Hungry Man? Not hungry enough…

So, I’ve just finished a “Hungry Man” fried chicken frozen dinner. Rather, I called off my attempt to do so and considered my meal “finished” soon after it began. They ought to change the name to “Starving Man,” because I think that’s the only degree of hunger that would drive a man to eat that quantity and quality of food.

I can easily say that was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever put in my mouth, and I have distinct memories of eating both cat food and crayons as a child. I would rather resort to digging through neighborhood garbage cans like some sort of suburban pest than try to choke down any of that cr*p again (this is a family blog, so I’ll censor the choicest words for the benefit of our sensitive readers). So gross…

Merry Christmas, Anderson Style

So, if you've been keeping up with the blog, many of you know that Jean and Weston are already in Philly, visiting family. They left me behind in Pasadena simply because they do not enjoy my company, but I'll be joining them next week (just kidding about them not enjoying my company... I hope...). The task of creating our annual Christmas photo has fallen to me in their absence. In Anderson tradition (dating back to my family's Christmas photos throughout my childhood), a simple family portrait will not suffice. With that in mind, I present to you (for your viewing pleasure?) the West Coast Anderson Christmas Photo 2009:

A Great Grabirthudaytion

A lot has been happening around the ol' Anderson homestead! I've decided to bring you the news in the form of a Q&A.

Is Tim graduating this month?

Yes!

When will he graduate?

Three days ago.

Oh! Neato. Is it true that he had some sort of "graduation show"?

Yes. He displayed some of his final projects on what they called his "grad wall," in what they called the "Entertainment Design" room at Art Center. Here, I took some pictures!

Tim's wall is on the left (he painted it black for contrast):

Grad show lasted for two nights, and it gave industry professionals, alumni, friends, and family an opportunity to peruse the graduates' work:Here is Alejandro, another Illustration/Entertainment Design grad: Tim politely chatted with the strangers who examined his artwork and took his business cards: And here is our friend Kate/Tak's wall (she graduated too!): How was graduation?

It was very rainy... and wet... and cold... and slightly muddy. But the ceremony was GREAT. Here's the (rainy, wet) tent:

Tim is officially a Fall 2009 graduate of Art Center! (At least that's what the program told me.)

The tent filled with people:

Here is the keynote speaker, Frank L. Ellsworth:

But this is what I stared at most of the time:

I've never been to an art school graduation before, so I didn't know what to expect. However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the two giant screens on either side of the stage were for displaying the artwork of the graduates as their names were called. Case in point: a product design grad:

An illustration grad:

Another illustration grad:

A transportation design grad:

Finally it was Tim's turn! (He chose this piece to display.)

He got hearty handshakes from both Ann (the Illustration department chair) and Scott (the Entertainment Design chair):

And voila!

Afterwards, I got a picture of him with Syd Mead, an industry great:

... and with the amazing Scott Robertson:

... and with the stunning Jean Anderson:

Here are (most of) the other Illustration/Entertainment Design graduates, with Scott:

I'm so proud of my hot artist husband:

Ahem... so what are Tim's future plans?

He was delighted to get a job offer from the company where he interned, Luxoflux. (Hooray!) They're in Santa Monica.

What's a Luxoflux?

I'm afraid I do not know.

Are you going to move?

Eventually. We're considering Santa Clarita or Thousand Oaks at this point. Although it's a pain, Tim will be able to commute until we can find a nice place that's a little closer to the office. Fortunately, we have the luxury of being able to take our time, since he's within commuting distance here in Pasadena.

How does Tim feel about being done with school forever?

I'll let him tell you himself. I'm forcing encouraging him to write a blog post or two this week, after Weston and I leave for PA.

Is what they say true, that you turned 29 on the SAME day that Tim graduated?

Yes, what they say is true. Grabirthudaytion.

How did you celebrate?

I received my first-ever breakfast-in-bed, and then I attended the ceremonial conclusion of my husband's schooling, WITHOUT a toddler to chase and entertain. (THANK YOU DANIELLE & BEN!!!) Later, I went out on a date with my husband to Ikea and California Pizza Kitchen, again WITHOUT a toddler (let me clarify, whom I adore) to chase and entertain. (THANK YOU LAUREN!!!)

Wait... are you telling me that you celebrated your birthday without any cupcakes?

Ha! As if. First I (strongly) hinted to Tim that I really wanted to try THIS beauty from Dots -

The hazelnut crunch cupcake:

LOOK at all that NUTELLA inside!!!

Then, I was ever-so-delighted to find that the Cupcake Fairy (I love you, thank you) had delivered THIS beauty -

The chocolate caramel cupcake (with sprinkles of sea salt on top!):

OH. MY. YUM:

You mentioned before that Cafe Rio was opening on Monday morning. Did you go?

YES!

I'm assuming you took pictures... what did you take pictures of?

DISAPPOINTMENT.

Yeah, the website was WAY off. The restaurant isn't even opening until Monday the 21st at the earliest (according to that sign). Sigh. My rumbly tumbly (rumbling for a Cafe Rio salad) will have to wait until after PA. But don't worry, the day wasn't lost. We visited Disneyland, too! The Disney magic helped to wipe away my tears. :-) (Haha!)

So, you're going to Pennsylvania for Christmas?

Yes. Tim and I are leaving on separate days, but we're looking forward to a fun and chilly holiday with the fams and PA friends.

Are you going to make another awesome Christmas card this year?

We've been majorly slacking, but I told Tim that that should be one of his blog posts after I leave. The pressure is on, because now I've told the millions of you who are reading this blog, too. (Good luck, honey. Don't forget to make it awesome.)

Finally, did you watch Sing-off on NBC tonight?

YES!

It seems like your kind of show. How much did you love it?

Like, THIS MUCH. I really hope that Noteworthy wins!!! (I'm totally biased... Cassie comes from my stake!)

Are we done here? Do you have any other irrelevant thing to add?

Nope, this is highly relevant: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

For Your Christmas Enjoyment

Since many of you fine folks don't live in Pasadena, you therefore probably don't know my Pasadena friends, and you therefore probably don't read my Pasadena friends' blogs. So, I thought I'd share an especially jolly Christmas photograph from my friend Lauren's blog. Her twins (Ethan & Kate) are just a little younger than Weston, and they had the joyous opportunity to visit Santa this year:

Best. Santa. Picture. EVER. Can't you just feel (and HEAR) that Christmas joy?! Thanks, Lauren. :-)

I just can't get over the expression on Santa's face, either...

Guess What.... More Cafe Rio News!!!

This is what was on the Cafe Rio website just moments ago:

THAT'S RIGHT! It's opening on DECEMBER 14th!!! (At least according to my math - six days and ten hours from now is Monday the 14th, right?)

Anyway, YAAAAAAAAY!!!!!! I can't wait! The best part about this is that (even though it's technically a couple days after my birthday), I'll be able to go for my birthday, AND Tim will be completely done with school. FOREVER. Yep, he's graduating this Saturday -- this Saturday, you guys!! -- which also happens to be my birthday, but don't think that I'm bitter that I'm being completely overshadowed by his graduation, even though I only turn 29 once, whereas this is his SECOND college commencement. Because I'm not. I'm not bitter at all. :-) So, that means that Tim can come, too! Huzzah! So, here's hoping that the line isn't too long for me to get my Cafe Rio chicken salad with black beans and tomatillo dressing... because I only have one chance before I leave for PA! (Weston and I will be leaving the next day!! AHH!)

Anyway, hopefully I'll see lots of you Southern California people there, too. Woot WOOT! And Heather, thank you again SO MUCH for treating me to a birthday meal at Cafe Rio! I love you!!! Seriously, I love that girl.

P.S. And if anyone has any advice on sitting through a two-hour graduation ceremony with an extremely energetic, rambunctious, highly-tantrum-prone toddler, please share. :-) I seem to have a feeling that the "solution" will be that Tim sits through the two-hour graduation ceremony, while Jean follows Weston around the campus grounds with a diaper bag slung over her shoulder, full of the toys and snacks that were optimistically and naively intended to keep said child in his seat.

Thanksgiving with Chris and Modern Warfare 2

I think I'm (once again) the last one to write my blog post about a holiday. Why? Because I took a bamillion pictures, and, as usual, I'm including about half of them (which is called a "hababamillion," FYI).

Anyway, this Thanksgiving was extra-special for us because Tim and Weston and I were DELIGHTED to have Tim's brother Chris drive down from BYU to join us for the festivities. The last time that Weston saw Chris was this past June, when we went to PA for a couple weeks. I think Weston vaguely remembered interacting with him then, but after showing him the infamous Ham in a Tree video a number of times, and excitedly talking about Uncle Chris's visit over and over again, he knew that something wonderful was about to happen. And sure enough, Weston absolutely FELL IN LOVE with his Uncle "Fiss." He was CONSTANTLY following him around and screeching his name and trying to play with him (poor Chris, hahaha - and he thought he was in for a vacation!). Fortunately, Chris was a total sport and spent lots of time doting on the little guy, talking to him, carrying him, making him laugh, and all around being a fantastic uncle. And it was heaven for me and Tim over those four days that Weston had a new person of obsession, haha.

I'm calling this blog post "Thanksgiving with Chris and Modern Warfare 2," because the arrival of Chris to our home happened to nearly coincide with the arrival of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to our home. (It's this new video game. I don't know.) So, almost every time that Weston was napping, and almost every evening, you could find Modern Warfare 2 on our television, along with a couple of yelling/cheering/moaning/occasionally zombie-ish young men on our couch. I decided to document some of these instances; it typically looked like this:

Or like that:

Sometimes like this:
And even like that:

When I wasn't staring at the two goofballs on the couch, I was generally staring at this:

So, while they played video games, I took pictures of myself looking bored:

Editor's Note: Reason #1 why I am a Huge Hypocrite: I complain about video games sometimes, even though with a husband working in the video game industry, I realize that they are our bread & butter and that they will eventually (if all goes well) send our children to college. Therefore, I actually love video games, and I am 100% FOR their proliferation. Reason #2 why I am a Huge Hypocrite: on at least two nights of Chris's visit, I joined the fun for a few rousing, explosive rounds of Red Faction Guerrilla: Wrecking Crew (it's this mode where you just run around and blow stuff up). SO FUN.

Moving on...

Here is the massive collection of photos that you are now obligated to look at and comment about (gotcha!!). Enjoy!

Here is photographic evidence of Weston's obsession with Chris (i.e. the constant following):

When Chris sat in the backseat with Weston, it was non-stop giggles:

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Tim and I decided to drive down to Anaheim and show Chris some of the Disney magic that we love. So, we wandered around Downtown Disney for awhile. (I have SO MANY pictures of Downtown Disney, you guys... it just happens that we always come here with people!) We played at the Lego store: Brothers... what can you say:

We checked out the giant Christmas tree at the beautiful Grand Californian Hotel:

(I just accidentally deleted this picture... imagine a giant Christmas tree, k?)

And Weston got to sit in his Weston-sized chairs in the hotel lobby: Then it was on to the Rainforest Cafe for a fun belated-birthday dinner for Chris (and for a China Island Chicken Salad for Jean... I LOVE IT LOOOOOOOVE IT). Hooray! And then the next day was Thanksgiving! That morning, our massive turkey got his annual morning mayo massage:

Later that day, with the heavenly aroma of a sizzling, roasting turkey in the air, I assembled the dishes and started the sides. I'd like to call this picture, "Mama's Ready for a Bigger Kitchen":

Oooohhhh that heavenly bird:

Tim did the "Dad Thing" and carved...:

...while Chris consoled (haha):

Because we have a miniscule kitchen, we decided to just arrange all the food in there, and then actually eat in the living room. I had to take a picture of the spread ("Look, Maw, I dun cooked a Thanksgivin' supper!"):

And here was the actual dining table in the living room (which, we neglected to realize, is also miniscule):

Chris and Tim proudly displayed their turkey legs! (And yes, the TV is on. We wanted to listen to Christmas music, so Tim ended up plugging his USB into the XBox, which meant that the TV had to be turned on to play the music. Don't worry, we weren't watching television during our Thanksgiving dinner. We aren't THAT white trash.) :-)

Weston displayed his typical camera face when I snapped a picture of his little Thanksgiving tray:

And here I am, actually making an effort to look nice and normal in a picture:

Black Friday was, as per tradition, kicked off with some light early-bird shopping. (PEOPLE ARE CRAZY.) The rest of the day was kind of lazy until the evening, when we took Chris out to Santa Monica. Of course we stopped at Sprinkles along the way. (Chris wanted to try one of those gourmet cupcakes that I'm always raving about on my blog, and I was more than happy to oblige.)

We waited in line:

Other patrons were happily tucking in:

South Santa Monica Boulevard was relatively quiet that evening (aside from Sprinkles, of course):

Weston was VERY excited for "cuh-cake":

Finally we made it inside!! I don't have any pictures of the actual cupcake consumption, but let me just say that Chris was not disappointed. And let me also say that Weston ate a WHOLE cupcake. I realized that if I keep giving him Sprinkles and Dots, it won't be long before Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines simply do not suffice. :-)

I just had to take a picture of this cuteness on the way back to our car:

We had such a hard time trying to find a place to park near the Santa Monica Pier, and eventually we realized it was because of a Cirque du Soleil show that was in town (and blocking most of our regular parking lot). They had a ginormous tent that was flapping and slapping in the wind:

Finally we made it to the (freezing, windy, COLD) pier:

I tried to take a slo-mo picture of the waves (not very well, obviously, haha):

Chris gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up at the entrance to the amusements:

And Weston got pummeled by the high winds:

"Hey, Chris, let me take a bunch of pictures of you with Weston so that your girlfriend can see that you'll make a great father figure!":

Hahaha!

While Chris was entertaining Weston, Tim and I even had a moment to take a picture of ourselves... together!!

It was a lovely (freezing, windy, COLD) evening:

Then on Saturday, we headed to Hollywood! We visited the Kodak Theater:

The men posed gallantly in front of the theater's steps:

I had to take a picture of all the crazy costumed people in front of the theater (here we've got a couple of Jack Sparrows, a Snow White, and a Marilyn Monroe):

And here we've got Spider-Man (complete with a fanny pack, of course) and the Hulk:

Did you know that the Munchkins had a star? I did not know that the Munchkins had a star:

Chris strikes the "cool, blase lean" in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater:

Grauman's Chinese Theater is where you find all the celebrity handprints and footprints:

"I HAVE THE SAME SIZE HAND AS JUDY GARLAND!!!! AHHHH!!!!"

Rather than touching Steven Spielberg's handprint, Tim decided to one-up me by tasting it instead:

This picture cost me $1. (You're supposed to tip the crazy costumed people when you take their picture, and of course Weston found the giant happy Snoopy to be appealing, so he wandered over to him and forced my hand.)

Later that day we took Chris to the Americana in Glendale to explore the holiday decorations and watch a fountain show (every half hour!). It is so pretty at Christmastime!!

I love the layout, the landscaping, and the pedestrian-friendly design of that place:

Check out the mega-Christmas tree:

We were thrilled to meet up with our pals Kate and Jacob, too, and of course BOTH pictures that I took of them turned out blurry. (Sorry quakers!) Here's the slightly less blurry picture (haha):

Naturally we visited the bubble gun lady, too:

And we took in all the lovely lights:

And we spent a LOT of time watching the fountain:

Afterwards, we all went to In-N-Out, and then we had to bid adieu first to Kate and Jacob, and then to Chris the next morning. Chris, seriously, THANK YOU SO MUCH for visiting and for being so wonderful to Weston. It was an awesome time. You are such a great uncle and brother. I can vouch that we are very excited to see Uncle Fiss again at Christmas!!! (And sorry again that the bottom of your loaf of pumpkin bread was missing a big chunk.) :-)

Although tradition dictates that we set up our Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving, we ended up putting it off until Sunday night so that we'd have more time to go out on the town with Chris. But on Sunday, we busted out all the goods!! Weston loved the Christmas lights:

Seriously, he really loved them:

LOVED THEM:

Tim got everything set up, and then "we" started decorating the tree:

And by "we," I mean me:

However, Weston did seem to enjoy putting all the candy canes in one small spot on the tree, so Tim and I had to intervene occasionally to spread them out:

Weston also seemed to think that all the ornaments were little toys, which is why we had to postpone the tree decorating until after he'd gone to bed (thanks to a couple ornament-related tantrums). He was most thrilled to discover a Buzz Lightyear ornament that we'd gotten a couple years ago:

Of course Buzz had to meet Woody:

Eventually, everything was done (although we skipped the glass balls this year!). And voila! (FYI, those two dark shapes at the bottom of the photograph are a couple of homeless, scavenging snowpeople, who we took pity on and allowed to live beneath our tree.)

Hope your Thanksgiving weekend was fantastic!! Lots o' love!