Remember when he was born?

He LOVES Mickey Mouse, so Kaitlin had no trouble picking a theme for the party …

We got there late-ish (traffic. Boo) …. When the party was in full swing and Joey was reaching the end of his rope.

I love the idea of doing a collection of Baby’s First Year – especially in Maggie’s style.

Here are the highlights, but be sure you click through (the subheaders or the images) for the full blog posts and [...]]]> My friend-boss Maggie has spent the last year taking regular portraits of my favorite little 1-yr-old.

I love the idea of doing a collection of Baby’s First Year – especially in Maggie’s style.

Here are the highlights, but be sure you click through (the subheaders or the images) for the full blog posts and images of this little cutie.

Intimate Maternity portraits:

Newborn portraits:

Three-months:

Six-months:

Nine-months:

And we’re scheduled to take his 1-year portraits in a couple weeks!

SUCH a cutie!

love this kid

(and be sure you hit up Maggie for your own first year baby collection)

Check out the original BEFORE & AFTER here

Now, 1 year later, how do we like it?

I LOVE:

All of our color/style choices still. [...]]]> So, we’ve lived in our house (Schubert HQ) since March 2012 …. but our kitchen wasn’t finished until May 2012.

Check out the original BEFORE & AFTER here

Now, 1 year later, how do we like it?

I LOVE:

All of our color/style choices still. I love the warm cabinets with the stainless steel. I love the dark countertop and motley floor (so easy to hide the dirt)

I love the oven/stove that Fernando picked out for us

I love the sink/faucet

I love the big window and all the natural light this room gets.

I don’t love but I will live with:

How easily the countertop and floor hide the dirt. I’m SURE we don’t clean as often as we should

That I don’t have *quite* enough cupboard space. This pile of pans in the corner has been there since we unpacked. I think I need to do some rearranging to make it all fit.

That snack food on the counter doesn’t fit in the pantry, really. Need to work on that too.

Plus we have a whole extra cart of appliances in the dining room (crockpot, blender, Kitchen Aid, etc) that doesn’t really fit in the kitchen.

There’s not REALLY any good floor space for the cats’ food bowls either. And they need to be on the tile because the girls like to play with their water and I don’t want it spilled and sitting on the wood floors.

Other changes I want to make:

I think the room needs some kind of bright (red) artwork on that wall between the door and the window

I want to hang some kind of basket (I’d love to make one out of a vintage metal colander) to hold onions and potatoes and that kind of thing.

I’d like to replace the lighting eventually, but it doesn’t bother me a ton.

But I do love my view out the window …. even if our backyard is a wreck.

What’s your favorite bits of your kitchen?

I read about the Annenberg Beach House YEARS ago in a little blurb in Vanity Fair ….and sine then I’ve been just waiting for a reason to go.

From their website:

The Annenberg Community Beach House at Santa [...]]]> A few weeks ago, I assisted Maggie on a photo shoot at the Annenberg Beach House.

I read about the Annenberg Beach House YEARS ago in a little blurb in Vanity Fair ….and sine then I’ve been just waiting for a reason to go.

From their website:

The Annenberg Community Beach House at Santa Monica State Beach is a public facility located on 5 acres of oceanfront property. The Beach House story is one of evolution from private to public, starting with the development of the property at 415 Pacific Coast Highway as an opulent private estate in the 1920s.

Go read the full history of it ….. The property started out as Marion Davies’s private home. Can you IMAGINE living right on the beach like that? I want to read all kinds of mid-century Hollywood histories!

Today, the Annenberg Beach House is gorgeous and relaxing … I believe you need to make an appointment to swim in the pool, but otherwise its free to park, free to visit, free to hang out on the long boardwalk in front of it.

Check out some photos from our afternoon ..

My drive is about 1 hour each way. Often more because of traffic. The drive to work is about 35 miles, along one of the most obnoxious freeways in Los Angeles. Which means that is 35-miles-of-potential for car accidents or [...]]]> I like to listen to podcasts … A lot.. Because I drive A LOT.

My drive is about 1 hour each way. Often more because of traffic. The drive to work is about 35 miles, along one of the most obnoxious freeways in Los Angeles. Which means that is 35-miles-of-potential for car accidents or mattresses on the freeway or road construction.

Almost always road construction.

Each night at work, I have to check the Metro website to find out what on ramps are open. Every night. I literally cannot get on the freeway to get home without checking this online resource (which is not always updated correctly).

And then by the time I finally get on the freeway, lanes are closed right and left.

So, yea. I spend a lot of time in the car and have a lot of time to listen to podcasts.

I subscribe to a bunch and then listen to all the archives of one of the shows for a few months, and then switch and listen to a few months of archives for another …. I think I might be addicted. .. I keep subscribing to more and more…. I have marketing and photography and storytelling and science podcasts and on and on and on…

Many (many) of them are not specifically arty, creative, and all …. But I still love them.

Here are my 10 top suggestions for some non-crafty, non-arty podcasts to inspire you in new ways!

This American Life:

I’m going to be blunt. If you consider yourself a storyteller of any kind you MUST listen to this podcast.

Also, I mean, hello? Ira Glass!? In love with him.

This podcast/radio show appeals to my cultural studies interests. They’re such beautiful snapshots of someone’s American life.

In the highly unlikely instance that you have never heard of This American Life, each week’s hour-long show loosely centers on a particular theme. The theme of the show is explored in several “acts,” usually two to five. 2 to 5 stories that each look at different angles of that week’s theme. Themes include ‘Prom,’ ‘Fear of Sleep,’ and ‘Switched at Birth.’

Ira Glass and the other producers are such amazing storytellers. This show genuinely makes me love America. This show makes me want to write. This show makes me want to interview strangers and hear about their stories.

One day I will get up the guts to pitch a story to This American Life. …. and then one day (long) after that, I may actually get my story ON the show!

How Stuff Works:

How Stuff Works is actually a website that produces several podcasts (as complementary to their website content) …. Specifically I subscribe to Stuff You Should Know, Stuff You Missed in History Class and Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know. There are also a TON more podcasts from How Stuff Works that I want to look into. I learn so many things I would have never otherwise have found the time to research on my own!

Stuff you Should Know was the first one I listened to … It’s very sciency and fascinating. The hosts (Josh and Chuck) have such a cute little bromance going, they are so entertaining!

Stuff you Missed in History Class is close to my heart – I love history. Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know is a short, weekly video podcast about conspiracy theories – fascinating!

I kind of wish I lived in Atlanta so I could work for HowStuffWorks.com.

RadioLab:

RadioLab reminds me of a cross between This American Life (1 hour program, broken into 3 or 4 different related stories) and Stuff You Should Know (sciency, non-fiction, etc). Super interesting.

The first few seasons need a better editor…. but all-in-all this podcast is quite enjoyable.

I even learned about String Theory and UNDERSTOOD IT while listening to one of these episodes!

Miraculous, I tell you. I am not a science-girl by any stretch of the imagination.

NPR’s Planet Money:

I first heard about this relatively new NPR show by listening to This American Life. The Planet Money staff did an episode called “The Giant Pool of Money” and I learned so much about global economics. …. So I immediately subscribed to the Planet Money podcast.

Obviously.

This is a podcast that started right about the time the entire global meltdown happened (August or September 2008). The brilliance of this podcast is the anchors and reporters were NOT economics reporters when they started, so when they tackle the basic basics…. it really is basic. Learning along with them made economics completely approachable.

I learned about credit default swaps; I learned about toxic assets; I learned about the international manufacturing industries. I learned about the economics of schools in Haiti; I learned about foreclosures in Spain; I learned about Alexander Hamilton’s vision for United States debt.

If you decide to subscribe to Planet Money, I would recommend starting at the beginning beginning. So fascinating!

Travel with Rick Steves:

If you don’t know who Rick Steves is, you probably have never been to Europe.

I’m not exactly his target audience (*cough* baby boomers *cough*), but I still love him.

He has his PBS television show, his guidebooks and this radio show/podcast.

His shows are all about an hour long and usually cover 2-3 topics. He’ll have his guide-friends on for an interview, or take calls from listeners with questions or even interview writers of travel-type books (like Road Trip USA which I love)

The only problem I have with Rick Steves’ podcast, every time I listen to one of these shows I have to add another vacation or trip to my “one day” list.   It’s an OK problem to have, though… I never would have thought about going to Slovenia without Rick Steves!

So in February I finally got around to checking out some places on Yelp! to make us both eye appointments.

We ended up going to Santa Clarita Family Optometry with Dr. Mikhail

She was fantastic and her whole staff was awesome – nice [...]]]> Neither Andrew or I have had our eyes checked in YEARS.

So in February I finally got around to checking out some places on Yelp! to make us both eye appointments.

We ended up going to Santa Clarita Family Optometry with Dr. Mikhail

She was fantastic and her whole staff was awesome – nice and knowledgeable. I would highly recommend Dr. Mikhail if you are in the market for glasses and all.

It’s a small little store front on Valencia Blvd (same shopping center as Whole Foods).

Everyone was nice, and we of course got what we went in for but here’s what I love specifically …

…. after my eye exam, comparing my new prescription to my previous one (from December 2007), Dr. Mikhail more or less said I didn’t need new glasses if I didn’t want them. She didn’t push any sales or make me feel like I HAD to do anything.

(I did end up getting new glasses because the prescription was different enough to help and my work paid for them, but that was totally my own choice and not because she or any of her staff made me feel like I needed them).

Zach helped me pick out the frames (and was really awesome about getting to know my style right away to help me find the right ones for my face and that I would feel comfortable in).

My prescription is very mild, and I really only would need it when watching a movie with subtitles or driving some place unfamiliar at night.

But I’m still glad I got them …