January

In summation....

I usually don't know how to decorate after Christmas and before Valentine's Day, this year I went with a powder blue and gold color scheme for our Chargers in the playoffs #BoltUp
... The game against Denver was a disappointment and you hate to get knocked out of the post season, but... I was absolutely stunned that we even made it to the playoffs at all, you never want to have to depend on someone else to lose for you to get in. For all the cards to fall into place the final week of the season was unreal -- and even then they almost blew it. People were pretty funny here, wearing Philip Rivers bolo ties everywhere... and following those two wins if you went down to the main street by the beach, people just cruise waving Charger flags out their car windows.... you can tell we're playoff-starved but it's always fun while it lasts!

Since all of the family was in town for Christmas, my grandmother requested a family portrait before the out-of-towners had to leave. Even though we weren't able to hire a photographer due to scheduling it at the last minute, my mom and I were able to coordinate a color scheme and I made some plans for staging to help it run as smoothly as possible (14 adults and 2 kids is nothing to take lightly). My awesome sister-in-law agreed to help clean up some shadows in faces on the final version, but we also grabbed some other great pictures of cousins, brothers and sisters, grandkids, etc. -- just using your basic point-and-shoot digital camera and some very amateur editing with Micorsoft Office Picture Manager.

 

 ...and naturally there were some good "outtakes..."

 

We visited the new Downtown San Diego Library... it's so cool! Awesome architecture, art and amazing views. Also, an entire baseball reference section, what-the-what. And although it's really not the point of a library, they had a really cool little gift shop with such unique things that I will have to remember it the next time I need a thoughtful gift. I want to go back to see certain things in further depth and maybe spend some time on the lovely patios with a great book.

 

The patio on the roof is pretty awesome.
And they had a special events section with beautiful panoramic views of the city.

 

They had some cool stuff in the kids' section like these vintage book copies and
an amazing Lego model of the entire library and surrounding streets and nearby trolley station

 

 

A whole baseball section with tons of really cool memorabilia!
And copies of every Padres' playoff game!

 

 

So a sad day for Padres fans was when we lost The Colonel, Jerry Coleman. Most of us grew up listening to him as he broadcast the Padres games for 40+ years. It's such a bummer knowing we won't hear him call another play but it was truly heartwarming to hear and see the great tributes to him from locals and fans nationwide. The public memorial service at Petco Park was so well-done and a very fitting tribute to him --- I was particularly touched that they brought his German Shepherd, Gus, who he spoke of often, and to listen to Ted Leitner, his broadcast partner. And his daughter offered some very sweet remarks; ending with "BEAT LA" and a good fist pump. :)

The radio left at Jerry's statue made us all cry.

 

He was a remarkable individual with a tremendously full life and was as humble and generous a man as you could hope to meet. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to learn so much about baseball from him.

I made some little stars with a goodbye/thankyou note so I could
"hang a star" on The Colonel's remarkable life.

On a happier note, we got to take our Goddaughter, Sofi, to her first visit to the New San Diego Children's Museum. We got a year-long membership for her and her mom and dad (E's brother and our sister-in-law) for Christmas and they were so excited to use the passes. I think the adults enjoyed it as much as she did, it's a pretty awesome place with lots of hands-on exhibits, things to climb on, build, drive and create, bubbles to blow, pots and pans to bang on, and even resident chickens. I also love that they put a lot of emphasis on sustainability and they have a lot of interesting information of food security. I hope she gets to enjoy going back again and again all year, she's at an age where she wants to do everything and she absolutely should!

 

 

They're such buds. #MyOvariesHurt

 

Finally, with E getting close to wrapping up his training in LA, I finally decided to go visit him and take advantage of the complimentary breakfast bar at his hotel. I had been waiting around for interviewers to call but we know how that goes. I took Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner, which I used to do a lot in college before getting a car, and if you're ever looking for a little weekend getaway or something different to do, I highly recommend it. From about Del Mar to Dana Point you ride pretty much right along the coast and the views are just beautiful. It allows you to be productive (or not) during your ride and is much less stressful than sitting in traffic. I just worked on a volunteer project for awhile and started a new book by the pool. Sucks to be me, I know.

No matter what time of day or where I'm going, when I take a train I feel like
a small-town girl on a midnight train going annn-yyy-where.... #surfliner #onandonandonandon

 

And since E had spent the last few Fridays sitting in horrible traffic trying to get home, we decided to make stops and have a leisurely drive back. We visited Chapman University and got to catch up with one of my favorite teachers as well as try a new food stand I'd heard such great (and true, as it turns out) things about. And ohmygosh it's ridiculous how much the campus has changed since I was there (almost ten years ago! *puts self into a retirement home*). We tried a local hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant across the street from his hotel one night (with Real California Avocado) and another night we took the 60 to the 10 to Santa Monica and found street parking to enjoy burgers, a walk to the pier, and some cool shops in their Promenade area (and Coffee Bean, which didn't validate).

 

 

 

So how was January for you? I'm sorry if it involved The Polar Vortex, truly, I am. Despite some big disappointments, job-prospect-wise, looking back I realize I enjoyed it (and the month is usually such a let-down for me after the holidays, so this is good!) What are you looking forward to next month? For me one thing is E's birthday and a bit of a surprise I'm working on for him... stay tuned!!

 

Hoping 2014 can only get better,

 



Project Post: Payton's Pretty Purple Dragon

This is a project from last year but I thought it might make a fun Valentine's Day gift for a special kid in your life... or, I feel like there's a million springtime babies with birthdays coming up, so maybe grab a bunch of fleece going on sale after winter and whip up a few of these.

I was trying to do something special for my Goddaughter's third birthday last summer... she's a bright, sweet girl and although she probably would've been happy with any Disney Princess item I picked up at Toys R Us, I was hoping to make something a bit more personal.

Inspired by reading about another 3-year old whose favorite book sounded super fun; I went with a dragon theme. To go with the book Dragons Love Tacos (I read great reviews from parents before pulling the trigger on the order and I enjoyed it as soon as it arrived) I decided to embark on making a dragon cape.

Of course it had to be pink and purple. I chose fleece so that I wouldn't have to hem it (and it happened to be on sale since it was, you know, June), but I ended up liking the look of blanket stiching so I did a blanket stitch on every edge. I more or less used this tutorial as my guide, which really helped -- even though I wasn't interested in adding eyes or wings. Speaking of wings, I more or less "winged it" on the spike-thingies... I folded several layers of fleece together so that they had some bulk, and even though they flopped from side to side a bit, they had enough weight to stay standing. I thought the rick rack had a sweet "scales" look to it and added long pieces that could swing around. Finally, with my minimal embroidery skills I finished it with a little "P" for Payton in the corner.

Don't you love my model? :)
(obviously on a 3-year old it hangs down to about waist-length and the hood is nice and roomy)

I finished off the gift with adorbs mini tortillas and fresh tomato and avocado from the market so she could make her own tacos. Those were actually what excited the birthday girl most when she first opened it (the kid eats super-healthy which is awesome).

I don't think she understood the little cape right away, but I got a text from her mom a day or two later with her wearing it, and apparently she went through a phase where she liked to sleep in it after reading the book. :)

This is a totally do-able project! If you can do a blanket stitch or a basic line on a sewing machine, you can do this. I did the different sections (the body, the hood, the tail, the spikes) seperately to break things up, so altogether it took an hour or so a night for about a week. I'm sure it could be done in less time.

What kind of fun projects are you working on for kiddos in your life? I kinda' want a dragon cape of my own now... dress up was always a favorite of mine!

Personally Victimized by the Job Market

I wasn't planning on posting twice (or at all, really) today, but... Mean Girls will do that to ya'.

I stumbled across this brilliant and oh-so-true Buzzfeed list about the job search process.

But given that it doesn't include the interview process and how heart-wrenching that can be, I felt compelled to add a few of my own thoughts using lovely Mean Girls pictures to describe the incredibly vulnerable process of putting it all out on the table for the result you totally didn't want (WHO would show a prospective employee around the office saying "This will be your desk," and "Here's the coffee-maker," and "Oh you won't have to dress up that much when you work here," only to reject you six hours later?!?!).


1. When you do get called for an interview (especially when it's last-minute) and you start to second-guess every article of clothing you own -- even the perfectly professional pantsuit you bought specifically for interviews -- your hair color, your skin care routine, and face in general; hoping it strikes the right balance of youthful-but-mature, experienced-but-not-arrogant, and creative-but-grounded.

 

 2. When you get to the interview and you can tell it's going pretty well with your deliberately thought-out and articulated answers and then the interviewer gets clever by asking something like this:

3. At some point during the interview you try to mention the names of your references and impressive people in your network (i.e. you babysat the Board of Directors President's kids or something), but you want to work it into conversation naturally and not look like you're just dropping names...

4. And sometimes you leave feeling like you just became new BFFs with the interveiwer because the conversation flowed so naturally, they were sufficiently impressed by your portfolio, you bonded over knowing the same people and liking the same sports teams and you basically decided that you were going to betroth your children to each other so you can be future in-laws.... and other times you leave feeling like this:

 

 

5. But you send a thank you email and mail your thank you notes (really nice letterpress cards with a thoughtful, personalized messages in your best handwriting)... and offer to send a digital portfolio, your list of references, letters of recommendation, your first-born, etc. 

 

 

But you don't want to follow-up too much because it's obnoxious and you don't want your interviewer to be talking to their co-workers about you like,  

 

 

 

6. And when you finally get the email or voicemail telling you that you're a lovely person and that they were really impressed with your qualifications but they found someone just a little more perfect than you, all it sounds like is

 

 

And you pretty much feel like,

 

 

 



7. And the whole process makes you horribly insecure and wonder if you're wasting all your time and did you make all the wrong life decisions... And maybe you'll have to resort to taking some horrible job just to get by...

 

 

And you're pretty sure that after another few months of this you'll become a hobo and your friends will talk about you like,

 

 

 

 

But.... there's always a bright side, because when you're not working you can make any hour happy hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Signing off, 

 

seriously, i had leftover cheese fries for breakfast :/

 

 



Too Long for Twitter - A NFL Playoffs Reflection

Unless you're living under a rock, you've heard about Seattle Seahawks'  Richard Sherman's interview with Erin Andrews that apparently rocked the nation. It has set off a debate that goes beyond sports to stir up feelings about race, culture, and I'm quite frankly rather dismayed at yet another example of how we can't just be civilized people to one another.

Now I've been following the playoffs and was watching most of that game but I honestly wasn't very familiar with Sherman prior to Sunday night. And yeah, first impression when seeing his (loud) comments: He sounds like just another arrogant jerk.

But I've been doing a lot of reading and was pretty impressed with his background and rather remarkable defying of the proverbial odds. It reminded me that we're all more than what people can assume about us after a 30-second soundbite.

And then you have to put into context that we expect our professional athletes (especially NFL players) to leave it all on the field and play like cunning-yet-aggressive animals...then turn around and bear their soul eloquently in a post-game sideline interview or press conference. Most of us can't do that (play a professional sport or speak like a rational, functioning individual in front of a camera). It doesn't mean he didn't sound like an arrogant jerk when he trash-talks his opponents into a microphone, but it reminds us that most of us don't know what that's like and how we'd react if we just made a freakishly athletic play to send our team to the SuperBowl.

Sidebar --- on a semi-related note, I find this to be another example of the sports media being a bit out of control, for lack of a better description. Reporters, anchors and analysts dissect every aspect of players from the time some of them are in high school and in many cases, build them up to be the next coming of Christ, only to tear them apart the second they stumble. I mean why do we participate in and encourage that? Why do we allow companies to profit off of a self-constructed cycle of hype (I'm a fan and regularly watch ESPN, I know I'm part of the problem)? A question for another day, I suppose.

I think that --- we all have moments that we wish we could take back when in retrospect we realize that we could have said or done something differently... times when, even if we were speaking the truth or still stand behind our opinion we realize it could have been said it in a better way, or we could have represented ourselves in a more positive fashion.

I think maybe this was his moment (luckily for the rest of us, we don't usually have those moments in front of 30million).

Given that we're all human and have had Richard Sherman Moments, I think we all know that you can sound like an asshole in the moment and not actually be an asshole in every aspect of your life.

Richard Sherman, I'm willing to going to guess that in the last couple of days you have at some point felt the way I did when I got completely tounge-tied in AP History and in the moment, couldn't elegantly express my opinion on Al Gore's campaign to save my life and to this day wish I could do that over again (and to show how that minute of shortfall affected me, I was totally blacklisted for the rest of the year by a teacher already biased against women and liberals... #FirstWorldProblems?).

------

Also, let's remind ourselves that it's football and that if we put this much energy and passion into eradicating hunger or solving global warming, we would have fixed both of those issues by now.

Willing to give second chances,

Resoultion Inspiration

Happy New Year!!

Hope it is off to a good start. If not, it's about to be.

I am going through a very significant Game of Thrones withdrawl.... IDK why.

In the abscence of the show, I must have watched this movie trailer about two dozen times, just for 0:26.

Trust me, it's worth it.

Aside from the abs for days, I adore movies about natural disasters (The Perfect Storm, Twister, etc.). This looks like it'll probably be a Titanic-type of movie ---- ridiculous love story set amid catastrophe ---- but I'm willing to watch it just for Jon Snow not being covered in fur.

As for the Resoultion Inspiration portion ---- I want to be that ripped. Not likely to happen, but any extra motivation can't hurt, right?

So Happy New Year to us,