Hey There, Neighbor!

Isn't this so exciting??!!

More Favorites and Not-So-Favorites

1. Not-so-favorite (Jean): Spending the joyous, three-day Memorial Day weekend sick at home, stuffy and icky, while coughing all night long (motivating the poor, exhausted husband to relocate to the couch), and witnessing the relentless reproducing of wadded-up Kleenex in every wastebasket. (And let me also give props to Tim and Weston, who endured the same illness but who are now, mysteriously, much healthier than I.)

2. Favorite (Jean): Going out on a REAL DATE to the Melting Pot on Friday night (just prior to the onset of aforementioned illness, thank goodness), and enjoying some REAL conversation and REAL quality time with the husband. We celebrated our five-year anniversary with a fabulous, four-course fondue dinner, of which the piece de resistance was the yin-yang chocolate fondue for dessert. Tim (how I adore you, my dear) got me a beautiful silver necklace and a dozen roses. I, on the other hand, got him a couple of his art-crush favorites: the movie Cloverfield (whose wicked-awesome monster was designed by Neville Page, with whom Tim will be taking a creature design class this fall at Art Center), and a forthcoming art book by Iain McCaig (who worked on Star Wars and a bunch of other films, and whom Tim looks forward to meeting at an upcoming conference). I also got him peanut M&Ms, of course. (Allison Sy-rie, I'm sure you understand.) :-)

3. Favorite (Jean): My new, stunning, tangerine-colored bridesmaid dress, which just arrived for my awesome friend Lauri's wedding in August. (This is Lauri of Lalee Photography fame, who will be marrying one of the sweetest guys on the planet.) I love getting all dolled up, and dolled up will we be, lemme tell ya! :-)

4. Favorite (Tim): His beloved new Xbox 360, which was recently purchased with the spoils of a freelance concept design project. He also purchased Halo 3 and a subscription to Xbox Live, so now I will occasionally come upon him in the living room, staring at the TV with rapt attention, and apparently talking out loud to no one. Hey, at least he's watching the young'un:
5. Favorite (Weston): Sucking on his hands. The newest development in Westonland is that Mr. Hand has finally met Mr. Mouth. He absolutely LOVES it when his hands make their way up there, and he can sit with a blank stare while focusing his entire attention on sucking away on his fingers. Here he is, going to town:



6. Favorite (Weston): Standing up. (Actually, I guess this is a favorite of mine and Tim's, too. I rather enjoy standing up.) Weston LOVES it when we hold him so he's standing - he can't balance yet, but he locks his knees, and he apparently adores being up high on those little legs. He gets this really proud look on his face, and sometimes he cries if we start to sit him down.

7. Not-so-favorite (Weston): Scratching his pristine little face with his terrible mini-claws (which require greater delicacy than brain surgery to ultimately trim with the nail clipper). Actually, he doesn't seem to care too much when he scratches himself, but Mommy sure does. (Can you see the scratches on the right side of his forehead below? So sad.)
8. Not-so-favorite (Weston): Sleeping with his head at a freakish angle. (At least I would think... he just goes on and sleeps.) Doesn't this appear a tad uncomfortable?

Oh, and Liz, does Weston qualify as "pasty death white" or just "pasty white"? I'm not quite sure... :-P

Last but not least...
9. Not-so-favorite (Jean): My crappy camera. Observe the two photos below:

With the flash:

Without the flash:

The "without" picture is actually how our apartment looks when the light is turned on. Using the flash highlights the immediate subject, but totally washes it out, and totally darkens everything else. Oy vey! What's a photoblogger to do?? :-)

The Higher They Soar, the Harder They Crash

First a disclaimer: Notice the different font color and typeface. As usual, they indicate that this is a post by Tim. The opinions found in this commentary do not represent the views of Jean Anderson or any of her subsidiaries. On with the post…

So, many of you have been asking about my reaction to Indiana Jones. Let me say that you should all see it and form an opinion for yourselves, because you may go into it with different expectations than I did. After all, I think any movie can be great if you just lower your expectations enough (Transporter 2, I’m looking in your direction). One’s satisfaction with a movie really comes down to what he expects to see and how it does or does not live up to expectations.

For example, I expected to see a movie starring my favorite action hero, Indiana Jones. I expected flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants action and adventure. I expected decent acting and good-enough dialogue. I hoped the effects would serve the story and not George Lucas’ desire to replace all reality with undercooked CG effects. I expected thrills, stunts, and light-hearted humor. I expected to see a movie that felt like Indiana Jones. I expected a movie that didn’t suck. That's not too much to expect, is it?

Apparently it is. Guess I shouldn’t have had such "lofty" expectations…

Five Years!

THE ENGAGEMENT

THE WEDDING
Five years ago today, Tim and I wed in the Washington D.C. temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. How time flies! I don't know what to say to convey how happy I have been with this decision. Tim is the sweetest, dreamiest, funniest, most supportive, most considerate, most wonderful person that I have ever met in my life. (Feel free to stop reading this when the dry-heaving begins.) I am so in love with him, and I am a lucky girl to have him. I feel extra blessed this anniversary that we can celebrate the occasion with a new little addition to our union. (As blessed as we are, we are still delighted to leave our little Tadpole with a babysitter this evening so that we can have our first REAL date in months!)

Tim, I LOVE YOU! I am absolutely beaming as I think of you while writing this. You are amazing, and you are a dream come true. I am so happy that I met you so many years ago, and that you are the person to whom I am joined for eternity. I am so happy that I have you, and that we have a family of our own now. Thank you for bringing so much joy into my life. Noaglar! XOXO

NOW WATCH AS THE INSANITY ENSUES...

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, TIM!!!

Strawberry Fields Forever...

I'll admit it, there are a few things about Southern California that I find to be undesirable. The summertime heat waves, for instance (case in point: this past weekend). There's also the traffic and the smog, and the high cost of living. However, I am beginning to learn that the reason so many people live in Southern California is that these undesirable things go hand-in-hand with a number of lovely, wonderful, awesome things that the region also has to offer. Things like Disneyland, the beach, and the sunny un-winter. The year-round flowers and palm trees. The museums, cultural amenities, and recreational opportunities. The buzz of entertainment, glitz, and glamour. And perhaps most importantly (I realized this weekend), STRAWBERRIES.

Despite the many unpleasant attributes of this region, one of the things in which I delight the most is that it is the heart of strawberry country. That means that when late spring comes, so too do baskets and crates of fresh, red, aromatic strawberries, direct from the farms. And lemme tell ya, I LOVE STRAWBERRIES. I've loved them since I was a little kid. I could eat an entire meal of just strawberries. Toss them into pancakes, waffles, cakes, or beverages, and I'm in heaven. So of course, when I learned that the annual California Strawberry Festival was taking place on May 17th in Oxnard (just an hour away), I HAD to go. Tim was gracious enough to allow a little Saturday afternoon field trip (despite the horrid heat), so we packed up and headed north.

Wow! It was great. It's really a big to-do. There were booths upon booths of artisans and handicrafts, along with souvenir stands, some rides, a couple of concert stages, and a number of sitting areas. And most importantly, there was a LOT of food available, and there were a LOT of strawberry treats!! Seeing as the festival is only once a year, Tim and I totally splurged and tried several of the festival's strawberry delicacies. We got strawberry smoothies and strawberry shortcake, of course. But would you believe that we also tried strawberry pizza and strawberry nachos?! Wild!

So, yay! It was fun. Here are some photos from our day:

The festival

Another scene from the festival
The strawberry nachos stand
The "Berry-Go-Round" (hahaha... get it? Berry, instead of merry. Haha. Good one.)
Sipping my strawberry smoothie
Our slice of strawberry pizza
The strawberry nachos (which were my favorite)
The make-your-own strawberry shortcake
Our little festival-goer in one of his new outfits
A contented look following a good burp on Dad's shoulder!

Naptime Cuteness

I just want to nibble that cute little foot...

Huh-guhhh!

Huh-guhhh, everyone! That greeting, by the way, comes from Weston. "Huh-guhhh" is his favorite thing to say right now, and apparently it means something along the lines of "It's very good to see you!" (or so I've gathered). Sometimes he mixes it up by shortening it to "huhhh" or "guhhh," and other times he'll give me completely different greetings such as "oooooh," "ahhhh," or even "muhhh." (I have yet to translate these variations.)

Even so, it's so fun to have a talking baby!! Always, during his first diaper change of the morning, he'll be all smiles, gurgling and talking and wiggling around. It's adorable!! That's always a nice way to start one's day. (Of course, my day is also still starting off with my alarm clock going off -- in other words, Weston crying very loudly for some breakfast nosh. But... I suppose I've gotten used to that, and the post-eating gurgles and smiles absolutely make up for it. I must say, God designed babies very well.)

Yesterday Rebecca had a bunch of girls over to her house for a mid-day playgroup. "Playgroup" is used loosely here, because although a few kids were running around, playing with the doggies, or swinging from the tree, most of the little ones kind of chilled while their mommies enjoyed some much-needed social time. :-) So fun! Thanks for having us over, Becca!

Here's Natalie, Danielle, and Rebecca, with their respective cutie-pies:

Is this not freaking adorable -- a little curly-haired child with a wee red wagon?? (He belongs to Brittany in the background, by the way):
Dana (with Lucy), Jen, and Niki:
And this was Weston for most of the time (there was a small bit of crying towards the end, marking our departure):

Whips and Fedoras All Around!

So, here's a follow-up to my previous Indy-centric post of a couple of weeks ago. Upon reading the entry, my parents did some investigating and indeed found some pictures of me all Indied up. My Dad scanned them in for me and sent them along, and after a little bit of Photoshopping (only for restoration purposes-- they were pretty faded) I've decided to share.

This first one is my second cousin (I think...), Bobby. He and I shared the obsession, but each of us had his own gear.

This is me receiving the Indiana Jones Trilogy on VHS for my 9th birthday. I've since upgraded to DVD, but I've still got that VHS set (partly for nostalgic reasons, partly because its obsolescence has prevented its resale).

First-Ever Anderson Family Vacation!

After nearly five years of marriage, Tim and I have kind of gotten into the habit of taking a fun vacation every summer. Last year, we went to Hawaii and Europe. That, by the way, was pre-baby (hahaha). This year, we decided to keep it a little simpler, and we headed north for a two-night, three-day stay in Cambria on the Central Coast. So, Weston braved the carseat, Tim and I braved Weston, and we actually all ended up having a great time!

Cambria is a lovely little town just north of San Luis Obispo, full of trees, fields, rocky shorelines, charming little boutiques, bistros, and fresh baked goods, along with plenty of 60- and 70-year-olds with gray hair, stone jewelry, and fanny packs. (Yes, we saw lots of this demographic, and apparently that's the group that's most attracted to the area.) Nevertheless, a couple of young'uns with a baby still managed to have fun -- we toured the famous Hearst Castle, viewed an elephant seal colony, shopped, dined, enjoyed the beach, and learned a lot about the curious Olallieberry. Overall, I give the vacation an A+, especially since we survived with a 10-week-old in tow. (Seriously, it's so nervewracking to try new things with a baby! But, the more we try, the more confident we become. ....Right? Sure. Whatever.)

We stayed at the Cambria Pines Lodge, which was a flowery, polished resort with gardens, fresh air, peace and quiet, and most importantly, a free breakfast buffet.

We sprung for a suite so that we could have some extra room for the baby. That red suede couch was heavenly. (Don't tell the lodge personnel, but it is now graced with a small amount of Weston's spit-up. Haha! Gross.)
The bedroom, with a neat little terrace overlooking the trees.
Cambria has a beachfront boardwalk, which made for a very scenic (and very windy) evening stroll. Thanks, kindly passerby, for taking our picture!!
Down on the beach with the wee one (a few minutes after his spit-up explosion down the front of my shirt).
The Central Coast. (Pleasant sigh.)
The lodge had flowers everywhere. (Man, that place is going to be swarmed by ladies on Mother's Day, lemme tell ya.)
I tried to take pretty flower pictures. Behold.
A guest house (yes, guest house) at the ol' Hearst place.
WR's "Neptune Pool." Sorry, did you say "over the top?" Nah, I think that Roman columns are perfectly common with swimming pools. :-P
The Casa Grande at the ol' Hearst place, with WR's 3,500-year-old Egyptian statue in the foreground.

The Elephant Seal Rookery. Yep, there were lots of them. They were cute and wiggly and blubbery and, well, rather stinky too!
Lounging by the water's edge. (I like the one on the right who's raising his hand. Yes? Do you have a question?)
Picnic lunch by the beach.
Okay, okay, I asked Tim to pose for this one. Ya got me! Isn't he dashing, though? Especially when he's so contemplative.
Our cute little Beach Baby Bundle!!

I LOVE those sunhats on babies. LOVE them. So cute. Does it get any cuter? No. It should be mandated that every baby in the whole world wear those cute little sunhats.
Pretty flowers by the beach. Lovely lovely!
The Rock 'n Roll Diner along the Pacific Coast Highway. This is just one of the ridiculously random establishments that one finds along the ol' 1 -- a '50s diner made out of two train cars. (Of course we had to stop and eat lunch here.)
Rockin' to the oldies!!