Another Friday, already? I'm ready! We are still having a heat wave which is tiresome but what can you do? I can barricade myself in our bedroom with our room A/C while the kids can go about their normal activities  & not have the heat bother them...

That also means another Friday video from Depeche Mode! Very early DM when they were teenagers and just beginning. Fun to grow up with the band that speaks to you. :)

Have an outing at Jet Propulsion Labratory that I had to plan several weeks in advance (June) and here we are. Of course, I should be spending the day getting the house ready for Tyler's birthday but no, we will be on our field trip in the hot San Gabriel valley. I expect lots of efficient A/C there.

Have a good holiday weekend....

Color Affection Complete

Yes!! Finally finished this beautiful shawl aptly named Color Affection and it's wonderful. Sure it was a sometimes tedious and boring knit but the stripes kept me going. There are so many fantastic color combos out there on Ravelry so I can see why this pattern can be addictive.

I used yarn from my stash and although it didn't look like the colors would work, I think it did. I hope to use it a lot this fall/winter and generally snuggling in the house.

Hangs nicely.

I think I will knit this again but probably not till next year or when I need a mindless knit but boy are the results fabulous!!

I attempted some photos with my remote  which can be difficult but ignore me and concentrate on the finished object of my affection!! :)

I swear I brushed my hair, darn humidity.

Hopefully that hump in the pale blue section will block out.

Yay, it's done!!

Now to turn on the A/C for a bit then head to Costco for some supplies!!

Useless

I've decided to make Fridays music video day. For now I'll focus on Depeche Mode who are my all time fave group. They've lasted through the decades and I still enjoy their music.

So here is Useless from the album Ultra. I'm starting with something maybe that most people aren't familiar with and this is when they began using guitars etc. :)

Hawaii: part 2

We did manage to do a touristy thing which is visit Pearl Harbor. It is very moving and emotional. Hector and I went to Pearl Harbor about 18 years ago and I believe they built a new park area etc. I really can't remember much about the last visit but we went on the early tour so the crowds weren't too bad at all.




Another gorgeous day with a slight breeze.











If you want to check out more of my Hawaii Flickr set. click on the linky....

Hawaii Vacation

Hey everyone! Just got back from a terrific 5 day vacation in Waikiki!! Unfortunately, H wasn't able to join us but next time for sure! So the kids and I had a nice relaxing and fun time with great weather. We pretty much stuck to California time so we would beat the breakfast rush and enjoy a leisurely meal and walk around before most of the people were up.

We were able to explore the area and find some nice, reasonably priced ramen places that the kids enjoyed and a massive food court that has almost every imaginable cuisine there. :) I intended to take pics of our food but we were always starving so that never happened.

The kids went SUPing in the lagoon twice and it was lots of fun. Josh got to try SUP for the first time and did a good job. Maybe he will want to try again here.

Did some uploading and here is the Flickr set so far.

Craft Day

I found this cool DIY freezer paper T-shirt technique that I had to try for myself. I'm not an artist by any means but you can find cool stencils online to spark those creative juices.

I don't have any photos of Josh's T-shirt which I did first but I can post his later. I found a cool dragon stencil and applied it to his orange T-shirt he uses for karate. He is almost to his orange belt and he likes to coordinate his shirt to match the belt. Same with Tyler. I painted the dragon purple since that is the next color belt in karate after orange.

On to Tyler's shirt...at first he didn't seem to be interested in what I was doing but when I showed Josh his finished T-shirt, Tyler asked is he is getting one. I said sure, I'll find you something that you'll like.

After some (lots) of Google searching, I found the perfect one. It really is perfect for all the men in the my life.





Pretty cool, huh? Now to let it dry completely and the boys can wear their awesome T-shirts & be the envy of all their classmates. :)



The boys and I will be taking off tomorrow for a bit so try some freezer paper stencilling and show me what you make!!!  :)

Beach Film

Like I said before, I shot a roll of film at the beach today and here are some of the shots. I have a Yashica FR-2 which is a SLR camera and from the photos I got back, I have some learning to do. :)

About half are in focus while the other half is not which I need to figure out. The film loaded up fine but the frame number indicator is stuck so I just have to keep shooting until the end.
When I do have the shot in focus, the image is sharp and the colors are true. I have to put more of the Fuji Superia film on order although I will try some other brands to get a feel for them.

So here are some of my best and worst shots from yesterday...

First shot of roll

Josh romps while Ty & Glenn are to the left of the group in the background

Tyler

Tyler out in the waves

Josh with Tyler and Glenn in the waves

Lots of happy beachgoers

Josh jumping the waves

More beachgoers

Escape to the sea

The water was nice and warm. It was so relaxing listening to the waves crash.

Here is an example of a blurry action shot...

Cartwheel

Overall, I'm happy with the results. I need to focus on the technical aspects of shooting and can only hope to get better...

Heat Wave

Summer is really here for SoCal and we are feeling it. The last couple of summers have been mild and barely warm so this heat is unusual to us. The valleys are a total different story though.

Anyway, my friend Kat and I had tickets to see Strangelove, a Depeche Mode tribute band for several months and of course, it is smack dab in the middle of the heatwave. Luckily the OC Fair is located about 4 miles from the ocean so a nice breeze comes through to cool everything down. We had loads of fun rocking to Strangelove and eating the most awesomest maple bacon donut. It was HUGE, a glazed donut with shaved bacon loaded on top with maple sauce slathered all over it. It was so delicious. :) I hope it will be back next year!!

Ready to rock!

This week is still warm but the cool breeze at night helps a lot. A couple of night though, I opened the doors and windows to let the hot air out and cool air in when a strong, awful smell of skunk comes in that has me running to shut everything back up again. Darn skunks!!!

This afternoon we went to our local beach with Glenn and Laura to get some relief. It was so nice and pretty today. The water was warm and pleasant to swim in. We had to top off our day with some ice cream which hit the spot. Yum!!

I was also busy taking pictures with my Yashica SLR (film) so it is being processed tonight so we shall see if the photos came out and how they look.

They spent a lot of time chatting about their favorite games.

Tyler is in the distance with his boogie board.

Fun times with friends.

Film Days

Tyler on crazy hair day.

Yeah, remember film?? A while back we went through some boxes and Hector pulled out my 35mm SLR and little Fuji camera. I replaced the batteries and got the film out then went to Costco which surprisingly still processes film.

And look pictures from 2005!!

Josh and Tyler in the backyard

It must be my birthday since I'm the only one that could possibly be  39 yrs old.

Joshua being cute...

I'm gonna still shoot film every so often since it's lots of fun to see what you will get. I think the kids are somewhat confused by film asking where I found these photos. And Josh says he remembers that from like 2 years ago. No, they're from 2005.

The old film cameras I inheritied from Lita are getting their seals replaced so I can experiment with them and the film I ran through it, about half turned out so hopefully the new seals will solve the problem and I can show you more later on.

Road Trip to Indio

The kids and I took a mini-break with Kathy to head down to Indio for a couple of days. The drive was nice and uneventful as we watched the thermostat rise higher and higher. It was about 105 * when we arrived in our nice 2 bedroom condo with great A/C. :)

 The kids settled in to play their 3DSs and relax.

These 2 women were working out in the shade but just looking at them made me feel dizzy.

Sunset

View from our balcony.

 We took advantage of the large pool area and lazy river which made the heat bearable. The pics are out of order but you get the idea.

Kat in the lazy river

Tyler in a tube

Tyler underwater

Joshua doing tricks in a tube

Kids are off in the distance playing with their splash bombs.

Josh and Kat swimming

Tried to take a pic of Josh and with the lag time Tyler managed to stick his leg in the photo but we still see Josh.

Tried to get both of them in the photo but I had trouble seeing the LED screen in the bright sun.

Overall, we had a great time. We didn't do anything exciting but it was a nice change of pace for us!!