Into the Woods

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Last week I finally saw Into the Woods and although I’m a huge fan of musicals and classic fairy tales, I didn’t love it. It was charming and funny at parts, but I suspect it works much better on stage than on film.

Anna Kendrick and Emily Blunt are as lovely as can be, Meryl Streep is excellent as always, but Johnny Depp is borderline annoying as the Wolf, a creepy child predator.

As much as I wish it were the songs, the true highlight of the film is the costume design. The clothing, especially worn by the women, is truly stunning. Just look at those dresses!




New Orleans

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This Christmas, Clay and I traveled to New Orleans to spend a week with friends and family. It was a first-time visit for both of us and we were excited to be staying in an 1850s home on historic Esplanade Avenue.

Our first evening in the city, we wandered through the French Quarter and down Bourbon Street. We ate jambalaya, crawfish étouffée, and fried catfish for dinner and of course had some voodoo juice from an obnoxious plastic to-go cup.




We rode the street car plenty, a fun and convenient way of traveling through the city. I especially loved the few that allowed open windows and we could really appreciate the cool New Orleans weather.


We visited Louis Armstrong Park, Jackson Square, and watched family members enjoy raw oysters (I prefer my oysters fried). We ate delicious buttermilk drops from Wink’s and beignets at the famous Cafe Du Monde, where we inadvertently cut the huge line of people waiting for a table. Oops!



On Clay’s birthday we took a tour of Mardis Gras World, a cheesy attraction to see how the mardis gras parade floats are made. It was fun seeing the huge styrofoam and papier-mâché sculptures and I felt nostalgic for the many hours and late nights I spent in the sculpture studio in college.




For lunch we tried the original hurricane at Pat O’Briens. Four shots of liquor in each drink took out a few of us!

We also visited the historic Degas House on Esplanade, just a few homes down from where we were staying. The home was owned by Degas’ uncle where the artist lived for a short time in 1872. I didn’t know Degas stayed in New Orleans in his lifetime and it was a delight to see.


One of the more memorable things about New Orleans are the above-ground cemeteries, similar to those seen in Europe. They are haunting and beautiful and reminded me of Paris. Two notable tombs we visited were Marie Laveau’s, the Voodoo Queen, and actor Nicolas Cage’s. A tomb worthy of a national treasure indeed.



The entire trip was filled with good seafood, but the most picturesque was definitely the crawfish boil at B&C Seafood Market.

And the absolute best food we had was french toast and fried chicken at a neighborhood spot called Lil Dizzy’s. Several of us agreed it was the best french toast we’d ever had.

Another great Christmas trip in the books. I wonder where we’ll go next year.

2014 is almost over

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It’s been several months since I’ve posted here, but I’m back. Just in time for 2014 to come to an end. With no expectation of making up for over 9 months of updates, here’s my 2014 quick highlight reel.

In February I decided to say farewell to my team at meltmedia and joined the team at &yet.

It’s been amazing! Design, development, illustration, and personal growth. It really is a dream job and I can’t believe how lucky I’ve been. The team is headquartered in Richland, WA and working remotely has been quite the learning experience.

For my birthday in April, we spent the weekend at Disneyland. Managed to take a neat photo from the top of Screamin’ at California Adventure.

The same weekend we saw The Book of Mormon at Pantages Theatre. It’s just as awesome as I hoped and I can’t get those songs out of my head.

Soon after, our niece Rebekah was born! She’s amazing. Here’s a picture of her and my brother from her Red Egg and Ginger party in September.

At the end of April I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Fortaleza, Brazil to speak at JSConf. Clay and I had a horrible airport experience, but Brazil is so beautiful we soon forgot.



In July we traveled to Minnesota to hang with Clay’s family and visit his childhood home once more before his parents put it on the market. We saw the Twins play, hiked at Gooseberry Falls, and drank/biked on a Pedal Pub.


In August my A Single Div project made its way to the front page of Hacker News. It was exciting and overwhelming to have so many people sharing my project. And it was later featured in the December issue of Net Magazine. Crazy!

For Halloween I attended my friend’s Wes Anderson themed party. I went as the narrator from Moonrise Kingdom. I was proud of my last minute costume.

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parents’ house in Scottsdale. Clay’s and Vanessa’s families joined us and it was great having everyone there together.

And to wrap up the year, we snuck in one more Disneyland trip before our annual passes expired. It was the busiest I’ve ever seen the park, but it was still very magical.

After Christmas we’re heading to New Orleans to spend the last few days of 2014 with Clay’s family. Next year is going to be awesome.

Lego Movie

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For anyone who’s been a kid in the last handful of decades, you must see The Lego Movie. It’s seriously fun and the animation is just so so cool. Plus, I dare you to keep “Everything is Awesome” out of your head.