The L.A. Dime

Time to get those bangs trimmed again! This time we actually did some research to find a place that specializes in kids…I know, I know…something we should have done earlier. In any case, walking into Lollicut this evening immediately made us feel like Sophie was in good hands. There were lots of cars and trains and trucks as “chairs”, the walls were painted with a beautiful scenery and the best part (for Sophie anyway) was that Nemo was on tv!! Sophie even got a fancy new hair style with 2 bows, a little envelope with the hair clippings and a certificate showing this “accomplishment”. The parting gift was a balloon which we had to release shortly thereafter as it caused much frustration for our little one in her attempts to “hug the baboon”.

Just to refresh your memory on her previous hair cut experiences, below is a quick flashback to haircut # 1 (with Atila, Dada’s hair master), haircut # 2 (at SuperCuts which made Sophie look like the doll Mathilda for 2 months) and finally, haircut # 3….not too shabby for $9.

Our to-do list had been growing for many weeks and Father’s Day weekend was when we decided to make a big dent in it. Brad had the idea of turning our upstairs patio into a play area for Sophie. So off we went to OSH & Toys-R-Us to purchase plants for some flower boxes and a sandbox. We also got a frog-swimming pool which will come in quite handy during those 100+ degree temps we are sure to experience in the next couple of weeks.

He pressure-cleaned the patio, set it all up, added a humming-bird feeder, some hanging plants and a table to write/enjoy his cup-o-joe-from-the-fancy-new-machine. Sophie squealed with delight when we finally let her try it all out and has been spending an hour or so every day playing in the sand since then.

Sophie and I thanked Dada for the wonderful father he is by finally getting his windows tinted…something he’d been asking for for many months and now believes has added at least 30% of “coolness” to his Zoom-Zoom.

As of today, Road Trip – Beer Pong is officially available to be saved in your Netflix Queue.  I assume it is available at Blockbuster, too, for you blue and gold types.  It is vitally important that you add the movie to your Queue.  Our entire way of life totally depends on it.  I mean, everyone should, of course, buy his or her own personal copy at 12:00 AM on August 11th, but in the meantime, storing the movie in your queue would significantly impact Sophie’s chances of attending college.

And while you’re queuing it up, please make sure to give it 5 stars!  Thanks, I know you’ll do the right thing.

We were invited to Santa Monica on Sunday to celebrate Father’s Day with Mark, Nancy, Ben, Roberto and batch of delicious homemade taquitos.  After chowing down, the kids got to playing, and before we knew it, Sophie had taken a header straight into the corner of an apple box, earning her first shiner.

Photo documentation below, including a bonus eye-booger.

Dada and Bophie headed to the park this morning where the one thing that she talks about as soon as she recognizes where she is and loves the most right now (the “ming”, aka: swing) was broken. Dada did his best to explain that because the swing was broken, Sophie wouldn’t be able to use it today. He did his best to distract her and all she could do was stare and try to process. After about 5 minutes, she turned her back, started to walk away and has said “broken ming” every 3 minutes since then. All afternoon…and into the evening. Even when Dada told her in the car: “Sophie, I love you”, she responded with: “broken ming”.

In other, and much, much happier news, our dear friends Mark & Faleena finally got to meet their baby girl last night. Caitlin Marie was born at 10:44pm, weighing 8lbs, 1oz and is doing great. We had the pleasure of meeting her today — she looked us right in the eye and through her hiccups, let us know that she was going to be a lot of fun to be around. Congrats you guys!!

This is what we heard Sophie say over and over while enjoying our breakfast on the patio this morning. Over the past two weeks, she has turned her so-far-single-words into short, but consistent phrases like: “hallo mama/dada”, “big ball”, “baby fall down”, “bye-bye dog”,  “no cry baby”, “____ all gone” and “mama/dada’s shoes”. She’s also added some new words like “octopus”, “broccoli”,”airfart” (airplane), “eat”, “mami” (salami), “turkey”, “heim” (home) and “box”.
The most exciting development over the past few days however is that she can now say her name!! While it’s mostly “Ophie”, she’ll say it when you ask her what her name is or who she is. For the longest time we thought she thought her name was “baby” so we’re thrilled to hear her say her real name.
Below are some pics from Mom-Mom’s visit, her new hat (that she actually wants to wear) and taking a rest from playing.

Almost everyday, I get my afternoon news from NPR’s All Things Considered — a national radio show carried locally on KCRW.  It’s been a pocket dream of mine to somehow get on that show someday.  Well, on Tuesday, while I wasn’t mentioned directly, my movie Road Trip – Beer Pong was featured on the show in a rather ignominious story about one of our principal locations, Agnes Scott College.  You can read the full story here:  http://tinyurl.com/kjtzjp

This past Monday marked 7 years of marriage for us. Brad surprised me with a fabulous new desk that I can’t wait to start using for my scrapbooking projects. With Mom-Mom in town for a visit, we were able to have a kid-free date at Katsuya (where we saw Tori & Dean) and walked down memory lane with our favorite moments of that very hot, but beautiful afternoon/evening in Lexington, KY.

After dinner, our dear friends Mark & Faleena stopped by to surprise us with a home-made anniversary gift. They are both incredibly crafty so we couldn’t wait to see what they’d come up with. Inside a very non-descript but cute box, we found this….

…a puzzle that includes adventures and exeriences the two, or four, of us have been on since June 1, 2002!! We are so grateful for their friendship and love this absolutely amazing gift. Here’s to many, many more wonderful years of marriage and perfect anniversaries like this one.

I’ve seen the whole thing. Hell, I wrote it (for better or worse).  Now you can see the trailer for ROAD TRIP — BEER PONG right here!  Holla!  Rumor is that the official release date is August 11.  Save up for your copy so I can get my nickel.