Our new camera arrives today!!!
I expect it to look like this…
Photo posts commence! (Even if there are a bajillion photos of Marceau the cat for awhile as I learn to use it. You don’t mind, do you?)
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operation: photos.
Category Archives: goings on
mad men holiday
The holiday parties have begun! Last night we went to two parties at the companies where R works. One was Mad Men themed, so we had fun dressing for it. I wore my mom’s dress from 1961 and R wore his suit with his skinny black tie from our wedding.
At the first party, which wasn’t themed, a gal came up to us and said, “You guys look so great – like you’re on Mad Men!”. We looked at each other and laughed. Little did she know that’s exactly what we had in mind!
Here we are together…
R was sporting his slicked to the side hair and a serious ad agency creative director face. I was wearing my pearls and a strong, eager, faithful wife smile.
Here’s my hubby…
I think he’s handsome, especially in a suit, despite the shoddy iPhone camera photo.
And here’s me…
This dress required some super posture and a ladylike strut so I didn’t rip any seams.
Fun!
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a summer weekend in september
We didn’t get much of a summer over the summer months, but suddenly in mid-September, we did! It was hot over the weekend (and Monday was a record breaker in LA). Despite the heat, we had a fun weekend, even though neither of us loves the heat. We’re happier in the fog, or the rain, or the shade…
On Saturday we drove down to San Diego county for my friend, Liz’s son Nate’s 2nd birthday party! It was so fun to see Liz, who is soon-to-deliver pregnant with her second child, a baby girl! Nate was the life of the party…he is a flirt with all the little girls, his age and older. It was fun to see him in person since I’ve only watched him grow in photos since meeting him as a baby. What a sweetie. And for his birthday, Liz made the coolest, cutest cupcakes ever! The theme of the party was “animals”, so she created 3 animal cupcakes. Take a look…
Nate got a cool sparkler candle on his cupcake which he was unsure about…
I had a green frog and R had a monkey. Delicious! (Nate had a green frog also, but at the end of the night he wore pink pig frosting all over his shirt. I told you – party animal!)
After the guests left I surprised Liz with a table of baby girl gifts from our college friends. Since we couldn’t get together to give her a baby sprinkle, we sent one from afar. I was able to capture the obligatory pregnant belly photo for y’all. *smile* Isn’t she beautiful?
And here we are together…
On Sunday we went to the Farmer’s Market in Hollywood which has delicious permanent food stands. We enjoyed shawarma wraps for lunch. Here is Mr. K right when I asked him to show me what he thought about his lunch… (He loves it when I do that, can’t you tell?)
Then later in the evening on Sunday we went to my parents new house in Valencia, California. (Oh yeah, did I mention they moved to Southern California? Well, they did and have been here for 3 weeks. They are loving it! Seriously, I’ve never seen them so excited.) They now live about 35 minutes from us, which is nice. Their house is lovely ~ it looks like them and they have a nice little pool in the back yard. I never thought my parents would have a pool. Hmmm, moving closer to us and a pool. I think they’re ready for more grandchildren, what do you think? Until then, we toasted the new house with margaritas…
Happy Fall!
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labor day water ski
Over labor day we went on a water ski camping trip in the Delta. The Delta is in Northern Central California near Sacramento. It’s hundreds of miles of waterways which attract boaters in the Summer. We had a grand time. We found a nice camping spot and spent two nights. We enjoyed the company of R’s uncle and cousin and spent the days water skiing and sun-soaking.
I didn’t take enough photos and I was the only one who even brought a camera, so the history can’t really be told in pictures, but…
I had trouble getting up on the water ski because it was way too big for my foot, but I did manage one ride. Not too fancy for fear that my foot would slip out of the boot and I would go flying. Here I am, though…
One morning when we woke up, the tide had gone way down and we had to wait for it to rise so we could push the boat back out into the water. Here are the guys working their muscles…
And during one boat ride, we encountered some sea lions. They’re just so cute. And if you remember from our Kauai trip, Mr. K *loves* marine mammals…
Hooray for vacations. Hooray for unplugging for the long weekend. Hooray for fun!
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shhh, or, why i’m hoarse
*disclaimer: there is a medical photo in this post, so if you’re a queasy one, be forewarned. it’s near the bottom…
So, I’ve been losing my voice progressively worse and worse since February, which is very difficult for me since my job requires a lot (!) of talking. First I thought I was recovering from a cold. Then I thought I might have developed allergies. Finally, I went to an ENT specialist who scoped my throat to take a look at my vocal cords and found…
NODULES. (gasp!)
Also known as nodes, these develop from overuse and over exertion of the voice. This feels devastating because I studied voice/speech in grad school. Every. Day. And we did this in school so as to learn how to use our voices correctly in order to avoid things like nodes. Ugh. But with the amount of teaching and workshop leading I’ve been doing since January, it’s not surprising that my vocal folds are crying uncle. And it’s rather emotional to deal with voice loss. I don’t sound like myself.
A Vocal Cord Nodule is a mass of tissue that grows on the vocal folds. A vocal cord nodule reduces or obstructs the ability of the vocal folds to create the rapid changes in air pressure which generate human speech. Symptoms include hoarseness of speech, painful speech production, frequent vocal breaks and reduced vocal range. Females are most likely to develop nodules.
*thank you wikipedia.
So, I am taking a medication and have been prescribed some speech therapy which will be like physical therapy for my voice. With diligence and by changing some of my bad habits they should go away. I sure hope so, because I really, really, really want to be able to talk without a scratchy voice again. And sing.
If you are a curious mind, here is a photo of a vocal fold nodule (though not mine)…
Ew. Me no likey.
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