Out and About

Jenna and I finally got out for an evening as a couple last night. We got Laina all bundled up (not in a bear outfit, but this was a cute picture that hadn't yet made it on the blog), put her to bed, and had a babysitter come hold down the fort while we were out.


We headed out to Hacienda, a mexican restaurant nearby that we'd been wanting to try for a long time. Good eats! It reminded us a little of El Torito Grill (which is the nicer El Torito), or Mission Grill in SLO. It was definitely the best Mexican food we've had in Colorado. They hand-make everything fresh (tortillas, etc), and everything on the menu looked delicious. I got some awesome Barbacoa tacos, and Jenna got some tasty guacamole and shrimp enchiladas.... which I couldn't taste due to my obnoxious allergy to avacados


Then we headed out to the Gothic Theatre in Englewood to go see one of our favorite bands, Pinback. I had read some mixed reviews of their live shows, but they played great. The bass player plays in a way I've never seen. He plays a "piccolo bass", which is a bass tuned like a guitar, and plays a combination of whole hand strumming and fingerstyle. I can't imagine how much that must hurt to strum bass strings with your bare fingers... Probably the most creative bass player I've ever seen. Also the only band I've ever seen that had a couple songs with two basses as lead instruments. The theatre itself was also pretty cool. Its one of those old movie theaters that fell into disrepair, then some guys bought it out of foreclosure and restored it to its former glory, putting in a good sound system and a full balcony level in the process. (picture below is not from the actual show, but it looked exactly the same)


We're clearly getting old though, because Jenna started getting sleepy around 10:30 (the fact that some of their songs are kind of mellow didn't help, either), so we took off just before the end of the set (around 11:00) after watching people stumble past us and fall over drunk.. we didn't want to deal with them after the show...

Anyway, it was nice to get out for a change as a couple. We're going to have to do that more often.

Blue Steel (The Baritone Saga part 2)

If you were sitting by glued to your computer wondering if I'd ever get the baritone guitar I ordered back in July, I finally did! Sort of...

You'll notice, this one's not quite the same as the pictured I showed in the previous post regarding the baritone guitar... Well, I started checking in on Craig's List just in case another option opened up, and it turned out that someone was selling the exact same guitar, barely used, for half as much as the one I had on backorder at Sam Ash. So I went ahead and cancelled my Sam Ash order and bought it from the other guy. The only catch? It used to only come in this sparkly blue finish...

So, since blue and sparkly reminds me of Zoolander, I've dubbed it "Blue Steel".



I won't be ordering from Sam Ash again.

I recorded a little sample if you want to hear what a baritone sounds like... this is all baritone: baritonesample.mp3

Time for more Laina Pics...

I figure since the last few posts were un-Laina related, it's time for a little brag session. Enjoy!

Trying to feed herself and sitting in her Bumbo chair,
a fantastic gift given to her by my friend, Rhonda
(wearing some uber-cute baby leggings I made,
for those that wanted to see what they looked like finished)

Playin' the ukalale (I have no idea how to spell it)

Taking a bath and playing with her feet, which she still loves to do

Chillin', sporting Cal Poly gear
furnished by our friends and fellow university-mates, the Grundmans
(I know, fuzzy shot but still cute)

Know any good movies?

I was at an office party a week or so ago at the Wynkoop Brewery (next to Coors Field, where the Rockies and Padres are currently tied up in the first baseball game I've watched in years), and was talking to an Australian couple (the wife was a temp at our firm from New Zealand, and the husband was from Australia). For some reason, I brought up one of our favorite movies, which happens to be an Aussie movie, The Castle (the cast is pictured above watching Price is Right and loving it) I just wanted to find out if they had heard of it, and turns out it was huge in Australia. Apparently the phrases that Jenna and I would toss around at home like "That's goin' straight to the pool room" when getting a display-worthy present, or "What d'ya call that, love" when admiring a homemade meal, or the favorite "Tell him he's dreamin" when somebody's asking price is too high, were practically household phrases in Australia because of that movie. Who knew?

I just thought it was us and the Grundmans that knew that movie, but there's a whole country that knows what you're talking about when you say "How's the Serenity".

If you haven't seen The Castle, I highly recommend it. Its about this family that doesn't have much, but is completely content with what they do have. They happen to live next door to an airport that wants to expand, and the airport tries to use eminent domain to force them to sell their home. The family fights back with a horrible lawyer, which makes for a great low budget underdog comedy (according to the wikipedia article I linked to, it was filmed in 11 days) with tons of great lines.

This raises an opportunity for an interactive post... What's a movie you love for some reason, but most people might just pass up? We've been watching a lot of 'em lately after Laina goes to bed, so maybe this will spark some Netflix adds...

The Saga of the Baritone Guitar

Since I play the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and bass guitar I already own for maybe a half hour to 45 minutes a week tops, I decided that for my 30th birthday I wanted another instrument (?)

Way back in the days of One Cent Spent - my band in college, I used to play bass. I used to use a pick, which among bass players is considered very un-kosher, but I didn't care because it was "punk rock"... which I think sounds better with a pick. When using a pick, I used to experiment with playing melody on the upper strings, rather than just a boring bassline. Of course, using just the top two strings was kind of limiting, and they're kind of thick, so while it sounded cool, there was only so much to do with it.

Low and behold, I found out a couple of years ago about an instrument that is designed specifically for the range that my ears were trying to get. The Baritone guitar.

You may have heard it in music like Interpol, The Cranberries, Pinback, The Cure, and also was used a lot in 60s surf music and spaghetti westerns. Its that instrument that you can't tell whether its a bass or a guitar (because it isn't either one).

Anyway, I've wanted to try one out since I heard about them, but they are pretty impossible to find anywhere, and they are also usually pretty expensive (and I only buy cheap instruments - being that I'm cheap). However, I found out that Sam Ash online has/had a nice knockoff that was only $250 (less than half the price of any other), the OLP MM5. So I ordered it for my birthday... in July... Its a little "metal" looking, but it supposedly sounds good.


Its now the end of September and I still have no baritone... Right after clicking, I noticed that it said it was on "back order". I've called regularly since the end of July and keep getting told it is about to ship... I've been pretty patient, because its really not the end of the world if a guitar takes a few extra weeks to ship, its not like its a new kidney or something. But its starting to get a little rediculous.

Anyway, I think I finally got through to someone who actually intends to do something about the situation, so hopefully I'll be rocking out in the basement (quietly - baby's sleeping) pretty soon.

I'll keep you guys posted, as I'm sure you're riveted. And if I happen to write the second greatest song in the world, I'll post it... (FYI, Tenacious D wrote the first greatest song in the world, but tragically forgot it)

Perspective

I noticed on my Outlook calendar at work a reminder that thankfully no longer applies. It did, however, remind me yet again how blessed we've been lately... It said:

Put house back on market

I wrote it just a few days before we got the offer that sold our house. It was about a week or so after we got our first extremely low-ball offer (after 8 months of nothing) and actually met them halfway, then they disappeared, and we were completely discouraged.

We had finally come to terms that the house wasn't going to sell no matter what we did, and had started preparing plan B: to take the house off the market, rent it out at a monthly loss, long distance, and hope to not go broke waiting for the market to "improve". Everyone's obviously aware how much better the housing market has gotten since February...

Our situation could have very easily been a lot different for the past 7 months.

Oh, and here's another cute picture of Laina, because every post has to have one.

feeling so domestic..

First things first, let's start with a cute picture of Laina...


OK, now on to the post. I have been feeling very domestic lately. The sewing machine that I picked up at Goodwill several months ago has finally been put to use. First I had to take it in for the timing to be adjusted, but other than that it is in perfect condition, and the guy at the sew shop even said if it weren't for the "Brother" label on the machine he would swear it was a Viking, which is a very expensive sewing machine. Good deal for $12 plus $35 for the adjustment.


Anyways, I've made several burp cloths (a couple of which I've even sold on a diapering bulletin board I've been addicted to lately) and a couple throw pillows for the couch. I have some fabric to make 2 more pillows and then I want to try making some little "lovey" blankies for babies and also some baby leggings (which yes are very eighties but oh so cute!)

Laina modeling the new pillows
A close up of the model and the pillow (oh, and what's that you see in Laina's ear? That's right, an earring. We got her ears pierced on Saturday)
Here's the fabric I'm going to make the other pillows out of
This wasn't mentiond but here is Laina eating her rice cereal
And so Jay doesn't feel left out, here he is reading her the baby Bible