I must point out an exception to my last blog - I did get to hang out with the lovely Cicely and Jay while I was up in L.A. Jay and Cicely are the type of people who have a bazillion friends but still manage to make time to hang out with you, so if they can take a night out for dinner and coffee than NOBODY has an excuse for flakiness. ;) Hehe. Thanks again guys for the delish adobo, but most of all for taking time to catch up.
Also, congratulations go out to Jennie and Brian for their beautiful little twin girls, Abigail and Sophia!!! We know Faith is going to be the coolest aunt around too.
I'm procrastinating right now. I don't have class until 7 and our apartment is a disaster zone, but I am taking time to check e-mail and blog instead of doing what I should be, which is cleaning. It's never fun to fold clothes and vacuum. Also, since we're moving I'm trying to go through the stuff we need to donate and that in itself is a monumental task. Oy vay.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Insomnia
I know I've been MIA and you have all been waiting with baited breath for my latest and greatest post. Ha! Is there anyone even still reading this? These past two weeks have been hectic what with being in LA, and while I did come down to San Diego for the weekend I've been spending all of my time either apartment hunting or writing this huge ass paper that is due today. Kyle was starting to wonder if his wife even existed anymore. Thankfully, we have found an apartment and I am almost done with my paper, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel! I technically was going to wait to blog until my paper was done and turned in, as that is what I should be working on, but since I'm suffering from yet another bout of insomnia and it's the butt crack of dawn right now I figure now is probably not the best time to work on a paper. My blog probably won't even make much sense as it is, but here goes.
LA was a blast, I got to see and do most of the things I was hoping for. Although considering last week was the week before the Emmy's, the closest I came to seeing any celebrities/Emmy action was watching workers set up the tent for the post-Emmy party at the Pacific Design Center and driving past the Ivy, where I think I may have caught a brief glimpse of...wait for it...Byron Allen getting out of his car! Yes, THE Byron Allen! Somebody actually asked me, "Who is Byron Allen?", and I couldn't even remember what he was (semi) famous for. The only thing I could come up with was his cheesey interview show and I also think he played Alfonso's dad or uncle on Silver Spoons. Google him people. He's one of those obscure actors that probably only me or Nina know about.
Since I haven't blogged in so long, there are a few things I wanted to talk about regarding my time in lala land. So here are my blogs within my blog, my meta-blogs if you will:
Flakiness
Now, I'm not sure if this is an LA thing or not, but all I know is that I made multiple plans with people that were changed/moved around/cancelled at the last minute, and that doesn't seem to happen to me much in San Diego. Granted, I don't really know very many people in San Diego to make plans with, but still. I made a point to e-mail/contact the people who I really wanted to see weeks before I came out, and after receiving e-mail confirmations of dates and times I got the old, "Oh, I thought we were meeting NEXT week, not this week!" Grrr, come on peeps, how can you confuse the dates when we've been talking about this for weeks and weeks and we have the date going around in several different e-mails? I don't expect to be at the top of your list, but really, sometimes you've gotta wonder. I guess I'm just one of those people that likes to make plans and actually stick to them. Call me crazy.
Wardrobe Malfunctions
So, I was getting ready to go out for dinner and drinks with Kathy, Nina, and Cheryl for a good old Rowland reunion. I came across that ever present dillemma in a woman's life: what shoes do I wear? Do I wear my diva platform shoes with the cute little flowers printed on the heels or my fallback comfy casual yet cute black flip-flops with a bow? Remembering that I am a married woman that doesn't need to worry about impressing anyone with my shoes, I opted for the flip-flops. What can I say, I'm a comfort before beauty type of gal. Actually, I think the shoes would be more to impress other women since I am 99.99999% sure that straight guys probably do not check out what shoes girls wear. In fact, their line of sight probably doesn't make it further down than the calf of a woman's leg. Okay, so that's a gross overgeneralization, but I digress. Just what do you think happens to said flip-flops at the end of the night? Somehow, a tear developed in the straps of my flip-flops, causing them to come precariously close to falling apart. If not for the cute bow holding them together they would have been goners. I don't know what I would have done w/o my very favorite pair of shoes, but luckily the week prior I had spotted the exact same pair at Ross Dress for Less when I was home for the weekend. So where do you think the very first place I hit up was upon my return? You guessed it. My only hope was that they were still there. To my dismay, when I checked the place I last saw them they were gone, so I thought oh well, I'll go look for sunglasses. As I was perusing the accessories section, I caught a glimpse of a separate rack for flip-flops and lo and behold there were my coveted shoes! In my size! It was like divine intervention. The shoe goddesses were smiling down on me that day.
NKOTB
I stayed with Kathy and Greg for the majority of my time up in LA. For those of you who don't know Kathy, we go way back to junior high. I've known her for over half of my life. During our tween years, we were absolutely OBSESSED with New Kids on the Block. I can't even begin to describe to you the level of insanity we were at, but this story will give you an idea. While I was in LA, one of Kyle's co-workers, knowing what a big NKOTB fan I was, sent him an e-mail telling him to let me know that she heard that they were going to be having a reunion. Kyle, being the devoted and sweet husband he is, forwarded the e-mail to me much to his reluctance, which I proceeded to forward to Kathy, and upon her recipt of it she and I started going ballistic and regressing back to our teeny bopper years. Coincidentally, Kathy's mom had just moved and was getting rid of boxes out of her house, and Kathy told me that she was pretty sure one of the boxes held all of her NKOTB memorabilia from years gone by. Well after hearing that I just couldn't leave LA without going through that box, so you know we cracked open that box as soon as she told me about it. Sure enough, there were the gigantic buttons, concert programs, tapes (yes, tapes, not CDs) with NKOTB songs, and endless stacks of posters. The very best part? Kathy found old old mini magazines that we used to make for each other. We titled our magazine, "Teen, Bop, Beat Party" and we wrote fake articles about how Jordan had a girlfriend named Kathy and he is no longer a single man, pasted in posters of the New Kids with our own pictures skillfully doctored in using scissors and glue (hey, there was no Photoshop back then!), and I even made a fake subscription card to be filled out and returned. The best was I even wrote a birthday rap for Kathy in the vein of the NKOTB rapping style. How I had time for all of this, I don't know. Needless to say, Kathy and I were up half the night going through them and practically peeing our pants at the things we put in those "Teen, Bop, Beat Party" issues. I'm telling you, I missed my calling as a magazine editor. If you saw those magazines you would know what I'm talking about.
If you've lost all respect for me, I understand. I'm kind of wondering about myself at this point. Gotta go look up those reunion dates now.
LA was a blast, I got to see and do most of the things I was hoping for. Although considering last week was the week before the Emmy's, the closest I came to seeing any celebrities/Emmy action was watching workers set up the tent for the post-Emmy party at the Pacific Design Center and driving past the Ivy, where I think I may have caught a brief glimpse of...wait for it...Byron Allen getting out of his car! Yes, THE Byron Allen! Somebody actually asked me, "Who is Byron Allen?", and I couldn't even remember what he was (semi) famous for. The only thing I could come up with was his cheesey interview show and I also think he played Alfonso's dad or uncle on Silver Spoons. Google him people. He's one of those obscure actors that probably only me or Nina know about.
Since I haven't blogged in so long, there are a few things I wanted to talk about regarding my time in lala land. So here are my blogs within my blog, my meta-blogs if you will:
Flakiness
Now, I'm not sure if this is an LA thing or not, but all I know is that I made multiple plans with people that were changed/moved around/cancelled at the last minute, and that doesn't seem to happen to me much in San Diego. Granted, I don't really know very many people in San Diego to make plans with, but still. I made a point to e-mail/contact the people who I really wanted to see weeks before I came out, and after receiving e-mail confirmations of dates and times I got the old, "Oh, I thought we were meeting NEXT week, not this week!" Grrr, come on peeps, how can you confuse the dates when we've been talking about this for weeks and weeks and we have the date going around in several different e-mails? I don't expect to be at the top of your list, but really, sometimes you've gotta wonder. I guess I'm just one of those people that likes to make plans and actually stick to them. Call me crazy.
Wardrobe Malfunctions
So, I was getting ready to go out for dinner and drinks with Kathy, Nina, and Cheryl for a good old Rowland reunion. I came across that ever present dillemma in a woman's life: what shoes do I wear? Do I wear my diva platform shoes with the cute little flowers printed on the heels or my fallback comfy casual yet cute black flip-flops with a bow? Remembering that I am a married woman that doesn't need to worry about impressing anyone with my shoes, I opted for the flip-flops. What can I say, I'm a comfort before beauty type of gal. Actually, I think the shoes would be more to impress other women since I am 99.99999% sure that straight guys probably do not check out what shoes girls wear. In fact, their line of sight probably doesn't make it further down than the calf of a woman's leg. Okay, so that's a gross overgeneralization, but I digress. Just what do you think happens to said flip-flops at the end of the night? Somehow, a tear developed in the straps of my flip-flops, causing them to come precariously close to falling apart. If not for the cute bow holding them together they would have been goners. I don't know what I would have done w/o my very favorite pair of shoes, but luckily the week prior I had spotted the exact same pair at Ross Dress for Less when I was home for the weekend. So where do you think the very first place I hit up was upon my return? You guessed it. My only hope was that they were still there. To my dismay, when I checked the place I last saw them they were gone, so I thought oh well, I'll go look for sunglasses. As I was perusing the accessories section, I caught a glimpse of a separate rack for flip-flops and lo and behold there were my coveted shoes! In my size! It was like divine intervention. The shoe goddesses were smiling down on me that day.
NKOTB
I stayed with Kathy and Greg for the majority of my time up in LA. For those of you who don't know Kathy, we go way back to junior high. I've known her for over half of my life. During our tween years, we were absolutely OBSESSED with New Kids on the Block. I can't even begin to describe to you the level of insanity we were at, but this story will give you an idea. While I was in LA, one of Kyle's co-workers, knowing what a big NKOTB fan I was, sent him an e-mail telling him to let me know that she heard that they were going to be having a reunion. Kyle, being the devoted and sweet husband he is, forwarded the e-mail to me much to his reluctance, which I proceeded to forward to Kathy, and upon her recipt of it she and I started going ballistic and regressing back to our teeny bopper years. Coincidentally, Kathy's mom had just moved and was getting rid of boxes out of her house, and Kathy told me that she was pretty sure one of the boxes held all of her NKOTB memorabilia from years gone by. Well after hearing that I just couldn't leave LA without going through that box, so you know we cracked open that box as soon as she told me about it. Sure enough, there were the gigantic buttons, concert programs, tapes (yes, tapes, not CDs) with NKOTB songs, and endless stacks of posters. The very best part? Kathy found old old mini magazines that we used to make for each other. We titled our magazine, "Teen, Bop, Beat Party" and we wrote fake articles about how Jordan had a girlfriend named Kathy and he is no longer a single man, pasted in posters of the New Kids with our own pictures skillfully doctored in using scissors and glue (hey, there was no Photoshop back then!), and I even made a fake subscription card to be filled out and returned. The best was I even wrote a birthday rap for Kathy in the vein of the NKOTB rapping style. How I had time for all of this, I don't know. Needless to say, Kathy and I were up half the night going through them and practically peeing our pants at the things we put in those "Teen, Bop, Beat Party" issues. I'm telling you, I missed my calling as a magazine editor. If you saw those magazines you would know what I'm talking about.
If you've lost all respect for me, I understand. I'm kind of wondering about myself at this point. Gotta go look up those reunion dates now.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Return to L.A.
I'm going back to L.A. for a temporary two week stint at my old job. Should be interesting - I haven't been back in forever thanks to the crazy cost of gas. I'm looking forward to it though. Two weeks should be the perfect amount of time for me to try to get in and do the things I miss the most, like:
1. Eat a chinese chicken salad at California Chicken Cafe
2. Walk down Robertson Blvd. and join the papparazzi in staking out the Ivy for celeb sitings
3. Walk down to the Beverly Center and have bignettes at The Grand Luxe
4. Window shopping on Santa Monica Blvd.
5. Traipse down Main St. between Santa Monica and Venice enjoying the fresh ocean breeze and people sighting
6. More eating at: Minori Sushi, California Rock N' Roll Sushi (Hawaiian roll), any Indian or Korean BBQ restaurant
7. Visit the Farmer's Market and the Grove just for old times sake
I know most of the above involve eating, but I can't really justify spending on anything else since we are supposed to be saving money. I'm sure I won't make it to every place on the list, but it will be nice to visit my old haunts. Brings back fun memories of our times up in L.A. Too bad I'll be working during the day so I won't really get to see the beach or anything.
I'm sad I'll be apart from Kyle for so long though. :(
1. Eat a chinese chicken salad at California Chicken Cafe
2. Walk down Robertson Blvd. and join the papparazzi in staking out the Ivy for celeb sitings
3. Walk down to the Beverly Center and have bignettes at The Grand Luxe
4. Window shopping on Santa Monica Blvd.
5. Traipse down Main St. between Santa Monica and Venice enjoying the fresh ocean breeze and people sighting
6. More eating at: Minori Sushi, California Rock N' Roll Sushi (Hawaiian roll), any Indian or Korean BBQ restaurant
7. Visit the Farmer's Market and the Grove just for old times sake
I know most of the above involve eating, but I can't really justify spending on anything else since we are supposed to be saving money. I'm sure I won't make it to every place on the list, but it will be nice to visit my old haunts. Brings back fun memories of our times up in L.A. Too bad I'll be working during the day so I won't really get to see the beach or anything.
I'm sad I'll be apart from Kyle for so long though. :(
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Issues
vitriolic - adj. corrosive; sarcastic
I'm taking this class right now that's all about exploring your issues and feelings on things. I'm finding these are my major issues right now:
1. Avoidance of confrontation
2. Feeling rejected/loneliness
3. Thinking too much before speaking/not living "in the moment"
4. Middle child syndrome (goes into #2 - not feeling like I'm worthy)
5. Low confidence level
6. Uneasiness with public speaking/large groups
I don't know if it's right for me to categorize those things, but there you have it. I think the hardest part for me is that we are discussing everything in a large group of 23 people, so for me to try to deal with #s 1-5 while simulataneously feeling uncomfortable talking in front of so many people is really hard. Plus, usually I deal with things through my vitriolic sense of humor, but it seems that is not the healthiest way to go about things.
I think the underlying issue for me right now is my fear of rejection and loneliness. I've thought about it a lot since moving to San Diego. A lot of my friends are not down here, and I'm not the type of person who makes friends easily. I thought it would be easier once I got back to school, but I'm feeling like I'm looked at as an older person that others wouldn't want to hang out with outside of class. Even though I'm only a few years older than most of the other students, I probably have this stigma to me that I'm just a married lady who doesn't like to have fun. I don't really look at people by their age, but I get self conscious that that is how I am seen. Some of my best friends are the same age as the people in my class, but I've never really thought about their age.
It seems we all have a tendency to put people in a box and label them. I know I'm guilty of it from time to time, but I really think I've done a pretty good job of really trying to get to know people for who they are and not basing my assessment of them on pre-conceived notions based on how they look, their age, their marital status, etc. I think the human mind works in a way that we need to categorize in order to make sense of the world, but if everyone could just try to break that tendency and open up, I think the world would be a better place. Again, I am not saying I am free of bias, and I probably never will be. I feel that it's healthy to acknowledge that we have biases, and at least try to be self aware of what they are so that you can work on them. It bothers me when people think they are just soooo open minded and everyone else is so ignorant. I feel lucky to have been exposed to so many different people in my life and to have had training that has allowed me to open up my mind. I can't blame people who have not been as fortunate as I have been. Guess I'm just a fortunate fool.
I'm taking this class right now that's all about exploring your issues and feelings on things. I'm finding these are my major issues right now:
1. Avoidance of confrontation
2. Feeling rejected/loneliness
3. Thinking too much before speaking/not living "in the moment"
4. Middle child syndrome (goes into #2 - not feeling like I'm worthy)
5. Low confidence level
6. Uneasiness with public speaking/large groups
I don't know if it's right for me to categorize those things, but there you have it. I think the hardest part for me is that we are discussing everything in a large group of 23 people, so for me to try to deal with #s 1-5 while simulataneously feeling uncomfortable talking in front of so many people is really hard. Plus, usually I deal with things through my vitriolic sense of humor, but it seems that is not the healthiest way to go about things.
I think the underlying issue for me right now is my fear of rejection and loneliness. I've thought about it a lot since moving to San Diego. A lot of my friends are not down here, and I'm not the type of person who makes friends easily. I thought it would be easier once I got back to school, but I'm feeling like I'm looked at as an older person that others wouldn't want to hang out with outside of class. Even though I'm only a few years older than most of the other students, I probably have this stigma to me that I'm just a married lady who doesn't like to have fun. I don't really look at people by their age, but I get self conscious that that is how I am seen. Some of my best friends are the same age as the people in my class, but I've never really thought about their age.
It seems we all have a tendency to put people in a box and label them. I know I'm guilty of it from time to time, but I really think I've done a pretty good job of really trying to get to know people for who they are and not basing my assessment of them on pre-conceived notions based on how they look, their age, their marital status, etc. I think the human mind works in a way that we need to categorize in order to make sense of the world, but if everyone could just try to break that tendency and open up, I think the world would be a better place. Again, I am not saying I am free of bias, and I probably never will be. I feel that it's healthy to acknowledge that we have biases, and at least try to be self aware of what they are so that you can work on them. It bothers me when people think they are just soooo open minded and everyone else is so ignorant. I feel lucky to have been exposed to so many different people in my life and to have had training that has allowed me to open up my mind. I can't blame people who have not been as fortunate as I have been. Guess I'm just a fortunate fool.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
I am an Aunt!
Today was a crazy emotional day. My parents and I went with my sister to see the sonogram that would show the sex of her baby. I won't disclose the sex here, since Cathee probably would like to be able to tell people herself insteaed of having me post it on my blog for all to read, but I just have to say how amazing it is to sit in a room and see your future niece/nephew (ha, thought you had me there, huh?) just kickin' it, waiting to be born. He/she waved his/her little arm and started moving his/her mouth, like he/she was talking, and we joked that there was probably a cell phone in there since my sister is notorious for her marathon cell phone talks. Mom started crying (of course), and dad acted like he didn't care when I could really tell inside he was just swelling with pride. And Mike and Cathee are sooo ecstatic -how exciting!
It just made me realize, that despite any differences I may have with my sister, we are and always will be family, and that little kid is sure going to be loved to death by his/her aunt. Hopefully this blog will stand the test of time and one day my little niece/nephew will get to read how loved he/she was even before he/she was born. Whew, I'm getting exhausted now just trying to make sure I'm covering my bases with the gender thing. Anyway, just had to share with you just how awesome it was.
It just made me realize, that despite any differences I may have with my sister, we are and always will be family, and that little kid is sure going to be loved to death by his/her aunt. Hopefully this blog will stand the test of time and one day my little niece/nephew will get to read how loved he/she was even before he/she was born. Whew, I'm getting exhausted now just trying to make sure I'm covering my bases with the gender thing. Anyway, just had to share with you just how awesome it was.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)