid... selling items on that site is like pulling teeth. once they're sold who knows when that person will pay. seriously frustrating.

ugh.

waking up to a not so glorious morning.

so i wake up after a sub par night of sleep to booger running around like a mad dog doing the pee pee dance. i let him outside only so he can bark at cats and chase birds. really booger? is that necessary at 7am? sorry comes up to get some breakfast so i grab the cat food and fill up his bowl. booger once again starts on a barking rampage. seriously, i can now equate this to babies crying... thats how annoying his barking has become in the morning. eventually i snuggle back to bed and start checking emails. i get a phone call from travis saying rob missed his flight. okay seriously, whos gonna kill this giant cockroach now. really rob? UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. so so so so frustrated.

doomsday.

if there were such a thing it wouldve been today (okay i may be exaggerating):

a. robs flight was cancelled because something went wrong with the plane. glad they didnt take off, bummed hes STILL not here.
b. life in hawaii without rob is BORING and HOT - well its hot regardless of rob being here or not.
c. i let booger out to potty this morning and i heard this bug whizz by my head. thinking it was a moth i just shrugged. only to realize it was a fucking HUGE cockroach! BLEGHHHHHHHHHH! i almost cried. not because i was scared or sad, but because an insect that large should NOT be able to fly [unless its a sweet, innocent, dusty moth - butterflies also fall into that category].
d. just got home from spin class, went to pee and gee golly, what whizzes by my head again? AN EVEN MORE ENORMOUS COCKROACH! im talking the granddaddy of cockroaches IN MY HOUSE! ugh. i contemplated how to kill the damn thing and all i could fathom was a large wad of paper-towels squishing it. well it was too fast for me so i just locked it in the bathroom until rob comes home.
e. my sewing machine is eating my brand new corduroy i bought to sew pretty things with.
f. i just lost bidding on etsy for a dress ive been waiting for an hour to be put up for sale.

so frustrated its gross.

why men should listen to women.

so today rob had this GENIUS idea to build a fire pit and burn all of the yard waste to make a clearing for the dogs when they come. i quickly googled this idea. judging by the constant 80 degree weather and the vast amount of brush i figured it would be illegal. guess who was right?!?! i saw flashing lights, then i saw the firemen greet rob and knew it was over. no fine, but still - I WAS TOTALLY ON POINT! ughhh frustrating.