summer lovin' had me a blast

so i was all set to write about random stuff. like sexy cars, how it's feeling so summer-like even if the schizo weather is cooling a bit, and the random way the bear fixed my camera.

but then i came home to some not-so-good-news from the bear. in short, we are mostly on the same page about this catch-22 we are in, but we word and express it differently, which results in typical potatobear tiff-ing. one thing about us is that we are not one of those never-fight, never-get-loud couples. well, it's usually me getting loud; the bear's good at sounding mad even when silent. yeah, different fighting styles. hey, at least we're passionate and care/feel enough to get that riled up? anyway, i digress. all is good between us since we recognized we are on the same page and do feel for each other and each others' views on the sitch, but i am still sad and frustrated at the circumstances. i have faith that it will work out in the end, but it's not so fun right now.

i couldn't quite blog right after that, even though telling my car stories might cheer me up, so i wrote to someone in malawi instead. no, not just some random person. while writing, i realized how much blogging has affected my letter-writing style for the worse. sad but a good reminder that maybe i should really write again once in awhile.

and after that, i randomly felt ready to randomly blog again.

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saturday night, our landlord and neighbor threw a birthday bash for his mother in his/our backyard. he invited us over for some food and drinks earlier that day, which we accepted somehow completely forgetting that the bear had a hockey game right when they were planning to eat. i was too shy to venture out by myself, but i left the window open as i enjoyed my own dinner, wine, and some homework. happy voices rising higher and higher, punctuated by almost constant laughter, less frequent squeals of kids, and the smell of really good food wafted in with the lovely breeze through our open window. then i heard the mariachi strike up. normally, i'd be annoyed by the noise while trying to get homework done. instead, the warm, summery-ness of everything just made me smile and feel so happy for landlord, his mother, and their family.

the bear finally got home, and we ventured out to say hello, apologize for flaking, and wish the señora "ifeliz cumpleaños!" ok, so the mariachi was actually a karaoke machine, the lyrics projected onto the side of the house, and some uncles singing. it still sounded pretty good and was pretty dang festive. both the bear and i, who have relatively small families with most of our extended family far away, enjoyed watching just a fraction of landlord's family together. we decided that maybe we did want to contribute toward a large family, after all.

then we came inside and decided nah, we'll take it one tot at a time, if any at all. ;)

why are summer-ish nights so magical? they make me lose my head. i first lost my head (and heart) to the bear in summer, too.

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we're thinking we might still get a new camera, since we don't like this one anyway. apparently, google is ALSO the bear's other best friend (which i didn't know...google and i will be having some words about this later...she's so polybestfriendous). she told him that quite a few acquaintances of hers had the same problem with the same camera, and they fixed it by simply dropping it. he figured he had nothing to lose, so he dropped it. it worked! he celebrated by taking this photo:

go lakers!

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today, on my way to the freeway from hell, something a beautiful shade of red and with some sexy lines caught my eye.

please excuse the horrible,
from-behind-a-dirty-windshield photo.

it turns out it was a bmw 135i. a what? yeah, that's the first i'd seen/heard of it. now i very highly doubt i will ever buy a bmw for a myriad of reasons i won't go into here, but so sexy! i'm not even a fan of most of bmw's late model body styles, even, but this turned my head. beautiful shade of red. not too candy apple/orangey/yellowy. not too sparkly/maroony/purply. it's hard to see here due to all the reflections, but the crisp creases and lines are placed just-so. i'm not a huge car-lover, but i can appreciate good design and great attention to proportion.

yeah, i'm from LA. why do you ask? this chick can even recognize the purr of a lotus' engine. mostly due to the fact i used to run into one about twice a week going west on olympic in the mornings.

we're almost done paying the bear's truck off, and my current car situation's a bit weird. he's been peeping subarus, so i randomly peeped them online today. i am so so so sad that they are so ugly-ily designed. they are safe, well-priced for what you get, perform well, and even their most basic models have four-wheel drive. if we continue to be snowbunnies like we were this winter, we'll need it. the truck, contrary to what you'd think, doesn't do so well in ice.

lastly, the not so sexy car that i was stuck behind in traffic sometime last week:

please click and view close up for the full effect.

now it's mochi ice cream time! i know, you true mochi lovers are thinking, "the horror!!!" whatevs, it makes me happy, and it makes it feel like summer. even if i'm shivering while eating it.