nothing too exciting going on

not much has been going on in the life of Kelly. so I'll just recap the last week and a half in this post.

I flew to Tampa on the 15th for my big sister's bridal shower. everything turned out wonderfully, despite having to coordinate with a flaky, unreliable bridesmaid since I live on the opposite side of the country. we had it at an adorable tea room. unfortunately I didn't get to take many pictures, so once my sister sends the ones from her future MIL, I'll try to remember to post them.

here's one of the few pictures I did take (of course it was of the cake). my sister's colors are navy and a dark, autumn orange. I bought the tea tins to use as vases for fresh flowers (since we were at a tea room).


while I was out of town, R's little sister came up to L.A. to hang out with him (he wouldn't know what to do with himself otherwise). she's only 17, so they did a lot of the touristy things that people do when they come to L.A. - Rodeo Drive, Pinkberry, Sprinkles, Pink Taco, the Farmer's Market, 3rd Street Promenade. I got back in town Sunday night and, since she was staying through Tuesday morning, we hit Hollywood Monday.

the rest of the week was rather quiet. as was this past weekend.

on Saturday, we spent the early afternoon at the Farmer's Market in Santa Monica. we picked up some delicious peaches and cheeses. and I got a gorgeous bouquet (20 stems) of long stem pink roses for $5! we're going to have to make this a weekly thing so that I can always have beautiful fresh flowers in the house.

Saturday evening we started shopping and gathering things for our new annual tradition - camping outside of Yosemite for Labor Day. we're leaving this Thursday, so we had to go shopping for food and other items that we need for the weekend. I still have some odds and ends to pick up this week before we leave, along with some of the more perishable food items that I didn't want to buy too early.

we spent Sunday in the Valley driving around looking at houses. we aren't in the position to buy anything at this point, but we have decided to start driving around areas to figure out where we would like to look when we are ready. this trip to the Valley helped us determine that there is no way we can live north of the 101, more than a mile west of the 405, we would really like to stay south of Ventura Boulevard, and Studio City is actually pretty nice. unfortunately, every one else in L.A. has these requirements, so homes are not cheap. it's honestly very depressing for me. I can't stop thinking about buying our own home lately, and it just seems like it is going to take years and years to happen. every one says that it's a great time to buy right now. well, it's not in L.A. 2 bedroom, 1 baths in nice areas (i.e. the areas where we want to live) are going for $550k-$700k. and these houses need some work. and then they want you to have a 20% down payment. what?! I don't know anyone with $100k in the bank. and the investors continue to fuck things up for us little folk. they come in and buy all of these houses and make it near impossible for us to compete. we have 2 houses on our block right now for sale - one is $1,399,000, the other is $1,449,000. it's crazy. I don't think we'll ever be able to afford that in our lifetime. yet there are tons and tons of houses where we want to live that are pushing the million dollar mark or above it. so. effing. frustrating. oh well. vent over.

we also bought tickets for BodyWorlds at the California Science Center. we're going September 5th. I really wanted to check it out before it leaves the area (it leaves September 7th). so I'm looking forward to that.

this week will be short since we're leaving Thursday for Yosemite. I plan to take a lot of pictures, but I can't make any promises since I'm so terrible at remembering to do it.