Let’s face it. I pretty much wish I was born in 1934 like my grandparents so I could have lived through mid-century America.

I have been waiting my whole life (not an exaggeration) for mid-century style to come back.

I got a new soundtrack on CD the other day — Promises, Promises — and I really love the album design. It’s a musical based on the 1960s movie The Apartment, and so has a delicious mid-century feel.

love love

Add that to … I have been thinking about the direction I want the design of Lemon and Raspberry to go.

The site officially launched in May, with a free Wordpress template that I customized to the best of my limited ability, with photos I took of lemons and raspberries for the visuals.

I’ve also got an ebook half written, with the layout roughly started by my marketing partner, and I’m aiming for a mid-September release.

So, yeah, I should start thinking about what I want to do design-wise for real.

Vintage-inspired, mid-century awesomeness.

So I thought that a mid-century, vintage inspired branding of Lemon and Raspberry would be so fun! Something that *feels* contemporary (not old/vintage) but still inspired by mid-century style.

In order to get some ideas of what I like, I thought the best place to look for mid-century contemporary design was probably Vintage Ad Browser.

Good-bye hours and hours of my life.

I literally only got about 1/3 through 1 decade of 1 category.

This is going to take awhile ….

Here are some fun ones (all from the 1950s):

I started with the travel ads (love) and got more ideas for more projects ….

How much fun would it be to use vintage ads for a location in your scrapbook/travel journal for a trip?!

Like this one when you go to Oregon, or this one when you go to Switzerland, or the Arizona Biltmore or this other one for your trip to the Bahamas (Kaitlin)?

Fun ephemera to stick in whenever you need a transition, or as background to journaling or a title page …

But wait! there’s more!

TWA had this fantastic series of ads …. all with the exact same layout but with different stories …

[View with PicLens]

And, my personal favorite …. Southern California:

SoCal vintage ad (1950s)

I even found one for Rome …. And I’m sure I can find one for London and maybe even Alaska (next year’s vacation)

Super excited to set aside a Saturday to just immerse myself …. There are so so so so sso oooo many vintage ads uploaded to this site! I can’t wait!

Vintage Ad Browser

Take a look!

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Today I have a guest post up at My Sundry Musings – a blog friend of mine (Catherine) who is taking herself on an Hawaiian vacation and asked me to fill in a post for her!

So fun … (so jealous)

I’ve blogged 5 tips for better summer vacation photos! Take a look, leave a comment and let me know if you have questions!

Although, they DID perform at the Hollywood Bowl (waaay back in 1964-5 I think) …. And recorded an album (The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl)

(video below … blame the poor sound quality on the legions of crazy fans)

Last Saturday, we ALSO saw the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl – or, rather, a Beatles tribute concert ….

My parents, grandmother and great-aunt all came out from Phoenix for the weekend to attend the Hollywood Bowl. Also along for the ride, my uncle/aunt/kids who live in Santa Clarita (that side of the family has a long history of summertime-Bowl attendance).

If you’ve never been to the Hollywood Bowl …. it is no ordinary concert venue.

For one, it is an amphitheater. Huge outdoor seating area.

We were a bit nervous when the sky started POURING rain as soon as we got off the freeway … but it stopped relatively quickly and our seats weren’t even wet.

There’s kind of a tradition of picnicking at the Bowl. The fancy schmancy seats are boxed in areas WITH table to sit and eat dessert/wine/etc DURING the concert …. But everyone else just gets there early and parks somewhere on the premises with their picnic blanket and cooler.

We brought take-out from my favorite place (Tomato Patch), along with wine, water, sodas, and about 14 different kinds of sweets …

The show started at 8:30p ….. Just after sunset.

Andrew got there about 8:28p (he was at work)

Ted, Kristi and and Lucas got there about 8:38p (they were at Lucas’s basketball game)

First of all, you should know that I love (love love love love love) strings, and having the LA Philharmonic play with these Beatles songs was just fantastic. Makes my heart soar with the eagle’s nest

The concert was set up w/ 5 different vocalists … including Brian Stokes Mitchell (love him) and Todd Rundgren (Andrew loves him). ….

The vocalists were from every genre : jazz/pop, soul, rock, Broadway, and dirty old rockstar.

The whole gamut.

Which means a huge range of Beatles songs were covered.

(Todd Rundgren dressed up for ‘Mr. Kite’)

At the end, all 5 artists came on stage for the big finale numbers:

Let it Be (prompting the lighters/cell phones seen in the images below) and Hey, Jude.

The Beatles are the best …. if only one of them had been there …

P.S. I’m going back in a couple weeks …

With all my heart.

Last year I got to go to 2 (TWO) musicals at Pantages — because Julie wanted to go and needed a date, I guess

Then, for Christmas she gave me a gift certificate for the Pantages.

And I hyperventilated a little bit…..

And then strategically planned how I was going to get to see one of my top choices on a weekend (since I work nights) that Andrew could also go.

No small feat, I assure you.

But !!  We did it!

In the Heights is playing right now and it was HIGH on my list of shows to see …. One girl I went to high school with (and understudied) was in the original cast, it won all kinds of Tony awards AND I recently got the soundtrack so was at least moderately familiar with the music ….

Thursday of last week we drove down to Hollywood (had to buy directly from the box office rather than online) …. consulted a bit with the theater employee helping us. …

We had originally planned to go to the Sunday matinee (cheaper), but he told us that Lin-Manuel Miranda wasn’t performing in the matinee.

I don’t know how much more we paid to see him, but it was SOOO worth it!

Lin-Manuel Miranda is the creator and STAR of the show In the Heights….. And I’m a *little* bit in love with him …

SO, Sunday night we got all gussied up and drove down to Hollywood to see In the Heights ….

And, honestly, I cried.

I *felt like crying* just from the pure joy in seeing a real, live, professional musical (oh yes, a professional production is MUCH different than community theater) …. But I was able to hold back those tears. I got a rep’ to protect. (10 points if you know what that is quoting).

But *did* cry at a certain moving point in the show … because it was just so fantastic.

For reals, y’all. I listened to the (2-disc) soundtrack about 3x on Monday.

So glad we got to see it …. So glad Andrew loved it (almost) as much as I did …. So glad Lin-Manuel will be reprising his role in the still-in-development movie of In the Heights.

I can’t afford to buy my own tickets, but if anyone needs a date, I am more than willing to go again!

P.S. Next year we want to see Avenue Q!! Or Hair. Or West Side Story. Or Spring Awakening.

We really like where we live and all the food options around us …. I figured I should narrow it down somehow, so for now just the top 5 favorite restaurants ON Ventura Blvd NEAR us …. Otherwise this list could go on forever….

P.S. When you come visit us we’ll take you to any one of these places.

Top 5 Favorites

My favorite restaurants on Ventura Blvd (in no particular order)

• Tomato Patch – Fresh fresh salads, sandwiches and soup. The kind of place where the cute old lady immigrant mother of the owner is the one in the back chopping up the vegetables. I could eat here every day.
• Fabrocini’s – Italian hole-in-the-wall restaurant. So so good.
• CiCi’s Cafe - Kind of a diner, but fresher. They have about 1600 items on their menu. And Andrew is determined to order each one at least once.
• Chelo’s – surprisingly, the only real Mexican restaurant close by that we have found and liked. And it’s only open for lunch on weekdays. But their tortilla chips are homemade, and if you were to sprinkle just a little bit of cinnamon/sugar on them I would be set for dessert.
• The Stand – Hot dogs, hamburgers, gourmet sausages. They have live Jazz on Sunday afternoons and this darling little garden area to eat in.

Honorable Mentions

• Pho So – Technically not on Ventura. But very close. Vietnamese. I don’t even know what the full name of the restaurant is. But it’s lovely. Fresh and tasty and inexpensive.
• Menchie’s – technically lot a restaurant … but we love going there anyway.

I saw my brother over the weekend.

He quit his job in Meridian, Mississippi to take another job.

He’s got a couple weeks in between jobs and came out to Arizona to see our parents and move out all his belongings.

Why is he moving all his belongings to AZ? To a storage unit?

Because his new job is overseas.

Kevin’s new job is with a small company that holds government contracts.

My little brother is now a government contractor.

For the war in Afghanistan.

Of all things.

Mid-July he goes to Baltimore to train for 4-6 weeks …. then after that to Afghanistan.

He’s volunteering to go over there for some obscene amount of money …

He’ll work 3 months on then get 1 month off. Then 3 months on and one month off.

And for tax reasons, he’s not planning on coming back to the states for those months off.

Instead he’ll be traveling the world.

Jerk.

A month off in Costa Rica, or Ireland or New Zealand or South Africa.

Must be nice.

And he’s planning on living this life for a couple years, and then …. ??

(images from Sedona 2008)

Our last day on the cruise …

Once again, the other girls were out until 5a or so, while I went to bed at a reasonable Midnight the night before.

Which means when I woke up, got showered, left, ate breakfast and was out on the pool deck by 9:30a – I was pretty much the only one there …..

Except for the families with little kids. Which, by the way, why on earth would you bring a 6 year old on a party cruise? No idea.

So, Sunday morning was lovely and overcast and even a little bit cold …. I sat up on the pool deck and read my trashy true crime for several hours. All by myself. … It was lovely!

After a few hours I went back down to the cabin to get some socks and put on jeans (I had been wearing a dress). It was just too cold!

Then back up to the deck for lunch and more reading …. but this time I ran into the other bridesmaids …

Up by the pool, they had a ‘hairiest chest’ contest. So, um. That was cool.

I had what I think was the best meal of the weekend : Mongolian BBQ from the pool-side grill. I finally got my fill of vegetables ..

But around 2p or so it started to get too sunny for me.

I am NOT a sunbather (can you tell?) … and too much heat makes me feel sick. So, what did I do?

I embraced hanging out by myself for the day and went back into our cabin to read (and/or nap) ….

visited by Kaitlin …. and my cabin mates …

… and a nice, peaceful afternoon ….

Until Heather came back to the cabin.

She sings loudly and not too well when she’s been drinking

Sunday night before dinner we did a little lingerie shower for Kaitlin in one of the lounges ….

And Kaitlin gifted the rest of us with super cute, personalized glasses and some other goodies …

Sweet girl.

“diamond” ring shot glasses …

On to dinner …. more dancing (Macarena) and entertainment by the waiters …

AND! THEN!

GUESS WHAT I DID!

That’s right. I went to bed. Around 1130p or so.

Big big partier.

We had to be out of our cabin by 8a on Monday morning … and I like sleep …

Again, the other girls were out til God knows how long.

On Monday morning, I was taking something over to Kaitlin’s cabin … and when I got to the door their alarm was still going off. And apparently had been for close to 10 minutes.

So I pounded on the door to wake them up.

Yea, I’m not really afraid of annoying people that way.

But, I had to pound so long and so hard that I bruised my hand.

True story.

The end.

]]> http://thosecrazyschuberts.com/2010/06/mexico-cruise-sunday.html/feed 1 http://thosecrazyschuberts.com/2010/06/mexico-cruise-saturday.html http://thosecrazyschuberts.com/2010/06/mexico-cruise-saturday.html#comments Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:43:39 +0000 Amy http://thosecrazyschuberts.com/?p=9908 Saturday of our cruise was “in port” in Ensenada, Mexico.

Since many of our fellow cruisers were off the ship, breakfast/pool deck/etc was delightfully un-crowded.

We all got up, ate, and took our sweet time about it …

Getting off the ship, there is a little building *right* away to buy junk souvenirs. Shot glasses, magnets, sun glasses, etc. There’s also a shuttle to take you into town if you don’t want to walk …

The shuttle dropped us off in this dingy run down parking lot/alley … just a couple blocks away from this metropolitan center (sense the sarcasm):

OK. Again. This is NOT a *real* cruise. This 3-day-to-Ensenada cruise is just a 3 day party.

Ensenada is apparently only in existence to take money from American tourists. Everyone speaks English. Everyone takes U.S. dollars. Everyone is *hustling* to get your attention and get your money.

I guess I can say that I’ve been to Mexico now, but not really. I want to go to REAL Mexico … old colonial sites and broken attempts at Spanish and such.

We went to Papas & Beer and got these (extremely watered-down) margaritas …. Maria, Sarah and Kaitlin got shots too …. and Heather, Nichole and Cambria were hounded by street vendors. Ah, tourism

We ended up back on the ship after maybe only an hour or so in port …. And I spent the afternoon reading on deck …

Lovely. Really, all I want to do is read …

Dinner Saturday night was “formal” night …. although all the girls (except me) were dressing up nice each night …

Friday night, Katie got a table-neighbor to promise to buy us all shots if she got up and danced with the waiters (that may sound crazy, but you’ll see when you go on a cruise. The wait staff in the dining room is ALWAYS entertaining us with choreography) …

So Saturday night, they delivered 16 ‘lemon drops’ (15 for us, and one for Katie’s new friend) …. Pretty sure this is limoncello and a little bit of sugar, because it tasted like gasoline.

I didn’t drink mine.

After dinner … we went to see a stand-up comedian in one of the lounges …

The bridesmaids got us all these black/pink boas to wear (I love a good diva-boa)! And we found pink feathers EVERYWHERE the next day

Like I mentioned before, there were many many more bachelorette parties on the cruise. We did boas, these girls did wigs! Super cute …

The comedian (I forget his name) was *kind of* funny … Really he was more angry at his ex-wife and made all kinds of anti-marriage jokes. Which I don’t really find funny.

But I’m happily married, so maybe it’s just me.

Um, and then, guess what I did!

That’s right! I went to bed … around midnight …. and everyone else was out til 3 or 5a again ….

But I got a good night sleep …. which is really one of my favorite things

A couple weeks ago, I went on a 3-day cruise with Kaitlin, a bunch of her friends and cousins to celebrate Kaitlin’s bachelorette-ness…

FYI: For those of you who have never been on a cruise, this is NOT what most cruises are like. Every other cruise, no matter the cruise line, has a much older clientele, stops at ports and serves as an actual vacation. Not a 3-day-party-on-a-ship. I made Heather and Nichole both promise they’d go on a *real* cruise someday …

The Lido deck (deck 10 almost at the top) is where the cafeteria/grill is, where the pool lives along with this crazy water slide ….

I shared teeny tiny window-less cabin with Andrew’s cousins Nichole (pictured below), Heather and Cambria…

Some of the girls tried to sneak alcohol in with their luggage, but I don’t know why they bothered …literally *as soon as* Katie hit Lido Deck these guys were there ready to buy her a drink ….

While wandering around (and killing time on) the ship Friday afternoon, we came upon the main theater/stage …. that happened to be deserted and just asking for some goofy photos …

And while we were wandering around …. some of the other girls were decorating Katie’s cabin …

We had the *late* dinner (8:10p), and everyone cleaned up so nicely … Heather bought/made veils for Kaitlin to wear to dinner all 3 nights – because every bride needs ATTENTION!

Unfortunately, Katie was one of maybe 10 or 12 bachelorettes on the cruise…. so she had to share the attention with other brides willing to wear underwear on their head …

After dinner, we stopped by karaoke, and then on to the dance club.

…. Ah, yes, the dance club where I only stayed for about 20 minutes because I don’t really dance, I don’t drink, I don’t like getting hit on by strangers, and it was getting hot.

I like reading in bed and falling asleep ….

I’m such an old lady …. I think the others stayed out til 3a or 5a !