new iPhone app

I've been having fun with a new application for my iPhone called ColorSplash ($1.99). It allows you to remove the colour from a photo (all or some) or just leave a spot colour for dramatic effect. Here's a few I've had fun with:















Note the license plate of the photo below. This dude has a good sense of humour. Yes, that's a Porsche.

snap shot from winter

I didn't get around to uploading this video of our gI-normous two-week snow storm in December, until now:

kaemon ze wakes up daddy

Wake up! Let's P L A Y ! ! !

for my sweet lil bro...

Happy Birthday, Georgie!

I hope this birthday is the best - yet!

I love you, I love you, I love you.

five months old today

We are celebrating Kaemon Ze's five-months-in-our-world-birthday today. For Jason and me, KZ has enriched our own little world - so much. Before he was born, I had a few mamas tell me that we were in for a whole other level of love; a love like we've not known before. And they are, of course, right. We are so in love with this lil one. We are absolutely thrilled that he answered our call to come join us in this amazing 3D experience. He also answered my request to be healthy, smart, cute, and ...funny. I was really looking forward to having a child who shares my sense of humour. Hard to say just yet, but judging by how much laughter Kaemon Ze elicits from us, I'd gamble to say it looks like I'm going to have a partner in silliness, pranks, and jokes. Poor Daddy... heh!

I wanted to get a shot of Kaemon Ze's open palm to show all five of his fingers (representing his fifth month of life). This morning I asked Jason to help me with the shot. With his arms full of dirty laundry, he looked at me and blinked..."you have got to be kidding." What? Just because we're running late; your hands are full; you're not even dressed for work yet; and KZ doesn't spend a lot of with his palms open anyway.... I smiled at my audacity, but Jason - man, he is such a good sport - dropped the laundry and became my photo assistant. The best we could do at the moment was a palm down shot. :)


"One of your baby's favorite playthings this month may be his toes. He'll delight in reaching out and grabbing them to put in his mouth." - Yep, that's Kaemon Ze. He loves his toes and his shoes. He especially likes the soft leather shoes that have puppy faces on them. They were a hand-me-down gift from Sara, who said her son Anakin LOVED them. Technically, they're too big for KZ (which is great, because I'm looking forward to see him motoring around the house in them), but I put them on him because he enjoys trying to "get them".

Another thing I read about this age is that babies may think that seeing you sneeze is funny. I questioned this as Kaemon Ze has seen me sneeze plenty of times (especially recently as my spring-time allergies are here), but he's never laughed at me. I faked a sneeze with him while I was putting on his jammies, and he laughed out loud! I was so surprised. I sneezed again, and he giggled at me. Too fun. I grabbed the video and captured him laughing at my fake sneezes a little (he gets distracted by the camera) - and I got him squawking like a pterodactyl, too! I'll post as soon as I can. :)

Kaemon Ze is right on target for these five-month milestones:

• Your baby is able to reach accurately for an object.
  
  
• He can hold his head steady when sitting upright.
  
  
• Baby can raise his chest with arm support while lying on his stomach.
  
  
• He can roll over in one direction.
  
  
• Baby can grasp a rattle.
  
  
• He pays attention to very small objects.
  
  
• Baby squeals with delight.
  
  
• He spontaneously smiles.
  
  
• Baby mimics sounds and gestures.
  
  
• He turns towards the source of a sound or voice.
  
  
• Baby gets attention by babbling.
  
  
• He makes different sounds for different needs.

The list should include a bullet point about squealing like a pterodactyl.

i think i gave birth to a pterodactyl

Kaemon Ze's 'thing' now is squealing and squawking... making Jason and I laugh. I didn't know I had given birth to a pterodactyl.

bummer...

Lance Armstrong went down yesterday during a race in Spain and broke his collar bone. Ouch. Initial reports said it was a clean break that the he is expected to ride in the Tour de France. That's surprising to me. I've broken my collar bone and it took a long time for the bones to fuse back together and heal. Of course, I'm no Lance Armstrong, either. Heh! While I can't imagine myself in is shoes, I wish him the best and it would not surprise me if he's back in the saddle for July's Tour de France.
Photo credit: Rafa Gomez-Ciclismo a Fondo, Reuters

for my sweet niece...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LANEY!!!

May your day be extra special, extra fun, and truly wonderful!

Love you!

white house egg roll - you can go!

...if you have a child 10 years of age and younger... AND you're able to score tickets, which will be available here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll/









Here's the deal (from the White House Web site):

For the first time, public tickets for the 2009 White House Easter Egg Roll will be distributed online. Ticketing will be available here beginning Thursday, March 26th.

The tickets, which are timed for entrance and exit to the South Lawn, will be emailed to each confirmed guest and the original must be printed and presented to gain entry to the South Lawn. A maximum of six tickets will be issued per order. Children age ten and under, along with their families are invited to attend. There must be at least one child ten years old or under and no more than two adults per group. Tickets are required for every attendee, including small children and infants, to enter the South Lawn of the White House.

thinking of you...

Happy Birthday, Beckey!

May all your dreams come true for you this year, so dream BIG girl!

Love you!

cheers, to the lovely couple

Here's to love.
Here's to finding your soul mate.
Here's to a wonderful couple.
Here's to you, on your special day...

Happy Anniversary
Warren and Bairbre!

it's wicked love baby

Jason and I dropped the lil man off at Gramma and Grampa's for a few hours for another special date night. Jason made us early (4:30pm) dinner reservations at PF Changs (NW location), where we enjoyed 1/2 off appetizers during their 4-6pm Sunday happy hour. We happily noted several small children around the room (we've learned early dining is the best time to take a young one out to a restaurant...that, and asking for the check as soon as the entrée arrives). We especially liked that the happy hour specials applied to the main dining hall, not just the bar. Great to note for future outings with friends with kiddos... the 1/2 off menu makes it very affordable. The portions are muy generous. We tried the crispy green beans, egg rolls, and salt & pepper calamari. Every thing was delicous and it all came with their own unique dipping sauce.

For the entrée, we stepped out a bit. Jason ordered the VIP duck; I ordered the short ribs on a bed of sweet pineapple rice. Neither of us had eaten duck before, so I took a bite of his before I started in on mine. I don't know if it was because it was an end piece or what, but the bite I had was 1/2 moist and 1/2 dry. I later discovered that the moist part was the skin/fat (oh) and the other (dry) part was the meat. It didn't taste bad per se, but I will not be ordering duck for myself in the future. Jason liked the duck - he did not have a 'dry' experience like I did and choose to forego the skin/fat. It was served with a delicious flat bread and marinated, thinly sliced cukes. Yum! I was thorougly disappointed min my meal. I love ribs, but I didn't love these ribs. I was looking forward to the pineapple rice, but was sorely disappointed. It lacked the sweetness I was expecting. Jason seemed to like them both, and we had them wrapped in a to-go box for his lunch this week.

I'm sure the other entrées must be good... but it was lackuster for me. I may just stick with the appetizers next time.

The photos are from the menu. Some of the descriptions are rib-tickling. (Click on photo to see larger image.)

We high-tailed it out of the restaurant and made it to the Keller Auditorium, mere minutes before the opening of "WICKED". We both had to use the loo. The women's lounge was, of course, on the other side of the building. I dashed as quickly as I could to find -- a superbly long line. Oh lordy... would it go fast enough? The gal in front of me said she had never seen the line this long... I glanced at the clock on my phone: 6:27. Three minutes to show time. Akk! I started to send a text message to Jason to let him know to be seated, when the line started to move - fast. I can say, up until then, I had never had the priviledge of being in a bathroom line that moved so fast. Wow! I didn't get the text sent as I needed to pay attention to the line. As soon as I was in a stall, an ominous voice filled the room: "Last call for seating. There will be no seating once the doors have closed." I laughed outloud. Flush! Wash! Dry! Run! In heels. Oh my!

Jason had had enough time waiting for me that he bought some warm candied cashews. We found our seats and removed our coats just as the lights dimmed. Whew. Amazing opening... big production... true Broadway fashion (I imagine... having never actually seen a Broadway production on Broadway...). But... what? What was she saying? I didn't hear him. I can hear her, but wait... now I can't. I was wondering if it was just my hearing, when a calm but authoritive voice stopped Glinda (surrounded by hundreds of bubbles) in mid-sentence and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, our apologies. We must stop the performance to work out our technical difficulties. Our sincerest apologies." This was met with a thunderous applause. Ha! It wasn't just me! I clapped too. Heh.

The lights came on and some folks dashed (and I mean, dashed) for the doors. Most likely relieved they had a second chance to make the loo. Heh. That, or to grab another drink.

Once the show started again, the sound was perfect. Jason and I really enjoyed the musical. Very well done. Great theatrics. Amazing voices. And there were times when we laughed out loud. I was so happy to be sharing that experience with my whimsy guy. I am so in love with him.

Gramma showed me this photo of Kaemon Ze and Grampa asleep on the couch. How (flippin') cute is that?!

he'll never see this but...

Happy Birthday to my older bro, Gary!
You'll always be older and I love that about you. hahahahahahahahaha!

Love you!

hand-me-downs are rockin'

Ms. Jacqueline - the packages arrived yesterday! Jacqueline is my sister-in-law, who lives in Texas with my lil bro and their five children. Jacqueline had twins a year and a half ago (or so), and sent some GREAT hand-me-downs, including a playmat-jungle-gym thingy!

Now I see why Jacqueline said I need to give my brother a hard time when I get the boxes... he built the one box around the jungle gym thingy! Too funny.





The two boxes exploded into this pile o' goodies:









Here's the awesome jungle-gym thingy, lovingly used by Kaemon Ze's twin cousins. Jason is simply amazed that it's like new!









Here's Kaemon Ze playing with it. He's got ahold of two of the dangling items, and seems to be wondering how to get them into his mouth.





I put Kaemon Ze on his belly so he could see himself in the mirror. He seemed to like that. He tried to put his reflection in his mouth.






And here's KZ with the funny santa slippers Auntie Jacqueline sent. Surprise - he's trying to get them in his mouth.







THANK YOU so much Jacqueline and George!
We love love the hand-me-downs! *heart*

guess what this is?

(Photo by Jason Reed, Reuters)
It's the garden plot for the White House grounds! Yesterday Michelle Obama broke ground for the first garden since World War II, when Eleanor Roosevelt planted her "Victory Garden".

According to the AP, the garden will include spinach, broccoli, assorted herbs. various lettuces, kale and collard greens -- and get this: a beehive. So cool! Jason and I did a Naturescape Garden tour last year (or was it the year before?) anyhoo, one of the houses hosted several hives. Jason liked the idea so much that he hopes to host Mason bees in our garden. Mason bees are incredibly productive, but do not produce honey.

Speaking of Victory Gardens, Jason said last year that he'd really like to have one. This, from the guy who said gardening is not this thing. Heh. He's always been happy to provide the labor when I need his help, but he doesn't plant the plants and isn't too opinionated about what I put into the garden. I am intrigued by his idea though, especially as we continue to reclaim the yard -- we are working towards elminating all of our grass (we have a lot of it) save, for a small area in the back near the massive grape trellis Jason built in 2007. The photo to the left is Jason with a harvest of Italian plums and tomotoes, taken in 2007.

We've gotten a couple of quotes to have the holly tree removed (or, as I call it, "the big pokey tree"). If you've ever stepped on a holly leaf, you know what I'm talking about. For Oliver, our 19-year-old dachshund who is nearly blind, the leaves are quite a nuisance. We've been needing to have the fir (I think that's what it is, anyway) in the front yard trimmed for years. It has a large dead area, and with any wind storm, branches fall. Yikes. The quote we got was reasonable, but the cherry on top was a voice message I received a few days ago saying the guy would offer us a 5% discount if we used his services in the next two weeks. That's lovely. I'm not sure if that's his usual M.O., or if that's because people aren't spending money on trees... Once the holly tree is out, we hope to replace it with another hybrid pear tree. (UPDATE: We're now considering having the tree topped so that Jason can build Kaemon Ze a tree house.) At some point, the grass in this photo will go bye bye, in favor of a plant garden with a lovely, winding foot path. Oh the dreams!

And... speaking of gardening, Spicey posted this invite on FaceBook:

Ann and Susan get the sunflower of the year award for coming over and helping me pack 500 packs of sunflowers the other day. Now, time to get them out to the neighborhood and beyond. Sunflowers have been sent to Victoria, BC and Vancouver, BC - Canada, Virginia, PA, NY and lots of other places. I’m so excited about this year’s seeds - they were drawn from nearby farms and if grown right, will be mammoth monsters! Send me your address if you’d like some seeds: albertkaufman@gmail.com

He said he's going to send some of the seeds to the White House for their garden. Spicey is always up to some good. Check out his web site.

And one last thought... Spring has sprung here in the Great Northwest (my nose knows this). On Sunday, I noticed this beauty in our yard. The first daffodil to bloom!

Happy Spring!

surprise for Jason

I surprised Jason with a date night tonight! I arranged to have Kaemon Ze loved up for three hours by the lovely Ms. Pam, and then off to dinner we went to Jade, the teahouse in Sellwood we discovered a few weeks back. Though it started as a teahouse, it now serves lunch and dinner. I was curious if the lunch menu was different than the dinner menu, but it is the same. Which was great, because I really wanted to sink my teeth into their Vietnamese meatball sandwich. So good! And very reasonably priced at about $7 a sandwich. BBQ pork sandwich, which he enjoyed, but we both agree: the meatball sandwich is so far, the best. I cannot recommend this place enough. Check them out, you will not be disappointed.

Dodgeball anyone? It's recess time. Does that bring up good memories or bad memories from school? Heh. It makes me smile. Don't worry, it's "no sting" dodgeball league. I saw this fun flyer on the community board at Jade's. I LOVE Portland. :)








Next stop: Oaks Amusement Park, where White Bird, a local dance company, is hosting internationally acclaimed Dutch choreographer Anouk van Dijk for a two-week residency. The performance is named, "Stau", which is a German word meaning “traffic jam”.

Prior to the performance, the game arcade was open to attendees - all the games were free! We got there too late to really play (I managed to get in one ninja kind of shoot-em up game, which ended with my guy being sliced to death), but it was a fun idea, none-the-less!

White Bird's website describes the performance as a "a fluid experience that is constantly shifting perspectives, changing relationships, and transforming space." I had read that the performance opens with the audience sitting in tight square - the middle becoming the stage itself. Four dancers; audience interaction; nudity. That sounds like a fun visual experience!

Halfway through the 60-minute work, the audience rises, the chairs go away, and the entire venue becomes integral to the piece. Audience members move about the now darkened room, and the dancers use light and shadows to create dynamic, spectacular motion that projects into seemingly limitless space. Each performance of STAU is different. It a shared experience between the audience and the dancers, with no preconceived ideas about how it will evolve. The intimate scale of the performance means that dance will likely happen right in front of you, beside you, or behind you at any moment. You can even take part, if you feel so moved.

At one point, one of the female dancers wormed her way forward, on her back, using my legs as an A-frame passage to get to the center of the room, where she met the other three dances. They wiggled and writhed on top of each one another in a heaping, squirmy mound whispering things, like "take this; I'm sorry, this is yours; I feel so alone; I've got secrets.

Review here; photos here; video here.

I was very impressed by the sheer physicality of the performance. The dancers made great eye contact with the audience throughout. It felt very personal, especially when you find yourself looking in the eyes of one of them, mere inches from your face.

After the performance, we dashed back to Pam's to claim our lil man. We found him watching his first ever episode of "Sponge Bob", along with Pam and her daughter MacKenzie. Too cute. Here's the family's sweet puppy, Lulu. She's just a little older than Kaemon Ze.

Speaking of Kaemon Ze, he's on a sleeping roll! The last two nights he's slept for 8 hours stretches! Prior to that, he was giving us some good 6 hours stretches, and on 9 hour sleep. Glorious. What we're really loving is that several times he has been able to self-sooth himself back to sleep, when he wakes up. It's so precious to lay in the dark bedroom and listen to him babble, make raspberry sounds and then fall back to sleep. A few times he even cried a few moments before he went back to la la land. As you can imagine, Jason and I are loving this new phase!

a surprise for my hubby....

(photo credit: Chris Roesing)

I told Jason not to make any plans for Friday night...

athena arrives!

My cousin Beckey gave birth to this lil beauty early this morning. The photo came via my phone at 4:48am.

Congratulations Beckey, Dave, and big brother Rowan!!

I'm looking forward to meeting her and enveloping her with kisses.

Love, love!

it's wicked baby

Two words: DATE NIGHT. Whoo hoo! Jason and I are both looking forward to Sunday, when we'll dine at PF Changs (thank you Katie, for the holiday gift card!) and then head over to the Keller to see the Broadway musical of "Wicked". I read the book a few years back and have been looking forward to being able to see it interpreted on stage. Should be fantastic!

More on Wicked:

SO MUCH HAPPENED BEFORE DOROTHY DROPPED IN.

Long before that girl from Kansas arrives in Munchkinland, two girls meet in the land of Oz. One - born with emerald green skin - is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch makes for the most completely satisfying new musical in a long time.

but only because I love you

And only because it's one time.

Y U C K

What's "yuck"? Cleaning out a cat's litter box. I super really do not like it.

Growing up, we always had cats. Let's see, we had Missy. Then Star Buck, and Jasmine. I loved them all. But they were outdoor cats.

My sweet and lovely friend Pam called to ask if I would check in on her kitties while her family is away. I told her I would do it - but only because I love her. *grin* As it turns out, I'll only have dootie duty once while their away.

My karma points are wracking up.

ummm... "no, he's not crawling yet..."

I ran into a friend this morning at my coffee haunt. Jeff asked how old Kaemon Ze is and I told him "four months - can you believe it?" A father of three, he then asked, "is he crawling?"

Ummm... "No... he's not even sitting up yet." In that nano-second between that sentence and the next, I was amused with myself for feeling like my son was slightly behind the curve. Hahaha! He's not, of course. He's right on target: learning to babble, practicing his "raking motion" with his chubby little hands, and reaching for things like crazy. I immediately followed me response with, "but he is doing this!" And I turned my head away from Jeff and let a raspberry fly: "pllllzzzzzzzzzt!" Jeff laughed out loud and said, "oh yeah!" Kinda like he remembered - this is what babies do at four months of age... they make spit bubbles and raspberries, and squeal with delight at you and at themselves. Crawling? Good lordy not yet! Our lil house is soooo not ready for that kind of activity! *grin*

Chuck (my barista) saw a guy camping in the foam he poured on my morning latte. Do you see a guy on his knees, cooking with a pan, over a fire? I can see it. :)

jason has a question for you...

Jason got his new "Share the Road" plates yesterday. The plates read, "DRQV" ... he's wanting to come up with a fun definition to the acronym... Dr. Quick Ville? Dr. Quazy Von? Drive Quantum Vehicle? He wants to know what you suggest.









Here's me and my lil gnome. I think this is my favorite picture of us, to date.









Jason hung some mobiles over Kaemon Ze's new crib today. We found the "fat mermaids" while at the coast last year. I wonder if these lil beauties will create a preference for Rubenesque women in the future. Heh!









I took this "Kaemon Ze View" of his new mobile and thought, "hmmm... I wonder what his view of me is like?" The first shot was rather scary... so I re-shot it. I had Jason do the same, and he didn't like his first shot so much that he deleted it! hehehe

another rainey day

I was wondering if Kaemon Ze would remember his new trick of making raspberry sounds with his lips when he woke up this morning. Around 6am, Jason and I were woken to KZ's usual wake-up sounds... only this time there was the new addition of "pllllllzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" coming from his crib. Both Jason and I giggled at him.









Raven found a new place to crouch...

Another very rainy day...









... and more laundry to do. Yep, Jason tackled this pile again. Thought a "before" and "after" photo would be funny:









We finally got out of the house for a quick errand. I found some new rattles for Kaemon Ze, on sale, even! I'll have Gramma keep one at her place. :) In his fourth month, he's beginning to learn Cause and Effect. It's so cool to watch him connect the dots in his head when he does something like hit the table with an object and realize that he did that with his hand. We are loving being witness to his learning. After our lil errand, we dashed through the rain to the 'bubble tea' shop. Here's Kaemon Ze in his skater hat. Heh