adios, 2007

i barely knew thee, two-thousand-and-seven.

new year's eve :: rockin' sf style

something new this year :: spending NYE at our friends JL+JP's place in san francisco. it was a last-minute trip; we basically invited ourselves over while JP was in a drunken stooper at the mermaid on christmas eve.

i'm really glad we went ... although i'm kind of afraid that maya's craziness may have scared JL+JP from someday having children of their own. for instance, maya dropped an entire plate of lemon bars on somebody's coach purse. and she randomly vomited in her sleep. fun times.

we didn't do any SF sightseeing since we were only there for a couple of days, and one of those days we were prepping for NYE dinner. in between basting the ham and trimming string beans, we played a lot of rock band. what can i say ... i luuuuurve that game!

playing many many songs prevented me from imbibing too much. after all, you have to stay sober to hit those notes. ;) i think we are gonna have to get the game when it comes out for the wii.

thanks JL+JP for hosting us! (JL makes a mean ham and rib roast, btw.)

merry christmas!

wishing you joy + happiness (and, yes, fun presents too) on this beautiful christmas day!
our kids were lucky to get so many fantastic presents again this year. highlights :: a real drum set for maya from our dear friends M, J + J; a tricycle for maya from her grandparents; a razor scooter for ian from my parents; legos and binoculars for ian; a yakamashii shirt by t&c for me from my sister; tons o' gift cards for jordan (and me) from his parents. thank you to everyone's generosity; we are truly blessed.

need a different christmas movie to watch?

check out tokyo godfathers.

bah, humbug!

i am soooooo not in the holiday spirit this year. it's just not coming to me, that happy, twinkly, excitedness. and i feel like it's getting harder and harder to be festive this time of year. it's so stressful, ya know? when did it stop being fun?? oh yeah ... when i had to start buying the presents.

this year rupert and i decided to donate to one of my favorite charities instead of buying gifts. this went over surprisingly well, but i'm not sure it's something i will do every year because, quite frankly, i think it cost more than buying gifts (i'm a bargain shopper, after all). however, in the true spirit of giving and reducing waste and clutter, donating to a worthy cause is really the way to go.

unfortunately, my mother did not seem to agree with this and asked that my sisters and i chip in to buy something in particular for my dad. her reasoning? they already donated a lot this year. huh? is there a limit to donating? i wasn't aware of that.

eventually, i'd like the kids to choose a cause to call their own and work towards raising awareness and/or money. i've been very bad about public service lately, and i'm aiming to make it a part of our lives in 2008. a couple of years ago ian chose habitat as his charity (this was after katrina) and earlier this year we donated to nothing but nets. it's all fine and dandy to donate money but that's the easy part. being an active participant in a cause is so much harder and takes dedication, something we currently lack as a family. there's so much more we can do ... and should do.

one of my rie friends, K, has a charity event at her house every year. this year they'll be collecting toys for spark of love, inspired by her son's love of fire engines. her kids are both under the age of 2, but it's so wonderful that she somehow includes them, even at this young age. we will definitely be attending; it'll be a great opportunity for ian to get involved because i'm sure it's something he can empathize with (what kid wouldn't be devastated if he lost all of his toys in a fire?). plus, K secretly encouraged us to donate all of those noisy christmas presents we don't want! hee!

hmmm, it appears i have digressed from my original post about the holidays. what was it that i wanted to say? now i can't remember ... i guess my point was supposed to be that the holidays are getting too materialistic. i'm no christian and i don't believe in jesus, but christmas sure has strayed from its original significance. even hanukkah, which is what our family celebrates, isn't supposed to be about the presents; i believe that's a relatively new tradition. in all honesty, as much as i like getting stuff, i'm over the presents and having to spend time and money on purchasing gifts. i would much rather spend time with my family sans gift-giving and count my blessings. (what? that's what thanksgiving is for? oh come on, work with me people!)

in conclusion :: the holidays are fun while you're a kid, but not so much once you're an adult.

the end.

he has talent ... it just needs to be cultivated

one of rupert's photos from our trip to nyc was chosen to be included in the schmap new york guide's section on the central park carousel. the editors found it on my flickr page and contacted me about its possible inclusion in the guide, and today i got news that it's in the new "edition." you can see it here in the upper right corner by scrolling through until you get to the photo above.

rupert wasn't particularly impressed with this particular photo, especially since i loaded it up to flickr without editing it. i just wish he was more confident in his photo-taking skills. i would love for him to take a class someday and really make photography a hobby.

speaking of which, i'll be taking a photography class with karen russell at scrapbook oasis in february. can't wait! and what a great motivator to get our dear camera fixed.

shop updated

my etsy shop has been updated with a few girlie tagE*blankEs. they make great gifts for baby showers or the holidays. [sorry for this shameless plug ... and the many more to follow.]

the shop is up and running ... sort of

as many of you know, i started making and selling tagE*blankEs in the spring. so many of you have supported this endeavor by either purchasing them and/or referring buyers to me ... thank you.

with everyone's encouragement i'm finally getting my act together to sell my products online. i'll have the tagEs and some stationery for sale at etsy, where crafters + artists sell their handmade goods. my site can be accessed @ sleepyheadpaper.etsy.com.


currently (12.2.07) i only have one item up (a holiday card), but i'm almost ready to update the shop with some girly tagEs.

i hope you get a chance to check it out and tell people about my little shop. :)

not my calling

for some crazy reason i was asked to photograph a wedding last night. no doubt about it, i was nervous about such a huge responsibility. i only took the job under the condition that i couldn't be held responsible for the results!

i do love taking pictures but i know nothing about the technicalities involved in professional photography. i read up a bit before the wedding, in hopes of gaining new skills, but i think that just made me more nervous and flustered.

and, sure enough, the outdoor pictures came out nicely but the indoor ceremony shots (of all things) came out not-so-good. i feel so horrible about not getting good pictures of their important moments. thankfully, i know other people were taking pictures of what i botched, but that doesn't minimize the guilt i feel for accepting money for a job not-well-done.

on top of all of that my beloved camera stopped working half way through the reception! i desperately called rupert to have him look through the manual but there was nothing in there about what the camera was doing. so i had to borrow a point-and-shoot digital camera and i'm really not sure how well those pictures came out. i was lucky that the bride was not a bridezilla and totally rolled with the punches about the technical difficulties.

in any case, i just wanted to congratulate O+A on their marriage, to thank them for using me as their photographer, and to apologize for messing it up!

p.s. rupert was is upset that our camera is not working properly ... especially today of all days :: maya's second birthday.

a little treat for me + maya

i had reason to go to plaza el segundo near my house today and i broke down and bought myself a pinkberry for the first time.

the second i tasted it i knew this was my kind of flavor. it was distinctly reminiscent of the japanese drinkable yogurt i love so much. but the more i tasted it i realized it wasn't just that. it also tastes like calpico (or, calpis, as it's known in japan).

i got mine plain with no toppings, and even the small was large enough for me and maya. for $2.50 it wasn't bad ... i think i'll be heading back over there with ian (who's a calpico fan) real soon.

here's what we'll be doing tonight

we'll be sitting in the dark for one hour tonight, from 8 to 9pm, to support lights out la.

rupert often rolls his eyes (not to my face, though) when i hear about eco-friendly ideas for us to do. he's not completely happy with my composting (it attracts fruit flies), he sighs when i yell at him to recycle every last scrap of paper that passes through his hands, and he worries about our bank account when i pledge to buy more organic and local foods.

but i think it's important to do what we can and to teach the kids how easily we can adopt eco-living. we can't, and we won't, go completely green; however, it's crucial that we take action in the areas we're willing to make changes.

from what i can tell rupert has that "what can one family do?" mindset. and that is clearly the very first thing we can change. by making an effort to change the future, i am attempting to make the world not so bleak for the kids. and if i instill that mindset and way of living into ian and maya, hopefully they will do their part to make my grandkids' world a better place. i am hoping that rupert understands why i want us to be proactive on this front. when we change our lives, we change the lives of others. when we show others how easy it is to make changes, and they adopt those changes, even one family can make a difference.

anyway, back to lights out la :: it's only one hour on one night. it really isn't a huge sacrifice (although rupert did ask if the tv counted as "light"!). if we throw away that "what can one family do?" mentality and just do it we're well on our way to helping our community.

so, flip that switch at 8pm ... go for a night walk, light some candles for a romantic evening, turn in early, tell ghost stories. do something different for 60 minutes. it may very well be the first hour of the rest of your eco-friendly lifetime.

blog action day :: think globally, eat locally

okay, so i had this long-ish post for blog action day. the theme this year is the environment, not surprisingly. but i was really unhappy with where the post was going and the writing was just not coming to me. so here's a quick recap of what i was trying to say ::

agribusiness farming methods = bad
transporting food from all over = bad
organic food = good
local + organic foods = better

how does that relate to the environment? read about local foods here and here. [i got the idea for this post from reading animal, vegetable, miracle by barbara kingsolver. thanks to my bil's girlfriend for recommending i read it.]

p.s. i enjoyed where ali edwards took her blog action day post :: can scrapbooking be green? being a paper whore i'm starting to feel extremely guilty about the amount of paper and packaging that goes into my hobby.

[10.17.07 update :: you have to check out the statistics from blog action day. over 23,000 posts were written specifically for the day. amazing.]

link round-up :: 10.07

just getting ready to do some re-organizing around here ...

kid lit & librarian blogs

• blyberg.net



• fuse #8



• the jjk blog



• library thing



• mother reader



• the shifted librarian

other blogs

• dooce



• the delicious life LA-based food blog



• floating world views



• gaijin mama



• julius' travels in the south



• ramen love in japanese



• watashi to tokyo

planners + organization

• diy planner



• full contact geek ultimate pocket notebook



• mcgill mini file tab punch



• russel+hazel



• see jane work :: pulling it together

stuff that intrigues me

• wow! wow! wubbzy! on nick jr.



• fruit salad tee by loyal army

i {heart} robots

• bam pop! vol. 2 12x12 sb paper



• hot dog robot print



• jackpot robot pendant



• my pet human tee



• pink retro robot pendant



• robot love buttons



• robot speak buttons



• spillbot digital print

gimme gimme

• alton brown dvd set



• autumn leaves designing with type



• autumn leaves designing with paper



• heidi swapp mini iron



• stampin' up 'it's a date' set



• the roomba



• saru*rururu stuffed animal

changes are a-brewin'

today is rupert's first day of school; he starts his phd program at ucla in social research methodology. doesn't it sound riveting? it's in the education department but i don't know what exactly he'll be studying (much like his job at the school district).

being the worrier that he is, he's already stressed out about it ... and he still has four or five more years to go! the first day of school for me was always exciting, even in graduate school. new school supplies, the syllabus, making new friends (and enemies) -- it was always a fresh start.

so i've decided to make october our fresh start month. the plan is to implement small changes around here to make this transitional time easier for everyone. i think this will mean a huge effort on my part but i'm hoping, at the same time, that it will be a motivator for me :: to get off my ass and do whatever is necessary to support rupert as he starts a new chapter in his life.

let's see how things progress, shall we?

[no picture today because rupert absolutely refused to let me take a picture of him before he left for campus. he's a party-pooper.]

my dear

[click on image for details]

i started this layout at my friend J's crop last weekend. i realized i've done a lot of anniversary layouts ... more than the kids' birthday layouts! the "my dear" letterpress card is from hello lucky and it looks really yellow in the scan, but it's actually green.

i don't know if i should add more journaling ... i was trying to layer stickers but i'm not sure i accomplished the right amount of layering; it looks a little skimpy to me. what do you think?

penguins

[click on picture for more info]

why my children are just like their father ...

they can't find anything even when it's right in front of their faces.

maya :: "where baby (her doll) go?" --> it's sitting on the couch right in front of her face.

ian :: "i can't find my french homework." --> after 10 minutes of looking through all the crap in his room, and rupert going to the car to look for it, it was right next to his french folder right in front of his face. i found it in less than 10 seconds.

rupert :: "where's _______ [fill in the blank here because there are too many things he can't find that are right in front of his face.]?"

argentina day 3 :: puerto piramides + peninsula valdes :: august 26, 2007

we both slept better (we must've been really tired), and i even woke up before our wake-up call (which we've had to rely on since the hotels here don't have clocks in the rooms). breakfast at the hotel was buffet style with what we've come to recognize as very argentinian morning staples :: coffee, tea, yogurt, fruit salad, ham + cheese, medialunas + assorted pastries. i, of course, had the medialunas. this buffet also had scrambled eggs and bacon, which i filled up on. i also found yerba mate in a tea bag, which i took as a souvenir. (i found out later it's not real mate.)


the tour bus picked us up at 8.30am (with a bunch of other spanish-speaking tourists), and we drove quite a long distance to puerto pirámides at the end of the isthmus right before the actual peninsula. it's a very cute village known for whale-watching and diving. there are only six authorized whale-watching boat operatores and they are only allowed to have one of their boats out at a time. this helps to protect the whales and it's never crowded out in the water.


our one-hour whale-watching boar ride was another thrilling experience. the boat itself is not very large and sits fairly low in the water, so when the whales come up to the boat -- and they come really close -- you could almost reach out and touch them (but you're not allowed to).


like yesterday we saw lots of moms and calves, sometimes a couple of sets together. carina, our guide, had told us they were very curious, and sure enough, if we stopped the boat for awhile they whales would come up to us. once again i couldn't stop taking pictures. and i think the whales like getting their picture taken.
they would show us their wide tails, glide by the boat over and over, stick out their heads high, and swim under the boat.



the water is fairly clear so you could see the white of their bellies and their tails underwater as they swam next to us. i was amazed by their size and gentleness the entire time.

after we left puerto pirámides it was another long ride to punta delgada at the southeastern point of península valdés, where the elephant seals and our hotel are. Y and i were glad our tour included a night's stay here because everyone else on our bus was returning to puerto madryn that day. península valdés is larger and farther than we had expected; because of the road conditions it's a good two-hour drive back to the city.


we first had lnch at the hotel. the lamb i ordered was really good; we saw it being grilled over an open fire right in the restaurant. we ordered a side of mashed potatoes but we probably should've orderd a salad since we were not eating a lot of veggies on this trip.


afterwards we trekked down the cliff for the main attraction :: the elephant seals. the males were just arriving on shore to wait for the females, but it wasn't high season yet so we were able to walk near them. needless to say, they are gigantic! we saw some females and they are considerably smaller than the males.


you can only get so close to these huge animals; the rule is to stay at least 20 meters away. most of the time the males are quite still to preserve energy, so they don't pose a huge threat to us. but you could kind of see that they were weary of our presence. (when a larger tour group came down they were getting really close to one of the males and he moved away into the water.)

some of the large males cried out really loudly; it almost sounded like a lion roaring. the ones in the water would also blow bubbles with their large noses. although these males were just lying there you could see they had bloody scratch marks from fighting.

the elephant seals weren't the only animals we saw. some sea lions were sunbathing on a rock nearby. according to roxana, our guide from the hotel, elephant seals and sea lions coexist quite peacefully. (we saw this later at a different beach where the two were swimming side by side.) sadly, we also saw a beached whale and a couple of dead penguins.

during high season the beach is covered with elephant seals and the males are much more aggressive because they are trying to mate. had we come then we wouldn't have been able to walk so close to them.

our hotel is the faro punta delgada, an old navy building and still-used lighthouse. it turns out we are the only guests staying at the hotel that night! we have the whole place to ourselves, which is almost a very odd feeling. roxana also said that they've only had a handful of americans stay here since she started working here. the guest registry showed that most guests are from europe. that was very weird to us because this is such a tranquil place and there is so much nature to admire. instead of rushing through on a day trip i'm really glad we have extra time to explore and relax.

roxana took us on a drive to the edge of the property at sundown (after Y and i saw the top of the lighthouse). the employees and people from nearby estancias were happy beachse they had just caught and killed a feral dog that had been terrorizing sheep. carina had mentioned this dog on our drive over, saying it had killed 60 sheep just for the sake of killing. roxana said that number had gone up to 100.

the owner and some employees were on horseback when we happened upon them on our drive. they were the ones who had found and captured the dog. the horse the owner was riding was a beautiful reddish brown; its build was stockier and thicker than other horses i'd seen before. we're supposed to go horseback riding in the morning so we'll have to see if we can ride the patagonian way.

dinner wasn't going to be served until 8pm so we stuck around the main building to wait. after browsing the gift shop, alejandra, an employee, showed us the pub, which is also the game room. we played pool and alejandra and martin, another employee, asked if they could join us. with so few guests they probably didn't have a lot to do. it was really fun playing with the locals and becoming friendly with them.

dinner was also strange because there was only one table set ... just for us. the rest of the dining room was empty. they even built a fire in the wood burning stove behind us.

i had a risoto de mariscos with local seafood and Y had spinach ravioli. the homemade flan i had afterwards was also really good. as we walked to our room we could see the night sky filled with stars we can't see in the northern hemisphere.

argentina day 3 :: puerto madryn :: august 25, 2007

it was indeed difficult to get up at 4am, especially after a night of restless sleep and a runny nose. but we got ready in plenty of time and went to the 24-hour farmacia around the corner from the hotel so Y could get something to calm her nerves. i only mention this because the pharmacy is not actually open.

after 1am you have to buzz the night service button. the pharmacist comes out with what you need after you tell her through the intercom. there's a tiny window that she can pass the item through. the pharmacist must've been sleeping because she came out kinda grouchy and seemed annoyed when we left without buying anything.

anyway, we go to jorge newbery airport, which looks new and modern. it was still dark out but as we drove by the airport there were little foodstands open along the road. it looked like they were cooking meat and there were some people waiting in line already.

the check-in area at the airport was a little chaotic (argentines don't seem to care much for lines) but the waiting area in the terminal is very nice. we ate our breakfast (medialunas and juice we bought the night before at a little bakery) and then i totally conked out before the plane even left the ground. i woke up just as we landed in trelew.


the drive to puerto madryn was on a two-lane highway through vast deserty low hills. the scenery reminded us of driving through some of california's deserts. the city itself is much larger than we expected and the residential outskirts reminded Y of mexico.


our hotel, the bahia nueva, is on the main street (av. julio a. roca) along the beach of golfo nuevo. we did a little exploring along this stretch and got our first glimpse of the whales in the gulf from the shore.


because we'd been traveling since so early in the day we were quite hungry, but it was still around 11am, waaaaay too early for an argentine lunch. but, thankfully, the lizard cafe was open. this is where i begin to notice that argentines like their ham + cheese sandwiches! in my opinion, the sandwich we had here was a bit better because it had chopped hard boiled egg in it.

our driver (from ryans travel, our local tour agency) told us there were optional tours in the afternoon, so we made our way back to the hotel after lunch. we quickly peeked into the local mall (where i later bought a hat because it's colder (i.e., windier) than expected) and got a map at the tourist office.

our two optional tours were to punta loma and el doradillo beach. luckily there were no other tourists booked and we got a private tour.


punta loma is south of the city, and most of the way you have to drive on an unpaved sandy/gravely road. it's a nature reserve (admission is 20 pesos ) where you can see the sea lions year-round. i had the impression that we could get pretty close to the colony but the viewing deck is actually on top of a cliff and you look down on them in the cove. we also saw a large flock of cormorants on the cliffs and one lone penguin in the water (it was still too early to see the thousands of penguins that descend on this area in september). maybe because we were so far away these sea lions weren't as loud as the ones at san francisco bay.


we also saw wild flamingos on the beach on the way back towards town.

el doradillo beach is north of town just as the road heads toward península valdés. it was truly an amazing experience watching the whales swimming right off the beach. the southern right whales are in this area from june to december.


you don't need a boat or even binoculars to see them. they come so close to the beach that you're tempted to wade out and touch them; the closest ones aren't even 50 feet away from where you're standing! and it's not just one or two whales, but like ten in your immediate vicinity.


the ones close to shore show their fins while rolling over in the water (these fins are often mistaken for orca dorsal fins), and spout water and air out of their blowholes (loudly!).


the ones farther out show their tails for long periods of time, sometimes staying really still and other times sort of swaying back and forth as if they were waving.


we went to several different spots along this stretch of beach and everywhere we went the whales were doing something worthy of 100 pictures :: moms and calves were frolicking and nuzzling; a playful young whale breached multiple times; and lone whales would roll and swim in circles. i know my pictures won't do the experience justice, but i couldn't stop pushing the shutter.


there's an observation platform (and shack) up on the cliff near the northern end where biologists observe and count the whales. from here you can see the long stretch of beach and the many whales in the water (and human observers standing on the sand). when we were there a biologist was listening for the whales via an underwater microphone.

i'm not really much of a nature person but this was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. i was in a state of excitement the whole time we were watching the whales. i just wanted to sit there all day and marvel at them.


in the evening we were starving but (once again) disappointed to find out that restaurants don't open for dinner until 8pm. i wanted to try local seafood but the only restaurant really open (besides the cafes) was the hamburger joint at the mall. so, my first fast food experience here was a chicken sandwich at "mostaza."


the sunset we saw from the pier was really tranquil and it was kinda odd to see the sun set into the hills, rather than into the ocean.