The Big 2-7

Hooooly crap. Twenty-seven years old today. For some reason it's having more of an impact than 26, even though both mean I'm on the far end of my twenties and fast approaching thirty. It's taken me longer than I though it would to get where I am, but that just makes me all the more grateful and all the more sure of myself and where I want to go from here.

The birthday celebrations started early this year, seeing as it fell on a Wednesday, plus my mom left for Connecticut yesterday to visit my auntie and her wife. Which means I had an awesome, jam-packed weekend!

Saturday night was dinner at one of my fave restaurants in the OC, the Olde Ship, with nearly all of my closest friends. :)

Matt, Nikki and Mindy, looking fantastic:

I have no idea what happened here...just about to smile, maybe? At least Mr. Same Same looks fantastic.

Katie and Colby, adorable as always:

Katie photobombing me - what a shocker. ;)

We had a fantastic time enjoying good food and drink (you can't go wrong there - everything is good!), joking and telling stories and generally doing what we do best. Thanks you guys!

Sunday was partially spent playing Lars' gift to me - Lego Harry Potter. The Lego games are so much fun! I have Indiana Jones and Star Wars too, it's awesome because you basically play through the movies. I don't care how much of a kid I must look like, its a great way to relax and take your mind off things. I even got dad to play with me! :)

That night was the big family dinner. I requested rum shrimp and steak and was not disappointed. In fact, I didn't even get any food shots, I ate it all so quickly! Mom and Sarah also made garlic bread, fried zucchini and a huge salad. Soooo good.

For dessert was a marsipan torte, which my mom will only make for my birthday since it's so labor intensive. But its worth it!

I won't show you just how big a piece I cut for myself...

Love this series the boy took for me:

He manages to capture such personality, love it. :)

My mom swore up and down she didn't buy trick candles, but they kept re-lighting!

Ah, well. At least it was delicious, once I finally got those suckers.

And it's not even over! Today I had a nice lunch from Chipotle (yummm) with my co-workers, and I'm off to dinner at the amazing Honda Ya with Nancy in a few. Speaking of Nancy, she posted the sweetest birthday note for me on her blog. And this weekend Mr. Same Same is taking me up to Mammoth to escape the city life for a little bit. They've had some snow there this week - can't wait!

I couldn't have asked for a better celebration. So, so grateful for all my loved ones!

xoxo

The Weekend

This past weekend was somewhat quiet, but still lovely. Friday night I chopped off quite a bit of my hair - it was time for a change, even though it's pretty subtle. :)

Saturday was mostly spent getting some things done around the house. Once Mr. Same Same arrived in the late afternoon, we decided to go out for dinner at Rutabegorz. Props to him for humoring my cravings - not that he minded much, he's in love with their alfredo sauce. And while we were there we ran into Nancy! So awesome when that happens. She must have good taste in food. ;)

I also managed to capture this shot of Dante and Anja sitting nicely together:

In a week, she'll be taller. We all swear her legs already look longer than they did two weeks ago!

Sunday was my brother's 25th birthday. (Yes, he's younger than me. Don't rub it in.) Here he is with his awesome girlfriend Diana. She's super sweet and we love having her - although I'm pretty sure after some of the jokes my dad made that night at dinner, we won't be seeing her again.

Aren't they adorable? He's 6'3"-ish, and she's all of 5' and standing on tiptoe. :)

Per the birthday boy's request, we had homemade spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread on homemade French bread and chocolate cake for dessert. I was soooooo full.

He blew out the candles so fast, I made him reenact it - hence the silly face:

Mom used a different kind of frosting that tasted kind of like marshmallows - to die for!

This weekend I'm looking forward to seeing Reel Big Fish Saturday night with the whole crew, and hopefully heading up to the LA County Fair on Sunday! :)

How was your weekend?

xo

A Wish List

I think all my loved ones would agree I'm super easy to shop for, but seeing as I'm now a month away from my birthday (can NOT believe it's been a year already!), I thought I'd share what I've been drooling over lately. Because really, let's be honest, who doesn't love presents? :)

1. Oh hello, perfect red coat that I've always wanted. From Anthropologie, of course.

2. This lovely Choloe-inspired bag. I love the light grey color, a nice alternative to black or brown. And it would fit all my crap! :)

3. A gift certificate to Modcloth.com. Because at any given time, there's about 60 things on there I would love to have hanging in my closet! Like this dress, or this one, or this one...

4. The new Fujifilm Wide Format Instax. It's so cute! I think it would be tons of fun to play with one while we're traipsing around Disneyland or at a party.

5. A more portable external hard drive. It'll also be a good backup to my current EHD, which I'm afraid will poop out on me soon, as I push it way too hard.

And if you're still not impressed, there's always plain ol' money, or a gift card to Sephora or Amazon is always welcome. I'm currently saving up for a number of things - including a fancy website for my photo biz and a new camera body - so a boost would be awesome!

Selfishly yours,

Trude

xo

P.S. Looking back, it seems that the color red is a hot color for me right now. Interesting. :)

Lately...

It's been a pretty darn good week thus far. Last Saturday was my dad's birthday, and although we weren't celebrating until the next night, mom still made him a lovely brunch of apricot scones and fresh fruit.

On Sunday the whole family hung out at the house and relaxed, including the cats.

That night we celebrated my dad's birthday some more with a fantastic meal (on the patio, of course) of cod, fried zucchini, boiled potatoes, steamed carrots and salad.

After dinner, we couldn't help but make fun of Teddy's new short haircut. I haven't seen his ears that short ever! Makes him look like a puppy again (almost).

Dessert was homemade cheesecake with fresh whipped cream and triple-sec-soaked berries. Yummy!

I had a lovely lunch with Nancy on Tuesday, as she lives just a few minutes from my office, but forgot to take a photo in lieu of so much brainstorming and catching up. :) Anyone need their photo taken? We have some ideas for joint sessions...

Dad went in for new x-rays as its been just over two weeks since his surgery. Everything looks good, he just has to remember to take it easy. Easier said than done, for sure!

He's getting closer to becoming the bionic man! :)

Also been doing a lot of this this week:

i.e. Taking dad along on walks around the neighborhood with me, mom and Dante. My parents are ridiculously cute, I know. :)

In other news, I can NOT believe it's already August. Where has this summer gone? I need to get my butt back out to the beach. Luckily, coming up later this month is the Faded and Blurred monthly walk, this time at Venice Beach. Come and join us!

Also, I just read today about something called the OC Foodie Fest, where there'll be over 50 food trucks. In one location. Ten minutes from my house. Have I died and gone to heaven? Even the elusive Cool Haus truck will be there, which Mr. Same Same and I have been trying to catch for weeks! (They make custom ice cream sandwiches. As in, you pick the type of cookie, then the type of ice cream, and they make it. Sweet lord.)

So what do you guys have planned for this month?

xo

A Quiet Weekend

After my insane week last week, Friday night couldn't come soon enough! My plan was simply to relax on the couch, and Dante helped me achieve my goal (sorry, crappy low light iPhone photo):

Nikki came over to join mom and I in watching The Young Victoria while drinking lemon drops and snacking on chips and salsa. The movie was fantastic! Highly recommended. Mr. Same Same made it over later after a meeting and we finally crashed out after midnight. I have no idea how I managed to keep my eyes open that long.

Next morning my brothers and Sarah came over and we all watched the USA tie England in a super close World Cup game. Sprocket actually calmed down long enough to settle on my brother's lap for this shot that I'm now in love with:

He's cute when he's not going nutso! :)

The rest of the day was spent chilling out and watching movies, which was just what I needed. Mr. Same Same had also had a helluva week between several long days filming (albeit in Hawaii, so can't feel too bad for him) and trying to churn out some other projects once he got back. I finally got to see Zombieland (awesome), and forced the boy to finally watch The Hangover (which he loved, of course).

That night we gathered to celebrate Lars and Sarah's birthdays - they're a day apart. Try not to choke on the cuteness.

Mom made her fantastic homemade spaghetti and garlic bread plus delicious chocolate cake. Yummy!

A few of their friends came over and we spent the rest of the night playing Wii games, geeking out over viral videos and enjoying some of this:

Linie aquavit is a Norwegian staple. ;)

Sunday was spent running some errands, taking Dante on a long walk, catching up on Doctor Who episodes and watching the premier of True Blood. Couldn't ask for more!

What about you guys?

xo

P.S. Finally read Tara Whitney's interview over at Davina's blog. I had the honor of her photographing my family back in 2008, and this interview sums up why she is my inspiration in every way.