Since I’m sick and haven’t left my house in days, I started cleaning out my desk. I have a bunch of prints and stickers that I’d love to send into the world. Message me your address! I’ll send the first five people who respond a package with some prints and stickers. ♥
Guys. GUYS.
Last Saturday at Nikkei Matsuri, there was a GIANT TOTORO.
Echo met Totoro! It was AMAZING. She called him “owl rabbit.”
Curious Quail had a little house show and it was awesome.
Also, Matt and Jess have an apartment with an amazing 70’s vibe and I covet all their furniture.
Jess and Echo, April 2013
Echo and I running through the park, via my lovely husband. ♥
While we were in SLO, we stopped by Bubblegum Alley. It was — as you can probably see from our faces — pretty gross. (And elaborate! And impressive! But mostly gross!) There was an invitation to prom made out of gum — is that sweet? Disgusting? Both?!
Mike and I have been saving our pennies, so in early February I asked him if we could agree not to spend money on Valentine’s gifts, and he gave me an interesting look and then said, “…too late.”
Because he had already secretly planned a trip to San Luis Obispo to see The Postal Service.
We spent yesterday hanging out poolside and walking around downtown SLO, and then The Postal Service put on what was easily one of the best concerts I’ve been to. Ever. (I’ve been to a lot of concerts.)
Today I am sun soaked and exhausted in the best way.
Mike, Echo, and I have a road trip tradition; before we leave town, we go to Zanotto’s. They have a ridiculous, awesome sandwich menu, and we make our little checklists and pick out a dozen ingredients. The person behind the counter always asks us three times if we’re sure (I guess our sandwiches are strange.) When the sandwiches are ready we pile back into our car and go.
It’s not sandwich time yet, though — it’s usually early in the morning, with Mike and I sipping coffees and Echo drinking a milk and pointing out little red cars or big yellow trucks. The sandwiches, wrapped in white paper, get shoved away securely to the absolutely farthest point of the dashboard, where they will surely soak up any and all available highway sunshine, keeping the meat warm and the cheese melty.
When we get hungry after a couple hours on the road, we rip into the sandwiches and pass around the warm, messy goodness. Echo likes bread and mustard, I get double or triple meat on everything, and Mike always picks fresh avocado. We make a big yummy mess out of the car and arrive wherever we’re going covered in crumbs and happy. And I don’t think, at this point, that I would know how to start a road trip without the sandwiches — it has nothing to do with ingredients between bread and everything to do with Echo, Mike, and the joy and security that comes from having these happy little rituals. Itty bitty pieces of repetition in the way we travel or wake up in the morning or go walking through the park on Friday afternoon that provide the foundation for our lives and our awesome times together.
I am happy, happy, happy.
In the middle of an over-scheduled two weeks, when I was feeling stressed and worn down, I got a face time call from Mike and when I answered it, it was just a picture of this orchid and our front door.
