o holy night...

Saw this on social media today and wanted to share tonight...

May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope,
the Spirit of Christmas which is peace,
and the heart of Christmas which is love









After the last few months in America, I think that is especially poignant.

And speaking of poignant, here's a clip (posted on Facebook earlier this week by one of my former colleagues) of one of my favorite scenes from a show none of you probably remember called Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It was created by Aaron Sorkin and starred Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford. I loved it, but after a much-hyped debut, only about 10 people ended up watching it, so it only lasted one season (2006-07). But it was really good. And this Christmas episode was an amazing hour of television. As someone who loves New Orleans and am still shocked, saddened and ticked off by what happened there in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, I love this classic Christmas song -- performed by musicians of New Orleans led by "Trombone Shorty" -- while it breaks my heart at the same time.  Enjoy and remember to count your blessings...

portland, p to d

Before my trip to New York for New Year's, I figured I should write up all the fun I had in Portland, way back in September. 

Yes, I'm a slacker... I'm really sad how much my blog was ignored this year. But the bright side of my slacking is I thought of a really fun way to document my trip, hosted by the awesome Z's (that's JZ, KZ and RZ.. plus Portland Bella ;).

So just what did I do in P-O-R-T-L-A-N-D? Let's take a look, in un-chronological order:

"P" is for Pittock Mansion

Jenny (that'd be JZ to you), and I hiked the Wildwood Trail in Portland up to the historic Pittock Mansion on Day 3 of my trip. I've decided if I move to Portland, this is one of the places I'd like to live. Why? Well...

It's a mansion (my reasons for wanting to live in a mansion should be self-explanatory after seeing this photo ;)

Or this one, AKA the view from the mansion, up on a hill above Portland

But if that's not enough, it also has beautiful gardens, with Dahlias, my fave (but in this photo blurry) flower.

It's patio has these cool PURPLE and clear tiles, bringing sunlight into the basement

And there's a little house in the garden for Little Green Alien, who LOVES Portland (but that's another story, to be told if/when I finally set up his Facebook page), and had a ton-o-fun with RZ!

"O" is for Outside

.. which is a lovely place to be when you visit Portland between April and September (after that, it's cold. I don't like cold, so I guess I'd have to make Pittock Mansion my summer home ;) 

In addition to hiking the previously mentioned Wildwood Trail from the Audubon Society Visitor Center uphill to Pittock Mansion and then down the hill a little bit past it...

..we also drove to Hood River on Day 2, making a quick pit stop on the way at the Columbia River Gorge's famous Multnomah Falls, which we hiked to the very top of on my last Portland trip.

In Hood River, a cute little town on the river, we walked along it's cute streets into cute little shops, one of which is where I bought two cute Christmas ornaments made of pinecones, an owl and the porcupine at left, and some fancy soaps for RZ and me.

Hood River will also always be remembered as where I finally convinced / bribed a certain 9-year-old bookworm to read the first Harry Potter book, even though she was sure she wouldn't like it. (Two days after I got home from my trip, an "owl" from Amazon delivered the whole 7-book series to her house, which she read in approximately 3 weeks... and then re-read. Let's hear it again RZ, "You were right Kim. I love it." Yes, I know I was.. but I digress :P). 

"R" is for restaurants

Portland has gooood food (it's #5 on the top #40 US cities ranked by their food list). While I spent a lot of dinners with the Z's family and friends, we did go out to Sal's Italian Kitchen after our Hood River day, where I had a great lasagna and glass of Pinot Noir from Oregon's Willamette Valley. 

We then went to one of the hottest spots in the city, judging by the line around the block: Salt & Straw. While it may not technically be a restaurant, it was a foodie paradise packed with crazy, creamy concoctions of ice cream goodness, complete with tasting samples! This sampling process was extremely well organized... they had people go out into the line (within the store) and ask what flavors we wanted to sample, then they returned with tasting spoons. So by the time we made it to the counter, we were ready to order. I tasted Honey Lavender, which was a very pretty purple, but had too much actual lavender for my liking. I ended up eating a cone of Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper, which -- despite how ice cream with pepper may sound -- was delish! (FYI to LA Peeps: Salt & Straw is now in Larchmont Village... although from the photo, it looks like it's taken over the space where Crumbs used to be, so I might have to boycott in memory of Crumbs :(  

"T" is for (Afternoon) Tea, my favorite meal of any day

To start our Hood River day, we stopped at Medley Tea House Cafe. Medley is a cute little tea shop on a cute street of stores in Multnomah Village near the Z's house. It's locally owned and operated and has a yummy menu. I had the "Fediezeldicker Breakfast Plate," Masala chai tea and a bite of a giant cranberry orange scone we all split.

Then, on Day 4 before I headed home, we had super-fancy tea at the super-fancy Heathman Hotel (yes Fifty Shades readers, that Heathman Hotel ;).

I had English Breakfast tea (but I don't think it was Twinings ;) and JZ and I shared the 'grown-ups' tea tray, while RZ got her own kids "Peter Rabbit Tea" plate (bottom right of the food photos below). The 'grown up' tea tray was packed with warm scones and jam, banana bread and salmon, chicken salad, goat cheese and cucumber sandwiches and sun-dried tomato deviled eggs, followed on the top tier by chocolate mousse, lemon tarts, devil's food cupcakes, a chocolate peanut butter cake and fresh marshmallows rolled in powdered sugar.

"L" is for Lost Lake

At the end of our Hood River day, we took a detour to visit Lost Lake, rumored home to Big Foot, that also apparently has a great view of Mt. Hood that we did not see due to it being cloudy. But the view of just the lake was pretty spectacular!

"A" is for Apple Picking in the "Fruit Loop"

In between shopping in Hood River and searching for Big Foot at Lost Lake, we drove through the Hood River Fruit Loop and ended up at Kiyokawa Family Orchards & Fruit Stand, where we grabbed a red wagon and headed out to the orchards to pick our own Gala, Fuji, Elstar and Honeycrisp apples. I'm only sad that I couldn't bring fruit back into California with me. Fresh apples are the best!

"N" is for Namesakes of The Simpsons characters

Did you know that Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, is from Portland? If you'd ever visited Portland's "Alphabet District" you might start to suspect it based on some of the street names ;) Here are a few of the character's namesake streets I was able to take drive-by photos of:

"D" is for Doughnuts at Voodoo

And no trip to Portland is complete without waiting 30-90 minutes in line at Voodoo Doughnut. We were lucky and only had to wait about 30 minutes, which was enough time to peruse the menu online and narrow down our choices....

I settled for three doughnuts this trip (clockwise from the one with peanut butter drizzle in the top center of the box shot below): "The No Name" (which was disappointing.. it made me really thirsty.. I think because of the peanut butter drizzle on dry rice crispies), "Butterfingering" (which is exactly what is sounds like, a doughnut with butterfinger sprinkled on top, and was fine) and the "Dirt" doughtnut (which was my fave this trip -- the "dirt" is Oreo crumbles.) The other two doughnuts in the box below were the Z's -- "Diablos Rex" and powdered sugar filled with lemon.

I'd had "Captain My Captain" and "Grape Ape" (sitting next to each other in the case in the bottom right photo below) last trip, and so far "Captain by Captain" (covered in Captain Crunch Berries cereal) and "Dirt" are my faves.

Thus concludes the story of my four-day adventure in Portland, which took 22 times longer to write up than to experience. LOL! If you enjoyed this and ever want to visit, I know a good tour guide ;) 

things that make me smile

Win number two in three years is now etched in silver. While the first time will always be the best, looking at these names is special because not only is the current team there, but three members of the LA Kings I learned to love hockey by watching in the late '80s / early '90s -- Luuuuuc, Blakey and part of the All-American line from our first Cup run, current scout Mike Donnelly. 

garden surprises

I've lived in my house almost six years and for the first time in those six years, the vine on my patio trellis has bloomed with these GORGEOUS red and purple flowers. Love! 

things that make me smile: the tv edition

One singer into the season premiere on the Tivo delay, and I already love Pharrell Williams and Gwen Stefani with my fave bro-mance bros, Adam and Blake. 

YAY The Voice is back!!

a super-fun disney day in downtown la

Today was super-fun! Three of my pals and I signed up a month ago to take the always sold-out Charles Phoenix Disneyland Tour of Downtown LA and it did not disappoint! 

We took the metro to Union Station to meet up with Charles, a humorist, author and "ambassador of Americana," who I've seen leading tours around Downtown LA multiple times on my weekend downtown adventures. But today, we were part of the group following the guy in Mickey ears with a megaphone. And while I'd already been to a lot of places on the tour, today I saw them in a whole new light... looking through the layers of history surrounding us daily if we just take the time to look at them (to paraphrase a certain tour guide :)

The tour began at Union Station, where we admired the architecture and got to go into the closed-for-eons restaurant to the left of the terminal (that could finally re-open soon as a gastro pub!).

Next we took the gold line one stop north to Chinatown, where I haven't been in years. We threw pennies in the wishing well (think Snow White's well at Disneyland), had egg rolls at Hop Louie, and saw the just-reopened, frozen-in-time office of the first Chinese lawyer in LA, You Chung Hong.

From Chinatown we hopped on our tour bus and went to El Pueblo de Los Angeles to walk through Plaza Fire House No. 1, the first firehouse in LA, which is now a museum showcasing an old horse-drawn fire engine and other historic equipment. This made me think of my grandpa....

From the fire house we walked across the square to Olvera Street. I've eaten there twice and browsed the shopping stalls. But today we went into Avila Adobe, the oldest existing house in Los Angeles, went up on a roof to view the recently restored, controversial "La America Tropical" mural, and had an amazing taquito at Cielito Lindo.

After taquitos, it was time for lunch (ha!). We walked down the street to Philippe the Original, where I (and many others) believe the french dip sandwich originated. I had a beef french dip, potato salad and a bite of blueberry pie. Delish!

 From Philippe's we took the bus up to the Bradbury Building, a national landmark, which for years was called the only important piece of architecture in Los Angeles. Numerous movies have been filmed there, including Blade Runner. And I've been there before thanks to my friend Cwennen, whose office used to be located there, and walked around it as a bustling office building. Today, it was very quiet and museum-like.

After the Bradbury Building, we walked across the street through the Grand Central Market (note: at 3pm the Eggslut line was not that bad), then walked UP the stairs next to Angel's Flight, since the rail cars are currently shut down. Then we walked through California Plaza and down the street to Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Then it was back on the bus to visit the neighborhood Charles says would be a block behind Main Street USA, Carroll Avenue in nearby Echo Park. It was one of the first neighborhoods in Los Angeles and is also home to the largest concentration of Victorian houses in LA, including the house where Michael Jackson's Thriller video was filmed (below, lower right).

After hearing about the historic homes, we drove down the hill and around the corner a bit to the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. We saw about a fifth of their current show Fiesta, then had ice cream and cake in the party room.

Then it was back on the bus to return to Union Station where our tour ended... but not before taking a photo with our tour guide. Here's to super-fun, photo-filled Sunday fun-days! :)

words of wisdom

Voce. Palabra. Mot. Word.

thoughts on songs of innocence

A little over a week ago, Apple held one of their big press conferences and announced they have new products you need to pay hundreds of dollars for that I will never buy because #iluvmydroid. Snooze. Yawn.

But then they introduced my favorite band (now that Bon Jovi is minus a Sambora) and announced that every iTunes user in the world was getting a gift in their account -- a free copy of the long-awaited new U2 album "Songs of Innocence."

That woke me up. I knew the album was almost ready. They'd been working on it for years. It was supposed to come out last year. Then it didn't. Then it was going to come out before the end of this year. But no date was announced. I kept waiting. Then I got distracted and all excited about the new Foos album coming out in November.

Never did I guess U2 would go from zero to a thousand and give it away to everyone (whether they wanted it or not) at the exact moment it was announced. I was so excited!

Then I got home to check my iTunes (since #ihaveadroid) and became perturbed. It wasn't easy to find. (Thanks to the peeps on the Apple message boards who also felt my pain and shared the secret of going to iTunes Preferences -> Store and checking the friggin' "Show iTunes in the Cloud purchases" box.)

I finally got it downloaded and started listening. My immediate favorite song was "Song for Someone"... a sweet, lyrical Bono love song with Edge singing harmony that builds up like a classic U2 hit a'la "With or Without You" or "Walk On."

Then the next day, Bono posted this.

Then I really started listening... trying to figure the "very, very personal" songs out, because one of the things I love and miss most about buying albums is reading the liner notes and analyzing the little poems put to music known as song lyrics.

I started loving "Every Breaking Wave." Then "Iris" .... classic Edge strum, strum, strum... Larry bang, bang, banging beat, building up, with the music traveling in circles as Bono tells a story over it.. this time about his mom, Iris, who died when he was 14. It reminds me of pre-Unforgettable Fire U2. And I can already see that song in concert with bright flashing lights traveling the stage as Bono runs around and Edge stands there strum, strum, strumming in one spot. It's very different from the song Bono wrote when his dad died, ("Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" from one of my favorite albums, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.") but he had a lot more history with his dad...

Then two days ago I read this on RollingStone.com. Thank you for not making me figure it all out anymore. For those that don't want to click, based on an interview with Bono, the songs chronicle their young, innocent, pre-super band days.

Today I was connecting with the haunting "The Troubles" and "Volcano" -- they fit my mood this week at work. Volcano is also very '80s to me, which is a good thing ;)

Overall, I think I will like and listen to this album a lot. It's definitely more on the Achtung Baby/All That You Can't Leave Behind side of the collection (where I love listening to the whole album, no skipping) than the Zooropa/Pop side (where I listen to "If God Will Send His Angels" and "Staring at the Sun" and ... that's about it).

It was definitely worth way more than I paid for it (ha) and I will probably be one of the suckers that actually buys the album when it's physically released on October 15 so I can get the book that comes with it (see liner notes comment above ;) and the acoustic versions of four songs... because I'm also a sucker for anything played unplugged.

What do you think of your free gift? (That Apple actually paid $100 million for... nice promotional budget!) And who wants to go to a U2 concert with me next year to hear it live? :)

things that make me smile

With the appearance of a FedEx tag on my front door, today became my favorite day in September -- Season Ticket Box of Goodies Arrival Day!

Not only did I get another "Luc Robitaille-Authenticated" container of melted ice that the LA Kings won the Stanley Cup on, but I got my discount card and all my tickets, which are awesome!

The Kings went all out on the season ticket books this year! Not only is every player (not just the long-contracted stars) on a ticket (I guess that means no one is getting traded this year :p), but every ticket has a different photo of Stanley Cup Championship happiness on it and the special games have special tickets. 

This is my favorite ticket :) 

(Glad they used a photo of him sticking out his tongue! Haha)   

things that make me smile

This being played at the Hollywood Bowl on Labor Day weekend :)



I also love seeing this every year when the Star Wars theme is played. (But one note to many of the lightsaber-carrying audience members in attendance Friday night: The theme from "Superman" is not a "Star Wars" song ;) 

butterflies and dinosaurs and german fries - oh my!

So this past week a bunch of my friends had birthdays (HBD Niki, Dayna, Jodie, Shane, Barrett, anyone else I forgot), but only one (hi Katharine) decided her friends needed an educational experience as part of her celebration ;) 

So last Sunday, friends of Princess Katharine got up early, cursed slow people in the Starbucks drive-thru in front of them (ok, that was just me) and trekked down to the Natural History Museum to walk first amongst butterflies in the soon-to-close Butterfly Pavilion and then amongst dinosaurs and bunches of stuffed creatures auditioning for Night at the Museum 3. 

A lot of photos were, of course, taken... especially of pretty butterflies:

Then, inside the museum, this question was posed:

Well, this is the belly of a reeeeallllly big dinosaur suspended from the ceiling:

And these are two dinosaurs about to attack each other (well, if they were still alive ...)

Other important questions were also posed in the museum:

 and 

...but the exhibits there were real human skulls and stuffed real animals, which creep me out. So no photos of that. Sorry.

Instead, let's move onto lunch.

We were going to go to uber-hotspot-of-the-moment Eggslut in the Grand Central Market in downtown LA, but the line was half the length of the market (long-ways).

So instead we explored and got a variety of yummy stuff. I ended up at Berlin Currywurst, where I had a delish medium-heat brat, and german (don't dare call them french) fries:












Then we relived the birthday girl's childhood and got ice cream at McConnell's Fine Ice Creams. I, of course, had my fave: mint chocolate chip. It was delish!