Tuesday, April 28, 2009

take me out to the seder...

Photobucket

We had one seder this year, at the Goldblatt's house, where we spend many a holiday! They are an amazing family, and every year they welcome new guests with open arms. There us no limit to the laughter and fun that goes on in this house! Here's a little glimpse into... Passover. 2009.

the group
Photobucket
Alisha, Doug, Tracy & Daniel
Photobucket
you normally love posing for my pictures, Erin ;)
Photobucket
see! E & Erin... so cute
Photobucket
Brian sitting in the leaders' seat
Photobucket
getting the afikomen ready
Photobucket
Debi leading us in our "funny" songs
Photobucket
Alisha & Aaron
Photobucket
<3
Photobucket
this is what happens when you give up control of the camera... haha
Photobucket
brisket-- yuuummmyyy!!
Photobucket
the seder plate
Photobucket
Steve (aka "Goldie")
Photobucket
Babalu striking a pose
Photobucket
Brian & Justin - I think this is supposed to be the "sexy" look...
Photobucket
me & Erin
Photobucket
Dolly... getting the royal treatment from Justin & Ethan
Photobucket
here we go...
Photobucket
Photobucket
playing nice
Photobucket
Debi & Goldie... aw
Photobucket
classic Debi ;)
Photobucket

Photobucket
another successful holiday!


Thanks Debi, Steve, Brad & Brian for being the best hosts!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

my little Brits

My family from London is here visiting (mom's sister's fam) and we were celebrating my cousin Josh's 8th birthday last week (I call him and Lydia my munchies--short for munchkin!). I haven't been to a party for either of my cousins since they turned 1, so it was a treat to be able to celebrate with them!

The party was at a place called uWink in Woodland Hills, which, if you haven't heard of it, is a restaurant where you can order your own food and drinks and play games on screens set up at each table. On Thursday nights they have trivia games where you play against the other people in the restaurant, which is why we were there last night (unfortunately we missed a seder with our family, but you can't be in two places at once!). We had lots of fun-- Brian and I had never been there before! I was the designated photographer of the night which of course thrilled me-- I'm still learning, but here are some of the 300+ pictures I took that night!

birthday boy!
Photobucket
Lydia... my little love
Photobucket
Nana & Brian
Photobucket
mom & Gerry
Photobucket
me & Nana
Photobucket
my favorite little brits!
Photobucket
Josh excited about winning a game
Photobucket
my mac and cheese... yum!
Photobucket
my cousins...
Wesley, Lydia & Ty
Photobucket
make a wish!
Photobucket
Photobucket
Willcocks fam
Photobucket
Nana, Mom, me & Sylvia
Photobucket
cutie
Photobucket
my little cousins... Ty, Wesley, Lydia & Josh
Photobucket
Brian and I with our little muchkins!
Photobucket


Brian and I took L & J to Chuck E Cheese this past weekend-- a tradition we are happy to uphold whenever my family comes into town (I wonder when they'll grow out of it... haha) Here are a few fun pictures from our visit:

Photobucket
winners!
Photobucket
Brian and the muchkins
Photobucket
me and my little Obama supporter ;)
Photobucket
Josh and his favorite game-- "Sponge Bob"-- it's an addiction
Photobucket
:)
Photobucket
woo hoo!
Photobucket
the motion machine
Photobucket
they made out pretty well
Photobucket
victorious!
Photobucket

I love my little munchies... see you in the summer!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Home Sweet Home... finally!

Many apologies for taking SO long to post about our new house! It took us forever to decorate and get around to taking pictures that were worth posting... but here it is... our first home! :)

On July 15th, we officially closed escrow on our townhouse! The sellers rented back from us until the 25th because they needed more time to get into their new house, and as soon as they were gone, the renovations began! We wanted to wait until we had the house together to blog, because we thought it would be fun to post before and after pictures-- especially for those of you who may not get a chance anytime soon to come see the house.

*A big thank you goes out to Sandy, who worked for us pro-bono! haha Pays to know people in high places :) She helped us find and buy furniture, and arranged ALL of the work we had done on the house... and man, was there a lot to do! We did more work than we planned, but that is much thanks to Sandy, because with her help we were able to get more for our money... and all the work was done within 3 weeks! So thanks Sandy, for being our 24 hour on-call interior designer, problem solver, and go-to gal! :) (And also to Sandy and my dad for letting us be their temporary roomies for a few months!)*

We officially moved into our house on August 23, 2008!

In a nutshell, the work we did was: scraped the ceilings (got rid of the popcorn), replaced the flooring everywhere except for the kitchen and bathrooms, re-tiled the fireplace, re-tiled the entry/step, remodeled the kitchen cabinets and countertops, replaced the lighting in all the bathrooms, painted the bathroom cabinets, painted every single wall in the house (+ the ceilings), replaced the railing on the wall going up the stairs, replaced the baseboards in the kitchen, and replaced the old fluorescent lighting in the kitchen with recessed lights... and then we topped that all off with all new furniture everywhere except for the guest bedroom! Whew! Thanks to all that, we are living on a very tight budget now, but it was worth it... we have a beautiful home that we're very proud of, and one we are looking forward to starting our family in!


Now for the main purpose of this blog entry... the BEFORE & AFTER pictures!

KITCHEN (yeah, there's no way we could've lived with this! haha)
Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket
(everything was covered in plastic while the ceilings were being scraped)
Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket

MUCH better!! we love our little kitchen


DINING ROOM (flows from kitchen)

(what it looked like when the sellers lived there)
Photobucket
Photobucket

LIVING ROOM & FIREPLACE (boring!)
Photobucket
(what it looked like before the sellers moved out)
Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket
what a mess...
Photobucket


ENTRY STEP (parquet wood floor = no go)
Photobucket
in process
Photobucket


WALL BETWEEN MASTER BEDROOM & GUEST ROOM (aka the "Ketubah wall")
Photobucket
Photobucket

MASTER BEDROOM

(when the sellers lived there)
Photobucket