Happy Earth Day!

It's Earth Day! I used it as a theme of my DIY macro pics today, although I admit that most of my macro shots are of nature anyway. Do you know what they are?

My most favoritist jam jar is now mine

When I was a kid, there was this mysterious ceramic snoopy thing that sat on the very top shelf of the cupboard, way out of reach for little me. I couldn't see it very well because it was small and the view was of the underside, so I just saw his cute smile. And he was sitting.

Maybe once every five years, my mom would clean have to go through the top shelf of that cupboard for some reason or another. And down Snoopy would come, just for a little bit. Long enough for me to realize it was a jam jar. Why didn't we ever use it? And then he'd go back up to his sitting place where he'd stay out of reach long enough for me to almost forget what his purpose was.

A few weeks ago my mom passed this jar down to me. It's now in my fridge where I use it all the time. Tom knows that my sudden interest in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is all because of scooping the jam out of that Snoopy jar with the little spoon. He knows that I secretly talk to the Snoopy when I make my sandwich. If the jar were bigger I would probably have my ashes stored in it when I die and get cremated.

Yoshi loves the jar too, but she's not fond of the apricot preserves so she says, "I don't really like the Snoopy Jam. Let's get strawberry next time."

I was so excited to inherit the jar that I IM'ed my brother, "I got the Snoopy Jam Jar!!!!" in a way where I hoped to sound like, "I won, sucker!" To which he responded, "Yeah, I have one too. Got it off Ebay." Damn. So I asked, "Do you use it?" And he said, "No, it sits in the cupboard."

Ellie

I snagged a couple pics from my my SIL's brother's picasaweb. Here's Ellie with a bubbly mouth:



Check out all that hair! She looks a bit like Wendy in this photo.

(slightly) new look

To celebrate Tax Day, I thought I'd change up my blog a bit. Now, I have no idea what my blog has to do with taxes, and really, I just came up with this Tax-Blog connection as I was trying to figure out what to say here.

I was in a photoshop kind of mood today so I made a new header for this blog and for the Akemi Designs blog. I didn't really do much else except change some of the text colors as well as use a new typeface. Subtle, like a ninja; you didn't even see it coming.

Welcome Baby Ellie!

Elizabeth Quynh Haruko Iwamoto
Born April 13, 2009
9:06PM
6 pounds, 14 ounces
20 inches

Congratulations to Eric and Wendy!

My dad, who did not want to know the sex of the baby, suggested both girl and boy names. Haruko, meaning Spring Child, was one of the names. Quynh (pronounced like Quinn) is Vietnamese for cactus flower, which brings to mind the fun and lovely Kimya Dawson song, Tree Hugger. Here's a little youtube video someone made using the song if you want to hear/see it.

I can't wait til photos are posted of Ellie, hopefully in a day or two. My parents are driving down today to meet their second grandchild. I'll have to wait until June for my chance to meet her.

Yoshi is thrilled to have a new little cousin. While she does have a couple younger cousins, we unfortunately never see them, so even though baby Ellie is over 400 miles away, I know we'll definitely get to see her at least a couple times a year.

Yay!!!

Gingerbread cookies

Tom: Hey, salami on raisin bran tastes sorta like gingerbread cookies.

Me (disgusted): Oh yeah?

Tom: Yeah, it's a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy.

Me: Mmm hmmm.

still disgusted.

Reading about running

I've been running 2-3 times a week now for the past two months now. My knee problem limits the distance, only about 1.5 miles at a time, but it's better than nothing. Yesterday I was finally able to run without thinking about how out of shape I am (though I'm still out of shape). It was really nice that I could zone out, granted it was only for about 5 minutes, but I'll take what I can get.

I just finished reading a memoir by Haruki Murakami, a Japanese author whose novels delve into the surreal like his popular book, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. This memoir, titled What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, was straight forward, a bit funny, and something that a runner or triathlete could appreciate. It was nice to nod along in agreement about the feelings of distance running. And it made me want to run more, though of course I can't due to my physical limitations. Still, at least I can read about running even though I'm not actually running.

Read a review of the book here.
And a 2004 Runner's World interview here.

Alameda Flea Market

Oooh boy! Yesterday my friend N and I went to the Alameda Point Antiques and Collectibles Faire, a.k.a. the Alameda Flea Market. I have heard about this amazing flea market for years, but yesterday was the first day I experienced it. Man, it's really awesome. The only other large flea market I had been to was the one in San Jose, which sucks donkey balls compared to Alameda. There is so much quality stuff, so many gems. From furniture to clothing to tools, this place has it all. The above photo is what N and I picked up. I had to restrain myself from getting too much because I'm in a decluttering mode at the house to make room for the piano.

Here's a sampling of what they have to offer.
Random toys (love the miniature furniture!):


Crafty stuff:


Other cool stuff:


N with the letter N:


And of course it wouldn't be complete without Snoopy: