Archives for March 2007

SPF: Behind…

March 30, 2007 filed under: my so-called life

I had a few ideas for this week’s SPF and I like it when Kristine comes up with “themes” that have a very wide range of interpretations.

Today I thought, since you almost never see yourself from “behind”, I would take a photo from behind :)

I am also using this for my 365 days self-portrait for today on Flickr.

I could have gone with the obvious… I am behind with posting on this blog this week, I am behind with replying to my emails and I am also behind with some other things. Taking pictures of it would have been kind of difficult though.

Did you play?

Summer can come…

March 26, 2007 filed under: my so-called life, shopping

Which ones do you like better? ;)

I had to go grocery shopping yesterday and decided to make a little trip to the Mall as well [since J and Aaron where at the studio all afternoon]. I still had a gift card from Nordstrom’s from last year and decided to look around at Nordstrom’s Rack [Nordstrom’s Outlet store so to speak] if they had anything cute for the summer. The shoe aisles are ALWAYS a good point to start.

Within a couple of minutes I had three pair of shoes in my hands [two of which you can see above ;)] and taking a look at the price tag made the decision very easy :) 50% off the last marked price!

Both shoes are designer shoes and would have cost well over $70 at regular price – well, I got them for $17 and $15 bucks. What a bargain! I love Nordstrom’s Rack!

After dropping J off at the studio today, I decided to check out the Co-Op in Santa Monica [because I want to bake more bread this week :)] and I was very pleased to see that they had bulk foods and I bought a couple of different things [Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Muesli, sprouted flour]. I think I am going to try a multi-grain or muesli bread this time.
Also, today was cleaning day – not very exciting, but oh well, it has to be done. I spent a few hours on the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. My hands smell like “Soft Scrub” – I need to get gloves :(

How was your start into the new week?

Movie recommendations

March 24, 2007 filed under: fun!, my so-called life

J and I watched “Brokeback Mountain” on Wednesday. We had the movie sitting on our desk for weeks and I kept pushing and pushing that I wanted J to see this movie. He didn’t feel like watching it for a couple of weeks, but when we finally saw it, he was like “What the hell? Why didn’t we watch this earlier? What a brilliant movie!”

Guys, I can only repeat myself over and over again… you HAVE to see this movie. Especially you, yeah YOU, who doesn’t want to see it because of the “delicate matter” the story is based on. It’s really not all about homosexuality, but about the uniqueness of human relationships and finding your soul mate, regardless of gender, and the tragedy and also negation of one’s true self because of societal pressures.

On Thursday, J’s Mom came to visit. J had promised her a private concert at the studio. While she and I went for a walk around Westwood and had some coffee and pastries at a french boulangerie, J and Aaron were warming up at the studio.
We drove over there later and enjoyed a 2.5 hour-long private performance. J’s Mom hadn’t heard them play in almost a year and she was quite impressed with the progress they’ve made. I really can’t wait to be able to provide you with a link to video footage on the Internet :)
Afterwards, we went out to an Indonesian restaurant for dinner. I’ve never had Indonesian food before. It – of course – basically fits in with other Asian food, but the taste is somewhat different from Chinese, Japanese or Thai cuisine.

Yesterday, J and I went bowling. We both hadn’t bowled in almost two years. J is a far better bowler than I am, but I am always willing to learn and improve and it was fun [yeah, and I feel my butt cheeks today ;)]. The first three games were the “warm-up” and then we both bowled the game of our lives. I had a score of 173… I was so impressed with myself :)
We made pizza [from scratch!] for dinner and then watched “Borat“. OMG! If you have seen this movie, I am curious about what you think of it. Please feel free to add your opinion in the comment section.
Note: I had no idea what I was getting into when we started watching the movie. I hadn’t heard too much of it beforehand. The guy who invented this character must have had a LOT of free time on his hands ;)

SPF: Two

March 23, 2007 filed under: my so-called life

Yes, it’s Friday again and time for another SPF hosted by Kristine who asked us this week to come up with a photo for the title “TWO”.

I have to say that I had MANY ideas for this SPF and could have picked many different pictures, but decided for the obvious.
Being a [fraternal] twin, a lot of things in my life always came in “TWO’.

When my Mom was pregnant and found out that she was going to have TWO girls, she nearly freaked out. She was working full-time as a teacher at that point and had planned to go back to work after 6 weeks of maternity leave. My Grandma had agreed to take care of the baby in the mornings, but with TWO babies, my Mom didn’t think she would be able to go back to work.
Well, my Grandma didn’t let her down and said that if she could take care of one baby, she would certainly be able to take care of TWO as well :)
So, with me and my sister, everything came in pairs… TWO babies, TWO dirty diapers, TWO bottles of milk, TWO pairs of shoes, TWO runny noses, TWO of everything, save for the fact that the troubles of raising a child were cut in half for my parents since we went through everything at the same time :)

So, what did you come up with when hearing the word “TWO?
Did you play?

A lot and nothing is going on

March 20, 2007 filed under: food, fun!, my so-called life

I want to write. Seriously. I have a lot to write about in the back of my head right now, but the thing is – most of it shouldn’t or is not intended to be out in the public of this blog yet – or at all. I know I am talking in riddles. Just forget about it and pretend to be satisfied with what I can give your right now. I am sure some things will find their way on this blog sooner or later ;)

First of all, I officially bake my own bread now. Sourdough, dark wholemeal bread – you name it. I can do it all. Remember that I took home some of the sourdough that Andreas had made from scratch? I kept it in the fridge for a week and then it was ready to be used for a new loaf of bread. Tuesday morning, while I was talking to my Dad on the phone, I kneaded the dough and since you have to do it for quite a while and it’s “hard labor”, my Dad jokingly asked at some point if I was running a marathon while talking to him on the phone ;)
Well, the hard work paid off. The bread was delicious and smelled so good.

Two days later, I decided to try and bake my Mom’s dark German bread. It’s actually very easy to prepare – no kneading involved, just heavy stirring ;) – and although I wasn’t sure if I had bought all the right ingredients [I had to cheat a little bit, because not all ingredients were available], it turned out great. Does anybody want a slice?

What else? Oh yeah, we have a new roommate since last Thursday. J’s friend Aaron moved in with us after the break up with his girlfriend and finding new tenants for their old place. It’s going to be a temporary solution, but he might be staying here for a couple of weeks. I really think it’s no big deal – although J and I had promised each other that we would never live with roommates again after getting married. Oh well, some situations require radical measures. This is such a situation.
We moved all his stuff on Thursday. Some stuff was taken into our apartment, some stuff was left on the street for people to take. That’s how things are done in LA ;)

We had a fun weekend. The three of us spent St. Patrick’s Day at the studio. J and Aaron had been there pretty much the whole day already [while I was doing the laundry] and I joined them later. We got some Take out Thai food for dinner and hung out at the studio [which included a private concert for me :) Oh, these stories will be worth so much once the band will make it *g*].
We also met a drummer from down the hall – very nice guy, maybe a potential drummer for the band? I don’t know yet, but we’ll see.

Today we went out for breakfast at CafÃƒÂ© 50’s, a diner in Santa Monica – it was my belated birthday breakfast. I don’t recall if I mentioned that before, but CafÃƒÂ© 50’s has a Reward program that you can join for free. Every time you eat there, you earn a certain amount of points and when you have collected a certain number you’ll be rewarded with -let’s say – a free desert or something like that. Also, I receive discounts and special offers in the mail and for my birthday they sent me a coupon for a free entrÃƒÂ©e. Well, who wouldn’t want to go for that?
Yeah, the breakfast prepared me real well for an afternoon of talking on the phone [it was great to talk to you, Kim *smooch*] and writing letters [three!]. I am so proud of myself :)

Yeah, and now I start rambling and I’d better let you go.

SPF: Letters… because everybody loves them.

March 16, 2007 filed under: my so-called life

This week’s assignment for SPF couldn’t have been more perfect for me. Our lovely host Kristine asked us to present a picture of our letters.

This is my letter box. Everybody who knows me knows that I LOVE letters… receiving them [like everybody does!], but also writing them.
I’ve been writing letters since the first day I could write with a pen [yeah, and you can almost take this literally. I had my first penpal in 2nd grade.] There is nothing more personal than a handwritten letter to or from a person you care about.

So, what kind of letters do YOU like? Let me know and I’ll come and check it out.

Birthday weekend in Northern California :)

March 13, 2007 filed under: fun!, my so-called life, reminiscence

We had a blast! We drove up to Sacramento on Thursday. Since we hit some of the rush hour traffic [at 3:30 p.m.!] driving out of LA, we made it to Sacramento in about 6.5 hours. I called my friend Ilka and we decided to meet up for a drink at “Bistro 33” in Midtown.
When we arrived, Ilka looked at me and said “It’s so weird to see you here” ;) Yeah, likewise.

I must admit it really is kind of weird having a friend in Sacramento now who used to live on the same street in Germany as I did – Ilka has also known my sister for 15 years, but we didn’t meet before November 2005 when my sister introduced us to each other. Oh well, it’s a small world.

We had a few drinks and then decided to call it a night at around 12:30 a.m., because J and I were kind of tired from the driving.

The next day, we went to Davis, had breakfast at Bakers Square :) and then met with my old boss on the UC Davis Campus at 1 p.m.
He was giving a talk at the Geology department that day and he had asked us to come and see him there, and he promised to show us a 3D virtual reality room that he uses to work with his datasets.

It was amazing! J and I were equally impressed with the virtual reality room and the new technology. We practically “walked around” in some of the datasets that I had worked on when I was still working in Sacramento. Totally blew my mind.
We had a good time and my old boss expressed more than once how much he appreciated my work and how much I am missed in the office.
I must admit, it felt good to be praised like that :)

In the evening, we met with Ilka at one of the restaurants she’s doing the PR for… “55 degrees“. Very nice place!
We had some drinks and then J and I went to have some dinner at “Chipotle” [awesome Mexican food!] and some beers at a local brewery while Ilka had a business dinner. We met up later again for some drinks at a bar.

Saturday morning I went to Davis to meet up with Alicia for breakfast. I hadn’t seen her in over a year and it was great to finally get together again and catch up :)
Originally J and I had planned to go to San Francisco for the day, but we were both kind of tired from the night before and decided to stay in Sacramento and relax. Later we went out for a nice birthday dinner at a restaurant of my choice … I decided for “Mimi’s CafÃƒÂ©” – which has the BEST Caesar Salad ever :) I just LOVE Caesar Salad!

Sunday morning, we had breakfast at “Panera Bread” – our favorite place to buy bread when we were still living in Sac – and at around 12 p.m. headed back to LA.

We had a great time in NorCal :)

Early SPF: Luggage

March 8, 2007 filed under: my so-called life

It’s [almost] Friday again and that means it’s another “Stuff Portrait Friday” hosted by our lovely Kristine over at Randomandodd.com.

This week’s theme is

“Your luggage”

Yes, I finally play again… after a few weeks of absence due to other things going on.

Getting back into the habit is kind of hard, too, especially with not having much time on my hands today, so here’s a pretty lame picture of my new “luggage”… well, do purses count as luggage?? At least as part of your luggage, right?
I don’t know and I don’t care… this is what you get.

I just love it. Isn’t it a cute purse? :)

Now go ahead and play… and let me and Kristine know about it!

My “backyard”

March 8, 2007 filed under: excitement, fun!

Wow. Let this sink in for a minute.

I know I had a few months to get used to the fact that I live in LA now, but seriously… it’s a little overwhelming that this landmark up there is about a 20 minute drive away from my apartment.
I’ve seen it quite a few times before, but today was the first time that I actually stopped to look at it – and take “photographic evidence”.

Today I was a “tourist in my own city”!

I took Santa Monica Blvd. and drove all the way east… I stopped at a little mall on the way to do some shopping and couldn’t resist and got this cute purse [the same purse I got my sister for our birthday, by the way ;) twins need to have the same stuff *haha*].

Then I went to Hollywood Blvd to do some sight-seeing tourist-style :) I walked along the “Walk of Fame”, but didn’t make the effort to look for any stars of certain actors – that would have taken the whole day ;)

At the Kodak theater, which is part of a shopping and entertainment complex, I took the picture of the Hollywood sign and also bought an “early” birthday present from Jon for myself at Victoria’s Secret :)
Afterwards I walked over to “GraumanÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Chinese Theater” which hosted the Academy Awards Show the other week. Yep, like I said, the whole thing happened in my “backyard” ;)
You know, usually it feels kind of weird taking pictures of where you live, but I didn’t feel too bad taking pictures there, because there were so many tourists around.
In front of the theater, the foot- and handprints of famous actors are imbedded in cement, for example Johnny Depp’s :)

I then drove back to Santa Monica to do a little more shopping at the 3rd Street Promenade. I got some cute shorts, tops and cool sunglasses ;) It’s nice to be treated for a shopping spree for your birthday. I like that!

Tomorrow it’s off to Sacramento for the weekend. I am looking forward to being back in Sac, spending time with my friend Ilka [who now is so lucky to live there ;)] and seeing my former boss. I’ll catch you later ;)

Meeting [new] people :)

March 5, 2007 filed under: my so-called life

The last couple of days were BUSY. After running errands on Friday, doing laundry and such, we left for Ventura on Saturday to spend the day and evening with J’s family. We were going to go out to dinner and celebrate four birthdays that happened to fall within a time frame of three weeks… J’s Mom and great-uncle had their birthdays at the end of February, my birthday is coming up this coming weekend and Andreas’ birthday is the following week.

Before we picked up J’s Granddad from the old folks’ home, we went to Lassen’s Natural Food Store to look for the flour that I need to bake German bread. Remember, Andreas showed me how to make sourdough and I tried a piece of the bread that he had baked last week and it was sooo good :) Now I am all excited to bake my own bread at home!
At 6 p.m. we all gathered at the “Old Vienna“, a restaurant with authentic German and Continental cuisine. It was, of course, pretty clichÃƒÂ© with waitresses running around in dirndl dresses and a menu with food typically associated with Germany like “Schweinshaxe” [ =roast pork shank], potato pancakes, “Sauerbraten”[ =sour marinated beef] or “Wienerschnitzel” [= breaded veal cutlet]. I couldn’t resist and ordered the “Schweinshaxe” :)
It was pretty good, but as always German specialties served in a foreign country are never served the “real” way… the “Schweinshaxe” came with sauerkraut, potato dumplings and gravy. In Germany, you would never get a “Schweinshaxe” in gravy, because it makes the crust, which is supposed to be hard and crisp, soggy and soft. It was still pretty good :)

We exchanged presents after the dinner and then the birthday cake was served. There were candles on it that representing all birthday ages added up. Together we turned 242!

Sunday morning, I went shopping for a few items and at 12:30 p.m., J and I left for the meeting with the German Club of LA! I had been looking forward to this meeting for weeks. We were finally getting out to meet some new people!
The German Club met at Griffith Park, a big park in North Hollywood, and we had a potluck BBQ.

I brought baguette, garlic butter and tuna dip… somewhat German, but not very typical… but there were also some things nobody expected and everybody had cravings for… like Hela Curry Ketchup, Ferrero Rocher, Sauerkraut, German Potato Salad and Noodle Salad, Gummibears and Lindt chocolate [nice mix, I know ;)].

I had met one of the girls, another Sandra, a few weeks ago online through the German Club website and we had already talked on the phone a week ago. I was thrilled to meet her and some other girls, especially when I found out that Sandra was also from the Cologne area and used to live very close to the town that I am from. What a coincidence! As we found out during the day, we had a whole lot more in common than that!
We were a big, mixed fun group of about 40+ people… some from Germany, some who have been to Germany, some who would like to go to Germany… families with kids, couples, singles… you name it :)

I made J wear his Grevenbroich T-Shirt, too.

It was fun and just very exhilarating to meet new people, to share our stories and just hang out and have a good time. This is exactly what we needed.

We got along really well with Sandra and her husband Brad and when the German Club started breaking up, we decided to hang out at their house for a little longer [which turned into pretty long … like almost a.m.-long] :)

Needless to say, J and I were both kind of tired this morning.

Click here to see photos of this weekend.

P.S. As you might have noticed on the photos, temperatures are up to the lower 80’s and I have a headache. I hate these sudden temperatures changes, but hey, it’s almost spring time and that made me think of a little touch up for the layout of this blog.
Do you like it?? ;)