Life with The Reads in Los Angeles

Third Anniversary: Where does the time go?

2010-02-18T15:38:00.000-08:00

Another anniversary has come and gone for Tim and I and I can barely tell you where the time has gone.

Yesterday was much like any other day in February which has been busy. Tim has been up to his neck in work and I have been running around doing errands, helping friends, volunteering and occasionally doing work.

Last night we put the laptops, iphones and other electronics aside and went out to dinner at Ford's Filling Station in Culver City. The food was yummy and the company as always lovely. Afterward, we stopped at Cafe Ugo because we had spied they had a gelato bar (my kind of bar) and each got a little gelato. It was a warm Los Angeles night and it was so nice to be together and just talk and laugh and forget about all the stuff that may or may not need to get done. A perfect way to celebrate 3 years of marriage.

Next, in our crazy lives is a long weekend to Sin City. Unlike our 1 year anniversary trip in which our flight to Las Vegas was a comedy of errors, we are taking all of Friday off and flying out in the morning to hopefully avoid last minute craziness and LA's Friday night traffic. We'll let you know.

For now we are so thankful for each other keeping the other sane in these hectic times.

Year Two | Month Eleven

2010-01-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

Last month, we traveled to St. Louis to spend Christmas with Tim's family. It was a lot of fun, though cold. We ate our body weights in homemade chex mix and lounged by the fire. It was quite relaxing.

We had a low key New Year's Eve which is our preference. We don't like to be out on the roads with all the people deciding to try their hands at getting a DUI as their new year's resolution. So we had an early dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant,Sasabune. Then we headed home and watched The Hangover which we missed in theaters over the summer. It definitely wheted our appetite for a Las Vegas trip in the near future. Though hopefully not as crazy as the movie.

In the New Year, Tim and I have high hopes and aspirations. Only time will tell if they will come to fruition.

Year Two | Month Ten

2009-11-10T22:11:00.001-08:00

Tim & I on the Bart to the East Bay
Originally uploaded by cebread

Life has been busy. The rest of the summer flew by! So did Fall for that matter.

Tim had to go up to San Francisco for work and I had just completed a contract project so I decided to go with and also get the chance to see my sister, brother in law and adorable nephew.

We spent 2 night in SF. The first day, Tim worked all day and I explored SF until I was too tired to walk around anymore. Then I went to Topspin's SF office and watched Cannonball Run with Tim's coworkers. We then went to the House of Prime Rib. The meal was decent minus the live bug I found in my salad. But all was forgiven when the 81 year old "owner" came to our table to apologize and stole a kiss on the cheek.

On Friday, Tim went to work and I headed to East Bay to hang with my sister. I came back to the city and Tim and I had a decent dinner at Burger Bar before being too exhausted to explore the city further.

Saturday we headed out to the East Bay and stayed with my sister and brother in law and spent lots of time hanging with our nephew who has so much energy I wish I could bottle it up and sell it.

Coming up on our calenders are Royskopp concert, Friend's Thanksgiving, regular Thanksgiving and Christmas with Tim's family in Illinois.

We are almost at the 3 year mark and it feels like just yesterday that Tim was suggesting we go to Robbins Brothers to look for an engagement ring.

Second Year | Month Five

2009-07-21T14:48:00.001-07:00

Stumptown Coffee
Originally uploaded by cebread

Tim and I took a vacation up to Portland, Oregon. Though the weather was a little warm a few days we had a lot of fun. Portland is beautiful and green. It also has things Tim and I love like espresso, huge bookstores and indy record stores.

We had a lot of fun exploring and also relaxing at our hotel. It was a good time to reboot.

Second Year | Month Five

2009-07-07T20:47:00.001-07:00

End of the night
Originally uploaded by cebread

For the 4th of July long weekend, Tim and I hung out like bumps on a log or rather Reads on a couch.

On July 5th, we rolled out to our old neighborhood, Hollywood to go to the Hollywood Bowl to see Death Cab for Cutie with the LA Phil. It was a great concert including the opening act, Tegan & Sara, who we also love.

The photo is from the finale in which the fireworks went off in time with Death Cab for Cutie's song Transatlanticism. It was an awesome closer. Here is a youtube video that someone else (I don't know) took: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq2AKBabiUY

Next up: Braces off for me and a trip to Portland for both of us.

Second Year| Month Four

2009-06-27T19:15:00.001-07:00

Coolhaus Truck
Originally uploaded by cebread

June wasn't very eventful.

After our joint birthday celebration with friends, Tim and I celebrated my birthday with Prime Rib at an LA institution, Lawry's Prime Rib. It was a lot of fun and delicious.

Since then things have been pretty quiet. Except that I decided to try and start my own practice. Things are moving along with that and we'll see in a few months if it continues. For now, I am happy.

We have also been spending lots of time hanging out together, which is awesome. The picture is from our trip tracking down the Cool Haus truck which is one of many "food trucks" a new trend in LA. They sell yummy custom ice cream sandwiches. And since we tracked them down in Santa Monica it wasn't much of a heartship.

Next month - Death Cab for Cutie at the Hollywood Bowl and more.

Two Year| Month Three: We're Thirty!

2009-05-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

Since February Tim & I have been very busy. In March we went to Mill Valley to see friends get married. In April we worked hard. And on May 18, Tim became an adult...or at least turned 30. Since I will be following behind him shortly. So last night we enjoyed a fine meal at Lula's in Santa Monica and did a very short pub crawl because we are no longer 21 years old. Yes, it was something that definitely aided in showing are age.

Second Anniversary: On Wednesday

2009-02-17T21:30:00.001-08:00

Do You Guys?
Originally uploaded by cebread

Two years ago, Tim and I stood up before everyone we loved (and could make it all the way to California in February) and promised to love each other more each day.

Then we smashed cupcakes in each others faces and ate mini burritos.

Today, Tim had to go to the dentist because his temporary crown broke. And I had to go to work to try and wrangle expert depositions. Not quite as much fun as getting married.

But we were still happy because when we came home from long days at work and dental care we had each other.

As we start towards are third anniversary, we will continue to have stumbling blocks, tribulations, good times and amazing moments but most importantly...we will have each other.

One Year | Month Eleven: Lovely LA Weather

2009-01-18T17:54:00.001-08:00

Nice Day for a Beer or a Soda
Originally uploaded by cebread

December was a whirl wind for Tim and I.
Lots of work prior to the holidays.
Tim and I started a monthly podcast called Candy is Dandy (found at candyisdandy.net) .
Then a weekend up in San Fran for the Topspin Christmas Party.
Then a week plus in Columbus for Christmas and New Year's/my mom's birthday.

December was a whole lot of busy and therefore we neglected our blogging duties here.

January we have been keeping it low key, resting up from the fun but hectic holiday season.

The past two weekends we have been experiencing unusually warm weather even for Los Angeles. Today Tim and I went out to Venice Beach and walked along the beach, looking at street vendors and enjoying the sun. On our way back to the car we stopped at Fig Tree's Cafe for a snack and some cold beverages.

Hoping all everyone's 2009 is starting off in lovely ways.

One Year| Month Ten - Happy Thanksgiving!!

2008-11-30T18:51:00.001-08:00

Cecilie's Plate of Thanksgiving Goodness
Originally uploaded by cebread

Hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving.

Since Tim and I have a busy December coming up, including going to Columbus, Ohio for Christmas and my mom's birthday we opted for a relaxing Thanksgiving at home in Pacific Palisades.

We cooked a Turkey Breast and hwatched the Pixar movie Wall-E which was adorable!

Also took the time, as is tradition after Thanksgiving, to decorate for Christmas and do some Christmas shopping. (We're almost done with shopping!)

Check out our living Christmas tree here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cebread/3073165044/

One Year | Month Nine - Jetlag

2008-10-27T20:37:00.001-07:00

Anpanman (アンパンマン)
Originally uploaded by tmread

Cecilie and I have uploaded our photos to Flickr -- Cecilie's also included some interesting videos. Please check them out -- when we're less jet-lagged, we will have more posting. Until then, the photos express far more than we could right now in words.

Cecilie's Japan Photo Set
Tim's Japan Photo Set

Picture of the Day - Day 6- Hōzōmon gate at Sensō-Ji Temple, Asakusa

2008-10-23T02:29:00.001-07:00

Hōzōmon gate at Sensō-Ji Temple, Asakusa
Originally uploaded by tmread

Today was our last full day here in Tokyo.
We went to Asakusa to see the Senso-Ji Temple and buy some final gifts to take home.

Tomorrow fly back to LA and return before we even left (due to the date line). Its been an unreal week and I think I will miss Tokyo once I am gone.

Picture of the Day - Day 5- Rush Hour at Shinjuku Station

2008-10-22T04:38:00.001-07:00

Rush Hour at Shinjuku Station
Originally uploaded by tmread

Evening rush hour at Shinjuku Station. Thankfully, this is our "home" station so we could just watch the rush.

Picture of the Day- Day 4- Feeding Time in Ueno Park

2008-10-21T03:01:00.001-07:00

Feeding Time in Ueno Park
Originally uploaded by tmread

The rough life of stray cats at Ueno Park in Tokyo.

Picture of the Day - Day 3- Prayers at Meiji-Jingu

2008-10-20T15:17:00.001-07:00

Prayers at Meiji-Jingu
Originally uploaded by tmread

Yesterday in the afternoon we went to Meiji-Jingu (Meiji Shrine). This is a photo of devotions people leave. Its a small wooden envelope and you put money in it and write your prayer. There were prayers written in all different languages.

Picture of the Day - Day 2 - Shinjuku Arthcitecture

2008-10-19T14:29:00.001-07:00

Shinjuku Architecture
Originally uploaded by tmread

Here is some of the skyline in Shinjuku where we are staying. The round building on the right is called the Cocoon Building. Seems appropriate.

One Year| Month Nine: Lost in Translation

2008-10-18T03:24:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Tim and I have been planning a trip to Japan for a very long time.

Here we are in Japan! Tokyo specifically, even more specifically Shinjuku.

We got in last night (which was Friday here in Japan). Today has been our first full day. Tim's friend and former El Angeleno, Jac joined us and took us tons of places.

Since I am tired (still jet lagged) and am hoping to drag Tim out for some ice cream or something, this will be a brief entry.

We are planning to post a picture of a day and once we return to LA we will do a full recounting of the trip.

link to Tim's flickr

The picture above is from when we went to Tsukiji Fish Market and got sushi for breakfast. I know it sounds strange but 1)Our time clocks are all messed up 2)it is not uncommon in Japan. For some reason I was the lucky recipient of the smallest piece of sushi in the world.

If you are curious about what we are up to further, you can check our twitters which post to this page.

More later.

One Year| Month Six: Top of the World

2008-07-20T18:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend was pretty mellow. Tim and I took Timon, the wayward intern at TopSpin out for sushi on Friday night. Timon is still in college and yet is far smarter than Tim and I combined. He is a math major if that gives you any hint.

Then Saturday Tim headed out to see Dark Knight. I could tell from the previews it was going to creep me out. I will wait for it on DVD when I can pause it etc.

And Sunday we reserved to spend together. But today when it came we had no idea what we wanted to do. And Tim had the bright idea to head to Temescal Gateway Park up the street from us and do a little hiking. We had done this once before and liked it. There was an elusive waterfall trail that the prior time we had somehow missed.

Tim decided to test out his new GPS device for his camera. It allows feed information into each photo letting you know EXACTLY where in the world it was taken.

We were meandering up the trial and talked to a guy on the trail who said that getting to the top was ideal for photographs. As he said "A tripe Nikon" moment. We were already a little winded and doubted we would make it to the "top."

But as you can see from the picture we did. It was gorgeous. It was a bit hazy so we could not see all the way to downtown but being able to see the ocean and Century City all in one view was still amazing and well worth the hike up. Thankfully, what comes up must come down and going down a mountain is far easier than walking up.

Our muscles were a little jiggly afterward but I think we will be okay. We'll see how things are tomorrow morning. We would like to start hiking more. First, I need to get some better hiking shoes. I wore my chuck taylor converse. Not exactly serious hiking shoes, what with no cushioning or traction. I think a trip to REI is in my future.

Check out all of Tim's pictures from the hike here. Also check out the map of the pictures. It gives you a rough idea of our route.

One Year | Month Six: The Who

2008-07-14T20:58:00.000-07:00

A few months ago Tim was passed some secret information about this concert that would involve Foo Fighters, Flaming Lips, Pearl Jam and The Who.

Well, it was exactly secret...and he wasn't so much "passed" the information as emailed about it through the Pearl Jam fan club. So he told me about the concert and asked if I would like to go? And as I like all four of the above mentioned bands I said sure. The best part is it wasn't someplace far away or difficult to access from our home near the ocean. It was the VH1 Rock Honors.

Saturday, July 12 came. In preparation for the event we visited the dentist in the morning because everyone knows The Who were big proponents of good dental hygiene back in the day. Okay, not really, it was just a fluke. But it didn't hurt, you never know who you might meet.

That night we rolled out to UCLA. Traffic to park was not bad at all. It turns out UCLA knows how to deal with big crowds of people.

We got to the Pauley Pavillion around 7p. An hour before the show was to start. It was a good thing because that was around the same time the other million people there to see the concert showed up. And all of us had to filter through four or five metal detectors. While we waited we did some people watching. There was every group represented in the crowd, young and old there to see The Who et al. There was also a WIDE range of dress. We saw women in practically ball gowns to men in cargo shorts and flip flops. It was crazy. Tim and I were in our usual casual attire of jeans and tee shirts. Keep it simple for a concert after all.

We bustled into our seats and were excited to find though we were high up from the floor we had an excellent view of the stage. I was thankful I finally broke down and got contacts so that I could see far. We sat back and waited for the show to start.

First, David Duchovny introduced the Foo Fighters. Not sure how he and The Who go together but whatever. Foo Fighters came out and were rocking from first note. They did Bargain and Young Man Blues.

A set up was rolled out including a pinball machine that clearly indicated some Tommy was going to be played was rolled out. As well as a large plastic bubble with a person in it. (But who was inside?!) Rainn Wilson took Elton John's part in introducing The Flaming Lips. The lead singer was in the giant plastic ball and used it to surf the crowd. It was very cool. The Flaming Lips did a Tommy Medley. I was a little disappointed that Eyesight to Blind was not part of it. But the theater dork in my was pleased with any part of Tommy being performed.

Then Incubus played. Neither Tim or I are Incubus fans and they didn't do a great job at their cover of The Who. They did "I can See for Miles" and "I can't explain." Both were okay but weren't as good as the prior to bands. Tim and I had a lengthy discussion after the concert of other bands that would have been a good replacement for Incubus.

Tenacious D did Squeeze Box which was perfect for them. And they did it well.

Then Pearl Jam was up. Pearl Jam covers tons of The Who songs in their own concerts so Tim and I had been speculating about which songs they would cover. The first was "Love Reign O'er Me" which was so powerful and I got teary. Then they did "The Real Me." Which was also great.

And then, last but not least, The Who. They did 9 songs so I can't comment on each one but those guys can still rock it! Due to high corporate aspect of the concert (being thrown by VH1) there was NO encore. So unlike most concerts where people come out at least once for one more song, the show seemed to be over very abruptly. It was good nonetheless.

And then Tim and I headed home, our ears still ringing a little but pleased to check another awesome band off our "To See Live" list.

If you feel left out that you didn't get to go to the concert you can catch it on VH1 this Thursday July 17, 2008 and probably many months to come.

One Year | Tuesday: 英語が解りますか?

2008-06-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

Not much happening around our apartment lately -- Being pictured (in the upper left hand part of a brief article on Wired, Topspin coming out of stealth mode, an article (and cover) of Billboard Magazine -- very routine lately.

So we decided to keep the week low-key and tonight booked our travel to Japan. We will be staying in Shinjuku (a ward of Tokyo) and flying in on Singapore Airlines. At this point, we don't have much planned -- we may meet up with my friend Jack Suzuki who I used to work with at THQ before he moved to Japan; we're considering a trip to Kyoto while we're there, and checking out a shrine or more -- possibly the Meiji Shrine. Of course, there's all kinds of other stuff to check out... exploring Shinjuku, going to Akihabara, Tsukiji fish market for an omakase sushi meal, and so much more.

Though we're very excited, it also makes us a bit nervous: this isn't exactly a trip to, say, Seattle... and there's that whole language thing. But, we've got Pimsleur CDs and some books to get us up on the important things. You know, "My husband ate some bad tuna, I think he needs an ambulance." "Help, I cannot get my wife to quit playing pachinko." And, of course: 英語が解りますか. (Do you understand English?)

As the trip draws nearer, we'll certainly have more to say... but for now, just getting the tickets booked and airfare set, that's just another dull day here in the Palisades. Hopefully a week in Japan in October will be just a bit different.

One Year | Month Five: Topspin's 1st Birthday

2008-06-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

I realize a lot of people aren't completely sure what Tim does for a living. This is evidenced in my mom's explanation of "he works with computers."

The last year and handful of months Tim has been working for a start up called Topspin. And even I can't always really explain what the company is but if you check the site, the CEO does an excellent job of explaining (which is likely why he is the CEO and not me.)

The culmination of the last year is that Topspin is featured on the cover of Billboard magazine (that is the CEO on the skateboard). And in honor of all these amazing accomplishments and reaching the one year mark, there was a party.

Last night, Tim and I dolled ourselves up and rolled out to Venice to Air Conditioned Lounge for the big night. When we arrived the bouncers outside informed us "there was a private event" to which we said "we know, we are here for it." Grudgingly, we were permitted enterance.

The inside was really cool with huge booths for sitting and cool bars. I got to meet the various Topspin team members who I had heard so much about. Meet one of the founders (and the creator of Pro Tools) Peter Gotcher and his wife.

It was nice to celebrate the accomplishments of the company as Tim has put so much time and effort, sweat and tears into the company. And I think this is only just the beginning.

The best part of the night for me, was each time I met one of Tim's co-workers, they would tell me how awesome Tim was and how he made their lives better and kept them sane. And all I could say is "he does that for me too." I am so proud and gratful I am his wife and get to be by his side for all these amazing milestones.

Happy Birthday, Topspin!

One Year | Month Four: Trip to Seattle

2008-05-12T19:43:00.000-07:00

Tim and I left on Friday for a long weekend in Seattle.
The big question we got before our trip was “Why Seattle?”

Admittedly, Seattle is not a tropical vacation spot. Its pretty much known for being gray and rainy. But Tim and I wanted to go because I really liked the city and haven’t been there in over 8 years. And Tim had always been interested in visiting the city in light of its connections with music among other things.

And so in honor of our 29 birthdays which are both shortly coming up, we decided to take a vacation.

Friday we left on Virgin America. We stayed at the luxurious, W Hotel. Which was so much reasonable since Seattle is NOT tropical.

Friday

I dragged Tim over to Pike Place Market for lunch. After looking around about we ate at the Athenian Inn and then got coffee at the Original Starbucks. Probably much to Tim’s annoyance I decided to say “Oh look at Starbucks!” all weekend which exist every block in Seattle.

We went to Dinner at Purple and had awesome Tapas and drinks. It was soooo neat looking inside!

Saturday

After searching for some breakfast. We jumped on the monorail to Seattle Center. Where we took the amazing (and slightly scary) elevator up to the top of the Space Needle.

We then went to the Experience Music Project which was awesome! I learned how to play Louie! Louie! And we got to see Dave Grohl’s Drum Set.

After resting up at the hotel (as Angelenos we are not used to so much walking!) we headed to Pioneer Square. So many neat stores there.

We had yummy steak at a place called Union Square Grill where they willingly gave us the complete recipe for the BEST mashed potatoes Tim and I have ever had.

Sunday

We got up and were told about this place that had “all you can eat” waffles. With the turtle like speed meant that getting more than one waffle was a majority of the morning. We decided the place was more “all you care to eat.”

We walked around Pike Place Market and through an area called Belltown.

We finally experienced the Seattle rain which is more like someone rudely spitting on you.

We considered going to the Seattle Art Museum, but the cost was rather expensive, we browsed the museum store instead. Which is free.

Later when the weather improved, we walked along the water front enjoying how in Seattle, it stays light far later that in LA.

Today we headed back to LA. Luckily there were two seats in first class and Virgin’s upgrade is VERY affordable. And SO worth it. Reclining chairs and food that was some of the best of our whole weekend.

Now we are home, recharged and ready to head into a short work week.

One Year | Month Three: Birthday Season Begins

2008-04-12T23:37:00.000-07:00

For some reason Tim and I have an unusually high concentration of friends with birthdays in the April to June months. Due to this, we tend to spend a good deal of these months out at dinners and other birthday related events.

To kick off the birthday season this year, we went out to dinner with our friends Steve and Sophia to a lovely tapas/wine bar called Tasca in honor of Steve's birthday.

Every dish we had was tasty. We ate everything from beef carpaccio to Moules frites. My personal favorite was the zucchini blossoms stuffed with crab. I was the designated driver and also was the only one who is not into wine. But everyone else enjoyed many allegedly good wines and ports with dessert.

We then rolled over to Urth for lattes (espresso for Tim and and I; chai for Steve and Sophia). We discussed pressing issues like why U2 and the Beastie Boys are overplayed and the contents of my purse.

The last stop of the evening was Steve and Sophia's apartment to view funny youtube videos.

We had to take our leave due to Tim's impending trip to San Fran. It is earlier than usual this week for a full company meeting to meet the new CEO.

Next weekend is another celebration because our friends Greg and Angela got married!

One Year | Month Two: Preparations for a BIG trip

2008-03-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

Tim and I are planning a big trip. We have been thinking about this trip since before we got married actually.

It is a trip to Japan. Why Japan? Why not, Japan? Tim and I both think it seems interesting and culturally, it seems far more different from the U.S. than places in Europe. So we have been researching when the best time to go would be and what we should see.

Currently, we are shooting to go for a week in October 2008. And as summer approaches we are swinging into full planning mode.

Today however a very important step had to be taken care of...I had to apply for a new passport. I had one once upon a time, when I was an exchange student in France, when I was about 12. So obviously, my passport has expired. And also, I haven't a clue where it is now. So I had to say it was "lost." Which is pretty much the truth. I went to the Tarzana post office, as it was one of the few you could do passport stuff on a Saturday. And after some flubs (you cannot have an application in which you have scratched something out and put something else in apparently)I was done with the application and in the near future I should be getting my new passport.

Next step is to decide what week in October will be best for the trip, start looking for flights.

One Year| Month Two: A new couch

2008-03-08T18:09:00.000-08:00

Though in the movies life in Los Angeles is constantly exciting, Tim and I do not live the movie star life (thank goodness). Our excitment this weekend...looking for a new couch.

As of late we have been looking at our well worn futon, which serves as our couch and thinking it was time for a change.

The futon mattress was part of the futon I bought after I had been in LA for six months. For those of you not keeping track, I have lived in LA almost 7 years. When I bought it the store told me it would last about a year with everyday use (it was the cheapest one they had). So I have gotten my money's worth on the mattress. The original frame, ceased to function about three years ago and we have since been limping along with a metal frame from IKEA which cost almost nothing...and it shows.

The metal frame has gotten bent due to poor engineering. And calling the mattress lumpy is probably being charitable. So now that Tim and I no longer live in a single room and have big kid jobs, it seemed like it might be time to buy an actual couch.

But we'd kind of been lazy about actually going to look at couches because, furniture shopping is not the most exciting and thrilling thing to do. And though nice furniture is great, spending your money on a couch...is so grown up.

Today, the weather was nice and Tim was in the mood for some good Middle Eastern food. So we headed to The Farmer's Market where we knew he could get a nice shawarma. It also happens to be in close proximity to a Crate & Barrel, so we decided to at least look at couches.

And we found a great one. The things we were looking for in a couch were:

1. Has style - check
2. Won't look dated in only a year - check
3. Comfortable for sitting - check
4. Seems like a good place to take a nap - check

So once all of those were checked off we walked around a bit and discussed and decided it was time to pull the trigger. Dan, our helpful C&B employee helped us and even aided us in picking out the color for the legs (we got to choose everything - special!)
He even told us that the name of the sofa, Rochelle was after New Rochelle where the Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore show took place because it is kind of retro like that.

We selected the color aubergine because it is both dark therefore being a little more forgiving in the stain department but also not a bland color like brown. We have a bad tendency to gravitate toward browns and tans because "oh hey, it will match anything." And we thought breaking out of that would be a good idea.

Since it is not one of the two stock colors (which were light blue and dark blue) it will be an impossibly long 9 to 11 weeks before our new couch arrives. But we have lived with the old futon for this long another few weeks won't kill us.

Now I need to start looking for some fun throw pillows....

The First Anniversary: Fun, Food, and More Fun (plus a heck of an airport experience)

2008-02-17T20:15:00.000-08:00

As you probably know, today is the first anniversary of our wedding. It's hard to believe it's been a year already -- in some ways it seems like the wedding was yesterday; in other ways, it seems like it's been much longer.

This time last year, we were at Malibou Lake Mountain club with a lot of friends and family, enjoying the time and with Hawaii on the mind. Now, a year later, we're back in LA after taking a weekend trip to Las Vegas.

And what a trip it was.

Our flight was scheduled for 8:30 PM on Friday. We left Palisades at 5:30, thinking we'd have plenty of time. Traffic was heavy... really heavy... REALLY HEAVY. We nervously watched an hour go by... we were still five miles from the airport. After two hours, at 7:30, we were just getting into Lot C. We grabbed a bus and got into our terminal around 8PM and ran over to our check-in counter. The lady at the desks said that we'd missed our chance to get on the flight, but we must have had an extra-pathetic look of defeat, because she checked us in and let us check our bags.

Then we got in the security line. It was about ten after 8 at this point.

Security dragged and it took forever -- in perceived time. After about 15 minutes we got through security, but it was amateur hour and there seemed to be a lot of people who didn't understand the drill... ("Oh, you mean I have to check my shotgun and can't take my knives and bombs through the metal detector?")... painful.

I got through security first, and with no attempt at retaining any dignity (we were going to Vegas at all, it'd be out of place), sprinted full tilt through the terminal in my socks, clutching my shoes, phone, boarding pass and jacket. Our gate was of course at the other end of the terminal and it was past 8:25. Yelling "excuse me"'s and hearing the laughs of the amused travelers in LAX, I made a beeline for the gate. When I got there, it looked like the plane was gone. Then a guy ran from behind me towards the actual gate door itself and said, "MY WIFE IS COMING, LET US ON!!"

I then realized the plane hadn't pulled away. I ran over too, saying the same thing, and the guy at the gate said, "No one else can board". The sight of two guys screaming about their soon-to-be-arriving wives must have been too pathetic and he waved us in -- although I think the fact that we both pointed out our wives and my notable addition of, "You've got to let us on, we're trying to make this trip for our first anniversary!!", he finally caved.

"No assigned seats, take the first open seat you see" he said. You didn't need to ask twice.

We were off for Vegas. After an uneventful flight, we arrived, took a shuttle to the MGM Grand, and checked in. Then we got some dinner at the Studio Cafe (turkey sandwich for me, chicken strips for Cecilie) and hit the floor. We then made our way to New York New York, passed through, walked through Excalibur so Cecilie could see how bad it was (worse than I remembered), and took a train to Mandalay Bay. I quickly burned through my money and I don't think I won anything at any point Friday -- not even a 5 cent win on a $1 bet at slots. At this point it was getting late and our legs were sore, so we wandered back to the hotel.

The next morning, we went to the Venetian for breakfast, and stopped at a cafe where we got some great quiche. We explored the shops for a few minutes and also stopped at illy for an INCREDIBLE couple coffees. Seriously, these may have been laced with something. Cecilie was not feeling well and within seconds of the first sip was healed. I actually levitated off the floor and did not touch the ground for about three hours. It was ridiculous. Some of the best coffee I've ever had...

We went up the strip to the one casino I'd wanted to visit the most: The Wynn. It's incredible. It fits the mold of the floors I like (MGM, Venetian, Bellagio) -- darker, lower ceilings, relatively open floor layout with good visibility. I sat down to play some roulette and Cecilie joined me for a minute. She lost her money and wandered off to play slots. I stayed for at least an hour or more and walked away winning over a thousand dollars (holy cow!).

I was ready to get out so we walked to the Mirage, and within about ten seconds, walked out. We then walked to Caesar's and hit the forum shops. I got some chocolate from Vosges and got Cecilie a present out of my winnings. We strolled through the Forum and Caesar's (seeing Pete Rose again) and then took a cab back to the MGM. We were pretty tired and ready to relax.

Saturday night was the big dinner plan: Joël Robuchon, our second five-diamond restaurant. We got there early and hit the slots for a few minutes on the floor, where I got a surprise win. We then went in, but were told our table wouldn't be ready for 20 minutes, but were invited to sit in the lounge while we waited. We did, and got a couple drinks.

After a while the table was ready. We elected to do the 6-course tasting menu which was unbelievable. Each course had a predominant taste, each very distinct. We started with an amuse-bouche of an avocado puree with granny smith apples in it, some sort of tomato, and a whipped light cheese. The second course was eel and avocado wrapped in a truffle paper with a gelee on the side having some sort of celery preparation and truffles. Next up was a seared scallop with pasta. Then sea bass with leeks and asparagus; lamb shoulder, and a long string of desserts.

We left, completely stuffed to capacity. It was incredibly delicious, very different from anything I'd ever had, and fairly rich. We went back to the room and I crashed out, having had too much wine with dinner (a Barolo that was incredible).

We checked out in the morning and played a bit, but there wasn't much luck to be had. We made our way to McCarran airport where we played some more slots and waited for a plane delayed for hours due to SFO's ridiculous flow control that seems to be able to wreck the schedules of anything that gets within 2000 miles. We came home and are now unwinding after a tiring but fun Vegas getaway.

We can only hope the next year is as good as the first has been. It's been a great year with ups and downs but having each other has made it so much better.

PS: Don't take US Airways. Seriously, just don't. Avoid it at all costs.

Month Eleven: When It Rains, It Pours - Part III

2008-01-04T23:16:00.000-08:00

At this rate, we're going to develop a water phobia.

No, our ceiling is still in place, and our apartment is completely dry. Fortunately, this time, the rain is outside. Unfortunately, this time, we had to spend a lot of time out in it.

January usually signals the end of fire season and the beginning of the rainy season. This is actually can be a big problem, because when all of that rain comes down in burn areas, there is a tendency for mudslides. Given that Malibu was the site of a couple fires this year, and the predictions have said this storm is bringing the heaviest rainfall in several years (when we saw water shooting up through the 110 freeway), there was some concern.

Not for us, though, we're from the Midwest where we can drive through snow blindfolded with no brakes, right? Not quite.

I got a call from Cecilie around 8:00 and she said she'd hit a rock in Malibu Canyon and her tire was flat. She wanted me to come and be with her because AAA was going to take a while to get there, and it was dark, windy and rainy. Having a vague idea of what it would be like, I left work and started driving. Before I reached our apartment, roughly a third of the way between my work and Malibu Canyon, I'd already passed two parts of PCH that were flooded. There was virtually no one out, which was good. It was also good that I've driven PCH between Sunset and the canyon a zillion times, because the road was not easy to see.

When I got into the canyon, my lights were good for maybe 20 feet and the fog was pretty dense. Cecilie warned me of the rocks and said snowplows were going through the canyon clearing rocks. I didn't see much on the way in but there wasn't much in the way of visibility to begin with. I finally made my way to Cecilie's car, pulled behind it, put my hazard lights on and waited for Cecilie to get in. She got in, told me we weren't expecting a tow for another hour, potentially, and so we prepared for a long wait.

At night the sense of space in the canyon drops considerably and you don't really have a feel for the area. Really, you could mistake it for a country road and wouldn't necessarily think there was a steep drop a few feet off the road. But tonight that closed-in feel was twice as bad, and it was like being in a very small room. With lights flashing in our faces. We waited, watched a movie (Hotel Chevalier on my phone), and then finally the truck came and loaded Cecilie's car.

We began the slow drive out of the canyon and almost immediately had to swerve to avoid rocks in the road -- rocks the size of a basketball on the small end of the scale. There were three or four major slides on the road, with progressively bigger rocks in the road as we moved down. As far as I could tell, all those slides happened in the thirty minutes or so that I'd been in the canyon waiting with Cecilie.

After the absolute most tense drive home I've ever had (sorry, Ragged Point; sorry, Christmas Eve 2002), we arrived at a gas station off of PCH and headed home. The tow truck driver told us that there was a larger slide that completely has blocked the tunnel midway through Malibu Canyon -- and he had several more cars to pull out.

So once again, we hope everyone in canyon country is safe (while wondering why you'd want to live there), especially the road crews and tow truck operators. We are back in the Palisades, warm and dry and just fine, but with another errand to run this weekend.

And to cap it all off, our power has just shut down for the second time; doubtless to go down more tonight. At least it's not a work day tomorrow.

Month Eleven of Marriage: New Year!

2008-01-01T12:42:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year's!

It is a beautiful (though red flag)day!

To celebrate New Year's Eve, Tim and I cooked steak and spent the evening at home. Admittedly we didn't stay up very late (I fell asleep 15 minutes before midnight and woke up a little afterward to tell Tim, happy new year)

This morning we got up and went to Urth for some breakfast and are now relaxing at home and listening to the wind outside.

Peaceful and relaxed, the best way to start a new year. We hope yours was just as good.

Month Ten of Marriage: Christmas Vacation

2007-12-22T21:39:00.001-08:00

Tim and I are relaxing in the comfort of his parents' house.
We are taking a much needed vacation and visiting for the Christmas holidays.

The flight out wasn't too awful, just the usual craziness of traveling at the holidays. But we made it safe and actually earlier than expected with all our luggage.

St Louis metro area is enjoying a warmer than usual winter so we are only dealing with rain instead of snow.

We are spending time visiting, eating chex mix and Christmas cookies and watching movies. Its a hard life but someone has to do it.

We hope everyone has a lovely holiday and it is as relaxing as ours is.

And just an update. Our ceiling in our apartment is back up and better than before. We are still waiting for a portion of our floors to be replaced but we are pleased with how quickly everything was fixed and back to normal.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Month Ten of Marriage: When It Rains It Pours - Part II

2007-12-09T15:57:00.000-08:00

Due to recent events Tim and I stayed at the Holiday Inn in Santa Monica all weekend. We decided to come home finally because we miss being at home despite that home is must mustier then it once was and we have a new large noisy roommate called a dehumidifier.

Currently we are still in limbo with a lot of things like when our ceiling will be replaced etc. But at least we are living out limbo on our own terms. Hotels are fun for vacation but not as fun in times of crisis when all you want is your own stuff.

Thanks for every one's sympathy regarding the situation.

Month Ten of Marriage: When It Rains It Pours

2007-12-06T20:28:00.000-08:00

This week has been a trying week for both Tim and I. We have both been going full tilt, working late every night.

So last night we went to bed exhausted and glad that there were only two days left of the work week. Little did we know...

Around 2am Tim woke me up to say he heard noises coming from our main room. I went out into the main room to discover water pouring out of our over head light fixture.

Long story short, someone on the 3rd floor had a dish washer melt down and the water leaked all the way down to us (on the first floor).

Water stopped but not before water damage to our ceiling occurred. The initial solution by management is to remove our ceiling to allow things to dry out.

See our ceiling on our floor in a pile.

go to Tim's flickr to see more images of the damage

Not to fret though Tim and I are doing fine now. We have called our renter's insurance and are staying at the fine Santa Monica Holiday Inn to escape the musty smell currently residing in our apartment.

In good news, Tim has had one of his photographs from our honeymoon selected to be in an online guide about Hawaii. And I had did my first mediation and did well.

Life has its ups and downs, we continue moving forward.

Month Nine of Marriage: Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T12:52:00.000-08:00

Thursday Tim and I drove to LAX and took the short flight up to SFO (San Fran airport for those not in the know). Then we took the quick BART ride to my sister's place in Pleasanton.

It was a great time. We gorged on Thanksgiving eats (my sister is a great cook!),lodged about like sloths, played games and played with our nephew. Then on Saturday before dawn (literally) we boarded the BART back to SFO to return to LA. It was a brief but lovely visit.

We were greeted with another wild fire in Malibu, this time further North though it was still smokey here in the Palisades.

Over all it has been a good Thanksgiving weekend. And for that I am thankful.

Today Tim and I are relaxing on the final day of our long weekend.
I have been looking for Christmas gifts on amazon.com which has this nifty gift organizer. The only perplexing thing is some of the categories.

I am not really sure how "Dude" describes a person's personality. Are there any "Dudes" on your Christmas shopping list? If so go to amazon, they have some suggestions.

Month Nine of Marriage: Derby and Turkey

2007-11-18T22:29:00.000-08:00

This weekend has been rather busy.

First, I spent all of Saturday making a 17 pound turkey for Sunday's 3rd Annual Friend's Thanksgiving as the deep fryer usually used is busted. It was not so bad though. More time consuming than difficult but we did get to use several things we recieved as wedding gifts including a lovely All-Clad Roaster.

Then in the evening, Tim and I headed to the new home of the Derby Dolls for a bout between the Tough Cookies and The Sirens (The sirens killed! It wasn't even close).

Then today we headed down to OC for the 3rd Annual Friend's Thanksgiving. Which is much like regular Thanksgiving except instead of watching your family over eat and talk about silly memories of when you were younger, we watch our friends over eat and talk about silly memories from last year. It was fun and filling time per usual. Everyone seems to like the turkey though like real Thanksgiving we have leftovers (turkey sandwiches!). It was good to see a lot of people we hadn't seen in a few months since the last big gathering.

Now we head into a short work week. Then on Thursday, Tim and I are flying up to the Bay Area to spend Thanksgiving with my sister, Jade, and the adorable Brendan. This is our first experiment in flying up to the Bay Area. Here is to hoping it is less hassle then we think it will be!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We have a lot to be thankful for this year. :)

Month Eight of Marriage: Wild Fires

2007-10-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who has called or contacted us to check on how we are doing.
We are fine and never in any real danger from the fire in Malibu.

If you look at this map you can see where the fire was. And our apartment South of Topanga Canyon about a mile.

My usual commute has been effected since I usually take Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu Canyon and both were closed on Monday and Tuesday. This morning PCH was open but Malibu Canyon was not so I had to take another route. I did see some of the burn areas in Malibu on my way to work this morning.

Tim and I are also both suffering from sinus problems due to the smoke and other junk in the air due to the many fires.

Everyone we know in LA is also fine and no worse for the wear aside from similar sinus and other respiratory issues.

The city of Malibu states that the fire is in 75% contained which is really good and likely it is higher at this point.

Thank you to everyone for your love and concern about Tim and I.

Month Eight of Marriage: The very unpumpkin Pumpkin Festival and uWink

2007-10-20T19:17:00.001-07:00

Tim and I both love pumpkin flavored items. Two weeks ago I even made pumpkin bread (It was good!)

So each day on my drive to work the past few weeks I have seen a banner for The Calabasas Pumpkin Festival. And I thought, "I like pumpkins." So Tim and I decided to go after I did some work in the morning at my office.

Tim and I invited along our friends Sophia and Steve to check it out with us today. The first minor problem for Tim and I was it was not exactly pumpkin weather to us former mid-westerns

And there was a definite LACK of pumpkin items. It was more just a plan old festival. We did have fun seeing Sophia and Steve. And I did get pumpkin poppers which were basically deep fried pumpkin doughnuts. Still tasty.

Last weekend we went to uWink uWink with some friends which is the modern version of an automat. It was fun if not a little expensive. It was fun to attempt at win lose or draw but my drawing skills were not quite up to par. It was amusing though.

Month Seven of Marriage: Festivals

2007-09-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

So this weekend is apparently the Festival Weekend here in LA.

T and I got invited to an Oktoberfest in Orange County too but it was Friday night and we were feeling rather sluggish after work.

T and I got up this morning and didn't have much going on so I suggested we go check out Abbot Kinney which is this area in Venice with cute little shops and eateries, which T had never been to before.

When we got there we realized we had stumbled onto another festival. Which was okay with us.

We wondered around looking at the vendors and the shops. We really liked a lot of the furniture places and are thinking that Abbot Kinney may be the perfect place to finish off our apartment decorating.

We finished our jaunt at Jin Patisserie with some high tea. Which was the perfect amount of food and took us back to the high tea service at the hotel we stayed at for our honeymoon.

Life seems to be mellowing out a bit as we head into the Fall months.
Which is how we like it.

Also tomorrow marks the one year mark in our apartment in Pacific Palisades. It has been a good year but I still think of our place as "the new place." I guess at the year mark, it stops being "new."

September Already?

2007-09-02T14:42:00.001-07:00

Well, August wooshed by us.

We haven't been up to much besides work unfortunetely .

Last weekend we traveled out to the City of Industry to watch Derby Dolls Roller Derby.

Our friend Trish aka Sniperella made it into the big league team the Sirens. And they kicked butt last weekend. :) We convinced some of our other friends to come as well. And hooked others on the roller derby.

Tim put up pictures from our honeymoon in Hawaii up online. Check them out!

As for Labor Day weekend. We have be playing it low key.
The rest of the weekend will likely be more of the save.

Six Months of Marriage: Wedding Photographs

2007-07-22T17:04:00.001-07:00

Married Smoochin'
Originally uploaded by cebread

We have had our wedding photographs for a long time but we have had no time to spend putting them on the 'net.

Until now

Now you can see what an awesome job our photographer, Danielle did.

Vegas, Baby, Vegas!!

2007-07-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

When people in LA want to get away from it all they pile in the car (or sometimes fly) to a place which is even crazier than LA...Las Vegas.

I have been wanting to visit Vegas forever, because it is something everyone in LA has done but it was never the right time. Until now...

I happened to see that The MGM grand had great rates. And it didn't take much (read: any) convincing to get Tim to agree to go for the weekend.

After work Tim and I drove to Vegas, arriving at the early hour of 11:30 p.m. The party was just starting. We peeked into The Tropicana, New York New York and Monte Carlo before we headed back to the MGM for the night.

After sleeping in the next morning we headed to Paris for a breakfast buffet. My jaw dropped at how much food there was. And Tim told me it wasn't the best he had seen.

We then hit Bellagio which was beautiful inside. And is on my list of hotels to try in Vegas. And then we hit the Forum Shops at Caesars which were amazing. We got to see one of the only Vosges Chocolate boutique stores and try Mo's Bacon Bar and Naga Ice cream.

We then treked back to the MGM in the unbearable 107 degree heat. Where we promptly jacked up the a/c in our room and conked out for a while.

As our trip was very spur of the moment we couldn't really get decent reservations at any of the fancy resturants we would have liked to try i.e. we would have had to eat dinner at 10:30 at night. So, we had some in room dining before heading down to the MGM floor to try our luck some more. Luck was on our side apparently. I actully won some of my money back (I still came out behind but less then I would have been) and Tim came out WAY ahead due to some awesome luck at roulette.

And this morning we shoved off around 11am. And are now safely back in LA and recharged for the week (though thankfully it is a short week. :)

Viva Las Vegas!

Angel Party

2007-06-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

Tim and I are big fans of public radio. And the local public radio station, KCRW has captured our ears in the last few years.

Tim took it a step further and pledged money to the station , which comes with all kinds of benefits, including attending a party that we went to tonight.

It was at the Hammer Museum, which is just a lovely location in Westwood. And we got to see the current art work of upcoming and coming LA artists.

We got to partake in tasty food and beverage and do lots of people watching.

And best of all,we got to meet and shake hands with our favorite personality on KCRW Warren Olney. I suddenly became very very shy when Tim spotted him but Tim dragged me over and I smiled liked an idiot while Tim told him how much we enjoyed his shows.

In the end, a good time was had by all, including I hope, Warren Olney.

A Quiet Weekend

2007-06-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

We finally arrived at a quiet weekend. No major plans.

Yesterday we went to Home Depot for new floor lamps and plants for the patio. We got lamps and two Zebra plants. We also got a Venus Fly Trap because we are geeks.

We did other adult things like cleaning,paying bills and doing laundry.

Today, we went down to the beach and flew a kite. And then went to Starbucks for a replacement espresso machine to replace ours that no longer functioned properly. Tim has made the first latte with it. And I give it an A+.

Later we are going to dinner with our friends, Steve and Sophia.

The next big plans...Tim goes to see The Police next weekend with his friend, Brad. And likely geeking out on drumming stuff.

In July we will go see our friend Trish aka Sniperella fight it out at the Roller Derby.

28 Part II

2007-06-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

So June 6 rolls around and it was my turn to turn 28.

The weekend prior there was a party with our friends down in Orange County because a few of us were having birthdays around that time.

And then on my birthday I did the exciting going to work and working all day thing (hey! its what adults do on their birthdays sadly). But I came home and Tim brought me Chinese food and cupcakes. And the gift of laughter with lots of Garrison Keillor media (two CDs and a book) and let me watch whatever I wanted on TV.

Tomorrow, Tim is also taking me for a special brunch.

We have had a lot of birthday dinners and gatherings as of late. We even went to a birthday party tonight for our friend, Mike. I think we are winding down and soon we will be able to get together with our friends for other reasons and not just because we are all getting old.

Next big thing...nothing amazingly enough. I am sure that will change soon. Its hard to keep us down for long.

Becoming Mrs.Tim

2007-06-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

After Tim and I got engaged a lot of people asked if I would be changing my name. I joked that I was planning on taking Tim's first name instead of his last name so we would be The Tims.

I have finally gotten on the ball to changing my name. I have gotten the social security stuff underway. And yesterday I went to the Thousand Oaks DMV which is close to my office and applied for a new license. Which I should have with a new picture in 2-4 weeks. Thousand Oaks DMV is the fastest DMV in the known world. From the time I got out of my car to the time I got back in only a mere 10 minutes lapsed. I will totally be going to that DMV to get my name changed on the title of my car too.

The next big hurtle is changing my name with The California State Bar. Unlike everywhere else where you can change your name simply by showing your marriage license, the state bar requires 2 forms of ID with your old name and 2 forms of id with your new name. I will have to wait for my new license to arrive before I can do that. Until then I am Ms. Tim in private and Ms. Cecilie at work.

28..

2007-05-20T19:04:00.000-07:00

Last night we celebrated my 28th birthday at a few LA spots.

First on the agenda was Some Assembly Required, an exhibition on prefab housing. It was pretty cool, although the exhibit was pretty short. (Seemed like there wasn't much more room in the gallery than our apartment). It also seems like to have a prefab house, you need a slightly sloping hill to build on.
Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun very interesting.

At this point we had several hours to kill so we started by grabbing coffee and crummy cookies at Urth Caffe (on Melrose).. which is about 5 times as busy as our Santa Monica location, but the coffee's still as good as you'd expect.

We started getting the hairy eyeball from some of the patrons and waitstaff after a while so we trekked back into the old neighborhood and hit Amoeba Music and Groundwork. I didn't pick up anything, but Jared and John picked up stuff (Jared picked up a couple movies, John mined the vinyl and got a collection of Bruce Willis's smash hits. Or something.

At this point, it was off to the dinner location: Cobras and Matadors (sorry, no direct link... they don't have a website apparently). In attendance were Mike & Jessica, Steve & Sophia, Remco, Paul, Jared, John, Aaron, with a cameo by LaDonna & Robyn. Food was as good as ever, and in great abundance. But mostly, the conversation ruled the night. And the books. Did you know microwave ovens cause cataracts? Well, according to the medical information on the bookshelf behind us, they do.

Not much else to report - it was a relaxing birthday and fun to spend it with close friends. Next week I fly to St. Louis for memorial day and to ship my drums out to LA.

And in 16 days... it's another birthday!

Month Three of Marriage: Coachella

2007-04-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

Tim and I have been married a little over three months now.
Marriage is great!
Except we have both been super busy! I guess we were silly to think our lives would calm down after the wedding. Since when have either of our lives ever been calm?

We have gotten *most* of our thank yous out in the mail. A few left to do, but we ran out of thank you note cards. We just have too many genrous and wonderful friends and family to thank. Soon, soon.

This weekend we are going to Coachella . We are only going for Day 3 because we are both fans of Rage Against the Machine and since they have not played together in 6 years we really couldn't pass up the oppurtunity. Even if it is going to be 100 degrees in Indio.

We will also be seeing bands like CSS and Damien Rice.

It should be a lot of fun.

Right now we are chilling out in our motel room in Palm Springs after getting some eats and coffee at koffi. And picking up the ever esstential sun block.

Next big thing on our agenda: Tim's birthday!!

Mystery Gifter

2007-03-09T22:08:00.000-08:00

We received LOTS of awesome gifts for our wedding. All of which we plan to write thank you notes for (because our Mamas raised us right!) but we have one problem...

We have one gift that has no gifter attached to it.
We received the fabulous Kone
from someone who attended the wedding, but the shuffle, a card was either lost or detached from the gift. And we don't know who gave it to us. I am going to try and call Target this weekend and see if they can give me any clues to who gave it to us (we do have a gift receipt) but if you are the mystery gifter, please send Tim or me an email. We have already used it so much (our apartment gathers much dust) and would love to properly thank you for it.

In case, the wondrous kone is from someone who doesn't want to come forward, just know whoever you are, we really appreciate it!

UPDATE: Mystery solved! Our friends (and engaged to be wed) friends Greg and Angela got us the Kone however, the card must have gotten lost.

ハワイ

2007-02-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

Currently sitting in scenic-but-otherwise-awful HNL: the first-world airport with second-rate facilities and third-world policies and procedures.

But HNL is covered already. Honolulu was amazing, very relaxing, and very little was done: which is exactly what the plan was.

We swam in the ocean for a while, got a ton of sun.. trekked from our place on Waikiki to a bakery on Kapahulu to get some malasadas, a local treat (by way of Portugal), we were told. Good, but not worth the two and a half miles walking.

We also had a ton of great food and drink, watched a bunch of bad TV (Top Model season 7 nearly in its entirety; a bunch of Juvies and The Agency, and the perennially unwatchable My Super Sweet 16...), explored some of the local scenery.

Now, my quick sum of the area for those of you who read the blog:
Honolulu is..

A bizarre fusion of East and West. Our hotel had literally every sign in Japanese and English (except for the signs at the breakfast buffet... oops!), and it seemed like every other sign had a ton of katakana.

A further collision of Hollywood, Vegas, and Rodeo Drive. Kalakua Ave. has about 40 Coach, Cartier, Le Sportsac, etc. stores in five blocks... and they're right next to the ubiquitous ABC market (tourist-trap meets 7-11 with a hawaiian flair) and near the 18-shirts-for-$10 stores.

Really relaxing

Apparently facing a dire crisis of pedestrians getting hit in intersections. I can't speak to this one, as our slice of waikiki had ongoing construction on the road. (To which I lost $3 on cab fare as we sat and waited for the construction crew to clear out of the road).

A surprising mullet-per-capita density.

Ultimately deemed "civilized" in spite of the blight that is HNL -- multiple Jamba Juices were spotted, in their customary next-to-Starbucks location.

Not much else to say at this point... a thrilling flight over the pacific ahead of us and then a return to the real world. Fortunately, HNL has brought out the less-than-polite Angeleno in myself and Cecilie.

Maholla!

Honeymoon Hangover

2007-02-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

Tim and I are in the Honolulu International Airport waiting to head back to LA. Everyone who came out to LA for the wedding can complain all they want about LAX, you don't know annoyance until you have to pass through HNL. Combine together lots of tourists who don't know what they are doing with airport employees that don't know what they are doing and you have HNL.

But we had an awesome time in Waikiki! Our time was spent relaxing, swimming, eating good food and sleeping. And on occasion catching up on bad reality television. Yes, we could have seen things and done exciting things but after a year of being on the go we both needed time not be on the go. It was perfect!

A little tired and a little sunburned, we head back to the real world.

Mahalo!

And they lived happily ever after...

2007-02-18T17:58:00.000-08:00

We're married!

The wedding was perfect (I'm a little biased of course). There were a few minor snags but nothing that wasn't fixable.

We had perfect weather in Los Angeles, which is not always a given in February. It was a clear and sunny day all day, in the 80s and by 4:30p it had cooled a little and everyone was comfortable even in suit jackets (or so they said.) And everything was beautiful from the flowers to the food.

Tim and I both had lots of fun and loved seeing friends and family, some of whom we had not seen in a long time.

Afterward, we headed to Hotel Angeleno to unwind form what was a very busy day. We even got room service this morning for added luxery.

Now we just have to prepare to leave on Wednesday for Hawaii.

Thanks so much to everyone for your love and support!

More pictures after the honeymoon...

48 hours +16 hours

2007-02-15T11:30:00.000-08:00

So we are in the home stretch.

Tim is currently fine tuning the wedding play list.
I have called or emailed the vendors to ensure everything is kosher with that stuff.

We have a few minor things to handle. Other then that we are ready to go.

If we could, I think Tim and I would do it today. (But I think everyone who is getting in on Saturday would be upset!)

FYI: any one staying at the Hilton in Calabasas, the shuttle will be running between 4 and 4:30 (just two runs) up to the Malibou Lake and then it will have two runs back to the hotel between 9:30 and 10p. I am trying to get in contact with the Van service (its called Lincoln Limos) to see if they will put a sign in the van window that says Read-Gerlach or something. But if not its probably going to be the only 15 person passanger van pulling up to the hotel around that time. Spread the word!

For those of you who can't be here on Saturday, I suggest buying yourself a cupcake and eating it to celebrate.

For those of you who will be, see you Saturday, I'll be the one in the ivory dress. ;)

Licenses!

2007-01-30T20:08:00.000-08:00

Monday morning, we shuffled off to the Van Nuys Courthouse/Government Center. It wasn't because I had an apperance at court either, it was to get our license to get married.

And the wait was amazingly short! We had to raise our right hands and promise everything we said on our application was true. And then we were told we had to get married by April! (Because the license is only good for 90 days) Though there was the brief thought that we could just get married right then, we realized we both had to get to work so there wasn't really time.

Then today, I went to the Calabasas Fire Department to get a fire permit for candles. She felt a wee bit silly getting a fire permit for tea lights, but rules are rules right?

So now we are licensed and permitted, and only 18 days left until the big day!

Take us the the wedding, driver!

2007-01-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

On top of all we have gotten done lately we hired another person for the wedding. A driver for our guests!

We thought especially for our many out of town guests a shuttle to and from the wedding would be very useful and also put our minds at ease if someone "celebrated" a little too much.

I know a limo would be nice but not very practical as far as number of people who could fit in it. So instead we ordered a 15 person van. Which I think should be enough since we have about 75 guests total.

It will make two trips to and from the hotel before the ceremony and two trips toward the end of the reception. (Times for pick up and drop off TBA).

Now we just have to figure out for real, how Tim and I are going to get to our hotel that night and we'll be set.

35 days until the BIG day!

2007-01-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

We haven't posted in a while because the holidays (and my new job) kept us rather busy!

Last weekend we did our final walk through at our venue. It was the first time Tim and I had been there since Spring 2006 when we first booked it. It was just as awesome as we remembered it. And the pinning down all the details made Tim and I much calmer about the next month. Then we ate lunch at Brent's. Mmmm!

Yesterday, we met with Reverend Brock and again were pleased with our choice. He is an extremely nice person and has so many great stories about weddings he has performed both touching and hilarious. We probably could have sat and talked to him for hours. We were a little disappointed that he said he doesn't usually stay for the reception, we both would have liked to talk to him more but we did suggest a great place in the area as he said he usually takes his wife out to dinner after weddings he performs.

And despite thinking we would be crazed the last month before the wedding we both feel calm and actually don't have that much left to do. *knock on wood*

We are looking forward to it being February 17 so much now since most of the heavy lifting is complete.

Invites Mailed - so little time left!

2006-12-04T19:43:00.000-08:00

We finally put the invites in the mail Sunday afternoon. Though a few friends we saw on Saturday got their envelopes hand delievered (Lucky them!).

Tim and Jared went and found suits, shirts and ties at Men's Wearhouse on Saturday. And I went and had my wedding dress fitted.

We still have several details yet to complete, but I think we will get it all done. Or at least the majority. And those things that don't get done probably aren't that vital anyhow.

So things are rolling ahead whether we like it or not! And on top of the wedding date barreling toward us, I (Cecilie) have just started a new job because our lives can NEVER be simple. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

Our Guide to Los Angeles

2006-12-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

Since a lot of our guests will be coming from out of town we decided to create a guide to Los Angeles of our favorite places in the city. We hope every one finds it helpful.

Word Version

PDF Version

Email us if you have trouble opening it and we can send it to you in an email or mail you one the old fashioned way.

Engagement Pictures Arrive!

2006-11-22T10:03:00.000-08:00

I went and picked up our engagement pictures from our UPS box yesterday. Tim and I were both a little nervous because though we had complete comfidence in our photographer Danielle we did not have as much cofidence in our own ability not to look goofy in pictures. But Danielle is so amazing that she got awesome pictures out of two people who are rarely in front of the camera.

!!Warning pictures of two people in love smooching below!!

Awww on the beach! The vivid colors are due to cross processing. Which I had never heard of until we started dealing with wedding pictures. But isn't it pretty?

Yes, that is skeeball behind us because Tim and I had to be true to our nature and go into the arcade for some pictures. (In other pictures you can see how badly Tim beat me at skeeball.)

The whole shoot was about two hours and took us from the Santa Monica weekly Farmers' Market to the Santa Monica Pier to the beach.

And after seeing how Danielle managed to make us look like models, I am much more at ease about the wedding pictures.

The wedding is so close now!

Bits and Pieces of Invitations

2006-11-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

Since Tim is a graphic designer it made sense for him to design our invitations (he designed our save the dates as well with some input from me).

But neither of us know the craft of paper making so we had to go and seek out the pieces of our invitations.

We went to Landis General Store and found the foundation of the invite. We loved the pocketed envelope from, Marsupial Papers. We got one that looks like this

in a dark brown (you'll see, it looks very nice!)

But since the envelope is so dark we knew we needed labels of some sort to address it.

Today we were out with our friend Jared (who is also Tim's best man) and we saw that Hennessey + Ingalls was having a 20% off sale. Jared is an architect and Tim is graphic designer and they sell architect / design books. I like art and design too so it wasn't like I minded. And I found some awesome labels by an artist named Angela Adams. And they were 20% off too!

This week I have to head to Landis and pick up the things we had to order (they didn't have enough in stock) and then the assembly will begin!

Clothes and Shoes and 105 days left

2006-11-04T19:04:00.000-08:00

Today I got Elissa and EK's dresses in the mail. They look AMAZING. I had a swatch of the fabric but as a full blown dress it is even more stunning. I like the color so much, I want a dress in the same color (maybe I will try on one of their dresses later...ssssshh).

Elissa has this style and EK has this style except tea length.

And in the color seen in this picture:

AND I finally ordered my shoes for the wedding. I am sure no one was worried I would have shoes to wear to the wedding but I was seriously starting to wonder. I was feeling like all the requirements that I wanted (not too expensive, not pure white, not too high, cute, thicker heel, open toe) were never going to come together in ONE pair of shoes. It finally did at the new online shoe store by the company that owns Gap, Old Navy and Bannana Republic. Piper Lime.

Today it is only 105 days until Tim and I are married. I can hardly believe how fast the past few months have gone. It seems like just yesterday we got engaged. So much has happened since then, the wedding has really taken shape, I can't wait to be able to enjoy all the hard work we've both put into it.

Music and Pictures

2006-10-30T14:13:00.000-08:00

We have our ceremony musicans booked. Bravo Strings We will have a violin duo that will play classical musical before the ceremony and during. Right now I am thinking of Ode to Joy for the processional. And I want the traditional "Here Comes The Bride" for my entrance. And then...we need to figure that out.

In picture news, Tim and I had our engagement pictures taken yesterday. Danielle, our photographer was very good at getting us to pose since neither Tim or I are not professional models. I also have to give big credit to Tim for keeping me laughing. I have always had issues having a natural smile in posed pictures. It isn't too hard to smile when I am getting to cuddle with Tim on the beach. Now we have to wait out three weeks to see how they turned out. We went to the Santa Monica Farmers' Market, The Santa Monica Pier and the beach.

The Farmers' Market seemed like such a good idea since Tim and I love hitting Farmers' Markets and there are always cool things to look at but I think it was way to crowded to get lots of pictures. They did have pony rides but sadly both Tim and Danielle did not think they would let me ride the ponies. Darn.

Our Photographer is Famous

2006-10-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

Our wedding photographer Danielle is going to be featured on Inside Edition for the boudoir photographs she does. They are also showing two weddings she shot.

Thank goodness we booked her already because I am sure after people see her photos nationwide she'll be booked until 2020.

Check out her blog to see more awesome pictures by her and see adorable pictures of her new baby.

Engagement Picture Fear

2006-10-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

At the end of the month Tim and I are getting our engagement pictures taken.

I am a little scared because I tend to make strange looks in posed pictures. As my mother says I tend to look like the cat that swallowed the canary. So I am looking for tips.

I found this: How to Be Photogenic

One of the suggestions is looking at pictures of other people who are photogenic.

Here are some pictures I am looking at for inspiration:
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3

And this is just a sweet wedding moment that I dream of having (with less flowers) at our wedding.

At least Tim is photogenic. He suggests I think of kittens drinking lattes or something like this to make me smile naturally.

Our DJ: Mr. IPOD

2006-10-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

We almost have are whole "team" assembled for the wedding.
A week or so ago, Tim picked out our DJ.
Here he is:
note: we even got him in green to match our wedding colors!

In case you don't recognize him, here is his website

No, I have not gone crazier then I already was. Tim and I decided almost as soon as we got engaged we did not want a regular DJ. Using an ipod just made more sense, Tim owns more music then some music stores and any songs we don't already have, we can buy on itunes and have forever.

We have already compiled a list of songs of music we already own that is 8 hours long. And I still want to purchase "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers and "Now That We Found Love" by Heavy D

Our friend Chris said we could borrow his speakers so we are pretty much set. We just have to decide on the order of songs. Though we already know our first dance will be our song, "Such Great Heights" as covered by Iron & Wine.

Even NPR says that the ipod is the NEW wedding DJ. So it must be true.

Moving On Up To The West Side

2006-09-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

Tim and I are moving!

We decided that planning a wedding and having our busy lives was not enough...we needed to add moving to our lists of things to do this year.

We found a great place in Pacific Palisades. PP is south of Malibu and North of Santa Monica. And we are very excited about the relocation though we will miss some things about our current neighborhood in Hollywood we are definitely trading up.

The moving starts on October 1st.

Then we can finally get back to concentrating on wedding planning.

A week full of wedding preparation

2006-09-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, Tim and I met with Reverand Bock aka Pastor Bob to see if we felt comfortable with him. And we both liked him A LOT. He is very nice and apparently LOVES doing weddings because he does them A LOT and he doesn't take any of the money he is paid for doing them for himself but donates it to a scholarship fund to send kids to summer camp. How sweet is that?!

*

Then yesterday, we went for our tasteing to make sure all the lovely hor d'oeuvres were tastey enough for all our wonderful guests. Our friends Sophia and Steve, graiously agreed to help us make determinations of tasteiness. All the food was great! We are only to do some very minor tweaking of some items but all in all we were very impressed! And we got to see some awesome pictures of our venue all done up for other weddings which gave lots of good ideas for how we were going to do things. We were hoping to go to Yummy Cupcakes afterward to give ourselves a true similation of the wedding reception but alas they were already closed by the time the tasteing was done.

And lastly, I ordered the matrons of honor dresses and they should be in come November. I already have my dress though due to my height, it needs hemmed.

* just an image of hor d'oeuvres not of ours because we thought it would be strange to take pictures at the tasteing.

Let Them Eat Cupcakes!

2006-08-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

When Tim and I set out to get stuff done, we get it done. So we have been getting wedding related things done right and left!

Last weekend we undertook the grueling but necessary task of getting things done with regards to cake. We had decided since we are having a cocktail party style reception cupcakes would be the most appropripriate (and yummy!) choice.

We had gone to Yummy Cupcakes a few [thousand] times, for research purposes and loved their cupcakes. Saturday, we went and put down a deposit. Still not sure of the flavors, but whatever they are they'll be yummy. ;)

In other food news, we scheduled our appointment to do our tasteing with the caterers.

Things are starting to come together and Tim and I are both starting to realize, "Oh my goodness! We're getting married!" :)

Double Platinum

2006-08-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

Tim and I are finally on a tear to get things done for the wedding.

Yesterday we went wedding ring shopping. We went to Tiffany and looked at the rings we had already looked at on their website, they looked just as good in person and that was that.

Here are the rings all wrapped up pretty from Tiffany's (with my lunch from the Century City mall food court in the background...mmm wrap sandwiches).

To see the actual rings, you'll just have to wait until the wedding. We need to save some surprises.

Halekulani... 「ハレクラニ」

2006-08-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

Another day, another major thing knocked out.

Today, perhaps the most fun part of wedding planning was taken care of.

We booked our reservations (flights, hotel) for the honeymoon.

We'll be staying at the Halekulani, in Honolulu. After some frustration in finding a place on Maui, I googled something like "best honeymoon locations" or something like that. After ridiculous option after option, Halekulani came up. Now, this was Forbes's list, so of course most stuff is beyond the price range of us mere mortals. And of course, they were talking about the Vera Wang Suite, which costs more than the entire honeymoon, but, baby steps. :)

Flights: Cheap at $5 apiece. Yay miles.

And we made reservations at La Mer, their 5-star restaurant.

Should be a great time. And the phones will be off the hook, so don't bother trying to call. :)

Flowers and The 6 Month Mark

2006-07-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

After some time off from wedding planning Tim and I are back on the horse.

Last weekend, we traveled to South LA to meet with a very kind and helpful florist named LuAnn of Moments in Color. And she was so nice and helpful we decided she had to be a part of our wedding "crew."

She has great ideas, and great ways to save money. And since she has been doing flowers for TWENTY - ONE YEARS, I think she knows her stuff.

Also, we are rapidly approaching the 6 months until the wedding mark, so Tim and I are working diligently to get things checked off our 65 million item to do list. Watch here for more info to come!

Other wedding blogs

2006-06-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

In doing research for our wedding I have come across other blogs about weddings.

The funniest of them is You May Kiss The Blog.

The bride is an animator, so she makes silly cartoons about her wedding planning.

Makes me feel better to know other people have wedding stresses.

Maps

2006-05-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

Since today I am planning on mailing most of the "save the date" cards, I thought I would put maps up, so people could get a better idea where the wedding is going to be.

If you want to see where the wedding is in relation to where we currently live I suggest Google Maps. I like the hybrid option so that you can see buildings too.

Soon, I will be putting up hotel suggestions (and hopefully reserving some blocks of rooms).

Stay tuned!

Photographer Booked

2006-04-30T16:02:00.000-07:00

We get to check off another item on the wedding "to do" list.

We met with and booked the photographer for the wedding.

We met with Danielle Biel of Skye Blu at her studio this afternoon in Pasadena.

She is super nice! And her pictures are great! And that is coming from at least one person that dabbles in photography (a.k.a Tim).

We are pleased with her package because it includes 8 hours of her time at the wedding, which would pretty much cover getting ready before the ceremony until the guests start to leave. AND we get an engagement photo shoot. The engagement shoot won't take place until at least July as Danielle is technically on maturity leave until then (she is due May 9th!).

Here and here are pictures of weddings she has shot at Malibou Lake previously.

Matrons of Honor Dresses

2006-04-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

I think I am going to have the ladies (EK and Elissa) get dresses from Aria Bridesmaid Dresses for the wedding.

I had thought I could have them find cool dresses they could wear again and again from someplace like Gap but green is apparently not one of the super "in" colors.

I got swatches in the mail from Aria, today. They look very different in person. The brown is for accents, maybe.

This planning is more fun then location hunting.

SAVE THE DATE!

2006-04-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

I know everyone will be as excited as we are that we finally have a date set.
Mark your calendars for February 17, 2007 for the BIG DAY. (President's Day Weekend for those of you without your 2007 calendars)

We will be getting married and having the reception at The Malibou Lake Mountain Club. And catering provided by Truly Yours Catering

We had talked to the caterer and liked the prices and from the pictures it all looked great but we obviously had to go see it in person to be sure. So today we treked out to Agoura Hills to see for ourselves and it was even BETTER then the pictures online. So we reserved the date.

Here are some pictures Tim took while we were out there:

The Gate (and that is Cecilie in the lower left of the picture).

The outside of the location from the lawn.

Another shot of the outside from the lawn (you can see they have all the trees strung with lights!)

The lake across the street from the location

The lawn, where we will have the ceremony if the weather is nice (picture white chairs etc.)

The room where the reception will be. The fireplace really works, so if it is a chilly California evening we may have a fire in there.

The back part of the building, off this porch are the rooms for the ladies to get ready in before the wedding.

We will try to get proper "save the dates" to everyone soon. But for tonight we are just excited to have a date set!

Visiting Family

2006-04-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

This is somewhat wedding related.

Tim and I went up to the Bay Area for a long weekend to visit matron of honor #1 aka my sister, mother of the bride aka my mom, ring bearer aka our nephew, and official bride giver awayer aka my brother in law.

My sister and mom appropriately oh'd and ah'd over the engagement ring in person. And we talked about the woos of wedding planning.

All in all the trip was fun and served no real purpose toward the wedding except making Tim and I blow our diets.

We did get two engagement gifts. One is a silver candy dish which belonged to my grandmother and the other is a cake cutting knife and cake server (to be used at the wedding).

Wedding planning continues and hopefully (fingers and toes crossed) a date will be selected in the near future. But we don't want to jinx anything so I won't say anymore.

Trying to Set a Date

2006-03-03T07:30:00.000-08:00

Everyone seems very anxious for Tim and I to set a date, including us. We are hoping for sometime in February 2007, but we want to stay flexiable so that we can find the location.

But don't worry, it won't be Super Bowl Sunday Weekend.

Thus far we have looked at one location. I will not name the place but we didn't like it at all. Though the place its self was on the beach, the room they rent for weddings had zero view (unless by view you mean, looking out on to a tile courtyeard area. Plus there wedding person was not very nice i.e. acted like Tim and I were not really good enough to get married at her location.

Another place we were considering looking at has been crossed off our list because the room is also "cave like" as described by one of my co-workers who also checked it one out when she was getting married. (Side note: people in the legal profession love to plan weddings because I have gotten suggestions and advice from people at the firm I work at.) Tim had a business meeting at the place a while back and when I told him what my co-worker said he knew what room it was and agreed it was not what we were looking for.

So it is back to doing some research on locations this weekend, then Tim and I are going to call around next week and see what we can learn BEFORE we go look at the location. I don't want to waste another Saturday afternoon looking at a cramped ballroom if the price they are asking is ridiculous.

If anyone has suggestions of places (other then my mother's suggestion of the chapel at Forest Lawn) Tim and I are open to suggestions.

And thank you everyone who has been so loving and wonderful in congratulating Tim and I on our engagement, it really has made us realize how lucky we are, not only to have each other but to have such wonderful family and friends. :)

A little detail...

2006-02-12T17:48:00.000-08:00

Since I have told the story several times today I think I will write it up here to try and save my voice (which I am losing after all the phone calls today).

The choice to get married:
Tim and I have been together almost four years so really this was a no brainer. As everyone knows both of us we couldn't be more perfect for each other. So we had been talking about it for a while. And finally we decided it was silly to wait any longer.

We headed to Robbins Brothers and picked out the ring you see in the post above. We thought this would be a difficult choice. But with the help of Arik our salesman, there was no question we found the right ring.

Last weekend we picked up the ring and impatiently waited for this weekend to roll around to make it offical.

Last night Tim and I headed to our favorite fancy resturant, Cezanne.

On our way there we heard the song we consider our song, "Such Great Heights" on the radio in the car. When we got to the resturant, the waiter we had had the first time we went to Cezanne four years ago when we first started dating was our waiter. Things just seemed to be falling into place so perfectly.

After we had dinner Tim took my hand and said all matter of wonderful things to me all of which lead me to cry. And he gave me the ring.

We apparently surprised the waitstaff who thought we were just there for a nice dinner out. They gave us complimentary champagne with a little slice of strawberry. Then we enjoyed awesome desserts.

Then out of excitement I called my mom and woke her up. It was midnight her time afterall.

The ring:
The diamond is from Tim's materal grandmother's engagement ring. The band as I said above is from Robbins Brothers. And it is simply beautiful in my humble opinion.

Thanks everyone for your congratulations and well wishes. We look forward to sharing this journey with all of you.

The ring...

2006-02-12T07:35:00.000-08:00

If you're reading this, you know by now that Cecilie and I are engaged... since a lot of you are a plane flight away, we wanted to put up the pictures of our ring for you to see.

Stay tuned for more posts!