Patrick is officially only 3 years from 30. He says this is the first year he has ever actually felt OLD. He's so right, though. 30 was always way off into the future, now, it is just around the corner. So, for his birthday, we tried to party it up like two young'uns while we still could (not really, we've been middle aged in spirit for a long time now).
On Patrick's birthday, I took him to a bbq dinner so he could get some ribs, one of his favorites, and then we came home and had some butterfinger, peanut butter cheesecake that I had made for him. Yes, Patrick is allergic to milk. I make his cheesecake with tofu. I know, I know... Sounds disgusting. I'm telling you, though, it is delicious and you would not be able to tell the difference. I'm sure you still don't believe me. I wouldn't believe me either if I hadn't tasted it myself.
Then a couple days after his birthday, I took him to see the John Brion show at the Largo in LA. The Largo is a venue that lots of comedians and muscians perform at. John Brion is a muscian and, for Patrick, the show was amazing. For me, I got a little board but I think it was because I'm not a muscian like Patrick. I could appreciate the music but I didn't like all of it. It was cool, though, how John is a one man band. He will play something on the piano and record it, then go play a beat on the drums and add that to the piano he has already recorded and so on and so on with guitar and other instruments. Seeing him do this live was pretty impressive. We were in the third row and I could tell Patrick just wanted to walk up on stage and pick up one of the 10 or more guitars that were waiting to be played.
After the show, we didn't feel like going home, even though it was way past our bedtime, so we headed to Canter's Deli. We sat and ate pastries and sandwiches at midnight with all the other late night Los Angelenos. Patrick and I have vowed that we need to spend more time going out in LA. It really has it's own vibe and we need to appreciate it more.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Burns, Buttcracks and Boobjobs
A southern California beach on the first warm weekend of the year is surreal. I always say the southern California way of life is not real life and no where is that more evident than at the beach on a warm, sunny day.
The crowded beach is filled with all kinds of umbrellas shading even more kinds of people. Tattoos, piercings, scars, fat, skinny, old, young, black, hispanic, asian, white and inevitably buttcracks. Any which way you turn you see buttcrack because, for some reason, once the bikini bottoms and board shorts reach a certain level on the hips people lose all awareness as to where their buttcracks are in relation to their clothing. Not to mention the hundreds of people at the beach wearing bathing suits that don't fit correctly and therefore flashing all sorts of things you never wanted to see. There are the surfers, paddle boarders and boogie boarders out in the waves, who get a scary surprise when they see dorsal fins about 30 yards away, until they realize it is a pod of dolphins swimming by. There are the kite flyers, football throwers and volleyball players. On the boardwalk, there are the bike riders, skateboarders, runners (with their shirts off, of course) and rollerbladers. There are the pasty white (myself included) who you can see actively turning red before your eyes from the strong sun and there are the overly tan who either spend all of their time sunbathing or paid way too much money to be sprayed with the orange elixir that southern Californians thrive on. There are boobjobs everywhere you look and you can make a game out of who can spot the next boobjob to walk by first. And keeping watch over it all are the lifeguards in their lifgaurd towers and lifegaurd trucks that drive down the beach straight out of Baywatch (we even saw a lifegaurd in his red shorts carrying his red flotation board while running down the beach. It doesn't get any more Baywatch than that). Despite, or maybe because of, all the unreality of the real southern Californian beach, it is a wonderful place to spend the day and we can't wait to go back.
Long live burns, buttcracks, boobjobs and the stereotypical southern California beach.
The mass of people who flocked to the beach on the first hot day on the coast.
Good times at the beach. You can tell my forehead is getting a little toasty.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Celebrating Patrick
Patrick's 27th birthday is next week (April 22nd) and I wanted to share some facts about my favorite person in the whole world! So, here are 27 things you may not have known about the birthday boy:
1. Patrick loves anything that has the word board in it. He skateboards, snowboards, wakeboards and boogie boards. He's even been sandboarding.
2. Patrick is an amazing athlete (even though he has asthma). In the last few years he has really gotten into running and is really good at it, even though he does not have a typical runner's body.
3. Patrick's dream would be to live in the mountains and have it be winter all year long.
4. Patrick has been deathly allergic to milk his whole life, but didn't own an epi-pen until 2 years ago when we were traveling to Portugal and thought it would be good to have one with us since we didn't speak the language.
5. Patrick had never had any alcohol until his 21st birthday and then when he had his first sip he said, "How come you didn't tell me it tasted so delicious."
6. Patrick has sprained his ankle so many times it is permanently swollen. He even sprained it one time while putting on his watch. Figure that one out!?!
7. Patrick is very musical. He plays piano, guitar and is learning the harmonica (That last one is a painful process on the ears).
8. Patrick loves playing football but isn't into watching football on tv and he refuses to play flag football because it just isn't the same.
9. Patrick loves anything funny. He loves the comedy channel, loves going to see comedy shows, and his favorite websites are collegehumor.com and jokeroo.com
10. Patrick is a perfectionist and a clean freak, although, he's gotten alot better since knowing me :)
11. If you google "Patrick Sears" you can find a resume for another Patrick Sears that has majored in all the same things as Patrick and looks like he has lived the same life as Patrick. We think there are certain things that just come with being named Patrick Sears. Really creepy!
12. Patrick was the number one student in his mechanical engineering program at Colorado State for 3 years in row.
13. Patrick loves fireworks. While in high school he had a cop tell him and his brother to stop altering fireworks that they were playing with outside their house and in college he almost burned down Wyoming. Stay away from fireworks, Patrick!!!
14. Patrick has worked as a janitor and a shoe salesman.
15. Patrick's first car was a Toyota Corona, circa 1975. You couldn't drive it at night when it rained (which in Oregon is a problem) because when you turned on the windshield wipers the headlights would dim.
16. Patrick loves tea. The stronger and smokier the better.
17. Patrick makes a killer shrimp cocktail.
18. Patrick chipped one of his front teeth while at a punk rock concert in high school.
19. Patrick will read anything Chuck Palahniuk writes.
20. Patrick's favorite shows are Heroes and Lost.
21. Patrick dreams of hiking the Oregon portion of the Pacific Crest Trail.
22. Patrick loves mountain biking and rock climbing, but doesn't get to do them very often.
23. Patrick collects Kachinas (Native American carvings of figurines out of one piece of wood. The artistry of the quality ones are really amazing). His grandpa started his interest in Kachinas when he was little.
24. Patrick has always been afraid of aliens. Funny that he has ended up making space robots for a living. Maybe he knows something we don't :)
25. Patrick can do some pretty amazing toe-touches.
26. Patrick dyed his hair black in college once.
27. Patrick is the greatest friend and husband a girl could have!!!
1. Patrick loves anything that has the word board in it. He skateboards, snowboards, wakeboards and boogie boards. He's even been sandboarding.
2. Patrick is an amazing athlete (even though he has asthma). In the last few years he has really gotten into running and is really good at it, even though he does not have a typical runner's body.
3. Patrick's dream would be to live in the mountains and have it be winter all year long.
4. Patrick has been deathly allergic to milk his whole life, but didn't own an epi-pen until 2 years ago when we were traveling to Portugal and thought it would be good to have one with us since we didn't speak the language.
5. Patrick had never had any alcohol until his 21st birthday and then when he had his first sip he said, "How come you didn't tell me it tasted so delicious."
6. Patrick has sprained his ankle so many times it is permanently swollen. He even sprained it one time while putting on his watch. Figure that one out!?!
7. Patrick is very musical. He plays piano, guitar and is learning the harmonica (That last one is a painful process on the ears).
8. Patrick loves playing football but isn't into watching football on tv and he refuses to play flag football because it just isn't the same.
9. Patrick loves anything funny. He loves the comedy channel, loves going to see comedy shows, and his favorite websites are collegehumor.com and jokeroo.com
10. Patrick is a perfectionist and a clean freak, although, he's gotten alot better since knowing me :)
11. If you google "Patrick Sears" you can find a resume for another Patrick Sears that has majored in all the same things as Patrick and looks like he has lived the same life as Patrick. We think there are certain things that just come with being named Patrick Sears. Really creepy!
12. Patrick was the number one student in his mechanical engineering program at Colorado State for 3 years in row.
13. Patrick loves fireworks. While in high school he had a cop tell him and his brother to stop altering fireworks that they were playing with outside their house and in college he almost burned down Wyoming. Stay away from fireworks, Patrick!!!
14. Patrick has worked as a janitor and a shoe salesman.
15. Patrick's first car was a Toyota Corona, circa 1975. You couldn't drive it at night when it rained (which in Oregon is a problem) because when you turned on the windshield wipers the headlights would dim.
16. Patrick loves tea. The stronger and smokier the better.
17. Patrick makes a killer shrimp cocktail.
18. Patrick chipped one of his front teeth while at a punk rock concert in high school.
19. Patrick will read anything Chuck Palahniuk writes.
20. Patrick's favorite shows are Heroes and Lost.
21. Patrick dreams of hiking the Oregon portion of the Pacific Crest Trail.
22. Patrick loves mountain biking and rock climbing, but doesn't get to do them very often.
23. Patrick collects Kachinas (Native American carvings of figurines out of one piece of wood. The artistry of the quality ones are really amazing). His grandpa started his interest in Kachinas when he was little.
24. Patrick has always been afraid of aliens. Funny that he has ended up making space robots for a living. Maybe he knows something we don't :)
25. Patrick can do some pretty amazing toe-touches.
26. Patrick dyed his hair black in college once.
27. Patrick is the greatest friend and husband a girl could have!!!
Monday, March 30, 2009
A Proper Date
The last real date Patrick and I had been on was 1 1/2 years ago. So, I told Patrick I wanted to go on a proper date. He planned it out and made the reservations. We dressed up in our best and he took me out on the town. Our first stop was a happy hour at a great place known for their wine and blues performances. Since we were just there for happy hour we didn't see any performances, but we had some great wine. Then we walked three blocks down the street to the restaurant we had reservations at. The restaurant was amazing. Great service and wonderful food and more great wine! So, we didn't care when the bill came and it was about 4 times more than what we would ever normally pay. You gotta do it up big when you only go on a date once every 18 months! We had so much fun, we didn't want the night to end. Eventually, we headed home and promptly fell asleep (it was 10 PM). Man, are we old!
I made Patrick pose for this picture. He looked so handsome!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
A Day with the Dawsons
This last week our best friends were in town for a day. They don't get a lot of beach time living in Colorado so we decided to spend the day at the beach. First, we took them to Venice Beach. That's a real experience... Picture outdoor gyms on the beach; a rundown, dirty boardwalk; street performers and vendors selling tourist stuff like postcards, t-shirts, towels, among other more nefarious products that you will be solicited. There's also the typical baywatch style life guard huts and yellow life guard trucks that drive on the beach. Weird for non-socal residents to see. Before we moved down here I didn't know those really existed.
After walking the boardwalk at Venice Beach we headed north to Santa Monica where we walked the pier and saw the original Hot Dog on a Stick stand. Next we drove south along the coast to Huntington Beach. Huntington is a lot cleaner and less touristy than Venice and Santa Monica. We had lunch out on the pier and then walked through town to see what it had to offer. We sat on the beach for a while and watched the surfers and then walked back to town to grab a beer at the local brewery.
We had a great time as we always do with the Dawsons. More laughs than you could count! Miss you guys already, but here are some pics to remember our day at the beach:
The canals at Venice Beach
The pier at Huntington Beach
Lindsay and me. As you can tell it wasn't the warmest.
The four of us. You can tell who's from Colorado by who's wearing the least amount of clothing.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Around Town
The other day, Patrick and I decided we needed to take a photo tour of Pasadena. While living in Boston, we were always inspired by the city to take pictures of the architecture, the neighborhoods, etc. But, to be honest, Pasadena doesn't really inspire the same feelings. We've lived here for over 2 years now and haven't taken any photos of Pasadena. There are definitely gems to be found if you look for them, though. So, here are a few of our favorite photos that we took on our walk around our neighborhood in Pasadena.
This garden area has some beautiful tile work. You can see some of it in the background.
A lovely church on Colorado Ave. 
Pasadena City Hall
Monuments to Jackie Robinson and his brother who both attended a local high school and did alot for the community after becoming pro athletes. 
A fountain in the courtyard of City Hall. We thought this looked like we could be in another country.
One of our favorites! We love the art deco style of this building. If you notice, it says "Ice Cream" on the right hand side. We always find this so disappointing because there is no ice cream. This building actually houses a school supply store. How much cooler would it be if it really had an old fashioned ice cream shop???
Saturday, February 28, 2009
A Day in LA
Although, we live only a 10 minute drive from downtown LA, we rarely go there. Downtown LA isn't the most beautiful place and traffic can make that 10 minutes into 1 1/2 hours. But yesterday we decided to brave the smog and traffic to have an adventure.
LA's Fashion District was having it's monthly sample sale. This is where hundreds of designers (small names and big ones like Betsey Johnson, Joe's Jeans, Calvin Klein, etc.) sell off the samples that they made to show buyers or have models wear for photo shoots or runway shows. There are 4 high rise buildings full of different designers showrooms with sample sales. We were planning on making it to as many as we could. Since we spent 3 hours working our way up a 13 story building, going into sample sales on every floor, we only made it to one building. I was in heaven! There are no dressing rooms, but each designer provides a mirror and everyone is either just changing right there in the open or, like me, throwing the clothes over what they were already wearing. Generally, the prices seemed to be 50% off the wholesale price. They had clothing from previous seasons, but what I thought was really neat was they had clothing that's for this spring that isn't out in the stores yet. The new clothing was usually not as marked down as the older stuff. I walked out of there with some awesome deals. One of the dresses I bought we found online when we got home. It had been featured in InStyle magazine for this spring. My dress is famous! That's the closest I'll ever come to something famous.
After all that shopping, we were starving, so we headed over to Canter's Deli. Canter's is an LA institution. It is a Jewish deli with staples like knishs, potato pancakes, and crazy sandwiches. They also have an amazing bakery with danishes, rugelach, challah bread and lots more. We had some great food and Patrick finally got to have a sandwich he hadn't had since we moved from Boston (pastrami and liver on rye). Now, Patrick was in heaven. It was his reward for being such an awesome husband while we were in the Fashion District.
Since we didn't want our fun day in LA to end we decided to go to one of our favorite places in Hollywood. Amoeba! It is an amazing music store. They have new and used cds, records, dvds. You can find anything you are looking for even if it is really obscure. Usually, you can find it used, as well, so it saves you lots of money. But before we went to Amoeba we bought tickets to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at the Arclight Theatre next door to Amoeba. We then spent a good half hour in the music store, walked down to a great tea shop and sat and enjoyed our tea and then headed back to the movie theatre to catch our movie. We both loved the movie. It was so beautiful. We highly recommend it. So that was our day in LA and now we have plans to go back to the fashion district to hit up one of the other buildings of showrooms when they have their next sample sale.
LA's Fashion District was having it's monthly sample sale. This is where hundreds of designers (small names and big ones like Betsey Johnson, Joe's Jeans, Calvin Klein, etc.) sell off the samples that they made to show buyers or have models wear for photo shoots or runway shows. There are 4 high rise buildings full of different designers showrooms with sample sales. We were planning on making it to as many as we could. Since we spent 3 hours working our way up a 13 story building, going into sample sales on every floor, we only made it to one building. I was in heaven! There are no dressing rooms, but each designer provides a mirror and everyone is either just changing right there in the open or, like me, throwing the clothes over what they were already wearing. Generally, the prices seemed to be 50% off the wholesale price. They had clothing from previous seasons, but what I thought was really neat was they had clothing that's for this spring that isn't out in the stores yet. The new clothing was usually not as marked down as the older stuff. I walked out of there with some awesome deals. One of the dresses I bought we found online when we got home. It had been featured in InStyle magazine for this spring. My dress is famous! That's the closest I'll ever come to something famous.
After all that shopping, we were starving, so we headed over to Canter's Deli. Canter's is an LA institution. It is a Jewish deli with staples like knishs, potato pancakes, and crazy sandwiches. They also have an amazing bakery with danishes, rugelach, challah bread and lots more. We had some great food and Patrick finally got to have a sandwich he hadn't had since we moved from Boston (pastrami and liver on rye). Now, Patrick was in heaven. It was his reward for being such an awesome husband while we were in the Fashion District.
Since we didn't want our fun day in LA to end we decided to go to one of our favorite places in Hollywood. Amoeba! It is an amazing music store. They have new and used cds, records, dvds. You can find anything you are looking for even if it is really obscure. Usually, you can find it used, as well, so it saves you lots of money. But before we went to Amoeba we bought tickets to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at the Arclight Theatre next door to Amoeba. We then spent a good half hour in the music store, walked down to a great tea shop and sat and enjoyed our tea and then headed back to the movie theatre to catch our movie. We both loved the movie. It was so beautiful. We highly recommend it. So that was our day in LA and now we have plans to go back to the fashion district to hit up one of the other buildings of showrooms when they have their next sample sale.
Patrick in his own personal heaven
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