Christmas Traditions

Court and I have one Christmas tradition that we will one day be able to enjoy with children of our own...

After the last drop of Christmas is squeezed, I take down the ornaments and Court throws the tree from our window or balcony. The first year we moved to Los Angeles County was the commencement of said tradition.

We were living in the "Koreatown" sector on the 5th floor of a 1930's art deco apartment. In an effort to avoid having to clean pine needles from the hallways and elevator we thought it best to push it through the window instead. Mind you, the window was way too small. After some handy work with a hand saw, we braced ourselves against the windowsill, placed a foot against the tree and literally shoved it through.

The year after that we lived on the 3rd floor of a 1960's complex on Los Feliz Blvd.  Again, we did not want to clean pine needles from the hallway so we threw it off the balcony. 

Which brings us to Christmas 2011, on the second floor of a mid-century building in the heart of Hollywood.

What's your favorite tradition?

Art in Motion

Let me tell you about my brother-in-law Pete Finlan a.k.a "Hot Dog". He is a very modest person and an extremely talented artist. He recently displayed a few pieces in an art show at Victory Electric Tattoo here in Los Angeles. Court and I along with a few friends were able to show our support.

Hot dogs are to Pete as spinach is to Popeye so we powered up at Carneys before the show.

 Before the show started Pete painted a bar stool seat and tattoo gun.

 

Pete's tool box

  

 Layers of runoff paint have an appeal all their own.

 

Baby Ambra's 2nd art show 

 

Old/New/Baby/Blue

I was going through some old photos and found some shots of a D.I.Y. project that I thought would be cute to post. A few years ago in an effort to make a few bucks, I decided to make baby gift sets and sell them on ebay. Although the sales were bad I maintain that the idea was solid. You be the judge.

A friend of mine told me that Ebay's top sales come from baby clothing. With this in mind I went to Wal-Mart and bought some 50's western inspired (child safe fire retardant) flannel fabric and some strong denim and went to work making outdoor picnic/play blankets. Then I went to the thrift store for Levi's denim infant jackets and infant western shirts. I used a satin ribbon to bind it all together and there you have a perfect baby shower gift.

Dirty 30 Part 2

Court and I went south to celebrate with family and the closest of friends. My sister Kim hosted the party in her cute home which, I have taken the liberty of photographing.  Her husband Pete baked me a precious pink cake. My family sang Happy Birthday and spent the remainder of the evening in laughter as we shared embarrassing stories of my brother Josh. . .

"Remember when Josh crapped his pants on the school bus?"

"Remember the time one of Kim's clients saw the Polaroid of Josh (at age 14) with Captain Picard and assumed them to be her parents?" Kim's response, "I guess I can understand why you might mistake my brother for a woman, but what baffles me is that you didn't recognize Patrick Stewart!"

"Remember when dad caught Josh trying on Kim's bikini?" "Yeah, dad made him jump on the trampoline in it, to try and publicly embarrass him."  "Except the neighbors thought he was a weird pedophile watching this little boy jump on a trampoline in a bikini, crying."

I relish the time I get with my siblings.  Thank you for making it a special day!

          

The Dirty 30 Part 1

I had a wonderful time celebrating my 30th birthday in among my best friends and family. The first gathering took place at my dear friend Lisa's house. We repainted her living room and office in preparation for the party. (She needed to give herself a deadline for these projects and what better excuse than a party, right?) We were joined by all my besties from Woodbury University. I am so grateful to have gone to school where I did, when I did because I have met the best group of girlfriends.

(Tiara, Haley, Me, Magaly, Alice, Ruth)

Lisa and I stopped by Party City and picked up six 36" balloons. I had seen a lot of photographers use big balloons in there images ie; The Miss Dior Cherie ad. I just had to have them. Luckily Lisa brought her minivan. They barely fit. I had to lay on the floor as there was absolutely no room left for me to sit after we crammed all six balloons in. I also bought a few different kinds of glass bottled sodas in conjunction with red and white striped paper straws from the Los Angeles public library bookstore.

I put together a playlist for the party which included Purity Ring, Washed Out, Glass Candy, Crystal Stilts, Lykke Li, Warpaint, George Michael, Prince, Girls Names, Phantogram, Flying Lotus, Louis Armstrong, Lester Young and Sidney Bechet to name a few. I couldn't ask for a better way to celebrate 30 years in my skin.

(Magaly, Alice, Tiara, Haley, Me)

Thankful Hearts

 

Court and I spent Thanksgiving with la familia Yazzie. We put our faith in Martha Stewart for a cranberry sauce and a brussel sprout recipe and she delivered as usual. We spent the rest of the evening heckling  the latest Pirates movie and Captain America. I think we concluded that Captain America was a mash up of Independence Day/Inglorious Bastards/Men In Black and Star Wars.

We decided to shop for food the day before Thanksgiving. You know, to keep it exciting. Yikes! We drove all the way to Rosemead to shop at Walmart. The Rosemead/Alhambra area is predominately Chinese and I was anticipating that the majority of the population would be shopping elsewhere, as Walmart does not have a great selection of exotic food. I'll have you know I was right. It was not really that crowded. Plus its cleaner and bigger outside of Los Angeles. The Walmart in Van Nuys is over crowded and smells like a carnival. The Walmart on Crenshaw Blvd is also over crowded. 

We prefer the Crenshaw location as it is more exciting. It is a rare occasion when Court and I are not the ONLY two white people in the entire store. Without fail I never leave the store without;

A. a flier advertising a psychic of the Voodoo sect

B. watching someone shoplift or get arrested for shoplifting

C. having excepted Jesus into my heart followed by a group prayer

Thankful Hands

Court and I have had a Thanksgiving marathon. Court was in charge of the ward Thanksgiving party this year. He asked me to do the decorating. I dug through the party supply closet at church only to find a bag of "Fall leaves" dyed in a rainbow variegation, dusted with sparkles accompanied by a few miniature scarecrows with faces too happy for one being impaled by a wooden spear. 

I went back to the drawing board and decided to use a table cloth as a stencil. I took some butcher paper and laid the tablecloth on top. Using spray paint I painted the table cloth then removed the cloth leaving behind its pattern onto of the paper. After the "table cloth" was painted on, I spray painted miniature pumpkins silver for the center pieces.

 

I do not fancy myself being very good at interior design and things like that but I LOVE to try. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to test out creative endeavors in a safe environment. Nobody is going to fire me if they don't like what I come up with.

Court stayed in the kitchen the whole night. What a guy!