-
Friday Randomness
Wow, it’s been a month since my last post. That’s crazy. Life hasn’t been that crazy lately, so I don’t know what to tell you. Anyway, no one cares why I’m NOT writing, so instead we’ll try a little Friday Randomness instead, and see if I can come up with something. I’m reading a really good book right now, which I’ll tell you about when I finish it. How’s that for unsatisfying? I have a stupid sinus headache right now that tortured me all night. Why the heck didn’t I get up and take something for it? Why try to sleep through it and hope it will go away? I…
-
Monday Randomness
Last week was Ted and my 19th wedding anniversary (link is to Ted’s blog, where you can see a slideshow if you’re interested….we look so YOUNG to me). It seems so strange that so many years have gone by, and yet I still sometimes feel 27. But then I look at my pictures, at my face in the mirror, and I think, oh yeah, I’m not 27 anymore. Oh well. We had a lovely day. We started off by driving to Muir Woods for a hike, with a pit-stop in Sausalito for sandwiches. We saw a segment on Check, Please, Bay Area about a deli counter in a little market,…
-
Ray of Sunshine meme
I haven’t done a meme in a long time. Perhaps years. I found this one at The Spectacled Bean. 🙂 The rules are as follows: 1. Thank the person who gave me this award; 2. Answer the questions below – its all about favorite things; 3. Pass on the award to other sunshine-y bloggers and tell them about it. 1. The Thank You Thank you Ally Bean for this one. I’ve been following her blogs for years now. She has a lot of common sense, combined with a whimsical and caring heart. A wonderful combination in a person…I wish we could meet in real life, over iced tea or a…
-
Moonrise Kingdom
Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) and Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward), are in love, and will move heaven and earth to be together. The fact that they’re only 12 makes the logistics a little difficult, but not horribly. Suzy lives on a fictional New England island, with her parents (Frances McDormand and Bill Murray) and siblings. Sam comes to the island every summer with his scout troop. They fell in love at first sight, and planned a getaway via mail, so they could get to know each other better. I don’t want to tell you more than that about the plot of the film, because I really liked not knowing anything going…
-
Cherry Tomato & Bread Gratin
This Sunday’s Chronicle had an article about ‘you pick’ farms in our area, highlighting the wonderful fresh produce and excellent prices to be had by picking your own fruits and vegetables. It also included recipes from the farmers that highlight their offerings. There was a delicious looking recipe for a hot tomato and bread salad. They had me at the word tomato, but add a baguette, some basil, garlic, olive oil, and Parmesan, and I’m in love. Happily, Monday, the weather decided to cool down enough (It was 103 (or 108 if you believe the newspaper, which I don’t) on Saturday, and 90 on Sunday….only 74 on Monday) to let…
-
The Dud Avocado
“I mean I can’t cook.” “You can’t cook…why, good Lord, Sally Jay, I thought every girl knew how to cook.” He looked at me, his little Floradora Girl, and gave me a wry sort of some-women-are-made-for-only-one-thing smile. Then he shook his head hopelessly. “Marion de Wald cooks,” he said grimly. “She does all the cooking and looks after two kids as well.” I tried to remember one minute that whole week end when Marion and I weren’t either feeding people, or cleaning up from doing it, or preparing to do it again. And presumably she never stopped doing it. But I couldn’t quite see why just because she did, I…
-
Homemade Chocolate Cake with Nutella Frosting
For Maya’s 16th birthday back in March, she wanted to hang out with her friends. We have a tiny tiny living room, and we wanted her birthday to be special, so we decided to rent rooms at a nearby hotel. We got the girls a suite, and we had the adjoining room next door. I decided to go against my prior training (which is open box of mix, follow directions) and make a homemade birthday cake. I was inspired by Mel, who is friend with my real-life friend Stacey, and has a blog called Cupcake Friday Project. One cake that caught my eye was a chocolate cupcake with Nutella frosting.…
-
Happy Mother’s Day!
Here we are on Mother’s Day, Philadelphia, 1996. It was a humid day, and Maya didn’t like humidity. Good thing we moved back to California, huh? I look so young. That was 16 years ago, so I was 30. Look how dark my hair is! That’s the color of my dad’s hair, actually…his was blonde when he was a boy, and got darker as he got older, just like me. Unlike me, he didn’t care, and let it stay dark. I didn’t want to dye my hair whilst pregnant, so I had it colored my natural color before I got pregnant. Or close. But then I went red for maybe…
-
Friday Randomness
Sorry for ignoring you, my beloved blog. I really do love you, but I feel like so many of my bloggy friends aren’t blogging anymore, and if they are, they don’t come here…and if they do, they don’t leave me a comment, so I don’t know that they stopped by. I have a handful of readers I can depend upon, and I’m thankful for those friendships. I call them friendships, because I have a feeling that if we were to meet in person, we’d like each other, and at least mostly get each other’s sense of humor, that kind of thing. That’s important stuff, really. So, what’s new? Well, I…
-
Damsels in Distress
The fictional Seven Oaks University has only recently gone co-ed, and the male students are still a bit unclear on the concepts of civility, bathing, and any slightest degree of self awareness. Enter the floral-named trio of Violet, Rose, and Heather, whose stated goal is to improve humanity, one dufus at a time. Rather than wasting their time on the cool, good looking, smart guys, they prefer to find a fixer-upper and strive to bring him somehow up to their almost ivy-league standards. To this mix, we add a new transfer student, Lily. The girls work at the campus Suicide Prevention Center, working to cure depression and suicidal tendencies one…
-
Tax Day
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00u6qUelp6c[/youtube]
-
Friday Randomness
First off, Happy Friday the 13th. I’m not very superstitious, though I’ll admit to a few silly ones. I don’t open an umbrella indoors. I don’t walk under ladders. And I make wishes on white horses. Silly, I know. Anyway, Friday the 13th is a good day in my family. First off, it’s payday (yay!), and secondly, I remember the year my mom got pretty lucky on Friday the 13th. Saw this on Facebook. I don’t know the original source, but I liked it enough to share it here. What’s with the apostrophe s? Who is this SnackWell that owns the company? I’m confused. Or grumpy. Or both. I…
-
Milk Vacation
My mom liked to say that we were broke, not poor. The differentiation is that being poor is generational, and most likely lasts at least a lifetime. You come from poor, you’re poor, your kids are poor. Broke, however, means you’re not living up to your economic potential just now, but you may not have been broke last year, and you don’t think you will be next year. It’s temporary. You don’t act poor, you still act like a lady or a gentleman, whatever that means within your family. Growing up as the child of a single mom, one who loved teaching in private Montessori schools and working for social…
-
100 Years Ago Today*
Today is my darling Maya’s 16th birthday. I can’t believe it’s been 16 years already. Wow. The weekend is going to be full of birthday parties, family and friends and cake and fun. Part of having a daughter, in this time when things have gotten so much better for women than they were in the past, and yet being aware of how far we still have to go (birth control, harassment at work or on the street…why are these still issues? Insane and frustrating.)…part of that is seeing articles like this, and having them cause me to think of her. Of my hopes for her, and my dreams for her,…
-
You’re Boring Us…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGDmBLAPikU[/youtube] (Title sung to the tune of ‘Notorious’ by Duran Duran) Ahem. Sorry, my blog is boring the heck out of me. Looking at a picture of orchid buds for weeks on end…whatever. So let’s see if perhaps I can come up with something else to talk about. I fully admit that I’ve posted most of these on Facebook already. But maybe you didn’t see them there, or maybe you’re not on Facebook, or perhaps you’re there, but we’re not friends. What a thought. Saw this chalkboard sentiment, and thought I’d share it here. Really, I couldn’t agree more. Please, live your beliefs. Unless your beliefs happen to SUCK, in…