An Ideal Weekend

The trip to see Camera Obscura in California was pretty fantastic.

We stayed in 5 star accomodations with the Febi's (best hosts in the state of California) who took us down to Santa Monica on Saturday morning for breakfast at Jinky's Cafe. They also made us great homemade Roscoe's chicken and waffles on Sunday morning and packed a 72-hour kit worth of food for the drive home.

In return for their generous hospitality I helped Jared with his homework.

. . .which was actually pretty fun! (Who knew I would miss Excel?)

For those of you who really want to see how the Febi's are doing, this is the picture that came out clearest (of course). As you can see, they are as good as ever. (I am concentrating on soaking up their awesomeness.)

On Saturday afternoon we took off on our own and spent some times soaking up the California sun. One would think we wouldn't be that impressed with the weather since Februarys are beautiful in Las Vegas too. One would be wrong because we don't have a beach on which to appreciate the warm-February weather. (Rachel~ this is what distinguishes Nevadans from West Coasters-- a coast.)

While on the coast, Lauren got a bit excited and threw sand into Rachel's bag.

They totally got into a huge fight over it. . .

. . .But they reconciled their differences. . .

. . .Because we had a concert to go to (after some shopping at H and M's and a fantastic Italian dinner with an Italian waiter and free refills).

The best part about seeing a concert in California is the lack of smoke. Notice the lack of smoke in the following pictures. Then notice what a great time we're having and how great the concert is.

The other ideal part about this weekend is that we came home on Sunday and still had another full day before returning to work.

The best part about Monday was that I didn't do much at all (hence no more pictures). I did get some cool old folding chairs at the Savers sale for $1.00 a piece and played a mean game of Scattegories at FHE. And with that, my weekend was complete. It was great. I am still basking in it's greatness.

Stay tuned for weekend at the wedding in Provo!

I'm Ready to be Heartborken

I really HEART this video.

I'm going to see Camera Obscura in LA on Saturday and I can't wait. I hope they do the 'Singing in the Rain' dance at the concert!

Of Montreal

Rachel, Megan and I went to a concert yesterday that was really cool. . .until it suddenly became really not-cool. So we only stayed for half of it. I want to blog about the event, but it was not appropriate for all {any} audiences.

The real irony is that we thought the event started at 8pm, so we had waited 3 hours for the band and protected our spot in the front and it turned out that the best part was the sound check we heard at 8pm.

Some other good stuff:

- Discovering the Art Bar (great little venue)
- The 15 year olds (maybe annoying, but at least we had some entertainment during the wait)
- Boys with really pretty hair and striped scarves
- The excellent opening act (wait, oh yeah, there wasn't one)
- Free water
- The guy taking pictures of the playlist with everyone's cameras
- Keeping our spot because "it's probably going to start any minute"
- Guitars with butterflies on them and unicorn pins
- "Come disconnect the dots with me poppet" still in my head
- A friend to leave with (thanks Rach)

Upgrade?

Holzkontor is a German company that sells computers built out of wood. Pretty amazing.

I wonder if the guy who makes the wooden computer keys likes his job. It could go either way, really.

Weddings of 2007

It's just barely February and my wedding outlook for 2007 is already quite full:

2/24 Melissa and Rick, former roommate and good friend
3/2 Lisa and Jacob, former roommate and good friend
3/10 Birgit and Nate, good friend whose dress I helped make
5/5 Makenna and Ian, cousin
5/5 Natalie and Jack, cousin
6/9 Wendi and Ben, best friend
6/23 Richie and Rachel, cousin
6/? Branson and Kate, cousin
7/? Placeholder for two friends who cannot yet be named
10/? Bentley and Meredith, cousin

Modify

I made a great find last week! Modify is a mid-century modern furniture store right here in Las Vegas (and not 5 minutes from my office). Their complete website isn't up yet, but I'll let you know when it is.

The store's inventory is of high quality and at various price points. The store owner, Maria, volunteered to email me about new floorlamps and buffets as they came in. She will also work with you to mix and match sets, lamps and shades or to recover furniture with fabrics from her retro/vintage collection in the back.

If you are in Las Vegas soon you need to get off the strip to stop in at Modify in the Art District.

Calendar Year

I purchased this letterpress calendar set from Ilee Papergoods and have not regretted it for one second. It came in a cd case so you could flip through the months, but it just looked so amazing all spread out that I had to frame it. The picture is terrible (from my cell phone) but you get the idea. I'll take a new pic after I get it hung.




I got the frame at Aaron Brother's 1 cent sale (buy one, get second for $.01). If you live near an Aaron Brothers I recommend that you watch for the sale; I have purchased several frames guilt-free this way. My best advice for framing nice pieces is to purchase a too-big, standard sized frame for $30-$50. Take this frame into a small custom framing store that is willing to cut it down and re-assemble it. This will only cost about $20 if the frame fits in one direction. You get a custom framing look for less than $80!