Another one on the move

There is another BPS in the world today!!

I'm a proud Aunt all over again, thanks to my brother and Vanita. Beckett Prakash Smith arrived this morning which much fanfare. Hopefully I can get in a game of honest monopoly before my brother teaches him any tricks.

CONGRATS!

Done yet?

This gives new meaning to the phrase "too many cooks in the kitchen."

dressing for salads, for turkeys, for your prom

With Thanksgiving over, I'm left with the same question in my mind.
Dressing or stuffing?

Clearly the turkey is getting stuffed unless you are taking the easy way out and serving it up in a bowl. But why call it dressing? Dressing on a salad makes some sense because it makes the salad look... nicer? Does dressing IN a turkey help in the appearance of the dead bird? Does it have to aide in appearance to be dressing? Can it simple be a glorified condiment to be called dressing?

You decide.

it take two to make a thing go...

With Summer returned to LA, Dave and I decided to make a day of it at the beach on Sunday. After a some pastries and newspaper catching up at the farmer's market we headed off to the sand in search of some activity. It wasn't long before we found what we were looking for, a beautiful cherry red Schwinn tandem bicycle.

At this point, I should point out that we were a little over eager to release our rights and opt to go without the helmet. Riding a bicycle for two is tough! I started off steering but the 'load' in back proved to difficult for me to balance. After some narrow misses around a few hairpin curves, we swapped places and were able to find our balance. A little lighter in back, we rode around for the better part of an hour terrorizing pedestrians on the streets of Venice .

didn't you know, only 39 days 'til christmas!

This morning on my way into work I saw a Christmas tree lot going up and nearly upchucked my latte. Granted I've seen the ads on television and even some lights around town. But trees? Do people in LA really put up a christmas tree before Thanksgiving rolls around? It's not even cold outside!

And... as long as I'm complaining, we are actually closer to Halloween at this point. Last night, we were at a restaurant that still had their Halloween decorations up (clearly this wasn't a 5 star joint) and my friend made a jest about it but I had to wonder which is better... premature or prolonged?

they'rrrre baaaaaaaack

Last night while channel surfing I accidentally hit a 4 instead of a 1 and low and behold.

We have cable!

The mysterious cable elf has again decided to grant us good fortune with up to 80 channels of television fun. So long basics. Hello espn, history, food, style, tbs, lifetime, espn2, E, comedy....

.....to be continued

and then they go for the rug

Anyone who has sweated, cried, pulled their hair out over a problem (in my case a design problem) knows the sense of relief you feel when you finally arrive at a solution. The heavens part, angels sing, you walk on air for at least a day or two. You have a sense that maybe, just maybe you ARE really really good at what you do. This is the moment when you are most vulnerable, and for the lucky few its brilliant to make it to the finish line unscathed. But there are those, those very very naive few, who never see it coming.

And just as quickly, you are standing there with the problem back in your face and the rug completely pulled out from under you.

Today is moving day.

Getting a new computer is like moving into a new apartment...you really look forward to it until it actually happens.

A week before, you are forced to go through all your old stuff and make the hard decisions... do you trash it or keep it. And after you have finished going through the last of your stuff and stowed it all into neat little folders comes the process of actually moving... then unpacking.
Reinstalling never goes smoothly, a little like finding the missing allen wrench for that Ikea table you should have tossed 2 moves ago. Just when you think it's all put back together a leg falls off and you have to start the whole process over. I usually make it this far into the process before throwing my hands up in the air and calling it a day only to wake up with pieces of furniture strewn about the place

And that's not the end.
You finally have mastered the re-install...every program is put in its place, every file stowed neatly away. You are marveling at the room in the new place, so much more storage. You are thinking to yourself, "See that wasn't so bad".

Then you go to have a bowl of cereal and you realize.. you can't find the cereal.... or the bowl.... or the spoon.

What's happenin hot stuff

Living in Los Angeles, you have to deal with the occasional celebrity sighting. I say 'deal' because you never know how you will react. I've had some gawking moments, Brad Pitt eating a fish taco.. and some casual shrugs, Elizabeth Shue buying peaches. Yesterday's sighting of Gedde Watanabe better know as Long Duk Dong from Sixteen Candles, definitely goes to the top of my list. I was making my selection of sushi when he walked over, grinned and said.......Hi.

All I could do was laugh.

pumpkin pie 101

This weekend I had both Sat. and Sun. off (yes worth noting because its not my usual routine) and I was determined to make something productive of the double day freedom. Sat. morning I got all the cleaning, laundering, dishing done that usually gets done Sun., which left me with a blank slate for the rest of the weekend. I had a series of options laid before me, visit a few museums, see a movie or two, do some cooking, and pick up some plants for the garden. I thought I was up for a challenge so I decided to make a pie.... a pumpkin pie.

Now I come from a long line of excellent cooks...most recently being my Granny Mary Lou who has brought home a blue rosette from the Atchison County Fair for as long as I can remember. Her specialty is rolls, rolls of any nature. I particularly love the cinnamon kind.

Back to the task at hand, I had the pie in working order. The crust was rolled and crimped and the filling was just about brimming. I put it in the oven and set the timer. Perfect....or so I thought. As I cleaned up the spilled ingredients, I caught site of the can of milk.. CONDENSED......and yes.. the recipe clearly called for EVAPORATED. I had made a key mistake.

Shamefully I dialed Mary Lou's number....no answer.
I dialed my mother's....no answer.
I hoped for the best.

Amazingly, it turned out fantastic. I guess because (as Mary Lou later explained) condensed is just evaporated with the sugar still there.

Fall back..onto the list of the worst ideas ever

It's 7:30pm but it might as well be 10. This darker earlier 'thing' just puts a real damper on my day.

I mean really is it such a big deal to keep the sun up a little longer?

My whole inner clock is in a funk. I wake up at 6am, am tired by 8pm; not to mention lunch and dinner might as well be one meal. David even commented that traffic has been worse as it seems the cloud of darkness leads to slower driving. Does this mean my brother could actually obey the speed limit if he only drove between the hours of 11pm and 3am?

That's the only potential positive thing to come from falling back because last time I checked I wasn't a bear in need of a long winter nap.

these boots are made for walkin


As jobsite visits become more frequent, I was in desperate need of some new shoes, flats to be specific. They had to be clean but comfy; dainty but business; and most importantly have a little style. I found this lovely pair at Camper over the weekend. If you have never owned a pair of these amazing shoes, you must try them on. I have several options in my closet and I love them all!