January 19--The End of our 24 Hours in San Diego

We woke early this morning to take advantage of the little time we had left together in the perfect city of San Diego.  We couldn't believe the view we had from our balcony so we took in the beautiful morning by playing hairstylists & dying each other's hair on our balcony.

We headed to Mission Beach for lunch along the water before Kate & I had to drive back to Pasadena (my first day of class is tomorrow...booooo).

January 18--The Beginning of our 24 Hours in San Diego

Saturday afternoon Kate & I got a call from one of our best friends in Seattle, Anja.   She called to inform us of her last minute decision to spend her 4 day weekend in sunny CA.  

With little effort, she booked a flight and was in San Diego by 10:30 this morning with her brother, Josh.

After 2 1/2 hours on the road this morning, Kate & I arrived in San Diego ready to spend the day at the pool & the night in Old Town with our buddies

January 17--- Potstickers

stove topped

and
delicious.

January 16--- We Enjoy the Occasional Trip to Goodwill

My mom once had these glasses, so naturally
when I saw them at Goodwill I just had to have them.

January 15--- Headed Home.

when I got on the plane this morning, nashville = 12 degrees.
when I stepped off the plane this afternoon,
los angeles = 85 degrees.

It's time to pack away my winter coat.

January 14---More Louie

Shot more photos of Louie today.

January 13---Barbara's Home Cooking

It's a tradition when I come home to visit Norma & Matt and eat some delicious, artery clogging southern cookin' at Barbara's Home Cooking.
It was ultra crowded tonight.

January 12---A New Series?

Nashville has a wide variety of churches on what seems like every corner.
Whether their welcome sign has words of encouragement or words meant to sound "punny", I have decided to start documenting the interesting ones in hopes of potentially starting a series. It's definitely been done before but with so many signs at my fingertips I figure why not?

Happy Birthday Christian!

January 11---Dinner with the Mr. Bill Ross Family

I kind of love their house.

Meet Barb Ross: my mom's Nashvillian BFF---->

January 10---ABC Therapy.

I spent my day in Knoxville with Terry Jo and a couple other alphabet therapists. We were doing a workshop for a few families who have children with Angelmans Syndrome, as well as completing my training to be an ABC therapist in LA.

January 9---From Nurse to Crazy Kitchen Lady

I spent my morning preparing spaghetti & bread sticks with my mom and the 6 other crazy kitchen ladies for lunch at Hunter's school. I stopped by for a quick hello and ended up staying all the way through the lunch services. My mom and I were laughing at the fact that she went from being a serious nurse in LA to a crazy, spaghetti cookin' kitchen lady here in TN :)

Happy Birthday Mary!!

Happy 2 Years Katelyn & Matt!!!

January 8---Louie & Our Book.

This is Louie.
Louie has Angelman Syndrome & is in a 4th grade class with 25 students without disabilities. Louie's mom works at Vanderbilt at the Peabody Institute and the two of us are teaming up to publish a book about what it's like for a child with disabilities to go to school in inclusion. I spent the day with Louie photographing what an everyday school experience looks like for him. I watched as every one of his peers treated him as an equal; played with him on the playground, played the recorder with him in music class, cleaned up when he spilled milk at lunch and wanted to smile with him in all the photos.

January 7---Dad & His Cubicle

I surprise visited my Dad at the hospital today. I got the official tour which included the "cough and sneeze station" (which came in handy for us cough and sneezers) and his office....well, his cubicle.

January 6---Sick.

again.

January 5---Inspirations for My New Year

Annie Leibovitz.

Ben Parks.

Mitchell Davis.

January 4---On the Passenger Side

Hunter got his license a few months ago but I hadn't thought much of it until today when we were getting in the car to meet my dad at the movies (we saw Milk--great movie and GREAT acting -- Emile Hirsch continues to amaze me). He got in the drivers seat and I forgot that it was legal for him to do that without one of our parents with us. It was thrilling to sit thoughtless in the passenger seat, shooting a few photos along the cold, rainy road to Green Hills since driving Hunter has been my responsibility for the last however many years.

January 3---Painting.

As you walk through our house one of the first things you'll probably notice are the vibrant colors that fill our walls. My parents love them some golds, greens and reds, and today as I walked into my bathroom, I realized it was the only room in our house that was completely colorless. My dad announced today that I need to clear out my room because he intends on us painting it while I'm here these next 2 weeks. Hopefully this will mean my bathroom will soon join our colorful house as well...but if not, I do kind of like it this way.

January 2---Nashville Here We Come

The duration of my day was spent on
Flight 3219 to Nashville, TN
sitting beside Hunter, completely engulfed in Twilight.

January 1---New Years Parade in HD // Austen Turns 24 ?

For me, New Years usually means sitting on the Tournament of Roses parade route with the entire city of Pasadena, watching the floats and marching bands. I realized this year how special it is to live in this wonderful city where hundreds of Pasadena's residents gather together to celebrate the coming year together.
This year, I failed to make secure plans for my parade going and so Matt & I enjoyed the parade via HD with his family. The HD did it's job well; making me feel as though I was sitting on the crowded streets of the parade route enjoying the show just like past years (only this year I was sitting in the warmth of a cozy house drinking tea in my pajamas and not missing the actual parade experience in the least).
Later in my day, Austen's birthday was celebrated in between commercials of the USC/Penn State game. She turned 7--even though she insisted on having 24 candles fill her cake. She got "A Christmas with Marley" and to my surprise, remained tearless as we read it.

December 31---Ringing in the New Year Texas Style

Matt & I spent our New Years Eve with Mary and her new(ish) boyfriend, Ryan, from Texas (whom I was FINALLY able to meet outside of the virtual world of Facebook). Mary's family's annual New Years Eve party was a blast; spent with old & new friends. As you might be able to tell, Mary and I were a little excited to see each other since it's a rare occurrence for us these days..

December 30---Ode to Low Gas Prices

how often does a 10 gallon tank of gas cost less than 20 bucks?!

December 29---Our Creative Side

arts and crafts with austen.

December 28---Marley & Austen

We saw Marley & Me today and since we arrived 15 minutes late, seating was scarce. I had Landon sitting on my lap and sharing our small little seat with Austen. At the end of the movie, Marley's life was coming to an end and all of a sudden 6-year-old little Austen looks up at me and starts sobbing.
Usually, movie theater tears end by the time the movie is over....but not for Austen. She spent the next 45 minutes sobbing because Marley died. Even after she had pulled herself together, if you so much as mentioned the word Marley, she would break down again in a matter of seconds. For as sad as she was, I found it oddly hilarious. This picture of her cracks me up.... (and I have her full permission to post it here, so no, I don't feel bad about posting her sensitive moment online...and mocking it a little).

December 27---Us7 Reunion

Meet: Kristen, Camille, Camly, Laurel, Becca & Katelyn
The 7 of us were best friends throughout elementary and junior high. When we all went our separate ways for high school, we swore that we'd have a yearly reunion to catch up and reminisce on the olden days at PCS. Of course, scheduling around 7 busy schedules was more difficult than we thought, so our yearly reunion turned into an every-couple-of-years-when-we're-all-home-from-college-at-the-same-time reunion.
We all met at Kate's house today for what we thought would be a couple of hours of hanging out. 8 1/2 hours & 2 meals later, we said our goodbyes and promised that we'd see each other again before 1 of our weddings (we're guessing it will be kate's wedding).

December 26---I'll trade you my sheep for your rock

My family is still in town, so my mom was sure to arrange an Xmas party with all their pasadena friends before they have to head back to nashville. while all the parentals mingled, hunter and all of his long lost friends played some board game called settlers of something or other. As you can tell, I was greatly enthused by this game....