ode to corey

copying Corey because she's that awesome/i am that unoriginal;)

i am
pretty much always freezing cold (or boiling hot - only ever 'just right' at the beach house in Mali-barbara which i really need to buy.....)

i want
more coffee (with a little bit of mint TJs cocoa - so so so good:)

i have
the nicest hubbie ever (i don't know what he sees in me or how i got so lucky or how a cheesy $85 Vegas wedding could turn out to be THE deal of a lifetime:)

i wish
every pet had a loving forever home

i hate
politics

i miss
my Grandma's sweet letters

i fear
cancer

i feel
like i've been running to stand still since U2 wrote that damned song :|

i hear
cartoons and air purifiers and a little boy playing football indoors :|

i smell
peace potion - it's magical

i crave
chocolate - pretty much always

i search
constantly for something that's hard to find - presently it's qtica intensive cuticle repair balm 0.5 jar for under $10 a jar (impossible!)

i wonder
if my rat Rosie is pregnant... please make her not be pregnant! three's plenty!!

i regret
a few things (but then again too few to mention;)

i love
living close enough to George Clooney's house to walk by and hear him play basketball (not a stalker)

i ache
and cry and donate and worry for shelter animals (urgh... i wish there was a pill sometimes for caring too deeply)

i care
about weaving happy memories into ordinary days

i always
keep the countertop clean and empty and reflective for sanity sake (the blendtec is KILLING ME!!!)

i am not
a runner - i give up even trying (yeah like i tried... :)

i believe
in smiling first

i dance
with my boys to Smooth Criminal every once in a while :)

i sing
in the car going to Vegas in my American Idol audition voice and it makes Aaron cringe :)

i cry
over stupid facebook pet pardons updates (which i should unsubsribe from - but i CAN NOT turn my back on something i care about)

i don’t always
drink enough water........ because it's so boring and blah and unfizzy

i fight
and get exhausted and cry

i write
like a girl

i never
ever ever eat meat. and all because of Gordon Ramsay's "if you can't kill it, don't eat it" philosophy (love him)

i listen
to a lot of Coldplay. thanks to REM splitting up :|

i need
peace and stillness (now i understand my Mum's need for "peace and quiet" really really well....)

i am happy
most of the time (except for when i read those facebook pet pardons...)

little loves

park playdates


Friday loving Sam soooo much she has officially moved her cat bed next to his bed:)


how gentle and careful he is with his little creatures


having the time to make after school treats (makes me feel a little bit like Serial Mom) and it being perfectly acceptable and also a little bit "hip" to leave out the E in smasher... darned alphabet cookies never have enough vowels... i even had the bite the tail off Q)


Mr Bumps (who really truly bumps heads with everything:)


him being such a sweet and awesome Dad (Atticus Finch gold standard. they're going camping with the cub scouts this weekend)


our favorite, most awesome, unpretentious, absolutely delicious, sweet little Mexican restaurant with veggie options (and the nice man who plays spanish guitar there not too loud - i don't like live music louder than the conversation ;)

critters and mores

expecting
a brand new 'critter trail one' small animal habitat to arrive momentarily via the magic of amazon.com's chipper little minions. i haven't slept in days (no, weeks!) stressing about the two little girl ratties doing the nasty with the one little boy rattie (they love to wrestle and jump on him - i HOPE they're just wrestling... it looks innocent... but i've never seen rats "doing it"... and surely he would jump on them? and not run away from them?) i keep peeking in each morning expecting to see dozens of little babies... so i am separating them today (and it breaks my heart because they are such snuggle bugs... and rats hate to be alone... and honestly how cute would their babies be??! but common sense prevails as always: we can't afford to be the Brangelina of rats)

returning
two other less amazing hamster cages that i bought this weekend to house SmokeyBear until he is big enough to fix... he is 4 ounces and needs to be a full pound. but they weren't exactly the same as the girls' cage and therefore i couldn't do it - no sireebub, each critter deserves the same habitat and treatment.

worrying
because Rosie is already 4 ounces and will fight anyone for a crust of bread with nutella on it (and she always wins)... and she was teeny tiny at first - 1.5 ounces. hmmm... Nibbles barely tips the scales at 2 oz... urgh, how i WISH there were pregnancy tests for rats :(

waiting
also for Mr UPS who is never quite as chirpy and happy as amazon's little helpers. he is bringing me 6 brand new brassieres (you are supposed to buy 6 brand new brassieres every 6 months, as per the woman's home journal rules of life... which reminds me it's been 8 years, so we neeeed to replace our mattress stat) i will surely blush bright pink when he hands them over :)

also waiting for
Mummy's homemade blurb book of sight words for Danny. it contains every sight word on his list (the hard ones two or three times), formulated into a cute picture book full of interesting facts about each family member. and it was only $15!

looking
for green smoothie recipes for the Blendtec mixer thingie. it makes ahhhhhmazing frozen coffee and milkshakes but i now need to swap the peanut butter and coffee for healthy things like kale and celery :| blah :| i only made one amazing healthy thing so far: tortilla soup - but it's truly amazing and full of healthy things that taste crap on their own. so that's cool ;)

also looking
for cheap fares to England. and by 'cheap' i mean under $1000 each :| economy :| times four :| AFTER TAXES! from any airport in the "southland" to any airport in the "homeland" - it's a tall order apparently :|

missing
Summer. oh gawd it's cold here... soooo cold i want to hiberate till it's OK to wear sandals again. this is also the reason i can't go to England till August - it's even colder than So Cal there... but when it's Summer it's technicolor green with vivid blue skies (enough blue to make many sailors many pairs of pants) and big puffy light diffusing clouds and it's so so so so beautiful and really is worth the extra copper or two ;)

trying
to decide if going to Sequoia next weekend would even be possible with my cold-sensitive skin.... i love road trips/hate being cold and too afraid to get out of the car ;)

also trying
to decide if PB2 is supposed to have that weird aftertaste or if my mouthwash is making my tastebuds malfunction... it's "better than no peanut butter", which should be the real name of "better n peanut butter". but definitely far far far worse than thick, creamy, overly sweet, overly processed peanut butter (i knew it!!)

off to walk and freeze then eventually sweat then feel feverish and ill and shower and then be freezing again ;)

happy new things

my 2011 blurb book arrives tomorrow - i predict i'll be busy poring over it's 160 pages for the entire day, criticizing my irregular spacing/picture placement/omission of vital pics/too warm next to too cool pics... but i am sleepless with excitement to see it! our year looks so much lovelier made into a glossy book with all the crap days sent to the recycle bin. and how i love to sniff new books :)

also: my 2008 book arrives today - i gave my beloved copy away to my Mum two years ago and never reordered it because i'm cheap like that... but the cool thing about books is you just reorder a copy whenever you feel like it and bam, it arrives just as perfect as the original 5 days later. that is SO COOL!!!!

this weekend is a long one (horray!!) i want to go to Los Angeles and visit the Grammy Museum ... i know i HATE museums but this one has the personal artifacts of George Harrison, a showcase about Beatles Love (which i love) and Michael Jackson's sequinned glove :) also: hike in Fryman Canyon and try and catch a glimpse of George Clooney walking his rescued cocker spaniel (honestly... i bet he scoops poop too - he is just that awesome!) i want to hike from the observatory to the Hollywood sign and back next - but we maybe have to leave the kids at home for that one ;)

Monday: i have a gift card for the mall so as part of our 3 mile walk from Crystal Court and South Coast Plaza and back, i'll be trying to decide between Fresh and Jo Malone and Paper Source and H&M and Apple/Lego/Puzzle Zoo (darned cute kids) and Nordstrom and Henri Bendel... i think i need a bigger gift card ;)

walking today. blah. it's a good thing as Martha would say (but clearly she has staff to exercise for her ;)

sixish things

i really (kind of) wish i had bought that soda stream thingie at Costco when it was on sale last month:( now it's not on sale anymore so clearly i can't buy it because that would be stupid. i am pretty sure it would be the key to making life more effervescent and vivacious right about now (tap water is crap water)... but i'm also sure i would get bored of it and curse the day i bought it and said "yes!!" to countertop clutter (which is why we only have a pretty kettle and a 2 slice toaster and a kitchenaid mixer on our countertops)

i can't get 'it's my life' by talk talk out of my head - sometimes (like today) it's the talk talk version and sometimes (like yesterday) it's the no doubt version (which i actually prefer... which is weird because i always only like originals)

today i walked 8 miles and my feet hurt from wearing sandals. but if i wear my fancy walking shoes i get blisters.... to quote horribly ungrateful people everywhere: FML (urgh - really?)

speaking of FML: Coldplay is absolutely sold out at the Hollywood Bowl already. not really FML because Aaron reminded me that i hate brash women swaying around drunkenly with a beer in a plastic cup, and the smell of marijuana so it's probably for the best ;) but it's at the Hollywood Bowl... on a friday night.... and i'd make an exception for the Hollywood Bowl especially on a friday night.... and also Coldplay :(

it is kind of funny though that i found resale tickets for Coldplay at double the price in section U2 (oh the sweet irony.... did i use it right...?)

also funny/ironic (i never get it right): the map of the Hollywood Bowl looks like a big hot air balloon, which Aaron suggested we get to see the concert in... i mean honestly how awesome would that be to hover over the show and then just take off at the end and fly home, no muss no fuss?! now to learn to fly one... and buy one... and clean out the garage so we have somewhere to store the big whicker basket :)



everyone on facebook is sharing the song that was number one when they were born. i don't follow such sheep-ish trends but 'my sweet lord' by George Harrison (my favorite Beatle... Paul wins cutest Beatle hands down... Ringo: lowest IQ Beatle) was number one in the UK the week i was born ('knock three times' was number one here... but i don't want to think about that ;)


total freaking genius


i am dieting for Obama. in my delusional head, he cannot possibly win the election in November unless i weigh 128 pounds. i've got to help him!!!


i hate pictures like this


i want this house. but i'm a realist... if i can't have this actual house (Brad Pitt sold it to Ellen....) i'd settle for any old beach house (though it must be coast side of PCH... if i have to cross PCH forget it ;)


off to school - more walking and even sorer feet :|

why leap years are the best years

i met my significant other in a leap year (and loved him instantly!)... we got married in the next leap year... we had a baby in the very next leap year... and another baby in the next leap year... decided that was probably enough babies and so i became a brand new US citizen myself in the next leap year (and voted for the first time! and it worked! my one little vote worked it's magic!)

i unapologetically prefer leap years to odd years and even even years :) they are twice as lucky and lovely as even years, which are twice as lucky as odd years, which, as a general rule of thumb, just aren't that shiny and memorable....... (though i admit 2011 was ok - for an odd year:)

so far this lucky leap year:

• we drove to Hollywood in like 30 minutes flat and found a perfect parking spot right at the tippiest top of Beachwood/Sunset Ranch
  
• forgot to bring two leashes for our two dogs and miraculously found a perfect red leash at the start of the hike (and much nicer than our leash!! we asked every person we passed if they'd lost it and they all said no...)
• had drop dead gorgeous, amazing, stunning, clear views of L.A. (on a misty morning no less)
• found a hat
• made it back to the car with NO WHINING whatsoever from the sprogs
• encountered ZERO traffic home :| (nuh uh.... i know - it's totally a leap year thing!!!)
• turned off the freeway at our exit and saw that the 99 cent store (only my favorite store EVER!) is coming soon!! and walking distance from home!!!)
• found the longlost iphone plug thingie - in a travel cup - i did not think to look there :|
• found the top of my travel coffee cup
• found an entire case of cream soda (does anyone like cream soda??!)
  
• found out how to make the car window visor thingie extend to cover the entire side window (the only thing i missed about the Odyssey was the big side window visor thingie:)
  
• found yummy creamy biscoff cookie butter at the store (ate a WHOLE LOT of it :)
• made and ordered (with a coupon no less) my 2011 blurb book. it's 160 pages - longest book ever - of blissful, beautiful, light-filled moments that i don't ever ever ever want to forget. it's my grab-in-a-fire memento of my babies and every single lost tooth, school art project, birthday party, favorite saggy teddy bear, new pet, handwritten note, heartfelt hug... it's full of the reasons i never go anywhere without my camera... so i can remember, even when i am 100 it was a beautiful life :)
  
• also: reordered my 2009 yearbook which i gave away to an admirer (my Mum :) and never reordered for myself - great thing about those online books, you can just order another copy if you can't help giving them away :) or... they get lost in a fire
• got an email from my favorite hotel by my favorite Sequoia National Park, that my hubbie booked all by himself confirming our birthday stay (be still my heart:)
  

anyway back to the hike: as a general rule of thumb, i hate cities (though i loved them when i was twentysomething). now with as many kids as i have hands, and a car that absolutely CANNOT get scratched because it's soooo shiny and pretty, and so many places to go and things to see, the parking (or lack there of) and obnoxious people and even more obnoxious restaurants (you know the ones that quote the price on the menu as just '10' instead of $9.95 - arrrghhhh! also '10' for pancakes? insanity) and lack of personal space... it all just leaves me cold. but.... Los Angeles truly is my favorite city - the city of angels. it's beautiful and warm and shady and the people are pretty nice and it's lined with palm trees and parking spaces and drive thrus and rarely smells like pee (except in Venice naturally;) and i love it <3







Griffith Park makes me happy... like the Ruby's at the end of the Huntington Beach pier, a trip to Griffith Park is always just plain good for the soul

Griffith Park in the rain in 2009