belly: revealed (big time!)

a lovely friend of mine, the talented mr. kevin kach, graciously spent his saturday morning snapping away at my belly, my baby's-daddy, and me. 7 1/2 months of baking a kiddo, and this is what we have to show for it!

i absolutely ADORE every single one of these photos. they were taken at a trail and stream behind our house that josh, june and i walk all the time. i cannot wait for baby j to join us on these walks in just a couple months...!

kevin, you rock, buddy.

thanks a million, from the bottom of my heart...

now we've just got that one, classic photo left to take. shhhhh!

oh, and i mustn't forget to thank kevin's lovely assistant, and one of my all-time besties, "auntie dani". LOVED that you were able to join us and help kev, and i think these pics are of us are priceless!!

favorite places: park bench cafe

it's not often that we get to enjoy the little gem in huntington beach called central park, as it's a good 35 minutes from home, and we don't spend all that much time in that area to begin with. every so often, though, we make it a point to grab the dog's leash, jump in the car, and head up the freeway to get a bite at one of our favorite places: park bench cafe.

this fully outdoor breakfast and lunch restaurant not only allows dogs, they actually encourage 4-legged friends to join for a treat of their own. the puppy menu ranges from hot dogs and ice cream scoops to kibble and dog bones. june's treat today--just a simple peanut butter dog-shaped treat. she decapitated it, ate the head, and left the rest of the treat for her furry squirrel friends that would clean up behind her.

i know what you're thinking--if they serve dog food, i'm sure the people food can't be that good. WRONG. it's definitely a greasy spoon type of restaurant, and a "white plate/cheap silverware" type of place, but the grub is good!!

today's trip was not quite as planned as usual--we happened to be in fountain valley running errands, and we happened to have the june bug with us because the weather was cool enough to leave her in the car for 20 minutes at a time. realizing we were just 10 minutes from park bench cafe, we headed up for lunch and a walk. june loved this afternoon, and so did we. the weather was gorgeous and the flowers were blooming--i'll take this weekend afternoon any day!

favorite places: our backyard

sometimes (okay, more often than not) i get frustrated with the fact that we live in a little 2 bedroom condo, and not some great big house with a yard, garage, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, two stories, living room, dining room, island in the kitchen, 5-peice master bath, guest rooms, etc. (thank you HGTV for reminding me of this desire every day i watch you and your House Hunters marathons....) but when push comes to shove, we have plenty of space in our little cozy place. june, on the other hand, could perhaps use some stairs to keep her in shape, but that will come in time.
i've begun to think of our condo complex as our ENTIRE house. the front gate? well, that's like our gate at the end of our huge property. our walk from the car to the front door? well, that's as if our garage was huge and far from the kitchen. and the park behind our house? well, that's our backyard!!
we live right next to Sheep Hills Park. there is one large hill, a playground, 2 soccer fields, a baseball field, a sidewalk path, and some dirt paths that extend through aliso viejo canyons. we literally sneak out between two of the buildings on our property and we are right there, smack dab in the middle of the hill. as soon as we break through the buildings, we let june off the leash and she's free to roam. as soon as she sees a dog or a bunny, however, it's back on the leash for her. she's not THAT well trained...
we visit the park at least once a day. whether its for a walk around the paved loop or a 20 min playtime for june off the leash, we have found that this park is really one of our favorite places.
seeing as how it's the holiday weekend, and josh, june, and i have EXTRA playtime with each other. this morning, we threw on some hats and jackets, made some coffee, and made our way to the park. it was empty, which was a real treat because june could hang off the leash the entire time. the fluffy clouds, changing tree colors, and fallen leaves made for a beautiful sight this morning. i grabbed the camera and took a few shots of our morning. what a way to start the day!


the view of our house from the park. yup, it's that close!

playing around with each other...


and of course, a family shot :-)

beyond.

bed and bath - self explanatory.
beyond - goofing off with josh and laughing my head off in EVERY aisle of the store, rolling my eyes at him as our "consultant" signs us up for AN HOUR (really???), watching the two of us "compromise" with each other about design and quality, finding $9000 of merchandise we don't really need--rather just want, wanting to chuck the incompetent scanner accross the store, almost dropping the entire "breakables" section, and the sincere hope that every trip to BBB holds yet another hilarious adventure...