Saturday, October 31, 2009

malibu dream house

i'm not ashamed to say that i LOOOVED playing with barbies when i was a kid. my sister and i played for hours, and i entered her into a contest that won her the barbie dream house when she was about 5. once that house came into the mix, it was all about which one of us would use that, and which one of us would use the fold-n-fun house, the "loser" settling for the latter. i often "won" the dream house simply by virtue of being the oldest.

now this is a bit over-the-top, but a giant handwoven rug with an inital "B" stamped in the center? the mid-mod sunurst mirror? jonathan adler? i'm all over it.

my video pick of the week: barbie's maliu dream house.



(via retro renovation)

media update: october

this, of course, is more for my own remembrance than anything else. asterisks denote something i particularly enjoyed. follow this advice at your own risk.

MOVIES:
Away We Go
White Material
Opie Gets Laid
Shrink
Vantage Point
Please Vote For Me
Management
The TV Set


BOOKS:
Jennette Fulda, "Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir"


MUSIC:
Karen O and the Kids, "Where the Wild Things Are" soundtrack *
Various Artists, "Landmark Theaters Digital Sampler"
DJ Kool, "Let Me Clear My Throat"
Diggy, "She Don't Want a Man"
Jay-Z, "Reasonable Doubt"
Drake, "So Far Gone"
Various Artists, "LSTN #7" *
Melaine Fiona, "It Kills Me" +
Benton Paul, "Run" +
Mary J. Blige, "The One" *
Various Artists, "Promo Mix" and "Hip Hop Takeover"
Owl City, "Ocean Eyes" *

+ denotes iTunes free download

Monday, October 26, 2009

regretsy

i stumbled upon regretsy over the weekend and have been horrified at its contents since.

i mean, people really sell this crap? or, more accurately, are hoping people buy this crap?

take, for example, the reaper, made with real human rib bones.



not your style? maybe the masturbating dinosaur is more your speed. (i'm looking at you, t-rex.)



a great way to spend a solid 15 minutes going, "wtf?!"

Friday, October 23, 2009

grocery store musical

the fine, funny folks (alliteration, heyyyy!) at improv everywhere have done it again with grocery store musical.




it's my video pick of the week.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

six word sunday: even cloudy days couldn't stop her


way to go, nicole!




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Saturday, October 17, 2009

the bay that day

the 20th (!) anniversary of The Earthquake (yes, it deserves capitalization) is upon us. the chron is full of reflections on "where were you when..." and my own circle of friends have had many a discussion of that fateful day.

i was in the 5th grade, and my sister, mother and i had just returned from shopping for halloween costumes. strangely, i don't recall what i was that year, only that i begged my mother to be a punk rocker, complete with a multicolor spiky wig. i wanted that wig SO BADLY. i don't know if it was my mother's conservative nature that balked at her daughter! wanting! to be! a punk! or something else, but i am now 30 years old and have not dressed up as a punk. (foot stomp.)

it was pretty hot for october, although the bay area always seems to have a hot spell in october, and we were still in summer clothes. we returned home and i set about doing my math homework (a thin, purple volume of problems, both literally and figuratively) downstairs on the coffee table. my sister was upstairs, likely playing with her barbies, and my mother was in the kitchen when the shaking began.

i (gladly) ditched the math homework for the a doorway leading to the backyard, while my mother ran for the doorway separating the kitchen and family room. as the shaking was still going on, my mother and i could hear my sister thundering down the stairs, yelling. poor thing was so frightened by the shaking, she didn't know what to do. earthquake drills are standard practice in california schools, but my sister, only in kindergarten for a matter of weeks, hadn't participated in one yet.

after the shaking subsided, my mother checked to make sure we were okay. we weren't able to reach my father, which was scary, but of course this was pre-cell phone days. the three of us went outside to talk to some neighbors and compare damage, of which there was some: my mother's china cabinet fell over, breaking some depression-era and world war II-era glass heirlooms. of course, we were without power and would be for about 24 hours. given that it was dinnertime and nothing could really be prepared, once my father arrived home he was immediately sent off to carl's jr. to wait in line for over an hour with seemingly all of our neighborhood. (why carl's jr. had power and no one else did i still don't know.)

we all feared aftershocks, and slept with our bedroom doors open. school was canceled the next day, and 20 years later i am still surprised my mother let me ride my bike alone to my friend jennie's house so that we could go to the park.

my father had tickets to the world series for us, although not for october 17. we opted not to go once the series was rescheduled, and i still regret it!

i've been in several earthquakes since then. one that occurred the eve of a 49er game. that idiot jimmy johnson claimed it wasn't an earthquake, it was just the cowboys coming to town.

my sister is still terrified of earthquakes. at the mere mention of the word, she pretty much freaks. although i don't think about them on a daily basis, unfortunately the threat of the next "big one" is always around. watching and reading coverage over the last few days has brought tears to my eyes a few times.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

breathtaking view

i've been reading patrick smith's ask the pilot column for some time now. as a pilot, he provides a interesting take on the world of commercial aviation.

in today's column, he linked to a video he took on the approach and arrival at JFK. it is truly amazing.



so.rad., and it's my video pick of the week.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Saturday, October 10, 2009

To SJC!

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld

JFK to...

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Tuesday, October 06, 2009

SJC to...

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shorter repeats

i leave for new york in just a few short hours, the same red-eye flight i always take. i'm excited to see my friend Vanessa! just finishing up some laundry, and i'm just about set to go.

i got the best news today: i won a contest at the club that gets me $1100 worth of personal training sessions! i don't know who was more excited, my trainer or me! my club does this body age thing and they set up a contest where you had to guess the body age of several trainers, mine included. she's 29, but her body age is 17. yikes! i'm sure mine is that of a retiree. anyway, i got the most correct answers (truthfully, my trainer helped me out a bit) and am stoked!

speaking of training, my trainer has me doing cardio speedwork and i HATE it. but that's just because it's hard. :) i worked out hard with her yesterday, and tried to replicate most of the workout alone today. this is where i know i still need a trainer -- sometimes i can't get myself as motivated when i work out alone. i did 45 minutes of cardio speedwork today, and felt pretty good about my effort. the bummer is, because i have a bum knee the elliptical is out and i'm stuck with the bike (trainer urges the spinning ones) and the erg. 25 minutes of speedwork on the erg and i'm ready to die.

the incident quotient on this week's "trauma" is significantly higher than last week's episode. who knew a street fair could be so dangerous?

i was short on patience earlier today, which was likely why i was so irritated by everyone's idiocy, but now things are all good.

Sunday, October 04, 2009

six word sunday: his endless refrain quickly became grating






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Thursday, October 01, 2009

sycophants

i adore "mad men," and "seasame street" is a perennial classic. the combination of the two makes this my video of the week.