Year Two | Month Ten

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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.