just around the corner

september is halfway done and fall is knocking at the door of some place other than california.

it's true, california doesn't really have a fall season so much as a really hot indian summer...which should actually be called native american summer...unless it was named after real indians from india.

anyway, here's a fun project i did at work.

meet frank!

shamless plug

ok, shameless plug for the week. we have these awesome ribbon albums in michael's stores now. some of us at work had to do one to post on our boss' blog and it was actually really fun to do. they make for a quick project and they're easier to give as gifts than a 12x12 album.

reform healthcare

korean bath house

sam and grace had their friend hanna in town and one of the things she wanted to do was go to a korean bath house.

the mogyok tang/bath part is separated by gender and you basically strip down and you have various jacuzzies and saunas with different temperatures.

but there is also a jjim jjil bang which is co-ed and everyone wears a shirt and short set given by the spa; we noted that it looks sort of like a concentration camp because everyone is wearing the same thing and we have a wrist band with a number. the jjim jjil bang has food and an open area where you can lay down on mats and play games or chat but there are also other saunas where you can sweat and rid your skin of toxins before going to the bath to exfoliate and soak.

the first time i went was for charles' birthday party. haha and i actually felt that the nakedness was a very opening experience. the second time around i enjoyed it a lot and it wasn't as shocking to be in the bath area.

we saw a lot of young girls walking around naked with the older women and it made me wonder how experiences like being in a public bath house would shape their young minds. would they be more comfortable with their body because they have seen so many different shapes of women? would it open them to their sexuality prematurely? i wonder...

i will say though, that it is a bonding experience on the whole and especially for family members. for moms to tend to their young and the like. it was a good day at the bath house with friends.

i wanted to post this picture because i thought it was funny.

what a relief

we've been having a heat wave for a long time and for the first time in a few weeks i feel the coolness of an ocean breeze. it's nice living close to the beach. enjoy your labor day, friends!

think local

where does the food we eat come from? does it come from our state? how about the west coast? does it even come from this country? how did it become that 'going to the market' become a face-less exercise?

when we buy clothes we can look at the label and read, "made in china" but it's not as easy with food. nowadays some grocery stores will put signs that say, 'grown locally' but what happens when the store doesn't display such a sign? how can we know where our food has come from or what conditions the workers are subjected to.

while i will appreciate the convenience of having tomatoes available in the winter time (though it is a summer fruit) it will be hard for me to imagine the amount of fossil fuel it will take to transport these ruby globes from the mysterious farm they're grown on to me. and it's even harder to imagine that some types of sushi-grade fish are caught off the east coast of US, shipped to Japan to be sold and then the remaining to be re-sold back to US vendors and stamped as 'imported from japan.'

if you live in orange county there is a farmer's market somewhere in our county on practically every single day of the week. our food in america is very inexpensive compared to the rest of the world but i wonder if we pay for it in other ways...

smoothie bar, baby!

my boss recently got married and one of the wonderful things about getting married is having sex. LOL but one of the other good things are the presents!

one of her wedding gifts was an immersion blender and with it she's been making smoothies for breakfast. my parents had one that they received as a gift from years ago and this summer i had been using it a lot with my soups. she and i had the great idea of having a smoothie bar at work today for breakfast. i know, my job rocks.

this morning we got frozen fruits, yogurt, bananas, OJ + milk, and honey and lined up the ingredients starting with empty mason jars. her thing is to drink the smoothie in a mason jar or a jelly jar. and it's really a great idea because you can seal it and stick it in the fridge for later or take it to work without fear of spilling.

so everyone lined up with their empty jar and filled it up with yogurt and whatever fruits they liked. it was a really fun way to start the day and everyone got to have a healthy breakfast.

we suggested the "one part yogurt + 2 parts fruit + a splash of OJ/milk + a little honey if needed" recipe but no matter how it was combined it always came out delicious.