He's Baaack...

...and sporting a hilarious piratey/70s/crazy mustache, no less.

At least he had shaved off the homeless-guy-style beard he had been sporting most of the tour, though! :)

The Lead-Up

As I noted, last week was pretty crazy, but I couldn't resist the Wednesday $2 specials over at My Digital Muse and wound up buying two kits - but they're such a deal!! Haven't had a chance to use them yet, of course, but still sooo cute!

Simplicity by Holly McCaig:

And Tour d' Eiffel by Royanna Fritschmann:I also treated myself to a day off on Friday, so that I could get everything done that I wanted to before Chris got home. It was craziness, I can't believe I managed to squeeze so much in! That night Nikki and I took out our former Team Leader, Nancy, as a belated birthday dinner. Surprise, we wound up at Honda-Ya, the awesome Japanese place near me, and then scooted over to Dave & Buster's in Orange for some chocolate fun-due for dessert. ;-) Big props to Nikki for managing to make me laugh like a lunatic every time I tried to eat a chocolate-dipped marshmallow. But I got her back, so I think we're even...for now...

The Big Day

I don't know how we would have managed on Saturday if the weather hadn't had a sudden downturn in temperature - if it had been the weekend before, they would have had to constantly be carting kids off due to heat exhaustion! But luckily it was nice and cool and cloudy for half the day, and got nice and chilly again once the sun went down.

So the lines were insane to get in, but luckily after waiting in a fairly short line for our VIP wristbands, we (meaning me, our good friend Parris [really Chris, but since there's too many Chriseseses we use last names], his sister Lena, and our friend Derek) were able to just walk on in. But I felt bad for the mile-plus-long line that everyone else had to wait in! It really made me remember why I don't do outdoor festivals like this, ever - that and the fact that there was no seating, and really no shade except in the vendor's tents. It's no wonder it was mostly under-20-somethings in attendance!

Once we made it in, I made a beeline for Chris' stage, which of course was the last one we found (they had about 6 or 7 stages in total so that there's always at least 2 bands playing at any given time during the day). Here's what Chris' looked like (click the photo for larger):
And yes, he really did get that brown. Some places were so hot (can you say the South in July??) he would spend the day shirtless, so he managed to even out the farmer's tan. :) Damn brat never burns. Here's another shot of him hard at "work" (j/k honey, j/k!):
So we basically spent the day either watching Chris work his magic or wandering around the venue catching other bands. The best part had to be Flogging Molly (of course) at the end, but there were several other good up-and-coming bands.

Here's Lena and I being sweet, with the port-a-potties adding a nice touch of sour to balance:
Luckily we had Parris and Derek along with, because for a couple of the bands the crowd was really huge and started really pressing on Chris' tent area. So here they are helping the security guard keep the railing from knocking all the equipment over:All in all a fun day (despite the sunburn) although we were all super exhausted by the time it came down around 8:30 that night or so. It felt like it was midnight or something!! But we managed to drag ourselves to In-N-Out on the way home, since Chris was craving it. :)

Daily Something

Since Chris got home, my Daily Somethings have really been him and I being able to spend some quality time together, and also he and the puppy constantly cuddling. You should have seen how nuts Jacopo went when we picked him up from my parents house on Sunday! I didn't think his tail could move like that! So they've been playing and napping together and being goofballs ever since Sunday. It's almost too much cuteness for me to handle.
I also managed to catch this shot with Jacopo's sleepy face clearly evident (finally!):Cute, que no?

In Other News

The house hunt is still on, I'm just getting sick and tired of spam postings and people not returning my calls. If the place is already taken, just let me know so I can cross it off!! Geez.

Our old friends from Norway, Ross and Lidvor, just got into town yesterday, and I can't wait to see them! She's my godmother, and they're the most awesome people. He's Scottish, she's Norwegian, and they both have the most awesome, witty, dirty sense of humor. They're a blast to hang out with. :) I'm sure I'll have photos to post soon!

I think that's officially the longest blog on here, so I'll leave it at that. :)


~T

Quote of the moment: "If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to." ~Dorothy Parker

Scary Motorcycliststststs

I had a scary flashback from my childhood the day before yesterday that totally took me by surprise!

For backstory: I can still remember clearly going to the door in our old house in Norway and being scared witless by my dad's friend standing there, still wearing his full motorcycle regalia (helmet, black leather jacket and pants, boots) and being scared shitless. I must've been about 3 years old, but it's one of the few clear memories I have of living there.

Fast forward to 23 years old: So yesterday I was walking towards the printer at work, when I glanced out the window/wall (it's pretty much a wall made of windows) to see in the next parking lot over a helmeted, black-leather-clad guy (and before you catch me on sexism, I could tell by the walk!!) walking towards me. My heart honestly skipped a beat before I could even think twice, until I realized that it wasn't me he was walking towards, it was his bike.

Yeah, funny how things we experience at such a young age can be so ingrained in our memories as to affect us without us even thinking about it.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Keeping busy this week, although I'm still tired from actually going out late both nights this past weekend. But it was totally worth having some real me-fun-time before the boy gets back (only 3 more days!!). :D

Nikki came over Monday night, because we were missing each other and hadn't gotten a chance to hang out over the weekend. So we splurged on Chipotle (YUM) and rented "The Queen", which was a pretty decent movie. I suppose the only reason we didn't like it more is because Helen Mirren's character is so hard to like. And we both thought Michael Sheen, who played Tony Blair, deserved more credit than he got. On the whole very interesting storytelling, but I think I probably would have liked Pan's Labyrinth more, which we almost rented too.

Jacopo graduated from obedience class on Tuesday night, which made me such a proud mama!! Even though he had been nutty when we first got there (early, so we could have a bit of a walk to burn off steam that he had been gathering at home alone all day), he was a prince for the "testing" and made me so proud. :D Even though you pass the class no matter what, I was still happy, and I'm hoping if we keep on practicing we'll be able to make it through the other classes that are required for him to become a therapy dog.

For some photo coolness, I finally got my parents to sign up for their own Flickr account, seeing as they took some super gorgeous photos on their trip to New England a few weeks ago. If you like looking at random cool photos, you can check them out here. And for a teaser:

And That's It...

Chris gets back on Saturday, so don't expect to hear from me for a while!! ;-)


~Trude

Quote of the moment: "It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this." ~Bertrand Russell

Just A Note

I've had to put on some security if you go to post a comment, as I've started getting crap spammy posts. Can you believe that people think they can get you to buy something by posting on your blog??

Anyhoo, it's just one of those encrypted things where you type whatever letters show up. I'm pretty confident you guys can handle that. :)

~Trude

PS Chris countdown: 4.5 days!!!

Need Nice Tenants?

Wow, it's been hectic. The big thing that's been taking up a lot of my time and energy has been The Great Search to Find a New Place to Live. We're hoping to be done with apartment communities and find a nice duplex or guest house with some yard, but it's been difficult thus far. I don't know if it's our budget or the market or having a dog or what, but I've only found a few decent leads. But I'm keeping positive! And if anybody knows someone who has a rental in the OC, get in touch!!

New Pages

Man, I thought I did a lot of scrapping last week, but jeez! I've done four layouts since Saturday! I must have too much time on my hands...yeah right.

After hanging out with the girls the Friday before last and watching "300" at my place, I was pretty tired, but still managed to drag my butt out of bed the next morning (admittedly, Jacopo helped get me up, as he apparently really wanted to play). Saturday I spent almost all day cleaning like a psycho to get ready for Nikki to come and stay with me last week. There's no better motivator than company! :) It was good to check things off my list, though. Cleaning can be theraputic if you let it! Thus, by Saturday night I was too tired to go anywhere or do anything, so the puppy and I just hung out and I was suddenly inspired and stayed up late doing two layouts in a row.

First, there's "Tough Guy:
You can view credits and details by going here.

I also finally did a layout with my new all-time fave photo of Jacopo, and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. I know it's kind of girly, but I'm always doing boyish pages, so too bad!

"So This Is Love":

As always, credits and details are available here.

Good times! Guess I was in a brown mood. :)

New (Temporary) Roomie

So Nikki and I finally got to play at being roomies, and it's was so awesome! She's such a trooper, parting from the fam to come and keep me company (only 11 more days until Chris gets home!). Sunday night we actually went out and had dinner at Red Robin (mmm Whiskey River chicken burger...), and Monday I made us chicken salad melts and Nikki chopped up a salad. Then we stayed up nice and late watching The Devil Wears Prada (can you believe I actually hadn't seen it yet?) and gabbing before bed.

I think the highlight of the week had to be going to dinner at Honda Ya (see previous entries for details on the awesomeness) Thursday night with Katie along too! After stuffing ourselves to the brim, Nikki had the brilliant idea of going for some Thrifty's ice cream. Rather than get a cone, I got a pint of their Rainbow Sherbert to take home and I made us Sherbert Coolers - takes me right back to my childhood! (Except we didn't used to put vodka in along with the ice, sherbert and 7-Up!) :D

And More Scrap Pages...

In her absence I was seriously inspired again (and there was nothing on TV), so I did two more scrap pages! They're some seriously cute photos I've been dying to do something with.

Here's "So Sleepy", which was inspired by a layout by Lynn Singers/Grieveson, who is a designer too (with seriously cute products). You can view her awesome gallery of work by clicking here.


Isn't Ted E. Bear so cute?!? I absolutely love this photo of him - totally classic Teddy. He's lying in Keiko's lap, by the way, who was visiting just two weeks ago and always showers him with love when she and Roger visit. :) As usual, credits and details can be found here.

I also churned out this page, with one of my favorite photos of the kitten and Jacopo. They really are turning into partners in crime, and I had to document it!


Credits and info for "Double Trouble" can be found here.

"Daily Something"

So I initially read about this idea of doing a "Daily Something" over at Cathy Zielske's blog today, and it really struck a chord with me. It was started by Ali Edwards, (whose blog is super inspiring, definitely one to check out!) and basically it's trying to daily record some kind of everyday story. It's about doing something quick and easy, rather than trying to churn out a scrapbook page a day (exhausting, much?). So here's mine for today (and I'm going to probably use the blog to tell the story, rather than her cute little notes that she does):

Basically, my highlight today was Jacopo doing "down" on command without a training collar/leash on (clearly not this photo, but you get the idea!). I was just so excited! It's the one command he's really resisted and been troublesome about...why, I couldn't tell you, since he loves to do it on his own. I can get him to do it easily enough now with a leash, but I still have to pull his legs out half the time. But today he just obeyed! Woohoo! (Now, granted, I had a treat in hand, but that's besides the point!) :)

The "daily something" brush is by Ali and you can download it for free from her blog, and the heart is from the Highlight Brushes set by Jackie Eckles. (Wish I had a link for it, but it's from when she used to sell her stuff at Designer Digitals, and I don't see anything like it at her new store. Poo!)

So I'm sure I won't do this daily, knowing me, but I'll definitely be going with the idea of finding the funny/interesting/inspiring in the everyday. It's something I've always admired when others do scrap pages about it, but I'm always so focused on using my time for family stories and photos that I never get to that kind of scrapping. So I think this will work better for me. :)

100 In 10

Speaking of cool inspiration, definitely check out the "100 in 10" list that Jessica Sprague has compiled over at her blog. Basically, she posted 100 ideas/techniques/prompts for scrapping in (nearly) 10 days, and also asked for readers to post their ideas along the way. And now she has compiled both her ideas and her readers' ideas all together in one document that you can save and keep when you're in a slump! The final total came out to almost 300! SO cool!


I think that about does it for me...more to talk about, but my eyes are burning and it's time to try and get some sleep, despite the heat!

~Trude

Quote of the moment: "Force without wisdom falls of it's own weight." ~ Horace (65 BCE - 8 BCE)