Rebecca Black, The Beatles, Tyler, and Youtube

First of all, I've been waiting all week to post this:

These lyrics are eerily similar -- coincidence? I think yes. But it still amuses me.

Second of all, "you know what today is?" Tyler's birthday!

This is one of my favorite pictures of him as a little kid (besides the one of him on the floor as a baby when the camera angle caused him to ask his parents years later why they trapped him in a hole). It was taken in Rocky Point and the photo timing couldn't be any better.

In honor of Tyler, here is a silly youtube video.

Have a great day, babe!

Betty Jean and Me

This past weekend, I went with my family to Yorba Linda, California for the funeral of my Great Aunt Luella, the sister of my paternal grandmother. I had a wonderful time visiting with family, learning more about Luella and my family's history, and discovering old photographs. Since my grandmother, Betty Jean Hikes Anderson, passed away when I was only six years old, I have very few memories of her. Looking through all of the photographs of her as a young girl made me wonder more than ever what she was really like -- before becoming a wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

Betty Jean and Luella

Betty Jean as a baby. For those who have yet to see my niece Nicaea, so far she looks a lot like my grandma as a baby. There is another picture of my grandma at age two and we all agreed that she looks like Nicaea with a wig on.

Betty Jean and me. When my dad came across this picture of my grandma, he held it up next to my face and said that he thought she looked like me. I don't see much of a resemblance between me and other pictures of her, but I do see a little of myself here.

I've always had a connection to my grandma through the violin that we share,

but it's nice to share a face too. :)

Four Eyes Part II

When I was a kid, I used to balk at the fact that my mother's eyesight was so poor that she was considered legally blind. Her poor eyesight was one of the many traits passed down to me (Thanks, Mom! I got your good traits too! :)).

I started wearing glasses in the 4th grade. Glasses were a pain. I couldn't wear sunglasses, swim with clear vision, or play sports as comfortably as I could have with contacts (not that my athletic ability was anything to brag about). I did not like to wear glasses, but my ever-worsening eyesight demanded them until I turned thirteen and finally got contacts. Ever since then, I've associated glasses with my awkward stage.

Exhibit A: 7th Grade Winter Formal

Exhibit B: Mismatch Day at school. I hope.

Every year, my eyesight becomes worse and worse, and last week I discovered that my contact prescription is even stronger than my mom's! Which makes me legally blind too! AHHH!

With this last eye appointment though, I decided to give glasses another shot and buy a pair that I would actually be willing to wear out in public as opposed to the last few minutes before I go to bed in the privacy of my own home. I associated my glasses so much with going to sleep that putting them on would literally make me sleepy. Looking to Miss Pandora (and of course Buddy Holly) for inspiration, I decided to get black frames.

Happy. :)

P.S. Bonnaroo pictures (and mayyyyybe video) to come!

Summertime blues, Brett, and bean dip

So far this summer I have done very little.

It has been such an odd transition from waking up at 5:30 am every day and always having work to do to having nothing to do but feed myself and run random errands. If I don't establish some kind of summertime routine, there's going to be trouble.

My little brother's graduation party is this weekend and I've been trying to help my parents get the house ready (long story, but they are trying to put their house back together after painting and getting new carpet) and the graduation video ready. FinalCutPro and I will be best friends by the end of the weekend. Here is a preview of the video:

Still, I'm in desperate need of some hobbies to entertain myself without having to drive to Gilbert every day of my summer.

Suggestions?

On an entirely unrelated note, Fresh and Easy's cuban black bean dip is the greatest bean dip I have ever had.

Sick of being sick.

Immune system: Oh good -- now that Katie doesn't need to call in sick for work anymore, we can go on vacation too!

via weheartit

DayQuil and I are becoming close friends. Not exactly how I pictured my first days of summer vacation.

On a more exciting note, my baby brother graduated from high school. Congratulations, Brett!

Alas! Earwax!

Last week was rough. Going back to work after such a busy, fun-filled spring break was almost unbearable, so I've been consoling myself by looking back at pictures and eating Cadbury eggs -- I can't bring myself to actually eat my chocolate frog.

Hogwarts

Shopping for wands at Ollivanders

Delicious butterbeer

In the castle

Owl Post

Hagrid's hut

Monster Book of Monsters

Hermione's Yule Ball dress

In the castle

Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom

Mandrakes!

Now back to real life.

But speaking of this post's title, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans were a cool $11.

Tortuga Twins, Turkey Legs, and Caricatures

It has been ages since I've been to the Renaissance Festival. I've gone at least five or six times, but I think that the last time I went was when me and Tyler had just started dating -- maybe 6 years ago?

Anyway, I was looking through pictures at my parents' house and came across this gem (circa 1997?).

And then this gem (circa 2004).

We are in almost the exact same pose (plus another Tortuga Twin). Slightly creepy, no? Especially since at least 98% of the jokes from their show went completely over my head in the first picture, but then in the second picture I'm pretty sure blondie was hitting on all of us. Okay, who am I kidding, I was not being hit on, but that's beside the point.

All creepiness aside, I do want to go back, eat a delicious turkey leg, and maybe get another caricature done by that artist with the awesome laugh.

Maybe once it stops raining every weekend.

Baby girl

Born February 3rd, my niece Nicaea Grace is finally here.
Congratulations to Aaron and Lynette!

Obviously this is not a picture of Nicaea, but it makes me laugh.

She floats through the air, with the greatest of ease...

A few weekends ago, my sister and I went to Trapeze U in Gilbert for a 2 hour beginner class. It was 9 am on a Saturday and we were both totally dreading it, preferring to stay home in bed. But we promised each other that we would put on a smile for our mom since it was her gift to us.

They strapped us into our harnesses and started explaining the first trick we would do, the knee hang. Unfortunately, I thought that the instructor was just messing with us, so I wasn't paying attention to his directions at all, expecting him to start laughing and say, "Just kidding, guys. You're just going to practice landing softly on the net." No such luck.

Climbing the ladder was the scariest part. First of all, you're barefoot, the ladder is a succession of cold, metal bars, and even though you do have a harness on, you're not actually strapped onto anything yet. You feel totally vulnerable and can't stop looking down, hoping that if you do fall, you fall backward onto the net instead of forward or to the side into the ground. And of course, your dad is videotaping the look of utter fear on your face the entire time.

Once you actually get onto the platform, one of the instructors is holding onto the back of your harness, not letting you go until you do the take-off correctly. I had several false starts. The key to doing well is just listening to them and doing exactly what they say exactly when they say it. I was always a bad listener when it came to the take-off. At the end, they were teasing me and saying that I must have glue stuck to my feet whenever I'm on the platform.

After you let yourself off of the platform, the worst part is over. Performing the knee hang and dismounting were fairly intuitive and you feel completely safe, even though you're flying through the air. As far as the rest of the tricks go, the video speaks for itself.

I had an amazing time and can't wait to go back. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Lucky

I'm lucky that all it takes to cheer me up is a hummingbird.

Camping

Our family went on an awesome camping trip last weekend,
but I think it would have been even more awesome if we'd slept in a tent like this.

We still had an amazing time celebrating Mimi's 75th birthday all together.

Awkward Family Photos

I'm seriously considering sending one of these pictures of my siblings and me to awkwardfamilyphotos.com.

Seaworld circa 1997 (click the photo to magnify the awkwardness)

I'm not sure why my baby brother looks so ticked off...
Maybe he wanted to be on the bigger Shamu?
Separation anxiety from my grandma's candy bag?
Was he too short for one of the park's rides?
I guess we'll never know.

Anniversaire de Rencontre...

Thanks for the reminder, Facebook. :)

I suppose we should make plans.

Maybe that dream date?
Or some belated anniversary ice cream from Ici in Berkeley next, next weekend?

Mother's Day

At work this weekend, I would tell moms on their way out to "Have a great Mother's Day" and ended up getting a lot of "You too!"s back. In honor of this day, here are the two best nurserys ever.

Here's to being a mother in the very, VERY distant future.

And happy mother's day, Mama. :) I love you.

The Big Day & Netflix

This Saturday was Aaron and Lynette's wedding. I don't have any pictures yet, but here is a video that my California cousins put together from the big day.

This summer I am really excited because I renewed my Netflix account and just started instantly streaming to our tv. Now the hard part is going to be not sitting on the couch all summer. Here's what's on my list...

The Beat that My Heart Skipped

Paper Heart

No Impact Man

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Broken English

To Be and To Have

New York, I Love You

Ballerina

Grief in Magical Thinking

I'm reading Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking for my online literature class. I wish I had read it when Grandpa or Aunt Arlene died last year. Didion explains different episodes of how she grieved over the sudden death of her husband and how she relied on literature to help her to make sense of what happened. These are a few of my favorite passages she cites:


I remember her saying that she would stay the night, but I said no, I would be fine alone.

And I was.

Until the morning. When, only half awake, I tried to think why I was alone in the bed. There was a leaden feeling. It was the same leaden feeling with which I woke on mornings after John and I had fought. Had we had a fight? What about, how had it started, how could we fix it if I could not remember how it started?

Then I remembered.

For several weeks that would be the way I woke to the day.

"I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day." (A line of Gerard Manley Hopkins' poetry)
_________________________________________________

Dolphins, I learned from J. William Worden of the Harvard Child Bereavement Study at Massachusetts General Hospital, had been observed refusing to eat after the death of a mate. Geese had been observed reacting to such a death by flying and calling, searching until they themselves became disoriented and lost. Human beings, I read but did not need to learn, showed similar patterns of response. They searched. They stopped eating. They forgot to breathe. They grew faint from lowered oxygen, they clogged their sinuses with unshed tears and ended up in otolaryngologists' offices with obscure ear infections.
_________________________________________________

And a passage from Emily Post's 1922 book of etiquette, Chapter XXIV "Funerals":
Persons under the shock of genuine affliction are not only upset mentally but are all unbalanced physically. No matter how calm and controlled they seemingly may be, no one can under such circumstances be normal. Their disturbed circulation makes them cold, their distress makes them unstrung, sleepless. Persons they normally like, they often turn from. No one should ever be forced upon those in grief, and all over-emotional people, no matter how near or dear, should be barred absolutely. Although the knowledge that their friends love them and sorrow for them is a great solace, the nearest afflicted must be protected from any one or anything which is likely to overstrain nerves already at the threatening point, and none have the right to feel hurt if they are told they can neither be of use or be received. At such a time, to some people companionship is a comfort, others shrink from their dearest friends.

Libraries vs. Laboratories

I texted Tyler that someday, I want an underground library.

His reply, "You mean, a laboratory?"

"No, a library."

"A laboratory??"

"Fine. A library/laboratory."

Crazy scientist.