the Hippo Brigade

Seattle Photos

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November 25, 2008

Sunset on the Puget Sound

The Famous Pike Place Public Market

I had a cappuccino at the original Starbucks

I bought my boots in the very first Nordstrom! Oh, and I ended that silly shoe diet thing. That was a dumb idea; not buying shoes for an entire year? Sheer stupidity.

This is my Aunt and Uncle’s backyard (Note: not view from their backyard. But their actual backyard).

This little snuggle pants was being fed by my Aunt on their deck. I did not use the zoom to take this photo, that’s how close he was. Wook at his wittle precious fingers. Ahhww, squirrelly face.

Some things I learned while I was in Seattle

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November 25, 2008

• WinCo is this magical grocery store where a loaf of bread is a mere 78 cents. I kid you not. 78 cents.

• I enjoyed the cool weather despite my lack of cool weather clothes. I had a hard time realizing that a long sleeved shirt and a hoodie wouldn’t be enough to keep me warm. So I bought a pair of Ugg boots.

I don’t think I would have ever been compelled enough to buy them in Southern California, but it was something about the Northwest that made my feet want to be snuggled up in a pair of grey Ugg boots.

(please don’t pay any attention the the crap on the floor, I was at Nordstrom during a sale. And my man hands? Shit, I didn’t know that I had such manly hands until this very minute):

• My cousin Jil introduced me to this fabulous invention called a Neti Pot. You pour a saline solution into one of your nose holes, and the solution mixed with boogers and goop come out the other nose hole. How cool is that?  I’m getting one today.

• Jil dragged me all over the place, much to my enjoyment. One of our stops was a fancy book party at a gorgeous house with filet migon on a stick! I love me some meat on a stick! The book was Twilight, and although I didn’t read it, that didn’t matter, because we were all going to watch the movie after we filled our bellies with coconut shrimp and cocktails with floating cranberries. I never heard of the book or the movie, but I’m down for whatever. Then I heard it was about vampires, and my open-minded attitude quickly shifted to that of a snotty brat. I don’t want to see a movie about vampires! WTF? Really ladies, Vampires? But after 21 minutes of watching the movie I was hooked. I want to break me off a piece of that Edward Cullen.

• I managed to not kill my mother, and I’d say that equals a pretty successful trip.

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out of town

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November 19, 2008

I’m going out of town for a few days. Daddy is staying home with Berlyn so, if you see my child with snarly hair and snot residue on her wrist, you’ll know why.

I’m going to visit some relatives with my mother, and I am scared. So very, very scared. As I was booking the flight, I turned to my mom and had the realization that we have never been on a trip together-just the two of us. Sure there were family vacations, and what not, but this is just my mom. and. me. Together.

I know we will argue, I know that I’ll roll my eyes, and say, “Mommm, stop!” to her constant efforts to get me to drink more fluids, her nagging me to put on a warmer jacket, and her disapproving look when I cough, as if to say, “see, you’re sick. I told you that you should have stayed home. Dammit Beckey. Now you’re going to get me sick, and I sure as hell don’t want to take care of you all week long.” Yup, all that in one disapproving, motherly look.

But she’ll get mad at me to because I’ll try to fix her hair, make her wear different pants, and try to dissuade her from yet another snack.

This trip I say we call a truse. I’ll try not to nag her and I can only hope that she’ll try not to nag me. I think it sounds like a fantastic idea, and we’ll see how it goes.

In the Event of an Emergency

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November 16, 2008

California is on FIRE!

Yes, it’s true. And the damn state goes up in flames around this time every year. I used to think we lived in a magical place where I never had to worry about blizzards creating tiny icicles on my eyebrows, or retreating into the cellar whenever tornadoes swept across the plains, but fire is up there with all the other really sucky natural disasters.

These fires, just like last year, got really close to loved ones…and it had me thinking-what would I take in the event of a fire emergency?

Surely, my top priorities are my child, my husband, and doggie, but after they were safe and sound,  I would take:

My shoes. Yup, But I’d only take the really, really good ones, like my boots, and my Louboutins, both pairs, I am a material girl, and I live in a material world. Mat-terr-eeall!! And maybe a pair of slippers, because I’d look really stupid wearing heels with sweatpants when I arrived at the evacuation center.

My laptop. The majority of my photos are on it, as is my Seventeenth Century term paper on John Donne’s juxtaposition of religion and romance, because more than likely, I’ll need good laugh.

The small green box under my bed which houses all the love notes and symbolic relics of my adventures with my husband.

My toothbrush, deodorant, and a sensible bra, because chances are I’m not wearing one.

All the books I’ve created for Berlyn: my pregnancy journal, baby book, and notes I took the first few weeks that I just barely managed.

And the basil plant in my back yard, because I’ve had it for 4 weeks and I haven’t killed it yet, and that’s pretty great. BASIL FOR EVERYONE!!!

Prolific Dreamer

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November 11, 2008

I went to bed last night. This is not uncommon, the uncommon part comes later.

I went to bed and dreamt of fantastical dreams, much like I always do. I have a wonderful ability to dream in full blown, 44 megapixel, chromatically saturated, COLOR. I dream of shark-eating fairies flying with wings made of cheese, I dream of yarn spun mountains, and yodeling jars of marmalade. And I always remember what I was wearing…that is if I am not naked.

Well, last night I went to bed hoping I would be catapulted into a crafty scenario featuring pink tube socks and sea turtles, but instead I became inundated with ideas for my blog. I was so inspired I wrote the following words in Sudoku puzzle book that was in my bedside drawer:

• dabbled in effective hair removal systems aimed especially at my uni

• wean from my co-dependence of scrunchie!

The only problem was, when I woke up I couldn’t figure out what the hell I was trying to say. And what is a uni? Unibrow? Unicorn? Unicycle? I also appreciated that I was able to remember to punctuate with a jaunty exclamation point, but I couldn’t be bothered to spell out uni…

Hopefully next time I have prolific dreams, I remember to take better notes.

writer’s block

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November 10, 2008

I spent much of my college years as an English major with this diagnosis. Couple that with being sleep deprived, and its a miracle I made complete sentences.

I know what you’re thinking, “What Beckey majored in English?  Weird, her grammar is so shitty, I would have never guessed it. Plus her knowledge of literature is so sparse that I could have sworn she majored in something like refrigeration repair.”

First of all, you can’t major in refrigeration repair. And second of all, ughhh.

But back to the blogging: I’m having a hard time coming up with fresh and exciting material so I can mildly entertain you. I am struggling with figuring out what is worth sharing. Do you like it when I tell you about what I did the night before? Do you like when I talk about my baby? Do you like when I go shopping? Cook? Puffy paint? I want to please you!!  Do you like when I post photos? Stick drawings? Do you like coffee in the evening? Gold latex leggings?

While you’re thinking of what you like, look at some random photos I took with my phone:

Here’s Berlyn at the petting zoo enjoying some quality time with bunnies.

This was party celebrating the EVER store opening on Melrose, in Hollywood.

My honey-pants did their website and we got to go!

As it turns out, white people like David Sedaris, so it was only fitting that my friend Melinda and I went to a reading in Long Beach.

It was also fitting that we wore our glasses.

And here is a photo of our friend Ty with a pumpkin filled with candy on his head.

Halooo ween!!

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November 1, 2008

I nixed the Olivia Newton-John costume because my husband didn’t want me leaving the house in a spandex thong, even though I promised that I would wear purple tights underneath! UGH…! As I was lamenting and humming softly to myself, “I wanna get physical,” a friend of mine gifted me with a belated birthday present of a peacock t-shirt, and I thought to myself, “Shoot-howdy! Berlyn and I shall be twins!!” This of course is the only time in her life where twin-ness is an acceptable notion between mother and daughter, and not only do I understand this, but I promise to not do it again in the future, unless it’s something really, really cute.

Berlyn is helping CB walk; they’re besties.

awwh, look at the cute babies and mommies.

It was a happy halloween indeed.