kim-musing...

things i'm looking forward to this weekend

2012-02-10T22:27:00.000-08:00

1) Spending most of Saturday in auntie-mode... hanging with my cool psuedo-niece and two of my cutie psuedo-nephews + going to a baby shower to celebrate the coming-arrival of psuedo-nephew #6

2) Spending Saturday Night laughing at stuff like this...

3) Hearing this song...

(played on that awesome blue Gibson, my favorite guitar on the planet!)

And this song....

And/or this song...

... LIVE on the Grammy's Sunday night!

AND watching both that rock band and that beautiful woman with that amazing voice win a boatload of little gold gramophones!

planning adventures in my own backyard

2012-02-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, I decided to make my "Mom's Awesome Italian Tortellini Soup" (yes, that's its official name + photo at right to prove I "cook" ;) and invite some friends over to watch screeners. But instead of movies, we got to talking over the last two issues of Los Angeles Magazine -- February's Classic LA and January's Best New Restaurants. We've actually been talking on and off for eons about all the things we want to do around LA that we never actually get around to. People from all over the US come here to vacation and experience all the cool things this town has to offer, and we really take it for granted most of the time. So we decided to actually make a list of all the things we want to do. It goes like this...

Places to Eat

Places to Visit in LA

Angel's Flight
Art Deco Tour of LA
Daryl's Tour of LA
Forest Lawn Museum (as in art, not dead people)
Getty Villa in Malibu
Gold Coast iPic Theater in Pasadena (with the reclining chairs and waitress service)
Griffith Observatory (to actually look at the stars, not just the view)
Lake Hollywood
LA Library - Ansel Adams Exhibit

Places to Visit in CA

Places to Visit Near CA

Do you have suggestions for yummy food places, historic/unique places to visit or beautiful nature spots to experience? Leave a note in the comments and maybe I'll add them to my list :)

my new obsession

2012-02-06T23:33:00.000-08:00

So at the end of last season (like literally the last two weeks of the season), I started watching The Voice. I thought the talent was pretty amazing. But little did I know -- or learn in those two weeks -- that I'd missed the best part of the show! I'm now watching the beginning of Season 2, and these blind auditions are awesome!

The suspense of waiting to see who, if any, of the four coaches will push their "I Want You" button to turn their super-Star Trek chair around and keep the auditioning singer on the show is killer. It's heartbreaking when none of them buzz in. But it's hilarious when more than one of them do! If more than one coach buzzes in, the contestant gets to pick whose team he/she wants to join, as the coaches "campaign" for themselves/against each other. And I am now in love with Adam Levine and Blake Shelton! Watching them fight over contestants, insulting each other, and sometimes helping each other out against the other two coaches -- Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green -- is great television! The four coaches, while battling for contestants, actually seem to really like each other and being part of the show. And they appear (at least in the case of Adam, Blake and Cee Lo) really genuine. Christina Aguilera has always bugged me/seemed fake, and her sitting there flashing her big, fake boobs is doing nothing to change my opinion of her, but that's okay. The others make up for her. In fact, watching Adam pick on her, is quite enjoyable. ;)

Apparently, I'm not the only one who's loving the show. Last night, the show earned the biggest non-sports TV rating in six years as it premiered after the Super Bowl. Yay for it! (And NBC... they really need a hit ;)

yummy discoveries

2012-02-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning was errand time. I went to the ATM, to the vet to pick up more fluids for my sickly cat, and then walked over to Starbucks. One thing I love about Starbucks -- other than the Chai tea lattes (of course!) and the awesome staffs at both the Starbucks across the street from my office and the one near my house -- is how the arrival of "the red cups" in late November signals the start of the holiday season. Well, now Starbucks is celebrating Valentine's Day via their cups too! Check out the photo at left -- it's so cute and cheerful, with words completing phrases that include "love" shooting into the heart via little arrows. It made me smile when the cashier handed it to me. :)

From Starbucks I went into the grocery store and was in the cheese aisle when I remembered that I've been meaning to post about some yummy foods I've discovered I "love" recently. (I love it when a blog post comes together ;)

The first is smoked gouda cheese (which I bought yesterday while in said cheese aisle ;). I have never been very adventurous with cheese. It's expensive, so if you buy a new kind and it's gross, that's a waste of dinero. But I was introduced to smoked gouda at a focus group facility last year (the awesome one in Costa Mesa that also makes us fresh, warm-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies) and I loved it! It's a hard cheese, yet also creamy and -- as its name suggests -- a bit smokey. It's a definite new fave that will be a Hollywood Bowl picnic basket staple this summer.

Another new discovery is English Breakfast tea. For many, many years I have been strictly a chai tea gal. But in the tea shop in fake England at EPCOT last October I decided to try something new and bought a box of English Breakfast. Granted, it's also a black tea, so it was a fairly safe experiment. But it was still a nice discovery. It's less spicy, more smooth and is super-relaxing in both the morning and evening.

The last food I now like -- that I previously thought I hated -- is almonds. I've been anti-almond for I don't know how long, or why really. If I had to guess, I'd say it's because of its association with disgusting coconut in Almond Joy candy bars. But last summer, as part of my diet and attempt to stock my kitchen with healthier snacks, I bought the Costco bucket-o-mixed nuts, which contains delish pecans, cashews, macadamia nuts... and almonds. I couldn't just leave the almonds to settle to the bottom of the container until all the other nuts were gone, so I tried one... and I liked it. I really liked it! (But I'm still not eating an Almond Joy. My hatred of coconut is non-negotiable... we'll get into that some other time.)

i hate beer, but...

2012-02-02T22:57:00.000-08:00

I LOVE this commercial!

Thanks to my Canadian, hockey-loving/playing co-worker Scott M. for sharing :)

five rules of happiness

2012-02-02T22:36:00.000-08:00

More words of wisdom from my new favorite site-o-lists, Marc and Angel Hack Life ....

1. Don't Hate
2. Don't Worry
3. Give More
4. Expect Less
5. Live Simply

I need to work on #2 a lot more... especially this week. Oy. (That's actually my word of the week :)

a list after my own heart

2012-01-31T23:01:00.000-08:00

Someone posted this on Facebook today and it's -- rightfully -- making the rounds. Numbers 5, 6 and 9 are three of my biggest peeves ever! If I get a resume with any of those not used properly, I automatically disregard it. People need to learn the language. Seriously. It's not that difficult.

springtime in january

2012-01-30T07:37:00.000-08:00

It was 80 degrees this weekend and recent rain, combined with the heat, has accelerated the appearance of weeds in my garden. So yesterday, instead of a typical workout, I spent three hours weeding my front garden and all of my potted plants (which were full of leaves due to the recent winds). You can burn 200 calories an hour by weeding your garden, ya know ;)

I found a flat of 12 primroses for a mere $8.99 Saturday at Costco, so I also planted those in the pots on my patio that were previously home to a bunch of begonias that died. So pretty and colorful!

And check out my cute froggie planter pals! I hate real frogs but really love these :) I found Mr. Frog in Oak Glen last October on our annual apple and pumpkin trip. Then I was lucky enough to find Mrs. Frog in Solvang at the end of November. They are a perfect pair!

"une délicieuse cuisine" above la

2012-01-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

I have a big birthday coming up in three weeks and everyone has been constantly asking me, "What are we doing for your birthday?" The pressure! So in an effort to find a unique, fun place to hang that also has good food, my dear friend Cwennen and I went out last night on a reconnaissance mission to check out two places in Downtown LA.

The first stop was Perch, a French bistro and bar "perched" on the roof of a 15-story building near Pershing Square. The view of downtown on a clear, January night (that had been 80 degrees during the day) was beautiful! This photo doesn't do it justice...

We sat out on the patio, on the side of the building facing the Square, near a fire pit occupied by a bunch of friends chatting over cocktails.

Our lovely waitress Carlina was magnifiquès! She gave us great drink and appetizer recommendations, answered questions about the space/who to contact for private events and checked in on us often. We had read about some amazing-sounding blue-cheese poppers on the website. Sadly, that was on the old menu with the old chef. Carlina apologized but recommended a new starter -- baked Brie cheese sticks with a (what I think was) raspberry sauce. They were awesome! She also helped Cwennen choose a "Jacques Collins" (gin, lemon juice, soda and saffron) over a "French Maid" (cognac, lemon juice, simple syrup w/muddled cucumber & mint) cocktail. I went with the "My Fair Lady," a French cosmo (of course) with quinoa vodka, cranberry, lime and crème de peche. It was sweet, but good. Not too weak, not too strong.

For my entree, I went with the new chef's Steak Frites, which wasn't on the online menu either (Carlina noted they really need to update that!).

My medium-cooked steak was topped with grilled onion and a patty of blue cheese that eventually melted all over my meat as I sliced. It was really, really tasty! As were the perfectly cooked (crispy on the ends, soft in the middle) "frites."

Cwennen had the Bonbon Risotto of sweet corn and pea tendrils with a parmesan crisp. It was also yummy, but could've used a little more greens... we decided small pieces of asparagus would be perfecto!

Overall, the dinner was delish, and the restuarant has a really relaxing, cheerful vibe... accented by the French music (my new, make-me-happy music of choice over the last month since watching Midnight in Paris) playing at just the right volume over the sound system outside.

Perch is a definite possibility for the birthday extravaganza. There is a huge parking lot across the street, as well as two metro stops nearby (either 4th Street or Pershing Square), so transportation should be easy for people. Next I just have to email and get the scary quote on reserving either part of the patio or the safer (since my birthday is in the middle of winter and there is no guarantee it will be 80 degrees that day ;) inside performance space that Carlina says people can reserve from 7-9 for private events.

Souhaitez moi bonne chance! (That's "Wish me luck in French" ;) Because the other place we went to after Perch -- The Edison -- while in a very cool, underground, industrial space with a fun roaring '20s vibe, was just too loud and too crowded for my liking.

cool cabinets

2012-01-28T08:49:00.000-08:00

My friend/coworker/poker pal Maureen just bought what she is now referring to as her "money pit" in the Hollywood Hills (across the street from a certain recently-engaged former boy band singer, now pop superstar/actor with the initials of J and T. So she's on the "Homes of the Stars" Tour route. Yay! Not.) Anyway, the house was very '80s when she got it, and while there is still a lot more work she wants to do, especially with the bathrooms and her kitchen, it's looking really amazing. She now has beautiful brown hardwood floors to die for and the house has great high ceilings and tons of windows looking out on the green hills around her, the tall trees protecting that neighbor's property from lookie-loos, and even the "H" in the Hollywood sign. The kitchen, while needing new appliances and redone cabinets, came with this amazing cabinet for glassware that does NOT need to be redone... well, unless it is expanded. (This isn't even all of her glassware. :) And her bedroom closet is the one closet I've seen since buying my house that makes me jealous -- she has built-ins with sliding trays for her shoes. Ahhh. Oh and a sauna. She wants to flip the house eventually. Wonder if I'll be rich by then....

the good, the bad and the oscar noms

2012-01-24T23:34:00.000-08:00

The Oscar(R) nominations were announced early this morning. My tradition is to record the live announcement on E! at 5:30a.m. and then watch when I wake up. Today's announcements -- viewed on TiVo at approximately 6:40a.m. -- were a little surprising...

Good surprise: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting nominated for Best Picture! There seems to be a backlash going against this film because of their nomination today though. Apparently people don't think it is worthy. Or feel it was just produced as Oscar-bait that the Academy fell for. Whatever. It is a film with great performances that makes you really feel something. I loved it.
Bad surprise: The Tree of Life was also nominated for Best Picture. This means I now have to watch it. Ugh. Have not heard good things about it from anyone. And my head already hurts from day-to-day work crazy. I don't need my "entertainment" to strain it more. Oh, and btw, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was NOT nominated for Best Picture. (But sadly, that wasn't a surprise.)
Good surprise: Hugo -- my fave surprise of screener season -- leads all films with 11 nominations
Bad surprise: Cars 2 and Golden Globe + PGA Winner The Adventures of TinTin did not get nominated for Best Animated Feature. Eek.

The acting categories had a few snubs and a few surprises too, but overall, nothing shocking. And it's not like I'm going to complain about a category of noms that means more live coverage of George Clooney and Brad Pitt in tuxes. ;)

a gordie howe hat trick

2012-01-23T23:31:00.000-08:00

It's not often one gets to witness the elusive "Gordie Howe Hat Trick" (a goal, an assist and a fight, all by one player in one game) live and in person. So I feel the need to document this awesome experience, and to share it with you. It was pretty cool... especially since it came from one of the most unlikely (at least where the goal and assist are concerned) of LA Kings players -- Kyle Clifford. Oh, and because the Kings won 4-1. Yay! They are now tied for 1st in the Pacific going into the All-Star break.

bowlin' bowlin' bowlin'....

2012-01-22T14:43:00.000-08:00

Went bowling at PINZ in Studio City yesterday to use an about to expire Groupon. It was fun. I miss bowling. I used to do it a lot back home in Thousand Oaks before the bowling alley became a Borders, which became an out-of-business empty building. In fact, I took bowling as my college phys ed course :)

I took this cool retro shot of our bowling balls using a new app called Retro Camera on my Droid. I was just starting to get the hang of it and like it until I realized this morning that it somehow wiped out all the other photos I'd taken on my phone. So, enjoy this one and only retro shot. Retro Camera has been uninstalled.

my fave filmmaker's "face"

2012-01-21T11:31:00.000-08:00

A pal posted this to Google+ back in December, but I just got around to reading my feed and found it. It's pretty fascinating. It's amazing what you see over and over again, and even love, but don't really think about until someone points it out to you.

for the return to runyon

2012-01-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

My Runyon workout buddy is always trying to make me do painful things like sit-ups on the benches at the top of Runyon Lookout. But these moves -- Self.com: 8 Moves to Firm Up in Fresh Air Workouts -- are much more in line with what I do now at Pop Physique. So that means they shouldn't hurt as much as the dreaded sit-ups (on a hard wood bench)... right? ;) Maybe if the weather cooperates I'll go try a few out tomorrow.

happy friday!

2012-01-20T08:01:00.000-08:00

My 84-year-old grandpa in New Mexico sends me tons of forwarded emails. (Tons.) In my inbox today was an email titled "The Positive Side of Life." It included lots of clip art with positive statements about life on earth. This statement stuck out and made me smile:

"We could learn a lot from crayons: all are different colors.... but they all exist very nicely in the same box."

Speaking of a lot of different colors (or breeds... if you will) co-existing nicely in the same space, the latest viral video from the awesome VW agency -- a teaser for their "Big Game" commercial -- hit the web earlier this week. LOVE THIS! And I really hope mini-Darth Vader will be back in some way, shape or form on "Big Game Day" :)

yummy goodness

2012-01-18T22:36:00.000-08:00

After yet another crazy day at work (that once again proved change is inevitable) and a rather challenging Pilates workout, I came home and treated myself to one of the Skinny Cow vanilla ice cream sandwiches I got for free this weekend (with the purchase of six lean cuisines from Le' Target). I haven't had a lot of ice cream in the last year and this was yummy goodness.... at a mere 140 calories!

adorkable overload

2012-01-17T23:38:00.000-08:00

What's my fave new show this tv season? If you'd asked me back in October, I would have given some highfalutin answer like Person of Interest. And while I do enjoy that drama from the mind of the awesome JJ Abrams, I have to say the new show I most look forward to each week is the adorkable (yes, I just said that) New Girl, starring queen of the adorkables, Zooey Deschanel. It's not like it's ground-breaking TV. And it's never going to unseat Friends as my fave sitcom of all time. But New Girl makes me happy. From the cute theme song ("Who's that girl?.... Who's that girl?.... It's Jess!") to the totally stereotypical three guy roommates who all secretly crush on Jess in their own adorkable (yes I said it again) ways, the show just makes me smile. Maybe it's because I secretly wish I could be as cute, quirky and carefree as Jess... adorkable (yeah, yeah), if you will. Whatever the reason, I'm glad other people agree with me and love the show too. It's very in sync with my unwritten 2012 goal to surround myself with more positivity, so I'm glad it's not in danger of cancellation anytime soon.

Zooey also is co-founder of a cute, quirky, drowning in positivity blog with an adorkable (last time... I promise.) name, HelloGiggles. And while I think I'm probably not their demo (since I'm old now), I still enjoy checking it out every now and then. The Treats section has some good recipes. And the How To's section is always educational. Take this recent post titled How to Small Talk. I learned things you should make small talk about include BBC Masterpiece Classics and your favorite Goldie Hawn movies, and you should never make small talk about your job. This explains a lot about my social life (or lack thereof) and why I hate going to parties where small talk might be required. ;)

hidden gems

2012-01-16T18:12:00.000-08:00

So I've just submitted my ballot for the 2011 Producer's Guild Awards. And while I'm not going to say how I voted (although anyone who follows me on Twitter or Facebook knows my #1 and 2 picks after my Golden Globes rant last night), I do want to point out some hidden gems discovered in my screener pile, that I probably wouldn't have watched if I didn't get the movie delivered to my home for free. If you are looking for a good film to watch, see one of these. You won't be disappointed.

Hugo -- I watched this because I had to in order to rank it for voting. It was the last movie of the 10 nominees I watched. And this was probably the sweetest surprise of the year. This movie is heartwarming and beautiful to look at. Great performances, even from Sasha Baron Cohen, but especially from Ben Kingsley, Chloe Grace Moretz and Asa Butterfield, who stars as Hugo and has the most sad, expressive blue eyes you'll ever see. This is a great film for anyone who loves stories about underdogs and happy endings.
My Week with Marilyn -- Michelle Williams is amazing. That's the story that follows this film everywhere, and don't get me wrong, she is. But so is Eddie Redmayne, who plays Colin, narrates the film and provides its emotional center. This film is a sweet love story between the two of them, layered between the story of Marilyn's week of filming on Sir Lawrence Olivier's The Prince and the Showgirl, and the insecurities that followed her. It's no best picture, but again, a really sweet story.
Midnight in Paris -- I usually hate Woody Allen movies, but this didn't feel like a Woody Allen movie. The cast is great and the whimsical storyline, while completely unrealistic, totally appealed to the writer in me searching for inspiration. And I loved that it was set in Paris and had a lovely Parisian soundtrack.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close -- I would have seen this movie even if I didn't get the screener. I was waiting for this screener. I loved this movie! The cast is amazing and the story -- 9-year-old Oskar's search for the lock that fits a key he found in his father's closet, after his father (portrayed by Tom Hanks) died on September 11th -- is both heartbreaking and life affirming. And Thomas Horn, who plays Oskar, is great. He was discovered on Kids Week of Jeopardy, so you know he's wise beyond his years.

mmmm... chai tea

2012-01-15T22:10:00.000-08:00

I am addicted to chai tea. I freely admit it. Besides the fact that lack of caffeine now gives me a really bad headache, I can't go a day without at least a cup because it's so delish. My go-to chai is the Starbucks Chai Tea Latte -- I drink so many of those I have gold status in the Starbucks Rewards program and get a free one at least every two weeks. At home, I go basic -- a tea bag of either Stash's Double Spice Black Chai or Twinings Spiced Apple Chai -- and hot water. Whenever I go to San Francisco, my go-to breakfast place is Cafe De La Presse, where, upon request, they make a super-yummy Chai latte in a mug almost as big as a soup bowl. It's spicy and sweet and super-frothy. Today, I had brunch at Hugo's, home of a ton of organic teas. If you order non-lattes, you get tea leaves in a press. But I ordered the yummy Organic Black Chai Latte pictured below. It could have been sweeter (I ended up dumping a raw sugar in it), but the froth was perfect, and it looked pretty too :)

inspired

2012-01-13T00:23:00.000-08:00

So for some odd reason, I've been really inspired as of late to be here on my blog. I changed the design and have been posting regularly for like a week (lol). Not that there are a lot of people here with me, but I'm enjoying it anyway. It's been a good creative outlet in a time of utter work craziness and sad pet parenthood. A few coworkers have really great blogs seeping with positive energy they've posted links to on Facebook recently, so I have to thank them for my inspiration. I've also been exposed to a bunch of self-help "list" articles the last few weeks. The most recent one is 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing. Part of item #1 is "Your writing will never chase you — you need to chase your writing." Maybe that's why I am bringing myself back here over and over, writing about little things I like or have seen. I'm chasing my buried creativity and searching for a big idea. I've actually pulled two of my favorite writing exercise books from college off the shelf -- The Artist's Way (which now has a companion blog site) and The Wild Mind. I remember my awesome creative writing professor, my sophomore year of college, leading us through writing exercises... mind dumps where you just put pen to paper and let the thoughts flow, with no roadmap or plan. That's the year I wrote my only printed, personal works... a compilation of poems and short stories titled "From a dusty room... " Now I have housecleaners to dust for me, so maybe its sequel will be shinier.

baby goalie is now an all-star!

2012-01-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

Congrats to baby goalie* Jonathan Quick of my LA Kings, who was just named an NHL All-Star for the first time. It's a well-deserved honor since this season he's got a 1.93 goals-against-average, a .934 save percentage and six shutouts (he's ranked first in the NHL in shutouts....just sayin'). He's also the first Kings goaltender in a REALLY long time (like since 1981) to be named an All-Star. For those of you who don't know hockey, that is significant because you aren't gonna win a Stanley Cup without a good goalie. Oh, and did I mention he's only 25 (*but looks like he's 12... thus my nickname for him ;)

the best lotion ever

2012-01-11T23:54:00.000-08:00

I can't remember who first introduced me to it, but I now stockpile C.O. Bigelow's Lemon & Pomegranate body cream in the event some evil corporate decision-maker ever decides to stop producing it. I love the smell (sweet yet with a citrus-y bite). I love the texture (thick and not the least bit greasy). And I love that it makes my skin feel silky smooth. I am not alone in these opinions. This is a top rated item on the Bath & Body Works site... yes, this product from the country's oldest apothecary is sold at that bath gel mecca in the mall. But don't hold that against it. It's awesome. Trust me.

winter wonder

2012-01-09T23:29:00.000-08:00

If you are one of my gal pals, chances are good I've given you one of these as a holiday or hostess gift. I LOVE this candle. It's not a Christmas scent (thus its "Winter" name), but evokes all the same warm and cozy feelings. I just lit my second one this season and am kinda sad I only have one more left in my stash.

hurts so good

2012-01-09T22:51:00.000-08:00

So on my December stay-cation, I decided I needed to get my workout schedule back on track. I haven't done much since the time changed in October except weekly Wednesday Pilates (with my awesome instructor Marcy, who some of you may recognize as Quendra [with a "Qu"] on Community). Not much Runyon. Not much Wii Fit. Zero Pop Physique.... yet I had two Groupons about to expire in January. So I decided to suck it up and go to the Studio City location when my fave instructor Mackenzie K. was teaching on New Year's Eve morning. Mackenzie is great... she (per her bio on the site ;) "encourages students to honor what their body is giving them on any given day instead of always wishing it was giving them something else. In essence, be in the moment and work hard, but be patient." She works us hard, but what I love about Pop Physique (aka #buttschool) is they push you right to your limit. Just when you feel you might collapse and die, the instructor moves on to work a completely different part of your body. And over the hour, you work EVERY part of your body. But the constant change-ups, which also include changes in music tracks and volume, as well as lighting, make it manageable. And tonight, it actually went by fast. I was surprised when class was over "so soon." I hope that means I'm getting back in shape. Mackenzie said I'm looking stronger. I just signed up for class every Monday in January. Owie.

wise words for the new year

2012-01-01T23:38:00.000-08:00

A friend just posted a link to this blog on Facebook... wise words we all need to remember and think about integrating into our daily lives: 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

Then that lead to these great finds:

30 Things to START Doing for Yourself

12 Things Happy People Do Differently

Enjoy!

2011 - my year in review

2012-01-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

At the start of 2011, I set six goals for myself (don't call them resolutions!) with the overall goal of making 2011 better than 2010 by "taking care of myself, and striving for happiness in my life and the lives of those close -- and not so close -- to me." I accomplished 3.5 of them, which isn't bad... although two of them I totally failed at. Let's review :)

Get Healthy: I will eat better and utilize either my Wii Fit or the treadmill -- that I plan to "borrow" from my parents' garage -- at least three times per week, in addition to continuing Pilates. I also want to resume hiking when the time changes.

Check! This was my biggest accomplishment this year. I met my weight loss goal (25 lbs) plus some by completely changing my eating habits -- no more fast food except for special treats, very little bread, and lots of salad, chicken, lean cuisine, fruit and yogurt. I also worked out a minimum of 2 times per week, sometimes up to 5 times using the Wii Fit starting in mid-January, keeping up Pilates once a week, hiking/running 1-3 times per week at Runyon Canyon from March-October, and adding Pop Physique classes, which are a mix of Pilates, ballet barre work and light weights. It kicks your butt and shapes it up at the same time :) I also started taking my multi-vitamin everyday again and added an extra 2000 mg of Vitamin D since Vitamin D deficiency is thought to be a cause of MS.

Write More: I will not put my journal in a drawer. I will keep it in eyesight and use it to brain dump feelings and ideas not for public consumption here.

Fail. I wrote in the journal a few times, mostly about tracking my weight loss goals/successes, but it was in the drawer most of the year. And I only updated this blog 21 times all year. Bad, bad, bad!

Read Actual Books: A minimum of four this year. One per quarter. That's doable, right? (Sub-goal: I will not let my magazine pile deter me from this goal, no matter how tall it gets.)

Check! I actually read five books this year, all of which were excellent: Tina Fey's Bossypants, The Help, and The Hunger Games trilogy.

Volunteer More: Operation Gratitude takes place four minutes from my house. I can give up three hours of my life every few weekends to bring some happiness to the lives of people sacrificing theirs for our freedom. I also plan to participate in the "Walk MS" in April to raise funds for the National MS Society.

Fail. I didn't volunteer once this year. I thought about it a lot, but never did. I did increase my charitable donations this year though, especially to the National MS Society, LA Mission, amfAR, and Smile Train -- I helped four kids have their cleft palates repaired so they could smile again and live a normal life. That makes ME smile.

Host More: I love my house, I have a great kitchen and I just spent a lot of money on an awesome patio. I need to invite people over to enjoy it with me more. I also need to practice cooking more, minus eating more (see goal #1 ;)

Check! In addition to poker nights and my annual July BBQ and Christmas Cocktails, I also had Grilled Cheese Night again this year and started "Summer Grillin' Saturdays." Oh, and I also co-hosted a baby shower for my dear friend Hilda in August (And she welcomed baby Yevah in September :)

Travel for Me: I will go to Portland this year to spend time with friends -- I've made that promise. I also hope 2011, one way or another, will finally be my Italian vacation year. I'm thinking either April for someone's birthday, or a solo tour in the Fall.

Half Check/Half Fail: I did go to Portland and had a fabulous time with my dear friend Jenny and her family. Also went to San Fran in May to see Hugh Jackman's show and visit with my friends Jason and Josh. And went to Orlando for a rainy trip to Disney World and an awesome night at Harry Potter World. But the Italy trip still hasn't happened. I did do a little research on it though... and got a new big suitcase for Christmas ;)

I think those goals were overall good ones so I'm sticking with them for 2012, with minor adjustments. For instance, this year I want to read the classics sitting on my bookshelf that I've never read... The Hobbit, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Jane Eyre. If I get through half of those, that will be a good accomplishment, considering three of them have been on my shelf since high school ;)

And for posterity/since I apparently don't write in my journal anymore, here are some of the memorable things from my 2011:

January:

Burke Williams trip #1
Pre-hockey meal at delish Bottega Louie
My mom and dad celebrated their 41st Anniversary
Get healthy goal achievial begins
Game Night #1

February:

Burke Williams trip #2
Finally ate at Ford's Filling Station (my 4-years-in-the-making bday dinner with Diana, Daryl and James)
Stars on Ice in Anaheim

March:

Hmmm....

April:

Grilled Cheese Night
The Los Angeles Kings make the playoffs for the 2nd time since 2002! Lose to friggin' Sharks

May:

Trip #1: San Francisco for Hugh Jackman in concert
The 2011 Summer Movie Blockbuster Club kicks off its season
Trip #2: (work) Hackensack NJ (yuck) and Chicago (yay) for focus groups
Afternoon tea at Chado with mom and dad

June:

U2 at Anaheim Stadium
Pop Physique starts

July:

Met my weight loss goal
Hosted my 2nd 4th of July BBQ (on July 3rd)
Burke Williams trip #3
Dolly Parton at Hollywood Bowl, with Mom, Dad, Daryl and Diana
Summer Grillin' Saturdays begin

August:

Hairspray with John Stamos at Hollywood Bowl
John Williams @ the Hollywood Bowl, with narrator James Taylor
Bella the crazy, adorable puppy joins our family

September:

Trip #3: Portland to see the Z's

October:

Trip #4: Orlando for party at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Foo Fighters at the Forum
Clinton Foundation 10th Anniversary concert at the Bowl with Bono, The Edge, Lady Gaga
Apple and pumpkin picking in Oak Glen
The Kings season begins...

November:

Dinner at Little Dom's ... delish
Sophie the cocker spaniel joins our family

December:

Christmas Cocktails
12 days of vacation kicks off
Christmas with siblings and Granny
Burke Williams trip #4
Tea at Rose Tree Cottage in Pasadena
New Year's Eve dinner at The Melting Pot in Pasadena (too much food!)

And here's what I did this year, according to some of my favorite Facebook status updates:

2011 in films... most of which i didn't see

2011-12-30T22:52:00.000-08:00

It's pretty sad that I don't even recognize a third of these movies... I really don't have a favorite movie this year :(

a day after-the-fact, but still awesome

2011-11-25T17:07:00.000-08:00

"Friends" is, and likely shall forever be, my fave sitcom. Entertainment Weekly is, and likely shall forever be, my fave magazine. I am thankful for both of them coming together for this awesome walk down memory lane: 10 Thanksgivings with "Friends"

rip steve jobs

2011-10-05T22:36:00.000-07:00

RIP Steve Jobs. I remember being so excited to work on the Macintosh Plus in the high school journalism lab, thinking that boxy little computer with the minuscule screen was the coolest thing ever! And it just got better... Thanks to him, I no longer have 500+ cd's cluttering my house. I have music, games, email and the world wide web in my pocket. And I have experienced the magic of PIXAR storytelling for the last two decades. Thanks for simplifying, entertaining and innovating our lives Mr. Jobs. You will be missed.

A great lesson... Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

this stuff works!

2011-07-10T14:25:00.000-07:00

"Kills on Contact" is no joke!

After discovering the first hornet's nest full of nasty stingers attempting to make my house their home at the start of my 3rd of July BBQ, I headed to Home Depot on the 4th and picked up this can of awesomeness for less than $3!

I sprayed the nest at dusk as instructed, and watched the hornets drop like flies (or dead hornets...). Five days later when I finally got around to removing the nest, it was still empty so I was able to take extreme pleasure in whacking it off the roof with my shovel, free from worry of a possible sneak attack :)

gardening in style!

2011-07-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

Check out my fancy new lavender gardening boots, found on sale for super-cheap at Le Target' :)

sadness on e street

2011-06-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a sad day for music fans. Clarence Clemons, the sax player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, passed away from complications of a stroke.

I learned of his passing as I was waiting in a massive line to get into Angels Stadium in Anaheim for my third U2 concert of their 360 Tour Saturday night. Bono made me love him even more by paying tribute to "The Big Man" before the final song of the evening...

I first saw Bruce Springsteen in concert in 2005 -- minus the E Street Band -- on his acoustic Devils & Dust tour. The show was at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood, and was, in a word, AMAZING. But I felt like I hadn't had the full Springsteen experience because the E Street Band wasn't backing him up, and decided as I was leaving the theater that I had to see him play with the band the next time they toured.

That opportunity finally came on April 16, 2009. Unfortunately, it required going to the LA Sports Arena, the only arena in Southern California that is quite possibly a bigger dump than the Forum. But I told myself, suck it up and go... who knows how many more opportunities you'll get to see Bruce with the E Street Band. In retrospect, I'm so glad I went. It was a great show, and part of what made it so great was "The Big Man." The playful on-stage camaraderie between Springsteen and Clemons is what made watching and listening to that band so fun. And now, half of that duo is gone. And there is sadness on E Street, and for all those who loved visiting it musically.

RIP Big Man. The solo below, starting at 2:10, is how I'll always remember you...

guess where i am...

2011-05-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

my two fave muppets become x-men

2011-05-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

X-Muppets by ~Rahzzah on deviant ART

chills!

2011-04-27T21:53:00.001-07:00

July 15th better hurry up!

home improvement... the 2011 edition

2011-04-23T18:10:00.000-07:00

BEFORE: Sad, pathetic back wall being held up by either a) my neighbor's tree or b) the pony shed ... depending on which way the wind was blowing.

AFTER: New gray (to match my house) cinder-block, reinforced wall that my neighbor kindly handled all the details of building. I love just having to say: "Yes, we DO need a new wall" and "Who do I write the check to?" :) Added bonus: They had to pull the pony shed down to dig the foundation for the wall. Woot!

PS: This was actually done back in March, but I'm a little behind on posts and photo taking.

read and be happy...

2011-04-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

...then be cautiously optimistic till Tuesday ;)

Kings power up to tie series with Sharks

peep-tacular art

2011-04-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

In honor of Easter next weekend, and everyone's favorite Easter treats, enjoy The Washington Post's annual "Peeps Show" Diorama Contest. The Chilean Miner Peeps rescue won, but my faves are #29, The Muppeep Show, and #31, "Peep Hoarders" :) Thanks to James Utt for sending the link!

damn you delicious grilled cheese!!

2011-04-11T22:48:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, in honor of National Grilled Cheese Month, there was Grilled Cheese Cook-off in my kitchen. It destroyed my possibly achieving my 3-month Wii Fit goal that is due tomorrow. I now have 3.2 pounds to lose instead of the 1 pound I had left as of Saturday morning. (So my deadline may get pushed back to this coming Saturday, with two more trips to Runyon, plus Pilates, in between, but I digress...)

What made me gain 2.2 pounds you ask? Well, other than too much delicious Taco Dip, it was yummy recipes like this one for "Sophisticated Grilled Cheese" and other yummy concoctions including roasted garlic and truffle cheese; bacon, gruyere (I think) and loganberry preserves; caramelized onion and cheddar... ooh all washed down with freshly-squeezed margaritas.

Yep. I knew that damn grilled cheese would do me in. Oh well. At least it was delicious! :)

let the playoffs begin!

2011-04-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

So my LA Kings made the playoffs (barely). By losing their last two games to the Sucky Ducks of Anaheim, they dropped from a potential 4th place finish with home ice advantage to 7th place, which was only thanks to Detroit beating Chicago and saving them from a sure first-round death against Vancouver, the #1 team in the NHL this season. No Anze Kopitar and no Justin Williams has meant practically no goals the last two weeks :( That won't bode well against San Jose, who has the #2 power play in the league. Let's hope the Kings' #4 penalty killing unit can shut them down and our little 12-year-old-looking goalie Jonathan Quick becomes a brick wall. I'm not deluding myself into thinking we'll make it out of the first round. Everything points to bad news. But the Kings have proven lots of people wrong before. Remember 1993... Game 7 vs. Toronto...

I believe (for now ;)

Plus, the good part of not having home ice advantage is our first home game isn't till next week. Which means I get to take my baby brother to a game for his bday. Yay :)

long time, no type

2011-04-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

It's been two months since I've been on here. It's been a rough two months. My workplace has been torpedoed and my professional support systems removed one by painful one since December. Been doing a lot of thinking... and pouting... and thinking. The last week finally started to feel normal there somewhat... a new normal, I guess. I was actually busy for the first time in a long time. But still thinking. However, I don't want to dwell on that here. This blog is supposed to be my outlet from that, to focus on entertaining nonsense that means nothing in the grand scheme of things but still makes me smile. So, in keeping with that, here are some of the few bright spots of the last two months...

I discovered an amazing singer a lot of people cooler than I probably already know about... the awesome Adele. I bought her CD "21" on iTunes in March and have been listening to it non-stop at home as I cook and garden (yes, I've been cooking and am welcoming spring so I can get back to my beloved yard work ;) Here's her current video "Rolling in the Deep" -- amazing! (Have I said that already?)

Since January 12th, I've been sticking to my "Get Healthy" goal, and have been working out on my Wii Fit 4-5 days per week. I've also being eating healthier food (lots of salad, lean cuisine and yogurt) and less of it, with just one cheat day per week. I've lost 11 pounds and have four more to go by April 12th to hit my first 3-month goal on the Wii so my little animated Wii Balance Board won't yell at me :p Last week, I decided it's crunch time and I needed to kick it up a notch, so I went back to Runyon Canyon for the first time in more than a year, since my knee problems. I finished the stair-side loop in one hour exactly...just in time to save my car from the "No parking after sundown" ticket in the Mulholland Parking lot.

Finally, my LA Kings have been playing awesome, despite losing our top two leading scorers six days apart last week. They are one game away from securing a playoff spot. They could have secured it today had the Sucky Ducks of Anaheim beaten the Stars, but alas, the Sucky Ducks of Anaheim never do anything Kings fans want them to do. So now we wait till tomorrow night for a hopeful win against the Sharks (eek).
The Kings' magic number remains at two - latimes.com

That's all for now... I'll try to be back here before June ;)

BEST commercial EVER!!

2011-02-02T21:03:00.000-08:00

I hope VW's ad agency gets a big bonus for this one. It spread like wildfire online today. So awesome!

a good reminder

2011-01-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

Someone sent this to me in an email today. It's a great reminder to be thankful for every day and your health... not everyone is so lucky:

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way. I wrote: 'Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it.'"

Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people that they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have...

Be creative.
Be innovative.
Think differently and positively.
When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile.
Face your past without regret.
Handle your present with confidence.
Prepare for the future without fear.
Keep the faith and drop the fear.

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling. And even more beautiful, is knowing that you are the reason behind it!!!

the aura of "4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42" continues...

2011-01-05T13:40:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Hurley! 'Lost' numbers pay off as winning Mega Millions numbers

home is where the awesome spa shower is

2011-01-03T19:27:00.000-08:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again: While I love the massages, Burke Williams has lost some of its luster since I moved into my house, which has a better spa shower than the spa. So sad... for everyone but me! Mwhahahaha!

grace

2011-01-01T22:53:00.000-08:00

I received some great smelling Philosophy lotion and bath gel from my friend Niki for Christmas. And while I normally don't read packaging, the photo on the gift set was so cute that I read this one, which I find extremely poignant...

How you climb up the mountain is just as important as how you get down the mountain, and so it is with life, which for many of us becomes one big gigantic test followed by one big gigantic lesson. In the end, it all comes down to one word: grace. It's how you accept winning and losing, good luck and back luck, the darkness and the light.

Sadly, not a lot of people seem to know how to be graceful these days. When I think of that word, I picture Audrey Hepburn. Many know of her as an iconic actress, but towards the end of her life, she was a selfless humanitarian. This poem she quoted, when asked for her beauty tips -- originally written by Sam Levenson -- is one of my favorites:

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
   For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
   For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
   For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day.
   For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
   People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed.
   Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.
   As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others."

2010 -- the year that was

2010-12-31T22:33:00.000-08:00

It's New Year's Eve, my most hated of holidays. People put way too much emphasis on going out, drinking, and cheering when the clock strikes 12. Any time I've tried to "celebrate" this "holiday," I usually regret it... I get in a fight with someone, or the evening doesn't live up to the artificially manufactured expectations that it be awesome, and I feel like I've failed the Party Gods. So this year, I'm sitting on my couch watching movies, with a vodka cranberry in hand. This has been a not-awesome year, and I prefer to just let it slip quietly into the past.

The year 2010 actually started off really well. I was the happiest I'd been in a long time... for about six days. Then things went awry. Sadness, worry and stress took over my personal and professional lives. I'd like to say those feelings lessened as the year went on, but alas, they did not. My mom was diagnosed with MS in June. Work got all re-org-ish over the summer, some people I loved working with are no longer there, and it now seems more in flux than it's ever been. And since July, four colleagues, all under the age of 50, have passed away, three from health issues that took them from this earth way before their time; and the fourth was killed the day after Christmas at the hands of a drunk driver in Vermont. (RIP Johannes, Leslie, Wayne and Kaye.) So sad.

The year was not all bad though. I traveled a lot, (although most of it was for work) and went three places I'd never been before. I also saw a lot of great shows and concerts, participated in three great volunteer events, and made a great home improvement. This year also saw me convert from PC to Mac at home, and I must say I love the freedom of my light, easy to use, virus-free MacBook now, even though converting all my files (or not, as the case may be) was a pain. I got my awesome Droid Incredible phone. And I went to Pilates almost every week of the year. (But went on only one hike due to my knee problems, finally diagnosed in May as runner's knee... although I do not run). Here are some of the highlights of the year:

January:

My mom and dad celebrated their 40th Anniversary

February:

Bon Jovi Concert #1 in Anaheim
Saw Cast and Producers of LOST at PaleyFest

March:

Bon Jovi Concert #2 in Los Angeles @ Staples Center

April:

I started blogging (here) again!
Michael Buble Concert @ Staples Center
Trip #1: Seattle, WA, for the first time
The Los Angeles Kings make the playoffs for the first time since 2002!

May:

Trip #2: San Francisco for Web 2.0 Expo
The 2010 Summer Movie Blockbuster Club kicks off its season
Renoir in the 20th Century @ LACMA, with Mom, on Mother's Day
Trip #3: Boulder, CO
Upgraded to the Droid Incredible
Trip #4: New Orleans (my one non-work, just for fun trip, for Jason & Nora's wedding!)

June:

Sting's "Symphonicity" @ the Hollywood Bowl
Jonny Lang @ House of Blues, Hollywood
Grease Sing-Along @ the Hollywood Bowl
I got my new, gorgeous back patio installed!

July:

Hosted my first 4th of July BBQ
Went to the Grammy Museum

August:

RENT @ the Hollywood Bowl, directed by Neil Patrick Harris
Trip #5: St. Louis, MO, for the first (and hopefully last) time ever
John Williams @ the Hollywood Bowl
Goo Goo Dolls @ the Greek Theatre

September:

Trip #6: Raleigh, NC, for the first time... at the same time as Hurricane Earl
Trip #7: Palo Alto, CA
Southern California Coastal Cleanup Day
Trip #8: San Francisco, again

October:

Trip #9: Phoenix
Trip #10: New York City & Hackensack, NJ
Apple and pumpkin picking in Yucaipa, CA
The Kings season begins... awesomely.

November:

Volunteering for Operation Gratitude
Disneyland with The Z's

December:

My first year with outdoor Christmas lights!
Volunteering @ LA Regional Foodbank
Christmas Cocktails
12 days of vacation kicks off

And here's what I did this year, according to some of my favorite Facebook status updates:

As 2011 nears, I'm thinking about what I can do to make it better than 2010 was. I think my overall goals are to take care of myself, and strive for happiness in my life and the lives of those close -- and not so close -- to me.

To that end, I want to:

Get Healthy: I will eat better and utilize either my Wii Fit or the treadmill -- that I plan to "borrow" from my parents' garage -- at least three times per week, in addition to continuing Pilates. I also want to resume hiking when the time changes.
Write More: I will not put my journal in a drawer. I will keep it in eyesight and use it to brain dump feelings and ideas not for public consumption here.
Read Actual Books: A minimum of four this year. One per quarter. That's doable, right? (Sub-goal: I will not let my magazine pile deter me from this goal, no matter how tall it gets.)
Volunteer More: Operation Gratitude takes place four minutes from my house. I can give up three hours of my life every few weekends to bring some happiness to the lives of people sacrificing theirs for our freedom. I also plan to participate in the "Walk MS" in April to raise funds for the National MS Society.
Host More: I love my house, I have a great kitchen and I just spent a lot of money on an awesome patio. I need to invite people over to enjoy it with me more. I also need to practice cooking more, minus eating more (see goal #1 ;)
Travel for Me: I will go to Portland this year to spend time with friends -- I've made that promise. I also hope 2011, one way or another, will finally be my Italian vacation year. I'm thinking either April for someone's birthday, or a solo tour in the Fall.

That's six things, some more complicated than others. But I was quite amazed with everything I got done in December simply by planning my month, day by day, and checking things off a list. Tomorrow is the start of a new calendar and I can start filling it in right away :)

merry christmas to all!

2010-12-24T21:09:00.000-08:00

My Christmas Tree

Wishing you the happiest of holidays!

Christmas cookies...

and cupcakes...

...and cake. Oh my!

My first Christmas with the outside of the house decorated :)

my dad knows betty white!

2010-12-24T10:46:00.000-08:00

So I learned last night that my dad has not only met, but is working with the awesome Betty White!! (And I'm not the least bit bitter that I was that last of my siblings to learn this.... 2-4 months after-the-fact. Thanks Dad :p)

His company is making t-shirts and Hoodie Buddies (hoodiebuddie.com) for Betty. AND he appears in this hi-larious video about it all (at the 34 second mark.... look for the bald head and purple shirt ;)

I hope I get an autographed Betty Hoodie Buddie for Christmas tomorrow...hint, hint :)

filmography 2010 - enjoy!

2010-12-22T22:14:00.000-08:00

Love this!

Here's a list of all the films featured. Enjoy!

i'm gonna train my squirrels to do this!

2010-12-22T21:38:00.000-08:00

.... I just need someone to build me a squirrel obstacle course. Any volunteers? ;)

life is precious... enjoy it!

2010-12-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

This was not the most awesome week. On Tuesday, I learned that another colleague -- a great, creative, amazingly positive guy named Wayne, who worked at my company when I first started there, and then left to start his own company that continues to do a lot of great work for us -- passed away on Sunday from liver failure at the age of 46. Such a shock. We had mutual friends, and I remember being at parties and talking with him about our newfound shared love of gardening... except he would garden in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep. :) He was so passionate about it as he spoke, which to anyone who didn't know him and just looked at him (spiky hair and tattoos) would seem really odd. But if you knew him, not so much. He was, as one of our friends said this week, "the nicest scary guy" you'd ever meet. And he will be missed. He was married to a super sweet woman, Patricia, that is good friends with one of my good friends... we, along with another friend, co-threw our mutual friend's baby shower two-and-a-half-years ago. I feel so sad for her.

Anyway, I was thinking about Wayne on Tuesday night when my attention drifted to this card I have framed in my house.

Wayne really loved life, and his passing was a real reminder to experience and relish the lives we've been given. I originally bought this card years ago because I felt I needed to be reminded of that. Sadly, I haven't necessarily heeded its message much in recent years. I am going to attempt to change that. Life is too short to spend all your time worrying about things that mean nothing in the long run.

yay dustin!

2010-12-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

Kings' Dustin Brown and Make-A-Wish foundation will help a dream come true

happy belated turkey day!

2010-11-27T11:30:00.000-08:00

I was too busy cooking (and watching The Social Network) to blog on Thanksgiving, but wanted to offer further proof that I am getting more adept in my awesome kitchen -- my mom even said so!

The turkey going into the oven (ooh..it's kind of a hidden Mickey ;):

The juicy, delicious turkey after four-and-a-half hours in the oven:

And my Thanksgiving table, with a twist: What on the table is slightly awry? (Meaning Dad messed it up before I took a photo :P Add a comment below with your guess.)

new stuff at disneyland... at least for me & ruthie z

2010-11-27T11:22:00.000-08:00

I took this past Monday off of work to go to Disneyland with one of my longest-known (note I did not say oldest, cuz technically I'm four months older than her ;) friends Jenny Z, her hubby Ken and their "five-going-on-14-year-old" daughter Ruthie. It was a beautiful day to be in the park and was a lot of fun with a five-year-old, albeit exhausting ;)

Ruthie and I did two things I'd never done before: climbed to the top of Tarzan's Treehouse and raced the new Autopia... well, we tried to -- Jen and Ken kept stalling in front of us and since there is a strict "Do not bump the car in front of you" policy, we had to slow down. But it was still fun. Ruthie took her first trip through the holiday version of It's A Small World, and then right after the fireworks, all the Z's got their first trip through Storybook Land, one of my all time favorite rides dating back to when I was a little kid riding it for the first time. We also got the extra bonus of seeing a lot of sleeping ducks up close on the island in the middle ;)

look -- i cook!

2010-11-21T10:28:00.000-08:00

It was all rainy yesterday, and I actually went to the grocery store (to stock up for Turkey Day at my house), so I also picked up all the ingredients to make my mom's awesome Italian tortellini soup. Yum! And I made so much, I think I will be eating it every night until Turkey Day :)

the reign of the boy wizard continues

2010-11-21T10:21:00.000-08:00

'Harry Potter' leaps to $125.1M opening weekend, matches franchise's best ticket count - latimes.com

I contributed $13.50 to that $125.1 million, and will be contributing another $18 next Sunday when we go re-see it in IMAX ;)

I loved the film, but really don't want to wait till next July for Part 2. Part 1, which is essentially the first half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7), (also known as Harry, Ron and Hermione go camping in really dark and spooky woods for a reeeeeeally loooong time), is dark and kinda slow, as it's leading up to the multiple battles and ultimate climax at the end of the series. And the place they chose to end Part 1 -- while it made sense as a cliffhanger -- was really depressing. The end of Part 2 is much better :) Plus Part 2 has (at least in the book.... it better be in the film!) my favorite line of the whole book, when sweet, calm, motherly Mrs. Weasley goes all psycho protective mama-bear on Bellatrix, after Bellatrix barely misses killing Ginny with a spell, and then fights her to the death. Goooooo Mrs. Weasley! :)

vote!

2010-11-17T22:48:00.000-08:00

It's NHL All-Star voting time. If you need suggestions on who to vote for, might I suggest:

Forwards: Anze Kopitar, Ryan Smyth, Dustin Brown (write-in choice)
Defensemen: Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson (write-in choice)
Goalie: Jonathan Quick

Oh look, they're all members of the LA Kings. What a coincidence :)

starting to feel like the good old days :)

2010-11-08T10:44:00.000-08:00

The LA Times hasn't given the Kings valuable sports section space for fun, profile-esque puff pieces like this -- Come along for a Kings joy ride -- since circa 1993. These are the kinds of articles that made me fall in love with hockey and the early '90s Kings back in the day. Hope they keep it up :)

i almost forgot to mention...

2010-11-02T23:20:00.000-07:00

The Kings are kicking butt so far this season!! They are in first place in the whole NHL right this second and this article points out some very hopeful factoids about that fact. (Knocking on wood and crossing fingers!)

fun ideas

2010-11-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

A friend posted this on FB and I wanted to share here: 50 All-Time Favorite New Uses for Old Things

I might need to subscribe to Real Simple once my In Style sub finally runs out. Does this mean I'm getting old?

this is halloween! this is halloween!

2010-10-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

finding fall

2010-10-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

Took the annual trip to the edge of the San Bernardino Mountains today to go find Fall... and we did! It was super-cold (like in the 50s ;) at the Oak Glen Orchards in Yucaipa, CA. We visited Parrish Pioneer Ranch, where I stocked up on hot pickled okra (yum!), and found a cute Christmas gift for my Granny at Granny's Attic. Then stopped off at Law's Cider Mill to get clear, delish apple cider in the cool glass jugs, had lunch at Law's Coffee Shop, then went to Snow-Line Orchards for the world famous apple cider donuts (that are your reward after waiting in a 20+ minute line). I also bought a big bag of Braeburn and Pink Lady (the yummy tart ones!) apples there. Once we were appled out, we headed back down the hill (where it was comfortably in the 70s) and hit the Live Oak Canyon pumpkin patch extraordinaire! Found two big, pretty pumpkins in the patch, got all my gourds and colored corn husks for the Thanksgiving table, and got attacked by goats in the petting zoo. It was a super-fun day.. and now I'm going to sleep :)

It's some great pumpkins Charlie Brown!

Mr. Turkey in the petting zoo, dreading the holiday after Halloween...

wear your music

2010-10-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

Saw a tweet about this organization -- Wear Your Music -- earlier this week and wanted to share... some pretty well-known musicians (Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Jonny Lang, Keith Richards) are donating used guitar strings to be turned into eco-friendly jewelry (bracelets, necklaces) that then get sold for charity. I'm just waiting on Richie Sambora to donate, then I will make my purchase :)

poignance, direct from my tivo

2010-10-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Catching up on Tivo last night and this line from a sibling-centric Sunday night soap really hit home:
"Do you ever feel that sometimes you missed out on being who you were supposed to be because you're so busy being who everybody expected you to be?"

Yes, yes I do. And I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I think it's time to get serious about a plan to find the me I'm supposed to be.

something to think about

2010-10-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

Officials see Prop. 21 as key to future of California's state parks - latimes.com

$18 a year/car to keep beaches and parks open... and then California licensed drivers don't have to pay $8/visit to park.... Why is passing Prop 21 even a question?

Proponents (mainly a group called "Californians Against Car Taxes") say it's not fair to charge every person in California with a car -- many of whom may never use the state parks -- to keep the parks open and maintained. But doesn't every person in California who may not drive end up paying for roads via state taxes on employment or property? Doesn't every homeowner, whether they have children or not, pay taxes to keep our public schools (those that remain, and however crappy they are) running?

Others say it's not fair just to charge tourists to park when they visit. Hate to burst a bubble here, but $8 for a day on a hiking trail or at a beautiful beach is way cheaper than what tourists get charged for parking + admission at Disneyland, Sea World, Universal Studios or to park in Hollywood to look at stars and handprints on the sidewalk. So I really don't think there's going to be a major uproar or tourist exodus from the state.

If this passes, the $130 million the state currently spends on parks would go back into the state general fund to be spent on other things. (May I suggest hiring good teachers and filling in potholes as two possible expenditures?)

However, if this passes, proponents feel this would also set a really bad precedent. Don't like the way the legislature is spending the budget? Create a proposition to tax people and funnel funds to your initiative of choice. It's called "ballot box budgeting" and it's the one thing that's making me really think about how I'll vote on Prop 21. Although, right now I'm leaning towards the opinion that if voters vote to pay more money out of their pocket for an initiative, then the government should be more than happy to let them...

my boss' boss' new boss + 1

2010-10-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

This is certainly a change. As a peer just posted on Facebook, "Here we go..." Then someone asked if it was a good, bad or uncertain "here we go"? Wish I knew the answer to that, but I have a much more worried feeling than I'd have if we just had one new President instead of two.

you really CAN make a living doing what you love

2010-10-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

Check out this article on my ex-roommate, Julie. She used to be a retail merchandiser for a major department store and really did not like it. What she did like were her dogs. So she took that passion for pets and has turned that into a booming pet-sitting/kennel business in Prescott, AZ. Yay Jules A-K!

the only good thing that happened this week..

2010-10-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

Considering that -- other than Alice Cooper -- they are the only "rock" artists on the list, this whole nomination process better just be a formality...

Bon Jovi † The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation Announces Nominees for 2011 Induction

hot, hot, hot!

2010-09-27T22:19:00.000-07:00

L.A.'s hottest day ever - latimes.com

So it was 113 Downtown today. Big whoop. It was hotter than that in my driveway yesterday....

... which means it was probably even HOTTER than that in my driveway today. Glad I was in North Hollywood where it was only 110 degrees. (Holy heatwave Batman!) And I'm REALLY glad I'm going to San Francisco tomorrow, where it will be a measly 81, followed by lowly mid-70s on Wednesday and Thursday.

Before that though -- and speaking of hot -- my fave reality show, Dancing with the Stars, is back! And while Maks is the hottest dancer on the show, tonight the HOT, HOT, HOT award goes to cutie Derek and his star protege' Dirty Dancing's Jennifer Grey, who kicked butt on their jive. They got three 8's. They should have gotten three 10's. Wow!

cleaning up the coastline

2010-09-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

Thousands clear debris from the shore - latimes.com

A group of us went to El Matador State Beach in Malibu to clean up the coast for an hour and a half on a very hot Saturday morning. What did we clean up, you might ask? About a babillion cigarette butts (smokers are disgusting litterers), a bazillion small pieces of styrofoam (they aren't kidding when they say that stuff is forever/doesn't degrade), candy wrappers, a dry cleaners claim ticket, a giant empty liquor bottle, a syringe (empty, with cap on it) and a track suit (yes, I said a track suit... as in Sue Sylvester).

LIZARD! (It's been a year since I took a Lizard pic! There were a bunch of them on the hill leading down to the beach)

MINE! MINE! MINE! Sadly all the fish were farther out to sea being eaten by seals, so this perfectly perched seagull was outta luck. :(

can't wait! can't wait! can't wait!!

2010-09-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

okay, i'll admit it... here's how i spent my summer

2010-09-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

Julie Chen blogs 'Big Brother' week 11.

And way to go Fan Favorite $25k winner Britney! Eye-rollers RULE!

countdown to awards season begins... now

2010-09-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

It feels like I haven't been to the movies in ages, and lets face it, with the exception of Iron Man 2, Toy Story 3 and Inception, the 2010 summer movie season kinda sucked. So I'm happy that the fall movie season (aka the beginning of my favorite season -- Awards Season, the fabulous time of year when I get screener dvds delivered to my doorstep!) is finally here.

I kicked it off last night with Ben Affleck's The Town. Ben wrote, directed and stars in this Boston bank robbery drama, that also stars Jeremy Renner (as a long-time "townie" bud and fellow-bank robber of Ben's character) and Jon Hamm (as the FBI agent trying to take them down). Thoroughly enjoyed this... good script, great cast, good action and suspense. I'm now hopeful for the rest of the fall releases. And while I doubt many of these will be award nominees, for pure entertainment value, here's what I'm most looking forward to seeing:

The Social Network (October 1)
Life as We Know It (October 8)
Red (October 15)
Hereafter (October 22)
Due Date (November 5)
Morning Glory (November 12)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows - Part 1 (November 19)
Burlesque (November 24)
The Fighter (December 10)
How Do You Know (December 17)
TRON Legacy (December 17)

time is flying... and so am i

2010-09-18T14:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe September is half over already. It just started. I've been traveling so much for work I actually finally earned a free flight on Southwest. I'll be on my way to another one in a week... I just booked four more work trips: two to San Fran, one to Phoenix and one to New York/New Jersey... so Southwest and United miles are going to be piling up. I need to find somewhere fun to go on a VACATION with my free trip. And then I need to book my real vacation (to Italy) for next year. I just need to do it, or else I'm never going to do it.

I'm also sitting in my home office today getting organized. Cleaning out my inbox, tackling my to-do list, getting everything I have to do between now and Christmas on the calendar. It's crazy. It will be 2011 in the blink of an eye!

back to goo

2010-09-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

So the Goo Goo Dolls are one of only four bands I will pretty much go anywhere to see in concert. I've had some pretty up-close-and-personal concert moments with them in the past at House of Blues (where John Rzeznik squirted his water bottle on my leather jacket laying over the barricade in front of the stage. I forgave him cuz he looked really good that night ;) and Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (where, after an awful experience waiting for fan club tickets to arrive at the box office for like two hours, my Goo-buddy Miriam and I discovered we were once again in the front row, but at a much bigger venue and with a seat number on a ticket!). So when the Goos announced a show at the awesome Greek Theatre on August 29th, I signed up, even though their new CD -- Something for the Rest of Us -- wasn't out yet and I had no idea what to expect.

The show started with a new song ("Sweetest Lie") I didn't know... by the end of the song, I loved it!. Then they moved into hitsville for a while... the sound was so good, both instrumentally and vocally -- John's voice sounded amazing! They sang a few other new songs: the first single, "Home," "Not Broken." By the end of the show, I couldn't wait till Tuesday to get the new album.

I stopped at Best Buy last night to purchase the actual physical CD on the way home from work (I do that for bands I'd go anywhere to see in concert ;), and ripped it to my Droid so I could listen to it today on the plane to Raleigh. I've often felt that the band has never quite topped the overall goodness of 1998's Dizzy Up the Girl (which brought us "Slide," "Black Balloon," "Iris" and "Acoustic #3" some of my fave GGD songs, along with "Here is Gone" and "Sympathy" from 2002's Gutterflower) that could be listened to end-to-end without feeling the need to skip a song or two. That's a rare feat for an album, especially these days when very few people actually buy and listen to full albums.

But after listening to Something for the Rest of Us approximately 10 times in a row today, and actually reading the lyrics (many of which read like love letters), I think they might have done it. This album is beautful... full of extremely emotional, personal stories of love, yearning, happiness, acceptance. It's not loud, it's lyrical and I love that. My favorite songs thus far, in no particular order: "As I Am," "Home," "Notbroken" (which is already the second most downloaded Goo song on iTunes ever, 2nd to Iris), "One Night," "Nothing is Real," and "Still Your Song." After the emotional roller coaster I've been on this year, those songs really spoke to me in different ways. I really love this album -- it was definitely worth waiting four years for.

5 years later

2010-08-29T12:48:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to see the red light on my Tivo recording something.... had no idea what, so I flipped on the TV to see Meet The Press, specially hosted by Brian Williams in New Orleans. Today is the 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and the beginning of the man-made disaster that followed when the levees broke.

I've been glued to the TV most of the morning watching and remembering... the devastation, the sadness and the anger.

This is what I wrote in my blog on August 30, 2005:
I'm watching Nightline, showing all the devastation in New Orleans. It's just awful. I don't know how the city will ever recover. I went there like six or seven years ago with Christina... we had so much fun, even though we were working. The best meal I've ever had was at Emeril Lagasse's NOLA restaurant in the French Quarter, and now there is like three feet of water in the streets because the levees broke and aren't pumping the water back out to the river. The people who didn't evacuate the city are looting. The looooooong bridge over the lake that I can't remember the name of, but that I know we drove over, is washed away in parts. It's so sad.

And then on September 7, 2005:
I couldn't sleep last night. I made the mistake of watching the Oprah repeat at 1 a.m. last night/this morning where she was on location in New Orleans. Watching the news over the last week has been horrifying, heartbreaking and infuriating. But Oprah sent me over the edge. She and her cameras got closer than any news coverage I've seen... or maybe it was just that she let herself feel all their pain, instead of trying to remain objective like some journalists have tried to. People should NEVER have to experience what those hurricane survivors have lived through... the filth, the hunger and thirst, the emotional and physical pain, and the fear for their lives. This is America and there's no excuse for the inhumane conditions those people were forced to stay in because our stupid government couldn't get their act together. Heads should roll, starting with the head guy who had to cut his vacation short to deal with the devastation... poor baby.

I remember five years ago sitting transfixed on the television and thinking "This is America. How is this happening?" The only other time I'd ever felt that was 9/11. But New Orleans was different because we weren't attacked by terrorists. WE hurt New Orleans. OUR government failed miserably both in terms of the civil engineering that caused the levees to break, but more so in response to the disaster and how human beings, the citizens of New Orleans, were neglected and left to suffer in horrible, inhumane ways for days while politicians pontificated and made false promises.

Brian Williams made a point to remind everyone of that this morning, via these two poignant and heartbreaking clips from five years ago:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

After Meet The Press, there was an hour-long special about volunteers, mostly church groups, that have been going to New Orleans to help people rebuild their homes. It was inspiring. (Yes I, the one who is against organized religion, just said that.) Things are getting better, but are in no way right. There is a lot that still needs to be done.

Help Brad Pitt Make It Right
Help Wendell Pierce's Pontchartrain Park Community Development Corporation

Then enjoy what makes New Orleans great...if you haven't been to NOLA, GO. I guarantee it will be one of the most fun, entertaining, delicious trips you ever take! Just a few reasons to love it....

the arch

2010-08-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

Went to St. Louis last week for work. It was humid as hell there, but I managed to sweat it outside long enough to visit the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial... otherwise known as "The Arch." I took this shot from the foot of The Arch, which I must say, I find rather awesome, even if I do say so myself! The most amazing thing... I took it on my Droid Incredible camera phone. I <3 my phone :)

rent... there's nothing like the first time

2010-08-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

So I originally saw the amazing Broadway musical RENT on Broadway, circa 1996, with the original Broadway cast. It was an AMAZING experience.

Then I saw the touring version in LA at the Ahmanson (I think), starring Neil Patrick Harris as Mark. I was pleasantly surprised by his talent and the production, even though nothing could compare to the original.

Last night, 14 years after the original's Broadway premiere, Neil Patrick Harris directed a new production of the show at the Hollywood Bowl. My friend Diana and I decided to go at the last minute out of sure curiosity... How would they stage an intimate Broadway show in an amphitheater that seats 70,000 people? Would the cast of Broadway vets mixed with Hollywood names (to sell the tickets) mesh? And most importantly, how much would my ears hurt as Vanessa Hudgens (Disney starlet of High School Musical fame) sang the songs that Daphne Rubin Vega originally made famous as the character of drug addict "Mimi"?

The answers in order:
The sets were pre-set all over the Bowl's giant stage, and lighting focused you in on where to look... well, that and the jumbotrons, since anyone not in a box seat really couldn't see much of what was actually happening on the stage.

The cast -- overall -- was awesome. Telly Lueng (the Broadway production's last "Angel"), Tracie Thoms (who was Joanne in the film and also at the end of the Broadway run) and Aaron Tveit (as Roger) anchored the Broadway vet side, along with original cast member/"Seasons of Love" soloist Gwen Stewart. The "Hollywood names" were led by a very impressive Wayne Brady as Tom Collins (the role originated by Jesse Martin), and Nicole Scherzinger (last season's Dancing with the Stars champ, and lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls), who surprisingly took the role of Maureen, originated by the amazing Idina Menzel, and made it her own in a humorous, strong and powerful way. (She and Tracie Thoms killed it on "Take Me or Leave Me.")

Then there was Miss Hudgens as Mimi... you know, the sultry drug addict who steals Roger's heart. I will give her credit. After a very shaky start with the Mimi/Roger "Light My Candle" duet (Look! You can hear it for yourself here ... YouTube is awesome.), she came back out for "Out Tonight" and attacked the role, slinking and strutting across the stage in those shiny blue hotpants. Her vocals were definitely the weakest link in the production -- and kind of took you out of the moment at some key plot moments -- but she didn't make my ears bleed as I originally feared she might, so good for her.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable, if not FREEZING (Why did I consciously decide to leave my Bowl blanket in the car again?!?!), evening. It was in no way, shape or form as moving as when I first saw it on Broadway, but it was worth the price of admission. The crowd (and Entertainment Weekly) seemed to agree. The only bummer was no curtain call by NPH. I know he knows the words to Seasons of Love... he could've come out and joined the chorus line. Oh well.

more inception... with a pixar twist :)

2010-08-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

This is why the internet is awesome sometimes...

Trailer for "UPception"

Trailer for "Toy Story 3: Inception"

And that's just two of the recuts. Hang out on You Tube for a while and you'll find Inception "trailers" starring the casts of "The Matrix," "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," "Monsters Inc.," "The Simpsons Movie," "The Dark Knight," "Lord of the Rings," "Lost" and "Titanic"!

what a concept!

2010-08-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

Imagine starting a new job where your new employer actually invests six weeks of time training you in the company culture and differences between departments, and then you -- the newb -- actually get to choose where you think your skills and talents will best benefit the company overall. That's just crazy talk!

Oh wait, you mean that's what the most trafficked website on the internet actually DOES?!?!

At Facebook Bootcamp, the grunts are geeks - latimes.com

If I didn't love my house so much, I'd be working in Palo Alto right now.

i need to see this movie again...

2010-07-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

...I can't stop thinking about the ending, and articles like this don't help :p

Inception Explained: Unraveling The Dream Within The Dream

awww....

2010-07-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

Two Facebook friends posted a link to this blog - Mila's Daydreams - this week and it's just too cute not to share. That baby must be the soundest sleeper ever!

what a weekend!

2010-07-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend could be described in three words: AC, Movies, Friends.

Considering I came home from the movies on Friday night to a house that was 88 degrees inside due to the AC going out, it was a pretty good weekend overall.

Thanks to my long-lost awesome AC guy Mark (who installed the new system in my condo back in the day), I got cool air back mid-day Saturday. I highly recommend him for all your air conditioning needs... seriously.. I do. Read the recommendation here on Yelp.

Movies consisted of the better-than-I-expected Sorcerer's Apprentice, which sadly did not do great at the box office. But I would recommend it. It was suspenseful and fun in that National Treasure way (which is a shocker considering it has the same director and star as NT ;). But the movie of the weekend, and possibly year thus far, was Inception. OMG! SO GOOD! It's about going into people's dreams to retrieve information...or plant it as the case may be. Did I mention it is SO GOOD! SEE THIS MOVIE! I LOVED IT! Amazing script (by Christopher Nolan)! Amazing cast (Leo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Wantanabe, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine)! Amazing director (again..Christopher Nolan)! Amazing "how'd they do THAT?!" effects! I will be seeing this again!

And Sunday was spent with my friends... first at Dane's 3rd Birthday party (that's the first of TWO cupcakes he ate! :) .....

... then a little Lowe's shopping and BBQing on the new patio. Very fun, but also tiring... time to snooze. I anticipate a crazy week ahead.

hockey, music and margaritas

2010-07-10T23:52:00.000-07:00

Had a fun day wandering around downtown today on almost no schedule, taking the metro from Hollywood & Western down to 7th & Figueroa. (Cuz we're green like that!)

First stop was the Grammy Museum at LA Live. I've been wanting to check it out for over a year, and was running out of time since the Michael Jackson exhibit will be closing soon and I wanted to see that. So, we handed over our $10 (thanks to the AAA discount ;) and spent a good 90 minutes wandering the three floors of the museum.

One of the coolest things is the "Crossroads" table, which is like being on Star Trek or in Minority Report, swiping images on a giant table to activate graphics and audio that tell you about just about ANY genre of music you could EVER imagine (seriously!).

From there, we went to the MJ exhibit, which had a lot of video of his Grammy moments, a light up floor like in the Billie Jean video, numerous sparkly jackets, gloves (but not THE glove), handwritten lyric sheets, and the suit he wore on the cover of Thriller -- he was even super-skinny then, which is really frightening considering how much tinier he seemed before he died. Anyhoo, it was cool to see, but I kinda expected there to be more to it.

As we finished checking out the main exhibit on the 4th floor, we found this bit of awesomeness -- the Songwriters Hall of Fame listing -- near the stairs leading down to the 3rd floor:

...What makes this more awesome (or odd) is that they felt the need to tell people that David Crosby, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills were in Crosby, Stills and Nash (duh!), but didn't feel the need to ID Jon or Richie? (Or whoever Galt Mac Dermont is? Okay...)

Other cool things in the museum: "The Dress" J-Lo wore to the Grammys in 2000; a guitar smashed by Kurt Cobain; the carbon-fiber, temperature-resistant cello Yo Yo Ma played at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics; a thank you note from Elvis' real estate agent; and handwritten letters and lyrics from Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin ... Oh, and a telegram from Mick Jagger explaining to NARAS why he couldn't be a presenter on one of the mid-'70s awards shows because of the Stones' Australian tour and the possibility of airline delays. LOL!

Our one appointment of the day was at 5pm at Staples Center. I had to go "select-a-seat" to get myself out of the evil section 205 that only has ONE aisle entrance (which equals a super-PITA during hockey intermissions if you are on the aisle, like I was last season). I luckily found two seats two rows lower across the aisle in section 206, which has TWO aisle entrances. Hopefully that will be less annoying. We also got to tour the Kings locker room...sadly there were no Kings in it at the time ;) It's super-deluxe with a main room (left pic) for putting on gear, a hang-out room with a kitchen and TV where they probably have team meetings, and then a back locker room where they lock up their normal clothes and valuables during games. Fans were writing all over the white boards and I found the message below on the right to be especially poignant :)

From Staples, we headed back to LA Live to Rosa Mexicano, the one place Diana will drink alcohol at, which is odd considering it's REALLY STRONG alcohol (in the form of a really good pomegranate margarita). They have good guacamole too if you ever stop in.

By then it was after 7 and starting to look like it might rain, so we went back to 7th & Fig and hopped a train home. But I will be back to wander again... there are so many good places to eat and discover down there... like there was NO line at The Pantry when we walked by, but we weren't hungry anymore. I need to eat there someday.. it's an LA Landmark!

trust your gut

2010-07-03T23:46:00.000-07:00

A former co-worker posted a link to this interesting blog post on twitter this week. It's so true... the draining just ain't worth it anymore. You must trust your gut/internal compass to be truly happy.

another reason to love nola!

2010-06-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

This is pretty awesome... I walked by that very spot in New Orleans every day for four days in a row and I never saw Lenny Kravitz ;) How cool was that moment for the kids in that choir!

Lenny Kravitz crashes the VOP Choir in New Orleans for "Fly Away" CNN:

this gave me chills...

2010-06-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

I cannot WAIT till November.. and July 2011... although then this will be over too. 2010 and 2011 suck for being the end of awesome things like Lost, 24 and now Harry Potter, one of the most amazingly spellbinding (yes, I meant that) pieces of literature ever, with awesome (but not as awesome as the books) movies to complement it and bring it to the dumbed-down masses. My greatest wish is that I could ever come up with a story as creative, detailed and emotional as the world JK Rowling created.

Enjoy... Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, the Official HD Trailer

home improvement - day 3... they're done! they're done!

2010-06-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

They finished just before 4pm .. so it took them three days, just like they said it would and it looks AWESOME! I will now say, this work was done by Genesis Stoneworks. My sales guy was Steve Sage, who is super nice and educational/informative, and the crew that did my work was led by Luis. YAY!!!!

The "after" shot:

Here's the path (it's a real path now, not something in between a path and a garden border) around my big garden:

Here are my new, really big steps out of the kitchen. The brick looks really brown here because they're wet, but they are really a more stone/sandy color:

home improvement - day 2 ... paving with pavers

2010-06-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

So I came home expecting to see maybe half of the patio done, or just the steps. Wow. The whole patio and most of the border around the flower bed is done. They just need to finish the border around the whole patio and the steps tomorrow.. and pound it all in. Looks like (knock on wood) they may actually be done in three days like they said they would be. Good thing too since they are paving our street on Friday and we can't have anything (like piles of pavers or big construction trucks... or cars leaving for work) on it as of 6am. Ugh.

Here's today's progress...it's very gray....

home improvement - day 1...demo

2010-06-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

So the patio pavers people arrived a half hour earlier than expected (at 7am) and got a lot done today.

Here are all the bricks that used to be my patio (now free to friends who need brick until the day I get around to laying them out on the side and back of my house where no one goes... aka circa 2013 ;)

And here's what my patio area looks like after being demo'd (including my steps), dug out and with gravel poured and pounded down. There is also a big pile of interlocking pavers in front of my house, and a pile of sand, ready and waiting to lay the new patio tomorrow and Wednesday :)

home improvement

2010-06-20T22:04:00.000-07:00

When I bought my house a year and a half ago, the house itself had already undergone a major addition and renovation, and basically looked like something out of the Pottery Barn catalog, which is why I loved it and bought it. The backyard, on the other hand, needed work. Over the last year, I've gotten all but the very back corner of the yard and garden under control. Tomorrow, the back patio -- a collection of bricks sitting un-level on a bed of sand, that when it rains, turns into a collection of puddles followed by slippery moss -- will be getting replaced by professionals who shall remain nameless until I decide they've done a good job. I have high hopes for the gray, moss, charcoal and stone-colored interlocking pavers that will soon be set on a 7.5 inch foundation and with drainage in mind. Keep your fingers crossed this week please :)

Here's the "before" photo for reference:

Once the patio is done, the only major backyard task that will remain will be calling a junk hauling company to come haul away the rusted shed the previous owners left... and calling my friend Mike and his chainsaw to come knock down "the pony shed". I WILL do that by the end of this summer!

something to aspire to..

2010-06-18T17:22:00.001-07:00

I interviewed a tech manager candidate today who referenced this deck as helping him to verbalize his management style (context, not control) so I looked it up. There is a LOT of good stuff in here. Now I like Netflix even more :)

Culture

View more presentations from Reed Hastings.

bye-bye blakey :(

2010-06-17T23:18:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow will be a sad day... now both of the players I love will be retired. This also made me realize I've been a Kings fan for 20 years.... I'd like to say it doesn't feel like it's been that long, but sadly it does. :p

AP source: Sharks defenseman Rob Blake to announce retirement after 20 years in NHL - latimes.com

symphonicity

2010-06-16T01:34:00.000-07:00

I just got home from the Hollywood Bowl, where I experienced another musical spectacular from Sting, who, like fine wine, just gets better and better with age. I don't know how many times I've seen the man in concert (let's just say "a lot"), but tonight was unlike anything he's done before. He was backed by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra + a tiny band, fronted by his long-time guitarist and songwriting partner Dominic Miller. It was, in a word, AWESOME. The evening was a beautiful celebration of music, lyrics and the stories behind them, as Sting introduced almost every song with some sort of anecdote about how he was inspired to write it, or why he wrote it. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the show as much as the audience was, playing guitar, tambourine, and collaborating on stage with Dominic and guest trumpeter Chris Botti. And experiencing this concert at the Bowl, which is one of my favorite places to listen to music -- outside, under the stars, with a slight chill in the air tonight -- only added to the beauty of the evening. It was an amazing show.

quick summer movie update

2010-06-13T23:55:00.000-07:00

Other than the awesome Iron Man 2, the Summer Movie Blockbuster Club (SMBC) has seen three movies thus far this summer that I haven't logged an opinion of yet. So here's the quick lowdown:

Sex and the City 2: This was a super-fun girly movie! Not as depressing as much of the first one was... just the girls back together and back to their old selves from the show. Hilarious music number at a wedding. Hilarious Samantha back to her raunchy self. And loads of cool clothes to covet. (Worth a full price ticket.)

Prince of Persia: I could have lived without paying Arclight prices for this. (Shouldn't I have been able to see it for free.. hello!) It was shorter than SATC2, yet felt longer.. mostly because it had two "almost endings" (where you think it's going to end, then keeps going), which was annoying. It wasn't bad, just wasn't super-awesome. I'd compare it to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which was no Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. (Wait for cable.)

The A-Team: The SMBC was a bit split on this. Everyone liked it, but those that did not watch the TV show in the '80s liked it more than those of us that loved the TV show in the '80s. It was action-packed and funny too, but about an hour after I got home, I realized why I didn't love it as much as I could have: On the show, each mission was to help some underdog-type who'd hired them. In the movie, they were still on a government mission (it's a bit of a prequel to the outlaws on the TV series), so there was no Robin Hood-esque stealing from the rich/screwing "the man" to give to the poor element that was the essence of the TV series. Also, sorry, but Liam Neeson is no George Peppard. He just didn't have the coy humor that the late, great Peppard brought to Col. Hannibal Smith. Bradley Cooper, on the other hand, was awesome as Face... he's the only actor I may have liked better than the original. (Worth a matinee-priced ticket)

david bryan, three-time tony award winner

2010-06-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

The collective known as Bon Jovi now has more Tony Awards than Grammy Awards... what's up with that?!?! Oh well, congrats to David Bryan on Memphis' big wins tonight.

let's hope the outcome ends up similar too...

2010-06-13T23:10:00.000-07:00

... and in LESS than 49 years. Like, 42 would be AWESOME!

Los Angeles Kings are following Chicago Blackhawks' blueprint - latimes.com

the toys are back in town

2010-06-09T23:01:00.000-07:00

Got an early screening of the super-amazing Toy Story 3 yesterday at our all-hands meeting. LOVED IT! The Toy Story films are works of art filled with so much heart and humor, people of all ages can't help but love them (and I'm not just saying that because of who I work for). And the story in 3, about what happens when toys are outgrown, and the strength of friendship... well, let's just say I have to go to my parents' garage and find new, loving homes for all of my old toys that have been in boxes for 20 years now. Toys deserve to be played with... gently :)