More baby birds

Making the switch, the dad is in the front.



Momma and her 2! babies. The other egg hatched sometime in the last 24 hours.


Climbing in


Puffing up. I don't know if she puffs up because she is trying to look big for me, or if it is for the babies. I assume she is afraid of me and is trying to look as big as possible.


Settled in for the night.

Baby Bird

I was chatting with my dad on the phone this afternoon and he asked about the birds. So I peeked out the window and there was a tiny wet baby bird sitting with her daddy! Amazing.

When the dad switched off with the mom I took the above video. Hopefully the other egg with hatch soon.

I can now tell the difference between the mom and dad bird. They both sit on and feed the baby. When the dad was feeding he kept trying to tuck the other egg back under his body, it was really cute.

The little baby's eyes are still closed, but his down is all fluffy and full. He flaps his little wings when he is eating, so cute.

This has been a great weekend. We had sushi on Friday. We took the boat to Catalina for the day yesterday and this afternoon we watched Juno.

I'll post the Catalina pics later this week

Twins

Yesterday afternoon I heard the bird make some noise. The same noise they'd make when landing when I had seed in the feeder. So I peeked out the window to see what was up. The bird had gotten up to go somewhere and had just returned. There are 2 little eggs in the nest, so we're going to have twins!

I have done a bit of research and it seems the bird is a Mourning Dove. They were nearly eradicated a few years ago, the spotted Chinese dove had pretty much taken over. The spotted dove is not native to SoCal, the mourning dove is. The spotted doves nest high in the trees, making them an easy target for the crows. The crows ate all the spotted dove eggs and slowly the mourning dove has made its way back. They nest closer to the ground and closer to humans, and the crows are afraid of people so they tend to leave the nest alone.

Traditionally they nest in pairs, but there is only room for one bird in the feeder. I'm assuming it is the same bird sitting all the time, but really they could be switching it up and I just can't tell the difference. According to the link below the boy bird sits in the morning and the girl bird in the evening and night.

Mourning doves tend to have about 3 broods a year and return to the same location to nest year after year!

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Mourning_Dove.html

Birdie

A number of years ago my mom and dad gave me a suction-cup window bird feeder. For a long, long time I'd keep it full of seeds and let the birds entertain Chase-er-meow-meow.

Today, while watching a young hoodlum get arrested in the front yard, I notice that rather than bird feed in the feeder there was a BIRD. A lovely dove has made a nest in the feeder. I have long neglected the bird feeder; the cat is dead and the couch is now in front of the window. And I ran out of bird seed ages ago.

It is clear that the bird has eggs in its nest. It sat not moving at all the entire time the guy was being arrested (he was actually not arrested, it was the neighborhood "security ambassadors" who stopped him and gave him a "warning" for 30+ minutes.) She did sit up to rearrange herself and there are some little eggs gestating under the warmth of her belly.

Matt and I discussed her potential names. He'd like to use our future cats name Sir Cattington of Mousingham, but I vetoed and went with Birdie. Ok, so not really a veto, I'm not that cool, he relented.

So Birdie will have baby birds and I will take pictures and share them with you.



Unfortunately the feeder is dirty from age and the winter rains. So no clear pictures though the window.


Chase-er-meow-meow loved the feeder, especially when the Squirrel came to visit.

Summer Concert Series

I love to go see shows at the various outdoor venues in the LA area.

This year we are seeing Beck, Spoon and Mgmt all at one show. I'm super excited for all 3! They are at the Hollywood Bowl towards the end of September.

But it is Death Cab for Cutie that is the show at the top of my list! I bought the new album, Narrow Stairs today. It is so much better than anything they've done in the past. I cannot wait.

Sadly the stupid ticket pimps got all the freaking Radiohead tickets. Assholes. I hate them. Seriously minutes after the pre-sale pre-sale there were 100s of tickets being sold by the brokers available for 9x the face value. I'm just not willing to spend $300 to see them, not worth it.

We will however probably go for a nice drive along the canyon roads surrounding the Bowl to listen to the sounds wafting up to our ears. I am tempted to go and buy a ticket from a scalper, but the last time I witnessed that the tickets were fakes. Man was that guy pissed off. He nearly beat up the guy who had the real tickets for the same seats.


Playboy Jazz festival and at least one or two shows at the Greek are also on the roster.

weekend fun

This morning we went to the Bob Dylan exhibit at the Skirball Center. It was pretty awesome with all sorts of bits and pieces from the first 10 years of his musical career.

Then we went to have lunch. Indian buffet. Yum! I'm not a huge fan of buffet but this one was really good.

This afternoon I turned all my Lush shower jellies into salt scrubs. I have a potent Whoosh heave salt scrub and a Joy of Jelly soft salt scrub. I used the immersion blender on the JOJ so is would be smoother. I can't wait to try them out tomorrow.

Shortly we're going to go over to the carnival. It is a crappy little carnival with an even crappier selection of food. They set it up for the weekend at the park and we rarely miss it.

Friday

This has been a long week. My co-worker and I discussed Wednesday that it felt like the third Monday in a row.

I made reservations at CUT to celebrate our birthdays. I'm super excited they say it is the best steak in town. And Wolfgang Puck actually cooks there! Hopefully someone famous, that I can recognize, will be dining at the table next to us. I'm also excited to ask the waiter all sorts of questions about the Nebraska beef.

I'm really loving this season of Survivor. It was so good yesterday. The girls are wickedly manipulative and those boys fall for it every time. I'm not sure if James would have fallen into their trap, so maybe it is good he left for medical reasons. Those boys will never trust another woman.

LOST was also fantastic last night. So many twists and turns. And WTF is up with Jack/Claire's dad? I'm eager to watch again with Matt this weekend. He came home for the last 5 minutes.

36

I'm 36 today.

I woke up and had a nice happy birthday text from my dad.

At work my co-worker brought me my favorite bagel and a side of cream cheese. There was also a fun birthday mylar balloon. Then my boss brought me two cupcakes! Later in the morning, when my other co-worker arrived I got card signed by all my work friends and a pink and white rose plant to keep in my cube.

Matt also called me from the Stagecoach Festival to give me birthday wishes. This is the first birthday in 11 years that we've been apart. Of course this day is extra special to me because this is the day he asked me to be his wife.

In the evening time I went over to my friend Michelle's and we went together to see another friend's one woman show. It was great fun and Shelby did a great job writing the show and and even better job performing. It was super fun and we all laughed a bunch. Kudos to Shelby!

After Single Girl's Biceps Michelle and I went out for Indian food. It was super delicious and we had a nice time chatting and enjoying the nighttime air on the patio.

Now I'm home, Emma is walked and I'm almost ready to go to bed.

36 will be a good year. I like number combos that are divisible.

Lush Spa Party aka my birthday party

Back in March I won a spa party at my favorite Lush shop. I decided to turn it into my birthday party. Me and 4 of my girlfriends were treated to foot soaks, scrubs and massages. We each got a lemony flutter/ocean salt/dream cream hand and arm treatments, on both arms! Then the facials, FANTASTIC. They started with a face massage with cleanser, then on with the fresh masks. I just love the Fresh Face Masks, they always make your skin feel smooth as silk.

The images are in no particular order, blogger sucks like that, but we all had a super time. I love how happy and relaxed we all look.

A big, huge thanks to Sarah, Alissa, Rene and Asia! You all did a wonderful job.




The amazing Rene


Rose with Catastrophie Cosmetic


Sarah asking trivia questions. We all won prizes!


Asia rubbing Elizabeth's foot. Sarah and Alissa talking to Rose in the background.


Rene giving me a Sweet Japanese Girl massage. SJG is a great facial scrub/cleaner.


Alissa and Sarah giving arm massages. Alisa did mine and wow!


Discussing what type of moisturizer to use. We choose the gorgeous, Gorgeous. It is a lovely, lovely moisturizer.


Michelle and Shelby with their feet in a bowl filled with lemons and bits of Big Blue bath bomb


Rene putting Cupcake Fresh Face mask on Shelby


Monster Mask!


mmmmm Cupcake, it smells good enough to eat.


Sarah discussing product with Elizabeth


Rene working his Lush magic


Elizabeth with a combo Fresh Face Mask. It looks like Catastrophie Cosmetic and maybe Cosmetic Warrior?


Playing trivia


I'm really not sure what I've got going on here.


Elizabeth and I chatting while getting our feet done!


Rose against the wall of bombs


So much fun.


I'm off to soak in the tub!

OMG 90210

A new Beverly Hills 90210 is in the works! At first I wasn't too excited, I thought for sure they would screw it up and make it dumb like the Hills (which I totally watch).

But now there is a possibility that Jennie Garth might reprise the role of Kelly Taylor. God willing it is Kelly McKay by this point. One article said that she could open up her own shop like she had on the only true 90210. Um, seriously, her shop? Now Wear This was Donna's brainchild. She was the one who moved past her learning disability to see that she does have potential and can be a hugely successful clothing designer. Kelly was her partner. Kelly's true love is public relations well that and social work.

Jennie, please do it. I mean really who else can survive being caught in a fire, raped in an alley, shot in the stomach/losing the baby and your memory, no one that is who.

And Mr. Thomas, the creator, if you need any assistance I'm just across centerpiece park, let's talk.

Deleted

My dvr hard drive became corrupt overnight. The entire contents of my hard drive were deleted.

My HGTV show, my game show, a bunch of pay per view movies we've yet to watch, 6 episodes of DOOL, 90210... all of it gone.

All the timers, all the pre-set recordings. All gone.

Fuck you dvr. I love you and all but right now you are on my shit list. We are officially broken up.

Weekend

I wrap up the car study tomorrow. So far I've enjoyed the experience, but I am ready to get back to normal.

We're going shoe shopping this weekend. Really the last thing I need is shoes, but sometimes I just cannot resist.

I completed first aid and CPR training today. Ideally I won't ever need to recall any of the lessons.

Pain in the neck

I did something to my neck a number of weeks ago. It is really more shoulder to neck region. I'm sure I need to build muscle or something.

I chose the method of waiting until it goes away rather than go to the doctor or anything. After about 4+ weeks of semi not sleeping and waking up 3+ nights a week in pain I figured I should do some follow up.

I started with the chiropractor. I went once 1.5 weeks ago. It felt better briefly. Today I called my doctor. I have convinced myself that if I could just get 5 solid nights of sleep in a row I would feel better. I knew that my primary care MD would kindly offer a solution from big Pharm in the shape of a muscle relaxer. She's done it in the past when I had a never-ending spasm in a different part of my neck. Sadly she is on vacation so I was sent to see Dr. Kim.

Dr. Kim had quite a bit to say to me in regards to taking care of myself. Like why did I wait? I don't know, I just kept hoping it would go away. But now with the lack of sleep I'm feeling a little crazy so maybe sanity kept me away? I don't know, but let's just deal with it now that I am here.

He lectured me about the 12-24 pain killers I take a year when my bone spur is acting up. Really, 12-24 A YEAR? Freaking Rush Limbaugh took 30+ A DAY. A GD day.

I said to my girlfriend before the appointment that if my doctor replacement tells me to just take some Advil I will go insane. I want to sleep for more than 2 hours a night without changing my position 1000000 times because everything causes my neck/back to hurt. So Dr. Kim suggest I take 2 advil 4 times a day.

He mentioned how I can become addicted to muscle relaxers and that he is very hesitant to prescribe them. And that I should really suck it up and let the huge dose of Advil to do its work after about 5-7 days.

I begged him to just to let me have something so that I can get a few solid nights of sleep.
After much coaxing he finally gave me 5 days of 1/2 strength muscle relaxers. He made sure to tell me that they were half strength because, clearly I am an addict.

That was on Monday. I've slept great every night since then. I'm not strung out on pills and I haven't started stealing to support my habit. I've just slept really well, and as a result my neck is way less painful.

Artwalk!

This weekend is the Spring Artwalk at the Brewery. Today was a great first day and there was loads of foot traffic. I hope to do equally as well tomorrow.

The car study is going well. So far I've driven the Nissan Versa, Chevrolet Aveo and I have the Mazda 3 now. The Mazda is the best of the bunch, but still not as good as the Fit. The other Fit owners all agree that they've made the right decision in their purchases, even after driving the super cool Scion.

So we've been driving Japanese cars in America for a long, long time now. The only American car in the bunch cannot even hold a candle to the foreign cars. Come on Detroit, but a couple Japanese cars, take them apart and figure out how to copy them. DO IT. I am EMBARRASSED at how poorly the Aveo compared to any of the other cars in its class. That is just dumb. I'd like to buy American, but the cars they make in the class I can easily afford and enjoy to drive are crappy. Step up car makers.

eeek!

So as you may recall we purchased a Honda Fit in June 07. LOVE IT.

A few weeks ago we got a market research call about the Fit. I'm the primary driver so I answered all the questions. Simple questions like, when thinking about driving with passengers, you like the people to feel like they are riding a roller coaster and have near death experiences. 5 for completely agree 1 for completely disagree. Just so you know that is a 1, I do not like it when my passengers feel like they will die because of my driving. Chances of death are high enough in LA, I don't need to add to the anxiety by driving like an a-hole.

So anyway, I was told they'd be getting back to me soon. I got another call last Friday and I'm the perfect candidate, exactly what they are seeking.

I went to the first night of the study last night. We met with a market researcher type dude and talked about our likes and dislikes about various sub-compact hatch back cars. The cars we all owned Scion XA, Hyundai Accent, Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and Nissan Versa.

Over the course of the next two weeks I will drive a Nissan Versa, Chevy Aveo, Scion XD(!!!), Honda Fit and the Mazda 3. They are all brand new save for the Mazda it is certified used and fit the class. We each drive the cars for 3 days, switching off at a local gas station. The market researchers wash and gas up the cars and off we go in our next new drive.

At the end of the 2 weeks we meet up again. This time it is in a ballroom with all 5 of the cars. We go one on one with a research person and go over each aspect of the cars we like and didn't like. We also are taking pictures everyday of things we do, things we like and stuff in the car that we like or don't like.

They are working with a car manufacture to develop a car to be released in 2013. Exciting. I'm so cutting edge! At the end of the study they give us $400 cash and say thanks. $400 and no gas expense for 2 weeks!!! And bonus, Matt is thrilled to be driving the Fit.

It was fun to gang up with the other Fit owners. A Scion guy said that every single person who drives a Fit is obsessed with it, they cannot stop saying how absolutely fantastic the car is!

I'm most excited about the Scion XD. I really wanted a Scion XA, or at least the option to test drive one. (I prefer the Fit in hindsight) They stopped making the XA in 06 and we couldn't wait for the release of the 08 comparable Scion. It looks so awesome, sleek and sassy.

And HOORAY!!! Matt started his new job today. We are both so happy for him to have this great opportunity.

Joshua Tree in bloom

Ocotillo






Various flowers along the lower elevation in the park


Joshua Trees in bloom. They smelled really sweet, like fruity nectar. The tree and the bloom was teaming with bugs, it creeped me out.




You can see the snow capped mountain off in the distance.


It was so pretty.




Calico Cactus






Cholla Cactus Gardens also known as teddy bear cactus. They are not soft, the spines will jump out at you and embed barbs under your skin. Or so the brochure states.


Cactus buds


Desert Senna


Catching some warm rays of sunshine.


The sunset at Keys View.








Check out all the orbs in this! The next picture was taken just a second later but without a flash.