say hello to iPhone...

‘Twas the night before the iPhone launch, when all through our condo
The only creature that was stirring was my husband researching;
His iBook was warm but handled with care,
In hopes that his iPhone soon would be there;
His wife was nestled all snug in her bed,
While visions of the keyboard danced in Rob’s head

It’s here…it’s finally here! The highly anticipated iPhone - a conversation that’s essentially taken over our household for the last several days. And this morning, we spoke about the logistics of leaving work early and heading to a Cingular store (because the Apple Stores will surely be packed - even the Philadelphia mayor is waiting in line). I’m already planning on an evening of waiting in a horrendous line in order for Rob to purchase his newest gadget. It was actually me who suggested that we still visit an Apple location – just to get the full experience of the iPhone launch. Rob has been doing “research” on the iPhone for weeks. He tells me it’s for work, but I’m no dummy, I know he’s doing “consumer research” not “work research”…But his bride is proud...Rob actually appeared in some advertising - well, just his name, but we're so proud...

This is a plasma screen in the Apple Store windows

iPhone keyboard online tutorial It's hard to see, but that's Rob's name, you can see better online

I just hope we actually get one today. I’ll share the details on Monday.

Not to be forgotten with all this iPhone excitement…we saw an advanced screening of Hairspray last night and it was awesome! I loved every minute of it – the music and the energy is incredible! I totally recommend seeing it.

Happy Friday!

charlotte…in all her glory!

I finally washed my car! Charlotte hadn’t been washed since April and we took her on our camping adventure over Memorial Day weekend where she got absolutely filthy! I could barely see out my back window before she was washed yesterday. I love my beautiful car – she was my first gigantic purchase (and only thus far, excluding my student loan) and I smile a quiet giggle every time I see her, still shocked that she’s mine. I realize I shouldn’t love a possession as much as I love Charlotte, but I do and I love that she’s mine (well, technically now, “ours”). When my husband and I see her parked, we’ve said, since I bought her in 2003, “Look at her in all her glory.” Silly, but I’ll always think that of my Charlotte…sparkling clean or covered in dirt.




BTW, this was me after my Pooplantation experience the other night. Rob secretly tried taking a picture of me but I woke up…

Souplantation-Coma

Tomorrow is a BIG day for gadget geeks...any guesses on what comes out tomorrow...It's BIG news in our household...

souplantation

Also referred to as “Pooplantation”…Why oh why do I continue to frequent this restaurant? After each visit, I always feel bloated and lethargic – just overall crummy. Yet, I will always return. Yesterday, I even tried to avoid the carbs (I can mow down on that thick white bread and those blueberry muffins) so I wouldn’t negate my morning workout. I did have dessert, and I’ll confess, in the soup bowl, but I didn’t place a chocolate chip muffin at the bottom of my bowl (like I usually do). I stuck with only water too. Really, a moderately healthy lunch. However I still felt headachy and bloated all afternoon and into the evening. Granted, I thought I was coming down with something on Sunday, so there’s a chance, I would have felt this way anyhow, but I was fine before Pooplantation. When my husband came home last night I was sprawled on our living room floor asleep like I was dead (he thought it was funny because he found a Cheerio on my chest), but I felt so icky. Today, I’m fine. Will I visit Souplantation again, probably…it’s a guilty pleasure (or a sick pleasure) I suppose.

his bride

My new favorite thing is when Rob says "my bride". I love it when he says it out of nowhere; it's such a sweet surprise. He's not too prideful to say it in front of others either, I love that! If there is ever a moment when I feel so loved and special that I can burst, it’s when Rob says “my bride”. Something so small, but so incredibly meaningful. It really is the small things…

star search, here i come...

Well, probably not actually…Friday evening, Rob and I kicked-off the weekend with some dinner and karaoke to celebrate Matt’s 35th birthday. Rob HATES karaoke and Matt LOVES karaoke, so it was a sweet surprise when Rob said he was planning to sing "After the Lovin’" by Engelbert Humperdinck. Matt was a rock star as he sung Rick Springfield’s "Jesse’s Girl". Seriously, he put on such a great show that he was surrounded by a bunch of ladies on the dance floor – it was a great birthday treat for the birthday boy. I sung "Mad About You" by Belinda Carlisle. I was such a nervous freak – it’s amazing I even finished the song. I tried to pretend that I was just being silly with Rob in our living room, but I couldn’t pretend…I was so nervous! I’m actually surprised that I was so nervous, I usually am not easily embarrassed. I posted our video of Matt singing, it's awesome!

Matt, Rob, and I
Matt rockin' to Jesse's Girl

Rob singin' Engelbert
Mad About You

Saturday morning we woke up super early for a church cleaning, also known as Project Haggai. It’s the first of three cleaning sessions. I arranged for a small dumpster to be delivered thinking it would be large enough, turns out that it wasn’t even close to big enough. After 45 minutes of cleaning the dumpster was totally full! The Salvation Army also arrived this morning to pick-up about 40 bags and boxes of “treasures” (“junk” to us, hopefully “treasures” to someone else). It was a really successful morning with 29 people helping to clean, sort, trash, and organize. I took tons of pictures with someone's camera (ours was full from the previous evenings karaoke adventure)...I'll post them when I receive them, hopefully this afternoon.

Rob and I were able to take a quick nap before heading over to Jeff and Karen’s home for Katie’s 3rd birthday party. This party theme was Princesses. We had a great time jumping on their new trampoline and enjoying some more “baby time”! In fact, my baby-fever odometer is slightly raised after holding Josie…

Katie, the birthday girl

Katie and her daddy, Jeff
Josie

Josie and I (ugh, she's SO cute)

Rob and I on the trampoline

The day wasn’t over after the party – Rob and I had date night! We finally saw Knocked Up and I loved it! Rob thought it was funny, but I thought it was totally hysterical! I love movies with heart too. I’m a cheap date, after the movie we ate some In-N-Out burgers and then finally home for some much needed rest.

Sunday after church we met up with some college friends for brunch at Acapulco in Long Beach. Marisa brought beautiful Charlize and Jesse brought sweet Cole…it was another babyfest! It was so good to see everyone and enjoy a couple hours of catching up!

Marisa and her baby, Charlize

Charlize, isn't she adorable?

Charlize is VERY flexible (really, she can already do the splits)
Charlize loves strawberries

Charlize and I

Jolene and Charlize
The Tingson family (Pam, Jesse and Cole)

Like father, like son

Cole and I

The gang

After, once again, a much needed nap, we hosted our weekly Bible study at our condo (and 2 new faces arrived)! We were supposed to workout afterwards, but I was beat and thought I might be coming down with a cold. So instead, Rob studied the Blogger website to learn how I can upload video (there's a chance he's becoming addicted to my blogging habit too) and I sat in the bath watching West Wing before taking some Theraflu to knock me out for the evening. I feel good today, perhaps it was just my body’s reaction to not wanting to go to the gym…that means I have to go today…

Happy Monday!

marty murphy speaks out about autism

My husband works in advertising with some really cool people who not only dedicate their lives to brands like Apple, but also to creating videos/movies with a cause. One of his colleagues recently sent the below email:

Hey everyone,
I just wanted to send you a link to my newest video about Marty Murphy who has struggled with autism spectrum disorder. For years it ruled her, unable to speak at times, challenged with sensory overloads and volatile meltdowns. Incredibly, with the help of friends and professionals, in the last six years, she has learned to successfully cope with autism and has integrated herself into the world we call “normal”. I have written the character of "Dora" in my new feature film screenplay "Normal Folk", based loosely on her condition 6 years earlier. Today she is a motivational speaker. A very inspiring woman! Enjoy it, Rate it, Comment on it, and please, pretty please, send it to your friends! May she be an inspiration for many!


The video is just over 9 minutes long, but it's awesome and totally inspiring! Let's forward the love!



Have a wonderful weekend!

congratulations randall fam!

Today’s post will be super short! Just a quick congratulations to my girlfriend Melanie! She’s a new auntie to identical twin boys! Welcome to this crazy world, Jake & Tyler! The boys are still in the hospital, but as soon as they gain some weight, eat regularly (without spitting it all back out) and manage their own body temperatures, they’ll be home. Yeah! Congratulations! Here are a few pics that Melanie sent me. Little Tyler required some oxygen the first night, but after that he was breathing on his own like his little brother.

Baby Tyler

Baby Jake

All these babies and toddlers...I don't have baby-fever yet, but they sure are sweet!

Until next time...

first class...here i come!

Work has slowed down, for about an hour, so I thought I would quickly recap my Cleveland experience and our celebratory weekend. My morning routine is officially off-track, and I miss it! Gone are the days where I can leisurely walk into work and check my daily blogs and the gossip websites, at least for a while anyhow. I can’t wait until I have some time off before school starts!

First off, let me share my experience with Continental Airlines. On my way to Cleveland, I thought the staff was terrible and rude. When I asked for a diet coke, the flight attendant rudely said, “Did you miss it the first time around?” “Yes, I was asleep actually,” I replied shocked at her question. Who cares if I missed it the first time around, I’d like a diet coke, I thought. I wanted to ask for another diet coke after I finished the first one, just to upset the flight attendant. But I chose to not be an annoying flyer. As I was waiting to board the plane for my return home, I was surprised to hear my name being called over the loud speaker. When I inquired about it, I was told that I was bumped to first class. “Yeah! I’ve never flown first class, I’m so excited!” The people in line behind me laughed as I quickly accepted the seat change. Once on board, I was approached by a smiling flight attendant who asked what I would like to drink. I had to call Rob immediately to share. I was seriously bursting with happiness! Rob’s response, “Honey, you better deflate your head when you land in LA, otherwise you won’t fit in my car.” My response, “The limo you're picking me up in should have enough room.” After we were in the air, I was asked if I wanted a “cold plate” – shrimp cocktail, fresh fruit, cheese and crackers. I happily ate my cold plate with a glass of red wine as I watched West Wing and snuggled with KeeKee. It was the best flight experience I’ve ever had!

Cleveland was a very fun experience. I was so happy that my agency and our clients even considered me for this meeting, since I’m leaving in a couple weeks. The meeting was only going to last a couple hours and in the middle of Friday afternoon so I had plenty of time to explore the city – since last week I didn’t have much on my plate, I wouldn’t really have to work remotely. My flight arrived in Cleveland at 6:30pm on Thursday, so I thought I would have a few hours to walk around the downtown area. I was disappointed when my cab driver told me the city wasn’t very safe, especially with the NBA Finals going on. I ended up ordering room service and watching more West Wing – another addiction (I rented the entire 4th season for my flight). My dinner: a “Love Me Tender” sandwich – peanut butter and banana! It was delicious! Can’t wait to make it at home. Because Cleveland is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, many of the hotels have music theme accents. I topped off my dinner with some cheesecake…Do you think there is some sort of Chocolate Eaters Anonymous? Alone and eating a giant piece of chocolate mouse cheesecake – I could be the perfect candidate.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

I was so happy to get home to my husband, even though I was only gone for one day, I really missed him! I wish he could have experienced first class with me too! Saturday we had a couple parties to attend. Sarah’s 2nd birthday party, the Dora the Explorer party, was so fun! I was surprised how much I laughed. It's really cute...Ken and Kelly have Sarah call us Auntie Alyssa and Uncle Rob-O - it's the sweetest thing ever! Toddlers are really hysterical, not to mention, totally adorable!

Sarah, the birthday girl

Sarah and Jayden, more hugs

Jayden loves Dora

Corbin (it's so cute how little kids "pose" for the camera)

Brendan recently had his 1st birthday party and loved cake

All the kids

Uncle Rob-O and Sarah (seeing Rob with her melts my heart)

Saturday evening we met Rob’s mom, dad and sister (Laura) and my dad, brother and sister-in-law (Gabe and Mimi) at the Spaghetti Factory Newport Beach. It was so fun to hang out with our families and celebrate our dads. We are so fortunate to have healthy dads. We have some friends who no longer have their fathers, so it was a special and memorable evening for us to really appreciate our family.

The happy dads (Rob's dad, Terry and my dad, Gil)

The silly dads

Everyone (Marie, Terry, Gil, Laura, Gabe, Mimi, Rob, Me)

Marie posing with my apple martini

Sunday, Rob and I had what we thought was the perfect day…2 movies - Duran Duran Reunion Tour (his choice) and Catch and Release (my choice). Unfortunately, we had a memorial service to attend in the evening for a member of our church who recently passed away. It was a beautiful service where lots of music was played and many stories were shared. Really, the perfect evening to remember our friend Tony.

Wow, today was a long one. Next time I’ll keep it short and sweet…

Boo! Busy, Busy!

I can't believe how busy I am at work right now. Since February, it's been slow for me. I guess now that I have only 18 days left before I leave, they are taking full advantage of me. Don't they know I have a blog to update? I have some stories to share and pictures to post from my Cleveland experience, a Dora the Explorer 2nd birthday party, and a Father's Day dinner celebration at Spaghetti Factory. I'll have to provide my full update tomorrow, but here's a teaser picture from the Dora the Explorer party...I guess love blooms at all ages...

Sarah, the birthday girl, and Jayden, both 2, couldn't get enough of one other

Until tomorrow...

phew, what a day!

My new routine (now that I’m an avid blogger) when I arrive to work each morning is make coffee (unless I arrive with a CB in hand) and then check my daily blogs and then write my blog. Today however, I was actually busy at work. It’s just after 6pm and here I am, writing my blog. I suppose this is how it will be when I start teaching, but for now, I love my new morning routine.

Last night I finally went to a Switchfoot show! I actually went to high school with these guys in Encinitas and I am so proud of their success. Rob couldn’t attend so Melanie came with me. Side note, in 10th grade, I took theatre with Jon Foreman (the lead singer) and if memory serves me correctly, he asked me to a dance. I was such a dork in high school though and didn’t know how to interact with guys that I declined. Needless to say, it was fun to tease Rob a bit last night that I would get Jon to sign my bottom or something (really, though, I didn’t think he would ever remember me). Anyhow, we had such a great time and it’s always fun introducing Melanie to new music as she is always passing along new music to me. They played for about an hour and there were only about 250 or so people in the audience, many of those audience members were parents with their young kids (Switchfoot writes positive, Christian-type music, making them family friendly). I can’t help but not share 2 stories from last night of the cutest kids ever! The first, while we were waiting in line outside the Apple, we saw this little boy, maybe around 3 years old, wearing baggy jeans, a long-sleeve button-up shirt and flip flops! So cute! He looked like a little Heath Ledger, no joke! A heartthrob at 3! Second, once inside we were standing near the Genius Bar (if you’re an Apple fan, you know what the Genius Bar is) and we noticed the cutest family of 5. All 3 kids had red hair and gigantic brown eyes and the 2 little boys were totally rocking out to Switchfoot – they were about 2 and 3 years old. Ugh, it was too cute!

After their set, an announcement was made that the band members would be signing autographs. While I was embarrassed, I also felt like I should at least congratulate them on their success, you know as a fellow San Dieguito Mustang alumnus. All evening I resisted shouting “Come Alive with 95” (our graduating year mantra). After waiting in line for about 45 minutes, we finally made it to the front and I embarrassingly had this brief dialogue exchange with Jon:

Me: Hi, I actually went to high school with ya’ll

Jon: Really?

Me: My name is Alyssa Palmer (maiden name)

Jon: (Either actually remembering me or putting forth a really good performance) Hey Alyssa, how’ve you been? It’s good to see you.

Me: I’ve been really well! I just wanted to say congratulations on your success and I’m so proud of you guys.

Jon: Thank you so much!

Me: I was so stocked when I found out you were playing at Apple. My husband actually works for Apple and we’re huge Apple fans.

Jon: Yeah, me too. As a musician, I always work on Apple computers.

Me: (being pushed by a 9 year old kid with an electric blue guitar for the band members to sign) Well, congratualtions again. Can we take a quick picture?

Jon: Of course

And then we took a picture and said good-bye. I was so embarrassed, but I’m glad I said something. This was actually more mortifying than the time I introduced myself to Jack Johnson (gosh, my heart still pounds when I remember that moment though). They were really gracious, they sound awesome live and I’ll definitely continue to support my local hometown band!

Mel and I finished off the evening with a delicious dinner at Johnny Rockets and a bag of cookies from Famima (well, I won’t blame Mel, I actually bought the bag of cookies). Thanks, Melanie, I’m so glad you shared this full-circle experience with me. Honey, Jon used permanent market on my bottom to commemorate the moment…Just kidding, he did sign a piece of paper though.

I’m heading to Cleveland for work for a couple days, so I’ll be back on Monday. I may actually experience blogging withdrawals (unless I can figure out how to get Internet access in my hotel room, which I’ve never been good at). I have a meeting Friday morning, but I’m hoping to check out the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and also look for Drew Carey…

Until Monday…

And here's the groupie shot:

coffee bean makes me happy

And I'm worried I'm officially addicted (not worried enough to actually do anything about it though). I met with Kristi this morning for my CB soy mocha latte and I love our morning coffee meetings - I wish we could meet more often, especially before I go back to a teacher schedule and have to get to school early. I don't have really anything to write this morning, so I'll keep it short and sweet. Rob actually suggested I take a day off, but I didn't think that was an option. You know, I didn't want to let my "readers" down...to which Rob replied, "dork" to which I replied, "It takes one to know one". Anyhow, tonight Melanie and I are going to see Switchfoot at the Apple Store in Santa Monica. I'm really excited and I'll have an update and some photos tomorrow.

4 months and counting...

This weekend was a whirlwind, as usual. Fun, but quick! Rob and I kicked off the weekend with a party at his office in Marina del Rey. It was really great to meet Rob’s colleagues and also explore the office a bit. He’s been there a year and I’ve been several times, however guests are not allowed beyond the receptionist area – it’s super high security. I guess since Rob’s client is Apple, it makes sense. No thumb prints necessary on Friday! All the secret stuff was put away and we got to take silly pictures like this…

Saturday provided for another fun opportunity to celebrate! Karen, one of the Tucker cousins, is getting married at the end of June and we showered her with love on Saturday. It was a small gathering, but warmth was in air. Karen made a couple funny comments about “being a bride over 60” that had me giggling over the weekend. Here’s the family…

Verna, Dale, Karen (the bride), me (on the floor), Sarah, Laura, Marie (on the floor), Alice, Mary Elizabeth

Saturday evening Rob and I got to take Gabe and Mimi to Sushi Studio. We LOVE this place and especially love going with friends (and family) that have never been. Of course, I forgot my camera (I’m still working on keeping it with me at all times), but trust me, this place is so delicious! We really enjoyed hanging out with Gabe and Mimi. Mimi even brought me gerber daisies! We don't get to see them enough, so when we do, we love it. You'd think they live really far away, but no, they live about 3 minutes away.

Sunday was our 4th month wedding anniversary – it’s crazy how fast time goes by. While we haven’t actually celebrated the monthly wedding anniversaries, it’s fun to acknowledge them. This monthly anniversary was a little different though. Our friend, Kelly Fitzgerald was performing at Christy’s Ristorante in Long Beach. Kelly played guitar with her boyfriend, John Diggins, at our wedding and during the unity candle lighting performed her beautiful song, “Secretly” (you can listen to this song on her website). Last night she sang this song and it totally made me cry. It brought back the amazing memory and feeling of our wedding day. She has such a beautiful voice! The food at Christy’s looked delicious! We just had dessert and a glass of wine last night, but we can’t wait to eat dinner there soon. Kelly’s playing at Christy’s again on the 24th, so we’re planning to return. I remembered my camera too! It was a wonderful way to celebrate our 4th month of marriage! I love you, baby!

Tomorrow evening, Switchfoot is playing at the Apple Store in Santa Monica. I’m hoping to check them out!

Happy Monday!