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July 30, 2007

July 30, 2007


July 30, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
After work tonight, two of my coworkers and I went to dinner and to see Hairspray. Dinner was delicious -- I even tried shrimp! (One of my goals for 2007 is to gain an appreciation for seafood, living on the coast and all.) Hairspray was pretty adorable. I loved the music and the performances; it was altogether quite enjoyable. Two thumbs up!

Posted by kate at 11:19 PM | | Comments (0)

July 29, 2007

July 29, 2007


July 29, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Swag Bag filled with: One Roommate.

Friday night, R told us they were giving out ginormous Smallville bags that were big enough to be capes. He held up his hands to demonstrate the size, and we thought surely he was exaggerating. Not an exaggeration! This is a picture of Gen in the bag. Entirely inside it! CRAZY! And we saw people walking around with those things filled with purchases. I can't even begin to imagine how heavy that must be.

Posted by kate at 08:24 PM | | Comments (0)

July 28, 2007


July 28, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
A view from the San Diego Convention Center at Comic-Con 2007. Definitely an experience!

Panels attended (4):
- Supernatural
- The Rays: Bradbury & Harryhausen
- The Sarah Connor Chronicles
- Smallville

Supernatural was great, but Jared Padalecki had missed his flight, so it was just Jensen Ackles and the writers/producers/directors. There was good information on the upcoming season. Jensen talked about having to film scenes where Jared was dead, and how emotionally draining that was. They shared stories of on-set pranks, aired a couple videos, and answered fan questions.

The Rays were very interesting! I went to this panel on a whim, as everyone else I'd come with had gone off to various things and I had some time to kill by myself. It was really cool to listen to Ray Bradbury talk about having sold stories because he desperately needed $20. The two Rays have been friends their entire lives, and they're 87 now. They talked about influences, the "old days", their creative processes... it was enjoyable!

The Sarah Connor Chronicles is a TV show spin-off from the Terminator movies. They showed the pilot and then had discussion afterwards. While I thought the episode was very well done, well-acted, and overall quite good, I don't really see where it's going as a series show. I love the idea of Summer Glau as a Terminator. We'll see what kind of story arc they come up with.

Smallville was by far my favorite panel. Everyone in attendance was fabulous; engaging, entertaining, and happy to be there. There was a clip show of past highlights as well as from the first few episodes of the new season. Exciting! There were tidbits about the upcoming storyline, discussion of favorite moments, and the unveiling of Justice League action figures. Hee.

I ran into everyone I knew that was going to be there, which was cool. I camped out in the same room basically from before the Supernatural panel until after the Smallville one, which was a total of about five hours. I was SO GLAD to be out of that room when it was over! Afterwards, we met up with Elaina and her crew for dinner, and then went back to their hotel for a game of Munchkin Bites.

Posted by kate at 08:15 PM | | Comments (0)

July 27, 2007


July 27, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Our hotel in San Diego. It wasn't the highest-quality place in the city, I'm sure, but it served its purpose. And they even let R check in when he arrived, despite the reservation being in my name and under my credit card (and with my AAA discount), so points for them! He'd have otherwise been chillin' in his car for several hours waiting for us to arrive.

That waving figure on the second level walkway is Gen.

Posted by kate at 08:01 PM | | Comments (0)

July 26, 2007


July 26, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
My total cop-out picture of the week: July's calendar page. My sister put together a calendar for me for Christmas filled with pictures of us from the few times she's been out in California. This particular page is from our trip to Las Vegas, at the Cirque du Soleil show Love.

Posted by kate at 07:56 PM | | Comments (0)

July 25, 2007


July 25, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
My new lamp. My bedroom has a single-bulb light on the fan, and then I have a small lamp on my desk and another by my bed, but I wanted something else to brighten the entire room. This lamp helps a lot!

Also pictured: JC!Bear and Wash!Bear (in Pirate!Mickey ears). They're enjoying their new, brighter outlook on life, too.

Posted by kate at 07:52 PM | | Comments (0)

July 24, 2007


July 24, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
KC actually tried texting me a picture of this very lunchbox from her Target, and I never got it. So when Gen and I were picking up a few things on Tuesday, we wandered the school supply aisles reminiscing about brand new pens and notebooks and rulers, and stopped by the lunchbox aisle for a peek.

Coolest lunchbox ever. It has a cape! A CAPE! And the belt is a little coin pouch. If I had a school-aged child, he would SO be taking his lunch to school in this.

Posted by kate at 07:49 PM | | Comments (0)

July 23, 2007


July 23, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
While I've been taking them daily, I haven't posted pictures all week, so this is a bit of catch-up.

These were flowers someone brought in to work. They were on the teller counter until they started getting droopy several days later. Pretty, aren't they?

Posted by kate at 07:45 PM | | Comments (0)

July 22, 2007

July 22, 2007


July 22, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Harry Potter: The End. (Text blurred to protect the unspoiled.) This weekend's pictures have been on a definite theme, but it's pretty much all I did. I finished reading this afternoon, not wanting to have rushed through. I was going to sit outside by the pool to read, but I think one of the boys upstairs was having a birthday party (by my calculations he just turned two), and the pool was full of a floating jumpy castle and lots of inflatable toys and, by early afternoon, an entire herd of splashing children. So I stayed inside.

Posted by kate at 08:20 PM | | Comments (0)

July 21, 2007

July 21, 2007


July 21, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
At long last, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm at about the halfway point, as I don't want to rush through it. This has pretty much been my day, though. Reading, swimming, reading, napping, reading, chatting on the phone, reading, going out to dinner, reading... pretty relaxing! I've got the same planned for tomorrow.

Posted by kate at 11:00 PM | | Comments (0)

July 20, 2007


July 20, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
We headed to downtown Pasadena for the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This is Gen and Caitli as Professor Trelawney and Rita Skeeter (I had my sparkly magic wand, but that was the extent of my costume; I leave the dressing up to the actresses of the group). We didn't get there in time for the costume contest, but they were great. They had a lot of pictures taken!

Before the book store, though, we had dinner at Cheesecake Factory. A bunch of people commented on the costumes and shared HP excitement with us, the most adorable of which were these two waiters. One of them was wearing his Slytherin tie to work, and stopped by the table more than once. He brought his friend (another waiter, neither of them actually assigned to our table) at one point and the two of them totally fanboy-squeed over the books, various theories, and the movies. It was really quite adorable.

The "events" at Barnes and Noble weren't really that exciting, sadly. There were a handful of good costumes, the most memorable being a trio dressed as Fluffy. We got our books without too much fuss, and that was that.

Posted by kate at 10:55 PM | | Comments (0)

July 19, 2007

July 19, 2007


July 19, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
I have never in my life owned an article of clothing that has gotten even half the number of compliments this skirt has. Strangers have stopped me in the grocery store or on the sidewalk or on the way into my building to tell me this skirt is cute. Today, an elderly customer told me he loved it, and asked if it was hand-made in Mexico. It never fails! I mean, I like the skirt. But I never imagined it would be worthy of this kind of adoration!

The best part? Know where I got it? Not handmade in Mexico. Not from a specialty boutique. I got it at Target. Off the clearance rack. For $8.

Posted by kate at 06:29 PM | | Comments (0)

July 18, 2007

July 18, 2007


July 18, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Today, apparently, was Trim Your Own Bangs Day. I trimmed mine this morning. At work, JG was mentioning that her bangs needed to be cut, and JR said she'd trimmed her own this morning. So JR went home at lunch, got her scissors, and came back to trim JG's bangs in the break room. So that was all three of us girls. I was amused.

I'm also amused that I kind of look like a duck in this picture. That's a look of utter concentration, folks.

Posted by kate at 07:42 PM | | Comments (0)

July 17, 2007


July 17, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
There are some people in life who just get you. Aarti is me, only Indian. And a better dancer. The adventures we've had, from trying to master the "flopping fish" (the worm) in our hallway in college, to getting lost in the cornfields of central Illinois on Ghost Rallies, to jeans torn by leaping fences, well, I miss her like crazy.

This morning, I got an email saying she was going to be in Los Angeles tonight on a four-hour layover from Ohio to Thailand. !!!!! So I drove down to LAX, picked her up, and we hung out in Denny's. Great taste of LA, huh? Denny's. This is one month to the day since I last saw her, in a Perkins in Champaign, Illinois after her sister's wedding. This spend-an-hour-in-a-dingy-diner tradition is not my new favorite way to hang out with a friend! I suppose it beats four hours at the airport, and it was great to see her. I'm not complaining. ;)

Posted by kate at 12:43 AM | | Comments (0)

July 16, 2007

July 16, 2007


July 16, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
I came home from work and just kind of collapsed onto my bed, talking to my sister on the phone and watching the fan spin. It was one of those days. It felt really long. I was out my door at 7:00 this morning, barely managed to inhale my lunch, and didn't get home until about a half hour ago. I feel like I have something to prove this week, as my boss is on vacation. It's exhausting! And it's only Monday.

You know what this picture really makes me think, though? You spin me right round, baby, right round...

Posted by kate at 07:38 PM | | Comments (0)

July 15, 2007

July 15, 2007


July 15, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
I'm on the Great Salted Licorice Hunt of 2007. Noora brought me a few packages of these from Finland when she visited a few years ago, and this is the last one I have left. I'm very particular about my salted licorice... I like the round ones best (they're different, I swear). We're trying to find them again so I can place an order.

Totally randomly, the neighbor kids are outside playing in the pool, and they're fighting over who cheated in their swim race (one was counting real slow, and the other just said "OnetwothreeGO!" and took off). One of them just yelld to the other, as an insult, "Ladies' man!!" Bwahahaha! Kids.

Posted by kate at 06:46 PM | | Comments (0)

July 14, 2007

July 14, 2007


July 14, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
So I was just sitting here thinking that it's kind of warm inside, even with the window open and the fan on. It's cooling off outside, so in theory, those two things should help it to be cooling off in here. I just happened to walk by the thermostat, and it's almost 90* in here! It definitely doesn't feel that hot.

I'm reminded, once again, that 90* in California is far more pleasant than even 80* in Illinois. Humidity is a killer. And besides, it gives me bad hair days. I'll take dry heat any day, thanks.

Posted by kate at 07:20 PM | | Comments (0)

July 13, 2007

July 13, 2007


July 13, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a perfume person, but I tested this in the mall once and then thought about it for two weeks before I gave in and went back to buy it. I don't know if anyone else likes it on me, but I do.

Plus, the cap is a crown. With jewels.

Posted by kate at 10:15 PM | | Comments (0)

July 12, 2007

July 12, 2007


July 12, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
I feel like I'm on a movie kick lately. I've been to the movies four times in five days (Transformers Saturday, Ratatouille Sunday and Monday, Harry Potter yesterday). Movies seem to come out in clumps; there will be nothing at all I want to watch for weeks and weeks (and sometimes even months), and then all of a sudden, I want to see everything that's out! This is one of those movie-heavy times. And today I rented Stranger than Fiction and Fantastic 4, so it seemed appropriate my picture be movie-related.

A few days ago I did Books I Own That I Haven't Read. Today, Movies I Own That I Haven't Opened. That's not to say I haven't seen them, because most of these I have seen, and love. The majority of these were gifts, a few were free, and a couple of them I bought myself and just haven't gotten around to watching.

In non-movie news, the eyes are still bothering me. My corneas are swelling, or something, and there's still a mild infection (totally not contagious, in case anyone's worried). He brought out the "big guns" with some steroid/antibiotic combo eyedrop I'm to use about a million times a day. And no contacts for another week, at least. Bah! I hope this takes care of it, once and for all.

Posted by kate at 03:28 PM | | Comments (0)

July 11, 2007

July 11, 2007


July 11, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
When we thought of seeing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, we thought it'd be kinda fun. We didn't think that there'd be a Queen Latifah concert at the Hollywood Bowl, a Jimmy Kimmel party-thingy at the Highlands (I think), AND the ESPY Awards being filmed at the Kodak Theatre.

Traffic was an absolute nightmare. There were Secret Service-type people swarming the place. Roads were blocked off. There were massive crowds. It was a mess!

Luckily, the movie was worth it. I won't say anything more, except that I liked it. And I like that the Trio put their wand prints in the square. *g*

Posted by kate at 10:44 PM | | Comments (0)

July 10, 2007

July 10, 2007


July 10, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
This is my Everything Cabinet. We have my "weird food" (according to Akarui), my oil paints, our Tenants' Rights book, cleaning supplies... you name it, it's in this cabinet. I was scrounging around for something to munch on this evening (settled on the Ritz snack mix) and realized what a jumbled, odd mess this is!

Posted by kate at 08:46 PM | | Comments (0)

July 9, 2007


July 9, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
So, this car was parked next to me at work. Something I'm not sure I ever really believed I'd see on a license plate... ha ha.

Posted by kate at 08:37 PM | | Comments (0)

July 08, 2007

July 8, 2007


July 8, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
I have a book problem. A year or so ago, Gen and I joined Borders Rewards. They send all kinds of nifty coupons (which used to be better than they are now) and suck you in with 'buy two, get one free' and we were going every week for a while. This stack of books? Is my To Read stack.

With the exception of the two Lord of the Rings books (which I bought years and years ago and ran out of juice about 95% of the way through Fellowship), they were all purchased this year. They're not all the books I've bought, just the ones I haven't gotten around to reading yet.

So. No more book buying for me until I've read the ones I already have!

Posted by kate at 10:11 PM | | Comments (0)

July 07, 2007

July 7, 2007


July 7, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
So, it's 7/7/07. There are a record number of weddings and C-sections today, I hear. Has today been particularly lucky? I don't know. Just another summer Saturday, I think. It's been a nice enough day, so I guess that's all I can really ask for. ;)

That, and $2 million (I have a theory, see, that $2 million in the bank is all I really need; I won't be greedy and ask for $300 million or anything. Just two.)

Anyway. Lucky 7/7/07. Gen's excited!
ETA: Holy cow! I just posted this entry at 7:07pm! Totally unintentionally! CRAZY!!

Posted by kate at 07:07 PM | | Comments (0)

July 06, 2007

July 6, 2007


July 6, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Today was definitely one of those "what can I take a picture of?" days. I was sitting on the couch, watching a DVD, and... well, here we have my back patio. With beach towels hanging on the clothes line and my exercise ball footrest just inside the door. And the neighboring building just a stone's throw away. Yep, this is one breathtaking picture, I know.

Posted by kate at 08:48 PM | | Comments (0)

July 05, 2007

July 5, 2006


July 5, 2006
Originally uploaded by kayay1
My last pair of gym shoes were purchased over two years ago and have pretty much lost any and all support they once had. I must have tried on a dozen pairs today, trying to fit my freaky feet. I have this weirdness, also, when working out on the elliptical machine (and only on the elliptical!). My toes sometimes get numb. I thought I was a bigger foot-freak than I already am, but when I googled it, it appears that a lot of people have this same problem. No one seems to have a good answer, other than supportive shoes and lacing them properly. I hope these shoes work!

Then, I spent about an hour trying to take some kind of picture that was a little more interesting than just a shot of shoes. *laugh* So, here's me running in place in my living/dining room. Hee.

Posted by kate at 04:51 PM | | Comments (0)

July 4, 2007


July 4, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
It was a very nice Fourth of July. I went to breakfast (Waffles and More... yum!) with work friend S and her daughter, where I had a patriotic waffle: strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream. Mmmmmm.

Then Sean and I drove down to Seal Beach to Ryan's girlfriend's family's place, which is right across the street from the beach. We spent a few hours sitting under a giant beach umbrella, where my left arm was the only part of me not in the shade. We all read, napped, or chatted, and it was relaxing. The weather was gorgeous at the beach, a welcome change from the 100*+ furnace that is the Valley.

We had grilled-out hamburgers, homemade guacamole, and homemade ice cream. Delicious! When it got dark, we climbed up onto the building's roof and watched fireworks. Many of the beach houses across the street were doing amateur (read: illegal) fireworks shows, but some of them were really good! And the danger element made it entertaining. Apparently, Sandra Bullock lives in one of the houses, so we were guessing as to whether one of the shows was hers.

Posted by kate at 09:10 AM | | Comments (0)

July 3, 2007


July 3, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Our Tuesday night GeekGame Night was expanded with the addition of five of Gen's visiting friends. They brought along three versions of Munchkin (regular, space themed, and... one other I can't remember the name of) to combine with Gen's Supermunchkin (superhero themed) to make a giant, super-sized, hybrid game of Munchkin. I'd never played any version of the game before, and it was fun! I was playing with experts, so I might even have a little bit more finesse next time. *g*

Posted by kate at 08:56 AM | | Comments (0)

July 2, 2007


July 2, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Monday was P's birthday at work. Somehow, the previously-purchased gift card had gotten misplaced, so I ran out on my lunch hour to get a second one. I just have to say, I love outdoor malls. Isn't this pretty? So much nicer than tile floors and escalators everywhere. And a nice little break from the office.

Posted by kate at 08:41 AM | | Comments (0)

July 01, 2007

July 1, 2007


July 1, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Wow. July 1. Can you believe it? This year is flying! And I have successfully completed six months of taking a picture every single day. Go me!

This morning I was up early, and not by choice (crazy cats). Instead of getting right to things, I procrastinated joining the world of the waking by sketching for a bit. It's taken up most of the morning, but I didn't have anything pressing to do. The drawing still needs a little work, so I'll post it when I finish. Here's Allison Mack, in progress.

Posted by kate at 01:55 PM | | Comments (0)

June 30, 2007


June 30, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
I think of my commute as being mostly distance, as I drive opposite traffic. Saturday mornings remind me that there is a significant difference in traffic versus not. I always leave about ten minutes later on Saturdays, just because there's not as much to do before we open. And I always arrive WAY early. So I have time to treat myself to Starbucks!

This week, I tried the raspberry mocha frappuccino. I don't usually get cold drinks in the mornings, but it was already hot out at 8:00 and I couldn't imagine drinking a hot coffee.

And look, I still got to work before anyone else.

Posted by kate at 12:32 PM | | Comments (0)