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July 2009 was one rough month. Crazy busy wedding season. Crazy busy work at work. The worst was last weekend when I was on the floor of a bathroom for 24 hours at 8,000 feet (aka the mountains of Colorado) and had to miss Tess’s wedding. Not only did Cooper have to deal with a sick girlfriend and shooting an entire event on his own (which is not problem for him, but more fun to do with someone else) but the car Cooper needed to get to and from the wedding got a flat tire. It was a whirlwind and crazy.

But, I decided August is going to be a better month and so far, three days into it, August has been AWESOME. To begin: 1.) The wedding we shot on Saturday was amazing, the couple was so nice, their families were great to be around and we got to meet Art Streiber (which is a little intimidating while you are shooting a wedding…to have a major photographer in attendance but he was a great guy). 2.) To celebrate this month of joy we took advantage of an invitation to go to the German Tourist Club in the Oakland hills for their bierfest, or some sort of fest. Whatever it was I didn’t want to leave and I fell in love with way too many old men in lederhosen and half sock/half leg warmer contraptions. I honestly felt like I’d died and gone to heaven: it was a beautiful day, I was surrounded by happy friends and family drinking beer, eating purple cabbage and spatzel, and listening to someone yodel while another person played the accordian. Died and gone to heaven. Some photos of what my vision of heaven looks like:

Then, since pretty much all we do with our days all day every day is work in front of a computer and don’t ever have a true weekend we enjoyed an amazing meal at Camino in Oakland. Go there. If they have the summer berry pudding don’t eat anything else but order after order after order of the pudding. So good.

Life is good. (even is Hans at the German festival isn’t so sure.)

Baby time. This past weekend we did a 17 hour day for a wedding in 95 degree heat but then spent a couple hours the next day taking photos of my cousin’s baby. Maybe this baby thing is better than weddings…if a baby turns into a baby-zilla mom/dad just take him/her away and give ’em something to eat. Doesn’t always work with brides, ha!

I’ve had a bit of a difficult week this week…some may call it a funk, others may consider it insanity…all I know is that the Geico commercial with the money and the eyeballs scares me and literally makes me nauseous. I can’t post a picture for reference because I honestly cannot look at the image of the “mascot” without water flooding my mouth and feeling as though I might hurl.

How bad is this fear?

1.) While going for a walk the other day a banner advertisement was flying above me. As soon as I saw what the advertisement was I felt nauseous and Cooper had to steer me in a direction away from the banner for the remainder of what was to be a pleasant jaunt.

2.) I was watching TV the other night, enjoying a few moments of mindless entertainment, when THE commercial came on…immediately I made loud noises to mask the commercial’s theme song (cooper had the remote), Cooper started laughing at me, I starting laughing (it was kind of funny) but then my laughs turned in to solid tears which turned into a serious breakdown. Cooper was scared, not sure what to think about this crazy girl and I couldn’t stop thinking about the commercial and how serious my pain was. Please, to the makers of the commercial, please please change your theme…for the sake of my sanity!

Sweet hey-soos, I realized I almost got away without “journaling” about my Elton John experience. Just for memory sake 29379238 years from now when I am 30493095809 years old I have to record it. Here we go: Elton was awesome. I had never been to a concert before that was truly a one man show like this. Just a man and his piano in front of thousands of people who lusted after him. I have to say I know many Elton John songs but was never a serious Elton admirer, and probably don’t know half the words to most of his songs, but the experience of seeing him in concert was lovely, no doubt.

The two best parts:

1.) After each song he would simply get up, throw his penguin coattails around, put a foot on a speaker, wait for applause, circle around to the next side, wait for applause, circle around to the back, wait for applause, then get back to his piano. Luckily we were on a good side so we could see him each time he circled.

2.) The second best part…not to sound old or anything but the sound was wayyyyyy too loud. Perhaps it was our seats right next to the speakers but it was so loud I couldn’t make out half of what he was saying. At one point my sis/ma caught on that he kind of sounded like a deaf man talking (I know, kind of mean, but it is the truth). In stead of singing “I’m still standing…” it sounded like “Dime dill danding…” Needless to say this caused for some good fits of giggling. Here is what he wore….when he came back for the encore he had did a sunglasses change.

So, we can cross seeing John Elton off my mom’s list of things she’d like to do some day. Next up: the Dalai Lama.

The past week/weekend was intense.

1.) The C-man and I had the honor of shooting a friend’s wedding at the Rose Gardens in Berkeley. If you ever want to get married in a place that has $2938579183759873987938749823 worth of roses that you don’t have to butcher to dress up your ceremony, go to the rose gardens in May. Naturally awesome place. The rose gardens + a birdcage veil + a ridiculously good looking couple + a vespa get away after the ceremony + an INCREDIBLE meal at Dona Tomas = utter bliss.

2.) My dad, Dr. Papa Bruce, came to town for a (hopefully!) final cancer treatment for prostate cancer. He initially had the cancer 10 years ago but the sucker came back. Luckily the cancer had not spread outside the prostate but nonetheless my dad had to undergo radiation therapy. I was his “nurse” so I got to along on all the hospital trips and wait in the family waiting areas. Luckily all went well and my dad met about a dozen nurses and doctors (all of whom were not originally from the states, a fact my dad likes to point out to everyone he talks to), and he told his stories like is so good at doing. When they were taking him away for treatment one nurse said, “Man, he is still telling stories!” My dad is one heck of a tough guy, no doubt.

3.) Finally, my bro and sis-in-law are back from Mexico, but something changed in my brother (besides his hair). He turned into a man/monkey. He got to see our new apartment for the first time and the first thing he did was climb all of the steel beams…

If nothing less, at least now we know who to call when we want to take the god awful curtains down!

Cooper got new frames and I really like them…

Also, check out our clawfoot tub renovation: http://blog.designpublic.com/2009/05/06/a-black-clawfoot-tub-alis-before-and-after/

Well, I hate to say this, but my pseudo family is coming to an end. As of tomorrow, Monday, the 27th of April, 2009, Finney will be leaving our home and returning to his rightful owners. Cooper is worried that I might become depressed with his parting, but I tell myself “Self, it will be ok. I’m sure he will be back for visits and maybe you can now get a dog of your own!” When all three of us are home we go out for walks as a family and declare it as such. We say “Hey family, let’s all go for a walk as a family. Oh, family. How great our little family is!” Finney is the son, cooper is the dad and I am the mom. None of this is legit. Cooper and I are not married and Finney is 1.) not a person (although he pretty much is) and 2.) he is not even our dog. Anyhow, time with the big brown boy has been superb. He moved in with us two days after we moved to our new place so we really don’t know this space without him in it. I’m sure there will be some rough transition moments but at least he is just across the bay if I need my Finney fix. Really, his owners need Fintherapy more than I do right now (in trying to adjust to life on land after being at sea for 7 months and now having to get back to “reality”). Oh, and a highlight of a final moment with the Fin-dog: last night we were watching a movie (a rarity these days) and at the very end of the movie Finney (who was sitting right next to me with his rear towards me) farted. We laughed at how loud the passing of wind was but realized as we got up after the movie concluded that it was not just a fart. It was a SHART! All over my arm and our sofa cover. Oh, Finney.

This weekend I’m going home to help celebrate my grandmum’s 90th birthday. She is the remaining matriarch of the Beckord clan so a royal gala is in order. For me it will be an opportunity to eat soft foods with the other 90 year olds at her party while thinking about all the wine and steak Cooper will be enjoying in Argentina. Yes, I’ll be in a church hall while Cooper is in Argentina. Did I mention Cooper will be in Argentina while I am in cold cold Colorado drinking prune juice? Yeah, Cooper is going to Argentina and I am not.

Two weekends ago I was in Colorado in a supposed “blizzard” at an Elton John concert with my mom and sis. Ali + Elton John =love.

This past weekend I was in SoCal on my feet for 22 hours straight (actually, I slept for 6 hours in between those 22 hours). Ali + 2 weddings in a row = one grumpy gal.

Today I am putting my feet up, working like a horse and finishing my taxes…but before I do all that I have to celebrate this creative video:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_HXUhShhmY]

I know this has been all over the interweb but I have to make sure you’ve seen it…watch out…you physically might weep like I did.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs]

So, a lot has happened in the past month and I’ve done a piss poor job of recording it (i.e. went to Bali, went to Colorado, bought a pair of grey jeans, attempted to cook a few times, etc). Shame on me, self. My #11.25 goal in life is to get back in the creative spirit and write/take fun (not wedding) photos. Stay tuned….(although it might take a bit of time to get going because I will soon be going home to see Elton John in concert with my women (mom and sister) and have a bit of stuff to do before then (i.e. work, shoot two weddings, work, spoon with dog, etc).

Speaking of Elton John…for some reason in my head Elton John’s name is John Elton. You don’t know how many times I started to write Elton John but had to erase it over and over because I typed John Elton. Ohhhh, John Elton.