The second half of the rest of my life

We’re back from Santa Barbara, and the house is still standing! I would have blogged again from Santa Barbara, but my laptop died. It is still dead. The battery is just about shot, but when I try to turn it on with the power adapter connected, it either doesn’t turn on or it starts up then goes black. Urgh.
So anyway, Santa Barbara was a lot of fun. We forced Deedle to do all kinds of new things. In addition to swimming (see previous post), we took her hiking:

sb pp and deeds scrambling.JPG
Okay, so it’s mostly a butt shot of Peter, but you can sort of spy Deedle’s little legs as Peter pushes her up that big rock. Thuy is enjoying it, as you can see!
We also took her shopping, which she loved:
sb deeds in nordys2.JPG
We walked into Nordstrom’s, and she became a different dog, completely mellow and calm. The piano guy wasn’t playing, so maybe it was the lighting and the “soft jazz” that did it, or perhaps it was the selection of MAC lipsticks.
What else? We got to visit Buzzville Kelly and her daughter Brynne and saw their immaculately restored mid-century home. Really great furnishings and paint colors and everything, as you would expect if you know her blog. Her collection of Japanese crafty books is nothing short of astonishing. She took us to a great fabric/craft store in Oxnard called the Fabric Well. They have a bunch of really great fabrics for $4 a yard! I exercised considerable restraint and only purchased the following:
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I was also lucky enough to receive one of Kelly’s famous cupcake purses!
sb kelly cupcake purse.JPG
Poor Kelly was kind of passively coerced into giving me the purse. The day we saw her happened to be my birthday, and I wasn’t going to say anything, but Peter let it slip. I gave him $5 later. HA HA! Just kidding.
So yeah, it was my birthday, which is why we stayed in accommodations that weren’t part of the Motel 6 family. I am officially old now and embarking on the second half of my life, but what can you do? I had a nice birthday. Peter surprised me with this in the morning:
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We had cake in the hotel room with Thuy, who saved us by picking up the cake before the bakery closed!
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I thought I ordered a chocolate cake, but it was sort of a mocha cake. Delicious. I ordered it from Xanadu Bakery in Montecito. Yummy.
And because this is supposed to be a knitblog of sorts, I end this post with a photo of some glorious Noro Kureyon I received as a birthday gift. I have never knit with Noro before! I plan to design a saddle-shoulder sweater with the knitting software I got from Artfibers. Yahoo!
sb deeds and noro.JPG

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27 Responses to The second half of the rest of my life

  1. Jennifer says:

    Happy, Happy Birthday!!!

  2. amineko says:

    aw, deedles loves noro.

  3. Oiyi says:

    Happy Birthday! That cakes looks good. Yummmmmm…cake.

  4. christy says:

    look at all that noro… im jealous…. i want it to be my birthday…. well have a good one… and im excited to see what you knit from all that noro!

  5. cathy says:

    Hey!!! Happy Birthday!! Belated… it was also my birthday on thursday!!!!! awesome birthday twins!!! many more!

  6. Kerstin says:

    Happy Burpday! (Sorry, the kids made me say it.)

  7. steff says:

    Happy birthday from me too!!

  8. Michelle says:

    Happy birthday!!! Noro makes a great birthday gift!!! 🙂

  9. Alysia says:

    Happy Birthday! Sorry about the laptop probs… but it looks like you had fun & you got some really cool stuff!

  10. Marnie says:

    Deedle is so cute. Totally the opposite of my dog, though. Panda would love the hiking and swimming but would have been horrified by the shopping.
    I can’t tell if the cake or the Noro is yummier. 🙂

  11. Becca says:

    Yay for coming home to see the house still standing… and happy, happy birthday!

  12. Martha says:

    Hippo, Birdies, Two Ewe!

  13. mia says:

    You are not old. You are now the same age as me! You are only as old as you feel. No one ever believes me when I get carded or they find out how old I really am so stop saying you are old. Dress young and act young, that is the secret. Plus telling everyone that your younger brother is really much much older than he is helps.

  14. Evangeline says:

    Happy Birthday to you!
    I *heart* your site.

  15. mascarasnake says:

    That happened to my laptop once…it turned out that I simultaneously blew my battery out and fried my power source out. Lesson? When it says it’s charged to 100%, unplug it!

  16. Jennifer says:

    Mariko: Happy birthday. You’re Santa Barbara excursion look blissful. I am very jealous of that wonderful fabric and can hardly wait to see what you’ll create with it. Best wishes for many more happy birthdays to come!

  17. carolyn says:

    dude. your hair looks awesome in those photos, you skinny little minx. smooches to the deeds and pete. sorry i missed your birthday. i officially suck. more later, gator.

  18. carolyn says:

    p.s. so you are only planning to live until 80? dude. isn’t george already 88. i think you’ve got another 10 years to go before you reach the halfway point!!!!!!!

  19. alison says:

    Lordy, lordy, look who’s forty! Happy birthday, Mariko!! 🙂

  20. claudia says:

    Happy birthday, fellow officially-old girl. The Deedle n’ Mariko hit Nordies picture is a great shot.

  21. marielle says:

    Mariko, welcome to Club 40! It’s been my experience so far that 40 ain’t so bad after all – hope it’s the same for you 🙂

  22. Shannon says:

    Happy birthday Mariko! So many wonderful foods and yarn! Have you tried the melon and yogurt Kit Kats? Are they good? I’m still fascinated by the green tea Kit Kats you had a while back. That Noro yarn is to die for! I have some in my stash. I haven’t worked with it yet but I love it already. Can’t wait to see what you make with it!

  23. melissa says:

    Looks like you had a great birthday. I like the photos of Deedle!

  24. kelly says:

    I’m so glad you were able to make a stop in Ventura for shopping, etc! And, it was great to finally meet Peter and Deedle, having read so much about them… Let’s plan for another get together really soon!

  25. Carol says:

    Happy birthday! Cupcake purse! My laptop died too!

  26. Gina says:

    Happy Belated Birthday!
    Your doggie has good taste in cosmetics and department stores.

  27. momo says:

    love those fabric too!! =)

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