Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Living the Hi-Fi Luxury Lifestyle...



At one time in my life I owned a turntable that adorned my stack of shitty stereo components. It was nowhere near as nice as the Sony pictured above...not even close. Along with that I also had a few records that I collected along the way. For one reason or another I decided that I no longer needed those stereo components or I came to the realization that I could get a stereo about half the size with way better sound quality...and I ditched it all...except for a few Minor Threat records and few other treats.

I have always wanted to own another record player and advance my record collection to albums that I would actually want to listen to. Last year or so...Becki and Patrick scored a record player at the Swap Meet...which reminded me that I needed a record player back in my life.

On our way back from camping in Joshua Tree, coincidentally with Becki and Patrick, we hit up Old Town Temecula for lunch and stopped at a small record store to search through their $1 bin...we scored a good 8 or so LPs...which instantly rekindled my desire to own a record player again.

So I decided I wanted to take the plunge on a brand new Crosley model "vintage style" portable record player(Seen Below). I tracked one down at Target...which is a whole other story. Took her home...unwrapped her...threw on a record and fell back in love with listening to vinyl. Life was good.



The next day I ripped through a good 8 or so albums while I was cleaning the house. I was feeling very proud of my new purchase and luxury lifestyle. When my folks were down visiting on their last night I was going to throw on a little Elvis for my pops while we were relaxing around the house. But the ol Crosley didn't want to fire up. Which in turn really fired me up...I used the damn thing twice!?!

After a week or so of talking about returning the brand new record player that no longer worked I finally did it. Returning an item at Target without the original box...that is a whole other story. I ended up getting my money refunded and started the search for something new...then I realized I was searching the wrong direction and I started the search for something old and not so portable.

I kept my eyes peeled on Craigslist waiting for the right one to show up. I spotted the one and the price was a little too high for what I was looking for...then the post went away. Then it was back! And at a reduced in price...Perfect! I shot the poster an email telling him I was interested and later that evening with the help of Joe it was lovingly placed under our TV and belting out Elvis hits.





The people we got her from had done a little upgrading...Swapped out the old speakers for some newer Sony 6x9's mounted in truck boxes and removed all the fiberboard in front of the speakers and replaced the opening with a frame covered with vintage speaker cloth. She has seen a few days and she will probably need a little love in the near future...but we are back in action! Living our life of luxury Hi-Fi sound! I see digging through discount crates of records in our very near future!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

The Happiest Girl @ Petco Park...



After every visit to Petco Park to root on the Padres...Megan's desire for someday owning her very own pink Padres foam finger constantly grew stronger.

With a lot of persistence and a few strategic financial moves Megan had saved up enough hard earned cash to turn her dreams into a reality.

Ladies and Gentleman I present to you...THE happiest girl @ Petco Park!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Wedding Dinner...









































I put the camera away for the wedding and broke it back out to capture some meal time photos. Food was awesome! Wishing I could have another plate or two of it right now!

Groomsmen Wedding Pre-Game...



























We met up @ the Estancia to get ready for the wedding and watch a little USA vs. England World Cup...pretty nice place. It's no Motel 6 Wilmington, North Carolina...but it did the job. We watched some soccer, Chris wowed us with his yo-yo prowess, scrambled to get ready, took some photos down in one of the many scenic courtyards, scrambled to watch a little more soccer, then hightailed it to the wedding site. Helped get everything setup, Took some Groomsmen photos and directed a little traffic.

The Weekend From My Mom's Camera...


Quite the trio @ rehearsal dinner...


The ladies...


Table with a view...




Nicki and her dad...




Another fancy trio...


Awesome view...Awesome day...




Two strangers...












A lot of my favorite people all in one photo!


You may recognize these two.








Meggy and I did just a little bit of dancing...So much that we missed the cake and the late night pizza.


Babulia Whiskey


Dinner @ The Tractor Room

I grabbed all of my Mom's photos off of her camera before the bailed town on Monday. She is like a Japanese tourist with that thing...pops out of nowhere grabs all the action...It is awesome! I had a great time with them...super stoked you guys made it down for Chris and Nicki's wedding! Love you guys!

It was nice having my Mom running around taking photos...I wanted to take more photos but I also wanted to just enjoy the wedding...sometimes the camera takes over.

Chris and Nicki...I know I have said it before...but here it is again...Megan and I are super stoked to have been able to share this special day with you guys and to be a part of it...thanks again!