Friday, March 26, 2010
Almost the Mammals
Mike Merenda and Ruth Ungar went on tour with her dad, Jay Ungar and her step mom. It was almost The Mammals, but not quite. JoEllen drove up from San Diego and then we headed to a community center in Encino to watch their performance. I have some audio clips as well, but for some reason, I can only publish photos or video, but not audio.
Here is Ruthy singing "Baby" which she wrote after having her son Will. This proves that you can still write songs, play music or do whatever your heart desires after becoming a mom.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Ben's Endless Birthday Celebration
Party #1 - Bill, Kelly and their girls, Brittney and Madison took us out to Pookie Thai. Then we went to grandma's hot tub for some drinks and relaxation.
Party #2 - Kari took Ben to sushi, which Ben loves!
We told them it was Ben's birthday and after dinner, the lights went out, a Japanese techno remix of Happy Birthday was playing and the entire staff came out clapping for Ben. Everyone else in the restaurant joined in and it became the largest "Happy Birthday" I have ever seen! Ben was so embarrassed, but Kari and I could not stop laughing. We loved it!
Part #3 - I'm not sure how this happened, but somehow we were convinced that we needed to have every member of Ben's family over at one time to see the house and so the party planning began. Ben had to share the spotlight with our nephew Chad who turned 7 and our sister-in-law Jennifer who turned 40. Of course I was stressing big time because I knew I had to clean the house. We decided to take "before" shots when the house was clean so those who haven't seen our house yet, have the chance.
Here's our bedroom.
The kitchen. 
We set up tables outside, and of course it was cold, windy and it rained - a host's worst nightmare!
The living room with extra seating.
And the spinach dip from Costco - I love that stuff so much!
Our guests arrived. Here are my brother-in-law Jeremy and our nephew Chad, and of course, my little angel, Boots.
My brother-in-law Danny and our nephew Jake.
Sam, Grandma Trudy, Grandma Hilda, brother-in-law Mikey and Ellen, Ben's step mom.
Keith and Ben.
Mikey, Ben's dad, Jennifer and our nephew Trevor.
On the far right is Keith with his girlfriend Michele and her girls.
All the boys, including Bula! How cute is Bula???? Seriously!
We had Red's cater the dinner and then busted out the karaoke. Michele's daughters, Emma and Sarah were asked to look like they were singing for the picture.
The party ended early and so we brought the karaoke machine next door. As the night wore on, a beer bong was confiscated and then used by the confiscators. Songs were sung late into the evening. And I will close with a final image of Brad, my neighbor, coming over to get his beer bong back, while Bill, my other neighbor showed us what he could do. Brad looks impressed.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Valentine's Day
(There is nothing that bothers me more in a photograph than a crooked horizon line. But what can you do when a rock is taking your picture? I need to invest in a tripod...)
This picture of Bula is to-die-for adorable, and Ben is a doll, of course!
We watched the sunset and ate dinner at the Beach Grill at Padaro, where we got married. It was a perfect day!
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Another Kings Victory
Air Bailey even made a special appearance which is rare. He has appeared in Vegas and like the saying goes, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," so an Air Bailey sighting is quite rare. How lucky for me! 
Monday, March 08, 2010
The Tree Slaughter
What bothered me most about it is that we did not receive any notice that the tree was going to be removed. Had I known that not even a single branch of the tree would end up in the land fill, that all the wood would become mulch and wood chips for other city projects along with larger pieces becoming hand made furniture that is donated to charities in Moorpark, maybe it would not have been such a confusing and horrible experience. Also, had I known that the city would allow me to pick a new tree that would be planted, or two or even three, I wouldn't have gone ape shit on the city employees. Even though a perfectly beautiful tree was lost, (and "had to be" because of the damage its roots were causing to the sidewalk) some sort of notice would have resolved some of my concerns and informed me about all those unknowns.
So, on March 3rd, I went to the Moorpark City Council meeting and prepared a ten minute speech on the rights of trees in Moorpark and tax payers, along with a tremendous need for a change in notifcation procedures (as in, make them mandatory). Apparently, we should have been notified, but blah blah blah, we weren't. When I arrived at the meeting, I found out that I had to make my statement in under 3 minutes, which I probably should have known with all the school board meetings I attended in trying to keep my former elementary school from closing. So quickly, as the public comment section was early in the meeting, I had to summarize my statement and then later turn in the full version of "The Tree Epic" as my complete statement to the city council.
I was very nervous and angry, but will let you be the judge. In the video link (which appears in the upper left corner of the website), I appear 19:49 in (so fast forward). I had no idea this was being videotaped. Maybe I would not have been so antsy, I would have stood up straight and tried to adjust my voice from the "about to cry" shake that it was. I also would have probably lost about 15 lbs. and blow dried my hair better in the back (which showed up when I walked across the entire screen to give my full written statement to the clerk).
Our tree was killed, but we will be getting a new tree this month. In fact, they let us pick it out, which makes the situation a little better. We picked a Jacaranda Mimosifolia, one of my favorite trees. It's what some people may call "messy", but it's a beautiful mess of purple flowers. I can't wait until I have a new tree to look at and enjoy.
Wildwood Park
I brought Ben to Wildwood Park. I had been taking my 5th graders there for a while, but Ben had never been. And because he had been gone for a few days on business in Maryland, we made it a date! It was so beautiful! There were so many wildflowers because of the rains we've had. Bula enjoyed himself as well.
We made it to the falls.
And even made it to the tepee which Ben wanted to see.
It was an awesome day!
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Soundsuits
I had heard about Nick Cave's Soundsuits exhibit, and knew that I wanted to see it. (Check out the video. This is what made me have to go see the exhibit and I love Radiohead's Idioteque!)
Upon entering, I quickly fell in the love with the giant polar bear made out of sweaters.
Hand beaded suits.
Knitted dreads.
Colorful fur. (And in the front of the photo, knitted snakes in a pile. I wish I had a better picture of these!)
Vintage toy suit.
Glass bird figurines and beads.
Check out the beautiful detail in the leggings! Many of the leggings were heel-less. How cute!
As we walked around, sometimes I was afraid that someone was in one of the suits for an episode of Candid Camera.
The talent and creativity that it takes to come up with this stuff amazes me! I wish I had this type of genius - the soundsuits are a little scary, but a lot of fun, as well. I loved it!Afterward, we checked out their other collections. They happened to have a folk art exhibit, which is quite lucky for me since I love that stuff. Included were many different skulls, one of my favorite things.
Ben saw this and said, "Look! Someone carved Barack Obama out of wood!" And even though it does resemble a young Obama, it was made before he was born.
Not Barrack Obama.
