So today marked a special milestone in my life. Today is the anniversary of Dan and I dating. Twenty years ago—after a three attempts (by Dan) to be more than friends and a hard day of dorm room decorating (me) and paintball (him)—we finally became a couple. And I have to give Dan this one, he was right. The fact that he attempted to break up with me twice at different times, he was wrong, but the dating he was right.
So in honor of that dating, and the fact that I was scanning in our wedding album, here is a photo of us much younger. I still love you, baby!

Young love

While Dan was away, my good friend Rachelle became the first overnight guest at our casa. I discovered that the inflatable bed will fit in the living room, but barely. We can adjust the couch some, which would make it fit better, but only if we have two people instead of one.

Rachelle was just here for a quick visit, but we did go down to the ocean and for a walk in the channels, which you will see tomorrow.

Rachelle on Ocean Front Walk in Venice

Yesterday morning I woke up to the melodic strains of the Plants vs Zombies emanating from my iPhone, which my husband was holding above my head. It was the sweetest thing I had ever heard. You need to understand a couple things, first, I am totally addicted to this game by Pop Cap, and second, just the other day I was bemoaning the lack of PVZ for iPhone.

Apparently, Dan had found out from Twitter that the game had been released, grabbed my phone, downloaded and installed it for me. And now I will never get anything done again.

If you need me, I'll be playing this.

Thanks to Robert Taylor, Dan and I decided to spend Valentine’s day taking part in the Out Of The Box Bike Scavenger Hunt. Basically Teams of two have two hours to ride around Venice and answer questions based on buildings and landmarks. Dan and I are a 30 minute bike to Venice Beach, so we rode over, arriving 5 minutes before the race start. We actually spent about 5 minutes planning our attack—starting at the far point and working our way back. We had a fun time trying to find the clues, and got most pretty easily. We had two that we ended up guessing, cause we couldn’t find them and we were running short on time. The rest we were pretty confident about. We got back about 5 minutes before the end, there was no bonus for getting back early, but there was a plenty for arriving late.

How many of these creatures are wearing gold chains?

We missed the two that we guessed on, but we got all the rest right. We figured that missing two we were probably not going to make the top 3 places, but we were very happy to discover that we won! And got engraved medals and everything.

Victory!

We stopped to eat at Islands, and made it home before it got completely dark, but saw the beginnings of a beautiful sunset over the marina. Quite a nice day to spend with my honey.

Going home now

Yesterday Dan and I went to eat lunch at Paco’s Tacos, which is walking distance from us, and we have been told by several people that it is awesome. We had tried to go Friday night, but it was super busy and we were too hunger to wait, so we came back early on Saturday. We were seated right next to this amazing fish tank, and I took some photos with my iPhone, with a new app I was trying out called The Best Camera. It’s based on the axiom that the Best Camera is the one you have with you. The food came quickly, and it was very good traditionally Mexican food. But I have now officially discovered that traditional Mexican food is not something I love. It very sad and some people will think I am nuts, but I grew up with the white-washed “Mexican” food that was targeted toward middle America. I will grant you that Taco Bell food is horrible, but horrible in a “that’s my childhood” kind of way. I love Chipolte—the flavor and customization. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the real stuff, but I don’t think I will love it.

The fish tank at Paco's Tacos

With our new place came the joy and responsibility of a Koi pond in the backyard. It has a lovely little waterfall and a canopy. We thought that the canopy was to keep the fish from getting too hot, no, it’s to keep them from getting eaten by birds flying overhead. The owner of the house told us that he had originally had 11 fish, but the last tenants had lost all but 4. We decided to name them after the Fab Four, John, Paul, George and Ringo, and they now very big. John, the biggest is probably about 2 feet long. We have to feed the fish, and once a week we have to clean the pump system and prime it to get it started again. This is an awkward process that involves screwing a basket into a tube while it’s underwater. If I have no choice, and am willing to risk a swim, I can do it. But Dan’s arms are just slightly longer than mine, so it is easier for him to do it.
I loved the way the above and below the water worlds merged in this photo.

George and John

So almost anyone who knows me also knows my husband, Dan, who is know the social media manager at Activision. As part of his job, he writes a blog called One of Swords and records a podcast. He has been podcasting for years now, originally for the Official Xbox Magazine. And he has talked about me on nearly all his podcasts, but I have never been a guest—until now. In honor of Dan having his own podcast, and Valentine’s day, I am the guest on the One Of Swords podcast. We recorded it at home last night in our livingroom. Note the two familiar looking felines on the back of the coach. So if you want to check it out, let me know what you think.

Podcastin' at home

Pretty well actually! Since I mentioned my Aerogarden in yesterday’s post, I figured that I would show it today—even though the picture itself isn’t great. I am stunned at how big my basil is getting. I love having it fresh, and I can barely keep up with using it, since the leaves will burn if it grows too high. I have been pinching off fresh leaves to have with mozzarella, tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. I have to finger out some other recipes to use it with.

My herb garden

So a lot has changed since that last post. Dan still isn’t wild about veggies, but he is a bit more open after some health issues. The biggest change though is the move to LA for Dan’s new job. This is the second time that we have uprooted for a new opportunity. 14 years ago we came to California from NYC. This time it’s been less traumatic for me, since I was already freelance, and with the advent of social media—twitter, facebook, and hell, blogs—I don’t feel as far away from my friends.

Since the move at the end of December, I have been working on getting the house to feel like it’s a home. And I have been nesting like crazy! There are still some areas of the house/garage that need refining—The kitchen isn’t as organized as I would like, and there are a ton of built ins that might be better utilized. But everything has a place right now, and the house is clean!

The garage has come along way, recently. Eventually, I will have my photo studio set up in there, so I am ready to shoot at any time. When we first moved in, I wasn’t quite sure that would happen. It’s quite a bit smaller than our last garage—but it’s the only place we saw that had one—so plus. We still had a bunch of boxes, a clothes rack and our old kitchen chairs on “my side” of the garage. I did a bit of purging, and installed a wall mounted coat rack for the closet spillovers, and now I can see the strobe light—so to speak. There is still a stack of boxes containing guitar magazines that need to be scanned, but that is a slow process. Dan agreed to release his guitar magazine collection, after I scan all of the music tab and the special articles. I am thrilled cause this will be so much less stuff we need to cart around. I have gotten a lot more sensitive to clutter, and I am really trying to let stuff go—and not bring stuff in to start with.

With this fresh start in a new city, I want to really focus on getting stronger—both in my physical body and in my work/art skills. I want to start taking photos everyday, and really feeling confident and comfortable. I haven’t spend enough time taking photos that “don’t matter”, so that when I was taking can’t miss images, I would be nervous and end up not getting the shot. I realizing that the only way to become the photographer that I want is to take lots and lots of photos. So I am challenging myself to post a new image everyday. So here is the first one, which goes along with a post about moving into a new home and nesting. This was taken after a rare, so they tell me, rain storm in LA. I loved the light and the look of the sky.

Our New House

(This is a real IM exchange with my husband)

Kat: so tonight for dinner, chicken and rice and grilled zucchini

Dan: two out of three ain’t bad. gonna grill on the panini?

Kat: you just have to try it, yep

Dan: has zucchini changed in some major way since the last time I tried it? Because I have never, ever liked zucchini.

Kat: when did you last try it?

Dan: cucumbers, sometimes I have talked myself into them. Zucchini smells bad to me and tastes bad to me. I still don’t even consider zucchini an option

Kat: try a small piece, if you don’t like it I won’t bug you again

Dan: you said that last time

Kat: then I won’t bug you til I forget and bug you

Dan: in Encyclopedia Amrich, zucchini is notable for being what Derek Smalls stuffed down his trousers and little else. “In a culinary context, zucchini is treated as a vegetable, which means it is usually cooked and presented as a savory dish or accompaniment. Botanically, however, the zucchini is an immature fruit, being the swollen ovary of the female zucchini flower.” OMG

Kat: it makes great bread

Dan: I am not interested in eating swollen ovaries

Kat: you are such a baby!

Dan: just because I choose to research vegetables to understand them and perhaps make them MORE appealing does not mean I am a baby

Kat: you eat the flesh of animals, but are squemish about veggies

Dan: I recall my parents having fried zucchini and/or italian dishes with zucchini. Because the animals are tasty.  I will try it. Again.

Kat: that’s all I ask

Dan: and perhaps this time we will mark the date so it can be remembered as “the last time you tried this”

Kat: how come you have no memory of what I tell you, but food you remember?

Dan: Because your voice is melodious, and I get wooed by your siren’s call, but zucchini is traumatic and I weep

Kat: If I don’t think it is very tasty I won’t have you try it

Dan: wow, that’s as close to a guarantee. What is it supposed to taste like, besides hot, which is not a flavor but a sensation

Kat: squash

Dan: see, I hate squash smells too. I was actually thinking “well at least it’s not squash” — not kidding

Kat: It’s like a dense buttery cucumber

Dan: but cucumbers are interesting because, like carrots, they are crisp and light, and if you recall you actually got me eating raw carrots.

Kat: true

Dan: I don’t love them but I can eat them now and sometimes even CHOOSE to so we have raw carrots and lettuce….that’s inching its way toward a salad. If I can just get over the tomato issue.
dress it up with garbanzo beans (another Kat victory) and a few sprouts (which you don’t like) and maybe a little feta as a reward for eating a salad in the first place.

Kat: lol

Dan: so why fuck that up by grilling squashesque vegetables? but doesn’t it just make them hot and mushy?

Kat: Cause I like them and everything isn’t about you

Dan: lol—very little is about me but I’m just pointing out that you were on a path to progress, and this is a weird detour. sadly I find no recipes online that contian both the words “zucchini” and “tequila”

Kat: I can dip it in tequila for you

Dan: that’s a waste of good tequila