The Great German/American Reunion of ’09!

We were FINALLY reunited with one of our dearest and best friends ever – Andreas, and his awesome and very cool girlfriend – Catherine, after almost 6 long years! Andreas lived here in the U.S. for 6 months in 2003 and became part of our crew almost immediately. We had some of the most fun times ever during that time, and were very sad to say goodbye once he had to return to his homeland in Germany. The three of us (Danna, Ed & I) were so sad in fact, that three months later, we went to Europe to hang out again! That’s when we got to meet Catherine. But it’s been a long time since 2003, and we were so happy to have Andreas & Catherine with us. We seemed to have picked up right where we left off, and we had some seriously good times!!!

It’s tough to believe I didn’t take many pictures, but we managed to do a lot. We had a great dinner at Tantalum, went to Olvera Street, saw a show at the Troubadour, experienced Canter’s late-nite style, had a lot of laughs at Old World Village, and even enjoyed what all Germans come to America to do:

Eat an In-N-Out Burger!


(Seriously, it’s no lie – The Germans are always excited about In-N-Out).

Anyway, that’s just the stuff we did with them when we were off work … on their own they managed to fit in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Naples, Belmont Shore, 4th Street (Vintage Row in Long Beach), The Pike, Venice Beach, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Palm Springs – and that’s just while they were in SoCal. They even experienced Northern California, because they flew into San Francisco and stayed for a few days, then drove down PCH hitting up Carmel and Monterey before arriving to stay with us. Those Germans are thorough!

But sadly, yesterday was time to say goodbye again after two fun weeks. Ed & I took off work and we hooked up with the rest of the crew, and had one last fun day! We started things off right with a “proper American breakfast” – at no other place than one of our old school faves: Park Pantry.

It was just like the old times!

Andreas & Catherine – we officially just started saving up for our trip to Germany TODAY!

Obama lands in Long Beach!

Carrie and I had heard in the news yesterday that Obama was coming to Southern California today. This morning, I heard that Air Force One was going to be landing at the Long Beach airport! As fortune would have it, I had to be at Toyota HQ in Torrance at 2 today to pick up a test car, and Obama was to land at 3! Talk about the stars being aligned.


It was a truly festive scene there. There were many places one could watch from; I chose the airport fire station parking lot, which was packed but had a great view of the runway.


And there he is…a little speck on the horizon.


Touching down!


And a nice landing amidst deafening cheers, whistles, and applause.

Talk about brightening your day! See all of the pics by clicking below.

Obama lands in Long Beach

When Carrie gets Crafty …

Our friends Crystal & Jason are having a baby boy in April, so I thought it would be fun to throw a shower so we could all buy them some really hip baby boy stuff!

As soon as the date was decided, my mind immediately went to party favors – and I decided to try my hand at some fancy-schmancy cupcakes. I started googling to find great food packaging ideas, because as a designer, I also think about presentation! In my search, I came across these darling cupcakes from Fancy Flours and I knew I had to incorporate that wrapping somehow!

Lucky me, once I told my dad about my plan, he offered to help. He contributed some of his homemade frosting from his famous cakes, and a little icing help. Thanks, Dad!
(Here he is in action, icing one for me)

After the icing was done, it was time to embellish! I found the cutest little cardboard patterned animals from Martha Stewart … they were too awesome to pass up, so I worked them into the motif:

The final touch was getting them wrapped in their individual cupcake boxes … they were favors afterall, so I needed them to be easy for people to take home with them!

Rhinoceroses, elephants, bears, ducks, horses, kitties …

I also decided to make another diaper cake, because I like the fact that it’s a gift that’s sure to be used. This one had 70 diapers in it, and a pair of Black Chucks on top!

Both Ed & I are really excited for Jason & Crystal and we can’t wait to meet the new little man!

Facey Kids Weekend, pt. 2

Today’s adventures with the kids took us to the El Dorado Park Nature Center, which is literally steps away from where we live. It’s always a good time and we knew the kids would enjoy checking out all the birds, bugs, turtles and squirrels we’d see there! We checked out all the artifacts in the center, and then took a stroll on the 1 mile trail.

Some highlights:

P.U.! Kendall finds the skunk pelt.


Mikayla was all about the skeletons of the tiny creatures and insects.


Ethan is a giant compared to the bugs!


So am I!


Uncle Ed finds the jaw bone of an unidentified animal!


Jordan grows antlers.

It was a really nice day to stroll the trail. We saw a squirrel REALLY up close … thanks to some sunflower seeds somebody left for him!

It was a really great weekend and we miss the kids already! Be sure to click the thumbnail below to see all the wonders of nature!

Facey Kids Weekend – March 2009

Facey Kids Weekend!

The Facey kids haven’t spent a weekend with us in awhile, so we made plans to watch the girls’ softball game this afternoon and then we would bring them (plus Ethan) home with us to spend the night. We know we’re biased being their aunt & uncle and all, but they are such good kids, and we enjoy our time with them so much.

For Christmas, Ed & I promised them a cooking lesson, and we bought them aprons that they could decorate themselves to wear to the class. The schedule has gotten pretty busy for them with softball now, so we decided to just give them an introductory lesson ourselves, and once softball ends, we will take them for their real class. The plan tonight was to make homemade pizzas.

The kids did pretty well with their first cooking lesson. They did a great job on the aprons too (as seen above). But of course, Uncle Ed got a big kick out of Jordan’s statement:

“Jordan Rocks … Star Wars Rocks too”. Nice, Jordan!


We taught them the 1st step – “Wash Your Hands”, and after the 2nd step – “Preparation”, we got all the ingredients on the table to begin step 3 – “Execution”. They mostly stuck to cheese pizzas with pepperoni, but Jordan and Kendall surprised us by being adventurous and trying a touch of garlic on their pizzas, with a little bit of Auntie Carrie’s Green Peppers.


I even got to make mine without cheese!


Kendall was in action after the 4th step, and a rule that their Dad & I both learned when we were growing up: “Part of cooking is cleaning up” (Isn’t that right, Mom?)


Yum!

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventures … word on the street is we may hit up the El Dorado Nature Center!

(Click the thumbnail to view all the pictures)

Facey Kids Weekend – March 2009