Project

I'm working on a project! And Violet is helping. If "helping" means making the project take about ten times longer but still being cute.

Maybe this project will be done tomorrow. And maybe tomorrow I'll have pictures of the white coat ceremony to share. Maybe maybe maybe.

Weirdest restaurant concept ever

Hi! This morning I used the 20 minutes Violet slept not in my arms to do the dishes instead of blog like I usually do. So this late post is the best I can do today!

Today Glenn got out of school early, which was wonderful! And we were able to run some errands together. On our way to Wal-mart, we saw not one, but TWO restaurants like this one:

In case you can't read the sign, it says "Louisiana Fried Chicken and Chinese Food!". Weird.

At Wal-mart, we bought a shoe organizer, and Glenn was totally in his element organizing my shoes. And yes, I took a picture of it.

To make sure you don't feel like you wasted your time by reading this very random post, here is the cutest picture ever, that I took yesterday:

Violet's brand new cousin!

Violet got a new cousin on Sunday morning! We won't see her in real life until Christmas, probably, which is SO SAD because she is beautiful! I might even be a little biased because look at these pictures:

(Violet)

(Emma)

Is it just me, or DO THEY LOOK THE SAME?

P.S. We were so busy this weekend! Glenn's parents came to town for the white coat ceremony. It was so fun having them here, the enchiladas were delicious (if I do say so myself), and the ceremony was cool because the USC band was there and they wear trojan helmets and walk like horses. Pictures tomorrow. Maybe.

The Sauce

(I fixed yesterday's post, so the video works now.)

I took on my biggest cooking project yet in this new apartment yesterday. I've been lazy about cooking because my kitchen is SO non-functional! And, in order to complete my project today, I needed a broiler. Look at this picture:

What goes in that bottom drawer? Sheet pans and muffin tins?? Not here! That is the broiler! Maybe I am just not experienced enough in the world of broilers, but that is not where I expected it to be! I also had to learn how to use it. It is gas powered, so there is a scary open flame.

Also, the counter space you will see in some of the following pictures is literally the only workspace I have in the whole kitchen. And it is about one square foot.

But ignore my complaints! Because in my pathetic kitchen, I have made a masterpiece! Glenn's parents are coming in town tonight for his white coat ceremony tomorrow, so I wanted to have a good meal ready for them. My mom sent me a recipe for the best green chile enchilada sauce ever.

I was very excited to try this recipe because every time I see these:

In the grocery store, I think they are so beautiful. I always think, if only I knew something to make with all those beautiful chiles, I would buy them. Three poblanos, three anaheims, and three jalepenos went from

THIS to THIS

using my trusty and elusive broiler. Then into the blender they went, with some not pretty enough to be photographed cooked spinach, onions, and garlic.

I stirred in the cream and was done! I tasted it, and it was DELICIOUS but also SPICY! Scott and Terri, I hope you are ready for some pretty hot enchiladas.

p.s. Violet was strapped to my chest in the baby carrier throughout. She is learning how to cook already!

Violet's new skill

My last few posts have had far too few pictures of Violet. So to make up for it, here is a video!

Spoiler: She can pull herself up to standing if we hold on to her hands! It is so cute because you can tell she has to try really hard. Her little legs shake and she grunts, but she can do it! You can hear her grunt once in the video.

LA people

If you had to guess, would you guess that people would be friendlier in Mesa, Arizona or in Los Angeles?

I have been so shocked by how friendly everyone is here! Every person that sees Violet stops to ask me about her! People hardly ever asked me about her in Mesa. I think it is probably because there is an abundance of babies in Mesa, and in downtown LA, they are scarce. At the farmers' market last week, I couldn't take two steps without someone stopping me to take a better look at her! I don't know if farmers' market people are just extra friendly, but it seems to happen everywhere here. I have even had quite a few "conversations" about Violet with people who don't speak English.

People are friendlier in general too, not just concerning Violet. Here is what is happening in the picture above: That guy saw Glenn skim boarding alone and talked to him for a few minutes before running home to get his skim board so he could join Glenn! Also, all three of our neighbors (our apartment building is basically a four-plex) are SO nice. I have to hide from Lis, the old mexican women upstairs, if I don't want to have an half hour long gossip about what is happening within the apartment complex.

Glenn was skim boarding and making friends at Venice beach. Violet and I were there too.

(My Grandma grew up in Venice! We saw her high school on our way to the beach, which just happens to be the high school where they filmed "Grease")

Farmers' Market

Glenn started dental school today! Violet and I dropped him off at 7:30 this morning. I'm sure he'll do great! I told him to make a lot of friends today.

Last week was our time to explore our new neighborhood together, so we packed in as many adventures as we could. When Glenn was first accepted to USC back in December, I read about this farmers' market in downtown, only about a mile and half from our apartment. It takes place every Thursday, so last Thursday we tried it out!

(Glenn was on Violet duty for this outing. She sure loves that carrier! Putting her in it is definitely the most sure-fire was to get her to fall asleep.)

(Do you see those purple japanese eggplants [or is it just eggplant?] in the background? I barely resisted bringing one of those beauties home.)

(Our spoils)

Our purchases: 3 beautiful (and the most delicious ever!) heirloom tomatoes, 1 bunch of basil, 2 peaches (also the most delicious ever! I thought I was done shopping, and then tried a sample of these peaches and couldn't pass them up), and a package of whole-wheat lavosh (flatbread). Oh yeah, there were a bunch of vendors selling lunch, and we got some tandori-style grilled chicken skewers, and they were delicious!

That night, the lavosh, purple heirloom tomato, the leftover tandori chicken, basil, and some cheese, pesto, and olives made their way to a pretty delicious thin-crust pizza. I should have taken a picture.

Seriously, I cannot tell you how good those tomatoes were. I ate the other two with salt and pepper.

Bonus Picture of Violet and Her New Friend

I wasn't going to post this weekend, but how could I resist posting this picture of Violet and her new friend? My Aunt Sandy sent this sweet doll for Violet and we got it yesterday! She MADE it (amazing!) and she made it with purple hair, especially for Violet!

(apologies for the blurry, cell phone pic)

Family Pictures

A couple of days before we moved, we had our family pictures taken by the amazing Amanda Snider. We wanted some pictures of all of us together in the apartment, since Glenn and I lived there for a while, and it really felt like our home. They turned out beautifully, exactly what I had imagined!

(Violet's hair looks blonde in this picture - It is just the sun shining through)

(I was amazed Amanda was able to take such good pictures, because about 90% of the time Violet's face looked like this:)

We are headed off to the beach again this afternoon! Glenn starts school on Monday, and we wanted one more chance to all go out together!

Morning on the Beach

Who doesn't love the beach? Whenever I visited the beach in the past, especially in southern California, I always wished I had some reason to live close. My parents left late Monday morning, but first we drove out to the beach! It was so cool to realize how close we live! Even with traffic (bad traffic) it only took us about half an hour to drive there.

(My dad was the only brave one who went in deeper than his knees)

Violet seemed a little nervous. I'm sure it was loud and smelled different to her, and she just stayed snuggled up to us and wrapped in a blanket the whole time. I have big plans to drive out to the beach some morning, just the two of us, once Glenn has left for school and the traffic has died down. I'll bring a book and a picnic!

Moved in!

(If just looking at these pictures is too boring for you, feel free to play a game of "where's Violet?". We think we're clever and put her in every picture.)

I lied. I just realized that Violet is not in that second picture of the hallway.

Well, there it is! We haven't done much more than move our stuff in. There are still a lot of pictures to hang and a couple of boxes to be unpacked, but we are getting there! It is nice to be living in a functional apartment again. The last couple of days in our old one and the first couple here felt crazy. Living out of boxes is no fun.

Some of my favorite things about this apartment are the giant windows (so much natural light!), the wood floors, and the moulding. Because it is so old, there is moulding everywhere! It is half a foot thick around every door frame, and knee high in Violet's bedroom. There is even crown moulding in every room, and I think you can see the random moulding about three feet below the ceiling in the living room and bedroom. Also, the ceilings are so high! Maybe 12 feet? I'm not good at estimating that kind of thing, but they are way higher than our last apartment.

You may have noticed that I didn't post pictures of Violet's room. Those will have to wait a few days, because her room isn't looking picture ready quite yet. Violet news: I think her hair is getting curly! She definitely gets that from her dad.

The New Apartment

We're here!

We got to LA on Friday afternoon, and saw our apartment for the first time! It is awesome. And kind of weird/old (built in the 1940s). Here's why:

1. There are three main rooms, not including the kitchen and bathroom. One is a normal bedroom, and is Violet's. One room has a china cabinet, a walk in closet, and no doors in the doorways. The other room has doors you can close, but also opens to the front door. So let me ask you, Which do you use for the master bedroom? If we chose the front room, when people come to our door they enter right into our bedroom, and we don't have a closet. So we chose the middle room, complete with china cabinet and incomplete with doors.

2. The light in the bathroom dims when I turn on my blow dryer.

3. No dishwasher or garbage disposal.

That last one is kind of hard to live with.

(front room)

(bedroom - and Violet and her Grandma! My parents and Glenn's came to help us get everything moved in! They were amazing.)

(Violet's bedroom)

In other news, Violet is still cute! Just look at that smile. Does she look proud of herself for going through three outfits yesterday? Courtney thinks I talk about Violet's poop too much, so I won't say how Violet rendered all those outfits unwearable.

Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the apartment all moved in to! Besides being old and weird, our apartment is also so awesome. We are loving it!

Violet

Violet Hermione LeSueur

Born 7/9/11