My lovely friend of 14 years came for a visit a few weeks ago (so, I'm super behind on blogging). It was so wonderful to catch up and spend time with her. If there ever was such a thing as soul mates, I'm pretty sure we are. ^^Pike Place ^^ Chihuly Garden and Glass was so amazing. And those BLANKETS...! ^^ Trip to the Capitol Hill Farmers' Market. ^^ P.S. I made those shoes. Pretty darn proud of myself too ;) ^^ Bunheads forever ^^ Topped off with a WHOLE lotta silliness. Love you, my dear Rachel.
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In this blur of a month I've neglected the blog, for which I am not sorry, but because of which you'll be bombarded with photos. Our stuff finally arrived from Salt Lake, and we spent the entire weekend unpacking, organizing, and getting all nesty which has been so amazing and our house is finally starting to feel like home. Jon and I spent the fourth of July weekend in Island park, where my grandparents have the most peaceful, relaxing cabin. It's the type of place that has me itching to sit around campfires, and go hiking, and eat some fudge and saltwater taffy all year long. And it's the type of place that would elicit this sort of interaction: Dad: "Kids, what's been your favorite vacation that we've ever been on?" (hint hint: Africa would be the correct answer, as we were on our flight home during this conversation.) Austin, frankly and without hesitation: "The cabin." Sorry Dad. Anyway. It was a lovely trip and just exactly what I needed. Some quality time with my pops and grandpa and aunt and uncle, and dear friend Rachel. That being said, it was a tough trip too. My first time there without my grandma. Gosh, I miss her. I miss her so much. She kind of made the cabin, you know? Probably you don't know. But it was weird without her, and just not quite the same. But nonetheless, it was still a lovely trip, and here is a bit of proof that I was there: ^^Rachel captured some real good ones of me ;) The photos below were taken from a moving vehicle. So not bad, considering... ^^Just your typical acid pit. Over and out.
The first month we were in LA, we didn't have any visitors. Not a one. And then randomly, it was like every person we knew decided to come to LA for the weekend. I swear they planned it or something. It made for a super busy, but super fun weekend. We started the weekend off with some friends from Salt Lake, who were traveling through on tour. We met up with them on Saturday evening, so see Nick's show. He was dressed as a beetle, and he was great. Then we had a night full of drive-thru shenanigans and catching up. On Sunday, we all went to the Getty, and then on and I got to seem him play for the second night in a row! I even got my hair cut on a street corner after the show! On Monday, I was able to visit with a dear friend from Maryland, who helped guide me through my years of teenage angst. Props to her! Later that night I met up with the family I used to nanny for, and we had a lovely dinner at disneyland! I sure do miss those kids... Then to top it off, I went to visit my mom and aunts and grandma who were girls trippin it up in Newport Beach. We had tons of fun doing pilates on the beach, chatting, and shopping. Isn't my grandma the cutest? And thennnnn, Jon and I moved into a new apartment in Los Feliz (which, let me tell you, is pronounced los fee-liss, though I refuse to say it like that). Our move out day rolled around and of course it was a torrential downpour. So yay! We got to move out of one 2nd story place in the rain and into another 2nd story place in the rain. But wait, it gets better. Because as Jon was going to pull the car up, and I was inside packing, I got a phone call. "I have some bad news," Jon said, the bad news pertaining to our car being broken into. No worries that we had a backseat full of glass and a portal into our car, that was seeming to say "Hey rain! Come on in, and soak all our stuff." This was followed by a million hours of hectic running around. We needed to vacuum the glass out of the car before we could load all our stuff into it, but we didn't have time to vacuum because we had a meeting scheduled for 2:00 with the housekeeper to get the keys to our new place, so we got the keys and headed to the car vacuum place, but then as luck would have it, we got a call from our old roommates letting us know that someone was moving into our room any minute, so we had to rush back to the old place and get all of our stuff out of the room, but we needed to get to the window fixing place before it closed for the weekend, so we just dumped our stuff in the living room and drove back to exactly where we just were, got the window fixed, vacuumed out the glass, and then drove back to exactly where we just were before, got our stuff out of the living room and loaded it into our car (in the pouring rain), and then drove again back to exactly where we just were to unload the stuff into our new place (again, in the pouring rain). Luckily, the next day was so much better. I mean, in comparison, anything was really better. And luckily, nothing was stolen from our car (despite the fact that we had a VALET KEY in there, and they could've stolen the car itself). As far as thieves go, this one was pretty considerate I guess. Didn't take the car. Didn't take anything out of the car. Broke the smallest window possible. And most importantly, didn't take Jon's rocks. Phew. Here's our new place! Sweet building, no? I think everyone could use a good denim raincoat, really. Though let's be clear, it most certainly does not do its job. In fact, It retains water probably better than anything else I own.
Over the weekend, I celebrated my 24th birthday! And oh, did Jon make it such an amazing one! I had figured that he would probably be working on my birthday, so when I asked about his work schedule for the week and if he'd have it off, he replied "Of course. I told the hospital I couldn't work that day. I put it in the contract." So sweet, right? I kind of wait all year for my birthday, and Jon handles the pressure really well. The festivities continued all weekend leading up to my birthday. On saturday, we went bike shopping and enjoyed these beautiful views along the way. There was a particular bike I wanted, but I knew it wasn't in the price range and I couldn't find a used one anywhere in Los Angeles. I told Jon that a cheaper bike would be just great and that I would still love it. But as we went from bike shop to snooty bike shop, I just couldn't find anything that worked. And right as I was about to give up, Jon said, "I'm taking us to one more place ok?" And there in the window I saw this beautiful white Linus bike. Just the one I wanted, though I knew it was brand new and would be full price. Jon insisted that I just test ride it anyway, and the minute I did, I was in love. Well, the stars decided to align for my birthday (because they knew I had had a few rough weeks) and turns out, the bike was on sale! Happy birthday to me! Isn't it pretty? We woke up early Sunday morning to go to the Rose Bowl Flea Market. I could not believe how huge it was! My new favorite thing is Italian imported pizza dough, because it is the only kind of glutenous pizza I can eat! Cheers to Italy and their lack of GMOs! Also, look at that calzone! I laughed out loud when the server brought it to our table. The next morning, on my birthday day, we rode our bikes to get coffee, where we played a little game of chess until we realized that neither of us could win and we gave up and called it a tie. Then we met up with a friend and went to the beach! We grabbed some yummy vegan food on the way, and they even gave me a birthday cupcake that was gluten free, vegan, soy-free, and potato-free (whaaaat?!). And here's a little blooper reel, because we truly took that many bad photos. Enjoy. It was a wonderful weekend! See you next year, birthday.
I'm really hoping to one-up Facebook here, because when I saw my Facebook year in review spiel... If that thing isn't a huge bummer, well then I don't know; I guess you have a cooler, more facebook-involved life than me. So here goes a year in review. My own, better, version. For my birthday, Jon surprised me with a road trip to the Northwest. We went to Boise, Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco to check out places that we were interested in moving to. (*Note: We were not considering Boise haha. It was just on the way. But it was still a cool place. No hard feelings Idahoans.) We really fell in love with all of the cities, but decided that we would try to end up in Portland! I learned to cook! I mean, I NEVER thought I would enjoy cooking. But, let the record show, I made all the above food (and even enjoyed it). I graduated!!! I attended sewing school, worked on a bunch of stuff for 63 Strings, and participated in my first craft fairs! Jon and I were bridesmaid and groomsman in this cute wedding. Look at those cakes! And isn't Jon the cutest?! Just as I got our little condo all decorated and feeling homey, we decided to move to Salt Lake for the summer. It was bittersweet leaving our first newlywed home, where we had shared lots of firsts and good memories, but we were excited to move closer to friends. When we went to lock up the empty apartment, I even cried a little. Totally wasn't expecting that! But the tears were short-lived, because we moved into the coolest house in town. We made the dearest friends, learned about gardening, went to lots and lots of pot lucks, and pretty much just had the best summer ever. My mom and I went to visit my cousin in New York and had a blast exploring the city with her. I had to say goodbye to these cute little munchkins that I had become so close to. That was pretty rough. We went to my cousin's beautiful wedding in October. It was extra cool because Jon and I were able to celebrate our anniversary at the same spot where we were married. The wild animals hosted a Fancy Tooth Benefit Going Away Party Halloween Prom, with turned into a plain old (but super fun) party. I reunited with my beautiful friends back east, and got to spend lots of time with my family. Jon and I went to Europe! We road tripped back to Utah and made it back just in time to ring in the New Year! What a good year it was. Happy 2014!
Our first few weeks after leaving Salt Lake were quite a scramble. After spending some time working in California, Jon joined me back in Maryland just in time for Thanksgiving. We spent the day catching up (and hugging and kissing!) and exploring my old stomping ground of Old Ellicott City. Then for thanksgiving, we drove down with my family to D.C. to meet up with old friends and share some good food. It was my first Thanksgiving back east in 5 years, and I loved it! Yes, this thanksgiving was a good one.
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ELLEfeminist. linguist. traveller. foodie. crafter. ARCHIVES
January 2018
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All photos are the property of Elizabeth Cheney and may not be used without permission.
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