Freecycle is awesome!

I like to think of myself as a 'green' person and I try to be kind to the environment where I can be. After all, I am one of the few people I know who enjoys occasionally taking the bus in LA to work. And yes, I am willing to admit that I can be a little cheap too. So, imagine how excited I was to learn about Freecycle.org. It combines my passions for saving two kinds of green!

Since discovering Freecycle, I have given away a few things and received a few things. Things given include a number of ring boxes to a recycled jewelry maker (why I was holding on to them to begin with, who knows), a slightly worn out canopy (why keep the ugly green one when we can borrow beautiful white ones from my in-laws?), and the box springs to our brand new mattress (our bed frame is one of those kinds with the wood slats, so no need for the box springs).

I've received many good things, too. A camera case for my new camera from a photographer who was upgrading to a new/larger case, some sawdust to go into our composter, and most recently a beautiful huge (10'x3') garden planter box from a couple who just bought a home and were bequeathed a backyard that they were transforming to something more their style. We strapped this puppy to the roof of our (hybrid) SUV on Friday evening and got it into it's new home safely where it will hopefully make this novice gardener very happy for several years rather than it's would be fate of landing in the dumpster.

One side benefit to my little Freecycle hobby is that I get to enjoy a mini cultural/social anthropology lesson each time I give or pick something up. It ends up being a quick moment of insight into a fellow Angelino's life. And that little pat on the back that mother earth gives me feels good too.

Memorial Day weekend

Our three day holiday weekend was spent exactly how it should have been: with friends and family....

On Saturday morning we met up with Aaron's grandmother's friend Barbara who is from Berlin and was kind enough to give us some insight into her home town before we go there later this summer. Afterward I went to a baby shower in Huntington Beach for my friend from college, Kim, while Aaron spent some time with his grandma.

On Sunday we headed up to Pasadena to watch the Lakers game with Dr. Dave and some of his friends where I took a break from cheering on the Lakers (yes, I have become through osmosis a Lakers fan, though clearly not hard-core) to stop in at my grandma's for a visit. Later that evening we helped our friend Raj celebrate his birthday at his bar in NoHo.

Monday we went to the south bay for a bbq at Willis & Debbie's place. And in between all of this back and forth all over the southland we of course spent some time in the backyard planting an herb garden, straightening out the apple tree, putting in more irish moss, and adding vinca minor.

Millions of peaches!

Aaron's parents have a very fruitful peach tree in their yard which is *loaded* with peaches right now. We are in the first of only a few key weeks when we can harvest the fruit. So, Aaron and I stopped in on Friday evening and loaded up a bag full to take home with us. I found tons of recipes for things to make with peaches... by the end of the week I was starting to feel like Forest Gump talking about all the things you can make with shrimp.

Yummmmy - fresh peaches!

Amaretto Peach Ice CreamPeach & Blueberry Galette

Balsamic Peaches & Roasted Chicken

Chicken Curry with Peaches

Spiced Peaches in Phyllo doughPeach & Jicama Salsa I also made some peach muffins but somehow forgot to take a photo.

Date night!

Aaron knows how much I love surprises and trying to guess what they are... so earlier this week he announced that we were going on a 'surprise date night' on Saturday. Yay! I love it when he does this!! Every once in a while he plans a date night and wont tell me what it is, just tells me what to wear. So much fun!!

I actually kind of had a pretty good guess about what it was this time, but didn't want to completely ruin the surprise, so I waited patiently until Saturday evening. Turns out that I was right... he had gotten tickets to see Miss Saigon. :) We had a great time getting all dressed up and heading out for the night. We had biked all over Santa Monica earlier in the day and we were pretty beat from the sun and exercise, so we skipped our dinner reservations and replaced it with a nap on the couch and dinner at home, and got to the theater in plenty of time before the show.

Weekend in Portland

This past weekend Aaron and I headed on our quarterly(ish?) pilgrimage to Portland, Oregon. We timed this visit so that we would be there for our nephew Carson's 2nd birthday. Lucky for us he was born right near Mother's Day, so we also got to spend Mother's Day with my mom.

We arrived Thursday evening after a full day of work, so we pretty much just hit the hay when we arrived at Jason & Amy's place. Friday was just a hang out day. Jason and Aaron spent some time cleaning up the backyard in preparation for Saturday's BBQ and Amy and I spent some quality time with Carson. We rounded out the day by meeting Nate, Amanda, and my mom for dinner.

The big party was Saturday - lots of family and a couple of friends came over to BBQ and celebrate Carson's day. He is such a cute little guy! He learned how to ride his motorized 4 wheeler. He's pretty funny about it too... riding it forward in a pretty straight line and then rather than steering/turning, once he gets to the other side of the yard (or once he ran smack into the side of the house!) he gets off and pushes the car back to the beginning and rides again. So cute!!

After the party we went back to my mom's place so we could wake up there and spend Mother's Day with her. Worked out pretty well! Our long time family friends, the Reitmeiers, came over for a 'picnic.' The original plan to go out to a local winery for a picnic got switched out since we weren't confident about the weather. After the picnic my mom, Aaron, and I drove through a north east neighborhood on a hunt for open houses. Go figure that no one was hosting any due to the holiday. But we still drove the streets and picked up fliers for homes that looked interesting. We're not looking to buy, just looking to look.

Our flight home on Sunday evening actually had a bit of excitement. As we were taxiing out to take off, some guy sitting near the wing *swore* he saw a flame. Uuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrcccccccchhhhh!!! (That's the sound of the plane screeching to a halt.) I counted at least 9 or 10 fire trucks and a couple of police cars that came out to the rescue. Apparently, once we had stopped for several minutes, which allowed the sun to set to a different angle, the guy that thought he saw a flame realized that it was actually the reflection of the sun. Doh!! Too late though. We still had to turn around and go back to the gate so that the maintenance people could do their thing. Turns out that all said and done we were only delayed by about an hour. But good Lord, we were so sick of sitting on that plane by the end of it! So happy to land in LA and get home!

More photos from the weekend are here.

Grandpa Lohrberg turns 80!

My grandpa just turned 80 and the family planned a big party for him. It had been so long since I had been to Nebraska and Aaron had never been, so we of course went for the weekend. Thursday was pretty much just a travel day, but we got to Lincoln in time for dinner with my grandparents, Aunt Rhonda, and cousin Sophie who were in town from San Diego. Friday after lunch out at a local spot my Aunt Amy and grandpa took us on a tour of the city where we got to see a nice mix of family historical spots (schools and homes from growing up) and University of Nebraska highlights. We were pretty stoked to get a personal tour of the training facilities and football stadium - thanks to Aunt Amy who has special access!

Friday evening we drove up to Omaha to my Uncle John and Aunt Amy's place to celebrate their children's birthdays. We greeted my Aunt Sue who drove in from Colorado that evening and my mom and Dave who just got to town from Oregon. We then left in time to make the drive back to Lincoln in time to catch the second half of my Uncle Bill's band playing at a local spot. They were really good and Aaron was immediately impressed when the first song we heard was a cover that is also on Rock Band (so Aaron of course knows it well) and he said that it sounded *exactly* like the original. Grandpa came out to hear his son play and even got a few birthday wishes from folks in the crowd after Uncle Bill announced to the crowd his milestone. There is a great story here about how Grandpa may or may not have snuck out of the house to get to the bar!

Saturday was the big party... we think about 110-120 people came! It was an open house at the Knolls Country Club. Aaron and I spent the time being introduced to friends, neighbors, and extended family who had all come out to wish him well. We had put together an ambiance slide show showcasing photos of my grandpa throughout the years (right click and select 'save as' to get to the powerpoint. And don't worry, Aaron is working on putting the photos online separately for those of you who don't have powerpoint). We received a lot of compliments for doing the technical labor. :) The after party was over at my Aunt Amy & Uncle Jim's place where about 40 or 50 of the family members (yes, my mom's family is that huge!) went for pizza and games.

Sunday we overslept so we missed church and once we found our keys to the rental car (doh!) we grabbed lunch and then visited two of my Uncle's homes for tours and final visits. For lunch it's worth mentioning that I officially broke my veto on Panera Bread, which I suppose I have to admit that I enjoyed the sandwich. I still wont go back to the one in Santa Monica, but the next time we are in Lincoln we can keep it in mind as a food option.

All in all it was a great weekend! We were so glad to be there to celebrate with everyone and also really treasured the quieter moments just catching up. Here are all of the photos from the weekend.