trials of an airmattress

J & I are still on twin air mattresses that zip together while we wait for our bed. last night he went to bed first because i was working on my website. i lay down and slid into the crack to try to cuddle with him since i knew i couldn't move his dead weight body over. he feels my arm, says loudly, 'i hate being in the crack!' and rolls away from me. he was on the flat spot! this morning i told him what happened, he laughed and said he didn't remember a thing. he said he must have been sleep talking...

on another note, check out this article. you'll get a kick out of it.

check it out

Last night J & I went to a screening for 2 out of an upcoming series of short documentaries about peace activists. People who's lives are spent promoting peace and improving relations between races, and lobbying for a better environment. They mentioned a girl on an upcoming piece, Ava Lowery, and her site: peacetakescourage. She is only 17, and has made this her mission. Impressive.

my latest read

the glass castle. it details the life of a young girl and her family, from her perspective. moving across the country. parents who choose to live in poverty. the resilience of children when placed in an ever changing environment. she's strong and smart, and chooses to rise above her circumstances. great book with a lot of humor, and admiration.

i have a crush on good typography

we're really behind on wedding gifts. like months and months behind. i'll get something off the registry, but i also convince myself that i can do a step above that for friends who will appreciate my creativity in choosing an appropriate gift. a month or so before i left, i snagged a few of these prints for some friends. we drove them all the way to california, picked out frames, and they will finally go out this week. kudos to orange beautiful (for the print and & photo). i love their work.

if you've never been, this might entice you

here are the rest of the photos from our trip. keep in mind that 6 girls can get a little..girly. the photo above was my big conquest. the activity i swore i would not do, because i am really afraid of heights and not having control over speed. after the 3rd line, i hung upside down, and on the last one above, i worked in some tricks. it's a great feeling to conquer fears. our friend dalen hooked us up big time with a huge discount, and they let our bday girl care go free. so nice!

once in zenfolio, there is an additional folder for the zip line photos that we bought from their photographer. the password is only going to be up for 2 days, so if you check this after that, email me and i'll send it to you. pass: jaco http://jphoto.zenfolio.com/

free download

if you haven't yet, sign up for pandora radio. it's free online. you type in an artist you like, and they put together a playlist with them and similar artists and it streams as long as you want. i'm loving it. my first entry was Feist, and the stream they put together is awesome.

costa in a nutshell

relaxing. friends. laughing. lizano salsa. swimming in the rain. arenal volcano. truth or dare. wahoo wahoo tacos. bartering with locals. zip lines. ceviche. rain, rain, rain. white sand beaches. new photography friend. baby monkeys. watermelon juice. beans & rice. car games. korean legends. miracles. crazy drivers. speed bumps. humpback cows. night calisthenics. carnival. plantains. sodas. well water. beautiful women & children. mini ants. cristal. music in church.

photo link to follow...

i am leaving

reasons i've been blessed in the last week:
1. my toaster oven came 4 weeks earlier than scheduled
2. i get to spend a week in costa rica with 6 girlfriends because of a more than great airline price and a new friend's cute grandma who is letting us stay at her place free of cost
3. a generous former marine hired me for graphic design all week, and the week i return
4. my best friend lent us a kitchen shelf and duvet for our bed
5. i've been to the beach twice
6. i have a great husband who says he loves when i'm organized and will help me get there. because when i'm organized, i'm happy, and when i'm happy, he's happy!
7. i got a free sample of deep sleep. i'll let you know if it works.
8. i found great printers for any custom work that i do, 3 blocks away
9. in & out is 4 blocks away

living simply

i like the way our small box, aka. the studio, is coming along. i'm really trying to choose carefully and live clean and uncluttered. it's nice.

loving this

J & I went to the beach after work today. He hired 4 dolphins to swim by right where we were standing. I turned around to see if we were being filmed on animal planet, but nobody was around. How does he do it?

to market, to market

after work today i drove to n's to borrow her vacuum. our carpet has a (bad) stank, so we bought some carpet powder to get it out. on the way, i saw that her street was having a farmer's market! first a car show, now this. we are so lucky she found our apt. 3 blocks away. i walked down there and picked up a baguette (j loves it with oil & balsamic), cherries, avocados ($1/ea) and 2 basil plants ($1/ea)! mom's trick for avocado is slice and drizzle with italian dressing. delish. i'll be working tonight, so at least our dinner will be a treat. i forgot how good fresh produce looks. (minus corn of course)

work

J started working yesterday. This is the project he's working on and the website if you want to check out the trailer for the upcoming show that will air live on the web in July. The company that's behind it is Brave New Foundation. I'm proud of J for seeking after projects that open people's eyes to what's going on in the world. // As for me, his friend is sending over some design work for me to do this week for a holistic company he's working with. Sounds fun.

happy

today i put on my backpack and rode my bike to trader joe's (about 6 blocks away). i loaded it up perfectly with enough room for a bunch of ranunculus. i love living in a place where i can ride my bike instead of driving.

when (older) kids don't listen to their mother

After church yesterday, we got in the car and saw an overly chromed out black dodge neon leaving the parking lot. We looked just in time as the man almost hit a hispanic boy in a black suit who he didn't see crossing the lot. Nothing too dramatic, just something where you would pause, make sure he was ok and not scared, wave a 'sorry!' and keep going. Oh no. He (with white calligraphic lettering on the back window that said 'hot boy' and 'bad *ss' on the front window) stops his car and gets out and throws his hands up, like what are you doing kid, trying to get yourself killed? then he leaves the parking lot, turns onto the street 20 ft away and parks. Who comes into a church parking lot and tries to confront a 10 year old for crossing the street in his own church's lot? The poor boy. It makes me angry to witness mean people. Especially on mother's day.

desk chair

we hunted for desk chairs on sat. at ikea. the chair ideally would have a low or no back, could slide completely under the desk, and double as a seat for visitors. wheels are not necessary since we have carpet. (clockwise from left, the nordmyra, tobias, malte, jakob} and then our purchase benjamin. The bench is clean in design and was the cheapest. my favorites are the tobias and jakob, but unfortunately this is a temporary place and we're on a budget. we picked up a dark brown chair cushion at target for maximum booty comfort.

gallery

We stopped by a gallery on Saturday after the car show and met Greg and learned about his line of furniture. He assembles wood without " the need for screws or fasteners by using integral slots and notches, even employing wood springs and wood hinges." When you sit in the chairs it's flexible and gives, which makes initially makes you think you're really fat and it's going to break, but when he doesn't even flinch, you settle in and realize they are quite comfortable. He's showing his line at a dwell show in a couple weeks. Out of curiosity, we emailed him and asked him how much one of his chairs cost - you put it together yourself. update: $3000-ish per chair. yikes.

we made it

{old barn in utah}

After utah (& lots of rock shops), we stopped in vegas to see friends and then drove on to our new mini home. for those of you that don't know, we are in culver city, west of la towards the ocean. we spent the evening getting a few necessary goods and retired for the evening in sleeping bags on the floor. this morning, j rode his bike to the hardware store while i'm working on organizing (my specialty). i'll post some pics as we go along so you can see what it looks like. j said there's a street festival over by the hardware store, so when we get a few more things put away, we'll go check it out!

heading to zion

I'll post a link of photos of Bryce Canyon and later - there are too many to throw on here. If you have never been here, you must put it on your list. It was as breathtaking as ever, endless eye candy. We barely missed some thunderstorms and were able to do the navajo loop hike, along with another branch of it off to queens garden. We checked out as many rock shops as possible, and tonight we're staying in the lovely budget motel above. We are just a few miles outside of Zion Canyon. We'll wake up and go hiking more tomorrow all day, and end up in Vegas around dinnertime to hang out with old friends.

current read

For those wondering what good one person can do in the world, read this book. My brother started this non-profit that I have helped with in the Philippines - Help One Future. The guy in the book builds schools, HOF provides supplies. This is a non-profit that you will be proud to support.

hiking in utah

we went on this hike and came across the coolest rock hills. J really likes to challenge my mom to skipping rock contests whenever possible. he usually wins, but she puts up a good fight. this last photo is to show her that he found the mecca of skipping rocks.

the travelling 2

Well, we've made as far as UT and here's what we learned:

1. start your trip with 20 cent cheaper gas from costco
2. pack your bag full of trader joe's snacks
3. love your friends and family for sending you off with treats
4. don't pack condiments for making your own sandwiches - rely on arbys, etc.
5. watch out for 60 mile/hr winds in kansas
6. watch out for blizzards in colorado
7. be prepared for all weather. it was supposed to rain in utah, but we got 75 degree sun. yeah!
8. never pack your car up too full for deals like 10 for $10 cereal at albertsons in utah. (ok, so we got 20)
9. call neighbors ahead of time. our said if we had, we could have stayed at their cabin along the way.
10. (revised) never leave for a road trip without a 'man' bag filled with magazines (thanks holly)

(scenic pics are taken from a moving vehicle)