the box

Well since I got lulu I was able to clean out all the stuff in my old dresser. Ah dresser, you were good to me you were, you held my jewelry and underwear for a few years and for that I thank you. My sisters got dibs on it once I offer it to them but if you guys are in need of a birchy Ikea dresser...

Since there was a lot of jewelry in the dresser, I decided to squeeze what I could in the mirrored jewelry box you see open in the picture above and get rid of what I certainly never use anymore. Well I didn't want to throw the stuff I didn't want completely so I put it in a shoebox and put it in the drum room.

Whatever for you ask? For my nieces. So they have jewelry to go with the dress up clothes that are already in there. Michelle, your girls could try them out next time they come (Christmas ish? or for Angie's bday?). If it's Charlotte proof, it's every girl proof.

who's this big kid?

Esther sent me this pic. Jeans and everything. Too soon!


- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

thor!

He's mighty. We went to the Brea Mall where our friend works and he helped us take home my new macbook pro whom I've named Thor. Complete with Microsoft Office 2011, keyboard cover, and upgraded RAM. I had to wait for an hour for him to be upgraded so we wandered the mall a little bit. The cool thing we learned is that Apple will price match stuff they sell in the store like Office which retailed for a lot less on Amazon and they matched it. Remember how I love Apple? Yeah...

Matt said ha ha, are you gonna seat belt him in? So I did.

Right now I've spent the day doing what us geeks call dialing it in when you begin customizing the computer to your preferences. One of the things I've had to do is sign into my mail accounts and it imports all my emails and can you believe how many freaking emails I have to go through to weed out the useless ones and the spam ones? Ugh.

So Thor is pretty fast, beautiful, he's awesome. I can't wait to take him in to work on Monday.

striped sunday

Land's End, who knew, sells home goods. They got some striped stuff, it's boss.

I am really feeling this palette for the future of the drum room. Plaid. Striped. Grey. We're gonna neutralize it in there and take the color into the guest room which is pretty blah. Actually right now it's pretty toddler since my sister's not moving out 'til March 5. That way Matt can have his man room back and the girly color can go elsewhere.

gingergrass

On President's Day Matt & I went to pick up our new dresser and detoured to Silverlake for lunch at Gingergrass a Vietnameses Bistro. We ate outside so we could keep on eye on our truck.

They brought the water in a wine glass with a cork which was a cute touch. "2007, that was a good year for water." - Matt.

I ordered hot tea and it came in this freaking adorable little single serve teacup that I have added to my amazon wishlist. Obviously it will live in my office. It comes in various colors.

On a whim I ordered the kale appetizer and we split it and heavens to betsy it was amazing. It was sauteed in garlic and olive oil and some salt and pepper and topped with crispy shallots. I am on a major kale kick right now and this is the best way I've had it. I did try the kale recipe by Door Sixteen and I loved it just went nuts on salt, next time, less salt.

The reason I wanted to go to Gingergrass was because it is the only place that makes a Vegetarian Pho that I know of. Pho is a Vietnamese soup that has rice noodles and usually is made with beef stock but they make it with a veggie stock and add tofu. So that means my honey pie can eat everything in it.

It was good but the kale kind of stood it up a little bit. Still, if you're ever in the area, I highly recommend Gingergrass. Try to go early because it's LA and they get crazy busy. We got there before the rush and found street parking right in front of the place miraculously. Bon Apetit.

fresh n easy i love you

These are the kinds of sick things yours truly gets high on. I put all the paper towels and cleaning supplies in one bag. 

It made me so happy, you could have given me a diamond ring I wouldn't have cared as much.

fresh n easy has begun making their own brand of "green" cleaning products. I was lazy and didn't bother to read the labels to see if their allegations were correct. Also, I just trusted them, they've proven in deeds that they try hard to stay earth friendly. I am a big fan of the name and the branding since I'm shallow and appearance matters. I try really hard to not use paper towels, we only use them when babies barf on you and you don't want to waste a towel on them. We saw Angie barf since she's sick: nothing is more pathetic and sad looking than a sick baby.

And the sight of these guys caused squealing that Mary can attest to since I was on the phone with her as I found them. Gluten-Free & Vegan Brown Rice Pasta. I bought four bags. I hope they taste good.

And this special touch just makes me love them even more than I already do. In order to get coupons you have to sign up as a friend of fresh n easy and they email them to you bi-monthly or monthly. The coupon comes on a PDF page that's just the coupon. Well fresh n easy is awesome and they realized they had all this wasted space they can use so they added a little shopping list to the top featuring their monthly specials of it and left you a few lines so you can add your items. How cute is that?!

If you don't already shop at fresh n easy you best get on that and start shopping there. And sign up for the monthly coupons while you're at it.

see i told you

Apple announced the release of the new THUNDERBOLT macbook pros. I don't know what that means other than it's probably faster and has 750GB of internal memory. It's gonna set me back a lot. See? I was right in waiting, they were releasing a new one. 

So this little cowpoke is going to be having a pretty kick ass weekend. Matthew & I are going to pick him up on today. Then my day will be spent setting it up and installing software and all that. After I get my new one, the old one will have its fans and hard drive repaired and then will be used as a backup computer in the office. NERDGASM.

looking forward to spring

It's raining so much this season it makes me want to get a head start on gardening. This year it's all about the edibles. I want to try to keep growing food. I'm working on a plan to bring a larger herb garden into the kitchen along the window. But for now, see how you don't even need much lawn to grow some grub?

I love that little garden box. So dang cute!

room and board

Matt and I went... correction, Matt was DRAGGED to Room and Board so I could feast upon our future bed in person. I think if we get an income tax refund, which we probably will since I claim the least amount of deductions 'cause I freaking HATE having more taxes taken at the end of the year; I'd like us to buy the bed. I know it's expensive for a bed but seriously, how many hours do I spend on it? How many years will we spend sleeping in it? Anyway, the bed's perfect, it's beautiful, I love it, Matt loves it. I am even a fan of the stock color it comes in: Mist, I think it will add a much needed bit of color to the room. I don't care to add a lot of color in there, I wanted to at first but nah, that room's for sleeping and I have plenty of colorful rooms in the house.

There was also an item in the display room that made my eyes bug out. Wow, it's perfect. I've been thinking I'd love to have a chaise in the bedroom for looks and reading and this pretty lady is just the ticket. Matt really liked it and you know that when Matt actually likes something, we go with it.

She will have to wait until the bitter end to be purchased when we complete the bedroom.

props

The kids at the blog finally decided to embrace non-neutral. Way to go them. Their guest room is making me want to do something in ours. Actually it's really making me want to paint the living room big time.

'Course I can't do much until its current occupants move which will be around March. Speaking of... March 5 is Angie's 1st Bday party. Ali, Kat, Am, Man-D, Chelle, Mary, Jill, Mel, Moses, whoever else reads this, you're all invited. It will be at the pool cabaña area in my house. You all know how to get there. Don't know the time yet, probably in the afternoon.

Bring presents. My niece is poor. Don't go nuts though, she's only 1.

I'm giving her a collection of educational kid DVDs and stuff we grew up with.

YOU WISH YOU THOUGHT OF IT.

sneaking stuff in

So, I've been wanting the Crosley radio for awhile. This one. Kept claiming it would be for the office. Here's the thing. There's no place to put it in the office. Who am I kidding? Then I thought I could put it on my nightstand but I thought, nah, it won't fit there, would take up too much room. Then...

Matt's nightstand. He has an old clock I've been wanting to replace and the Crosley would be just the ticket. Matt does not protest the idea of a new clock that is also an iPod radio. Win all around.

lulu

She came home on Monday. She's big and old and beautiful and is officially the first piece purchased for our master bedroom update.


I put my undies and other stuff in there but the pjs wouldn't fit, thats the pile on top, so I gotta go through and donate some. Lots more still to come. Matt's teasing me with the idea of getting a king sized bed instead. Fingers crossed!

- mobile blog post

kitchen tea and coffee tray

So you saw the tea station in the office, sweet. The one in the kitchen is aimed for both tea and coffee.

I have the big loose leaf tea pot to the left to brew larger quantities of tea. The canister holds the loose leaf tea. The little trays use the used tea bags.

Sugar bowl with sugar cubes. I saw it at Pier 1 and it had to be mine. It's more transparent than the other one so you can enjoy the sight of the sugar cubes better.

Decorative jar of coffee beans you can see in the wider shots. French Press for One. Creamer also from Pier 1. I put the little jars of creamer inside it for funsies and looks.

And my latte cup that holds the stirrers, the big tablespoon when I measure coffee for the coffee maker, and the tea steeper when I make myself loose leaf tea for one.

Haven't tried the French Press yet. Don't even know how to use it. 90% of the time I want coffee it's just for me so brewing a pot always wastes coffee. I put the coffee maker away nearby for use when company comes but most of the time it's just one for coffee. Matt doesn't like it. He doesn't really like any hot beverages. He thinks its the devil's temperature. (30 Rock Reference).

Seems like a lot of little gadgets but I swear to you, I use them all. The French Press is TBD but from what I heard it will be a favorite. Supposedly makes a sweet cup of coffee.

craigslisting

I'm sensing a theme in my browsing.

monday's pick up list

This guy:


*squeals with delight* Isn't he lovely? Brass hardware, detailing and everything. Best husband in the world and I are gonna pick him up in LA tomorrow AM. Spotted him on craigslist thanks to a nice slow shoot day where I actually had time to eat food and browse blogs and the internets. Dangerous combos.

- mobile blog post

satchel

I'd like to buy a nice little satchel to tote around when I'm not working. Something I can invest in and can carry around for a long time without changing my mind. Something classic. Something made of durable fabric and in two tones. Like these guys:

I just gotta find something around the $100 mark and not the $1000 mark.

spot o' tea in the off'c gov'na?

Aww yeah!

Tea situation happening in the office now. It was in my very original plans for the office and now here it is. I put it on top of the big white cabinet under the watchful eye of my beautiful state.

It consists of a little canister with tea bags, a tiny creamery thing from Crate & Barrel's outlet that has a lid so I can transport the milk from downstairs in the kitchen to upstairs in the office without spillage, the sugar bowl from downstairs (I got a different one for downstairs, pics coming later) and a mug.

Nothing is a new purchase. Everything is stuff I already had I just moved it upstairs. The canister and mug are from Liberty of London for Target. That tiny little tray I got at the Dollar Tree 2 years ago along with a few others and man I wish I'd have gotten more, they're so useful. And the sugar bowl with lid was from Pier 1. 

I boil my water on a kettle on the stove and I had this electric tea kettle in a cupboard thinking someday I'll use it for something good. It's come in handy for work when we're stuck somewhere and I want hot water in the Moho but now it will live in the office. 

See that little yellowish thing the teabag is sitting on? Gift from Jill awhile back. It's genius. It's sole purpose is to hold your used tea bag and spoon to avoid situations like the ones Charlotte encountered when Harry moved in with her after they got married. Tea bag situation. Not pretty. That same episode had the infamous ass white couch situation.

I spied this at Pier 1 and well, obviously I needed it. It's a toast holder and supposedly keeps your toast all fresh and toasty.

I have lofty plans of using it to hold my toast for brunches with my ladies and nieces. Oh can you imagine inviting the girls over for tea time brunches with Tia EvY once a month? We'd wear gloves and they could tell me about school and how much they don't like boys and want to become nuns. It would be our special times together. Having nieces freaking rules.

It would make a cute letter holder but I already have one. Plus like I said. TOAST!

screw you biola connections

This is the email I sent our school's alumni magazine:

Hey there,

Can you change the name of our subscription to Biola Connections from Mr & Mrs Matthew R Fredrich to: Matthew & Evelyn Fredrich?

I am not a fan of being referred to as Mrs My Husband's Name. I have a name too, I paid for my Biola education under MY NAME. So if you could send me biola connections under BOTH our names, I would appreciate it.

Proud Alumn,
Class of 2004,

Evelyn (Camacho) Fredrich

You know my beef with being referred to as mrs matt. Actually mrs matt is kinda cute but that's not the point. I did not give up my first name when I married Matt and took his last name. I am still a person, I still have a name that is MINE and no one should try to take it. Stupid Biola, if you only knew, and I bet you do you're just being an ass, that the women do all the planning to come to your events and are probably the ones pushing the hubs to send your school money. I know I do and I know I have. So stop messing around with this archaic bullcrap sexism and give us our names back.

Next angry email is toward the alumni department itself.

Fight the power!

- mobile blog post

mon birthday

I had a pretty kick ass birthday. It was a shoot day and I got lots of hugs and happy birthdays. At the end of the night my sweet office PA Miguel got me a box full of tiny cupcakes and they sang to me. I almost felt bad he got them 'cause when I was a PA I freaking HATED getting birthday cakes for people that I didn't care about. I'm gonna go with Miguel did it out of his own free will 'cause he likes me. Yeah.

Ali phoned and asked what I'd be doing and I said all I wanted was wine and cheese for my day and the one place we were gonna go did not have a cheese plate. She suggested The Twisted Vine in Fullerton. Umm, excuse me, where has it been all my life. They've been around for 4.5 years and I'm just hearing of their existence now?

I got a little cheese plate and some pesto pasta and some great wine from Paso Robles. I'm a total California wine snob. I won't buy stuff unless it's from Cali. Or if I have some left over from a certain French themed Christmas party. We were concerned Matt would be able to eat anything but thankfully they had a salad he really liked and my food was good too. When Ali was trying to sell the idea to me she said they had good honey. Ever since we went to Crush with Ambre all I want is honey on my cheese now. This one was from Napa. BADABING. And look at the tiny portions! Just enough for one little 29 year old.

It is a new favorite hot spot. I know you'll all be wanting to come with me later. Sweet vibe and ambiance, good eats, lots of wine.