Cat on a Hot...Tin...errrr...Chair???? -- Kitty Photography!

Today it was 78 freaking degrees.  I say it that way because I'm really, REALLY tired of this drought and I would love to actually have some autumn weather.  Or, you know, maybe some rain?  That would be amazing.

But like I was saying, it was still summer basically, so my kitties decided to take turns sitting in the lawn chair I sometimes set out for them by the window now that they don't have a cat tree in the  sunshine.

So while I was (supposedly) doing housework *wink wink*, I felt inspired to give myself a photography challenge.  Well, not exactly a challenge since I just love to take photos and don't really know what the hell I'm doing.  haha  But I do try to make them somewhat interesting.

So my challenge:  Capture two photos of them together and five candid photos of each of them in the chair.  One of these had to contain the chair frame, one would be converted to black and white, and one would highlight a "favorite feature". 

Here are my results:

MY BABIES -- LAZING AWAY A SUNNY SUNDAY

So, I had to cheat in the "together" photos.  

Ellie is actually laying on the windowsill.  

I'm going to put the other together one at the end, I think.  For symmetry. :-)

So, Ellie is my "first born".  His full name is Mark Ellis but we just call him Ellie.  In part because we thought he was a girl when he was a little baby.  He wasn't.  haha

Ellie is full of curls and circles, so I tried to capture that focus with the photos.  He actually has white circles in his fur, and he has a curly tail and whisker that curl upwards.  Plus he has to wear a cone 24/7, poor thing.  The chair added to the curves in the photos. 

He also has amazing white guy-liner.  He's so on-trend. 

Our beautiful little chocolate and caramel kitty is Chavy.  His full name is Eric Chavez.  :-)  

If you are an Oakland Athletics fan, you'll notice that they are named after the A's awesome 2nd & 3rd basemen for many years.  

He and Ellie are brothers from the same feral litter.  

Obviously, mama was a tomcat who got around.  

Ellie is our little mousie and Chavy is our little tiger.  

I love that Chavy's face is really tiger orange!  So pretty. 

Lots of curves in that picture.  :)

Chavy

Ellie - One of my favorite features of this sweet, mean little kitty is his heart-shaped nose.  Unfortunately, I didn't do the best job of capturing it.  It really is more heart-shaped than a lot of cats.  He also has a heart shaped tongue, but he wasn't showing it today. 

Chavy's highlighted feature of the day is his gorgeous, black foot!  

See?  Look at my foot!

And now for the chair portraits.

Part of my issues were that Chavy is very bothered by the camera clicking away.  So much so that he wants to avoid it.  Ellie is the opposite but that means he hardly moves so I can't get very many different poses from him. 

And now, the black and whites.  

Awwww, my little babies.  Animals just enrich your life so much.  I feel so blessed to have always had cats, dogs, and other creatures as companions throughout my life. 

xoxoxo

Trojan FW 2013 - Day 2 Part III California Girls

This will be a brief post.  A tribute of sorts to musical legends 

The Beach Boys.

From L - R:  Al Jardine, Mike Love, Dennis Wilson, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson

Sir Paul McCartney called this song one of the best ever.

I grew up loving the Beach Boys.  My best memories as a child were when my dad, who at that point (early - mid 70's) was a traveling salesman after retiring Career Air Force, took us on the road for at least a month of each summer.  

We traveled the western United States in our huge company motor home listening to my dad's 8-tracks.  Most often requested by us girls was the Beach Boys and Bobby Valentine.  

I still love and listen to the Beach Boys to this day.

My favorite was always Dennis Wilson, the blonder and (IMO) most handsome brother. He was also supposedly the black sheep of the family and the one who most personified the Beach Boys trademark California surfer lifestyle.

I mean,  how can you not?

Even as he got older and scruffier, he was the same soulful dreamy artist, stealing girls hearts. 

Anyway, the Beach Boys are a fascinating story, much too complicated for me to indulge myself any further here.  But the Wilson brothers were musical geniuses from a very young age.  And I loved/love them.

So imagine my surprise and delight upon learning that USC had arranged a special on-campus concert by the current iteration of the Beach Boys.  Now to be honest, I was excited but with misgivings; I (sometimes unfairly) blame Mike Love for a lot of things.  haha But I try to remind myself that I don't know the whole story and Mike was a founding member and great contributor to the Beach Boys.

Originally Adrienne was supposed to go with me and Rose but she had too much homework.  We ended up giving her ticket to another parent.   

We were about midway up in the balcony, but it's a small theater so there really wasn't a bad seat in the house.

Me and Rose (Not a good picture of me!)

The USC Spirit Girls made a fun appearance.

And they had a tribute to the Wilson brothers.

All in all, a wonderful finish to a very fun day.  

xoxo

2013 Trojan Family Weekend - Day 2 Part 2! Trojan Marching Band & Football Team!

Yep, that's Will Farrell.

Nope, we were not there.

It's to set the theme people, come one!  :-)

After getting our grub on at Annenberg, we walked over to Cromwell Field to watch band practice.  I love marching bands. 

When I was in high school, a couple friends were in the band/flag twirlers and I remember going with them to band competitions.  It was really awesome.  And we had one of the best drum lines in the State at that time.  Good times. 

Anyhoo, give me sun, good company, a marching band, and a camera...I'm a happy girl. 

And the man who makes it happen, Dr. Arthur C. Bartner.

Forgive a moment of cheesiness, but the California sunbeams were raining down in blessing...

Practice is a lot of fun because Dr. Bartner encourages running instead of walking and lots of yelling in between.

And dancing.  Of course, dancing.

After the practice was mostly over, the band gathers and the football team and spirit squad come out for a mini pep-rally.

FIGHT ON!

Playing the fight song makes for happy team!

Cheer+Football+Band=School Life

It was really amazing seeing these kids respond to Coach O.  Under Lane Kiffin and the mountain of sanctions USC was hit with after the Reggie Bush fiasco, the team was struggling with a 3-2 record for the year. 

It's hard not to feel for kids in this situation.  These are kids people.  Under a brutal program with sanctions that had absolutely NOTHING to do with any of them.  But this day, under Coach Orgeron, these kids were happy and they believed.  In each other and their program.

They finished out the year 6-2 under Orgeron.

And in their school.

And in turn, they inspired people (and parents) to believe.  And had fun while doing it.  Thanks bandmembers, spirit squad, and football players.

And thanks to my daughter and the University of California for making my dreams come true.

(Sorry for the melodrama, but I'm proud and grateful. #SorryNotSorry)  

xoxo

One Year Since Trojan Family Weekend! Better Post Something! TFW 2013 Day 1

I'm not even going to TRY to explain/justify why I'm just now posting my wonderful experience at University of Southern California's Trojan Family Weekend last year.  So, without further adieu...

USC TROJAN FAMILY WEEKEND 2013 - OCTOBER 24 - 27

USC is such an amazing school.  I am SOOOOOO proud that my wonderful daughter worked her butt off and was accepted to the Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism.  So of course I was so excited to be able to go down and participate in parental activities, etc.  So much fun!

Day one, of course, involved me driving to lovely Los Angeles - or, more accurately, to West Covina which is where I got a good deal on a Marriott Fairfield Inn.  Also, I mistakenly thought it was closer to where Adie was living in Monterey Park.  haha

I got there on Friday and decided to take the train to downtown LA and 

meet up with Adrienne on campus.  

The Covina train station has a British-type phone booth.  Strange.  It was the only one I noticed down there too.  

The cutest thing was a couple of older ladies, obviously from England, were thrilled and asked to have their picture taken beside it. 

It looks a little incongruous with the LA palm trees, bikes, etc.  

And the phone on the outside, haha, but still cute. 

(ASIDE:  I'm watching the Cowboys/Seahawks game right now, but just saw that my favorite weird movie, They Live, is on.  I'm in heaven. If you haven't seen it, you should.)

My Train!  It's a big'un as we don't say in California.

The downtown train station is LA is really beautiful.  It's in a gorgeous older building with lots of tunnels, tracks, and personality.  

Upstairs is a courtyard and garden.  

I wish I took more pictures in the lower levels, but the complex was so huge I didn't want to miss my next train, which was a light-rail type that took me to campus.  I was pretty lost as it was.  I ended up asking a young man who worked there for directions and it turns out that he used to live in Rancho where I live now.  Small, small world!  We reminisced and then off I went.

I met up with Adrienne and we went for dinner at this dive deli-sandwich place that we had seen on some television show on Food Network. The place itself was kind of interesting, but the food was pretty blah.  The meat was tough and there was NOTHING to the sandwich.  Damn, lying Food Network!

Anyway, that was the end of Day 1.

The next day, Rose was flying in.  Of course we got a bit of a late start from West Covina and traffic was bad.  So Adrienne went to LAX to pick up Rose while I went to campus to register and get our goodie bags etc., before the Annenberg reception.

The Annenberg School of Communications at USC

Inside the lobby where everyone chatted while waiting for food and the Dean of the school to speak. 

The food was pretty delicious, except for one salmon sandwich 

that I didn't care for.  

This is my sis, Rose, and my kid, Adie, arriving fashionably late.

We listened to a really exciting speech from the Dean about the program and the new building that was currently being built.

And then we adjourned to the auditorium to listen to a panel presentation. I apologize, but due to the passing of time, I cannot remember the name of the Notable Person (which I apparently didn't note) on the right.

This seems an appropriate place to cut, so the rest of the day and weekend will be continued in the next post. #Fight On

xoxo