danny's new digs

Danny got a new job recently, and he absolutely loves it!

The view from the rooftop is pretty nice!

I could totally hang out here, lounging in the sun, blogging. Or reading. Hmmmm.

They have a rad kitchen that stocked with every and any kind of drink, snacks, wifi....

Maybe I need to visit more often!

February

1. Out running errands.

2. I'm back on the sauce. Just while I'm working, uh, and when I clean. And I limit myself to only one a day. Mostly.

3. I made Jane some decorative pillows for her new couch.

4. We've been dogsitting for our neighbor Kimberly. This is Lu-lu.

5. I started running. More on that later.

6. This is how I feel after running.

7. I made cinnamon swirl cupcakes for a dinner party. They were a hit. I had 5.

8 & 9. Lots of cuddling with the bug.

1. I found the coolest store in the Mission. It's called Therapy.

2. Packing for Thailand.

3. Early Easter candy.

4. 3 day juice cleanses are not for the weak. They make you weak. It was rough, but totally worth it.

January

I have dropped the ball on blogging. Big time.

A lot of my fav bloggers have stopped blogging...so I think it has influenced my writers block. That, and I have been avoiding learning the new version of Photobucket. I don't like it.

Anyways.

Since I have forgotten everything I wanted to blog about, I'm just going to post some photos from each month as a faux catch up.

Here's January:

1. I have been "tutoring" (helping) our friends kid Matthew with his homework once a week ever since September. He's hilarious!

2. Love my noodlebug!

3. I also love my red clogs.

4. An afternoon at the MOMA.

5. I started working out, in order to lose a few before our trip to Thailand (more on that later)

6. Hanging with Jane.

7. I've fallen in love with Uniqlo.

8. I do a lot of cuddling with my bug.

9. At the carwash...

I took a break in January from the shop. After the Holiday Renegade Show and my disastrously late shipping of the family's gifts, I needed it. I ended up sending them out after new years. Oops. 

that one time my husband used the oven to fix my computer

Last week, I made an appointment at the Genius bar at the Apple store to see if they could fix my computer. Danny suspected that the video card was bad, and that it may even be a recalled one- so there was a chance they could not just fix it, but fix it for free.

I didn't have the receipt, and we couldn't remember exactly when we bought it. But they had the serial number on file, and all the info about the computer, even that it had been reconditioned. The guy was really nice, and came to the same conclusion as my husband. That the video card was bad, and it might be one of the recalled ones. However, the recall was limited to 4 years. Their records show that we bought the computer as a reconditioned laptop on October 15th, 2008. The video card quit working on November 4th, 2012. As it was after the 4 years, they wouldn't honor the recall. Bastards. So it was either pay them $300-500+ to fix it, or buy a new computer. If we are going to spend that much to fix an old computer, we might as well just buy a new one. Except that we don't exactly have an extra $1500 right now. (or ever, really)

Later that night as I was sewing, he was tinkering around with the computer and he yelled "AHA!" He came in and asked me how to turn the oven on. He said that the video card was indeed one of the recalled ones. So I came out to see what he was up to. The computer was in pieces, and he had the logic board in his hand. He had researched the issue, and apparently the chips were recalled because they were not soldered completely in the factory. So after awhile, they would come apart and not work. 

Since we had nothing to lose, he decided to bake the thing to see if it would melt the solder back into place.

And here I am, blogging from the computer that Apple refused to fix even though they had recalled the part. We have spent thousands of dollars on Apple's products, and they work well for us and we really like them. However, we should have received notice that there was a recall, not to mention they should have fixed it when it was reconditioned.

One of the reasons we think the video card crapped out on us is that I use this computer to watch a lot of videos. I watch tv shows and movies while I sew. Just so you get an idea of just how much- so far this year, I have watched the following:

Criminal Minds seasons 1-4, Law and Order seasons 1-7, The Office seasons 1-8, Gossip Girl seasons 1-4, Grey's Anatomy seasons 1-8, Melancholia, Follow that Bird, The secret of NIMH, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Weeds seasons 5&6, Mannequin, Lost in Translation, Blue Valentine, The Good Son, Downtown Abbey Seasons 1&2, Dollhouse seasons 1&2, Arthur, The House of Yes, The Killing season 1, Medium seasons 1-7, Heroes seasons 1-4, No Strings Attached, Crossing Jordan season 1, Damages seasons 1-3, Brick, Limitless, Parenthood seasons 1-3, Ghost Whisperer season 5, Law and Order CI season 9, Lost seasons 1-6.

Yeah, I know I watch a lot of tv. But I don't so much "watch" it as listen to it. Sometimes I listen to music, but mostly I have a show on while I'm working. Just so you know, we don't have regular tv anymore since we moved here. We wanted to finally get rid of cable, and just use our netflix subscription. We also have Amazon Prime, and I have recently discovered that they have free videos to stream too! 

So to lessen the strain on my computer, we got an Apple TV and hooked it up to the desktop that's in the office. That way I can still "watch" my shows, and hopefully keep this computer from breaking for awhile longer. If this computer does break anyway- then I'll just use the desktop until I save up enough money for a new Mac. 

So keep you fingers crossed for me!

If you are interested, here is the link to the recalled video card.

technology has a life expectancy too

Over the weekend, I was in the middle of uploading a bunch of photos of all the fun stuff I have been making....

....and my computer died. 

So instead of getting caught up, seeing as how it's been more than a month since I last wrote a post, I spent the weekend in torment. Being dramatic, moping around and getting nothing done. So I'm going to see if the Apple store can fix it for a reasonable price, and if not, well then we have a desktop computer that I can use. It's all geeked out with linux, but I'll have Danny dumb it down so that I can use it without his help. Really expensive computers are supposed to last more than 4 years, right??? Sheesh.

In posts to come:

Photos of baby Henry at 1 week old.

Photos of my sisters new puppy!

We went to Hawaii!

I started teaching an art class to our friend's daughter, and I'm helping her brother with his homework.

Some totally awesome Halloween costumes that I made for a friend.

I took everything out of my sewing room and put it back together.

I finally took photos of the Prince Charming quilt that I made for myself months ago.

I got into the Renegade Holiday show, coming up in December.

So hopefully I will get these posts out before the end of the year. Can you believe it's November already???? I can't get over how incredibly fast this year has gone!

summer camp for nerds (and the people that love them)

The second week of September was spent at Walker Creek Ranch, about 90 minutes north of where we live. The drive up was gorgeous, a little bit foggy, but still breathtaking.

We went to Nodeconf summer camp.

As the evening came, so did the fog. It creeps over the hills...

How retro is this cabin? For being built in the 70's (I'm guessing) the ranch is very well maintained. It's still a camp after all, but it was pretty nice. They even had wifi. (with all those nerds, they better have wifi!)

We were told to leave our cabin doors shut so the foxes wouldn't get in. And I was like yeah right, we won't see any foxes- and them bam! Here was this lil guy chilling in the garden!

He was about the size of a large cat.

And here is a Mr. Sheep.

There were some really pretty wildflowers...

I loved these pink colombines. 

Then we roasted marshmallows by the fire. I was glad for the fire, I was cold! I actually wore my wool winter coat that I haven't worn since moving to California...

The we went to the "Boogie Barn" for a laser light show and some music.

I got a few crazy shots...

Here is Jasmine raving it up with her special summer camp flashlight.

Direct shot of the lasers.

Since we aren't big on dancing, we snuck out and went to bed. 

Bed meaning 2 twin mattresses pushed together and I couldn't sleep because my nose totally plugged up because I forgot my allergy meds. Also, our room smelled funny. Probably because 100's of sweaty kids have camped here since the 70's.

The following morning, instead of going on a hike- Jane, Monia and I went into Point Reyes for essentials. I badly needed allergy medication, and they needed wine and coffee.

The coffee house was in this feed barn. Point Reyes is a really cute little town!

This hotel looked very charming!

My tether ball injury. Not a good idea to play tether ball with two children and a diamond ring. 

Later, we went "swimming" at the lake. It's more of a pond. And it was cold. So only the kids got in.

I braved the water by getting into a plastic kayak with Monia's son Matthew. I was so bad at paddling that I nearly scared the crap out of him. Once I got him to safety, I was much better at paddling.

Mandatory dock/water foot photo.

I slept much better the second night. But by the time we got up, (we slept through breakfast) we were ready to go home, to our fluffy towels and comfy 2 person plus cat friendly bed and real food. Camp cafeteria food was ok for the first day. Then we wanted to run away to find some decent food.

So we went back into Point Reyes...

And I had this delicious pulled pork sandwich, Danny had the mac n cheese, and it was fantastic. We walked around for a bit then we headed home.

Once we were through the door- I grabbed my book, Danny grabbed his iPad and we lazed about in bed for the rest of the day. Ahhhhh. We do laziness at home very well.

Wondering what the eff Nodeconf is? It's a nerd thing, a computer geek thing. This was an "un-conference" whatever that means. So all of the nerds got together and talked about nerdy crap, and the wives/girlfriends hung out and did other things. When we went to Portland it was also Nodeconf, except that it was an actual conference. But our husbands still got together and talked about nerdy crap, and the wives hung out and did other things. It's a social nerd thing. 

adventures with friends

Remember my friends the Lunds? Cute little Linus and the sweet little miracle baby Laura? Well they came to visit a few weekends ago. We went on a few adventures while they were here...

We took the ferry to and from Sausalito. We didn't have any time to spend in Sausalito, just ride the ferry. The kids were so excited to ride the boat! And now I know what I can do for a nice relaxing day to myself- as soon as I get one, that is!

The next day we went to the Exploratorium!

It's a place full of sciency stuff for kids, but we adults were pretty entertained as well.

I pretty much followed this little cutie around and gave her everything she asked for.

Linus copying some girls making heart shadows with their hands...

Every time Laura would finish with something she would dust off her hands- signaling "I'm done! Moving on!"

She got in front on this crazy mirror and puckered up- she's a girly girl already!

Awesome string installation.

Hi!

Whirly.

Watching all the other kids playing down on the bottom level.

At the end, we walked around the Palace of Fine Arts, where the Exploratorium is currently located. (It's moving to the pier next year) It has all these super high columns and stuff- it's really pretty. We walked around a bit...

Linus obliged a photo on one of the huge columns.

Linus, Sky, Kim and Laura.

Then we drove to Pier 39 to see the sea lions and grab something to eat.

Totally lazy. With a ton of people snapping photos all day long. Also, fishy.

I love this kids energy!

Linus found a photo booth that he wanted to try, and dad said no- so instead I handed him my iphone with the photo booth app loaded up and he loved it.

Man, do I ever miss these guys. I need to make a trip down to see them, like soon!  

renegade '12 part two- the vendors

Unicorn Crafts photo props.

Sugar skull art.

Somehow Star Wars characters become cute.

Kitty Baby Love- kitty shaped chubby crayons for littles

And these super cute lil plush kitties.

Giant felted R2D2 by Wool Buddy.

Fox bride and groom by Mimi Kirchner.

My fav fox couple by Mimi.

Pretty paper.

Amazing ceramics.

Love this color.

She was by far the most impressive artist. Hand cut paper? That takes patience!

So pretty! And delicate! Just thinking about the dexterity it would take with an exact o knife gives me a headache.

I just wanted to take home her entire booth.

I thought these tiles would be cute as kitchen decor.

And I'm always impressed by hand cut felt flowers. I've tried, so many times to make something this beautiful. And I fail, every time.  

Especially these- so so pretty. 

These monsters by Let's Be Friends are so cute. And they make hipster bears! You gotta check them out- I had to get one for my friend Mike. He even has a mini chrome bike bag and his very own moleskin notebook!

Vintage art jewelry.

Cute little wooden shadowboxes with cute little friends!

I had so much fun- and I was so inspired by all the pretty things all around me- I can't wait for next year!