The Weidners in LA!

Some of the most beloved people in our lives are Jen and Rob. Jen and Rhi were college roommates, and Jen's parents Ruth and Rich became like a second set of parents to Rhianwen. So when we found out they were coming to Pasadena (to visit Ruth's brother), we were super excited.

Gosh, what great people.

Here we are with Jen's cousins, who live in Pasadena (Mama Ruth and Papa Rich were visiting them, too). They live at a Christian community for blind and deaf/blind people, where their parents serve as missionaries. We were there for a church service that morning, and it was cool seeing everything being translated into sign language.

Here is a a copy of the Bible, written in Braille. Yes, that is one copy. It takes up an entire book shelf. I'd be willing to bet a copy of the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary in Braille would take up an entire room.

And this is a nice little flower that seems to be everywhere in Southern California. We never seemed to notice it before, until Mama Ruth pointed it out to us. Then again, it is like her to remind us to stop and smell the flowers.

Unfortunately, the visit was short and we miss them already. Now all they have to do is convince Jen and Rob to fly out here, then we'll be happy.

Spiderman!

Well Nathaniel Papa, we saw Spiderman. In the flesh. And here's the picture to prove it. This one's for you NP!

I've been Bitten too....

Hi there, it's me-- Rhianwen. I know, many of you may be surprised to see me take up my pen and actually contribute to this blog. Well, it is Rhi AND Benner you know, I thought I should get over my insecurity of being scorned as a writer (afterall Benner is such a talented storyteller and writer) and start pulling my own weight. And, inspired by my great friend Jen's blog not too long ago, I couldn't help but mimic her sentiment and share my own experience with a new amazing clothes line: Bitten.

I discovered Sarah Jessica Parker's new clothing line, Bitten, through Jen. I am constantly impressed with her sense of style and thrift and never thought that I could achieve that level of inexpensive hipness (without her by my side to work through the racks and racks of clothes at TjMax) ever. After all, her mom did pray for her throughout her life that she would be a great shopper-- right Jen? :)

So, cut to the chase. In need of some work clothes (my office is pretty casual though) I headed to Steve and Barry's the other weekend.
I had checked out the Bitten website multiple times and rode in with some pretty high hopes. I should note that generally, everything in the store is under $19.98, but there was a sale going on, making everything $8.98 for less. Could it be?

With a very obliging husband (who had hopes for stocking up his wardrobe himself) and my skeptical sister (she swears she wasn't skeptical), I entered the store and found myself pretty impressed. Granted, due to the sale, I think they left a lot of the even snazzier clothes in the stock room, (and were low on my size) but I still made out.

Benner left, realizing that the men's line at Steve and Barry's is actually not part of the Bitten line, and is essentially a barrage of tee shirts that "d-bags" (his word, not mine) would wear. If you don't know what this means, don't ask. It's not appropriate. This is a tad judgemental for my husband, but he feels very strongly about not wearing graphic teeshirts. I tend to agree with this preference. After toting our mountain of clothes as we ravaged the shelves for more, we decided this was not the way he should spend a Friday night and let him off the hook--he hit the Barnes and Noble across the street.

That's when things got a little crazy. I don't know if it was the crazy price tags, or the prospect that we'd walk out with multiple cute outfits with only a couple hours of work, but we got excited. And before we knew it, our arms were so full of clothes and boxes of shoes that we literaly started spilling things all over the floor (causing a mild scene) and I actually think one of us hit the other in the head with a box of shoes that we lost control of. The details of who are fuzzy. We stayed until closing, trying on as much as we could and made out like bandits.
I spent $69.98. And here's what I took home. (Didn't take pics like Jen, sorry.)
a pair of chuck sneakers (super cute)
a pair of jeans (i'm pretty picky and never dreamt i would see this day)
a three quarter length tee for work
a bra and 3 pairs of underwear (tmi?)
a short sleeve shirt
a necklace

All I can say is wow. And I can't wait to go back when they aren't having a sale-- they will probably have a much better selection then. Thank you Benner for humoring us in a crazed, frenzied, determind shopping state. Look out!

BIG KITTY CATS!!! and other notes on Sarah's birthday weekend

This past weekend was Sarah's birthday. Naturally, she wanted to spend her special day going to look at big kitty cats. We drove up to Lancaster, CA to visit her friends Carrie and Darryl, and from there it was off to the big cat sanctuary where we watched leopards eat watermelons.



I'm not sure these photos do the place justice. The only thing separating us from a vicious tiger mauling is a chain link fence and a few feet of open space. It's really insane how close you actually are to these giant killer cats. Even more insane is how cute they actually are.



That's everyone looking at one cat in particular eat a phone book. Not pictured: Carrie, who took the photo.

Also at the cat sanctuary: seemingly hundreds of peacocks, who were constantly making peacock noises.


I grew up going to the Philadelphia Zoo, back when they used to just let peacocks roam the place freely (not sure if they still do). I don't remember ever hearing them make the kinds of noises these damn birds were making. It was the most annoying, obnoxious and repetitive thing ever. It was kind of like a duck quacking, only the duck is drunk and shrill, and he's cornered you at a party to talk about this crackpot theory he has about the government, and you can't figure out a polite way to excuse yourself from the conversation. It's that annoying.


That's me getting ready to tackle a peacock while Steve documents the scenario.

Anyways, the next morning Sarah and Steve came over to our place for birthday mimosas before we went to the farmer's market around the corner from our house.



We ate delicious breakfast burritos and bought terrific fresh produce for cheap. We're beginning to think life ain't so bad out here in California.

Happy birthday Sarah!

Johnny Luke: A little late, but here it is

Our friend Johnny was in LA last weekend to hang out with his son John Luke before taking him back for a Philadelphia visit. Here's some shots of the cute kid.


Here's Johnny teaching John Luke about the wonders of TV.


Little John Luke loved that window, and who can blame him? It's a good view of our building's pool.


Here, John Luke is getting ready to hop on airplane to Philadelphia. He's clearly of the mindset that air travel is an occasion to look your best, just like 1960's socialites.

We're sorry we didn't get any photos of John Luke's mom Heather. We were kind of slow on the whole photo thing that weekend.

More celebrity sightings

Today we were in Whole Foods, and Rhianwen ran into Mr. Feeny from "Boy Meets World."


Apparently the guy is 81-years-old, and we gotta say he looks great. But the best part of the sighting was that Rhianwen kept calling him "Mr. Feeny," as if that was his real name. Feeny (AKA William Daniels, as I found out later) didn't really seem to be too happy about getting recognized, but we were elated nonetheless. The best part came when we were in line buying our groceries and Rhianwen was on the phone with her sister, when suddenly Feeny lined up behind us. Rhianwen: "Oh, here's Mr. Feeny again, he just got in line behind us."

Later, we were walking home from Trader Joe's (we only buy our produce at Whole Foods) when who should pull his car up in front of us but Bill Murray.


That's right, Dr. Peter Venkman himself, and one of my comedy idols. He looked like he was leaving CBS studios for some reason.

Today was a pretty good day.

Rhi's turn for Philly

Just two short weeks after Benner made his solo endeavor to Philadelphia, roles were reversed and Rhi headed east for her friend Christine's bridal shower. Benner was quite lonesome all by himself, but did manage to be social by going to a BBQ and have some friends over to write.

But back in Philly, Christine's shower was by all accounts a lovely affair enjoyed thoroughly by all in attendance. The food was fantastic, the presents abundant and the hats were fit for Kentucky Derby on Christmas Day. Or something wacky like that.






Yes, these were intended for Christine to wear on the honeymoon. She may look like a petite girl, but she sure packs a lot of junk in her trunk. Ay chi mama!


And later at the Buglione residence, Rhi brings Christine to document a warm embrace. My little Stan is getting married! I'm all verklempt over here.

Rhi stayed with the Papas for the weekend and got to spend some time over at Chamounix House. Nathaniel and Tucker, the two boys, are always hilarious and it has been a blessing to watch in wonder as they grow up over the years. What challenges and pursuits will they take up next? We'll have to wait and see, but for now we'll just hug each other and laugh.


Aw, how incredibly corny. Rhi also had a quick visit with the Walls, including little Edan.....


Hung out with her mom....


And her dad.....


And hung out with Baby Jones!


He is such a delicious little guy. I just want to eat him up!


Rhi also got to see Jen and Rob and our beloved Lozanos too, but failed to document them photographically. We still love you guys, we swear!