Noise

It sounds like there's a gas-powered generator in my kitchen.

What is in my kitchen, you ask?

An old fridge that's seems to be dying (and is refusing to go quietly).

We can't tell if it's still working and cooling the fridge. Things in the freezer aren't as frozen as they should be, nor are things in the fridge as cold as they should be, but it is still quite cold. It's been like this for a day and a half now, so I would think that it wouldn't be cold anymore if it wasn't working at all. Hopefully the ice I bought will supplement any inadequacies.

[update] Apparently the fridge was on strike. Lindsay turned it off for a while since it was making such a racket and wasn't cooling stuff anyways. Well after a few hours hiatus the fridge returned and has been working fine since. It's union must've struck a deal.

Welcome Party & Summer Pool Party

The Meadows (our apartment complex) is pretty good at doing community-building events. This past Wednesday, they held a meet and greet for all the residents who moved in in the last 3 months. They also invited residents who have lived here for more than 10 years.
There were snacks set out and a two hour time was allotted for people to chat and get to know each other. We sat with a girl who is about our age (who, we found out, lives on our floor) and a staff member, who is also a resident. We met several other people throughout the evening: a few ladies who have lived here for the past 13 years, a new gentleman who is an entrepreneur in several different fields and some of the other staff.
The gentleman told about himself and some of his business ventures. We even got to see a cell phone video of his daughter and son doing the west coast swing. He sells a juice that helps you feel younger and is in the process of starting a business to promote "healthy and earth friendly lifestyles." He *may* even have some freelance work for Lindsay.

This weekend was the summer pool party. There was a big barbecue with chicken, burgers (including veggie burgers) and lots of different (and delicious) salads. They had Lei's for everyone and hired a DJ who also organized games (primarily for the kids) and handed out prizes. We were actually surprised by the number of residents who came out. We could hardly find a place to sit when we first arrived.

Our Apartment

Welcome to our apartment. As many of you know it is a studio apartment, so we only have one main room that works as dining room, living room, bedroom and office.

















When you walk through the door, to your immediate right is the closet, dressing area and washroom. There are a few drawers there and a space for a laundry basket as well. Our closet is very tall and has quite a bit of "extra" storage at the top.



When you leave the dressing area, the next "room" you encounter is the kitchen. Appliances and counter "space" back onto the dressing area wall and there is a bar separating it from the rest of the room. We bought a couple of stools at a thrift store so we could use the bar for a dining table. The apartment didn't come with a fridge, but we were lucky to find someone just a few doors down that was moving out and had the correct size of fridge for sale. (There isn't room for a full-sized fridge)













Looking out from the kitchen, along the right wall, you will see our "bedroom" and what will eventually be a seating area (once we have furniture). Technically, we already have a bed frame, however, we're still working on staining it, so our mattress is still on the floor.










To the left is our office, library & entertainment center. The desks and bookshelf are from Ikea and the chairs are probably from the dormitory of a local college (we got them at Goodwill and had very similar ones at Southern).
Beside our office is the door to our balcony (also our only window). There you will find Lindsay's bike and "garden" (which cost a lot more than we expected at Home Depot). We have one pot with flowers in it (Cyclamen & Spathiphyllum which - surprise! - turned out to be perennials) and one pot with vegetables/herbs (Tomatoes, Red & Green Peppers, Basil).













Our apartment building is at the back of the complex and the emergency access road runs below our balcony. There are also some built-in barbecues to the south of our apartment, (those brick things that you can see on the side of the path) but the last time we checked they weren't in usable condition.

We hope you enjoyed the tour. Feel free to stop by anytime!

4th of July

aka another opportunity to post pictures of food.

Tim didn't have to go into the office on Independence Day, but he did have some freelance work to do, so we didn't have time to go to the fireworks. Instead, we decided to go have a picnic by the ocean. We wanted to go to a grassy park by the water instead of going to the beach (didn't want sand in our food). We found online directions to a suitable spot and drove down, but couldn't find ANY parking. "Well, that's fine," we thought, "we'll just go to the beach instead. There's lots of parking on the road, plus they have a big lot that we can park in if the road is full. So, we started off for the beach, just a little ways away, only to discover that the road parking was not allowed for the day and the parking lot was closed. How are people supposed to see the fireworks if they can't park their cars??!

We ended up just going to a little park up the road from our apartment. It was still nice, but it means you don't get to see pictures of the ocean. Perhaps next time! ;)

Here are some pics from (and of) our meal.



















Our dinner guest.



















As we said earlier, we didn't get to see any fireworks, however we did get to hear them... until 2 am and for the next 3 days.... Yay for patriotism. hehe

Canada Day

Happy Canada Day!!

We decided to celebrate by having some traditional Canadian fare. (yes, everything does revolve around food) So, we made Hodge Podge, which is a traditional dish from Nova Scotia. It's typically made in July when the fresh, new vegetables are being harvested.

Ratatouille

This weekend was the premier of Pixar's Ratatouille. To mark the occasion, we decided to make... Ratatouille for church potluck. However, after church we found out that there was no potluck this week, so we brought it home and ate it ourselves. It was very tasty. But what was even better was Pixar's Ratatouille!! It was GREAT! We went to see it at the El Capitan, which is the theatre where most Disney movies have their premiers. They have an organist who plays Disney songs before the show, then they have a little choreographed musical number and then the movie. It was a great crowd too. People were laughing and clapping. Lots of fun. Everyone should see this movie!

Some pics of the night from another R&H animator who was at the same show:

Oakwood Apartments

When we first arrived we stayed at Oakwood Apartments in Marina del Rey because our apartment wasn't ready for us to move into yet. They are temporary apartments and came fully furnished, including pots, dishes, etc. Here are a few pictures.