The Harvablog

T-Giving, 2006

2006-12-06T08:26:00.000-08:00

Harv and I spent Thanksgiving in Minnesota this year. Despite a small mishap with Expedia, we had a safe trip and a fun holiday.
We saw old friends,
heard some good music,
and ate some great food.

A good time was had by all. You can see more pictures here.

Two new additions

2006-12-02T15:51:00.000-08:00

One is an addition to the Harvatine household. It's our new Christmas tree! This is quite possibly the tallest tree known to man. It is over eight feet tall! We put up the lights and strung popcorn but no ornaments yet. I have been under the weather and Harv has been working on another electric football short so we haven't really been up to decorating. Luckily the tree looks great the way it is so it hasn't felt naked.
The other addition is to our ever growing pressence on the web, what we like to call the "Harvatine Empire". Our new corner of the internet is LadyHarvatine.com, a place for me to write about and show pictures of my crafting projects and hopefully gain motivation and inspiration from the wealth of crafters on the internet.

So, in case you're a little confused as to why two people need four blogs, here's a key to help you keep things straight:

Make Out City Studios - anything related to stop-motion
Harvablog - personal Harvatine news
Cheese and Packers - cheesy stuff about the Packers
Lady Harvatine - My artistic life outside of stop-motion

A Two Year Two Remember

2006-11-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

Liz and I celebrated our two year anniversary last week and it was a wonderful time. We went up to San Luis Obispo and stayed at the Madanna Inn, which was a ton of fun. For those who don't know, the Madonna Inn has over 200 rooms each with different themes. Our first night we stayed at Wilhelm Tell, which had a rock theme....and a rock water fall. Crazy! That night we had dinner at The Hitching Post II, an amazing restaurant that you have seen on the movie Sideways. Not the reason we went there, the food is just too good to pass up!

The next day we went to the Hearst Castle in San Simeon. That guy had money, and I don't think he was too shy about spending it. But hey, it makes for a great day trip. Thanks Mr. Hearst Castle.

That night we ate at The Sea Chest and Oyster Bar in Cambria. We shared some crab legs and shared good times. Wish you could have been there.

That night we stayed in the Edelweiss room, which was themed from the Sound of Music. No rock falls this time, but there was a rock shower.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Harvatine Approved Links

2006-11-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed an addition to this website a few months back that has not been expanded upon ever since. The "Harvatine Approved Links" section in the left column is a place for awesome links that don't really have anything to do with Harvatines other than amazing us with their awesomeness. So here goes our second attempt at this list. Today's addition is for all of you Nintendo lovers out there. A DS case that looks like an original Nintendo controller.

Autumn Leaf Garland

2006-10-16T20:47:00.002-07:00

Ta-da! I've added a second item to my Etsy shop! This lovely autumn leaf garland:

New Englanders trapped in LA such as myself need things like this at this time of year.

Make Out City Goods for sale!

2006-10-15T14:01:00.000-07:00

I am hereby announcing the grand opening of the "Lady Harvatine" Etsy Shop! For those of you who don't know, Etsy.com is a website where average Joe's like myself can sell all of their handmade goods. It's like a giant online craft fair with tons of really amazing items for sale. As of right now, I only have one item for sale, these fabulous fabric fortune cookies.

I hope to add other items soon, things like this wristlet that I made for Jeanette's Birthday.

Also, from now on I am going to be posting pictures of my crafting antics in a Flickr set, "Lady Harvatine Crafts".

Greatest. Website. Ever.

2006-09-17T01:13:00.000-07:00

Our friend Eric Towner... SO cool.

On the road again

2006-09-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

Harv and I had last week off from work so we took a little road trip up the West Coast. We visited my sister Leigh, who just started college in San Francisco, camped in the Red Woods and then ended up in St. Helens Oregon at the home of our beloved Bryan and Amy Garver. It was so nice to spend some time with the Garvs and all of the other fabulous people we know in the Portland area. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Kelly Invasion

2006-08-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

Last week the fabulous Leigh Kelly started college in San Francisco. Our parents flew out with her and after she was all settled they came down here for a visit that was short but certainly sweet. We went wine tasting in Santa Barbara, showed them around the studio and they got to spend some quality time with their grandkitties. Here are some photos from their visit.

Make Out City Studios New Short

2006-08-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the latest at Make Out City Studios? Liz and I just completed a football short based on Jim Marshall's Wrong Way Run, and posted up there. But for those of you who are too lazy, I'll post it up again here. The things I do for you.

NFL VERSION

PACKER VERSION

Go to our Make Out City Studio site for more information about the spot, as well as behind the scene pictures that I'll put up later this week.

Birthday Boy

2006-08-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was the big day...Harv's 29th birthday. It was also the start of Harv's birthday weekend, something that I think needs to stop being a joke and start being an actual tradition for us. Birthdays are too exciting to cram into one day...especially when you have to work! So we'll continue celebrating for the next few days...at least! We got things off to a good start last night. After work we went to the Formosa Cafe with a bunch af friends for a drink or two. I think the b-day boy had a great time and I hope everyone else did too!
Here are a few pictures from our evening.

Surprise!

2006-08-17T00:48:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, Harv and I went to Michigan for what we thought was going to be a wedding reception for my cousin Lynne and her new husband Ben. Little did we or the rest of the guests know that Lynne and Ben did not actually get married in the Bahamas as we all thought. Surprise! We were at a wedding! The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a ton of fun, as was the rest of our weekend in the land of the Great Lakes.
So here, just a little late, are some wedding pictures and here are pictures from the rest of the weekend.

After the Rendezvous

2006-08-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Well we're back safe and sound from the whirlwind adventure/family reunion we all refer to as the Harvatine Rendezvous. I hope that all of you Harvatines had as good a time as Harv and I did. It was great to see you all.
For those of you non-Harvatines who need to be in the know, the reunion was a hit, as were the lamb burgers, campfire songs, Grandma Harvatine and five birthday/anniversary cakes. And I won't be so presumptuous to assume so, but I hope that the t-shirts were a hit as well.
So here is a link to just a few of the pictures taken this weekend, courtesy of the lovely Dar Harvatine. I hope to be able to collect more and post them up here soon so check back for more Harvatine fun!

An Appetizing View

2006-07-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

As the 2006 Harvatine Rendezvous is fast approaching, we wanted to show all of you Harvatines out there what we did with last year's group photo turned placemat.

As you can see, your nephew/cousin/grandcat gets to gaze upon your lovely faces as he enjoys his kibbles. He likes to feel close to you all, even though you are so far away!

The Pawlowskis Circa 1956

2006-07-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a collection of photos of the Pawlowski family (my mother's family) from the 50's. I guessed at the exact year. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

The adventure continues!

2006-05-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

We
went to the "Tonight Show" yesterday with our visitors Chris and Sam. Unfortunately,
today could not be quite as fun because today was...MOVING DAY! So today was
spent packing and moving boxes and driving back and forth.

When
it was all done though we went for a nice dip in our soon to be "ex"pool and
then had a delicious dinner at an Argentenian restaurant called La-La's. The
internet's own Christopher Lee Harris had an especially good time as you can
see here.

Christopher Lee in Cali

2006-05-23T22:59:00.000-07:00

My little nephew Chris and his friend Sam have come out to visit Liz and I. Here our some pictures of us at Mucho Mas watching Chris drink too much. Also included is a bonus video of this great moment in time.

The Unbreakables on TV Tomorrow Night!

2006-05-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

In theory, "The Unbreakables:Operation Egg Drop" will have it's world television debut tomorrow night at 12:30. It will be shown as part of a show called "G4 Late Night Peep Show" on the G4 network. You can read more about the show here.
Check your local listings to find out if you get G4 and be sure to set your Tivos and vcr's if you can't stay up past midnight!

Puppet Fab Fab Karaoke Party!

2006-05-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

Because I worked as a "guest" fabricator for a few weeks in the Robot Chicken puppet department I was honored with an invitation to their karaoke wrap party! It was at one of those karaoke places in Koreatown where your group has their own private room. I had never been to one of these places before but I have always wanted to go. I was not dissappointed. I think that a fun time was had by all and there wasn't person there who didn't sing! Click here to see more photos of the party and last but certainly not least...a video! Watch your favorite fabricators singing their little hearts out!

Rachael Ray Who?

2006-05-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the newest member of our family. It is a vintage Chambers gas range from the 1950's. I bought it on eBay this past week for a great price and we just picked it up yesterday. Not only is it the stove of my dreams but it is the same stove that Rachael Ray has on 30 Minute Meals! Rachael Ray is one of my cooking heroes so that just makes this stove even more exciting for me. We won't be moving into our new place until the end of the month though, so for now there will be no cooking, only drooling.

A Garver's Worst Nightmare

2006-05-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

In exchange for help moving our new table saw and stove, we treated our friends B-Dogg and Brett Baldridge to a meal at the Garden Royal. This is a restaurant in our neighborhood that we have never been to before. Boy have we been missing out! It's a Mediteranian restaurant with decent food but AMAZING atmosphere. The entire dining area is outside with waterfalls, beautiful gardens AND animals! There are some birds in cages and some just walking around and there were two super sweet rabbits hopping around! If you know Bryan Garver you'll understand the title of this post but if you ask me this place is a dream come true.

Robot Chicken at the Playboy Mansion

2006-03-30T22:29:00.000-08:00

On Monday night we celebrated the release of the Robot Chicken Season 1 dvd at the world famous Playboy Mansion. You can take a look at some of the fun here, including the bunnies, the grotto and a giant Robot Chicken.

What's Al Got To Do With It?

2006-03-30T00:12:00.000-08:00

Working at Robot Chicken has been a blast for Liz and I. Since Liz is on The A-Team, she was able to animate a music video for Wierd Al Yankovic that is going to appear on Chicken. The dude in the middle is Dan Field, a good friend of ours from Connecticut who made the puppet. It's blurred for your own protection.

2006-03-22T16:01:00.000-08:00

Hello Internet!