Wednesday, September 1, 2004 04:27 p.m.

For those of you who are not sick of baby photos, the Yahoo! album has been updated.

I'm getting a little excited about going to work. However, for all the wrong reasons. Mainly, getting to wear nice clothes again. I'm so sick of lounging around the house looking like a bum (not saying that's a bad thing, I just need to pretty-up a bit every now and again) or being severly overdress for a quick trip to the market. I am obsessing for a new pair of jeans. I already know exactly what I want but cannot find my size online so I need to hit the pavement and by them in person....awwww. Other then that I still want those snakeskin heels from Aerosoles.

I think I've finally fine tuned my Launch radio station. T had loaded it up with a bunch of crap and I've edited down the list of bands that were saved and now I can listen to my station and not get irritated. However, every now and then Launch does like to slip in something of their own, and not quite of the same nature of the music you had been previously listening to. I forgive them becaue I do enjoy commercial free music.

I can't believe this weekend is the big Labor Day weekend. Time just flys by so very fast. We don't have any spectacular plans for the weekend. When we lived in Chicago we would always have these big Labor Day BBQs. We lived in an apartment, jammed all our friends in there and grilled on our back porch. We always had a big spread, lots of drinks and a whole ton of fun. When it started to get late and the crowd dwindled down, we always had those few friends that kept the fire burning with us, we would hed over to the Hidden Cove for some good fun drunken karaoke. Wait, i'm getting this confused with the Fourth of July...or am I? Whatever, we had some extremely fun times living it that city!

Monday, August 30, 2004 09:05 a.m.

I had a very low key weekend. On Saturday morning I took the car in for an 8am oil change then got a ride home. Spent the car-less time cleaning and just relaxing. We got the car back around 1pm or so. Around 4-5pm we decided to kill some time and get out of the house by going to the Paseo in Pasadena. For some reason I was convinced I had to go to the new Loehmann's that opened at the Paseo. So I dragged my men there who were bored since it was all womens clothes. Okay, I imagined Loehmann's to be a lot better then it really was. Going forward, i'll swing by on my own since it's only about a mile from my work. Okay, on Sunday, T just wanted to stay at home but around noon I got really antsy and had to go somewhere, anywhere. So I went to good 'ol Empire Center in Burbank.
Didn't buy anything just did some window shopping. Really, I just wasted time. I got home made some lunch and spent some time talking to my pal in Texas. Which I need to apologize for not calling back after the call dropped again, "i'm sorry. we'll chat again soon."
I'm loving the new commercial for the LA County Fair. If you haven't seen it or don't live in SoCal this is the lowdown: Takes place in a pre-school and the teacher holds up a picture of a cow to her class asking the questions, "Do any of you know what comes from a cow?" The first child says, "My mom says a Latte." The teacher looks confused. The second child says, "Non-Fat Cappucinno." Teacher gives another confused look. A third child says, "Carmel Macchiatto." A narrators voice comes on stating, "If any one needs a county fair, it's L.A." I find that so funny!

Now it's Monday, the start of my last week of work freedom. Gotta make the best of it. To bad the warm weather starts up today otherwise I would go on a long walk with the baby.

Saturday, August 28, 2004 09:27 p.m.

We are 15-minutes into Shaolin Soccer and it is funny stuff! More on it later, back to the movie.

Friday, August 27, 2004 02:33 p.m.

Right now I can't get enough of these songs:

The Killers - Somebody Told Me

The Stills - Still In Love Song

Longwave - Everywhere You Turn

The Von Bondies - C'mon C'mon

Friday, August 27, 2004 12:03 p.m.

I am feeling the beginnings of a cold. It starts with slight congestion and sinus pressure and a tingly, scratchy feeling in your throat. Then the cough seeps through no matter how hard you hold it back. It hasn't gone full blown yet and I'm trying my hardest to steer clear of the baby. T was able to stay home on Wednesday but he can't stay home everyday. I have been soaping up and sucking down lozenges constantly since I have to still care for the infant. So far i'm doing a good job.

The weather has been so nice and cool! I wish it would stay like this for the next couple of months. I have a few things I would like to do with the upcoming change of season:
1. Take my vintage red coat to the tailor to get shortened to just around the knee, it's a lightweight coat not a heavy duty chicago winter coat
2. Buy a new pair of boots, something classic and not trendy, that I can wear to work as well as on the weekends
3. Sort and purge through my sweater/jacket bin in storage
4. Make an appointment for a stress releasing massage
5. Dye my hair, using a little lighter shade that will hopefully add variation in color tone

Of course, I have some other things in mind but don't feel the need to list all the items since they pertain more to house maintenance more then anything else.

I hope T gets home at a decent hour today. I would like to get out of the house this evening and do something. It can really get to you being cooped up all day. Since we don't have the black car anymore we're functioning with one car which is fine with me but work is looming around the corner and we're looking at getting another car. We're thinking an older Volvo. I love the way those Volvo's from the 80s look. Someone down the street has one for sale we may look into. We don't want to spend a lot of money on a car so our options are pretty limited.

Since I've been home so long I can feel that laziness just building up inside me. I used to have a lot of motivation to get things done while K was asleep but hardly have any left. I do very little, mostly keeping up the immediate visuals of the home. You know, things are in their rightful places, dishes are done, trash is taken out. But if you look closer you may see the film of dust. Yesterday, I attempted to Pledge the furniture. I got the living room out of the way and today I was planning on tackling the dining room as well as changing the position of the dining room table. I have a few more hours before T gets home and I just want to get it done before that.

Wednesday, August 25, 2004 06:06 p.m.

Yeah! I have DSL again!!! I changed services and was forced to be internet free for five days. Yes, I pulled thorugh and lived to tell the tale.

I have logged a few enteries in Word and will post them now.


August 24, 2004 11:19 am

I gave the director of my department a ring this morning but had to leave her a voicemail. I’m still waiting for that call back. I think I’m going to give her until 2-3pm to call and then I’m calling her back. I need to discuss my work schedule. You see, I sent her a really long email informing her that I have been unable to secure childcare for Kai. Unless you have relatives around, I’m finding it difficult to secure the care for a 2-month old without spending an arm and a leg. Plus, he is much to small to be in an environment with numerous children. I just have the one and he takes up about 90 percent of my attention on a daily basis. I need to find an outcome about her agreeing to my work-at-home recommendation.

Yesterday afternoon we took K to the doctor to receive his series of baby shots. It went pretty smoothly, excluding the initial scream and wail with the each syringe piercing his soft, smooth baby skin. Once we got to the car he was sound asleep. He did not have a very peaceful sleep throughout the night. He kept waking up every 2-hours or so. I don’t blame him, I would do the same thing if I received four vaccinations at once.

As a result of his vaccinations yesterday he is sleeping pretty soundly today. I will take the opportunity to pay some bills, fold the clothes on my shelves in my bedroom and catch up on the pile of magazines living on my end table and of course finish reading the last Harry Potter book (it has taken me forever to get through this due to lack of time, normally I only get through two or three pages at a time before my attention is pulled elsewhere.)

August 23, 2004 12:21pm

Today is my third or fourth day without any internet connection. Its not so bad but I feel the need to log down my last few days of events lest I forget them by the time I am able to get online. Internet should be restored on Wednesday or Thrusday. I have the exact day written down in my little calendar. Without the distraction of the internet I have been doing a lot of reading and house cleaning/organizing. When given the time to sit and absorb the contents of my home I sometimes am overwhelmed with bouts of OCD and have the need to “pack things away” for a garage sale or donating. I had one of these fits yesterday. I sifted through my kitchen cabinets and drawers last night pulling out all utencils and containers I haven’t touched since moving into the house. I also ran to the store and purchased some of those folders that hold CDs. For a while I have now I felt as though I have outgrown my CD shelves and wanted a cleaner less cluttered look so I packed away all CDs and inserts into the folders and ditched the shelves into my garage in my garage sale/donate pile. While I was obsessing over the cluttered look of the CDs I decided to also stow my DVDs into one of the folders. Unlike the CD jewel cases I did save all the DVD boxes. Storing my CDs into folders brought back music memories and renewed my interest in CDs I had forgotten about. Once I finished my project I felt like I had purged enough junk in my house as well as having an overwhelmed feeling of accomplishment. I love those feelings!

Let’s see, Friday, I had originally made dinner plans with A.R. and her friend K.N. We were planning on going to dinner at Chin Chin’s in Hollywood. T and I were looking forward to it since we haven’t been there in awhile and I was really looking forward to the won ton crab stars, beef chow fun and the tangerine beef. Yummy!!! My mouth is watering. However on Thursday night A.R. called and had to cancel our plans, K.N. wasn’t going to get to her place at a reasonable hour for dinner plans with a baby. Oh well, T and I decided to go to Old Town Pasadena for dinner, window shopping and then swinging by his dad’s place.

Saturday, we discovered we had no internet connection. We were suppose to go to the Boston Terrier Meet Up at Griffith Park, however, since we were unable to log on to the computer we were unable to obtain the exact address. Nonetheless we got dress and loaded up the car with baby, Oscar and Daisy and drove around Griffith Park with hopes of stumbling across the specific location. After driving around for 20-30 minutes and no luck we headed home to drop the doggies off. Thank god, we only live about 5-10 minutes away from Griffith Park. So with the dogs safe at home we decided to grab a bite to eat (although it may not seem like it, we really have curbed our eating out habit it just so happened we were low on the groceries and were hitting Costco the next day.) The plan was to go to Airstream Diner in Beverly Hills then to walk around Century City, not to shop but just to be outdoors in a not so crowded atmosphere. Well, we go to Airstream Diner and it wasn’t open, strange, considering it was 10:30 on a Saturday. We circled the block and passed it again and it didn’t look like the restaurant was in business or were closed for renovation. Hmmm….We drove a little further down on Little Santa Monica and stumbled upon Nosh. We parked and headed in for some nosh of our own. It was okay, nothing astounding. Did some window shopping at Century city then swung by American Apparel so I could pick up a few tops. We got home and just chilled for the remainder of the afternoon. Oh yeah, we did see Matthew Perry from friends near the Coldwater Canyon exit on thhe 101, he was cruising, top down in his BMW Z8.

Sunday, went to Costco to pick up a few groceries (those I can buy in bulk and not let rot in my kitchen), printed out some digital pictures then headed home. I made us a yummy breakfast and T left for his dads while I watched K. We spent a majority of the day cleaning and decided to grill some burgers for dinner. I just gotta say sirloin burgers are the best. Yesterday was low key and perfect.

T will be leaving work early today, we’re taking K to the doctors for all of his baby shots. I hope I don’t have to watch.

Friday, August 20, 2004 09:11 a.m.

The first time I ever herad the expression, "you don't own your posessions, they own you" was silly. But over time the more I think about it the more I think it is true. I think this is especially true when your posessions are paid for on credit. They own you until that bill is paid in full. And if you are like me these posessions will own you for awhile. I hate having debt! I am now at a point in my life that I am frantically putting myself on a plan to pay off all my debt and starting with a nice clean slate. It will be nice to be "freed" by these posessions, so to speak. Most of the posessions that "own" me may not be in my posession anymore. I learned that buying things on credit was a horrible, ass-biting thing. I think the last three-four years I've lived 99 percent on cash only and credit was for severe circumstances, buying a car and getting a mortgage. Like I said i'm setting it all straight and once its set all expenses and luxuries will be all cash. I can't wait, it will be heaven!

With work looming around the corner I need to review my wardrobe that has been packed away these last few months, launder those items I fit in, steam wrinkled clothing, toss out the items I will no longer wear or are tattered, unpack my cool weather coat, and see what items will need to be purchased for the fall. Yesterday I received my new InStyle magazine and in it is an article about cleaning out and reorganizing your closet. Part of that article is a wardrobe checklist of basics. I think i'll review that against my current wardrobe and decide if I need to do supplementing. I do want to hit American Apparel to pick up a few tops. I love American Apparel I used to use them as my t-shirt supplier when I used to design T-shirt graphics at my old job. They have grown massivly and have some fantastic, inexpensive basic styles and they make some great baby basics in black! They have some really cool stuff only available at the stores. Specifically I want to pick up a scarf, and this long spaghetti strap tank top, when worn the shirt length hits the lower butt. Sounds weird but cute when layered.

I purchased my Christmas vacation tickets last night. We're going back to Hawaii for the holidays. This will be the first Chrristmas with our family in about six years. I'm excited and it'll be great to take Kai to Hawaii. He'll be almost six months old by then and we're looking forward to taking him swimming and to play with his other baby cousins. I also want to make some time to see a few of my friends, which isn't that many since most of them have moved away.

Wednesday, August 18, 2004 05:49 p.m.

My doggies are in such need of attention, I can see it in their little smooshed up faces. I try to give them as much attention as I can but it isn't enough. I feel really bad when I see their sad little faces!

The baby is such a horrible daytime sleeper. He is ultra clingy and refuses to nap unless he is pressed up against my body. I try to trick him to get him in his crib but it never works. So I am stuck watching TV with him on my chest OR he is asleep in the baby bjorn and I am mostly capable of getting things done at home. A few minutes ago I put a comfy quilt in his stroller and layed him in it and gave him a bottle. He didn't eat much and his eyes were slowly closing so I replaced the bottle with a pacifier and now he's asleep. Let's hope he stays asleep for the next three hours or so. It's nice cause his stroller is facing me so if it looks like he may wake up I can gently push the stroller and he calms back down. I think the stroller may become a permanent fixture in my living room.

An old friend of mine sent me a Target gift card today. We'll its not for me but for the baby. I don't know what I would like to spend it on. i don't really want to buy him clothes. I could be practicle and buy things like diapers or I can by him toys, like the Leapfrog my first Leap Pad things. Hmmmm....

I'm listening to My Station on Launch. I really love the song Beat Your Heart Out by the Distillers. I finally purged out all the crap the T loaded onto my station. T and I have the same taste in music but their are some bands that he likes listening to as "mood music" that I find to be complete crap. I will refrain from listing these bands so as not to embaress my husband.

I sent an email to my boss last night asking (begging) for flexibility in my schedule when I return to work. The thing is that I am not able to locate a sitter/daycare that will look after a two month old baby, nor am I totally comfortable leaving Kai with someone at this young an age. I do want to return to work but I am asking for two days a week to work at home. i don't think that is unreasonable since 80% of my job can get completed at home rather then the confines of my office. I need to check my email but I'm a little afraid. Although I honestly don't think she answered my email today. There is so much office politics involved with every request made in my department I'll probably get an answer a couple days before returning to work.

Monday, August 16, 2004 08:55 p.m.

Last night T got barely any sleep at all. K was being absolutely fussy and would not go to sleep and when he did fall asleep he was being held and refused to be released from T's clutch. Poor T only got to sleep when K did but K was nesting on his chest. I was waken up by sounds of baby cries and I honestly believed it was around midnight. I got outta bed to help T but when I checked the time it was after five in the morning. I was shocked! I immediatley sent T to bed and insisted that he go into the office late. Amazingly K woke up this morning with a big smile on his face.



We woke up around 9am. I decided to head down to the South Bay with T this morning to mozy around the Del Amo mall this afternoon. I went to TJ Max which was great. There aren't to many of those stores around so I was a little overly excited, its such an awesome feeling to get a good deal on stuff. I bought a few things for K and bought myself a new purse. As a result of K's no sleep protest last night he spent the entire afternoon asleep in his Baby Bjorn.

To wait out traffic from Torrance to Glendale we decided to treat ourselves to dinner. We went to The Loft for some "local" foods. We both had the beef katsu and it was so yummy. Im glad that I didn't finish my meal because now I get to have the rest of it for lunch tomorrow.

Today K found his thumb. It was so cute. For the past week we was sucking on the thumb region of his closed fist. It was killing me, I wanted to take his little hand and pull his thumb out for him. Yesterday he found his index finger and sucked on it for about a second but today he found his thumb. Anyway, he had his thumb lodged into his mouth sucking away. The funny thing is, although the thumb was in his mouth he the rest of his hand was wide open and the remaining fingers were pressed up against his face. Don't know if he'll find his thumb tomorrow but he found it today and it made me happy.

Last night I watched Olympics. I love watching gymnastics. The American team was not so hot. I didn't get to watch all of it as I fell asleep towards the end of the USA/Romania/Ukaraine set. T said the Chinese gymastics team was amazing and will probably kick the USA's ass. I wish I had Tivo so I could have taped all of the Olympics to watch during the daytime hours when I am actually awake. I'm looking forward to watching the Olympics this week while i'm at home.

I checked the doggies Dogster accounts and they each have 7 Pup Pals. Yeah!!!! This Saturday we're going to the Boston Terrier Meetup at Griffith Park. I've never participated in anything like this so it should be interesting. I hope our little hellions mind their manners, specifically Oscar. He can get a little rowdy, you see he loves to be chased and will bark and bark at other doggies until they run. However, Oscar cannot stand getting chased himself. I say if you can't take the heat get outta the kitchen.

Sunday, August 15, 2004 09:02 p.m.

Today was my company picnic. Luckily it wasn't to hot and unbearable. K was kept sealed up in his little stroller. It was a nice day but man o man the mass of children at the picnic was unbelieveable! Many of my co-workers have had children within months of K's birth so in a year or two they can keep each other entertained at these types of functions. It was nice to see some of my friends and just get to hang out and talk with them.

So the doggies have been added to Dogster. Check it out: Here's Daisy and Oscar.

Friday, August 13, 2004 01:54 p.m.

Julia Childs passed away today.

It is finally Friday. Not that it really matters since everyday has felt like friday for the path couple of months. Today is the baby's "down" day! Alleluhjiah! I can get some stuff done at home. Baby has been fed so I should be set for the next couple of hours. The doggies are a little sad, they haven't been getting the amount of attention they have been accustomed to and I feel terrible about it. Tonight they will get an exhilirating walk. Once the weather cools, probably in October, we will resume with the doggies 2-3 mile walks through the hills in Los Feliz. Doggies on their leashes and K nestled in his Baby Bjorn.

In my kitchen I have a french door that leads to my indoor laundry room and then a door that leads from the laundry room to my backyard area. Anyway, when we moved in we had bought this nice little rug for the floor between the two doors. Although it was nice it was a total pain in the ass. If there was the tiniest bunch in the rug which ever door nearest the bunch would get stuck and you couldn't open the door and would need to do some serious pushing and grunting to get that door to pry open enough to squeeze by. For over two years we have put up with this awful, dust collecting mat. Finally, on Wednesday night we went to IKEA and bought three cheap 99cent door mats and lined them up in the space between the doors. They are wonderful. Super thin and the doors just effortlessly glide over the mats, not even coming close to even grazing them. Why didn't we do this sooner? Why did we put up with that awful rug for so long?

Thursday, August 12, 2004 01:12 p.m.

UPS dropped off some packages today! It's like Christmas!!! Although they were both for Kai, he's to little to realize they are his prezzies, so it was Christmas in August for ME. Weeeee......A friend of my parents sent him a bunch of stuff. Clothes, shoes, bibs, towels; that was really nice of her even though I have no idea who this woman is. The other gift was from my friends (ex-employers) in Chicago. They sent him four shirts (2) in which he will fit in the next few months and (2) for him when his a bit bigger. They are cool: a black Clash shirt (circa their first album cover), a black young Elvis shirt, a white Johnny Cash shirt and a black/white baseball style tee of the Ramones (Rocket to Russia album cover). Yeah!!! I find it a little frustrating not being able to find any type of baby items in black. I found a store last week and picked K up some long sleeve tees. I know there are a lot of places on the web to buy these items, but c'mon this is LA we should be able to find it in the stores. We did find a onesie the T wanted that said "If you think I'm cute you should see my Dad." Of course he wanted to get it for K, especially since everyone thinks K looks like him.

K has been hanging off my chest in his Baby Bjorn for the last couple of hours. He has days in which he is very clingy and today is one of them. Normally I can't even sit but since he's asleep right now I'm taking advantage of the sitting time.

We're cancelling our rip-off DSL in a week, so I'm afraid i'll be withoug internet access for a bit. I'm springing for Yahoo! SBC DSL since we get an employee discount. I should have done this sooner but the company we're with at this moment had us in a price gouging contract we couldn't get out of. Man-o-man they were a complete and utter rip-off. So needless to say I am signing up for home phone service (again) and then signing up for the DSL.

Wednesday, August 11, 2004 11:02 p.m.

Awwwwww.....I love this photo.



My friend Val came over today and she bought K a pair of little baby Air Jordans. They are totally a novelty but cute. They are so big for him and it'll probably be a couple of weeks before they really fit. But it doens't really matter now does it, considering the little boy can't walk or crawl for that matter.

Tuesday, August 10, 2004 04:00 p.m.

I received the new issue of Lucky yesterday, and boy is it a big fat issue. This should be expected as most September issues of fashion magazines are relatively big. But this is definetly a first for Lucky. I think Lucky and InStyle are my favorite magazines. There aren't to many nonsense articles, purely fashion stuff and the occasional celebrity home article, which I enjoy. Besides the above magazines I also receive Vogue and W (Women's Wear Daily) in the mail. I like looking at the clothes but the articles are somewhat of a bore. And Vogue has to many mini-features of socialites. Although I aspire to be a socialite in my old age, I don't really feel the need to read about them month-after-month. I think once my subscription runs out on the later magizens I am not going to renew. There are some nice things in this month's Lucky but in their shoe special I was surprised not to find the lovely snakeskin Aerosoles listed, speaking of which, I have decided to make those my "back to work" special shoes.

This Sunday is my companies Summer Social. Again it is being held at Brookfield Park by the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. I think this year's theme is A Day In The Jungle. Supposedly the company is bringing in some animals for an exotic animal zoo. Sounds interesting. Ok, it's getting hot and I don't want to sit at the laptop I want to shower. I started this entry at 4pm and it is now a quaqrter to six. I've had to many interruptions and lost my train of thought.

Monday, August 9, 2004 10:42 a.m.

So I have this giant bouginvilla bush along one side of my backyard. The bush is huge and T and I know that this thing needs to be trimmed periodically especially the tippy top that creeps over to my neighbors yard. The neighbor (whom I think is a jackass) asked us, once, if we could trim it. No problem, as long as our gardner could get into their backyard to do the trimming. Done deal. Now I have this big arbor and gate that leads to my backyard with another bouginvilla growing over the top. To the right of the gate is a wall that divides the property line between us and the jackass. Anyhow, the jackass has this fig tree growing along the property line. Previously the fig tree had sprung a branch that grew right into by bouginvilla, we requested that they cut it, they did but it left this weird deformity/hole in the bouginvilla. It looks weird. Now the fig tree is kind of stragly and ugly and has grown so tall that the top weight is totally arched and is growing over my bouginvilla and arbor. We need to tell the neighbor to cut the top of the tree off. Really, its a stupid place for the tree, what they should have done, instead of randomly placing it along the property line they should have moved it to feet over and a foot back to block their bathroom window. Jackasses! Also, if our bouginvilla was such a problem for them, creeping over they wall why don't the jackasses notice that their ugly fig tree is growing over my arbor. I'll cut the bastard tree myself! I know this sounds anal but my thinking is, when you buy property and throw down that kind of cash you become very protective of what is yours and what kind of ugly neigbor bullshit you'll subject yourself to. So I want the ugly fig tree away from my property line. Not to mention that ugly tree is totally fruiting and all these crows hang out on the tree eating the fruit thus leaving fig leftovers all over my side of the damn property line and the damn jackasses won't clean it up because its on our side. I can't really continue with the jackasses because it's going to irritate me right now. I'll continue with the jackass saga later.

This is day one alone with K. I feel grody and really want a shower. K is down for a nap and I know this is my opportunity but I also feel like I have neglected my tiny peice of the web. I will shower when he takes his next nap. Right now is Pita and then lunch.

So we dropped our re-fi. The lenders were being jerks and some of the BS they were pulling seemed somewhat unethical. So we said buh-bye! Thank god but man, what a waste of time and energy T devoted to the whole ordeal. Hopefully, with this dropped a HUGE percentage of his stress will be gone and the mass amount of time spent on his cell will go away. He deserves it.

Why oh why do I get suckered into bad tv? The new addictions are Growing Up Gotti and Dr. 90210. Well Dr. 90210 is surgery and plastic surgery shows are so intriguing plus its got the reality portion. Its a weird combination but it works. Growing Up Gotti is just hysterical. Now that Blow Out is over I need a new fix. I've watched one episode and Amish in the City, if I can remember when its on i'll probably watch it again, but I don't find it as addiciting as the other two. Ugh...im a tv junkie!

Friday, August 6, 2004 08:32 p.m.

After my doctor appointmet this morning we headed over to Beverly Hills to eat. We decided on The Farm. Mom, wanted someplace nice and since T has been wanting to try out The Farm we had a plan. It was such a nice day that we decided to sit outside, great weather and great people watching. While staring at all the passerby's who do I spot fresh outta rehab, Mary-Kate Olsen with her beau David Katzenberg. She looked fine. Thin but nothing shocking, whatever the case I think she looked good. After lunch we went to the set decoration exhibit which was just down the street. I really enjoyed the exihibit. In the lobby of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences building was part one of the exhibit. This consisted of many photographs of sets: before (if in an exisiting location), during, and after as well as scripts for some films and treatment notes for others. It was pretty interesting reading the notes for some of the sets. On the fourth floor of the building was part two of the exhibit, actual film sets. There were sets from the third Harry Potter film, Spidey 2, Van Helsing, Down with Love and more. We took some photos of us in the sets. Mom had me take one of her in the Cat in the Hat set, mom took a photo of T and K with items from the Van Helsing set, mom took my photo in Renee Zelweggers room from Down with Love (lovely 60s pink furniture!) and she took my, T and K's photo in the Divination set from Harry Potter. I'll have to remind her to send me some copies of those photos for my Yahoo! photo album.

After the exhibit we thought we had some time to kill so we went to Kitson on Roberston. We do enjoy visiting Kitson, tons of fun stuff to look at and great people watching. Just so you all know, T and I love, love, love people watching. The cheezier the people the better!!! We hit a few more stores and noticed a bunch of papparazzi at the Ivy, and being pseudo stalkers we had to cross the street and check it out. We made the mistake of going into a store first then stalk the Ivy. By the time we reached the restaurant there was nobody to gawk at. Oh well, Im satisfied with my Olsen twin sighting.

We didn't watch the clock as best as we should have because by the time we left Robertson we seriously had to haul ass to get home, however we were prohibited from doing so due to usual Friday traffic. First T wanted to try Laurel Canyon but after a couple (slow) blocks he u-turned and headed down Hollywood to take Barham-Forest Lawn-134 home. Luckily, mom just had to throw on her jeans and toss her luggage into the car and we were off. We were speedy. To avoid I5 traffic to Burbank airport we took surface streets and got their in record time, but not as early as mom wanted or should have been there. You see her flight left at six and we got her there a quarter after five. She rushed none the less. Our goodbye's were severly rushed and a little sad as a result. I hate not having proper goodbye's. We chatted on the phone after she checked in (thank god for cell phones) and secretly I prayed that she would say, "oh, there are no seats cause I was late, come back and pick me up" but no dice. Although, mom left so suddenly I know she'll be back soon and we are already planning to go home for the holidays, no matter what. It's been years since we spent the holidays with family!

Friday, August 6, 2004 09:16 a.m.

My back is killing me! It is painful to move around in bed so I end up sleeping on my side all night long. God forbid, I attempt to roll on to my back or otherside. The pain is not completely unbearable but so unbearingly uncomfortable I want to cry. Today I am going to the doctors. Unfortunately my regular PCP is out on disability, kind of ironic, so I'm seeing someone else. There's a chance I may be issued some physical therapy and I'm praying to god this doctor extends my disability otherwise I'm filing for five weeks of FMLA.

My mom was able to get a flight out of Califonia this evening. She had extended her trip until the 14th with the hopes of some earlier seat out. So she got her wish. Today we need to make the most of the day. We were planning on going to Huntington Library, since we'll already be in Pasadena. But if its to hot we are not going to because Kai won't be able to handle the heat. And now that his combo baby acne and heat rash are going away I don't want him to have another flare up. So if the library is scraped we need to think of something else to do. Maybe some lunch in Silverlake or LA, up to my mom, and the Set Decoration exhibit in Beverly Hills. Personally, i'm leaning towards the exhibit since its a little more baby friendly and its FREE.

Wednesday, August 4, 2004 11:13 p.m.

Someone finally answers that puzzling question, what is brainfreeze? Most of the time when I experience brainfreeze is when I indulge in a wonderfully, frosty Slurpee. Yum!! I read an article that brainfreeze can be conquered is by pushing your tongue up against your palate. I haven't had a chance to test this out because I haven't had brainfreeze in a while.

Has anyone watched that show Trading Spouses: Meet your New Mommy? Very, very intriguing show. I guess fifty-thousand dollars will tempt all types to sign up. Something about the show bothers me. I can't help myself from watching bad tv. Personally, I wouldn't want to subject myself to another persons family. With my luck, if I ever did somthing like this I would end up with a husband from hell and rotten children.

T and I had the opportunity to go out tonight. The plan was to grab some food and then catch a 6:45 showing of Spiderman 2. We drove up to the Media Center in Burbank to eat at PF Changs. We had some time to kill so we walked over to Urban Outfitters and some other little shops on San Fernando. Then we walked around the Media Center for a bit. About 30 minutes before the movie started T and I realized we were in no mood for a movie. We were both tired and virtually delirious due to a lack of sleep. We headed for the parking structure and decided to call it a night/early evening and decided to try again on Friday. We'll see how that goes.

Tuesday, August 3, 2004 01:52 p.m.

Daytime TV is awful. Since Kai wouldn't nap I just carried him and watched TV. I've sat through a 2-hour Christina Aguileara special and am reaching the last few minutes of a 2-hour Britney Spears special. Gotta love E! Wow it's two in the afternoon and i've wasted four hours watchin mindless television. Im embaressed.

My mom is coming back from OC tonight. She's braving the LA freeway system and is renting a car to drive here. Lucky for her directions will be simple since she only needs to remain on the I5.

Yes! A movie on Bravo This Is Spinal Tap. I think i've only seen this movie once before, I was a kid and watched it with my dad. I totally did not get it. But now I do, therefore I will be indulging in more TV for the next few hours.

Monday, August 2, 2004 08:44 p.m.

Yesterday afternoon we went down to Orange County to visit my aunt. She's in town for a couple of days and wanted to see the baby. My mom said once the baby is born nobody will want to see T and I only the baby, and you know what she was right. Anyhow, she was surprised to see Kai's red hair. I think this will be the normal reaction of most of my relatives once they take a look at Kai. Damn, I was surprised when I saw it. I was convinced my son would end up with dark brown hair not dark blonde/mostly red.

I had a doctor appointment today. Just a routine checkup, totally painless and the actual appointment didn't even last 10 min. I jumped on a scale for the first time since my last pre-natal appointment. Its amazing how all that extra baby weight suddenly goes away, however I still have a few more pounds to go. Once i'm able to go back to they gym I should be good. Anyway, I need to call my PCP to either make an appointment or to refer me to a Physical Therapist. Im having some major sciatica that needs to get taken care of. This is very important because my returning to work or not returning just yet is dependent on it. Hopefully I can get an appointment by the end of the week.

Since my mom spent the night in OC with my aunt it was my first day alone with Kai. It wasn't to bad thought. The only problem was not being able to do much of anything else but watch Kai. You see, Kai doesn't really nap in the afternoons except for his down day. Today was an up day, so he was mostly wide awake but totally calm and cool. I can't wait until he is on some sort of sleep routine.

I love Target. I ended up going twice yesterday. I left home at about 8.15 am yesterday, I needed to pick up some diapers and other baby stuff. I think I was in Target until 11 or so. I really can't believe I was in there for so long. That's what happens when I shop with my mom and the worst part is we didn't even look throught he entire store. Later in the afternoon, we had to take my mom to Target when we were in OC, luckily that was a little faster trip. If I had the time I would probably go to Target once a week. When I lived in Chicago there were some Target's in the suburbs that had grocery stores in them like Walmart and Kmart. It was awesome, but have yet to find one of those Targets out here in LA. Rumor has it that there are one of these Target grocery store combos in San Francisco. Now to find one in the SoCal area.