favorite things

this weekend amber and chris came to visit! well actually they were getting on a cruise ship and i forced them to stay with me for one night. one of my favorite things about living in l.a. is that people actually want to come and visit me. and i love that. it's fun because it makes me do things or go places i wouldn't normally do. less people visited me in salt lake. period. i guess slc just doesn't have the same draw? weird.

i remember as a kid living in arizona our cousins from utah would come and visit us once or twice a year. my mom would clean the whole house and bake and cook and to be honest it was like christmas eve. the anticipation of my cousins coming to visit was thrilling. pre-cell phone days, they would always stop a couple of times along the way and phone us from gas stations. i carefully kept track of time and knew that my uncle's speeding was on my side. those are great memories and we would play and play and play. often my dad would set up the tent in the backyard and somehow this was really fun when my cousins and i could sleep out there.

waiting for amber and chris on saturday night was exactly like that. i scrubbed my kitchen, bathroom, washed the sheets, made food and waited FOREVER. alas! they finally arrived. and all was well worth the wait. we talked and talked, we woke up and went to my favorite breakfast place, walked on the beach, shopped at fred segal..... and then, they left. it was sad. you know you have wonderful friends when your heart breaks a little when they get in their car and drive away.

sometimes people get married

stuart and i went to a wedding. so we got our party faces on (well i did).

isn't melinh a beautiful bride? if you can't tell from the photo, she was stunning.

bling!

we went to high school together. crazy.

it was a hot day in april

oh arizona- when i go back to visit, i always get tricked into thinking i might be able to live there again someday. especially when i visit the desert and it's blooming with flowers! my feelings about az run deep though. i hate it and i love it. these are pictures of my sonoran love affair.

butterfly!

baby jackrabbit!

creosote bush- it's surprising how much i miss this pretty yellow bush.

can you see the hummingbird? it's in flight.

papago mountain- used to ride my bike there.

prickly pear- we used to smash their fruit on the sidewalk to stain it pink.

scarlet hedgehodge cactus (i don't really remember any of these guys around as a kid)

and these are chihuly! glass sculptures in the desert botanical gardens.

more chihuly. and i might i add, they were absolutely stunning.

desert in the springtime

i love arizona in the spring. so i'm going. actually i'm going for a wedding, which is really just an excuse to go over there, get my hair done and take a day off from work. i have high expectations for this trip because i'm all about relaxing right now. pretty much my plans are the botantical gardens, lunching with ladies, salon time, wedding time, sunday brunch, the end. sounds nice.

earthquakes and ham!

ham, ham, hammy ham how i love thee. the following are some photos of me making out with a ham. and a warning: i say ham a lot, like a whole lot in this post.



i really love ham. i was driving home from the eastside yesterday and i was feeling alright about most things, all except one: the next day was easter and i had no ham. so i drove to honeybaked ham, demanded a ham (apparently reservations are required during the holidays, but a magical 9 lb ham appeared out of the fridge) this was a bit more ham then i had really intended to buy, but the guy gave me $10 off- not sure why...i guess he was in the spirit. you know, easter spirit. or whatever. i purchased and took said ham to a brunch this afternoon and i think it was a big hit. and then there was an earthquake. it was pretty long and wavy. it's been a few years since i have felt an earthquake, i always like them...as long as no one gets hurt. a girl i don't know well started crying. i guess the rolling sensation freaked her out. i thought that was weird. but it isn't polite to say to someone they are being weird and possibly a bit annoying when it's easter sunday. any other day, perhaps, but not easter.

good kid

katu babyke is such a sweet thing! and it's been real nice living close to her again. she basically came over and took care of me for a whole day. she took me out, brought me flowers, fed me. she's a catch this one- and to document our beachy day i've entitled this: ookean

recapping the cap

last week ang and jaedyn came to visit. we went to the beach and the getty and the beach again. it was a real good time and i'm grateful that ang has come and stayed with me often throughout the years. here's to friends and family!