Rabbit Rabbit eve means.....

Congratulations to all of us NaBloPoMo Fo's who have made it this far! I've personally really enjoyed coming up with things to talk about, gotten in a regular habit of crossing "post to the blog" off the list each day. It's a habit I'm very much hoping to keep up for a while... vacation time not included - which reminds me - one of the highlights of my week was finalizing plans to visit my very good friends in Chicago - it's been over a year since I was there last - and I cannot wait to see them again! NYE is going to be very very very vino very fun this year.

don't forget to Rabbit Rabbit tomorrow morning... sleep well....

(image courtesy of: http://www.granprixbowling.com/images/home/checkered_flag1.gif)

a crackup a day.....

This is a kind of yoga I could get behind...

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Humans were designed to laugh. Laughter is nature's stressbuster. It lifts our spirits with a happy high that makes us feel good and improves our behavior towards others.

Just a few generations ago happy healthy humans spent 20 minutes a day or more in laughter. Now adult daily laughtime is down to 5 minutes or less in many countries. This is one of the worst aspects of 'modern life'.

Laugh yourself healthy

We all know that laughter makes us feel good. A regular 20 minute laughter session can have a profound impact on our health and wellbeing. Laughter is gentle exercise. It fill your lungs and body with oxygen, deep-clears your breathing passages and exercises your lungs. This is really important for people who don't get regular aerobic exercise.

When we laugh our bodies release a cocktail of hormones & chemicals that have startling positive effects on our system. Stress is reduced, blood pressure drops, depression is lifted, your immune system is boosted & more. Western science is just starting to discover the great effects of laughter.

Why Laughter Yoga?

Eleven years ago Dr Madan Kataria, an Indian doctor and student of Yoga was writing a paper for a medical journal titled 'Laughter is the best medicine'.

Convinced of the medical benefits of laughter and Yogic breathing exercises, Doctor Kataria was searching for a way to bring these benefits to modern man. You can't prescribe 20 minutes of laughter a day, and for best effect a range of different types of laughter should be combined.

In a flash of inspiration Laughter Yoga was born. Thanks to Doctor Kataria, countless people all over the world today enjoy the benefits of a daily dose of laughter practicing Laughter Yoga at laughter clubs or at their workplace.

Anyone can laugh without reason

Laughter Yoga combines laughter exercises and yoga breathing to give you the health benefits of hearty laughter.

Laughter exercises almost always lead to real laughter, especially when practiced in a group.

random thoughts by Cat-walker....

sometimes you don't even know you were lost, until you're found

holy shit - grandma is dying.

cake really does make all things seem better....

life is really damn short

and
best compliment today: (tie)
"it's not like your work ethic.... well, you have proven you have a pretty good work ethic so, if you don't want to get out of bed tomorrow, well, just don't worry about me, and ...um... remember that you do have sick days."

"You and MB are so well matched, which makes me very happy."

===============================
sorry folks - with the headcold I'm fighting off and my order of "THE BOOK" in delay mode since folks are on roadtrips, doing important works such as finding lost dogs, and coaching their friends, this is all I got - short of resorting to telling all y'all what I had for lunch....

you do know (cause we both know murphy...) that I will have 100 fresh ideas in hand the moment this NaBloPoMo "nonsense" is over.... technically we've passed the day where the 'habit' has taken hold... and I've had some fantastic support from MB to make sure this thing gets properly updated... so - hey, that is at least 3+ months more of witty blog banter coming your way... as soon as the Mighty Might sends the love.

out.

PANIC

The Christmas Panic has begun. Apparently today is cyber-Monday... and all good consumers are doing their best to drive online sales to an all time high. I can understand - it's the Christmas panic settling in...

I know CLEARLY see why people buy presents for people mid-year. I always pshaw (is that a word?) the idea, since I like to be inspired as well as meet the wishes of my friends and family.... however, OMG what am I going to get my brother?! or my favorite co-worker?!! or my MB?!!!!!!! so crazy. Of course there are a million great things out there, but isn't it SO much more fun when your gift is perfect for the person, rather than just a cool thing? My panic also tends to manifest itself in a way that causes trouble... gifts that meet one criteria perfectly, but fail others miserably. Like the New Yorker fan who hates to read things online - Do Not be tempted to get them the "Complete New Yorker"DVDRoms....

It's sort of consuming me at the moment, so I'm sharing my panic with you.

....much in the way that I space on birthdays, I tend to space out on the loves and hates of the people dearest to me - just in time for the holidays. I hope I can find some kickass gift guides that will serve as memory jog and allow me to wow my loved ones with the perfect gifts that suit them to the tee.

so - if you exchange gifts with me, and you're feeling kind, can you send me a link to your amazon wishlist?

thanks!

Thanksgiving.... check!

ok you can all go about decorating your trees and houses, drinking your cocoa with candy canes and singing your "Christmas Carols" now...






(bah humbug...well, at least until the presents come)

The Very Hungry Blogger...

Remember that Children's book, the very hungry caterpillar?


Well, since Wednesday night, *this* very hungry blogger ate through:

her share of one turkey dinner
lots of bites of the 13 pies (!)
wine, wine, and more wine
a mess hall style breakfast
antipasti, charcuterie lunch
hors'doeurves to choke a horse - so many appetizers!!!!
champagne!
champagne!
the better with an almost pound of bacon quiche
LAAAAAAAAAVA cake
....a la mode

and I'm leaving now at the COD (here forth to mean crack of dawn)
to do it all again with another set of family with whom I'll be sharing thanks
and breaking bread
and more turkey
and more wine
and more delictible treats...

I only hope when all is said and done I too am a beautiful butterfly!

I wonder if it's truly possible to get sick of eating....

Black Friday

The news yesterday before leaving for the Thanksgiving Celebration In The Woods was that my grandmother had been diagnosed with cancer and given the 2 weeks to live diagnosis. My mom flies out Sunday night to spend the last two weeks of her life with her.

yikes. It's obviously not quite sunk in with me yet. So much to be thankful for, and yet so much to be bummed about.

Black Friday for sure...

happy thanksgiving - everyone (even cats...)

(MB upon looking at inital publishing said: "if it were me I would have said (even cats.... and old people)..."

(!)

Have a great day everybody!

blown mind, party of 1.....

In the past week I've had some amazing interactions with people....

I've given my 2-cents and with no effort, solved problems, raised self esteem, and helped enforce bonds between people. And only realized it once I was openly appreciated for doing so. It's so nice to do what you would do naturally with the good intentions you're born with and enjoy such positive results...

I've been rewarded for hard work, praised for tenacity, and enjoyed many moments that wouldn't have existed if I hadn't opened my heart and allowed other people to share my time in this crazy life we're all living.

Tonite, after 10pm, MB got a call from one of our old neighbors, one we hadn't seen in months, telling us that there was a half a turkey in his kitchen with our name on it. (!) Granted he does do a lot of cooking for his religious community, and shares a lot of resources, and this neighbor used to share food with us when we lived upstairs from him, but of course... that makes a bit of sense since we in fact lived upstairs. Not that it wasn't the same brand of awkward - almost guilt. (How can someone be so generous and kind?!) We were always very touched and grateful and surprised at this unabashed generosity - which of course was a product of religious beliefs and practices, but that we pretty much knew that we were one of the rare caucasian recipients of this generosity...wow.

Because we were tolerant, kind and open --to enjoying their family for who they were and didn't cause trouble with them or for them, they felt a bond with us, and of course we were always friendly and helpful and patient-- our relationship was always good with this neighbor. But who knew we were so appreciated that we warrant a thought, let alone a gift, and a call this many months later, after no contact-- to share in this family's thanksgiving... so touching.

makes me realize how much (else) there is to be thankful for in life.


Happy Thanksgiving...
enjoy the amazing life we're sharing...together, strangers, friends and neighbors.

Landlord Appreciation Day!

I'm going to stop crunching through completly EFFED escrow account statements that a trained professional has FUBAR(ed), to pay homage to my old landlords - and lament that I don't have a landlord to love anymore.

1st landlord - Loid Tom - the tallest Chinese man I've ever met. His crazy wife Karol invited us, when we were still prospective tenants, up to their flat (below the one we wanted to rent) and we stood in her dining room looking around and seeing all her furniture COVERED in clear plastic slip covers, and her looking up at us (Karol wasn't as tall as Lloyd) and shaking her fist and saying in broken English - "You NO doing drugs or smoking drugs or taking DRUGS in apartments." Then harrumphing, before giving us all the crazy eye and walking away. Loid had the cutest laugh - the kind where his shoulders shrugged up and down and he sorta 'heh, heh, heh'ed' in a high pitched tone, and sorta blushed when he found something embarrasing or funny. So nice to us girls, always a story to tell and held the gate when we brought up our groceries if he saw us coming.

2nd landlord - ??? - the raddest studio in western addition was run by a management company - how can you not like the non-landlord - and I became super good friends with the building manager who threw parties with me and helped me cover up the fact that it was one of our parties that caused the boys to punch a hole in the wall while rough-housing down the stairway... plus - how often does a person come home from vacation to find a 10 gallon bucket holding a HUGE pot plant sitting on their dining room table, owned by said building manager who had to hide it from the maintenance man....?

3rd landlord - ??? - same management company, freshly painted and remodled flat - never had any problems, there wasn't a building manager, just a maintenance man - who was absolutely scummy, and lecherous, but since I was handy - I fixed most of the problems in the place - which mostly consisted of using liquid plumber from time to time, or tightening a screw, or replacing a fuse - which kept the "handy"man away...

4th landlord - NorthPoint Apartment Complex - the head bldg manager was kind of a bitch, but the other office people were pretty cool - one became a comic and was always fun to see when picking up a package or getting a temp. pkg permit. Painless and easy.

5th landlord - The U.S. Government managed by a disorganized management company. The most trouble I ever almost had was in the presidio was that we were 'technically' only allowed 2 cars per household - I took over for one of the roommates that had a 'known' car. I was applying for the space with the management company - she was not 'technically' 'released' from the lease, so her car was still accounted for as one of the two - so I literally had to write a letter stating that I would never park my little red car at the residence EVER, EVER. ...EVER. Then once the girl who I replaced in the lease left and was taken off the lease a letter was sent to us asking if anyone would want to register a car since we only had one car accounted for at the property (!) me! oooh ooh me! The other bonus was that the gov't paid for PG&E since they'd still not put indiv. meters on the homes from when it was an army base - SCORE!!!!!

6th landlord - Jeff Rante, quite possibly a serial killer. In so much as he was quiet, friendly, couldn't have killed a fly. Refurbed an in law that was sooooo cute and great. Fixed problems the moment I mentioned them. He was really proud of his place, and always shared a wink over the crazy tenant who was OCD and watched the dials on the PGE meter because she was convinced that our landlord - a contractor had hired an electrician to mess with the PGE meters so that her bill would be higher...

Landlords all, you've been fantastic and now that I'm a homeowner and dealing with the hassle and trouble of being a part of a multi-unit TIC all I can do is just miss the heck out of you - and be so very very thankful that you were all above board and a pleasure to do business with.

rough start .....smoooth ending

starting the day with 3 hours of bickering and signing on the dotted line over 1.5M is a tiny bit rough, especially going into 'battle' with no coffee or breakfast!!

ending the day at a new fun bar/restaurant (Alembic) talking travel and 'all things faaaaaabulous' not so rough...

review of alembic - to follow in update.

ttfn!!!

of moustaches and praising the Lord and of course cats....

So - I'm still waiting to hear back from Matteo about what his Luchadore character is all about - and since he secreted the mask away so as to frighten his wife, I didn't get the pictures I'd hoped for.

Later in the evening we went to Club Mallard in Albany and aside from feeling charmed by being instantly transported to TwinPeaks the moment we walked into the rustic decor - wood paneling! chandeliers made from real live animal antlers, and cozy brown "leather" booths... I couldn't help looking around for Audrey or Laura... though, honestly, the place was hopping in a friendly fun and not very dark twin-peaksy kinda way, but just the potential made me so happy....

however, the moment we went outside it was a little bit wrecked...
- there were tikis, bamboo and torches. oh my!

By the end of the night, I decided that best thing of all was the paintings in the bathroom...!!!! (the painting of this woman had these words painted over her head: "At the age of 50 mom has her first drink!")



closeup on the teeth:




...there are so many more stories to tell - but the fun was best had in the moment - the Moustache Files, paparazzi camera battle, turning japanese, Nipsy Day invitations, overhearing drunkies imitating Borat - HIGH FIVE!!!!, and discovering that 4 out of 5 folks have their cats as the wall paper on their cellphones, who ARE these people....!!!

Happy Monday all y'all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTEO!

Heading to the Beast (that's what word makes East Bay when you speak in Pig Latin!)
to have dinner with the cousins at a Morrocan place - review tomorrow!! It's super traditional - where they bring the water to the table to wash your hands etc. fun!!
(secretly praying for NO belly dancers!!!)

Then - heading to a random pub with mon frer Matteo - and I cannot wait for him to open his birthday present - I got him a Luchadore mask!!! I was sorta bummed to find on a cursory web-search that I didn't pick a famous wrestlers mask...

but then I realized that now he'll get to come up with his own! Which is like Christmas for me - Matteo is one of the most creative persons I know.... pictures and a new Luchadore profile in an update tomorrow!!!


VIIIIIIIIIIIIIVA Fiesta de Matteo!!!!!
Feliz Cumpleanos Muchacho!!!!!

Overheard today..so far

one person to another very bummed person (me)- (since the cappuccino machine was broken), "Don't hurt the regular coffee's feelings!"

one very clueless person (not me) to a girl wearing a "happy birthday tiara" and sitting in her very decorated cubicle, (since it was indeed her birthday) "Hey! Is it your birthday??"

one co-worker to another (conversation near me, but not involving me), "Day after thanksgiving, hell yeah I'm coming to work, my inlaws are in town."

PRN

No, not Porn.

Pro re nata - Latin literally meaning "For the thing born," but commonly used to mean "as needed" or "as the situation arises."

My nutritionist gave me some vitamins to take PRN - "to aid me during Anxiety ridden moments in my currently over-stressed life."

PRN? Yes, PRN - "As Needed"

This is The Cool Thing I Learned Today.

I can't wait to start applying it in my lingo - this will definitely be added to my "pieces of verbal flair..."

THIS article made me want to shop a little bit....

It must be the Japanese in me. In the same way that I love commercials nearly as much as the show I'm watching; I think I love the packaging as much if not more than what comes inside the bag. The Japanese are famous for their presentation quality packaging of even the most common purchases.

I love wrapping presents, the weight of a bag from a high-end store, the way it doesn't crinkle, or make sound when you carry it - the stiffness of the velvety smooth paper. They almost don't feel like paper at all, they're so thick. The shussh of the tissue as the salesperson lovingly protects your purchase - closed with a logo'd seal. Sliding in to the bag that they've just opened with a flick of the wrist and a dull thwack as it opens up to recieve the purchase.

The whole thing is I never know what to do with the packaging once I've brought my purchase home - the bags seem so nice but you can't really re-use them. It would seems plebian to run around re-using a bag from a super high-end designer shop. You want to always appear as if it's no big deal to shop at such nice stores - like you do it all the time.... So I have a small stack that sticks around until I realize I'll never really get to enjoy them again and then off they go into the recycle. To be born again for a future purchase.

When the packaging makes it perfect - Style - International Herald Tribune

perfect packaging

Deck the Halls....? ALREADY!!!!?????

Please tell me that even normal people who embrace the holidays (unlike me), find that hearing Rockin' around the Christmas Tree on November 14th is a little frightening. They really ought to have laws about that...as a matter of fact, isn't there one that says no red and green or silver and gold until post turkey day?!!!!

Don't get me wrong about that not liking the holidays thing - I mean, I love shopping for other people, getting gifts, drinking cocoa with candy cane stir sticks, ice skating, the smell of pine and a fire, twinkling lights and seeing various store holiday window dressing showing their interpretations of the season...

but I really do hate all the rinky dink cheap holiday crap that comes out in the stores, presents that are not useful or tasteful (like last year's gift of kitchen tools to make vegetables and fruit into flower gardens !?!), people being charitable only THIS time of year..., and generally how uncivilized people become in their rush to meet the pressures of having a perfect Christmas every year...

I love reading magazines that show you how to take a stick found while enjoying a brisk winter walk, a small amount of paint, construction paper and a touch of glitter and voila!! a beautiful modern "Holiday Centerpiece" for one of the many holiday happy hours you may have in your home.

I also love all of the creative gift guides, but for some reason the minute I find myself in a parking garage behind the person who is waiting to see if anyone from the elevator that just arrived will be walking to their car, meanwhile traffic backing up 3 floors down in the garage...all that holiday spirit just goes down the tubes...

This is why I always come off unprepared and flustered at Christmas - I feel that I cannot win.

I try to refuse to go shopping during the peak of Christmas shopping season, but don't find myself inspired any other times of the year...and it's not as easy to spend money for Christmas gifts in July... plus I'm often wishing to get people things they mention, or that are special to them, and if the times I have bought gifts in advance, the thrill is gone for me and I often don't LOVE the idea so much by the time the holidays roll around....

I've tried to do what some folks do and that is pick a 'one size'/idea fits all kind of gift, but that is so hard to do with the diverse and varied peeps I have on my list each year.

I also tend to find a TON of things for one person and then nothing for others - maddening...

I make attempts to spend time baking and making treats every year, which inevitably ends up being circumvented by parties, getting stuck in parking garages and sitting around thinking of things to get people...

So you can see the long list of neuroses and frustrations at hand, so it should be no surprise that when I heard Rocking around the Christmas Tree this morning on my commute that my heart started to palpitate and I got a little short of breath...

Who knows, maybe this was a little nudge from the Universe to start thinking about Christmas preparations just *that* much earlier this year... maybe I ought to go check that credit card statement, balance the checkbook and start making that list so I'll have time to be checkin' it twice.

Man... I really got to get "that book"...

or post things when they come to me during the day...

If nothing else - NaBloPoMo has taught me to not just appreciate but REALLY REALLY appreciate all those people whofigure out how exactly to put those little slices of life that they share into cute, quirky, blog entries for us to enjoy.

The highlights of my day:

no bosses in the office - HELLO CATWALKER the SLACKER

getting to the gym on Monday to take a Feldenkrais class - a.k.a. "Sit and be Fit"

the post workout steam and sauna

coming home to a cute boy cooking dinner

more movies - definitely worth seeing - like psycho + fatal attraction... they just don't make movies like this anymore....

another consecutive day of blogging .....


done.
tty.... tomorrow!

Another weekend in the bag....

Movies, movies and more movies

I'm on the third one today.

First was the one about the crossword puzzles - good movie, I love documentaries - have a theory about how you really can't watch a documentary alone - they spark such great conversations that it's imperative that you have someone to share that with when it's through.

Then we went to see Borat - not nearly as bad as I was thinking it would be based on the review The Mighty did...

Pretty funny actually. The funnier part was that there was a couple of crazy neurotic people sitting in the first few rows who changed seats no less than 15 times before the actual movie started. It was rather unclear why they kept switching.

Now we're watching Black Dahlia - making me yearn for that 1940's glamour. The fashion from that era was so fabulous.

Other weekend highlights:

• Dinner at NOPA - yum!
• Catching an impromptu Rube Wadell show in front of the Sketchers store on Mission.
• Recieving instant Karma AND realizing my potential as a hoodlum all through an innocent mistake.
• Cat feeding and attending to.

Is it really almost Monday already!?

sweet dreams.....

11/11... or. "A Spiritual Uplift"

It's fairly well known that when you look at the clock and it's 11:11 it's good luck, right?

So today is 11:11 or well, 11/11...

...it prompted a little googling. I always just thought it was synchronistic, or plain lucky and that you make a wish and you're done. Apparently there is much, MUCH more going on there...

==========================

Do you see 11:11?

11:11



How often have you noticed the numbers 11:11, 12:12, 10:10, 22:22, 12:34, 2:22, 3:33, 4:44 or 5:55 popping up all over the place? These number sequences are not necessarily only time prompts. They can also be number sequences, like 333, 1111 etc. To your mind, is this a coincidence, or are they too frequent to be random? Perhaps you are puzzled or amused by this phenomenon? Possibly even a little bit nervous? The question everyone is asking is "What does 11:11 mean?" and "Is there a reason for this?" And there certainly is.

Millions of folks all around the world are now seeing these amazing 11:11 prompts. They are folks of all colours, all religions, all beliefs. It's spreading, and becoming far more common; it's become a major phenomenon. Someone or something is causing all these folks to look at clocks, number plates, phone numbers or any source of numbers even when they make no effort themselves to look for these things. You can even change your clocks in the house, and you will still be prompted, at the "wrong" time. You can't stop it, because YOU aren't doing it. Sometimes you will even see these numbers flashing after a power outage, even though digital clocks are supposed to reset to 12:00, not 11:11 or 12:12!

These 11:11 Wake-Up Calls on your digital clocks, mobile phones, VCR’s and microwaves are the "trademark" prompts of a group of just 1,111 fun-loving Spirit Guardians, or Angels. Once they have your attention, they will use other digits, like 12:34, or 2:22 to remind you of their presence. Invisible to our eyes, they are very real.

Our earthly 1,111 Spirit Guardians, often called "Midwayers," have been assisting folks of all walks of life for many centuries. George Barnard, the original human member of the 11:11 Progress Group, has been privileged to call them his family, his coworkers, friends and teachers for almost 60 years. Get an introduction into some of George's experiences in "From the Desk of George Barnard".

Some folks also notice lights going out or on when they pass by, such as street lights. They may also hear the door bell ring, yet there is no one in sight. It's all due to our fun loving midway friends. They will use almost any electrically controlled device to get your attention. They can and will change traffic lights, but we have found that often damages the electronic circuits, so we don't suggest you ask for that.

Sign up for the 11:11 Email Mailing List to receive the beautiful uplifting messages from various types of Celestial Beings. Members of the 11:11 Progress Group receive these communications on an almost daily basis. The new ones are sent to the email list, and posted on our message board. Some of the past messages are found in the Celestial Message pages and on our sister sites. Also, you can go to our 11:11 Message Board site to connect with other 11'ers, and share your experiences. There is even a specific 11:11 forum dealing with the Akashic Construct, a CD that is revolutionizing how people make contact with their guides.

A new age of "Spiritual Uplift" has begun on our planet. There are now literally billions of Celestial beings here, all of whom have been especially trained to assist with changing the course of this planet. Many more of these delightful Spirit Guardians are now ready to assist whoever will ask for their help. As a tribute to the centuries-long tenure of the original 1,111 Celestial Helpers, they have retained the customary 11:11 prompts. We are told that well over a million folks are being given these 11:11 prompts, and a glance around the web will tell you something big is happening. Welcome to being an 11'er.

11:11 Spirit Guardians

=================================

wow.

Auto-Procrastinate "on"

this is so easy! All you have to do is not remember or care to remember to do anything - so therefore important things like "go to bookstore - get "100 things book" by The Mighty ... right out the window! Along with - go to salon after work and wax brows and get mani/pedi... Along with cook dinner...(thank you LaTaqueria)... along with do laundry...

all brought to you guilt-free by "'positioning' and 'spin'" - "years of making bad things look good..."

"Weekend trips to the bookstore with the b.f. rock!"
"Yum - Let's have burritos for dinner tonite, my treat!"
"It was so great to come straight home from work, kick off those shoes!"
"It's going to be luxurious to have a mani/pedi/brow-shaping spa-day on Sunday!"

the power of positive thinking make procrastination a thing of the past!!!


try it! you'll like it!!

off to curl up with a book!! (aka - ignore the building's accounting project until tomorrow...or forget the laundry - tomorrow is 'casual day')

conspiracy theory...

So fess up y'all! As I sat here in front of my blank blogger window scraping the insides of my tired brain, and even soliciting the b.f. for ideas on what to blog about...

(no... I've already filled the 'cat-post' quota for like, 2 years, no... I don't want to blog about the new curtains and how we only remembered to iron one of them before hanging up the other 4!, no... I don't want to blog about candles (?wtf?), no...i'm not blogging about how cold it is - we live in California, we'd get lynched, (but is is a bit chilly!, no...I don't want to blog about...no!)

...then I realized that the random posts singing the praises of The Mighty's book were mere seeds for the ultimate marketing tool for a book like that... NaBloMoPo (thanks Fussy!). As if her sheer brilliance and sassy-ness wouldn't be enough to sell her book.

I believe, my friends, we've all pretty much been placed in front of an opportunity - fostered by guerilla marketing to support a talented San Franciscan, who has what we all need - 100 more ideas that solve the dilemma of what to post each day for the remainder of this month and beyond!!!

"They" say it takes 21 days to form a habit kids - that's 12 days to go!

keep up the good work - and root for me!

God forbid I post about lunch before the end of November!!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post where I tell you all about my adventure at the bookstore!!!!

in which i blog about cats...

I hate cats.

Something most people who know me hear me say on a semi regular basis. So what sort of bad-dealings was I a part of in a past life that has allowed me to hook up with the most fantastic man, only to find he owns THREE of them!!!!!

I am a girl who loves her black. Sweaters, pashminas, pants, tees, and wool coats. This is one reason I don't 'do' cats... I suffer for lint enough as it is let alone cat hair....

However, no matter how disgusted I am over hairballs and litterboxes, and the sound of licking themselves, and the scooching...

(OH MY GOD do you know about the schooching? that cats do? SW sits like cats normally do - on his hindquarters with front legs supporting him. Then he tucks his tail end up and projects forward dragging his 'bidness' across the floor by walking his front legs forward. I'm going to have to figure out how to make a movie of it and embed that, it's creepy and funny all at once, and if you're not careful... you get a nice view of 'the lipstick'! makes me shudder to think, as I'm typing here)...

....nothing beats how he jumps onto the bed at night and settles into the crook of my arm and sighs a creaky kitty sigh as he falls asleep next to me.

fucking cats....

You and the Little Mermaid....

It's amazing the things people can become famous for.

truly amazing. (Act 1-great story)

For example, who knew you could be famous for being a "baby daddy"...?!?! nice going FedEx

the good end of bad

I am currently listening to the Counting Crows "Mr. Jones".

Memory:

My first apartment in SF.
My first time living with other people.

I never did the college/dorm living thing. I went to trade school, lived at home. So the 'sisterhood' that was me and the girls I lived with was so foreign, yet brilliant, yet somehow created angst because even in this phase of my life (fresh out of the 'nest'/green/naive etc.) I still knew that strong financially secure roommates were important to have. It wholly conflicted with a ressurected punk/goth phase in my 'lifestyle' and a job in fashion, very creative (ha!) . ...compared to my 'financial services' employed roommates, wearing suits, hose and sneakers down the hill to the financial district to their office jobs.

So I was Daria to their Quinn, Emily to their Barbie, Linday(ism.com) to their Stephanie Klein. I loved that the rent always got paid on time, but hated that they liked pop music, played and cared about 'sports', and wore khakis.

Two different girls lived in the 3rd room and the second one was a "Marina Chick" in training. (search Craigslist.org if this term isn't familiar to you)

She was also a 'trust fund baby' and at some early point in her career (we were all on our first jobs out of school), she decided that she was above faxing. She had an equally bratty sister living in another part of the city, and a crew of frat friends who successfully recreated their college lives here in the city, with incestual relationships, 'altered'/drunken adventures, hook ups, late nights and keggers.

But the thing I most fondly remember - and sadly a foreshadowing of my own "selling out" is that in the mornings, we would have the best time getting ready. We were all so happy and excited to be on our own, unearthing the paths our lives were headed on, working to support ourselves, bursting from beneath the covers each morning, grins on our faces that we had jobs, a place of our own and a sense of being real adults!!!!!

This was in the early 90's when the internet boom was still just a rumble in the background. Counting Crows had put out August and Everything After. The Elbo Room was in a hey day (there have been oh, about 2 or 3 'hey days' for that place since I've been in SF), and wheat beer was a new 'in'. We used to go as roomies to the Elbo Room to listen to the Charlie Hunter Trio, and acid jazz like Alphabet Soup, there was the Up And Down owned by the Turlingtons and the city was starting to buzz with the energy that would soon boom and bust with Web 1.0....

We would put on Mr. Jones as we made our coffee, cheerfully share bathroom time, pick out our 'costumes' for the day - suits for the roomies, a mix of grunge and goth for me. But I would play along and bounce around the house crooning Mr. Jones' lyrics along with my 'yuppie', 'trendy' roomies and then it was time to leave and we'd bound down the staircase and out into the world and I would regain my cynical scowl and go a separate direction from the other two on my way to SOMA as they hopped the cable car to the Pyramid and the Embarcadero.

What happened to that effervescence, that happiness and eagerness to get to work and prove that kicking butt and taking names was what we were all about? Yeah. Right. Life.

I hate to admit it, but Mr. Jones by Counting Crows still holds a place in my heart.....

"Internet Famous" or "Internet Envy"

because my dream is to someday become internet famous... I used to want to be a rockstar, but that would require having a true talent to sing or perform in some non-singy way on stage infront of a STADIUM full of people.

Then the internet bubble came and went and people started to make blogging a "thing".

So now I figure it would much more interesting and rewarding and a hell of a lot less effort if I could sit at my iMac with a glass of wine and have people hanging on my every word while I tell them how many tootsie rolls I ate today, or the clever exchange I had with my boyfriend, or how the cat will still not let me pick him up and hold him, even though I hate cats and just find it to be a challenge of sorts.. to tame the wild beast...

I've always been interested in how people make their way in this world. I'm not trying to "keep up with the Jones'" but I really like to know how what I'm doing compares to how what other people are doing. So you can see why blogs are particularily fascinating to me. I've always loved driving through neigborhoods or walking by houses and seeing the silhouettes of people or details of a certain home's decor, and wondering what they're up to or who they are...

....would people ever really care about what is playing on **my** iTunes, or "What I Had For Lunch"?! I'm so charmed by Evany and her quirky adventures, Dooce and her supportive and kooky-fun relationship with Jon, and went to see Stephanie Klein at a reading at a bookstore when she came to town. I wish I could still be as cool as Sara Brown... but I 'sold out', and love that Deb is SO going to be the next 'food network star'(even if only in my own mind...), and I LOVE that I've been able to send and recieve emails from Tremble.... and to see that all of those people are like less than 3 degrees seperated!! I want IN!

not just for the fame, but becuase I would honestly love to interact with these folks... I'm sure that if "the Mighty" ever needed another stream of income, she could become a personal shopper... I'm certain that soon I'll propose to her that I would hire her, based on a blog entry of Sarah Brown's alone...

I am also a huge geek about taglines...

I LOVE LOVE "you don't know what it is, but you know you like it..." and "my food is yours, son" (once I found out how it came to be...), and the fact that some people can come up with a new 'tagline' each month!!!

love me love my show! help me realize my dream?

(insert ear tug here....)

xoxo
the oh.so.fashionable

Catwalker

"free" vs. "to be without"

I have had so many annoying things happen to me today, but the most annoying thing I have been dealing with all day long is the fact that people cannot get the LOSE vs. LOOSE straight.

people. please!

There is NOT a lot to _loose_.(as one of my biz partners said in an email about a situation that we are dealing with this week.) (But there is a lot to lose.)

I don't think I would like to _loose_ weight, but I'd really like to lose some.
(eww loose weight... makes me think it was like jello and could move to different parts of your body at random...)

I hate to think of the confusion between loose and lose bowels... ewwwwwwwwwww.

I would never consider myself as a 'grammar hard ass' ;) but seriously. pet peeve to the highest!!! Though thinking back to my dating years, I did judge suitors on match.com by their spelling skillz....


to make sure you don't make the same mistakes or worse with this pair of apparently confusing words....

results for: loose


from Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)

loose  /lus/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[loos]

1. free or released from fastening or attachment: a loose end.
2. free from anything that binds or restrains; unfettered: loose cats prowling around in alleyways at night.
3. uncombined, as a chemical element.
4. not bound together: to wear one's hair loose.
5. not put up in a package or other container: loose mushrooms.
6. available for disposal; unused; unappropriated: loose funds.
7. lacking in reticence or power of restraint: a loose tongue.
8. lax, as the bowels.
9. lacking moral restraint or integrity; notorious for his loose character.
10. sexually promiscuous or immoral; unchaste.
11. not firm, taut, or rigid: a loose tooth; a loose rein.
12. relaxed or limber in nature: He runs with a loose, open stride.
13. not fitting closely or tightly: a loose sweater.
14. not close or compact in structure or arrangement; having spaces between the parts; open: a loose weave.
15. having few restraining factors between associated constituents and allowing ample freedom for independent action: a loose federation of city-states.
16. not cohering: loose sand.
17. not strict, exact, or precise: a loose interpretation of the law.
18. Sports.
a. having the players on a team positioned at fairly wide intervals, as in a football formation.
b. (of a ball, hockey puck, etc.) not in the possession of either team; out of player control.
–adverb
19. in a loose manner; loosely (usually used in combination): loose-flowing.
–verb (used with object)
20. to let loose; free from bonds or restraint.
21. to release, as from constraint, obligation, or penalty.
22. Chiefly Nautical. to set free from fastening or attachment: to loose a boat from its moorings.
23. to unfasten, undo, or untie, as a bond, fetter, or knot.
24. to shoot; discharge; let fly: to loose missiles at the invaders.
25. to make less tight; slacken or relax.



results for: lose

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)

lose  /luz/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[looz]

1. to come to be without (something in one's possession or care), through accident, theft, etc., so that there is little or no prospect of recovery: I'm sure I've merely misplaced my hat, not lost it.
2. to fail inadvertently to retain (something) in such a way that it cannot be immediately recovered: I just lost a dime under this sofa.
3. to suffer the deprivation of: to lose one's job; to lose one's life.
4. to be bereaved of by death: to lose a sister.
5. to fail to keep, preserve, or maintain: to lose one's balance; to lose one's figure.
6. (of a clock or watch) to run slower by: The watch loses three minutes a day.
7. to give up; forfeit the possession of: to lose a fortune at the gaming table.
8. to get rid of: to lose one's fear of the dark; to lose weight.
9. to bring to destruction or ruin (usually used passively): Ship and crew were lost.
10. to condemn to hell; damn.
11. to have slip from sight, hearing, attention, etc.: to lose him in the crowd.
12. to stray from or become ignorant of (one's way, directions, etc.): to lose one's bearings.
13. to leave far behind in a pursuit, race, etc.; outstrip: She managed to lose the other runners on the final lap of the race.
14. to use to no purpose; waste: to lose time in waiting.
15. to fail to have, get, catch, etc.; miss: to lose a bargain.
16. to fail to win (a prize, stake, etc.): to lose a bet.
17. to be defeated in (a game, lawsuit, battle, etc.): He has lost very few cases in his career as a lawyer.
18. to cause the loss of: The delay lost the battle for them.
19. to let (oneself) go astray, miss the way, etc.: We lost ourselves in the woods.
20. to allow (oneself) to become absorbed or engrossed in something and oblivious to all else: I had lost myself in thought.
21. (of a physician) to fail to preserve the life of (a patient).
22. (of a woman) to fail to be delivered of (a live baby) because of miscarriage, complications in childbirth, etc.
–verb (used without object)
23. to suffer loss: to lose on a contract.
24. to suffer defeat or fail to win, as in a contest, race, or game: We played well, but we lost.
25. to depreciate in effectiveness or in some other essential quality: a classic that loses in translation.

Survey Says: Flop

I have started to notice an increasing amount of younger working girls around FiDi wearing flip flops as a commuter shoe. Why is this a good idea? I have NO idea. Why is this a bad idea...? As you can imagine I have a few theories..

a) most slacks are tailored to be long enough to accomodate a moderate heel. Flip Flops leave your pant hem dragging on the ground to get dirty and now that the rainy season is upon us - wet.

b) they are not good for hurrying... ...across the street to make a light, ...to catch a train, ...to hail a cab, ...to get in a closing elevator.

c) they make that horrible sound

d) they are unprofessional looking, and generally unclassy.

e) you shouldn't have a shoe that goes from shuffling to work to shower room in the gym!

f) there are so many better options for a more appropriate commuter shoes that fulfill the requirements of comfort and ease of changing in and out of.

The Japanese actually have a much more refined way of handling the shoe dilemma. They wear their stylish shoes on the commute and look great for the world and then they get to work and wear office shoes, which are often just slippers. In the case of meetings with outsiders, they get the nice shoes out again.

Smart, comfortable, and a way to maintain your stylish veneer for the world, and be comfortable around your co-workers and in-group.

El dia de los Muertos

Today is Dia de los Muertos / Day of the Dead, which is odd and perfect timing since recently a cat that I co-habitated with recently died. Or was, well, frankly taken to be died. He had kidney failure and just couldn't hobble along like that anymore...

So this morning to add to the altar for him that his owner (who I also co-hab with) already made, I found the cat's old food bowl - his was yellow - and filled it with Tortilla Chips and placed it on the altar. That old kitty loved those chips. He would always try to snuggle his way in while we ate burritos and look at us with those "gimme a chip.....pppppppreeeeeease" eyes... even up till the very end. SubCutaneous fluids and a chip treat after. I don't miss the late night meowing for food in the dark kitchen, the excessive cat hair everywhere, or the increasingly frequent "hairballs", or you 'reading' my magazines with your teeth, but man, it's just not the same without you...actually, I do miss your very cute white paws.

NON-FASHION: "Fussy | NaBloPoMo" or "Why the hell not...."

So, some people are very much caught up in this nonsense.. and by nonsense I mean "really good way to get someone one off their butt and post daily for the 30 some odd days IN A ROW this November". (ACK!)

So I asked Mere the other day if she was going to take the challenge and she said something along the lines of "haylll no...!" or as Fussy said it herself, "No Fucking Way, Dude" - that's only because Mere probably thought that it meant she could ONLY post once a day, and we all know that she LOVES to post a million times a day...

Challenge to you Mere: commit to the consistency, join the tribe, bask in the warmth of community. DRINK THE KOOLAID!!

Nonetheless, I figured just today that I might as well make some sort of random attempt to go for it and see how long I can go.... cheer me on in the comments kids. I need all the help I can get.

Tell me - if blogging is the new black, then this post can remain without the "NON-FASHION:" tag line, ne?

nablopomo logo, originally uploaded to flickr with permission from Fussy.org by Jennie B.