| January 13, 2010 | Snuggie Shenanigans |
 For Christmas this year - as something of a joke - Chris' sister Elizabeth got us Snuggies. (Mine is a stylish leopard print.) Elizabeth has a great sense of humor, and she is the person who convinced us we should dress up as Nadya Suleman and Kate Gosselin for Halloween this past year. Between me and the dawgs, I'm not even ashamed to admit that my Snuggie is getting some serious usage. Yes, the rest of our living room decor is solidly mid-century modern (to suit our tastes as well as the extreme mid-century modern styling of our 1969 townhome). But if you look beyond the cream-colored flokati shag rug, atop the low Italian leather modular sofa you will find one of the greatest home decor/clothing inventions of the 21st century - the Snuggie. So, needless to say, Snuggies have been on our minds. (Come to think of it, from the Radiskull and Devil doll doll (circa 2000) on my dresser, to the pair of Thinkgeek Tauntaun sleeping bags I purchased for us this Christmas, we *do* have a lot of internet phenomena ephemera around in our house.)  Yesterday Chris found this photo and posted it to Facebook with a link to this blog post on "The Baby Snuggie". Chris wrote: "Pure genius - It's like the Snuggie is giving birth. I know a couple of people who need this now, and some who'll need this VERY soon."Eighteen people commented on his "Baby Snuggie" Facebook post, and Chris wrote, "Hell, you might see me carrying Jess around like this before too long." And then while we were watching the season premier of "American Idol" he was inspired to create this image which he posted to his Faceobok wall last night. Being engaged to a creative guy with serious graphic design skills has its advantages. For example, say you want to take a picture of yourselves in an authentic Sid and Nancy pose when you're dressed up for Halloween. Or if your mom just graduated nursing school and you  want to make her a personalized "Nurse Jackie" poster. Also, he might be inspired by seeing a "Baby Snuggie" and decide that he would want to carry his fiance around inside one. When Chris posted this picture to his wall on Facebook, he wrote: "Jess is totally at home in our new Baby Snuggie... she can't wait 'til it comes out in the zebra pattern." Mindy's response was, "now i know what NOT to get jess for her bday!" THEN, Joanna (another talented graphic designer)  created this "Baby and Bunny Snuggie" and posted it to Facebook, with the message:"chris, if jess ever decides to adopt a bunny you will be all set with this snuggie." Chris wrote back, "Forget going into outer space or widening the 405, this is truly one of the best things humans have ever created... genius." Now this "Baby and Bunny Snuggie" is Chris' current Facebook profile pic. Should I be afraid, or just give in to the lahv of Facebook and graphic design shenanigans? Labels: chris, elizabeth, holidays, internet posted by Jess Barron @ 5:00 AM 
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| December 17, 2009 | 3 Unique Christmas Traditions in Los Angeles |
 Some people might think that it wouldn't feel like Christmas living in Los Angeles (especially for someone who was born and raised in New England), but I'm here to tell you that LA, particularly the West Side, has its own unique and fun holiday traditions.Last week, Chris and I rode our bikes to Santa Monica to see the Christmas tree made out of shopping carts. It's called "The Bright Side." and it's been put together by artist Anthony Schmitt at the Edgemar shopping area on Main Street for the past 14 years. It's a great piece of public art because of its multiple meanings; it not only makes you consider excessive holiday consumerism, it makes you think about homelessness at the holidays. Check out my photoset of the Shopping Cart Tree. This was our third Christmas living in Marina del Rey, and our third year heading to Fisherman's Village to check out the Marina's holiday boat parade. The parade has been happening for 47 years, since 1963 before the marina itself was actually completed.  We went to view the Marina del Rey Boat Parade with Devora and Ethan, who had been living in a houseboat on the Marina for the month of December. This year the boat parade theme was "Holiday in paradise," and the best boat was definitely the "Cheeseburger in Paradise." It played the Jimmy Buffet song, and the burger actually opened up and then the bottle of ketchup poured in. It was hysterical. Check out the full photoset from this year's Marina del Rey Boat Parade, and then see my photos from the Marina del Rey Boat Parade 2008.  Just one day after the Marina del Rey Holiday boat parade, Chris and I biked to the Venice Canals Holiday Boat parade and met Roshanna there. The Venice Canals boat parade has been going on since the late 1970s or early 1980s. This year, our favorite boats included the Venice trolley, the castle ship, and the viking ship. There were also numerous Santas throwing candy from their canoes and paddle boats. Check out the full photoset from this year's Venice Canals Boat Parade and then, see our photos from the Venice Canal Boat Parade last year. Labels: christmas, holidays, la, losangeles, venice posted by Jess Barron @ 6:55 AM
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| November 27, 2009 | Yoostar Tops Tons of 2009 Holiday Gift Idea Lists |
| November 25, 2009 | Pumpkin Pie Fail |
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Tonight I discovered the possible reason why there are always two frozen pie shells in a package. When I (hastily perhaps) grabbed the first pie crust out of the freezer, I didn't notice that I pulled the crust right out of the aluminum pie tin. As I held the crust in my hand, I thought it looked a bit different, but figured that must be because it was whole wheat and organic. Feeling great about using an organic whole grain crust, I poured the batter into crust, and placed it on a baking tray and into the oven at 425 degrees. It's a good thing I put a baking tray underneath (thanks to my Mom for giving me this brilliant advice!), because when I turned on the oven light to check on the pie a few minutes later, I saw that the dough had seeped through a crack in the crust and filled the entire tray.  This MUST be why they put two pie shells in the package (to account for pumpkin pie fail). What can I say? I'm a woman of the computer age. I have better attention to detail for handcoding HTML than for baking. The second pie came out great, thankfully. My friend Dave sent me the link to this cookie sheet/plastic cutting board cookie fail, which also made me feel a bit better. At least I didn't get any plastic melted inside my oven. Nothing was irreparably harmed by my pumpkin pie fail. This is only my second major Thanksgiving pumpkin pie fatality. A few years back, I had baked a beautiful, perfect pumpkin pie to bring to Jeff and Hillary's for Thanksgiving. The shiny masterpiece was sitting on the countertop cooling and I needed to run out of the house for a quick errand before driving to their house for the feast. When I returned home, I found the pumpkin pie on the floor in the kitchen with the whole center eaten out of it. A trail of crumbs and pumpkin chunks, led me to a guilty-looking dog named Bocce. She had somehow jumped as high as the counter to pull down the pie. Her tiny Italian Greyhound stomach was big and round and full of pumpkin. It's a good thing I love that dog, because I love me some pumpkin pie. Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll. Please try to take a tip from me and remember to keep your crusts in the pie tin. Happy eating! posted by Jess Barron @ 12:28 AM
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| November 24, 2009 | Fun With Yoostar's Thanksgiving Video Backgrounds |
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With Yoostar, you can create unique holiday-themed video greetings to share with your family and friends via email, Facebook, or your own blog. We call these Yoocards, and we've launched a number of holiday-themed Video Backgrounds, including 10 for Thanksgiving. You can say hello to family and friends in your video or make a video invitation to your holiday feast. Or, you can get creative and tell a story -- real or made up. Don't have time to clean your house, cook a dinner, or set the table, but want to send a holiday feast video greeting? Leave the "cooking" up to Yoostar's camera and greenscreen. Or "visit" a turkey farm to pick out your holiday turkey, all without leaving your home.  Debbie tried out the Video Background called "An Evening Feast" to record this Thanksgiving greeting for her family. This particular Video Background allows you to choose whether you want to stand or sit in front of the table or appear as if you are sitting at the table as Debbie has done in her Yoocard. Chris and I chose the "Cooking a Holiday Feast" Video Background to create this Yoocard for our family members who won't be able to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. You can see the water steaming and boiling in the pot on the stove behind us, but that's not our kitchen! (We recorded this standing in our hallway in front of our Yoostar greenscreen.) Debbie downloaded the "Young Turkeys Video Background to record this video "Reporting live from the California State Turkey Correctional Institution...". Will these wayward young turkeys be pardoned? Watch Debbie's video to find out. Chris and I downloaded the "Tom Turkey Strut" Video Background to create this video called "Someone Stole our Turkey to send to our friends.Labels: holidays, video, yoostar posted by Jess Barron @ 10:42 PM
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| December 15, 2008 | Venice Canals Holiday Boat Parade 2008 |
 Chris and I rode our bikes over to the canals to see the holiday boat parade. (Along with the Marina del Rey boat parade, it's one of the annual Westside traditions.) We locked our bikes on Washington, and we saw this gal carrying a large cardboard train and rushing down toward the canals. "Is that where it starts?" she asked us, pointing to a bunch of people underneath one of the bridges. We told her that we thought it was, and she rushed along the pathway. We followed her, and when she arrived a whole floating vessel of 20 or so people began cheering.  They were the "Island of Misfit Toys," and they needed their choo-choo train, and she was the train. She put the cardboard train around her body and hopped aboard.Other memorable boats: *'Jaws' boat, complete with (remote control?) shark that followed them around *S.S. Minnow with the entire cast of Gilligan's Island aboard. It really looked like it was sinking. Also, check out this set that Chris took with his digital Leica -- they're way more beautiful! Labels: holidays, la, losangeles, venice posted by Jess Barron @ 10:40 AM
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| Marina del Rey Holiday Boat Parade 2008 |
 Along with the Venice Canals boat parade,the Marina del Rey Boat Parade is an annual holiday tradition in our 'hood. Chris, Paula, Thoryn, and I headed over to Fisherman's Village to grab drinks at the original El Torito and watch the Marina del Rey Holiday boat parade. Our favorite boat this year was the Venice Boat. The videos came out a lot better than the photos for me this year. Here's a video I posted to Vimeo of us greeting one of the many Santa Clauses. (We wondered how the parents of Marina del Rey explained this to their kids -- the proliferation of boat-borne Santas converging on the Marina...  Was it a nautical North Pole cloning disaster?) And here's some video of our fave, the Venice Boat passing by.The entries this year weren't quite as elaborate as they were in 2007. A sign of the economy, perhaps, and also I should point out that last year's grand prize was an all-expense paid trip to Tokyo, Japan and this year the grand prize was a Southwest Airlines round-trip ticket to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Also, check out this set that Chris took with his digital Leica -- they're way better. Labels: holidays, la, losangeles, venice posted by Jess Barron @ 9:45 AM
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| November 3, 2008 | Dia de Los Muertos 2008 |
 Selena, Carlos, Declan, Chris and I painted our faces and went to Hollywood Forever Cemetery for Dia de Los Muertos a.k.a. Day of the Dead on Saturday, Nov 1, 2008.After we spent 30 minutes or so painting up our faces and Declan's, Carlos looked at the paint box, and saw that it was made in China, and we immediately worried about all the toxic chemicals we had caked on our faces... We washed the face paint off of Declan, but decided to keep it on ourselves. After walking around at Hollywood Forever, we had a delicious Mexican meal (and spicy chili pepper margaritias!) at Loteria Grill in Hollywood Check out my photoset on flickr. Labels: holidays, la, losangeles, selena posted by Jess Barron @ 11:10 AM
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| January 6, 2004 | "I'm Not Gonna Take Any of My Drugs Today..." |
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"I'm not gonna take any of my drugs today so I'll be able to drink." -- my mom (recovering from carpal tunnel surgery on her right hand), denying herself Vicodin on Christmas Day. ("Like mother, like daughter," I'd say.) Happy new year. I have lots to show'n'tell, but I need to run into a meeting right now, OK? Labels: christmas, drinking, drugs, holidays, mom posted by Jess Barron @ 1:55 PM
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