Urban Treehouse

Scenes from our weekend trip to downtown L.A.

In case you haven't noticed I'm obsessed with my hipstamatic!

The second to last photograph was taken at a bar downtown where we happened to be sitting at a table right next to Joan from Mad Men!!  I was so excited  I thought I might puke (Mad Men is my favorite show, in case you were unaware).  And ironically she was celebrating her birthday, which is exactly what we were doing for Colin.  (!)

**I apologize for not having posted in awhile!  I got a job at a clinic about a month ago and have been wearing nothing but scrubs everyday, which don't make for good fashion blogging material.  So expect posts to be reduced to about one or two every weekend (when I can wear normal clothes and do semi-interesting things) until the end of May...  

***And I'm still working on uploading the London photographs.  A lot of them are super blown out so I'm in the process of photoshopping them.  I'm super anal about everything, but they'll get put up, I promise!

Sarsaparilla

On Her:

Dress: Target

Cardigan: Inherited from Grandfather

Purse: Flea market

Socks: J. Crew

Wedges: Target

On Him: 

Cardigan: J. Crew

Sport Coat: Was his father's when he was Colin's age

Bow tie: Thrifted

Pants: J. Crew

Shoes: J. Crew

Last night Colin and I dressed up and went to this adorable little steak house that a bartender we had befriended had recommended.  It was built in the sixties and hasn't seemed to have left the era since; the whole place was wood paneled and filled with art deco chandeliers.  We sat at a giant comfy booth in the back and could faintly hear the pianist playing in the front of the restaurant; it was so cozy!  

To fully understand the greatness of this beef inn, I should mention that we were the youngest people there.  Almost all of the other patrons had white hair and hearing aides and tables they called their own.  We sat across from a table of two men, both with ballooning bellies, one of which spent much of the evening raving about the meal and prided himself on frequenting such a "fine establishment."  (The food, I should add, isn't especially tasty; I did choose a delicious side of mashed potatoes but found it a little disconcerting that every time I swiped a spoonful a pool of butter would magically appear in its place.)  The atmosphere was worth the... hundreds? thousands?... of calories consumed, and we'll definitely be going back soon (if not for dinner, for drinks and entertainment)!

(photos taken with my phone, so please excuse the poor quality!)

We discovered an exotic dog park island on Saturday that is so reminiscent of the Pushing Daisies opener.  Isn't it beautiful??  Pearl loves bounding through the rolling fields of daisies and taking dips in the ocean; Mabes, on the other hand, has to be coaxed through the winding paths-- she's a very cowardly dog.  This was our first experience off-leash enclosure free, and we were amazed at how well behaved the girls were!  Mabel made sure to stop and check to see if we were walking behind her every yard or so, and Pearl would halt after chasing other dogs full speed to return to us when we called.  They've come so far with the help of their training class!

A funny aside: In order to get from the fields to the beach, you have to climb down a pretty steep hill.  Mabel got a little too excited when she first caught sight of the water and bounded towards it in a whim and ended up barrel-rolling down the hill.  When she finally popped back up, she was covered in fountain grass.  Needless to say, she was much more careful scaling up and down those hills!

     

[I bought these lilies last weekend and they're still thriving!  Our whole apartment smells of sweet perfume, thanks to them.]

In my phone...

These days...

obsessing over Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique

helping out at the Library

watching Stoic Mabes, Squirly Pearly, and Spit-Bubble Beels at the dog park

cuddling up in my grandma robe with Grandma Z while watching... 

a whole lot of Pushing Daisies 

*All images that aren't mine via weheartit

Neither here nor there

Footage by Pacific Coast Skydiving

Here it is, as promised, the footage I'm sure to be blackmailed with at some point in the future by at least one of my family members.  The music--except for Over the Rainbow--was chosen by Colin, and is an especially ridiculous compilation of songs.  It pretty much sums up the whole experience itself, which was riddled with intense pangs of varied emotions that ultimately left me confused and inexplicably lethargic (I immediately passed out in the car on the way home after the whole ordeal).  

To maximize your entertainment experience, keep an eye out for a couple of things:

1. My diving buddy gave me a laundry list of instructions right before the big jump that I immediately forgot after our sudden evacuation; watch me frantically grab for him as we leave the plane.  I was specifically instructed not to do this.

2. Colin's landing.  It's hilarious.  He was scared that he'd mess up his ankle (he injured it about a year ago and it has yet to fully recover) so he stuck his legs out in front of him as he landed; he ended up in a bush just off the landing path and got prickles all over his hands because of it.  

**Thanks for being so patient this week while I was sick!  I've vowed to religiously take my allergy medication when I know I'll need it most, so hopefully that won't happen again anytime soon.

Out of sorts

here

I should have you know, I haven't been away from the blog because of injuries suffered from skydiving on Friday.  I made it back to Earth in one piece with only minor chafing and a bruised psyche to speak of.  Instead, my absence can largely be attributed to a debilitating case of allergies that I hope will subside once pollen levels fall to tolerable heights.  My allergy prescription: piping hot baths, snuggle sessions with Mabes, and chamomile tea with lemon.

As soon as I muster enough energy to learn to convert my skydiving footage to readable files, I'll post the achingly embarrassing film.  I don't think my tandem instructor obliged when I pleaded with him to "get my good side." 

Tootsie roll

Cardigan: Inherited from grandfather

Checkered Button-up: Stolen from Colin's closet

Jeans: Hand-me-down from Jess

Shoes: Secondhand 

Bow: Craft store (I've worn this ribbon in my hair so often, but I don't think I've ever mentioned where it came from!)

I had a real, cheese-filled Valentine's Day this year!  

Colin surprised me by taking a half day of work on Monday, and the first thing he said when he came through the door was "Pick a number 1 through 5."  So I picked 4 (obviously), which was an awkward picture of a couple jet skiing.  But we decided it was a little too cold for jet skiing so I picked another...  

...which was unfortunately Segway-ing and there was No Way I would be caught doing that.  

So he flipped over the pictures of all the options and I decided to go tandem biking, even though our last attempt at tandem biking ended pretty badly (it turns out you have to communicate well with your bike partner for it to work, something we aren't particularly good at, especially when we aren't looking each other head-on).  

I had the brilliant idea of putting Mabes in the bike basket, an idea I had gotten a few days ago when I'd seen a frenchie of her stature doing the same thing with her owner.  So I stuffed all of Mabel into the basket and off we went.  

And I think you can guess what happened next...

Mabes decided to evacuate from the basket while we were peddling full speed on the pavement.  Luckily she flung her body to the side of the bike and rolled (several times) to safety.  She popped up from her tumble looking like a tootsie roll, painted black from the dirty street.   

Luckily she wasn't hurt. You'd think a dog who's afraid to jump off of the couch wouldn't even dream of jumping from a moving bike.  But then again I should never underestimate her stupidity.  (She's a little thick sometimes)

Mabie before the "Incident":

And Mabie after:

Just kidding.  

I happened upon this dog while pretend shopping for another Boston.  If you're into sad, geriatric looking dogs you should adopt this little guy.  Help put a smile on his face, will  ya? Adopt here.

Colin's Gin Journal turned out pretty well.  I made a cucumber gimlet that evening, one of the many recipes I included in his book, and it was DELICIOUS!!!  I made... uh, a few?... of them that evening, and then sloppily went to bed.  I think I've found my new favorite drink.  I encourage you to (responsibly, of course) try it out for yourself.  Here's the recipe:

2 oz fresh cucumber meat (muddled)

1 oz fresh lime juice

2 oz gin (Hendrick's is my favorite)

1 oz simple syrup (we make our own using 1C sugar and 0.5C water; stir over heat until the sugar dissolves)

Shake everything together, and WALLAH!  Heaven in a glass.

A little photo for you of his valentine and his journal:

I'm working on getting some more clothes put up in the shop so hopefully you'll see some fresh items up by the end of today (if not today, by tomorrow)!!  And, as always, I will upload merchandise photos on the blog before posting them on the shop!

Hurray for Fridays!

It's my party and I'll buy if I want to

here

Happy birthday to me!  As we speak, Colin is methodically icing my confetti cake--the only flavor cake I like--upon which we'll place 24 candles (23 plus 1 for good luck).  I've got two silver crowns ready at hand to wear as we sing happy birthday and celebrate another year older. 

Today's birthday outfit:

Best pants ever: American Apparel

Shirt: Thrifted

Button-up: Thrifted

Shoes: Bloomingdales (on sale for $36; get 'em while they're hot!)

Of course I've chosen my most coveted pants to wear on My Special Day.

Notice the wonderfully kitschy framed wolf embroidery photographed with my shoes.  I found this amazing work of art while thrifting and obviously had to buy it.  Along with the two ceramic duck head hooks below.  Soon our apartment will be bursting with odd trinkets that I'll have convinced myself I can't live without.  (These purchases, of course, were birthday gifts to me from me; happy birthday, Self!)

Like a Box of Crayons

Colin and I took Mabes and Beels on a long walk along the bay, which we've been doing pretty regularly.  Mabel LOVES to frantically chase the waves as they crawl up the beach and scamper into the bay to chase the birds.  We were hoping we had tired her out after an hour of walking and sure enough she came home to "drumstick pass out" in her dog bed (when Mabey gets really tired she doesn't bother to tuck her back legs under her belly so they end up sticking straight out behind her like two little drumsticks--"drumstick pass out" is another Colin-coined phrase).

We are so fortunate to live among such beautiful scenery.  Here are another couple of photos of our walk to the bay that we'd taken over the weekend:

Ahh...

The ocean is so wonderfully serene.