say what?

Natalya and a friend at the aquarium

Natalya has a nasty blister on her left palm. She spent too much time on the monkey bars at school. Last night I was putting a fresh dressing on her wound and we had a funny conversation.

Natalya: are you going to use goose tape on my hand?

Me: Huh?

Natalya: You know -- goose tape.

Me: Do you mean "duck tape"?

Natalya: No. I mean goose tape.

Me: No. I'm using this tape and the other tape is called "duct" tape not "duck" tape.

Natalya: Oh. Then why does everybody call it "duck" tape?

Me: Because when people say "duct" it sounds like "duck".

Natalya: And what about when people say "goose"?

Me: Umm -- it sounds like "goose" doesn't it?

mastercards and milky ways

Natalya strikes a pose at the San Francisco Pride Parade

Earlier this week while driving Natalya to her summer day camp I noticed that she was unusually  quiet. (She usually serenades me in the car with the latest Radio Disney hits.) I looked back at Natalya and she appeared to be deep in thought.

Me:  What's up Natalya? What are you thinking about?

Natalya:  Candy.
And -- credit cards.

Me:  Huh?

Natalya:  I said candy and credit cards.

Me:  Oh. What about candy and credit cards?

Natalya:  Can you use credit cards to buy candy?

Me:  :)

natalya finishes first grade!

natalya and her dance partner jacob wait for the music to start

Natalya finished First Grade yesterday. We're really proud of her. The last few days of school were jam packed with parties and performances. The entire First Grade at Bubb School participated in an International Dance performance one evening. Natalya and her dance partner looked great together and of course, Natalya wasn't nervous about performing in front of over 100 people :) She really seemed to enjoy herself -- and we certainly enjoyed watching her!

natalya shows us why we could hear her voice over all the others

jacob swings his partner

When my brothber and I were kids, my parents took us out for ice cream after we finished the last day of school. I've continued that time honored tradition with Natalya.

natalya enjoys her ice cream sundae after school
(and mom waits for the chocolate and sugar to kick in)

bathtime chats

Bath time with Natalya is something that I usually look forward to. We tend to have some good conversations while she bathes. Sometimes we use it as an opportunity to just be silly or sing little songs that we make up together. And sometimes she says things that leave me speechless.

The other night, Natalya and I were chatting about her day at school while she was in the tub. At one point she looked down at herself in the water and then looked up at me and asked "Mama -- When am I going to get cubix hair?"

Needless to say, this was one of those speechless times for me.

natalya's refrigerator messages

Natalya is campaigning for a dog. She wants a dog more than anything in the entire world. Everyday she says Mama -- I still want a dog. If I catch her staring off into space it's because she's thinking about having a dog.

Andrea and I want a dog too but for various reasons, we're not getting one in the near future. We promised that we would however get a dog someday. Natalya replied that Someday means never. I told her that we'll see means never and that someday means later.

In the meantime, Natalya has taken her dog campaign to the refrigerator. She's been leaving us messages on the door. We get a new message about once a week.

You have to admire my daughter's persistence!

it's over and we're sad

Jayne Appel reflects after the loss to UConn

The good news: Stanford made it to the women's NCAA Final Four again this year. The bad news: they couldn't get past UConn this time. Stanford 63, UConn 84. Ouch! And UConn went on to win it all by beating Louisville in the Championship game.

We Stanford fans are sad and so is Jayne... her teammates had an abysmal game. They barely showed up to help her out. Such a bummer.

In the meantime, I'm counting the days till the opening game of the 2009-10 season :)

E.T. phone home

We watched the movie E.T. with Natalya the other night. She'd never seen it before. There's a scene where Elliott calls his older brother Michael "penis breath".

When we heard this Andrea and I just looked at each other and gulped nervously waiting for Natalya's reaction. Natalya started laughing and said "That was funny!"

Me:  "What was funny Natalya?"

Natalya:  Elliott called his brother "peanut breath". That's really funny Mom.

Me:  (breathing a sigh of relief) Yes Natalya -- it's hilarious!

march madness: here we go again!

Stanford Center Jayne Appel - Pac 10 Player of the Year.
(Jayne also has the honor of being Natalya's favorite basketball player)

It's tournament time and the Stanford Women's Basketball Team got the number two seed again in their region. Last year we rode the two seed all the way to the final championship game -- where we were soundly defeated by Tennessee :( What will this year bring? Several sports writers and analysts are predicting another trip to the Final Four for The Cardinal. I just hope my nerves can handle it!

Go Stanford!!!

a gem from natalya

The other day Natalya asked me about breasts and how old you are when you "get breasts". We talked about breasts for a little while and then I said something like, "you like boobies don't you?"

Natalya answered, "I don't like boobies Mama -- I like cleavage!"

natalya rocking out on-stage at shoreline

Dustin Black's powerful and poignant Oscar acceptance speech

Farewell 2008

Happy New Year everyone! It's January and time for me to list some of my favorite things in 2008.

Kaari's Favorite Things: 2008

Movie: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Humorous. Great dialogue. Amazing cast: Javier Barden, Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz. Interesting, complex characters. Woody Allen at his best.

penelope cruz in 'vicky cristina barcelona'

New TV Series: True Blood on HBO
I've always loved vampire stories and True Blood delivers a fantastic story in every episode. There's also an amusing and interesting gay sub-text thanks to Allan Ball the man who brought to us Six Feet Under. Example dialog: "What's the world to do now that all the Vampires are out? The next thing you know they'll what the same rights as humans." And really -- how can anyone say no to a handsome vampire named "Bill"? :)

my favorite new television show

Concert: REM at the Greek Theatre, Berkeley
Gorgeous night in the great outdoors. Special seats thanks to my connections :) I've seen REM several times. Some shows were fantastic and some were just okay. Michael Stipe really brought his A-game this time! Are you surprised that I didn't choose the Madonna show in November? Well, the sound quality at that show was pitiful. So -- sorry Madonna -- I'm going with REM this time.

andrea enjoying one of our thrones at REM at the Greek

Restaurant: Cascal in downtown Mountain View
Sitting outside with friends enjoying the California weather. Excellent food and unbeatable service.

Spanish fries at Cascal -- Yum!

Favorite Natalya Moment: Watching Natalya meet the Jonas Brothers
The look on her face was truly priceless! This favorite moment is followed closely by the time that Natalya told me that she loved me "as much as a jellyfish".

natalya and her new best friends

Hey California! You Can Forget My Taxes!

Last night I was talking to one of my friends about Proposition 8 and the fallout the gay community is experiencing as a result of its passing. I said that I was considering not paying State taxes until I had the same rights as all of the other California minority groups who pay taxes. I get equal rights -- the State of California can have my tax contribution. Seems like a fair trade to me.

Apparently, I'm not alone in my thinking. Today I found this blog post from Melissa Etheridge. Here's a snippet:

Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen. I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.

You can find the full post here:

http://thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-11-06/you-can-forget-my-taxes

Rock on Melissa! Great minds think alike  :)

Bridge School Benefit 2008

Alas, another Shoreline season has come to an end. On October 25th and 26th we hosted the Bridge School Benefit shows. They were fun shows as usual however this year some of the usual Bridge magic was missing. I'm chalking it up to the impending election -- everyone was feeling anxious -- not to mention the fact that most of the acts on the line-up already play acoustic shows (meaning no surprises like Metallica playing acoustic). 

Sarah McLachlan delivered the most outstanding set at Saturday's show. She accompanied herself on piano as well as guitar. Sarah played some old favorites like Possession and Ice Cream, as well as some new tunes like U Want Me 2. Her voice was clear and strong and the audience rewarded her with the only standing ovation of the night.

The highlight of Sunday's show was Josh Groban singing a song with the Smashing Pumpkins. That was indeed a magical moment and definitely one I never thought I'd witness in my lifetime!

Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and Josh Grobin singing 'Disarm'

Photo by my friend Tim Mosenfelder

the first of many halloween parties this year

Natalya attended her first Halloween party of the "season" last Friday. Miss Muffet has a couple more parties on her schedule. She took her Rock Star outfit but ended up wearing this Sully costume instead. Pretty cute :)

first day of first grade

natalya and andrea walking to school on the first day

Natalya started first grade last month. So far she's been really excited about going to school. Aside from recess, her favorite part of the day is Writing Workshop -- she's becoming quite the little story teller. 

natalya and her back to school pie

My parents were in town when school started so my mom made Natalya a back to school pie otherwise known as Lemon Meringue (made with lemons from the tree in our backyard). Thanks Grandma Elaine!

there's a snake in my boots!

Natalya has a talking Woody doll (Woody is the cowboy from the Toy Story movies). Last week she told me that Woody was talking to her in the middle of the night. She wanted to throw him away because he was broken. I rescued Woody from the trash and put him in our closet. Around 2:30 in the morning I awoke to a voice saying "Howdy Partner!" I chuckled to myself and went back to sleep. Then at 5 a.m. I heard "There's a snake in my boots!"

That was the last straw -- I wasn't going to let Woody wake me up again. I took him downstairs and stuck him on top of Natalya's toy box.

We didn't hear from Woody again for at least three days and then suddenly one evening Woody exclaimed once again, "There's a snake in my boots!"

Currently, Woody is perched on a chair in the garage. Every once in awhile we hear him say hello and complain about the snake in his boots. Now we think that Woody is trying to worm his way back into the house. Lately the only thing we've heard him say is, "You're my favorite Deputy!"

That's really nice Woody -- but you're still not coming back inside! :)

RIP Miyake June 1994 - August 2008

when's dinner?

noble hunter

happiness is a warm ironing board

natalya meets the jonas brothers!

The Jonas Brothers were at Shoreline on Tuesday night. They happen to be one of Natalya's favorites groups. We -- uh -- I mean "she" listens to them all the time. So I used my Shoreline connections and status and got Miss Muffet backstage to meet them. I thought that she might be star-struck, but Natalya did very well. She marched right up when it was her turn and gave Joe, Nick and Kevin a hug before posing for the picture with them.

I wish I had a photo of the look on Natalya's face after she met the guys. Sheer joy. She put her hands up on each side of her head and screamed "I just met the Jonas Brothers!" And then she just stood there dumbfounded.

joe, natalya, nick and kevin

I was able to get front row seats for Natalya and her "boyfriend" Jackson for the concert. They both ended up standing against the rail in front of the stage for the entire show (two hours).

natalya and jack standing at the edge of the stage

If this doesn't get me a nomination for Mom of the Year I don't know what will!

signed, sealed, delivered

Saturday night Stevie Wonder was at Shoreline and I got to meet him! I was backstage with his publicist and we strolled past Stevie who was sitting outside on the hospitality deck. She stopped to chat for a minute and he asked "who's with you?" And she said, "This is Kaari. She's the Media Coordinator for the venue."

Stevie held out his hand and said "pleased to meet you." And I shook his hand. I was so stoked! I had to remain calm though. Didn't want to look unprofessional at work. But when I got back to my office I jumped up and down and texted Andrea the good news :)

artist's rendering of the Stevie Wonder / Kaari meeting

can you hear me now?

Natalya just had ear surgery and it was a success! She'd lost 30-40% of her hearing due to fluid in her ears. The surgeon went in and sucked the goo out of Natalya's ears and put tubes in and now — no more loud televisions and loud talking at our house. And no more confusion — when we yell at Natalya it's because we're angry about something! :)

ready to roll to the operating room with puppy