taking me back to a happy place...

still waiting on my batch of barcelona pictures and the italian lakes from dolly's uploaded computer (draft blog dated july 13 - will update it as soon as i get 'em). but until then, here are a few pictures that rick emailed me today. his family flew out to london to see him graduate from the london business school and were en route to barcelona the same week that dolly and i planned to go. we had such a blast even though dolly and i ended up on the wildest end of the barcelona olympic beach. the kwans decided to stay on their end after we told them that we hung out on the liberal left ... tonnes of fully naked men and women sprawled out and even showering down in the open. it turns out, after talking to our host at the tapas bar that we were on the "gay" side of the beach - whatever that means. dolly and i just thought the spaniards were a lot more open then other europeans - doh!

so here are a few shots that bring me back to that happy place...

couldn't upload all the pictures as some of them were pixelated :(

here's a picture of me and rick in this crazy barcelona club.

two floors, old school r&b upstairs and some house on the main floor.

a lotta fun!

dolly and i were so exhausted. we only had 1.5 hours of sleep and then had to drive to the girona airport where someone mysteriously took a picture of us sleeping. i believe our plane was delayed by about 4 hours so we missed the england world cup match. i had such a blast in barcelona - gives me a perma-smile just thinking about it.

skateboard m

i'm so missing my little mookster. it's kinda embarrassing how i keep calling my parents to keep tabs on him. he's recovering from yet another touch up to his entropion eye issues and will be a cone head for a few more weeks - hence, he's shipped off to canada.

wanna know something funny? a prominent plastic surgeon that my parents know have been asking to see pictures of mooks' before and after. it's hilarious how a doctor who probably does tonnes of breast augmentation and rhinoplasty all day long has somewhat of an interest in my little one. but then i'm thinking with all the costs involved with this entroprion problem and having to go back in several times for re-touch ups, i should just ship him off to a real plastic surgeon.

gotto love him though.

in the meantime, i'm gonna convince skateboard T to teach mooks how to do this....

lake chpd

what a splendid day today. i decided to make the trek out east to go visit opey in wenatchee and check out lake chelan. kinda crazy - but since i've moved down here, i haven't driven any further east then north bend along the I-90. but alas, today was the day where i drove through the scenic route along blewitt pass and through leavenworth on the way back. the weather was scorchin' and we were able to make it to chelan for a quick dip into the immaculate lake.

it's always good times when hanging out with opey. such a great story teller and i'm so grateful that we managed to attend the same wecc training class in salt lake. if it wasn't for opey and glen @ gcpd, the week long class would of been so dreadful for me. here's to driggs and fried chicken ;)

i also thought i'd share with you some pictures of opey & kris' place. when i met opey in salt lake we were exchanging notes on architectural plans and my fascination with design and layout. little did i know that this former linesman, now chpd dispatcher, had an architectural degree from UW under his belt. i was pretty impressed with how passionate he was about his house plans and his creative flare. well, if only you had the opportunity to witness it with your own eyes. i was blown away with every little detail of his house. the pictures actually don't do it justice because there is a story with every little nook and cranny of his home. this house is a result of exquisite design, blood, sweat and tools. if you're ever in wenatchee, check out his place - so proud of opey!

priceless

so what can i say about colorado? it was amazing and we were pleased to hear the sounds of amos lee and martin sexton, among other great acts such as blue rodeo, kathleen edwards, kris kristofferson, the waifs, et al...

i can't believe we had the opportunity to do the meet and greet with amos after his show. he and his band sounded superb on stage and looked pretty fine, as well. nic has a thing for his bassist.

we apologized for the obnoxious crowd that was at richards on richards when they came to van. he totally remembered that and said he'd definitely come back again. he asked us about a good venue and nic suggested the commodore. so friends...if he comes back and plays the commodore, it will be a must see for you all. amos and his band have a killer bluesy/chill sound and i just love his music. and amos is not too shabby lookin' on stage! yum scrum.

so here are some additional pictures from the festival and soon to come, i'll add some video clips.

happy bday forbes

only in your dreams...

little miss sunshine

this is a must see movie! a fellow movie goer at sundance this year said that this was the best movie of the festival and that a huge production company had snapped it up immediately. i saw it tonight and it had me in stitches. i loved each of the zany characters in the film and thought it was absolutely brilliant. it's about a dysfunctional family that had so many issues on the forefront but were all brought together in support of miss olivia and her dream to participate in the little miss sunshine competition. though there were some gross exaggerations on some of the characters in the film, it was hysterically well written and it made me leave the theatre with a feeling of elation and bliss. i guess it made me appreciate life more and the importance of supporting and embracing the special people around us. i highly suggest that you check this movie out...

mr mooks

just thought i'd post some pictures that were saved on my parent's computer. i'm up in vancouver for a quick day trip. the weather is absolutely amazing today. just waiting for mom to come home and we'll be heading out for some sushi. i'm starvin marvin....

rock baby

i should have saved the rocks so that you could have witnessed how crazy my little one is. while i was away in maine, i think the little critter got bored laying outside in the backyard and decided to gobble up a few landscaping rocks. much to my dismay, he threw up two rather large irregular rocks (1.5 inches in diameter). i took him to the vet in issaquah, wa and they said if he's in good spirits and his bowel movements were normal that he must of thrown them all up. well...just a few days ago, before being put under anethesia, mr. mooks decided to throw up three more stones out of his belly. after another visit to the vet and $375 dollars later, i was told that he had one more rock lodged in his stomach and that alpine veterinary clinic suggested that i have it surgically removed - at a whopping cost of $1800.

so after giving him some TLC for a night, i decided to get a second opinion and spoke to a very kind vet who happens to own the aerowood animal clinic in bellevue. he gave me a few other alternative options and said that if i brought mooks in on a full tummy that they'd try to induce vomitting again. i was totally stressed out because i had to transport him to and fro (while juggling work) and worried that he'd have to face some invasive surgery.

and voila....after dropping him off at aerowood, i got the amazing call within 10 minutes that he threw up the final stone!