SeaNoEvil

i brought my camera out to this art show to but to honest i was so nervous to whip it out. i thought i would drop it, someone would steal it and just all around paranoid.
There was some great art there by so many talented people and they were able to raise so much money for the Sea Shepherds. Matt Costa played, Michelle Rodrigez DJ'ed and then walked around like a pirate dressed as a biker, went to spaghetti factory, we gazed at pieces and picked favorites, watch the drunk groupies try to get with the crew, hung out with friends and made some new ones. Captain Paul Watson spoke for a long time and drunk people cheered him on. I respect everything theyre doing and back them. People like to talk down on them and say they arent doing much and how unprofessional their crews are but theyre doing a hell of a lot more to protect animals and save the earth than you and i are doing and they are seeing results from their efforts.

Jason from ToDieFor playing the best of the 80's

Matt Costa

The Sea Shepherd Crew

mark eats like a shark. eyes closed.

natorii

and one of meow meow for good measure

june is camera shy

i bought the canon t2i last week and im still getting the hang of it. ive never used or owned a DSLR so its a good thing this camera is smarter than me. 

canon 50mm 1.4 lens

the video it takes is amazing! it has the same size sensor as the 7D so you know its clear and crisp. we got this camera for its video recording abilities buuuuut since we dont have a computer that can handle that can handle the crazy amount of information this camera records at so i probably wont be posting videos for a while. le sigh...

The first time i tried hooking up the card reader to my macbook it crashed it and that was just transferring photos and a couple of short video clips. Luckily the Genius Bar was able to fix it but being in that Apple store made me want to get us a newer desktop. I've had mine from 2002! Its a dinosaur in the computer world. AND its a PC! So, if you know anyone whos interested in a macbook that has been barely, rarely used, super clean and is only over a little year old let me know. the money we get toward that will get put to buying Final Cut Pro and the computer. I know you gotta spend money to make money but we also dont want to be in debt to anything (not counting our mortgage) and plan to do everything we can to start and run this business that way.

finally

guess whos camera finally came in...
same person who just finally got their laptop repaired!

SURPRISE, DAD

So last weekend i got to fly out to denver to surprised my dad for his 50th birthday! Actually by the time i got there he already knew i was on my way because my brother, his wife, my uncle and aunt had already showed up in the early morning. But i got to see the surprise on video and he was totally stunned and teary eyed.

Im not a regular traveler. The last time i flew was almost two years ago and even then it was just a trip to colorado to visit them on thanksgiving. I feel like such a newbie when it comes to airports and flying. I almost missed my connecting flight on the way out there. My flight from ONT left late so i arrived late to Las Vegas and all ill say it that was the worst flight ive even been on and my motion sickness is not limited to just cars.

said couple so into petting each other
they didnt seem to notice the lurker
next to them taking their picture

As soon as i was able to run off the plane i bolted for the bathrooms which in that terminal was just two stalls and a line of women and children spilling out into the terminal. i had no choice but to wait and i thought i had 20 mins till my next flight started boarding. I got in and out of there so fast i stopped and bought some M&M's and water for the next flight and sat with the other people waiting for DEN in my terminal when someone over the intercom says, "CANDICE VAL-DESP...-BROUILEEE...? LAST CALL!" I jumped up and ran with my hand in the air like a child. Apparently the time on the ticket is when the planes leaves, not boards. So i had to do that walk of shame on the plane because i was the one that was holding the plane back. But i got to sit next to this greeeeat couple who  pretty much sat there grooming and petting each other the whole time. I just put on my head phones and played Fruit Ninja and ate my free nuts.

The birthday man boy in charlie brown couture

family photo

Beluga Head a.k.a. Rusty

my dad and uncle freddy getting loose in the kitchen

Is was a fun and way too short weekend out there. I was only there one whole day so i feel like i just drove an hour and a half to my dads and back. Ive gotten to see them so much this year because of our weddings and my brothers, now this. i could get used to it.

Side note: Doesnt my dad look like Captain Paul Watson?

So ya, Sunday geoff got back home from being on tour for a week and a half at the same time as me so that was grand...

Regal

I thought this got lost in the craziness of moving 6x in 6 months but I found it hidden in a bag in a box in a container in the garage! 

Left: june tipsy on pool water 4th of july circa 2008. Right: fridge magnet!

Im leaving June this weekend to go surprise my dad for his 50th birthday out in Colorado! Geoff is still on tour so my bff Natalie offered to house and dog sit for the weekend. How amazing is she?! Nat came over late last night to get the house key and June lost it with excitement when she came over. Just jumping up and nipping her hands haha
Love bites.

the only rocky road i enjoy

maybe it was the heat
maybe it was the restlessness from being cooped up in the house all weekend
maybe its because im pre.m.s.-ing bad

but i was on a chocolate flavored binge sunday. first thing i made was ROCKY ROAD ICE CREAM! its my favorite food (i <3 ice cream) in my favorite flavor but made to my liking! when i finally got to taste the final product i felt like this.


Heres how to make Rocky Road Ice Cream:

1 can of condensed milk. (i used fat free)
3 cups of half & half (instead of using heavy and light cream)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Mini marshmellows
Almonds or whatever nut of your liking

Mix the cocoa powder and condensed milk over the stove on the lowest temp 

till it looks like this.

Then take the 3 cups of half & half and vanilla and mix with the cocoa mix 

till it looks like chocolate milk.
i used half & half milk to avoid that film-on-the-top-of-your-mouth feel you get with using heavy cream.

Then put the giant bowl of chocolate milk in the fridge to get cold. 

Lick the pan and spoon clean in the meantime.

After about 30 mins or so the bowl should be good to go. 

Hopefully before hand your machine's frozen stone or whatever it is that freezes the cream was frozen for about 24hrs just to make sure. You want it so cold the moisture from your finger tips makes them stick to it.

Pour the mixer in and turn it on!

In about 30 mins you should see it starting to freeze up on the sides, thats when you want to start adding in the almonds and 'mellows. I crushed the almonds with a cup and added them (i think 1/2 cups worth) into the mixture. then i just grabbed a few handfuls of mini marsh mellows and let the machine fold them into the cream.
so very thorough, i know.

The time it takes to finished depends on how or what you are using to freeze the cream up. mine only took about 45 mins. If youre using something like a jar in ice you have patience of a saint and you also need to get with the times. 

ENJOY!

Life is Wonderful...

...and then a pipe bursts under your house. and then your husband leaves for a week. and then you are thrown to the plumbers will.

what i thought was just a slow leak under the front patio of the house became a costly emergency.

one morning on our way to work we notice a little puddle in the front patio area and thought nothing more then hose must have leaked from watering the yard the night before. We get home that night and now its a huge puddle thats sitting in front of our doorway so i call the city and tell them there a leak from our water meter and they need to take care of it. The city water lady asked if there was gushing water and i told her no it seems to barely be leaking so she says she will send someone the next morning. The next morning the water is starting to run down the driveway and when i get home that night from dropping geoff off at the airport the water has reached the street and i have a note on the door from the city saying its not their problem. the next morning im calling around dealing with old men who sound like they hate their life. i set up two appts for a quote.
first guy seemed like he didnt care much and told me to jack hammer up the cement myself and then he will give me a more accurate price and will work from there. sure, okay buddy, let me whip out my jack hammer and get right on that!
second guy was friendly, timely, and helpful. he also explained to me that what i thought was the water meter was actually our sewage line and that he figured that out after he accidently lifted the cap to our sewage line and lots of mud and rocks fell into our sewage line to our septic tank revealing not a slow leak... oh no, a really big leak that was only barely noticable to us because when the cap to the sewage tank was finally start to back up from mud it came out to the top of the cement.
man, i miss having a landlord.
cant wait to see what our next water bill is going to look like.

the leak. so close to the actual opening too!

so after a leak detection, blowing out our sewage line, extenting our sewage pipe higher than the foundation, jack hammering the cement out of the way, repairing the leak, replacing the water pressure regulator, and replacing the front of the house faucet it was finally fixed.

every time this guy knocked on my door to deliver even more bad news i would just get so overwhelmed and start sobbing. i had no idea if he was lying, over charging me, what was needed or done right. all he sees is a girl whos "husband is at work right now" alone making these decision. so basically money signs! and looking back with a clearer head i should have gone with someone else because this dude seriously over charged me.

damnit i miss our apt now.

i know all is said and done now but i seriously felt so taken advantage of. its like when i went to this mechanic last december for a problem with my brakes. he started telling me it was all these things wrong with my car to make my brakes act up and he gave me a estimate of $900. he told me specifically this one part used would be like $500. so i called the scion dealership and got a price for myself and it was only $200. so i took my car and headed over to another mechanic and he fixed my car for only $120. it was just a clogged brake line.
i hate severely dislike men when they pull this shit.
and its so hard when i dont have a dad around to help me out and my husband is on the other side of the country.

Im really thankful for my mom and for geoffs parents. They are helping us out with the costs and were there trying to calm me down from crying my eyes out. And thank you to natalie and april and jason for checking in on me and keeping me company while i was stuck at home for almost two days waterless while that guy was working on the house. And thank you Obama for the first time home buyers tax credit. when we finally get that check in the mail half of it will be gone now thanks to this little leak.
Nothing was covered by the insurance company either. There to protect you, right?! haha

We're going to make it just fine financially thanks to the tax credit and the help of our parents but just sucks that we cant get ahead right now.
We get in a car accident the day after we get married. - HUGE deductible.
Geoff comes home from tour and was promised work but there is none. - only one income.
Now this. - Welcome back credit card debt.

oh the joys of being a homeowner and tour widow!

treasure hunting

bored and waiting for a bunch of blueprints to come out of the plotter i found these things in our copy room at work:

the old paycheck printer:

i used to play with this when i was little and would fake sick to go to work with my mom. playing "office" was fun back then.

old motorola radio:

 old mickey mouse candy dispenser:

i actually remember this one from when i was a little kid sitting in my grandpa's office

there's m&m's in there that are probably as old as i am

and the thing i lost it over....

its a 8mm movie projector.

my mom has a tone of reels in storage of when they were all little vacationing at the nearby lakes. i wish i knew linear editing! 

right hand ring dreams

so my birthday is coming up....

sleep cycle

i love the sleep cycle app! as soon as i wake up i check the graph. yep, even before twitter.
for a couple days bryan and i would share our graphs via text at 6am! i love that someone else is as geeked up about it as me.

i had a dream last night that i was at a sleeping giant show with all our friends and all of a sudden i took it upon myself to introduce the band and a when i was introducing geoff i said he was the drummer and then played a drum solo and began to sing. but i was standing outside myself with my friends in awe of what i (my other self there at the show) was doing and apologized for being lame. then i realized that nicole had put a roofie in my drink! we all laughed at me and geoff was embarrassed.
sweets before bed = crazy ass dreams.