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! :-)
Monday, October 29, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
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:
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..."
My man.
Hooray! A great day!
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Photo Dump! SF Life As We Know It and More
My sisters recently pointed out how much trouble I'm in after claiming to have emerged from the Yoga Bubble, only to disappear into unexplained silence all over again. Whoopsie Daisy. Here's my photo-dump and mad-dash catch-up to show you what we've been up to while I've been ignoring you so shamefully...
Wine tasting & picnic at Dry Creek Vineyard in Sonoma (I know, I know, tough life that's been keeping me away from this blog...)
The Yoga Bubble.
Birthday Power Hour & Drinking Games
(I'll never grow up, never grow up! Not me! Not I! Not me! ♪)
Enjoying sunshine at Delores Park...
complete with Bi-Rite ice cream and/or Kei's new favorite neighborhood candies... ;-)
Making our own cheese! It's true!
Finding surprises at the many farmers markets.
Getting to really know our vegetables...
... then ruthlessly murdering them & becoming experts at pumpkin pie!
Spreading pumpkin love to our great friends and SF newbies, Yoriko & Neil.
Some labor more than others...
...but all enjoy! Feeling awfully proud of our carving artistry (patterns or not - this was tough!)
Seriously.
Then last week we lit on out of SF and had a great visit in Wisconsin (though I was not even remotely on-the-ball with my camera... whoopsies again). We got to see the family, Kei got in a full flight lesson (what what!), and we closed out with an awesome BBQ from master chef, The Chen, and a gracious welcoming by the whole Chenhalls gang.
Then, we went forth to Baltimore, where things appear slightly weirder, but we still had a great visit with Adam and his fiance, Yoshie!
Outside the AVAM, the American Visionary Art Museum, where they showcase amateur art like this here school bus. An awesome place, where I again failed to take ample pictures inside the museum. Noting a theme here...
Kei celebrating fall colors! The whole inspiration for the trip!
Satiating our marine-cravings indoors instead of underwater at the National Aquarium; where we almost lost Kei and Adam to this here set of jaws.
Ooo'ed at jellyfish - which, with tentacles like these are best appreciated whilst separated by a pane of glass.
Then scampered off to DC for an evening and a day!
Never disappoints.
Much love all! Sorry for my continued delinquency! I'll wisen up and resist making too many promises of super frequent updates to come... :-) xx
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Back from the Yoga Bubble... Sort of
Ah, dear readers who still check this site after weeks of silence - much love to you! I've been a TOTAL slacker on the blog front because I've been doing another yoga teacher training that has consumed basically all the time and energy I could muster, so outside of that I had to pretty much just focus on eating and sleeping.
The training itself was really wonderful, though. I feel so lucky to have met all of these amazing people, especially since we've just moved here and know so few people. I was just trying to describe to Kei how teacher trainings tend to get emotional - he was wondering why he saw tears when he was a trooper and came to our graduation potluck - and it is tough to explain, but these things cut deep. Learning to teach itself requires you to take a certain step into vulnerability (the public speaking factor alone...), and then you add in all the work you do to learn and to begin to use this incredible, rich philosophy of it (which is like shining a super bright light on all the little crevices of your personality and history that you'd rather leave in the dark...) and you have yourself a pretty overwhelming recipe.
Anyway, I still have a lot of reflecting to do on much of this and I genuinely hope to stay in the "yoga bubble" in a way but it should be less consuming from here on out, and allow for me to emerge from it enough to write more often, but for the moment, all I want is to say: hello! I'm back!
The training itself was really wonderful, though. I feel so lucky to have met all of these amazing people, especially since we've just moved here and know so few people. I was just trying to describe to Kei how teacher trainings tend to get emotional - he was wondering why he saw tears when he was a trooper and came to our graduation potluck - and it is tough to explain, but these things cut deep. Learning to teach itself requires you to take a certain step into vulnerability (the public speaking factor alone...), and then you add in all the work you do to learn and to begin to use this incredible, rich philosophy of it (which is like shining a super bright light on all the little crevices of your personality and history that you'd rather leave in the dark...) and you have yourself a pretty overwhelming recipe.
Anyway, I still have a lot of reflecting to do on much of this and I genuinely hope to stay in the "yoga bubble" in a way but it should be less consuming from here on out, and allow for me to emerge from it enough to write more often, but for the moment, all I want is to say: hello! I'm back!
Friday, September 7, 2012
Saga de Selene
Many apologies for leaving you hanging on the Crazy Pants saga. For reasons you'll soon understand, I can now tell you that our beloved Crazy Pants had actually gone by the name Selene throughout our entire correspondence - which didn't match the name on her PayPal account, but we assumed it was the nickname she went by and never thought much of it. Anyway, to address the questions I received: no, Selene did not break in that day... but never fear, your thirst for entertainment will not go totally unsatisfied: we did have more drama before finally finishing with her and moving out of the apartment. It coalesced shortly after the last entry, when we had basically moved out, but returned to clean the apartment, and she was unexpectedly living there (before our lease was up) with her mother and two big boxers: one of which had "allergies" causing him to growl and bark viciously the entire time we were there, and the other - well, just you wait for that part of the story.
I've never actually witnessed a person act the way Selene acted while we were there; she really lived into and beyond the illustrious title of Crazy Pants. She literally stomped around with her head shaking all over the place and talked herself in circles saying one thing one minute and then saying the exact opposite the next, all while intermittently yelling at/dealing with allergy beast, and frequently snapping at her mother and Kei (who was doing his bestest just to hash out what was going on but rarely getting to say three consecutive words without being cut off by either Selene or her mother with their matching shrill, Greek voices). It was such a whirling mess of tempers and utter crazy-pantsness, that at one point I literally conjured the yoga teacher in me and made everyone in the room do a collective deep breath. No, that's not figurative, we really did it. I even employed the corresponding arm-movements I use for my students. Still got it. At another, I had to conjure the woulda-been-lawyer in me to sternly inform Crazy Pants that we would not tolerate her behavior and she had better pull herself together and start acting in an appropriate manner... complete with the parental pointer-finger-gesture and "don't mess with me" eyes. It was a weird afternoon. After probably about two hours of attempting to follow Crazy Pants Selene's scattering trains of thought and struggling to eek out whole sentences so we could figure out a way to finish up our term and handle all security deposits, we did somehow come to a workable solution, and both the woulda-been-lawyer and the yogini in me felt pretty good about how it all turned out.
Here's my favorite part of the whole story. While allergy beast stayed "locked" in the kitchen by a clearly insufficient gate (causing me more than one pause and consideration for our physical safety), in the middle of the whole scene, Crazy Pants let the other dog out. The dog took a liking to me, and was sort of jumping up on me looking for attention, when the mother reached out for the dog and said..."knock that off, Selene!"
I've never actually witnessed a person act the way Selene acted while we were there; she really lived into and beyond the illustrious title of Crazy Pants. She literally stomped around with her head shaking all over the place and talked herself in circles saying one thing one minute and then saying the exact opposite the next, all while intermittently yelling at/dealing with allergy beast, and frequently snapping at her mother and Kei (who was doing his bestest just to hash out what was going on but rarely getting to say three consecutive words without being cut off by either Selene or her mother with their matching shrill, Greek voices). It was such a whirling mess of tempers and utter crazy-pantsness, that at one point I literally conjured the yoga teacher in me and made everyone in the room do a collective deep breath. No, that's not figurative, we really did it. I even employed the corresponding arm-movements I use for my students. Still got it. At another, I had to conjure the woulda-been-lawyer in me to sternly inform Crazy Pants that we would not tolerate her behavior and she had better pull herself together and start acting in an appropriate manner... complete with the parental pointer-finger-gesture and "don't mess with me" eyes. It was a weird afternoon. After probably about two hours of attempting to follow Crazy Pants Selene's scattering trains of thought and struggling to eek out whole sentences so we could figure out a way to finish up our term and handle all security deposits, we did somehow come to a workable solution, and both the woulda-been-lawyer and the yogini in me felt pretty good about how it all turned out.
Here's my favorite part of the whole story. While allergy beast stayed "locked" in the kitchen by a clearly insufficient gate (causing me more than one pause and consideration for our physical safety), in the middle of the whole scene, Crazy Pants let the other dog out. The dog took a liking to me, and was sort of jumping up on me looking for attention, when the mother reached out for the dog and said..."knock that off, Selene!"
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Hiding Out
I hate to even confess what I'm doing right now. I'm dodging a potential confrontation with the girl we're subletting from - who recently unveiled her true self: a totally unstable crazy pants... we'll call her Crazy Pants - and hiding in a nearby Starbucks until further notice. Allow me to fill you in:
Crazy Pants showed some signs of instability shortly after we signed up to sublet her apartment, and indeed, the move-in day proved quite bizarre - it kicked off Kei's official suspicions of her crazy side. Kudos to his perception, but I was still trying to maintain her as a bit eccentric but with a good heart. So what that she spent about two hours talking none-stop and at such a pace that two hours of material really should have taken four? So what that she jokingly confessed to being crazy (with crazy eyes to match)? So what that her freezer was literally stuffed full with bloody raw meat "for her dogs" that she informed us would be staying there? Okay, I can't lie: that last one drained the color from the face of my former-veggie self, who still can't walk through the meat department at a grocery store without a dizzy spell... But trying to be the good sports and easygoing Kondos that we are, we let it slide. Also let slide the closet still stuffed full with [are-you-nuts?-I'm-not-looking-in-there!], the potent dog smell that accosts the nostrils of anyone who approaches the door, the lack of any kitchen utensils/cleaning supplies/bed sheets/pillows, etc. etc. in a "furnished apartment." So what, right?
Issues began to arise when she wanted to come and get into the apartment repeatedly and quickly lost her temper if we said we were unavailable. The last confrontation began via text message (which she began using after scolding me for not checking facebook enough because I had failed to respond within minutes to one of her messages the way I "should").
She messaged two days ago wanting to come to the apartment when we had plans to be out of town, and my attempts to compromise with her to find a time when she could come by... without breaking into our apartment with the key she had denied having when we moved in (sorry there are not two sets of keys, but I was always fine with just one because I was here alone...) failed miserably and ended in her informing us of the following: "you had an attitude problem from the beginning and don't appreciate what you got" (the apartment that we paid several hundred dollars more than her monthly rent for...) and "I was too kind with you... and in general had enough with both of you and have to speak my mind you like it or not." To this I answered that she sounded upset and was saying things that were unfounded, and I suggested we should take some time to calm down and work it out the following day. I was nervous that another explosive text was coming my way, but fortunately just received a merciful, curt "OK" in response.
The following day, Kei decided he should be the one to call because A) he's a prince, and B) we figured her anger was directed at me and we wanted to avoid another ambush if possible. She screened him, but wrote him a text shortly after he called that left it pretty ambiguous whether she intended to come as she had threatened, but distinctly left open the possibility of her coming whether we were there or not and letting herself in with a certain what are you going to do about it? tone.
Ever since, we've harbored the fear of those crazy eyes waltzing into our apartment at any given moment (the sound of keys jingling in the hallway has rendered us both stricken on multiple occasions). Since yesterday, when we've left the apartment, Kei took to taping our door a la Mission Impossible to see if someone entered while we were away. Yes, this is our real life.
Anyway, it's Saturday - the day she had wanted to come in the beginning, and though Kei stuck to our original plans and is out of town, I stuck around to meet up with my yoga teacher later, but am too scared to be sitting in that apartment if she shows up. All that raw meat, remember?????
I debated leaving behind Post-Its saying "Breaking and Entering is Against the Law - Smile for the Cameras" just to weird her out, but opted to be marginally more sane. Instead, I left both tape AND a little piece of paper in the door, so if she goes in there while I'm hiding in this here Starbucks, you better believe we'll know about it. Never fear, Hollywood has trained me well. This is ridiculous.
Crazy Pants showed some signs of instability shortly after we signed up to sublet her apartment, and indeed, the move-in day proved quite bizarre - it kicked off Kei's official suspicions of her crazy side. Kudos to his perception, but I was still trying to maintain her as a bit eccentric but with a good heart. So what that she spent about two hours talking none-stop and at such a pace that two hours of material really should have taken four? So what that she jokingly confessed to being crazy (with crazy eyes to match)? So what that her freezer was literally stuffed full with bloody raw meat "for her dogs" that she informed us would be staying there? Okay, I can't lie: that last one drained the color from the face of my former-veggie self, who still can't walk through the meat department at a grocery store without a dizzy spell... But trying to be the good sports and easygoing Kondos that we are, we let it slide. Also let slide the closet still stuffed full with [are-you-nuts?-I'm-not-looking-in-there!], the potent dog smell that accosts the nostrils of anyone who approaches the door, the lack of any kitchen utensils/cleaning supplies/bed sheets/pillows, etc. etc. in a "furnished apartment." So what, right?
Issues began to arise when she wanted to come and get into the apartment repeatedly and quickly lost her temper if we said we were unavailable. The last confrontation began via text message (which she began using after scolding me for not checking facebook enough because I had failed to respond within minutes to one of her messages the way I "should").
She messaged two days ago wanting to come to the apartment when we had plans to be out of town, and my attempts to compromise with her to find a time when she could come by... without breaking into our apartment with the key she had denied having when we moved in (sorry there are not two sets of keys, but I was always fine with just one because I was here alone...) failed miserably and ended in her informing us of the following: "you had an attitude problem from the beginning and don't appreciate what you got" (the apartment that we paid several hundred dollars more than her monthly rent for...) and "I was too kind with you... and in general had enough with both of you and have to speak my mind you like it or not." To this I answered that she sounded upset and was saying things that were unfounded, and I suggested we should take some time to calm down and work it out the following day. I was nervous that another explosive text was coming my way, but fortunately just received a merciful, curt "OK" in response.
The following day, Kei decided he should be the one to call because A) he's a prince, and B) we figured her anger was directed at me and we wanted to avoid another ambush if possible. She screened him, but wrote him a text shortly after he called that left it pretty ambiguous whether she intended to come as she had threatened, but distinctly left open the possibility of her coming whether we were there or not and letting herself in with a certain what are you going to do about it? tone.
Ever since, we've harbored the fear of those crazy eyes waltzing into our apartment at any given moment (the sound of keys jingling in the hallway has rendered us both stricken on multiple occasions). Since yesterday, when we've left the apartment, Kei took to taping our door a la Mission Impossible to see if someone entered while we were away. Yes, this is our real life.
Anyway, it's Saturday - the day she had wanted to come in the beginning, and though Kei stuck to our original plans and is out of town, I stuck around to meet up with my yoga teacher later, but am too scared to be sitting in that apartment if she shows up. All that raw meat, remember?????
I debated leaving behind Post-Its saying "Breaking and Entering is Against the Law - Smile for the Cameras" just to weird her out, but opted to be marginally more sane. Instead, I left both tape AND a little piece of paper in the door, so if she goes in there while I'm hiding in this here Starbucks, you better believe we'll know about it. Never fear, Hollywood has trained me well. This is ridiculous.
This message will self-destruct in
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Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Shout Out to One Shout-worthy Sister!
~〜〜★〜〜~
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Kelleyyyyyyy!
Happy birthday to you! ♬♪
~〜〜★〜〜~
Just couldn't have a blog post with anything less on the birthday of my endlessly amazing big sister!
We love you, Kelley!
Here's looking at us. ;-)
"Shuf-fl-ing" and adorable...
〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜
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