Yesterday was my great friend Erin’s birthday. I want everyone to know that Erin is one of the most gorgeous and fun people I know and I love her. She is one of those people that I always always always want to be around and could never get sick of. Hands down one of the greatest ladies around.
I hope your birthday was amazing, Erin! I love you!
Posted in B-days!
This comes to me via my BFF, Mi Piace Kate.
I seriously love it. The caviar Jell-O rules! Thanks Kate!
Posted in Just for Fun
Anna K turns my age today. For the record, Anna and Christy Baugh are the two very first entries into my Favorite People Hall of Fame.
Anna and I have gone to some of the funnest places together. We got to know each other best while we were in Switzerland. Since then we have been on river trips galore. Every time I see her I want to kiss her all over. She really is one of the best people I’ve ever met: fun, hilarious, loving, adventurous, sexy, super-skilled, and a complete breath of fresh air to be around.
Anna K = #1. Happy Birthday, babe. I love you lots.
Posted in B-days!
One of my favorite gals is celebrating her B-Day today. Kaylene can seriously make me laugh SO HARD. She is one of the most high-energy, fun, funny, exciting people I know.
I love you, Kaylene. I hope your birthday has been the best. Thai-65 me, then “Single Ladies” ’til the sun comes up.
“Who brought all the blueberries?!”
Posted in B-days!
Happy Father’s Day!
Here is my Dad when he graduated and again when he and my mom went to Panama last year.
Love you Dad.
Posted in Holidays
I recently finished reading Fat Girl: A True Story, a really sad, occasionally funny, memoir by Judith Moore. Moore, who died in 2006, grew up in a home where her weight was always an issue. Rarely happy, she recalls her food-obsessed childhood and how her awful mother and grandmother would verbally and sometimes physically abuse her, telling her that she wasn’t worth anything. Remind you of Precious? Well it did me too. Moore’s salvation (sort of) was found in her flamboyant Uncle Carl, who bonded with her and never judged her, yet tragically never seemed to truly love her that much either.
This book packs a huge emotional punch. Ultimately, I was mostly saddened by the author’s current voice and how hopelessly numb to any form of love and affection she eventually became. Even after two marriages and two kids, she seemed eternally down on herself, rarely pointing out what brought her joy in her life. I guess that wasn’t her point.
On that note, I did like this book a lot, much in the same way I like sad movies. They’re hard to get through, but they always give me something to think about and to be grateful for.
Posted in Books
Two of my favorite kids in the world are turning 6 years old today. I can’t believe how much they’ve grown up and that they can actually speak better Chinese than most American adults! Seriously! They are two of the funniest kids I’ve ever met, and I love them more than my life. And I love my life a lot.
I hope you kids have the best Birthday ever! I LOVE U!
Posted in B-days!
Um… Robyn’s new album Body Talk Pt.1 is so freaking amazing.
She has made me re-love music! Thanks, Robyn!
Posted in Music
I’m also celebrating Stephanie’s B-Day, which was also on Monday. And one of the funniest things happened to me at Soul Night on Saturday, when we were celebrating her birth.
A really strange girl tried to swing dance with me. She was wearing a flashy gold dress with sequins and all sorts of glamorous silkiness (without anything done to her hair, and no make-up I’d like to add… ugh).
Well, she asked me, “Who are you trying to impress?”
I replied, “Nobody.”
Then she said, “Yeah, right! Who are you trying to impress?”
And I repeated, “NOBODY!”
Plain Gold Girl, “Whatever, you can tell me. Who is it?!”
And I started to laugh, “I’m not here to impress anybody; I’m just having fun!!”
Just then, Birthday-girl Stephanie walks by, and I look to see where she’s going. Plain Gold Girl follows my gaze and then looks at me in the eye and says in all seriousness, “Go to her.”
I was like, “Um… she’s my friend.”
Plain Gold Girl, then says in a serious Shhhh… I’m Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber way, “It’s okay. Go to her.”
And I turned, with my stunned mouth ajar, and walked over to my friends.
I thought I was going to die. Thank you Stephanie (and Stephen, btw) for having a birthday so that stuff like that can happen in my life. I love you and I can’t imagine my life without you.
SAUNA PARTY! XOXO.
Posted in B-days!
My other friend, Emily Cheney-Merrill, celebrated her birthday on Monday. Emily and I used to hang out all the freaking time. She lived just right down the street from me and I miss her house and yard so much.
We used to watch Mr. Bean all the time and can still do pretty good impressions of him. We also loved to play “Chicken Foot” (a game with dominoes) and “Monster” (an amazing game where you hide in the dark and scare each other. Seriously, it’s amazing.) We would also play Hummmble, dance to ABBA, make up dance moves to church songs, get F’s in chemistry class, and go on amazing trips together: San Diego, NYC, and East Canyon.
But one of my favorite moments in time was when Emily and I were in our high school’s choir. We were just like that show Glee only much gayer, if you can believe that. Emily and I would almost ALWAYS get paired-up together and make each other laugh SO hard. When we were in the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, we got paired-up, yet again, as husband and wife. In one scene we were supposed to pretend to be gardening, and we would plant tons of screws and laugh so hard at what we’d done: patting the soil at the base of each “plant”. It was hard to keep a straight face around Emily, and many times we got yelled at for it. Aw well.
Well, Emily. I miss you tons. I hope you had an amazing birthday!
Here is a pic of Emily with her family: CUTE.
Posted in B-days!
Last night I attended the 2010 University of Washington Design Exhibition and just as I expected, it was very impressive. It was also so fun to see old friends, classmates, and faculty members that made my time there so memorable.
The show goes on until June 19th, so go check it out. Click here for more information. I particularly enjoyed some of the projects by Josh, Kimberly, Ronald, Stephanie, and Tanya. Here are a few:
Posted in Design
I love animals and conservation. I also really love this immensely inspiring TED Talk by John Kasaona, from Namibia, who enlists people (some are even former poachers) in his community to help protect the land and endangered animals that they have abused in the past.
UPDATE:
I also wanted to attach this great talk by Jane Goodall about how booming African towns live side-by-side with threatened animals.
Watch ‘em!
Posted in Cute Animals, TED Talk
I finished reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog, a wonderful novel by Muriel Barbury, a few weeks ago and I loved it. Last week my friend, Erin, told me they made a movie about the book and that it was playing at SIFF. So Saturday afternoon I saw it and I liked it a lot too. It’s a French film called Le Hérisson, which means The Hedgehog, and it was a graceful movie that was touchingly subtle and sweet.
The story basically follows Renée Michel, a highly intelligent yet poor concierge of a bourgeois apartment complex, and Paloma, an unstable yet also highly intelligent young girl who lives with her family in the complex and counts down the days until her 13th birthday when she will commit suicide.
I hate it when people ruin books or movies by talking too much about them, but my final thought on this story is that it gave me an appreciation for the simple, beautiful moments in life that connect me to other people. The book is excellent; the movie is great. Check them both out, if you can.
It’s Emily Allen’s B-Day today and I had to say a few words. Firstly, she is amazing. Secondly, I love her. Thirdly, if I could make a baby with one girl, today, it would be her. She is so fun, talented, and beautiful. I took the photo below when we went on our 1 MPH hike in the amazing Hoh Rain Forest. (The hike was 2 miles, hence, 2 hours long. Unforgettable.)
Happy Birthday, Emily. I’ll think about you all day. That and a delicious cream cheese hot dog.
Posted in B-days!
I really really like this guy, Brian Skerry, and his photography. This TED talk is way sad in that he talks a lot about the corruption of the fishing industry. But it also features some gorgeous photography of the ocean and the creatures that live there.
Posted in Cute Animals, TED Talk
Well what can I say… I’m really sad today at the passing of one of the greatest ladies around, Rue McClanahan. In 2008 we lost Estelle, in 2009 we lost Bea, and here we are in 2010 losing Rue. If Betty dies in 2011, I’m going to give God a piece of my mind.
I knew Rue wasn’t feeling well, and that she had her health problems and all, but it was just too soon.
I’ll miss you, Rue! Blanche Devereaux forever!
Posted in Sad
I am probably one of COLORS magazine’s biggest fans. Last night a few of us got online to try this out and it really is incredible. Basically you hold up certain spreads of the magazine to your webcam and then it will show you a video of what the spread is about.
I’ve always been blown away with how COLORS is able to connect people all over the world to each other while highlighting stories of what makes us different and what makes us the same. I’m now blown away with their ability to combine print and web mediums to create a truly unique interactive experience. I’m kind of freaking out about it.
Posted in Design, Just for Fun
I wanted to give a personal shout out for the wonderful rebranding of 8th Continent Soymilk, particularly because of the lovely illustrations by Ben Javens. I’m normally not a huge fan of Futura, but it looks great here. I seriously might start drinking more soy milk because of this!
To see a more in depth look at the branding click here.
Posted in Design
I woke up on Saturday morning and before brunch, I watched Martin Scorsese’s 1974 flick, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore with Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, Harvey Keitel, Diane Ladd, and a very young Jodie Foster. It put me in such a good mood and I immediately fell in love with everything about it.
I used to watch “Alice” in the ’80s and I hadn’t realized that the movie it was based on is so effing amazing. Diane Ladd, as Flo, is classic and so is Kris Krishunkerson, but the movie truly belongs to Ellen Burstyn. She is magnetic. Oh, and she won an Oscar for this movie.
Check it out!
Posted in Movies
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