Autumn is Here! Kind Of! Not Really!

This past Sunday we took The Peanut to his first pumpkin patch. It was a perfectly overcast Autumn day. And then the sun peaked out. And then is was 80° out. Whatever.

We got some great shots of him that you can see on his blog, but I also got some Autumn-y shots. Let's just pretend the air is crisp and we don't need sunglasses, k?

Happy Birthday to Tripple, and Some Catch Up

Sorry friends of the interwebs -- I didn't post at all last week. My goal is to at least post once a week, and I would really love to post two or three times. So shame on me for slacking.

Last week was my last week of the Fall semester at Academy of Art, as was it the last week of one of Trip's graduate courses. Work has been project after project, and Trip was wrapping things up before his 2-week holiday break (man am I in the wrong profession!). So needless to say there has been some serious cramming going on. Good thing is that we really didn't do any Christmas shopping this year, so I've been relieved of that annual stress-fest. For the past few years, my family has done the Secret Santa thing, but this year I was inspired by a wonderfully heartwarming story I saw on the news about a company that decided that, because the food banks are so low this year, they would donate their $4500 holiday party budget to a food bank. So instead of drawing names, my family agreed to donate to a charity of our choice. Trip and I did the Second Harvest Food Bank and the Humane Society of Silicon Valley. Christmas shopping -- CHECK! Now next year I realize will be quite different, as our son's first Christmas is sure to be an extravaganza (to say the least). But let me tell you, I have definitely enjoyed being mellow this year.

Speaking of the peanut (or English cucumber, as BabyCenter claims a 26 week baby is the same size as), everything seems to be going along smoothly. We have our 6 month appointment this Wednesday (6 months?!?), so I'll be sure to give an update, with new belly pics. I swear, the belly (among other things...) has been growing on a daily basis. As has my appetite, so go figure. At this visit our OB said she would schedule another ultrasound, just to make sure my placenta has moved up. I'm so looking forward to getting another peek at the little guy!

It was Tripple's birthday yesterday, and we had a really nice dinner at our favorite vegetarian restaurant, with a few of our favorite people. My birthday gift to him was driving him and Adam downtown to see a hip hop show on Friday, then picking them up at 1:30A. I think that wins me some Wife of the Year awards, don't you? I was a trooper again on Saturday night, when we went to a friend's party, where we stayed until after 1AM. I figure I better let Trip have some fun before it's all about the baby. Plus he deserves a little R&R after a hard first semester at work, some pretty demanding graduate school courses, and all the extra works he's had to pick up around the house (painting, kitty litter duty, cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms, carrying things up and down the stairs for me, and cooking dinner most nights -- yup, he's a keeper).

Okay, I've rambled enough... I'll try to post soon after my appointment on Wednesday -- Christmas Eve!

Camping at San Simeon State Park.

So I'm a week late, but wanted to share some pictures I shot during our Labor Day weekend camping trip to San Simeon. Camping Labor Day weekend has become a tradition for the Parmelee/Johnson families, and this was yet another success! San Simeon State Park is located 35 miles north of San Luis Obispo on Highway 1, and 5 miles south of the Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument Visitor Center. The community of Cambria is located 2 miles to the South and offers gas stations and grocery stores. 

It really is a great state park, with some beautiful (and challenging!) hiking trails, and just a quick walk to the beach. I highly recommend! I also highly recommend a blowup mattress that takes up your entire tent, both vertically and horizontally. Ridiculous - maybe. Comfy - you know it! Thanks to Adam and Nay for letting us keep our bags in their tent since we didn't have any room.

2 Hour Commute Bad. Sunny Skies Good.

I started back at school this week, which is why I haven't blogged since last Friday. Trying to get back into the whole balancing work-school-commute thing.

But I now work from home on Wednesdays as well as Fridays (YAAAAY!), and it couldn't have come at a better time. My two hour drive home last night due to the tanker trailer gas spill in Redwood City was awesome. It rained the entire time and my bum hurt by the time I got home.

But I'm in a much better mood today, mainly due to this much prettier view from my home office window:

Hooray for blue skies and green hills! Purdy!

The View From My Window.

In the spirit of Andrew Sullivan, I give you the view from my window:

Gloomy, rainy, windy South San Jose. But the hills are starting to turn green!

Thanksgiving is for Lovahs.

Well, Thanksgiving is over, and obviously from my lack of posts, I've been quite busy. So thought I would bring ya'll up to date!

First, Mom & Daddy came on Wednesday. Mom and I went for a hike, and came back to find Daddy nugglin' with the grandkids.

Then we had sushi for dinner. Daddy recognized that the server was Korean and started spittin' some Korea geography knowledge (No, my dad isn't Korean. He just knows everything about everything). He must have made an impression, as the husband and Daddy got some Kirins on the house. Not that this surprised me. Things like that happen to Daddy all the time.

Next day, Thanksgiving at Sissy and Keith's in Oakland.

First I made Tristan pose for me.

Renee made super yummy apps. Yum. Yum. YUM!

Keith took pictures. I took pictures of Keith taking pictures.

And Brother got kisses from Tristan.

Sissy did a Martha-riffic job of setting the table.

And here it is folks - the piece de resistance. Our first Tofurky!

Isn't it gorgeous??

Well it smelled like ass and tasted like nothing. Neither of us really cared for turkey when we were meateaters, so it was kinda destined for failure. Oh well. We tried. Next year just straight "tofu" minus the "rky". Thank goodness we had lots of these:

But everything else was wonderful, and I ate waaay too much. Dur.

So then the sun started to set, and made some bitchin shadows on the wall. Keith was jealous he didn't have his camera close by (and apparently walking up a flight of stairs is impossible after a Thanksgiving binge).

Game time! YAAAAAAAAAAAHTZEEEEEEEEEE!

Ahhhhhhh yaaaaaa. That was me biotches.

How my sister-in-law slept while we played Yahtzee I'll never know. Girlfriend was tired (or maybe drunk, but we'll just say she was tired).

And then Marie Claire proclaimed it was time for all of us to leave. "Out thee minions!"

To quote the great Ice Cube, "I gotta say it was a good day."

Friday was more eating and drinking and a 6 hour marathon of Rock Band. Papa Bear - AKA me (on vocals and bass), Mr. Johnson (on lead), Brother (on vocals and drums), Sissy (on vocals and bass) - made their first appearance in Campbell and rocked it. Keep an eye out. We're going to make it BIG. In our imaginary Rock Band world.

And then it was game night at our house Saturday night. Fun times. Lots more drinking and eating. Brother and I put together a puzzle of the Biltmore Estate - one of our NC summer vacation stops. Cat was not helping.

Mr. Johnson, Miguel, Chris, Steve, Amii, Nay, Jackson and Sarah all played Yahtzee. And apparently doodled.

Sunday was laying on the couch recovering. All day. It rocked.

And now here I am back to work and blah blah blahdiddy blah. Sad.

The iPhone vs. The Peebs.

The iPhone has changed my life completely. I cannot even tell you. I love it.

But I didn't realize how much my cats would hate it. Because now, whenever they are doing something even remotely cute, I have to take their picture and send it out to everyone I know won't care. I think the picture clicking sound has effected them in some kind of crazy Pavlovian way, but does that stop me - of course not!

This is how I was forced to leave Monsieur Peebs today. His eyes either say:

"No mommy, don't go to work! Stay here and nuggle me all day"

or

"Get out of my face you stupid stupid Neanderthal. Get to work and make that money, biotch. And don't forget my treaties."

Seriously, you know this is one of the cutest things you have ever seen. Don't fight the feeling.

Addicted to Pretty.

So if you know me, you know I like pretty things. I kinda obsess over it. And I'm trying really hard to curb my appetite. So a few minutes ago I was talking to my husband about the possibility of getting a new entertainment center. Yes. YES. Seriously, what is wrong with me?!? He had to remind me of the post I just wrote Sunday night for my History of Aesthetics course:

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I remember around this time last year coming across an article online in the New York Times about Annie Leibovitz's new book, "A Photographer's Life, 1990 - 2005". I have always been a fan of her celebrity photos in Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, as well as her groundbreaking career as a female photographer, so was interested in reading about this new book's subject matter. I didn't actually know much about her life, and was sad to read that Susan Sontag, her long-time partner, died of leukemia in late 2004.

But what stuck with me all this time, what made makes me remember reading the article, was one particular photo of Leibovitz's. This is a photograph Leibovitz took of Sontag, post-mortem:

I believe two of the Five Reasons to Regard Beauty* apply to this image. First, because its existence is analogous to the good and the true it once symbolized. I think Kant's middle road aesthetic perspective is most fitting for this image, as I personally have conflicting thoughts. Part of me thinks this is image is a wonderful memorial to Sontag, completing Leibovitz's photographical chronicles of her life; part of me thinks that perhaps there is a story behind it that only Leibovitz and Sontag will ever know; part of me thinks that this image will touch someone else that has had a similar experience with the death of a loved one; and then there is part of me that thinks that the modern world has made death a bit taboo, and Leiboviz is showing us that Sontag will forever be beautiful to her - a perfect subject for a portrait - even at death.

I believe the second reason to regard this image as beautiful is, because is encourages a contemplative, appreciative, patient attitude in us and at least rebukes automatic recourse to appetitive desire. To be honest, at first look, I found this photograph really hard to look at. But it made me think, "why would she share such an intimate image of the woman she publicly proclaimed her love of, with the world?". I think Leibovitz's message, as layered and deep as it may be, is that through all of our desires to look picture-perfect, her love for Sontag and the woman that she was is the epitome of beauty. As someone that has made her fortune taking pictures of perfect, flawless, "beautiful" celebrities, with this image of Sontag, she is throwing all of those ideas of beauty out the window. She is telling us this is what beauty is. This woman that I loved, that has died before my eyes, is still beautiful even at death.

Changing gears for a moment, I also wanted to note that, Umberto Eco's passage from The History of Beauty really resonated with me:

"We can consider human beings to be most beautiful, even though we may not desire them sexually, or if we know that they can never be ours. But if we desire a human being (who might also be ugly) and yet cannot have the kind of relationship we desire with him or her, then we suffer."

I realized that all too often I have an inner conflict between appreciating beauty and desiring that which is beautiful. Last night I went to a dinner party at a friend's house who had a beautiful kitchen, something that have been wanting to redo in my home. I thought of this kitchen all night (sad, isn't it?), even frowning a bit at my own when I made my morning cup of tea. I said to my husband, "Their kitchen was amazing, wasn't it". And he responded, "Absolutely, it gave me some great ideas for ours whenever we get around to it." Not a bit of jealously in his voice, not the desire to rip the tile off the counter that very second (she says while whistling and looking around). Just an appreciation for a pretty kitchen. I know this story sounds pathetic, and trust me, its embarrassing to even admit it. I felt pretty teeny tiny.

I now I am reviewing the lecture, and reread Eco's quote. All too often I feel this need to feed my desires for the newest, the greatest, the best. I think both Eco and Leibovitz have taught me something very important. One, to be content with and appreciate being fortune enough to experience something beautiful; and two, to appreciate the beautiful things (family, friends, accomplishments) that I already have.

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Touché, Mr. Johnson. Touché.

*If you want to know these five reasons, you must pay the $1800 it cost me to take this course.