Wednesday, July 30, 2008

stay golden

friday morning we flew down to southern california for the wedding of a family friend. my parents were supposed to join my sister, her fiance and i but my mother is suffering from something her doctors aren't able to diagnose.

the flight was short and sweet, but it was my sister and john's first time flying jet blue so we had to listen to john bitch and moan that he didn't have a headset to be able to listen to the direct tv programming. fed up, i signaled the flight attendant and asked her to please deliver headphones that i purchased from her to 12C (several rows behind us) because he was annoying as hell. i literally said, "12C is annoying as hell, please give him these headphones to shut him up." she laughed and obliged, and thankfully we didn't hear a peep from him the rest of the 50 minute flight. "12C" is now his nickname.

we landed shortly after 10a and john suggested we head to santa monica. let me be clear: i don't care for southern california, and i especially don't care for southern california traffic. but i was game, even though i knew we'd sit in traffic on the way home. i was right, but spending time at the beach and the pier was almost worth it. we hit it right at rush hour on the way back down, and nearly two hours later we were back at the hotel. we hit the mall for some last-minute additions for my sister's outfit for the wedding, and had a mediocre-at-best dinner at the elephant bar. the hotel was having a "dive-in movie night" by the pool, so we watched a bit of "finding nemo" before going to bed.

my sister and john are late sleepers, so when i was up and ready to go by 8:30 i decided to take a drive down highway 1 and ended up in newport beach before turning around. by then it was nearly noon, so we bummed around the pool while the rest of the guests staying in the hotel started to arrive and ate lunch while the poolside jazz band played. it was the perfect way to spend the morning. my sister went and got her hair done while john and i went to a nearby bar and hung out. photoboothing ensued.

while my sister and john were at the wedding, i had a nice nap and drove out to redondo beach to have dinner at the chart house. the chart house was my favorite restaurant growing up, and all the ones near me and on maui have since closed. it seems as though my memory of their food is much better than it actually was. despite this, i kind of enjoyed the 30 minute drive each way, listening to KIIS play the same songs over and over again.

so this wedding. i used to babysit the bride, she's a classmate of my sister's and her parents are my parent's neighbors. i was invited, but adding another wedding attendance to the 4 i was invited to this year didn't hit high on my list of priorities. i pretty much just wanted a weekend away, so i declined the invite and headed down anyway. several of the kids i used to babysit were there, all grown up, of course. they're all nearly 25, and it's bizarre to think i haven't seen any of them in over 10 years. even stranger was going out drinking with them. the bride's parents are in the midst of a nasty divorce with all kinds of accusations flying around. despite this, apparently everyone was able to put their differences aside and have a good time, as it should be. john drank waaaay too much and was puking all night long, but apparently he wasn't the only one that overindulged, as the next morning pretty much everyone was hungover.

sunday morning i made a run to the closest sonic drive-in for a lime slush fix (what's a mere 20 minute drive in no traffic?) and drove around the area while john and my sister slept in.

the trip was good fun and exactly what i needed -- to get away after a hellish work week.


twin towers tribute
interesting rendering of 9/11 on 405

goofing off
john goofing off


sister and john at the pier

IMG_2082
we did the touristy thing and went on the ferris wheel

shrimp spirng rolls
shrimp spring rolls at the e-bar

Monday, July 28, 2008

back to the future

you have to know that if i were wealthy enough i would purchase this, no doubt about it.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Six Word Sunday: What's a mere twenty minute drive?

Today's breakfast of champions in Anaheim





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Saturday, July 26, 2008

How we do

(Not pictured: my second beer of the day before noon)


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Oh, no, ya'll!

The first of several photobooth stops on this trip


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Friday, July 25, 2008

Santa Monica

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It's all about the LBC

(Or so says Snoop.)

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Departing SJC

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

I bought myself a gift

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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

my urban artwork

Can't tell you where it is, that would incriminate me. ;)
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Sunday, July 20, 2008

six word sunday: the best dollar I ever spent

$1 estate sale find





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Thursday, July 17, 2008

social norms

I stopped by an estate sale today and got several goodies for the whopping total of $9. I am becoming such the old lady in my estate sale shopping. At some point I'll have to list the steals I've walked away with. A friend of mine calls it D.P.S., which is short for Dead People's Stuff, and she's being going to estate sales for so long that she's completely immune to the thought of it now. I'm getting there, but there are times where you just go, "this is what it all comes down to -- strangers pawing through your prized possessions, trying to get everything for nothing. " The sale today was definitely D.P.S., as there were half used grocery items pulled from the cupboards for sale, meaning, yeah, someone died for this sale to happen. I didn't see the usual half-used cosmetics, so can one morbidly assume that it was a man that passed away after his wife? I don't like to spend too much time thinking of these things. Anyway, today I got an original, unused "Kennedy for President" bumper sticker, a costume jewelery necklace, a freaking sweet vintage swanky swig hiball glass (too bad there was just one!) and a tiki swizzle stick. Before I know it, I'm going to be the person that I hate with all this random JUNK.


Estate sale find
this original poster in vintage condition was $750

Beer can display
bizarre beer can display


I got a new BlackBerry a couple of weeks ago and am now one of the cool kids with a camera hone again. I forgot how easy it was to snap a pic of something funny and send it to a friend for a laugh. Or to take pictures of ridiculous things at estate sales.

Estate sale find

Marijuana is the devil!


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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

There's a tail in your groceries

@ restaurant depot. It's a whole halibut on ice, and the sucker is biiig.
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Sunday, July 13, 2008

six word sunday: my best friend had a baby!

seven hours old







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Wednesday, July 09, 2008

hangin' tough

in honor (poor word choice?) of the NKOTB reunion, here are a couple flashbacks courtesy of youtube.

damn straight i saw them in concert, bitches! (sotto voce: but it was after it was out of fashion to listen to them, and my best friend at the time got tickets waaaay in advance, so...plus, we were accompanied by her parents. so we got horribly teased the next week in class. yeah. we rocked it hard core in the 6th grade.)



Monday, July 07, 2008

go, Bond, go!

God, i love Bond.



november seems so far away.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Six word sunday:


on today's agenda: hunting for bargains

Thursday, July 03, 2008

expect nothing.

My father is feeling much better, he says. He's has had a couple of ups and downs as far as getting the amount of his medication just right. He made an emergency trip to the doctor last Thursday as he wasn't clotting (generally a good thing as far as the clots that were in his lungs but not so great when it's other parts). They took him off the blood thinners for a few days and he had another blood test on Monday and now he's too low. They've adjusted the blood thinner so hopefully his test today comes back just right. (It did!)

Last year as I watched the city-sponsored fireworks display from my then-overgrown yard I swore I'd have people over to celebrate this year. I got a gardener a few months ago and he's been coming monthly to thin out the wisteria, pull weeds, trim branches and trim the crepe myrtle. He came last weekend and did a fabulous job and now I'm set to have about 12 people over tomorrow. I'm looking forward to hanging out with everyone! We're doing chicken andouille sausages, angus burgers, corn on the cob and garlic bread on the grill, and we'll have fruit salad, a green salad and several apps. I'm trying out a new recipe for a goat cheese appetizer, complete with pine nuts and basil and a couple of other not-so secret ingredients. The best part? It was all one-stop shopping at Trader Joe's for this recipe.

I decided to try Safeway.com for the rest of the stuff I need for the party, including all the heavy stuff like soft drinks and alcohol. Because it was my first time ordering, I saved the delivery fee. I don't know that I'll use their service again, but having someone deliver groceries (including ice!) feels luxurious. And the delivery guy was HOT, so that's a bonus.

The biggest news currently is that I'm getting a roommate. My sister's fiancé Juan, to be exact. He's been living in an apartment for a couple of years that's less than desirable (two fires, several car break-ins) and after the latest truck break-in he found himself short a car stereo and pennies. Yes, they cleaned out his penny stash in his truck. He and my sister are planning on buying a place at the end of the year, but for the next 5 months or so I'll be several hundred dollars a richer. You betcha I'm charging rent!

Sunday I'll be at the Alameda flea, hopefully taking more pictures than buying stuff, but we'll see.

Happy 4th!

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

public service annoucement

today's the day california's "hands-free" law goes into effect. if you haven't already done so, you need to purchase a hands-free device to use if you use your cell phone in the car.

newegg has a great deal on a motorola model that's pretty nifty.