Updates in NJ

After the burial for my mom's ashes in CA, we did a bit of work on her house.  We updated the color in the kitchen from yellow:

to this blue-gray.  It was really nice to see it all in one even color--whoever painted the kitchen the initial yellow did a terrible job.  We're talking painting on electrical outlets and using a different shade on a part of a wall--I'm guessing he was running low on paint and decided to stretch it with some primer?

Also thought it was a good idea to change out the locks.

Which was really quick and easy when replacing similar locks:

Voila!  Don't worry we got a silverish bottom lock to match this one:

Also got rid of this curtain:

And decided to go for the frosted glass look with contact paper:

Tada!  Light but a degree of privacy:

Also updated the cabinet handles (old one is on left, updated, simpler contemporary one that my sister picked out is on right):

And my biggest accomplishment--patching a hole and repainting this stained ceiling:

Downside--pushing the fridge aside to paint the wall behind and discover that the mouse-shaped dust ball is in fact, a mouse, albeit a dead and dessicated one.  I know, barf.

One of the better discoveries was finding this Willie Nelson CD among Mom's classical and opera CDs:

Definitely a surprise that put a smile on my face.

The Blacklist in Brooklyn

The Blacklist was shooting in my sister's neighborhood:

Which means:

No parking on the streets they reserve.  Trying to find parking in general is a major headache--good thing we were heading down to NJ.  For those who don't have to park in NYC--when a TV show or movie shoots on a street--it's a headache as they shut down a few streets which are normally packed with parked cars.  So it's kind of like, where are all those cars supposed to park?

Anyhoo, now I might watch The Blacklist--just to see the neighborhood on TV.  I love watching shows and movies set in New York and see familiar locations.  As long as I don't have to deal with the parking.

SF visit

Our stay in San Francisco was incredibly short--just a long weekend basically but we packed as much as we could including seeing sweet (and times, downright saintly!) cousin Clara every day of our stay.

So glad we got to see all the cousins the day of my mom's memorial, and a few even drove into the city to see us for a few hours (forgot to get pictures--kicking myself!).  My OC transplant friends even drove in from the east bay area to spend a couple of evening hours--so great catching up with them:

We made one touristy visit to Pier 39 to see the famed sea lions, which apparently started out as (and still are?) a nuisance but were corralled into makeshift piers that visitors can enjoy them with sight, sound, and smell!

Also able to grab a pic with Alcatraz in the background:

One of my favorite sights, the girl and her cousin:

My sister said they looked like a pair of Williamsburg hipsters on a stroll.  I just love how sweet they look together.  Nice way to end a trip in SF.

Happy Halloween!

The other plus about the timing of this SoCal visit is doing Halloween in the office.  Goodness knows I love dressing up!  This year I roped my friend in to do the characters from Dodgeball:

My good friends also got in the spirit with Despicable Me's Gru and Toy Story's Jessie:

And we had to dig this shower costume a la The Karate Kid (in case you forgot--it's the costume that Daniel wears to his first party in the movie):

In fact everyone dug the Shower costume, including Holly Golightly:

Though appropriately, Despicable Me's Agnes was a bit concerned:

Minions take aim:  If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball!

Absolutely dug hanging with Captain America and this Minion:

This Minnie Mouse, Masquerade Ball Queen, and Egyptian Queen put a smile on my face:

Even the girl got into it with her 50s costume:

I love Halloween!

Reno 911! for Halloween party

This year we went to a Halloween party at our gym and I made our costumes for Reno 911! Lt. Dangle and Deputy Kimball.  I got both our khaki pants and shirts from the Goodwill for a grand total of $13, I printed our Sheriff Department patches on to iron-on transfer sheets, and we picked up our Sheriff badges at the Dollar Store where it was 6 in a package.  The big expenditures was the $7 "human hair" mustache for Paul and $6 aviators.  But not bad for less than $30 for the both of us right?

This little guy had the best costume--as the most adorable Chippendale's dancer EVER. You can bet he had dollar bills in his waistband by the end of the night!

And mad props to my favorite adult costume: Kenny Powers!

The other highlight of the party was the awesome food--I had at LEAST one of each of these cupcakes.  So tasty and so crafty!

I'm kind of at a loss for another costume idea for actual Halloween. Any ideas?

"Before I die..." Art installation

Stumbled across the interactive art installation, Before I Die, on Main Street a couple of weeks ago after the Race for Life:

Really appreciated the variation of people's specific declarations from the very heavy (...find a reason to live, ...have my son Alex back in my life) to wise goals (...stop obsessing over men) to interesting goals (...fart the loudest fart!)

I briefly thought about what I'd write on this wall if I was there during the installation and I kind of felt I wouldn't be able to come up with something to write. Does that sound weird? I'd feel this tremendous pressure that I had to come up with some life-defining goal, when I'd like to think I have many or that my goals are evolving and growing. I guess I kind of put a lot of weight in declaring something.

Or maybe I'd just come up with the fart goal.

Catch up: My first 5K--for a good cause

An awesome friend was an honoree at this year's Walk/Race for Life for winning her battle against breast cancer and our whole family joined her team.  Paul and the girl signed up for the Walk and I made the bold decision to do the 5K Run last month to help me motivate to start exercising again (and lose some of the weight I gained over the summer with a lot of travel and stress in NJ).

Unfortunately, my training was severely lacking, with my longest distance run less than a week before the event (and not much better, or often, before that):

But I managed to run a 33:29 (roughly a 10 minute pace?) and come in 331st place (out of 640 people--also 186th place out of 426 women), which I can't complain about considering how little I trained. Unlike my running friends who have just fallen in love with running more after initial races and are now prepping for marathons, I have no desire to run longer distances at all.  I will confess that it was a neat experience running through the city and traffic lights with no cars.  And honestly, the groups of people on the corner cheering?  I loved it.  I was pretty moved by it.  My favorite was the middle school marching band playing in the middle of it.  So maybe I'd a 5K again...but I'd like to be a lot better shape than this round.

Catch up: SC pride

The girl and I hit up the SC Pride festival where the music is always jamming:

And the food is fried and tasty.  Here's the girl and me before she ditched me for her friends.

Well, at least I enjoyed a lemon sugar crepe to keep me company!

Catch up: Happy birthday for the Girl

To be honest, coming back from Jersey from my mom's house a week before my girl's birthday, I wasn't at my game when her birthday came.  But we did take her out to breakfast before school on her actual birthday:

And it was a decadent brunch that had loads of coffee, chocolate, nutella, bread, and cheese:

I felt pretty lame about only doing breakfast out considering that I had spent a lot of 2013 up in NJ and wanted to give her a proper party.  So with the help of some of her friends, we were able to pull off a surprise party a week later--she never suspected, needless to say:

And what's not to like when you have friends, an awesome taco bar (a sweet gift from her aunt):

fireworks,

and uh, apparently at times, lack of parental supervision:

Sigh.  My girl is growing up so fast.

I can't believe it's been so long

since I blogged.  I have to confess that my mom's passing threw in a funk.  It's been a rough year, among many, and even though my mom's death was expected, it still threw me for a loop.  A friend said that whether a death is expected of not, it's still going to land hard.  I heard about the various phases of bereavement (isolation and denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) and it seems that they hold some fundamental truths.  I still wrestle with a lot of guilt, regret, and sadness, but I think I'm making my way.  Some days I still lose track of time and think I'm replying to an email from yesterday that turned out to be from last week.  I thought I was behind on this blog a few weeks, but I'm closer to a couple of months.

Anyhoo, I managed to get some things done and I've got some catch up posts but I'm looking forward to getting back into some of my old routine again.

Wish me luck!

A nice positive

when your mom passes is that you get nicely fed.  Like a great meal at the local raw vegan cafe:

Or an awesome cafe brunch in town:

Or someone makes you a vegan blueberry cream cake:

Or your awesome company sends you an edible arrangement:

That even a little nephew or niece can enjoy:

Or a friend sends you home with a huge trough of leftovers:

Or brings fancy take-out:

This was pretty awesome and delicious. If food = love, I am very well loved. On a separate note, I have gained approximately 15 pounds.