Coveting a "stuff" room.

Dream #1: 5/5/09

Now I'm not sure if I was overly tired or just simply giddy over the fact that Chris went to work today, leaving me solo to sleep in at leisure. Often when i get free reign of the bed, I use every square foot of the mattress to sprawl and twist and sleep till my little heart's content.

So last night, from what I can recall, I dreamt of a house: a very big but affordable place.

The home was somewhere in Los Angeles and was listed for a mere $1695 a month, which by today's standards is inexpensive. And it wasn't just A home. It was more like two separate entities: a carriage house and the main structure. The former was actually larger than my current 1500 sq. ft. apartment if that gives you an inkling as to the scope...so $1695? A steal.

I recall a large entry-way, hardwood floors on the ground level, and a split carpeted stairwell. Once set of stairs led to a loft space and the other led to more rooms; the first room was round with double doors.

This was called the "stuff" room. Brilliant really. A large round room entered into through two over-sized, heavy wood doors. A closet meant to house an actress's wardrobe lined the wall straight ahead while two mirroring vanities sat on opposite sides to the left and right. What stands out the most from the room was the many silver makeup boxes strewn about the floor, the clothes tossed gingerly here and there, and the bottles and makeup across the tops of the vanities. It was like I had landed in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory but for women! Why hadn't I thought of this? Again, brilliant. A giant closet/bathroom JUST for a woman! Men get the den...we can have our own little round room that can be left in any manner we see fit...just close the door. No more placing our lip glosses, eyelash curlers, and facial creams back in their spaces. Nope. If I want to leave it on the sink, I CAN! A giant room JUST for moi!

I ran out of the room in an attempt to locate the "sign me up!" forms in order to rent the house but only found a stack of about ten, already filled out, resting on an antique sideboard. Another young woman in her 20's had pen to paper. Grr.

So maybe the "stuff" room wasn't going to be mine this time around. So I went downstairs to check out more rooms. There was a woman with a clipboard hosting a tour and seemingly auctioning off items such as a bowl here or a book there. I believe everything in the home was negotiable to buy whether you rented the place or not. So odd.

I went into the library and found one of my old co-workers, Jeff, drawing--in pencil--in a first edition book of some sort and I was appalled and took the book from his mitts. How dare he desecrate such a thing!

Another co-worker from a different job offered to go get me beer. "Of course, thank you. That would be lovely." And off he went...but unfortunately he never came back as I later found they had run out of drinks. DRINKS! Free booze offered at an open house...and a "stuff" room. Heaven.

Time passed and people shuffled from the home but I remained behind, eager to check out the "stuff" room again. Doors closed, voices vacated, and I hit beneath the stairs. A woman, presumably the maid at the estate, began to ascend the stairs. I tried my best to wedge myself under the platform so as not to be seen but when I realized that was clearly NOT the case, I went ahead and made my presence known. And actually, it was necessary as apparently I was STUCK between stairs like one of those plump little dog's whose behind won't fit through the doggy door. I was mortified. Not only were my chances of sneaking upstairs and placing my application on the top of the pile dwindling, I was now a stuffed sausage. Arrgh.

Not sure what this means. All I can ascertain is that I'm possibly in need of my own space and clearly a trip to the gym is in order.

Ah...a "stuff" room. We can only aspire.

More of this, less of that.

So clearly I'm horrible at keeping an updated blog...but, this too shall change, along with my ever fluctuating life.

Seeing I was recently thrust into the realm of the relatively unemployed in LA--meaning, work is beyond slow...existent but crawling at a snail's pace--figured that now was just as good as any other time to start publicly ranting and raving about this and that.

So today, today I shall rave about how much I adore the "LOFT" station that DirecTV has so generously included in their musical lineup. (For those not in the know, said stations can be found in the 800-level channels.)

Where else can you hear the likes of Bob Dylan mixed in with such unknown (at least to moi) groups as A.A. Bundy and the Guggenheim Grotto? This sexy mix prompted me to dance around like a whirling dervish in my (equally sexy!) Tucson Film Commission T-shirt, gray cut-off Hollister sweats and a pair of Uggs. Yes, a sight for sore eyes...mitts off people, this little touch of terrific is already spoken for!

Who would have thought that I could effectively clean my hall closet while listening to Jeffrey Foucault's "Unwed Fathers?" Just the title alone spawns a zillion questions, one such being: why on Earth would you think to pen a song about young boys who couldn't keep their willies in their Levis? So strange what Nashville and others pick and choose. In fact, just the other day whilst I was at CNN with a few co-workers (who also happen to be aspiring singer-song-writers--in their late 40's no less) when the topic of song lyrics and morals came into convo. One friend had written a song about a man who was scorned and practically stalked his ex-wife or something of the like...and of course, Nashville responded with, "We don't advocate any sort of violence against women." So my friend then went and changed the pronouns around to reflect a scorned woman stalking her ex-hubby...and what happened? Nashville loved it! What the hell's up with that? Double standards. Get used to them...they are everywhere like dust in a desert.

"I wish I had more of this...less of this." These are the lyrics currently swirling from my speakers performed by the likes of Vetiver. While I love the creativity that's spawned along with the desire to clean my apartment at speeds faster than Samantha's nose can twitch, this song just isn't cuttin' it. I'd like more of the other tunes...perhaps a little less of Vetiver.

More later.

Slacking

Man, have I been slacking on my blog or what?? I really need to get on here more so I can update y'all a bit better.

Can't believe it's been almost 6...yes SIX...months since I've written a thing. My how time flies...

Let's see...traveled to Florida in February for a week. Chris was working on a fishing show with a friend out of Ft. Lauderdale so I flew in and we checked out South Beach and spent a whopping 24 hours on Key West. That was a highlight for me...I got to see Hemingway's house AND eat my way through the Keys via Key Lime Pie! FYI...The Blond Giraffe on Key West by FAR has the best KL pie...just in case you were wondering. (pic on left is me in Hemingway's writing room...pic on right...well, duh!)














In April Chris and I headed to Houston, TX for five days to spend time with his family...we spent most of out time on the beach in front of their house on Galveston Island. Hot, humid, fun. (here we are in front of Richard's On The Bay on Galveston Island...restaurant)


A week later the fam came out here from Texas to see Chris's little sister, Katie. She was touring with Broadway's "The Light in the Piazza" which was at the OC Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa...again, we spent most of our time on the beach in front of the Montage in Laguna seeing as we were having a CA heat wave! 90's!! (baby seal that got separated from his mommy out on the rocks in front of the Montage Resrot...with his friend, Mr. Seagull!)


Memorial Day was spent at a friend's BBQ in the Hollywood Hills followed by some HEAVY drinking at the "Woods" off of La Brea (formally the Lava Lounge)...the next day we stayed in bed nursing our fabulous hangovers!!


And lastly...the most recent news is that Chris and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary on June 1...we went down to Dana Point and stayed in the Blue Lantern Inn above the harbor. The view was FABULOUS!! All of the rooms face the ocean, have a fire place and a jacuzzi tub for one in the bathroom. We had snacks and wine in the late afternoon followed by a lovely dinner (complete with mud pie and a candle to celebrate!) at the Chart House. The next day we checked out the Dana Point Boat Show and then hit up the Mission San Juan Capistrano. We ate at El Adobe...oh hells yea on the Lobster tacos!! Then we set off down Ortega Hwy. (stopping at the Ortega Oaks Candy Store of course for some chocolate honeycomb!) and headed back up to LA. All in all a fantastic night and day...too bad I didn't bring a camera!

Patriots V. Chargers

View from our second seats!
Sarah, Jen and I RIGHT before we won the game!
TAILGATING!!!



Hey all...been awhile since i've been online. Need to make a mental note to self on that one!

Self: get your ass online more often and write crap down so your friends and family know what's happening in your life!!

So...as the header reflects...I went to San Diego last weekend after getting last minute tickets (thank you thank you thank you Ticketmaster for releasing some tix for us SoCal peeps the night before the game!). Ended up going with my friend Jen, an AVID Giants fan (bless her little heart for wearing the Brady jersey I forced upon her...although, damn her for covering it up and adamantly stating that she was indeed a Giants fan when people questioned her about the Pats!).

The day started with a train ride at 8am from Union Station to Old Town San Diego, followed by a short trolley journey which dropped us off front and center at Qualcomm Stadium. We then tailgated with umpteen million Charger's fans...one of which hollered out my name as I walked by, much to my surprise. Turned out it was my old buddy, Morgan, from high school of all things...and he had been my first kiss! Hehehehe. Odd to bump into him...

Our seats were GREAT! 50 yard line just above the field...sat there until the half at which time we moved down to some seats with friends (they snuck up their tix for us so we could come down)...and they were ON THE FIELD...3rd row, 50 yard line! Lovely view of the player's behinds. :)

After our amazing win I cheered loudly and heckled ALL the people around me since we WERE in the Charger's section...

We left the game, drunk as skunks, and found ourselves standing in the 5000 people deep trolley line. Of course, we ended up missing our train back to LA so we spent an hour in a brewery Downtown until we could catch the 8:30 train. So after a long ass day of fun screaming and drinking...we FINALLY made it back to La La Land around 11:30pm. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper come morning when i had to go to work!!

Good times had by all...jut too bad we didn't pull it off against the darn Colts. :(

Halloween '06 on Santa Monica Blvd.

So...Chris and dressed ourselves to the nines in authentic looking Victorian-esque, Gothic vampire costumes and marched our behinds on down to a friend's house party off the boulevard. The pre-festivities were then followed by the oh-so-amusing-as-always trek to stare at the oddities in WeHo. Good times. Thought i'd share a few pics!!

Steve McQueen!!

So a couple of weeks ago I find myself standing in the kitchen, minding my own business and doing the dishes, when all of a sudden Chris pops in with a kitty in his arms and he says, "Can we keep him? Huh huh?"

Apparently this little cat sprang out of the bushes when my neighbor was out one night calling to her own kitties to come inside. He had a collar but no name tag...and she kept him for a day after looking for 'Missing' signs. BUT...since she already has three cats and doesn't want to be known as that crazy lady with all the cats like in the TLC "Life Lessons" commercials, she had to find him a home. Which is what brought Chris bounding into the kitchen!

Of course one I saw the little guy's face, how could I possibly turn him out on the street? lol He's AWESOME to say the least and has been living with us for just over three weeks now...totally potty trained, very active, extremely into the bathtub (he loves to jump in after someone bathes and then chase his tail...odd one that guy). So...thought i'd include pics of "Stevie" fo you all to see. We officially named him Steve McQueen because he darts about the apartment full speed and he has green eyes like the "Bullet" mustang in the film!!

recent news in the 'fam'

So...not too much new on my end other than that Chris and I just finished up with our plans to go to Hawaii in September. I'd already paid half of the trip so it was just a matter of choosing a date to go before the end of the year (or forfeit the down payment). We are heading to Maui for a weekn in September (which...was a difficult decision considering we really wanted to attend our friend, Kym's, wedding in Germany...just couldn't get the $ together to make that trip...and seeing as HI was already, for the most part, paid for...we went in that direction). We had also planned on flying to Houston the first week of October for Chris's birthday but unfortunately we missed out on the $99 each way tix on Southwest...they're now $160 each way! SOOO...we shall be staying home in an effort to conserve $.

In other news...my sister and her hubby are moving to Ft. Collins this week on account of him getting a new Gov. job there...Amanda just found out that she too got a job at the local high school teaching Geometry and Algebra.

And speaking of jobs...Chris's sister, Anne, found out the same day as MY sister, that she got a job as well! She will be one of the characters on the new and upcoming NBC series, "Friday Night Lights." The series is based loosely on the film of the same name and will be directed by Peter Berg and produced by Brian Grazer. Anne will be playing, Drew, a goody-goody young lady who dates one of the football players! So keep an eye out for her starting in October...Tuesdays on NBC.

Any more news and i'll be sure to post!