Busy little weekend

This weekend was pretty low key for the most part, just ran around LA doing a bunch of errands. One of the items on my list, was getting a passport photo for my state certification application. Right before I took the picture, I fixed my hair, touched up my make-up, and put on my best camera-friendly smile. The photographer promptly told me that I was not to smile, as the face-recognition software wouldn't be able to pick up my profile. Since when was this a rule?  And why would a smile screw up the software? Shouldn't that be a factor that the passport authorities would be able to adjust for in their software?  Oh well. At least I have item checked off my list!
On Saturday, I went to the Skirball Cultural Center for their "Half the Sky" exhibit, which is based on a book with a similar title that I read last year. In summary, the book is about human rights issues affecting women all over the world, such as sex slavery/trafficking, female circumcision, resources for education, domestic violence, and maternal health care. I was excited for the exhibit and overall was pleased with how they designed it. The ceiling had a neat art piece that looked like a collection of flying wings and the exhibit's layout of artwork, photographs, music and story boards seemed to flow nicely. The one thing that I didn't expect about visiting the exhibit, was how it would affect me. When I first walked into the exhibit, the first items I saw were an artistic tribute to women who had died in childbirth in various third-world countries. As I began to read their stories with each of the art pieces, with a documentary on lack of adequate maternal health care in Sudan playing in the background, I started to feel light-headed and my face flushed with heat. I recognized the signs that I was about to faint and sat down on a nearby bench immediately. After taking some slow deep breaths, it dawned on me how, now being 7-months pregnant, reading these kinds of stories would affect me differently now than compared to when I had initially read them a year ago. I shook my head at myself and felt silly for not thinking about that before I had driven out to the museum. I suppose it is just another example of how becoming a mother/parent will alter your life in unpredictable ways. After that, I decided to skip the rest of the maternal health section and focus on the other parts of the exhibit. The museum was closing by the time I had finished up and I walked through the museum gardens back to my car. As I drove home on the 405, the sun began to set, and I thought about all the things that I am lucky to have in my life. Although I occasionally complain about living in LA, it certainly beats what other women in several parts of the world have to live with on a daily basis. Never hurts to get a little perspective now and again.

2012 New Years Resolutions

Now that we have 2011 all done and finished, I'm really excited for 2012. Overall, 2011 was a pretty good year. Sure there were some down times along with the good times, but what year doesn't have that, right? So I say bring on the new year!! Looking forward to the upcoming year, here's a list of resolutions I'd like to work toward:

• Baby M- D and I are expecting a new addition to our family in 2012!  We have a little boy on the way and he is due in early April. Hard to know exactly how our life is going to change, since we've never had a kid before, but something tells me its going to be an experience that I've never felt before. I guess this really isn't a resolution, but more of a new chapter in our lives. Here's a pic of me at about 23 weeks. I'll put some more pics up of my "progress" in the next couple weeks.

• Work -
• I'm so close to becoming a California State Certified Appraiser!  Just finished my last class and now I need to finish my application and then take the state exam. Wish me luck!
• The baby thang has thrown a little wrench in my career timeline, but I'm trying to stay open-minded on what the future has to come for me professionally. I'll be on maternity leave for a couple months and then back to the grind . . . at least that's the plan.  But like I said before, I've never had a kid before. Who knows what kind of mommy-being I could morph into?!
• Hobbies -
• In 2012, I'd like to restart some of my outdoor hobbies such as running and skiing. I haven't skied regularly in ages and I'm not sure why exactly I stopped doing it. Skiing is one of my first memories and it always gave me such an elated feeling when I was younger. Running is another thing I'd like to get back into. Obviously, both of these things were put on hold with Baby M on his way, but hopefully I can get back into them after his arrival.
• I'd like to try some new outdoor hobbies! I'd like to try surfing and sailing. D used to surf a bunch in college and just got a new board for his bday, so its a bit of joint resolution for us. Plus it would be fun to have an active hobby that we could do together! I also promised D I'd go golfing at least once with him this year, so add that one to the ole list. Lastly, D and I been curious about sailing the last couple years. Not sure what kind of sailing exactly, but I think it would be really fun to give a try.
• Music - We want to continue to take advantage of the local music scene. I'd like to go to at least 4 concerts this year
• NOTE - I know it may seem strange that I'm hoping to do all of these things AND have a new born baby at the same time. I know that I may be overstretching here, but its fun to day dream about! Will be interesting to see what we actually get to accomplish this year
• Food
• I'd like to cook more and not be such a critic of my own cooking. I'm not half bad and I want to experiment more, see where it takes me. 
• Along with the cooking, I'd like to incorporate more organic food into our diet. I read this great book about providing an organic/healthy environment for your baby. I'm not sure if my hippy roots have come out at all on this blog before, but they're certainly there. D was bracing himself when he saw me reading the book, but luckily I have busted out the patchouli quite yet. I have always tried to make an effort with recycling and cutting down as much waste as possible. Now, I'd like to take it one step further and start going more organic on our food.

Well, I think that's a good solid list to go by for this year. Many fun adventures to come!!!

2011 Recap

Unfortunately, time has run away from me again and 2011 is all over and done with!  We were swamped during the Holidays this year and so I'm behind on some of my posts for 2011. Before we move on to 2012, I do want to recount some of the cool things we were able to do before the end of the year

• D's bday - had a wonderful time in West Hollywood. We dined at this super trendy restaurant called AOC, followed by a concert at the House of Blues where Steel Panther was the headliner. They're a spoof band similar to Spinal Tap, but more in line with the 80's glam rock.  Here are some pics from the night:

•  Chicago/Wisconsin Thanksgiving Vacation - D and I spent a week right before Thanksgiving visiting friends and family in the Midwest. We started the trip off with a Notre Dame football game, followed by a day in Chicago visiting old family spots and the Sears Tower (Willis Tower), a quick day in Milwaukee, a quick visit with friends in Brookfield, and lastly a family reunion surrounding D's grandma's 80th birthday celebration. Whirlwind trip, but we had a complete blast!  Even handled the weather fairly well too . . . even though everyone kept saying, "Oh the weather's great!  Its only 50 degrees out!" Silly SoCal transplants! Here are some pics from our time in South Bend and in Chicago:

My Oma's house in Chicago

D's house when he was a born

• Wedding #3 - D and I flew the weekend after Thanksgiving to his cousin's wedding in Phoenix. We were only there for 24 hours, but had a blast at the wedding and catching up with his other side of the family. OH! And we just happened to go to Alice Cooper's restaurant for lunch. Great bar scene and I had to pick up a couple souvenir t-shirts too . . . yes, as in more than one. Here are some pics from the wedding:

• The next weekend we were in SF. I was up for the year-end business meeting and holiday party, and we stayed the weekend to act as god parents for the baptism of good friend's daughter. Don't have any pics of that to share, but we felt truly honored to be part of her special day. Plus it was my first time meeting the little lady!
• Between these trips, I had a couple business trips thrown in too. All in all, I was on 16 different flights in 5 weeks.  I love to travel, but man was I happy to be grounded for a bit after that!
• Had a lovely little Christmas at home with D's parents. D and I were alone on our own on Christmas Eve and spent the day hiking, watching movies, and cooking up food. I did my first turkey for Christmas day too!  Turned out fairly well, learned some good lessons for next year :)
• Although D had to work on New Year's Eve, he was off on the 30th and we decided on an impromptu date night at Lexington Social House in the heart of Hollywood at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine. After dinner we went to Upright Citizens Brigade for some late night improv. A pretty small stage, but was fun to be sitting in spot where a lot of famous LA comedians had gotten their start (similar to Second City and Groundlings Theater)

And that wraps it up!  Phew. What a way to finish the year!?  Wouldn't have it any other way . . . now bring on 2012!

New Year's Eve

Phew!  Can you believe 2011 is almost over?!  What a year . . . but before I wrap things up for the year, I'll leave you with this lovely little duet . . .

Wedding #2 - Beachside Bash

D and I went to our second wedding this fall at the Catamaran Hotel in the Mission Beach neighborhood of San Diego. The wedding was of a good buddy of D's from college and we had a lot of fun catching up with old friends and I loved hearing a bunch of stories about D's "wild and crazy kids" days in college.  Unfortunately, we didn't have a ton of time in San Diego, as that was the same weekend as the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco. D and I don't have a lot of weekends off together, but the ones we do have, we sure push 'em to the max!

"If you're cool, than I'm cool, than we're cool"

I'm floating on cloud nine. D and I went to a super rad concert last night for one of my favorite R&B singers, Anthony Hamiliton.  I hadn't listened to his music in a long time, but while browsing upcoming concerts, I saw that he was going to perform at Club Nokia in downtown LA. I quickly emailed a link to the concert and asked if D would want to go with me. D said he hadn't heard of Anthony before, but would be down to go. I explained that Anthony was amazing and that he even performed on one of the early episodes of the Dave Chappelle show, that sealed the deal for D and I jumped online to get us tickets.

The days leading up to the concert, I listened to all of my old favorite songs by Anthony and listened to his more recent stuff too.  It was fun listening to my classic college jams, as it swooped my right back to being 20 and in full-swing college mode. I grew more and more excited, but was worried about us being out on a "school night" being too much strain on our busy work schedules. Plus, the last concert I had suggested, ended up in mixed results (ie - the Neon Trees fiasco at OC Fair). Finally, the night of the concert came and D and I headed to downtown.  We grabbed a couple drinks at the JW Marriott and then left for the concert venue. It was a really cool intimate club and the crowd was very lively and excited for Anthony to take the stage.  Once the music started, Anthony's voice was just as lovely and buttery as it is on record. The muscians were amazing and I felt like we were in the middle of gospel church with people all around us clapping and dancing and occassionally yelling out, "Sing It Anthony!!"  I heard all of my favorite songs and some of his new ones too.  Music is such a wonderful thing. I'm so happy we went to see him and feel lucky to be able to take advantage of the music scene here in LA.

If you would like to hear a sampling of Anthony's music, here's a link to a lot of his songs:

http://myplay.com/audio_player/myplay/56/443719/443736?allowBrowsing=1

My favorites are "Cool," "The Day We Met," "Her Hear," "Can't Let Go," "Mama Knew Love," "Charlene," "Since I Seen't You," "Comin Where I Come From" (The song he performed on Dave Chappelle) and "Lucille."  Looks like I've covered most of the list! 

Wedding #1 - Armenian Delight

Its been a busy wedding year for us!  Went to one in the summer, two in the fall, and have one last one to go to early December. D and I both enjoy going to weddings; who doesn't enjoy a festive atmosphere?! The first wedding we went to this fall, was in mid-September on a beautiful warm evening in Pasadena. The wedding was for D's medical school friend, who happened to grow up in a close-knit Armenian community in the LA area. The ceremony was at a lovely Armenian church, which was followed by an elegant outdoor reception at a mansion in Pasadena. I had never been inside an Armenian church before, but was interesting to note the difference between the interior of the church to the American Catholic churches that I had grown up with. The ceremony was split equally between Armenian and English, so we definitely go the gist of what was going on.  There was a really sweet part in the ceremony where the bride and groom rested their foreheads against each other and looked into each other's eyes and "breathed in each other's souls." After the ceremony, we headed to the outdoor gardens of a nearby mansion and were greeted with refreshing glasses of hibiscus lemonade. The food was outstanding and the bride and groom looked so utterly happy. My favorite part of the food was the gelato bar for dessert! A perfectly sweet ending to a lovely evening. Congrats M & A!