Xīn Nián Kuài Lè

A couple of weekends ago, Tom and I made our way to China Town for the Golden Dragon Parade. I was originally trying to join a photography meet-up, but we were a little late, so we just wandered around on our own. There was plenty to see and photograph, as China Town welcomed the Year of the Snake.

{cheat sheet on the floor of the mayor's car}

{Mayor Villaraigosa}

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure what the deal is with these bunnies, but they seemed to enjoy themselves.

The dragons were my favorite.

I'm tired at the moment, and I cannot think of a non-cliché way to say this, but this country's diversity really is what makes it great.  I had lunch yesterday with my coworker Hadiara who is a native of Niger. We spoke at length about the challenges that face a country that is less a nation than it is a loosely joined collection of tribes. Finding a way to govern people wiht different beliefs and priorities is no small task, and the fact that people with so many different cultures, histories, languages, and traditions manage to live in this country in relative harmony is pretty damn amazing.

That little digression was prompted by our final moments at the parade where we watched a big New Orleans brass band playing African American spirituals march under the gate in China Town, which is located on Cesar Chavez Avenue. Only in America.

As much as I love embracing cultural diversity, I was not up for lunch at this place...

Soooo, I'm Pretty Much a Rock Photographer Now

Last Friday night, Tom had to go to a show at the Fonda to take some pictures of Nicole Atkins, a Yamaha artist, using her prized Yamaha gear. To do this, he had to get a photo pass since the Fonda is fancy like that. The photo pass gets you down in front of the stage for the first three songs of each set; it also means that the burly bouncer won't yell at you and try to take your camera away.

Nicole was the opener, and she was great. She was funny, and she has great hair, and the girl can sing. So not fair. While I reflected on the great injustice of my inability to carry a tune enjoyed the show, Tom got some great shots.

After Nicole's set, Tom peeled the photo pass off his shirt, stuck it to mine, and pushed me into the photo pit to photograph the headliners, a band called The Eels. I felt incredibly awkward at first since there were several legit photographers with huge, fancy cameras maneuvering around down there, but I managed to stay out of the way and have some fun. The moral of the story is that Tom is an excellent, supportive husband who realizes that sometimes I need a little push, literally in this case.

Now, I had never heard of The Eels before last Friday, but I'm assuming that my photos will launch them to the heights of rock superstardom.

{I'm not sure what's going on here, but I think that Eel wants a hug.}

Being the sweet and supportive husband that he is, Tom captured my first foray into rock photography for posterity. Here I am pretending like I know what I'm doing.

Happy February 15th!

I started working on this after dinner last night, but Tom wanted my full attention on cuddling and Downton Abby watching. He pointed out that my Christmas post came roughly six weeks late, so publishing my Valentine's post a day or two late would be a great triumph. I could hardly argue with that, so...

I ended up taking my desire for more honeysuckle and less beige literally over the last week or two by breaking out the paints and construction paper and pink-ifying everything around here. 

Paints plus excessive Pinteresting led to a burst of craftiness that resulted in some redecorating. I started with a project inspired by copied from here. The heart looks black, but I swear it's a really deep red.

{Beyond My Wildest Dreams is the title of our first dance song.}

Then I stole this idea and painted some watercolor hummingbirds. I'm pretty sure that I came up with the multi-lingual I love you painting myself, but I may have absorbed that from the internet too.

{The San Diego coastline print on the left was a gift from Mo, and on the right is my fledgling globe collection.}

Valentine's Day was lovely in these parts. I gave Tom an oversized novelty card from 7-11, and he brought home calla lilies and made an amazing dinner of oysters and filet with a blueberry bourbon sauce. So yeah...he won. But that's as it should be.

{Oysters and steak don't really photograph well, but it was divine.}

I really do have the best valentine.

Christmas!!!

What? I was six months behind on the wedding; a six week delay on Christmas blogging should be viewed as an unqualified success. 

So....the day after Tom and I got back from Florida Christmas, we headed down to my parents' for San Diego Christmas, which for those not in the know, was on December 27th this year. My brother and Erin had arrived on the 26th, so it was one of those all-too-rare weekends when my family is all together in one room.

Not only did I get to spend real, live, in-person time with Mike and Erin, but I also got to hang out with a puppy, which as we all know, makes everything that much better.

{Coya}

{I'm confused by Tom's expression... but I mean, really. How cute is that puppy?}

We did Secret Santa this year, and Michael got Buckley this totally rad hipster giraffe t-shirt.

{Remember how I said he was weird in all the best ways? Case in point.}

Mo got all the ladies matching bracelets.

{faith, hope, and love}

My dad was very excited to surprise my brother with Chargers tickets.

{They had a great time despite some hail and a near miss with a vomitous fan who was seated behind them.}

I had ordered Michael a Chargers shirt for the occasion, but it was late to arrive so I had to improvise.

After some present opening, we broke for a trip to the movies. The guys were having a hard time generating the appropriate level of enthusiasm for the planned viewing of Les Miserables, so we split up. The boys got their Tarantino on at Django Unchained while us girls bawled our eyes out at Jean Valjean's noble struggle. [Side note: Is Jean Valjean not the best character? Ever? Sigh. I love him. And the music. Oh, the music... I know every word. I found myself mouthing the lyrics to just about every song...Castle on a Cloud being the obvious exception. Baby Cosette is kind of a whiner.]

After the movies, it was beer tasting time. Apparently, this is becoming a holiday tradition.

{Coya obviously can't hang.}

After a delicious dinner (popovers, mmmmm!), I broke out Cards Against Humanity, a Christmas gift from Tom and my new favorite game. It's like the adult version of Apples to Apples, and some of the cards are pretty x-rated. We censored a few for my mom's benefit, but after the beer tasting and the wine with dinner, everyone was feeling pretty loose.  

Still, we don't mess around when it comes to games....serious decision making (and more wine, naturally) going on here.

The prompt on this round was, "What gets better with age?"

{I don't remember which card won, but I really hope that it was "Home video of Oprah sobbing into a Lean Cuisine."}

I'm not sure how long we played (an hour? two?), but there was a lot of laughing. Like tears streaming, can't catch your breath laughing... Playing this game (and hearing my mom say things like "Harry Potter erotica") - probably my favorite memory of San Diego Christmas '12.

Lastly, just because I love it so much, here is a series of Meghan with Lucy, the biggest lapdog of all time, and a jealous Coya. Just over a month ago, Meghan left for Haiti to spend six months teaching a school in Port au Prince because she's a badass with a heart of gold. Seriously, I'm so proud of her, but I miss her face so for now, I have to get my Midgey dose from pictures of these.