Week by Week: 27th

Gotta play catch-up! Starting week 31 tomorrow, y'all. Prepare for onslaught of posts this week to bring you up to speed.

Learning to take baths for relaxation.
I'm a total amateur bath taker, but I'm trying.

chowing down on my fave salad.

The world as I see it:
fully reclined on the couch, jamie shoved into a corner, hudson chilling with his head on a convenient pillow.

I flew down to Southern California and got to see so many loved ones! I spent 1/2 of this week in sunshine-y and warm s.cal and it was glorious. Here's a quick preview before I post specifically about the lovely shower that my sister-in-law threw for me.

Flying over Lake Tahoe. 

Visit in Orange County with Dafna, a Tuckie friend.

Mother-in-law, Lucy, sent over the sweetest flowers.
Thank you again, Lucy!

Pregnant lady eats baby's head (nephew Jack - 17mos).

with little sister, Amy.
For the record, she's in heels and I'm barefoot.
Usually I tower like 6 inches over her....ok, not really, but I'm still taller.

Amy's almost wrapping up her first year of her Masters program at UCI where she's on path to earn her MPH by summer of 2014. She's been so busy with school and tutoring and research and applying for summer internships that we've recently been relegated to snippets of conversation here and there. It was amazing to have a full night of staying up late and catching up the night before the shower. I loved every second of it.

A few new sites I like.

Snail My Email - Send an email, artists will be handwrite and doodle it, then physically mail it to your recipient anywhere in the world. Best part of this month-long (until Aug 15) interactive community art project is that the whole deal is free of charge. They're just trying to recapture the lost art of writing a letter and I'm totally digging it. 

Punchfork - The answer to the overwhelming number of food blogs I follow. Reading 100's of posts only to have nothing coming out of the kitchen is nonsensical. This gorgeous magazine-like layout showcases recipes from cooking sites I already love. Best part? The sortability! Real-time data like tweets and facebook shares measure a popularity score (sort by what people love!); real-time aggregate gathers new recipes as soon as they're published (sort by newest!); you can even search by what's left over in your fridge (continue to sort!).

a.mi.me.gusta showcases things of great interest to me. Music, fashion, grub? Check, check, check.

I went-went back-back to Cali-Cali....(part 3)

Seventh stop  = San Diego with Amy + her 3 roommates.

4 seniors graduating this weekend!

coastal san diego + amy's tongue.

Lunch + v.interesting conversation about religion with high school friend, Jessica.

Afternoon date with Jill and her boyfriend, Tim.

photo from her sister's wedding a few years ago.

Back up to Los Angeles; stayed at Smith's for one night.
(because it was a repeat, I'm not counting it as another stop):

I helped paint her living room wall and reorganize her furniture (why not?).

Westwood for lunch with high school friend, Amy Swafford.

At this point, I had been gone for two weeks.

Up next: back up to northern california.

Dedicated to My Sister, Amy.

That's me, an only child for one more year and one more month.

February 1988.

Seisen International School - Japan

Come March 16th, the very next year, Amy came around and completely modified my concept of "family". Yes, we are almost ten years apart, but that never mattered to me.  Amy was the greatest gift my mom and dad could have given to me back then and continues to be the greatest family member a girl could ever ask for.  She inspires me, teaches me, and will forever be part of me.

So, it goes without saying that this crazy girl HAS to be one of my bridesmaids, right?  Similar to my dilemma with asking Devon to be my MOH, Amy's all the way in Barcelona until the end of the year and I hadn't figured out how to ask her until.......

spontaneously last week.....

Why do I feel like I keep asking these girls to be in our wedding party like I'm asking them to marry me?  Sheesh.

I've taught her well.

one of amy's first pictures in barcelona.

--compare to my post from earlier this year--

Is this really, really for REAL??

Yesssssssssss.

we are sickly alike. ten years apart, schmen years apart.

Chicago Day # 19.

Having a terrific time here, still biking through the streets of Chicago like a crazed maniac. I felt compelled to scope out how many miles I had biked, and it appears that I completed 22.3 today. The Olympic triathletes do 24.8! Watch out world record leaders, if the competition were based on how-many-times-you-fall-off-yourbike-at a stop sign-because-the-pedals-are-too-far, I'd be a solid winner by a long shot. These moments of public humiliation are beyond worth the good time I have been having.

Tried to follow some local bikers.
Got left in their dust.

gladiator sandals = proper biking shoes.

Hudson Ave = Awesome.

went through some industrial areas.

Checked out some gorgeous architecture.
Or at least I assumed there was some gorgeous architecture under there.

Didn't pay to park.

the bike wanted to see some cupcakes.

met up with katherine @ tilli's
a self-proclaimed lincoln park hot spot.
(tilli's is the hot spot, not katherine. #PointofClarification)

And on another traveling note, Amy safely arrived at her host family's home in Barcelona. Here's an excerpt from the email I received:

......To get in the building you have to like step through this "hole" (really it's a door but you have to step in sideways with my suitcase and like leap into it cuz it's so small ). They live on the 3rd floor (so I carried allll my bags for one flight of VERRRY NARROW stairs, and then met Ana and discovered that (luckily) there is an elevator in the building!!! (scooooore! ) oh and just to give you a visual of how tiny things are here, the elevator could baaaarely fit me, Ana, and all my luggage... had to pile them on each other so it could all squeeze in! Oh and guess what.... the family speaks ONLY ESPANOL!!!! Like they know a couple words of English. AHHH!!! I've never spoken so much spanish in such a small amount of time. But it's cooool. I'm sharing a bedroom with the other girl, she hasn't come yet so I got to pick which side I wanted. hehehe. I thought I scored cuz I had the "window" but when I drew the curtain, it's actually just a hole in the wall to the next room............

Oh, the crazy good times that girl is going to have.

Adios, AMY!!

My itty-bitty little sister is somehow old enough to move to Barcelona on Monday. She's hauling what I'm sure is WAY too much luggage overseas to go live with strangers for a semester, explore Europe all by her teeny lonesome, fit in a few classes here and there, and I'm so super excited for her. It redefines the word "surreal" when I think about Amy being old enough to take this adventure without our parents or another "adult". But I guess that's what I get for being 10 years older than her? It certainly has made for an interesting perspective; part sister, part friend, part parent. Watching her grow up, make decisions, achieve so much...she's grown to become this astonishingly smart and pretty and outgoing and fun individual. With an incredible taste in fashion, by the way (note: above photo...yes, we just happened to show up to dinner wearing the same outfit).

She's come a long way from getting caught throwing spitballs in the girls' elementary school bathroom and from taking a box of crayons to the hallway walls (why I had to clean it up for her, I'll never understand). A long way from riding a tricycle up and down the driveway with the neighbor boy, repeatedly, again and again, never tiring of what seemed to be such a mundane activity. A HUGE way from being bashful in a large group of people, from becoming noticeably giddy each time I came home from college, from crying every time we had to get off the phone (i miss that), and from sending me copies of her homework so I could proofread them for her. Sheesh, now her schoolwork is completely over my head; I would be so little help and don't receive those requests anyway.

But, regardless of how old she gets and everything she accomplishes and everywhere she goes, I still think of my baby sister with this face:

i love you, amy. have SO much fun (but not too much or unsafe fun). i'll see you soon in barthelona. xo.

I think I broke my iPhoto.

iPhoto on macs has this AWESOME, admittedly underused feature called Faces.

"....automatically detects and even recognizes faces in your photos. iPhoto uses face detection to identify faces of people in your photos and face recognition to match faces that look like the same person. That makes it easy for you to add names to your photos. And it helps you find the people you’re looking for. Clicking the Faces view shows you a corkboard featuring a snapshot for each person you’ve named. iPhoto suggests a set of possible matches you can confirm with a click."

But poor iPhoto got a bit confused when I uploaded pics of both myself and Amy...

For the record, I handed Jamie the same stack of pictures and although there was some hesitation, he scored 100%. Great work, dude, great work.

Amy's off to Barcelona.

My "little" sister is apparently grown up enough to leave the country on her own. She'll be in Espana until December and while that makes me so incredibly happy and proud, I'm also terribly sad and worried! Normal, me thinks.

I put together a couple little things for her.
She's been into cheetah print since the 3rd grade.
This one will keep her protected overseas.
Liam Neeson could pick up some pointers from me (anyone seen "Taken"?).

Sunshine and Voicemail.

A few weekends ago, a bunch of us gathered in Fort Mason to picnic for Jocelyn! Are there any other holiday babies that are envious of those with summer birthdays? Picnics, pool parties, summer vacation. Ahhhh...jealousy.

It was a perfectly sunny day with loads of fresh fruit and couscous salad and everyone in the city laying around to soak up the few rays of sunshine we get each summer. I yearn for days like these.

The birthday girl!
Happy B-Day, Jocelyn.
Party People.
Red Balloon.
Peen + Me.
I've been able to spend some quality time with this pretty lady
before she runs off to Europe for the summer.
sad jack.
Happy Jack!
Note: Hudson is handy for popsicle drippings.
Annie!
Becca family.
Greens.
And me, pulling a Homer Simpson on Hudson.

Casey, trying to corral Jack.
Steph, Annie, Megan, Baby Eamon, and friend!

p.s. I got this message from my sister over the weekend. Isn't she a HOOT?

she literally taught herself how to do that.
kinda realizing that she robbed me of all the talent in our family.

Interpreter Needed.

Remove

Leslie Kasahara is never able to remember what LMAO means. help?

May 1 at 10:57am · Comment · Like

 Amy Kasahara at 11:02am May 1

laughing my ass off. cmooonnnnnnn :)

 Jen Green at 11:31am May 1 via Facebook Mobile

Loving macaroni and ochre.

 Devon Lorraine Larkin at 12:47pm May 1

Phew thank god for little sisters, otherwise I would have gone with lower mean analysis order.

 Amy Kasahara at 1:19pm May 1

a more intense acronym... ROFLMAO (rolling on the floor laughing my ass off)... or like the group LMFAO (laughing my fat ass off) :) hi dev and jen! :)

 Laura Costanzo at 1:24pm May 1

haha! My sister cracks me up!

 Jen Green at 1:58pm May 1 via Facebook Mobile

He! Didn't know that was the group name. Did they sing some song about A+F? Confused. But loving the big sis-little sis interactions :)

 Laura Costanzo at 2:03pm May 1

I am LMCBO (laughing my chunky butt off) at what this status has turned into! I never got ROFL so thanks Amy!

 Jen Green at 2:05pm May 1 via Facebook Mobile

Les and dev are fantastic at continuing web-based conversations. Like surveys, mystery blog posts, confusing updates. I love it!!!!