Benefits of Being a Cat-Owner

Yes, I grew up with dogs and am dying to get a dog (but will alas wait until we have a yard).  Yes, plenty of people are cat nay-sayers, given their intermittently aloof or at least difficult-to-discern attitudes.  And yes, my Dad nary enjoys a giggle much like those surrounding our current cat-craziness or the painful memory of him once selling the cat I had in high school on the internet (this was pre-craigslist or any precedent and without my knowledge or consent while I was away at volleyball camp that summer).  But here's what ya'll are missing:

Warm lap and eager napping buddies (even on road trips!)...

Bed kept warm and love-filled for you...

Auto-affection and phenomenal bargaining chips with your four & two year old nieces...

Pure joy. (Please move on without noticing this and the first one were both mid-road trip, and I was driving and playing photo-journalist...)

Merry Christmas & Gingerbread Glory

Merry Christmas!  While in Wisconsin, Kei and I had our sanity questioned more than a few times for more than a few reasons.  

(1) My dad still hasn't quite gotten past the third cat (who is cute as ever, and likely the subject of the next blog post).  

(2) Very few can comprehend what made us pack up said three cats into our car and drive for 36 hours from San Francisco to Manitowoc… and we were among them for a bit there… We were on the road for a whopping 15 minutes when suddenly a horrendous stench began to take over the meager air space inside a Prius. Turned out Cosette had a bout of car sickness, and it came out her back end... Really though, the real victim here was Heidegger, given that he was locked in the same cage as her at the time and held hostage with the foul contraband until Kei and I figured out what was going on and pulled over to clean up. In any case, we survived that one and Heidegger's brief foaming of the mouth (more car sickness) and made it to Manitowoc in tact!

(3) Kei was inspired to make a gingerbread house… and as I'm every day discovering: marriage means WE were going to be making a gingerbread house.  This may not have been sanity-shaking alone, but true to our SF nature, we insisted on doing everything by scratch and going above and beyond minimum expectations.  All the nay-saying and hours (okay, days) of effort eventually became worth it when the finished project emerged: behold the process and the product!

Kei was the chief dreamer, planner, architect, and builder... credit certainly must be due:

 My main contribution came in when we started dreaming up the decorations, beginning with the melted butterscotch candy windows.  Turns out this is more fun than I ought to admit.

The pine trees were my other great claim to fame (frosting and sugar cones - wa-laa!), and the two of us worked together for the rest of the decorations...

 Finished product!

TA-DAAA!!! The front & main show!

Merry Christmas from your favorite crazy Kondos!

So THAT'S How Kelley Does It...

I've long been teased for failing to keep up with my oldest sister, who can only be called a master blogger - usually posting multiple times every week... compared to my hardy "once in awhile when I think of it..."  But today, I realized (one of!) her secret weapons, and that weapon calls herself Juliette - who's natural tendency to ham it up renders her full of readily available blog post content!  Behold:

 The kickoff, her school's Christmas show, where she was a very excited and musical camel...

The hamming picked up some momentum when we grabbed an iPhone and started playing at GiGi's (my mom)'s house...

We then moved to some emoticons - an old favorite of mine since college...

The Classics:

"Angry" 

"Surprised" 

It was on "Suspicious" that I realized I couldn't compete with the acting skills of my 4 year old niece...

Kelley and GiGi got in on "Confused"

Not even sure what this is - but it simply rocks

"You love GiGi soooo much!"

"Magdalenne (her sister) just took your toy"

"What is the face you make when I say you should take a nap?"

"What is the face you make when I tell you to eat your vegetables?"

Sassy and She Knows It

And finally some bonus shots I just snapped while she was hanging with the girls...

Love this little lady!! xoxo

Meet Simone

Heya... In yet another blogging absence, Kei and I pulled one of our signature moves: got impulsive.  For some reason, Kei thought it would be entertaining to tempt fate and bring me to SPCA because I had long been longing for a dog.  Though we entered with full commitment that we couldn't manage a dog at least until after the holidays, the universe had another scheme in mind for us.

In my defense, I know myself well enough to have uttered this sentence, verbatim, as we walked through the doors and faced the decision of turning right for cats or left for dogs:

"Don't even let me near the cat section, I won't be able to help myself..."

Kei smiled his devilish grin and turned right.

Meet Simone (AKA "Pip-Squeak" or "Pips" or "Squeak-Box," so-called because she literally squeaks rather than mews when she wants attention... and she's such a pip-squeak):

Our new baby is becoming predictable with a few key MO's:

(1) Non-Stop Action (rendering her VERY difficult to photograph!!)

(2) Plot-While-Appearing-Innocent... usually dedicated to figuring out how she can best taunt her older brother and sister.

(3) Snuggle Time!  This is one seriously snuggly kitty... which is absolutely awesome except in the middle of the night when you wake up to her purring like a motorboat and rubbing her face all over yours and/or licking your defenseless nose...

(4)  And.... true for any kitten out there: SLEEP - anywhere, in any position, anytime.

Love.

Kelley Will Be So Proud of Me!

My sister, the amazing blog-master, Kelley, has been "hinting" at me (on more than one occasion) about how easy it is to make all my pictures bigger on this blog, and how much better it is for the readers. At long last, I went back and fixed them up today.  So in case you once found yourself thinking "Badlands?  I can't see what the big deal is," or "Who are these people that are so interested in pumpkins?" - then you may enjoy looking back and finding enlarged pictures that had been previously posted.

Good job, Kell - your message finally got through! :-)

Jellyfish Saviors of Stinson Beach

Yesterday we gathered our favorite troop of San Francisco newbies, packed our Prius to the brim, and headed out to Stinson Beach for a BBQ and getaway.  We were graced with a gorgeous day, easy parking, and awesome company... and in the case of Neil & Kei, the opportunity to be heroes of the beached jellyfish (we won't discuss whether or not they were already dead, nor the fact that jellyfish overpopulation is generally threatening seas).  Behold:

Can't very well be on a beach without one of these shots, am I right?
 

Hero squad in the making... and a beautiful background to boot.

At this point, I confess, I love these pictures more for the scenery than the plot, but in the spirit of narrative continuity, I'll say "the heroes stumbled on the first hapless victim..."

 This one I just plain love... but the jelly is disgusting.

My man.

Hooray!  A great day!