Glutton for Pain

Todays the day...
This is the U.S. Bank Building. With 75 floors (1,500 individual steps) it is the tallest building on the West coast. I've been forced to humbly acknowledge this fact every time I've driven by or through L.A. over the last few months; even from a distance, one can see it rising above the surrounding structures, silhouetted against the San Gabriel mountains. Anyway, in a few hours I - and approximately 1,000+ others - will be crammed into its normal-sized industrial stairwell to climb over each other as we race to the top. I'm anticipating lots of lactic acid build up and maybe some light nausea and vomiting.

I'm excited.

I witnessed a curious phenomenon on Saturday. When a certain soccer player was in possession of the ball, the pitch of the crowd’s cheers got noticeably higher – and not just because more women (and young, young girls) suddenly began screaming, but because men, too, apparently love David Beckham with such a fervor that their voices take on the quality of love-struck tweenage girls. I was unaware Kenny could hit those octaves, but when presented with a shirtless David Beckham, indeed he can. While not my type, I must admit that I too was impressed by Mr. Beckham. However, as I get to sleep with perfection every night, I could remain composed, or as composed as one can be at a professional sporting event.

Other highlights of the evening included:

• Seven goals (SEVEN!!!) The hometown boys (LA Galaxy) won, ending a pretty long losing streak, much to the chagrin of DC United.
• Three yellow cards
• One red card (for reals!)
• One Hat Trick (Landon Donovan is amazing. Sorry Beckham, he is. Mr. Donovan deserves our support. And more space at the teams’ merchandise Booth – which carries 95% Beckham products. I guess we shouldn’t interfere with demand – or supply, or pricing; Government, please take note – and the crowd has made it clear that they want Beckham product. Every third person had on his jersey.)
• Overpaying for mediocre food and yelling at strangers (the best part of any professional sporting event, right?)
• Hanging out with new friends, Angela and Jamie (who is British, which somehow made the game so much more fun for me – especially because he was wearing his hometown team’s jersey and ran into a fellow fan from the Motherland.)

So here’s to “Firsts!” We had so much fun at our first professional soccer game; I think I’m hooked. If you haven’t tried it, check it out. This is coming from the couple who doesn’t follow any sport that doesn’t involve riding a board in some fashion, who never watches it on TV, and who usually only shows up to games long enough to, well, overpay for mediocre food and yell at strangers for a little bit before peacing out early to avoid a traffic nightmare.

If you’re still not sure, consider this. It’s non stop action (unlike baseball and football) and the timer doesn’t stop, so the 90 minute game will not drag out over four hours. Really, it’s good. Now that I think about it, so is Hockey. Anyone have spare Ducks tickets?

Fresher than Fresh

So, in perusing some design blogs (specifically DesignSponge) I came across this little gem. Lindsay Laricks, a graphic designer/stationer/organic farmer, recently started a little side business selling...gourmet snow cones (oxymoron? an anomaly?). From a vintage 1957 Shasta trailer. I'm in love. With her, with that trailer, with the Fresher than Fresh mascot, with these photos, but - most of all - with this product.

Anyone up for a road trip to Kansas City, Missouri?



Read DesignSponge's full interview with Lindsay here or the Fresher than Fresh blog here.

Meat Heals Wounds

So...I'm blogging on a Saturday!  I'm not at the grocery store, laundry mat, gym, bank, or car wash - my usual Saturday hang-outs when I'm not on vacation.   Truthfully, I had big plans to visit all of those places today, but my (very dirty and apparently neglected) car said a big "Screw you and your dumb plans!" and decided to die on the corner of Chapman and State College as I was on my way to Trader Joes.  Unfortunately, he (she?) said this after I had made the first (of the necessary three) visits to the laundry mat, so I had a bunch of wet clothes somewhere other than my home.  Somewhere dark and kinda smelly where the air is perpetually humid and no one speaks English... but that's a post for another day.  Moving on. The main problem about this is that because we were on vacation last weekend, this weekend's laundry included essentially all our clothes.  The other bummer is that Kenny has our other car, and he's stuck in a marketing seminar in Anaheim all day.  

I obviously made it home (I am blogging).  How did this happen? Someone must have stopped and helped me, right?  Sadly, no.  Actually, quite the opposite. One car ended up behind me and its driver proceeded to honk as he stared at me standing outside my car. Then he kept motioning for me to move it (while continuing to honk).  "Oh sorry sir, am I in your way?  Don't mind that I put my hazards on...I'll jump right in and get it started and moved for you."  I hate people sometimes.  Anyway, Scott Windes came to my rescue.  He is my hero today.  Frankly he is humanity's hero too, because as much as I wanted to curse our species after "The Honker" Scott reminded me that at least a few good people still exist.  (Humanity, for Scott's sake, I will refrain from cursing you today.)  So my gratitude goes to him and to his lovely wife, Sarah, for sharing Scott with me today when my own husband was unavailable.  Scott came and single handedly pushed my car around the corner, checked it out, and tried to jump start it.  (I say "tried" because my car continued its rebellion and decided to give Scott The Finger.  It wouldn't start.)

Before driving me home, Scott took me back to the laundry mat so my clothes wouldn't grow mold all afternoon.  (Side note - I got a roll of quarters from the bank and there was a few nickles in there instead of quarters! I was jipped!  AND, the dryer ate two of my quarters. And no one speaks English! Or at least they pretend not to.  Smart.  Anyway, this is just not my day.)

  

So now I'm home.  I should clean my apartment.  Actually, I should go running, but (after a recent jog on the horse trails) I've developed quite a blister on my right Achilles heel.  When I went searching through our first aid supplies for a band aid, I found these - our only band aids: 

This is apparently what you get when your husband does the first aid shopping.  (I'd post a picture of the band aid on my heel, but then you'd have to see my foot, and I feel kinda weird about that.  I'll just say that these do NOT look like bacon when they are on your skin. It looks like a gaping wound.)  On the company's website, this product's tagline (also this blog-post's title) is: Meat Heals Wounds.

Well, meat may heal this wound, but can it fix my car?

Geela

Hurry and head over to Stephmodo and enter for your chance to win a $40 gift card to Geela's Etsy shop. (And leave Steph some blog lovin for holding the giveaway!) And be sure to check out all Geela's recently sold items - aren't they beautiful? That's what one can expect when two of the sweetest, most talented, creative girls I know get together to make stuff. Enjoy!
By the way, Mr. Colt is responsible for those awesome photos. Go Colt!
Also, don't Jill, Julia, and Emily make beautiful models? I like having pretty and creative friends/family. Call me shallow, but I still like it.

Probably the most interesting thing that will happen to me today.

**Cough, cough, sniff, sneeze, blow, sniff, sniff**

If you were to walk by my office at any point over the last few days, you likely would have heard some combination of these sounds and seen me digging through my purse in search of a kleenex or a cough drop. (Why can I never find anything in my purse?!) Unfortunately, as the week drags on, I’ve apparently become lazy when it comes to blowing my nose (something I don't recommend). This fact became apparent when I took a lint brush to my very black, very professional and corporate-friendly pencil skirt...right before a big meeting...where I was to meet my boss’s new boss. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she doesn’t mind snotty skirts.

(I hope I didn’t gross you out too bad. And if I did, well, reality is gross; deal with it.)

UPDATE: after my husband called me this afternoon and asked "Lazy? I don't get it. Did you just not use tissue?" I felt I should clarify that I did, in fact, use Kleenex when the aforementioned event occurred. I may have been lazy in my grip of said Kleenex, but I'm not barbaric. Apparently my husband needed the clarification...how sad.

NY Fashion Week - I covet

Loving these looks (not that my modesty standards would allow me to wear them without some serious modifications...but I still like looking at them):

Julie Haus (all, but especially the shirt on the far right)
Verrier (all)
Tibi (Left and Right)

Mark Jacobs (far right)
Karen Walker (middle; gotta support the Kiwis - I love their country)

Now if only Heavenly Father would bless me with the (much) longer legs I've been praying for over the last decade...oh and the bank account to match these price tags. I guess a girl will have to keep dreaming. (At least for this season).

(all photos pulled from InStyle.com)

Happy Anniversary

I wouldn't normally celebrate someone else's wedding anniversary, except in this couple's case, their anniversary also marks the birth of our collective friendship (give or take a few weeks). Kenny and I met Skyler and Elise a few weeks after they got married (three years ago today - happy anniversary you two!). So, while it feels like they've been our life-long friends, we have, in fact, only been friends for three years. But I'll happily celebrate those three years! Those years have included great conversation, good food (and dessert), games, date nights, vegging out, and even travel (you know you've struck it rich when you've found people you can actually vacation with - a lot). Happy three years to Skyler and Elise for lasting this long as a wedded couple and for being such fun and awesome friends. Here's to another three years (at least)!

The happy couple (enjoying - what else?! - some fried food at the Orange fair)
The triathletes (seriously? yes. Kinda intimidating.)
Kenny and Skyler catching up on Yo Gabba Gabba while their wives do some shopping (and spying.)
Jill and Elise in Mammoth. So much fun, every time.
This was their (our) second anniversary. Practicing martial arts/photography in Laguna. A normal day, I'd say.
Thanks again for all the fun times!

Ode to Citrus; There is a God; Public Service Announcement

Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he decided these Vitamin C-rich goodies would be in season just in time for cold season. Coincidence? I think not. (Take that, atheists!)Unfortunately, they didn't come soon enough (for me) and I'm suffering today.

Word(s) to the Wise:
1. Don't hang out with sick people. (Unless, of coarse, you haven't seen them in a long time and it is your only opportunity to do so. Such was my case. Ryan and Natalie, you were worth it...sorta.)
2. Don't mix head colds and airplane trips. And if you must, don't go straight from the airport to work. Yuck.