Q4 miscellany

first, i must say the problem with having an iphone is that you read emails, think you'll respond later since the keyboard is annoying to type on, forget to mark them as unread, and then completely forget to respond altogether. oops and sorry. i'll catch up and respond. someday.

onto a random photo journey of my past three months.

potato+bear always have weddings to attend. this quarter, they [brides+grooms at large, i'm not talking in third person anymore] liked the personalized m+m favors.

poor, deformed m+m. i gobbled it up anyway. or did the bear?

we love the photobooths.
the lovely bridesmaids' hair + makeup
courtesy of the talented, sweet sherry mcanelly
and her team at on location beauty.
the bridesmaids are the ones in the strapless.
duh.

the glowing j+j.
ceremony at cute church in corona del mar.
reception at ocma .
(so jalousE [sic], and i don't mean the windows.)
old new love nest on an island in OC.

pretty prep at mani pedi cutie in hermosa.
overpriced? a bit.
totally cute? like totally.

my favorite! food!

how every bride should eat the day before she gets hitched.
hudson river foie gras & garlic shrimp club sandwich
with applewood smoked bacon on toasted brioche
you can get one, too. here.
too bad this irving gill-designed building's interior is so...
...not what mr. gill would have wanted.
ah well. at least it still stands in good condition.

found this in the bathroom of a certain restaurant.
hm.
next to an art center catalog.
hm.

in case you were looking for the best buns...

...you can find them here.
i found this rather incongruous.
and hilarious.
eh, maybe it's just me.

oh yeah, school. lots of it.

this is baby.
he was the baby of our bay/section.
we're not sure if he can drink. legally.
or vote, for that matter.
fine, he's just straight outta undergrad.

i did a lot of this this semester, too.
just not in the middle of a deserted review.

or at such an impossible angle.

vagules also make great hats,
thinking caps, etc.

olfa utility knives (and xactos, we like both brands)
make great cheese/salami knives
for impromptu picnics
that break out during the middle of a pin-up.
[vintage lego lunch box not included.]

learning to stop, step back, and enjoy the view even while mired in the journey.

glimpses.

hollywood. griffith observatory.
through olive trees at barnsdall park.
[go! open to the public!]
slowly learning to let go.
[and let the vagule catch me?]

and to end with something warm and fuzzy.

urth caffe's bread pudding breakfast, how i love you.
[pictured with apples.
also available with b-a-n-a-n-a-s!]

pretty malibu tile, cozy fireplace,
view of coffee bean roasting/choosing/tasting operation also included
[at the new downtown location].

oh wait, i need some engrish.

ok, Q4 accounted for!

once upon a time...

...i blogged. i wish i still did. missing it so bad. i rarely even see the hubs, so i'm thinking i should spend any extra time with him rather than blogging. sleep also trumps blogging these days. ahh..sweet, sweet sleep.

update, in short:
bridal shower thrown for vase. check.
j+j's wedding at the cutest little church in corona del mar then the fab ocma. wonderful time with ch-ch-ch-chua and his newish girl that the bear and i now love. check.
falling behind in all other classes while prepping for the studio midterm review. check.
enjoying other classes and being sad i cannot keep up with the work. check.
falling asleep in all classes. check.
prof pointing out i was falling asleep and turning down the thermostat in the already-freezing classroom. check.
visit to the ER to tend to my xacto-sliced finger. check.
eating crap instead of all the yumminess i had been. check.
staying the majority of nights at my new studio bff's, freckles', awesome loft since it's only 2 blocks from school. check. we like to cuddle her gigantic panda that is literally bigger than me.
midterm review. chizzeck, baby.

'til next time. whenever that may be. just wanted to let you all know i'm alive. barely. and miss you all.

ibirthday

friday was ibirthday. as in my birthday, and i[guess the]birthday of the iphone 3g. i was pretty anti-iphone at first mostly because it was only available on at&t and because i'm a cheapotato who doesn't even use up the minutes in the smallest plans out there. somehow the fact that the release date of the new one coincided with my birthday suddenly flipped some apple-loving switch in my brain, and i HAD to have one. well, that and the bear getting excited about it and calculating that if we went on a family plan, our monthly fee wouldn't be that much more than we were paying separately, and we'd have internet. (almost) all. the. time. oh, and i can't forget that i had been mad at my razr with parts super glued back on and crappy battery life for almost three years already.

anyway, on free slurpee day, we both got off work at noon. no, not just for the iphone. we're hardworking mofos that had put in lots of hours the past few weeks and therefore didn't really need to log those last few hours on friday. the bear promptly called 6 at&t stores near us so we could avoid what we thought would be longer lines and apple fanboys. um, they were all sold out already. turns out at&t stores didn't have a ton of stock. so off we went to south coast plaza to the apple store. i told the bear we really didn't have to buy the phones that day, but the smart man who knows me better than i do said that i would be really disappointed if we didn't. maybe he was right, but my brain still thinks i would have been ok if we had waited a bit. anyway, so down the 405, past the free-first-day-of-the-fair (if you entered between 12 and 1...we were driving by right in the middle of it) we flew.

for those that know south coast plaza, the line ran from the apple store all the way to the macy's end of crystal court south coast plaza west, past macy's, and wrapped back to the usc gear store. of course all means of egress (exits) had to be kept clear, so there were large gaps in the line enforced by oh-so-frightening mall security. not. although one was quite the dick to the bear when he received a work call and stepped out of line into a corridor leading to an exit to take the call.

we waited in line for four hours (yeah, i really didn't know i had it in me as i refuse to wait in line for clubs, most restaurants, and can barely deal with amusement park lines), during which the following happened:

• the girl in front of us pleaded with one of the employees to let her in just to buy a regular ipod as she was leaving for europe in a few days and this was her only chance to buy one before she left. he said he'd see what he could do but doubted he could help her bypass the line. the bear was nice and informed her that she could buy an ipod and charger at best buy across the street or even at target. she still hesitated a bit before running off. ugh, she deserved to wait in that line, but at least bear's helpfulness eliminated one person in front of us.
  
• ruby's came by and gave us coupons for buy 1 get 1 free breakfasts or buy an entree get a shake free.
• the apple employees asked us 10,927,498,347 times if we had read the info fliers they were handing out on the rate plans and what we needed in order to activate a phone.
• ruby's started selling onion rings for $3 a bag.
• the apple employees came around with a cart of hours-old starbucks and smartwater. too bad there was no smartwater by the time they got to me. i did take some bleh ash water to see if i could convince myself this was worth it with a free beverage. nope.
• ruby's started selling shakes. the chocolate ones sold faster than vanilla. black vs. white 16 gb foreshadowing? not quite, but that's the dorky thought that ran through my head.
• the dude behind us was a somewhat fobby, gabby wedding photographer who gave me a flier about his crazy deal going on right now. i told him i'm married already. he told me to pass it along to friends. i guess business is slow.
  
• ruby's started selling bags of fries for $3 a bag.
• the bear went to pacific whey cafe, downed a beer while waiting for them to make us a sandwich, then brought the sandwich back to me in line.
• i browsed through paper source and came out with nothing.
• we sat on the freezing cold but relatively clean granite and marble tile floor. as soon as the bear sat, we'd start moving again.
• we chatted now and then with kumar behind gabby photographer. really, his mannerisms, the way he spoke, and just everything about him reminded us of kumar. not kal penn. kumar.
• ruby's came around with another tray of shakes.
• i shook my fist at smartwater bottles with seriously, like, three sips taken out of them sitting on the sill of paper source's storefront. i was thirsty, damnit, and some wasteful brats had done this.
  
• when we were maybe 20-30 minutes away from the entrance, a woman bought her way into line maybe 5 people behind us for $100. i did a double take as she looked a lot like jessica claire. i never worked up the guts in those last moments in line to ask her, as i just don't disturb celebrities (or celebrities of the wedding photography world, for that matter) and because it wasn't like she was our wedding photographer or anything (WAY out of our budget). and anyway, her hair looked a little less red in the mall lighting. and yes, i got all self-conscious and didn't want to be embarrassed if i was wrong. anyway, gabby photographer and kumar talked to her quite a bit, with gabby photographer trying to buy her old iphone off of her (after she wiped the data, of course) so he could sell it to his friend who owns a cell phone store in burma despite the fact she didn't really want to sell it and said so. yeah...anyway...awkward crow.
  
• one of the employees asked one of the managers at the front of the line (seriously, they had a million staff that day at that one store) if there was any bottled water left. he said no, but that there was a drinking fountain right over there. so not the same as smartwater, dude.
• i gave my informational flier back to the lady at the front of the line so they could reuse it. she was taken aback that i was returning it. i'm just trying to hug a tree, lady, not you. yeesh.
  

so exciting, i know.

since i bored you with 4 hours worth of waiting in line, i won't bore you with all the details of the 2 hours we spent in store trying to buy and activate the dang phones--just some of them.

• a nice but very socially-awkward young man tried to help us. after one failed attempt, he left us without a word.
• after a long while, he brought back sean, my new best gay (coined or at least new to me by/via feminist gold digger) of the night.
• after not too long, the supposed jessica claire was brought to the final activation counter (where they plugged your phone into itunes for like two seconds then handed it back to you). the very loud employee began their interaction with, "and how are you today, jessica?" and ended it with, "thank you so much, jessica!!!" or something like that. the point was that maybe it was her. i told cee when i got home, and she was impressed and sad i didn't find out. and yeah, i know she could potentially find this dorky tale on here. if you do, jessica, i admire your work and am not a totally random blog-stalker. i found your blog when crazily searching for a photographer for my wedding last year.
  
• sean, the bear, and i thought up different scenarios/workarounds. sean eventually got an account set up for us and got promises from at&t reps that we weren't supposed to be able to get. whee!
• our OG sales rep noticed while we were on hold that it was my birthday and asked me suddenly and loudly if it was my birthday. yep, we're suckers that spend my birthday in line.
  
• the bear was way more visibly upset than i was when we were told that activation was not working and that we were not allowed to leave the store with an unactivated phone (thus all that waiting might be for naught). somehow, sean was a lot more scared of me despite my composure and genuine calm. it wasn't really anyone physically present's fault, and most of the issues were out of all of our control. plus really, it's just a phone. and 4+2 hours of our life we would never get back, but really, there are way worse things in life.
  
• sean told the bear to take me to mastro's steakhouse for my birthday as he had recently taken his mother there for hers, and we needed steak and a nice glass of wine. i told him a bottle was more like it.

we got home with our babies. sleek black for him. hot white for her. finally, we have the same phone but in different colors at least. our last three phones were exactly alike, causing some confusion at times.

since we had just spent gobs of cash, we didn't go to mastro's for dinner. instead, we went home and ate leftovers. oh, and drank some deliciously dry schramsberg blanc de blancs to accompany our rock hard ddukbokki (korean rice cake logs in a hot pepper paste sauce that does not keep its deliciously glutinous texture well after being cooked then refrigerated)--not the best pairing, but reading the bear's sweet and hilarious card a few times more than made up for the food. he's great at finding unique cards (even at target and hallmark) that get me right there. hey, it was the first birthday card he gave me that said "to my wife." alright, so maybe i'm sappier than i thought.

oh, and the phone is pretty fan-freaking-tastic.

add to the wedding count

i just got a save-the-date for the bear's old roomie's wedding. it looks inspired by our own wedding invites...whee! i'm definitely flattered in this case as the bride-to-be showed off my invite to her friends at a BBQ at her parents' house we attended, and the form is the same but the shape/colors/design are quite different.

so we've got another local wedding in october to add to the list. the reception is at OCMA. i am so so so so so so so jealous. it was my top choice before i figured out it was beyond our budget.

ah well, i'll just have to attend as a guest, be wined and dined, look at the galleries for free, and not have the stress of being the center of attention. EEEEE!

poo cupcakes

i had another one of those mass cooking days yesterday. i made the marinated tomato/ fresh mozzarella that i spoke of a few entries back. then i made some poo cupcakes. then it was orzo time, recipe courtesy of our seattle friend v.

i meant to make my cupcakes easter-y and meant to troll the grocery store aisles for fun and creative toppers. BUT[T]...something really annoying happened in the parking lot, so instead i just got the tomatoes i needed and got outta there. anyway, these are betty crocker yellow cake mix with betty crocker milk chocolate frosting on top...the way bear likes his "home baked" goods. i got a pastry bag at surfas (AKA chef's heaven on earth, not that i'm a chef or anything) a couple weeks ago along with some plain tips, so i piped the frosting on this time. thus the poo.

see? piles of poo on top.

the pastry bag went nuts on a few of the cupcakes and used up a lot of the poo, i mean frosting. . .

. . .so a few only got a smear. :(. it's OK! these have chocolate chips inside. :)

the creamalicious orzo:
basically, you boil some orzo. in another pan, you fry up some onions/shallots/garlics/any combo of delicious stinkies you like in olive oil (we threw in some crimini mushrooms at this point, too). then you add some canned, diced tomatoes, then you can throw in whatever veggies you like. the recipe called for just peas, but the bear and i threw in a frozen peas/carrots/green beans mix. throw the orzo into the mix, or vice versa if your pan isn't large enough and mix it all up. then it's liquid time--whipping cream is added and stirred in, then some of the reserved pasta water. just get it to the consistency you like. lastly, throw in lots and lots of freshly grated parmesan to add some ooey gooey good flavor. the end.

oh yeah, and our wedding details are pseudo-internet-famous. thanks to my college friend g for forwarding me the link.

tonight, we dine on porksicles, thankfully not made by me. i will report when we return.

green with envy

green potatoes aren't very appetizing. they're all crunch in a bad way, and get all veiny and start growing gross. anyway, i digress. here goes.

why didn't anyone project manage and throw a wedding like this for me?
venue: studio aalto studio designed by alvar aalto...in finland!!!!!!!
architectural dress by issey miyake (i bet it smells good in addition to folding all awesomely, too).
shoes by camper (i have yet to buy my first pair, even though i've been lusting after some for years).
"wedding chairs" by the bouroullec brothers (whose other chair is delayed in production and screwing up one of my projects).
corsages by hella jongerius (love her textile designs).
candlesticks by louise campbell.
red and aqua graphics.


at least i got *one* of the above.

edited to add: read more here and also see a photo of the rather attractive couple. those dang northern europeans.

more food

because food makes me happy.

on sunday night, i saw a bag of shredded cheese in the fridge that i knew we wouldn't eat before the mold took over. i always randomly remembered we had a box of knott's berry farm's biscuit mix, courtesy of a holiday gift basket the in-laws divvied up between us and them. i remembered a recipe i saw on a message board i frequent. so easy!

biscuit mix + water + double the shredded cheese the recipe calls for + butter/garlic salt/onion powder/dried tarragon (hey...i don't have dried parsley and was too lazy to go buy some just for this) =mmm...cheesy, buttery, carb-y goodness.

yesterday was our 6-monthiversary! whee! marriage is making us all re-sentimental or something...celebrating the 1 month and 6 month marks and all. the bear stayed home from bowling, had dinner hot and ready when i got home, and poured me a glass of wine as soon as i sat down. he sadly told me that he had wanted to get me a little something but didn't have a chance to. bad wifey potato got him nada anyway.

liar. fine, make bad wifey potato look even worse, and make her melt at the same time. after dinner, he pulled this out of hiding:

which opened to reveal these three yummies:

i am so sad we forgot to pull out a penny to show scale. these strawberries were definitely on 'roids or something. they were pretty freakin' delicious anyway. the dark chocolate were much better than the white chocolate/yogurty one.

oh, and kobe (as in the basketball player, not as in the steak) supposedly gets a dozen of these from wonderland bakery every valentine's day for the wife. this is according to the owner who hooked the bear up early. we're just baller like that. and yes, that website makes me wanna hurl. it's like lisa frank on crack + a sugar high. or is it acid? remember, i'm a square.
bear: wouldn't you rather have these than flowers?
potato: fuckyeah!

ok, so i didn't actually use the f-word, but this conveys the depth of emotion involved in my answer than the actual one did. oh, and mr. bear, i don't mind flowers, either, i just prefer tater treats. ;)

in other news, google translator is not so hot. instead, i just sent off four versions of thank you card wording to my mom so she can translate them using proper, non-3rd-grade-level grammar and spelling for me. finally, another wedding task done. 6 months after the wedding. not bad! too bad that list is still never. ending.

happy hump day! the week is half over. huzzah!

the pros to changing your name

just the pros, no cons, as i've whined about those enough.

1. you get all new plastic, which means you get to cut up all your old ones. if you're like me and enjoy the noise of scissors snip-snap-snipping, this is a very fun time indeed.
2. you get to reinvent your signature. my old one was craptastic thanks to my 16-year old self who didn't think to practice it before getting her driver's license. my new one is a lot cuter.
3. attention whores like me love the random comments/emails it garners at work. "oh!!! did you get married??? when? congrats! i bet you were a beautiful bride." why, yes i was, thank you. i have 1,000+ photos to prove it, if you'd like to see all of the proofs. ;)
4. every time i see it on paper, it reminds me that the bear and i are family now. awwwww. [half gagging, half wallowing in awww-ness.]
5. the new last name is so much cuter than the old, and it's fun to say. ok, so i know this doesn't apply to every case.

speaking of weddings, our parents went gaga over the simple parent albums i made them for christmas. feel free to recycle. i think i forgot to take photos of them before wrapping them, though. :( bad, picture-less potato. more on our holiday festivities to come.

the night is still young,

but i've got work tomorrow. i wouldn't be as miffed if the bear had to work, too. to make it feel like it's not over yet, weekend recap time!

[random thought: oh wait, thanks to all for the happy thoughts and empathy in the whiny post below. i'm still rather a bit of a glum chum these days, but hopefully i can chin up and improve my attitude at least. having such lovely blog readers definitely helps. :)]

friday a.k.a. name change day
our remote access is up again after the move, so i got to work from home. i woke up early-ish to get an hour or so of work in before heading to the social security office. i arrived at 8:56 A.M., four minutes before start of business, according to the ticket/number i pulled. there were already about 75 people waiting. i did not leave until about 10:15 A.M., and there were only 15 people ahead of me in my category/hypothetical line. as i walked in, one of the security guards was barking out orders on how the process goes, how all paperwork needed to be filled out BEFORE your turn, that you MUST remain seated or stand in a designated [5' x 2'] area, that cell phone usage inside the room was NOT allowed, etc., etc. i took a seat in the last row of one of the two groupings of chairs that were set up facing each other, across the center aisle of the room. sharks vs. jets, anyone? the hour-long wait would not have been so long if i had remembered to bring reading material and had not been sandwiched between two ill-behaved children whose parents would not discipline them. after being elbowed by one [she was sharing my seat with me, without asking] and my foot hit with another's toy car, i did say something to the parents. it was a bit too late to find another seat, and i didn't really feel like being crowded into the standing area. luckily, the name change process itself went pretty smoothly, and now all i have to do is go to the dmv and notify everyone else once i have a photo ID...yay!

after some more work [why is it that my half days always somehow end more around 4 or 5 PM?], we dined on japanese/korean style curry to celebrate name change day. it's one thing i can make great every time, since there isn't much that actually has to be cooked. because i had made such a big deal about what a PITA it is to change my name, the bear brought home a gift for me - some more wine from bevmo's 5 cent sale. the chardonnay from napa cellars he selected had a pretty bottle AND was yummy.

the bear also rearranged our living room to better suit the new tv/speakers/ps3/tv stand, and i must admit it's pretty dang nice. it really opens up our living room area.

saturday
i worked hard on the side project. later in the day, i was coming down with cabin fever, so i went out to run errands and shop for groceries on a whim. i heart trader joe's. i was like a kid in a candy store since we haven't grocery shopped in, oh, about a month or so. i did practice some restraint, though, because i know how good we are at eating everything before it rots. that night, we dined on super fresh salad and rustic pizza crust + fresh roasted tomatoes + mozzarella di bufala + spring greens + EVOO + balsamic vinegar [for me only, the crazy bear doesn't like the stuff!]. again, something i can't ruin as most of the real cooking part is all pre-prepped.

sunday un-funday
yay for groceries! i breakfasted on some good cereal with soy milk [getting less tolerant of lactose as i get older], heated up trader joe's spiced cider [tastes just like mulled cider especially when hot...mmm...pretending it's fall], and butter + strawberry preserves on a slice of whole wheat sourdough toast. yes, this simple, carb-heavy breakfast was the highlight of my day. otherwise, i worked on the side project and took a load of laundry to a local laundromat with the bear as our dryer broke friday night. as much as my lazy, spoiled butt hates leaving the house to do laundry, i love how quickly laundry gets done in industrial sized machines...and for mere pennies at our local place! i worked on the side project again, and i am so disappointed in my lack of progress on it so far, even after two weeks of hard work on it. meh, feeling discouraged.

that brings us up-to-date to now. sleep early, or gym? my body needs both pretty badly. i bet lazy potato will opt for sleep.

oh, and the award of the weekend goes to my bear. partly because he's the only person i saw all weekend [this side project is really cramping my social life]. mostly because of his patience and love. all work, no play, and many other things even she can't define make potato a dull girl, but he's been putting up with all the resulting b.s. i'm working on producing a cheerful, more chipper, more "normalized" potato for you and everyone else, i promise.

p.s. i lied. i haven't decided on a chair fabric. in fact, i've come up with other possible combinations. watch for yet another few options soon.

Perky Tulips

I don't ever entertain, and the wedding is over. However, this tablescape in a back issue caught my eye earlier this week at work. I think it'd be fab at an event with long tables.



I could do without the crystal chandeliers, but the undoubtedly wired tulips in the tall, clear vases are so simple and chic. We all know how much I love order, so I love how they're in a nice, strict line. I'm usually not a fan of tallish centerpieces, but I think it'd be fun to peek through the stems.

[WeezerMonkey in a tree.]

I wouldn't mind that great trestle table they're sitting on, either. Such clean lines and not rustic. Oh, and having an al fresco dining space that is fully covered and can hold this many people would motivate me to entertain. Well, one can dream.

Journey to BFE

1. Drop bear off at in-laws' so he can drive himself to traffic school.
   
   
2. Get lost trying to find The Hat to satisfy my hankering for wet fries. This place is hard to come by in our hood.
   
   
3. Find Grand Burger while wandering instead. Even better! For once, my crap sense of direction pays off. I find the bear's hometown greasy spoon.
   
   
4. Buy a small order of chili cheese fries. $4.21 after tax for all this cheesy goodness. The unmelted cheese is especially delicious at Grand Burger, for some reason. Too bad it promptly melted, thanks to BFE sun + hot fries.
   
   
   
5. Find The Hat while driving to meet someone. But of course.
   
   
6. Drive even further BFE to visit with mom + the family minpin. Upon my arrival, I am greeted with two undoubtedly stale favors leftover from 5 weeks ago. Ew. I fail at trying to convince my mom to throw them out.
   
   
   
7. Pickup the bear and some jujubes [not the candy] from the in-laws' bajillion fruit trees. I momentarily forgot that I love their flavor but hate their dry, styrofoam-like texture. Yes, these are the same fruits that when dried are used in oriental herbal medicines and thrown at Korean brides + grooms to divine how many female offspring they'll have.
   
   
8. Do random other boring things that are even more boring than the above in which absolutely no one has interest in reading for the rest of the evening + night.
   

L + J's At Home Reception

After our sweaty, monthaversary celebration, we headed down the street to L+J's wedding reception. They got married last month in Korea in what looked like a beautiful ceremony. The crowd was small + intimate, the bride + groom beaming, the weather sweaty, and the view was beautiful.

As you'll notice, my photography skills are, well, not really skills. I have some bad photoshopping in this entry to go along with the quality of the photos. Any decent photos you see on this blog are probably the work of the bear.


Menu, napkin fold I'm partial toward, and our placecards/favors - a handwritten note from the bride + groom in a bottle, baaay-baaay.


First dance, horribly backlit. It was the best of 10, though, if you can believe it.


The bear's salad plate upon completion.


My salad plate upon completion. Hey, I was hungry. Plus it was doused in champaigne [sic] vinaigrette.


I forgot to take a photo of my plate before they took it away. I tend to be a fast eater. I had salmon with sea beans on a bed of what seemed like bearnaise sauce. The salmon wasn't overcooked or dry, as it usually is in these situations, and the sea beans were different and fun. The bear had a flat iron steak, again with bearnaise sauce, but also topped with deep fried okra. Overall, pretty yummy.


Dessert. Chocolate. Yum.


I lurve slideshows.


Some of my college ladies, plus a well-behaved baby. We are sweaty and shiny, ew. Except the bride, of course, who's glowing. ;)


[singing] After party in the hotel lobby! A party that consisted of me, myself, and I resting my feet while waiting for the bear.

Congrats, L + J! Welcome to married life and SoCal!