Morning's Light

My nephew Caleb turned 11 on Friday and spent Sunday afternoon with about 10 friends – playing laser tag and video games.  Here are a few photos from the afternoon. 

I imagined Mimo thinking, "I'm on the correct square, little brother, are you??"

On a side note, went to my aqua challenge class this morning, arrived late, and as I walked through the family pool area (that is blissfully warm), saw a bunch of heads bobbing in the competitive pool – with reindeer antlers on.  OH NO. TODAY IS THE DAY.  I had to put reindeer antlers on for the class.  Couldn't be the only one out of 12 people not wearing them!  The teenaged lifeguard was smirking at us most of the hour….and downright laughing at times.  THANK YOU, Lifeguard! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

Friends Annelies and Katy hosted a party called Project Cupcake in San Francisco (*sob* where I no longer live).  To live vicariously through them, I'm posting these photos of Project Cupcake.  Enjoy.

The George Bush cupcake

Some of the creations.

The creators of the event:  Katy and Annelies! 

garance dore featured this photo of clemence poesy.  I'm all for black, and I love her mix of black, white and those boots!  The look is intentional, effortless-looking chic.  LOVE IT!  Can't stop looking at it.   

A brand new favorite blog of mine, This Time Now: Design Where You Are, is authored by Felicia Shelton who has lived in Sweden, France and currently resides in South Korea.

She is writing a style book with a foreward written by Tom Dixon.  I cannot wait to read the book nor catch up on all her blog entries!

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Holidays at Chao Camp, originally uploaded by abchao.

Quite festive, this photo by ABCHAO on flickr.

 I waited too long today to eat something (breakfast should probably be earlier than mid-afternoon!) so I had one of those headaches that had me pinching the bridge of my nose/pressing on the sides of my nose/holding the base of my head – desperately trying to ease the pain of a headache.  Ended up trying the combo of ibuprofen + eating a good dinner.  I just wanted to cry.  So I did.  (I apologize to those people in the restaurant near me who saw my tears….oh..and the people in the cars around me on the freeway…. and my favorite librarian who thought my pink cheeks were from the zero degree weather… and my neighbor I ran into in the parking garage.) 

MOM EMAIL CONVERSATION #1

MOM: "I thought my head was going to explode before I made a decision."

ME: " I'm Twittering this."

sunnygirlsf Another case of Glad THAT Didn't Happen: MOM: "I thought my brain was going to explode before I made a decision!" Cleanup on Aisle 5? 9 minutes ago from web

MOM EMAIL CONVERSATION #2

MOM: "Speaking of ha-ha's, the men [in the office] were doubled over with laughter at me last week.  I was trying to figure out what the year was – when I was 18.   So I asked:  'How old  was I when I was 18?'   For some reason, they thought it was funny."

ME: "Well yeah!!  Silly question, silly response!  Tell me you see the silliness?"

MOM: "I'm not THAT OLD….you young whippersnapper."

ME: "Ummm..I believe you are old, technically, the moment you use the term 'You Young Whippersnapper'!!!"

MOM: "I dig your vibe."

Started reading Snoop this morning and was captivated by one paragraph in particular:

Personality: An individual's unique pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving that is consistent over time.  If you alphabetize your book collection just once, that does not make you an organized person.  If you try a new dish on a menu once, that does not suggest that broadmindedness is a part of your personality.  For a behavior to be part of your personality, it should be something that you do repeatedly.  To be truly organized, you must systematically shelve your books and keep putting them back in their proper places.  Moreover, you should also organize your CDs and create folders for your emails and keep the corkscrew in the drawer assigned to the corkscrews. 

Hello!  A pattern.  Cleaning out my car once, smiling with satisfaction and clapping the dirt off my hands – does not make me a person who values a clean car.  It means I got fed up with the stuff I carried around in my car for a year and am motivated to do something about it once.   My friend Stephanie (who now lives in Hawaii!) astounded me with her spare, sparkling clean, vacuumed out older Honda sedan every time I saw her.  She had an EMPTY TRUNK.  What's that????   My mom keeps very little in her car's trunk as well.

So I am not 100% organized or meticulous about everything.  Some things, yes, but not everything.  So organization is not a strong part of my personality. (Yes, my friends can laugh at me right now.  Go ahead.  Laugh.)

It's Friday!!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!!!!!!!!!   Tonight I will see my nephew Caleb in his school play, then take Caleb and little Mimo with me to spend the night at my place.  We'll watch DVDs (I picked up a documentary about bees and two DVDs in the Swiss Family Robinson series), eat popcorn and chips,  go to bed late,(AHEM if you're reading this, Maya, the kids will get plenty of sleep and eat only fruits and veggies) sleep in, have french toast for breakfast while watching cartoons, then head eventually to mom's birthday lunch.

The rest of the weekend is not as busy. Might see Four Christmases.   

Hmmmm..maybe I should clean out my car.            Nahh reading sounds more fun.

How's this for an organized cabinet?!  Saw it on an Apartment Therapy house tour.

Adorable items to help wrap Christmas gifts.

Beautiful, cheerful bedroom!  

This week is my final full week in the office for 2008. Next week is a four day week, followed by a one-and-a-half day week, followed by a one day week. Looking forward to seeing family and friends during that time, completing projects at home, reading a stack of books, catching up on magazine reading, and napping.