The weekend after Thanksgiving we had another sushi-making party, complete with too much sake.

[see the rest]

My family, Dustin and I attended this rally at the end of October (or tried to attend it; it was so crowded and massive we ended up not seeing or hearing much of anything). The crush of colorful humanity was fascinating. Lots of hilarious signs, happy people, and interesting costumes. The weekend itself was fantastic as a whole, and while the rally was an excuse to go to DC, I’m not upset we more or less missed it because everything else was so worth it.

[my full set of DC pictures I’ve posted so far]

I want to post more about the museums we visited soon, though you can see pictures of them in the above set.

Some moments from last weekend.
Life is a bit weird lately; things keep changing against the same backdrop. Future keeps approaching and backing off, getting foggy and morphing shapes. So I keep taking photos, ruminating (probably too much), and letting life go on.

I took a walk today around my neighborhood… I haven’t been taking as many photos lately, and I want to change that.

Craigslist was very kind to us this past weekend. On a whim, I was searching for dressers and found these instead — both together for an insane price. We were the first to call of many; apparently people were swarming to get these and we just got really lucky. We spent our Saturday afternoon hauling these across town and arranging them in our living room/entryway. It’s amazing how much they classed up the place. They replaced our two weakest pieces in one go, so the difference is awesome.

These earrings are a just-because surprise present from Dustin I received on Friday, and they are amazing. (I love fish and the artistic representation like fish like crazy, for anyone unaware of this fact.) These are one of a kind, with eyes made of carnelian stones and the rest sterling silver. They were made by Peggy Johnson, an awesome jewelry maker who draws inspiration from nature and every-day home objects (like toasters). Check out her Etsy shop here and her blog here.

[ink in my moleskine]

The Harbinger Co. by Yvonne Hung of San Francisco uses eco-friendly materials in unique ways to make amazing products. The bulk of their jewelry line consists of a series of earrings and pendants made from laser-cut bamboo, in both artistic and mathematically beautiful designs. I bought the Large Honeycomb Pendant today; really excited to get it.

Thursday we watched the Perseid meteor shower from the huge yard of a Schwenk family property 20 miles out of town – despite the bugs, it was pretty great. The date Dustin and I chose for our anniversary was the night we first watched the Leonids together, so meteor showers are special for us beyond their inherent coolness.

In other news, I’m starting the game Bioshock on the PS3 tonight too to see how my taste for FPSs has evolved, and I can count on Dustin to devour it regardless if I run out of steam. This is a hanging-around sort of weekend, because next weekend is the Gold Coast Art Fair, and the weekend after that is the Illinois Renaissance Festival.
Later edit: A few pictures from these events are on Flickr.

[More photos from the trip]
[My new CrossProcess set with additional LA pictures]

The trip was great — everything went well and we got to see tons of interesting things. I think the highlight for us was visiting the Eames House. It was surreal to see it after having looked at so many photos and trying to visualize it. It was a beautiful day, we were the only ones there, and it was really peaceful and fun (if hard to find). They basically gave us the run of the grounds for as long as we wanted, we just couldn’t go inside.
We also saw Jim Gaffigan do a live show, and visited a few gastropubs and other incredible restaurants. We snorkeled on Catalina Island in 65 degree water which was a pretty crazy experience. Finally, we left Dustin’s camera (Lumix LX3) in the glove box of the rental car. I called them hurriedly from the plane as soon as we realized we’d left it, and they actually found it and offered to mail it to me – whew.