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12.07.2010

hollywood, ca 90028

not a whole lot to say about our pit-stop on the way from phx to home, but there's definitely a lot to see!  i couldn't just pick a handful of pictures, so i posted all that were blog worthy! (in my opinion.)  plus, i know that you all don't have the same taste in hollywood's stars -- hopefully there's something for everyone!  we only lasted 45 minutes wandering around with our eyes focused on the sidewalk, but it's a day trip that i would recommend to anyone passing nearby.

on our way in...


well hello beauty!

we didn't go in & eat, but it fit in so perfectly!
i know some of you could name each and every character on this building (there were about 30)

one of my favorites.

they were rolling out the red carpet -- (hollywood holiday parade)



nicolas cage

cher

frank sinatra

sean connery

al pacino

johnny depp

richard gere

samuel l jackson

bruce willis

tom hanks

adam sandler

robin williams

coris day -- tiny feet!

judy garland  :)

roy rogers -- one of our favorites for creativity!

cat woman caught on camera!

between 2 of the best johns!  -- wayne & travolta

donald duck

will smith -- HUGE feet!

robert downey jr






he was happy.  guess i'm not fast enough...

walking around were tons of "characters" - a.k.a. actors working for tips - so i made a chosen few of them upset by doing drive-by shots...


i do believe that ironman was the most upset...






before we made it home, we made sure to stop by our favorite restaraunt -- our closest one is fresno (ew) -- qdoba




on one part of our holiday traffic-filled fun, we drove through a beautiful, foggy, & nature filled valley.  i dream about hiking through something half this gorgeous!



hope you enjoyed the millions of pictures that made the cut - there's about 50 more that weren't quite up to the standard :)



next post: sac @ the onurs

12.05.2010

thnksgvn @ phx

i finally had the chance to go through the pictures from phx and get some uploaded, so it doesn't look like we have just fallen off the face of the earth!  we had a lovely family filled two weeks (phx and sac) with thousands of photos to share.  here's the first round:

henrik loves both his uncle as well as the turkey.  hard to say which one takes the cake.

okay so maybe he was forced into his life.
 
also equally forced was some solid food experimentation.  i think he took it well!



bernice e.


she is amazing with baby e.



thank goodness the camera operates perfectly without the flash, otherwise i think baby e. would've wanted to punch me.

he looks like a 'lil christmas elf!


family fun!
 

we had a grand ol' time in phx with fantasic company, traditional thanksgiving favorites made by diane e. (yum!), walks with mikey and bernice, and perfect weather! 
up next: hollywood photos from a pit-stop on the way home & sac with the onurs.

12.02.2010

to-do list

"updating the blog" is right along side "upload photos" on my to-do list, i promise!  so, hang tight folks & cross your fingers i get to you soon!

tomorrow is my first day teaching at the zoo & andrew is busy traveling, unpacking & putting away his laundry on a daily basis, and trying to finish out his first quarter in sales on a good note.  (he is doing fantastic!)

look forward to plenty of photos from thanksgiving in phx & perhaps some special moments that i've had at the palo alto ymca...ha!

11.19.2010

fall has finally arrived to the bay.


just look at those magnificent colors!  the weather forecast is in the 50's and the sky has a nice cloud sheen -- it's about time!  all this magic, wet, cold, and cloudy weather helps me accept the fact that it is actually NOVEMBER! it's the end of november.  i still haven't accepted that, but i'll get there. 

andrew and i have been talking about our plans for the holidays.  it's hard to make decisions, especially since it's my first time away from north dakota, first time depending on another person's schedule along with mine, and first time with a husband (ha!).  so, because andrew's quarter ends at the year's end and he needs to have the year restart before his vacation time gets reset, we cannot be home -- nd -- for the holidays.  our compromise: thanksgiving in pheonix, christmas in sacramento, new years is still in negotiations -- nd is on the table for early january.  perhaps new years, perhaps two weeks in, and perhaps i'll just leave the hubby in california to make the journey!  that would be mean, i know.

a fun part of not being home for the holidays?  sending presents and cards in the mail!  I. LOVE. SENDING. STUFF.  nothing makes me happier than having people open up their mailboxes (or getting a piece of paper from the student union) and seeing an unexpected package!  so, all presents & christmas cards will be mailed, which actually makes sense.  i think a part of being married (or at lease the first few years) is forming your own traditions and being joint at the hip for all functions, whether you want to or not!  one tradition i would like to start: sending out a holiday card to all of our friends and families.  i used to love looking at all the christmas cards (especially the ones with pictures) on the kitchen door starting right after thanksgiving up until the last christmas decoration got stored away in january.  i know my mom put together a christmas card (including a carefully critiqued letter) each christmas and sent it to a list that she would edit throughout the year.  i want that!  so, for the past couple weeks i've been browsing through shutterfly & looking through all of the photos from the wedding -- who wouldn't put out a picture holiday card when they have all these professional photos!

shutterfly is what i used to order our thank you postcards (incase you were wondering), so i know they meet my standards for producing exactly what i want.  newsflash: i'm picky. so, i dove into their holiday card templates and here are my top pics:
cutesy yet fun.

multiple photos -- lovely.
by far my favorite! hello sparkling lettering.

so simple and nice.

i like the prospect of multiple pictures on this one -- again, we have so many great wedding photos that this might be the one!


as you can see, there's so many options!  of course, andrew will only weight in by saying "that's too girly," but who listens to him anyways?  either way, one of these bad boys is going to end up in your mailbox, so hang tight!

one more plug: great personalized calendars!  and one more time i'm going to state that we have all these great wedding photos & you can include so many!  here's the link if your curious on how fabulous these little gems really are: http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars.

*I’m receiving 50 free cards from Shutterfly for this post, and if you’re a blogger, you can too! Follow this link and check it out! Click here!