California on Fire

This weekend dozens of fires broke out in California starting with the Montecito Tea fire on Thursday. (see picture above taken from the KTLA website) There are several fires burning right now and although not close the Santa Ana winds brought the smoke this way. The sky in LA is very pink gray and you can smell the fires.

Please think good thoughts that these fires are over soon. Thousands of homes have been lost. Not too many injuries or deaths, but 5 people have been arrested for looting.

Halloweeeen!

Halloween is by far my favorite holiday. I don't know why, maybe because of all of the seriousness of being an adult, it is nice to do something different and non-serious.

People in my neighborhood are really into it too. Every year the mansions of Hancock Park become haunted houses and safe havens for the trick or treaters. They really go all out and probably spend thousands of dollars in decorations, just for this holiday. I think they spend more on this holiday than Christmas. Next year I hope to have pictures.

I was excited this year because I was home early enough to give candy to the trick or treaters.

By far the biggest pumpkin racket is the pumpkin patch on Fairfax and Third across from the Farmer's Market. I saw pumpkins for $30. I did not end up paying that much, but more than I thought I should. The picture above are the pumpkins my friends and I carved, before having homemade pumpkin pie. I guess we were really into pumpkin slaughter.

The highlight of my night was doing a Skype call with Evan in his Batman costume. He was really into it, which was really cute. He showed me his wings, ran around and with the help of his father flew through the air. It is great to be able to call via Skype. I get to see Evan on the weekends for free.


Asher and I went to a friend's party. Here are our costumes. Last year we were Cleopatra and a Transformer, this year an old school rapper and the Bride of Frankenstien. I spent a lot of time teasing my hair. Maybe next year we will do a couples costume.

It's been a while hasn't it

I don't know what happened to be honest, but I am back to writing and I hope to write a lot more.

First of all, I would like to say how happy I am that the election is over. I am very happy that Barack Obama will be our new president. After losing two jobs to a horse-pocky economy, I am happy that Change is gonna come to this country.

By the way voting at McDonald's was fast and painless. See Asher's video:



I was done in a couple minutes, then got a number 2. The line to get McDonald's took more time than voting. Alas, it wasn't free.

This was my first West Coast election and I was really surprised how fast it was over. I am used to not hearing who the president was until at least 11:00 p.m. Here it was over at 8:00.

Many of you might have heard about Proposition 8. Which eliminates the rights of gay/lesbians to get married and other additional civil rights. It did pass in California, which shows you that there is a lot more to California than LA and San Francisco. A lot of people here are really angry about its passing and there has been many protests. In fact one is going on right now at city hall. Their hope is to get it overturned in the 2010 California election.

All in all I am happy that the election is over.

So I am back to writing again and couldn't be happier.

3-4 four days

It is nice to know that in 3-4 days all of this election stuff will be over. It has been a long campaign and I am happy that at least on Wednesday this will be part of history. No ads, no conspiracies, no crazy New Yorker covers.

Please remember to get out there and vote!

I put a friendly little poll on the left hand side of the page. If you would like to answer you can. If not I understand. Voting can be a very personal thing.

the yummiest website ever

Now that the temperature has dropped a bit, you may have a hankering for some comfort food. I know I have mentioned this website to a few of you before, but in case you haven't tuned in, eat something first and go to The Pioneer Woman Cooks!

The author of this blog was once a city girl, but fell in love with a cattle rancher and now spends her days at home with wrangling her kids, doing photography and posting on the most mouth watering website I have ever seen in my life.

What inspires me is her step by step photos. It looks easy.

Now that I found out that I am allergic to Wheat, Soy and Eggs, I will be looking for how I can alter some of this stuff.

Lost to fire

Yesterday Asher and I went to see a movie at the Arclight for Fire Day. I was saddened to learn that another fire claimed the life of a great L.A. spot called Off Vine . Off Vine is where I celebrated my 30th birthday with my family when they came out to see me in 2006. (See June 2006 posts) The food was great. I hope that they are able to come back. So many places do not pull through after a fire. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Fire day?

In Minnesota I loved having Snow days. A bonus day from work or school was always fun and relaxing.

Today I did get a snow day of sorts, I got a Fire Day.

So I am home and safe and watching really bad daytime television.

don't hold your breath

Well, if any of you are waiting to see Asher in the Bud Light commercial, don't hold your breath. Due to time his part was cut.

I guess this happens more often than not, but I was really excited to see him.

Make it work

Yesterday they shot Project Runway at work. It was very exciting and all us girls were in a tizzy. I did happen to glipse Tim Gunn from afar, but didn't stalk him like others.

I guess though that they were shooting the season finale of the season not yet aired on tv.

heaty

Not too much to report other than its hot again.

Oh yeah, and there was a mountain lion siting at work.

Voting with fries

I am now a proud registered voter in the state of California. I was shocked though to learn where exactly I would be casting my ballot for this important and historic election. I will be voting at a nearby McDonald's.

I wonder if I will get a free super-sized fry after? A girl can dream.

Brrr

I am enjoying a very chilly weekend in Los Angeles.

Strange thing happened last night, I was at this great restaurant last night for a bachelorette party and who do I see behind the bar? Someone I used to work with at restaurant in Minneapolis. I haven't seen this guy for over 10 years and here he is at a restaurant I have never been to before.

The world is indeed very small.

not since march, i think

It rained today in Los Angeles. Even though it was only for 5 minutes, it made me really happy.

Speaking of happy. Since I do not have the opportunity to see the changing leaves, will you send me pictures. I miss those too.

Oh no summer is over

I think I commented on this last year, but it makes me laugh when people here say that summer is over. If any of you watched the Emmy's and heard countless times that how hot and how sweaty everyone said they were you know what I mean. In Los Angeles summer can still last for a long time. I guess the nights just get cooler.

If there is a specific end of summer, I guess it would be Labor Day.

For Labor Day, which we both had off for a change, we headed up to Leo Carillo State Beach in beautiful Malibu. I had wanted to go to visit Leo Carillo for quite some time because there is a lot to do. hiking, camping, swimming, caves and tide pools, it really is a place you need to have a lot of time. We didn't get up as early and ended up road tripping up the coast. It was really nice to sit on the beach, the first time all summer for the West Coast. It was a beautiful place, but what disappointed me was there really wasn't any policing in protecting animals in there natural habitat. People were climbing over the tide pools picking up Sea Stars and carrying them around like toys.(They called them Star Fish when I was little)

(Here is a picture of a Sea Star in its natural habitat. You might want to click on the picture to get a closer look)

I definitely want to go back and see more of what Leo has to offer.

After the beach we hit the super popular Malibu Seafood Company for a little fish and chips and fried shrimp. I thought about how my mom would be very jealous.

Not a bad way to pretend to end your summer.

Soy un perdedor

What have I been up to lately?

You may have guessed from the title of this post that I went to see Beck at the Hollywood Bowl last night. (Also with Spoon and MGMT) It was a great show.

What I have been reading:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver was my favorite read of the summer and has really made me think about what I eat, buy and contribute to. I strongly recommend it.

The new David Sedaris book When You Are Engulfed in Flames. It is a lot more introspective and isn't as funny as I had hoped. I am not finished yet.

Movies:
I had the displeasure of seeing the new Coen brother's movie Burn After Reading. I really hated it and thought the whole movie was very unnecessary. Don't you hate when you watch a movie that becomes an un-movie?

I am still recuperating from my sinus/allergy stuff and have been a bit boring.

Not so Mad about Mad Men

I know that I was excited about Mad Men last season and they are definitely deserving of their 16 Emmys, but this season is really lacking.

Has anyone tuned into it? What do you think?

looks too young to drink, but is the face of light beer

Be on the look out for Asher in a new commercial, for you guessed it, Bud Light. I couldn't be more excited for him.

I am not sure what I can say about the commercial since it hasn't aired, but there is a tailgate party involved. I am not sure when it will air, but keep your eyes peeled.

the drought is over

I was looking pretty glum on the celebrity sitings front for a bit. That was until I went to see Hamlet 2 a couple weeks ago.

In the span of two hours I saw:
James Remar - He played the loathsome Richard Wright on Sex in the City
Alexis Bledel- of Gilmore Girls and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
John C. Reilly- I liked Walk Hard and I don't care what other people think.

By the way if you love Waiting for Guffman you will love Hamlet 2, but I have to warn you, it is not for the easily offended.

I love the Los Feliz 3 theather, it is one of the only theaters where you can see a movie for $6 on the weekend, you never know who you will run into and the Paparazzi haven't found it yet.

VMAs

If any of you watched the VMAs you notice that it was taped at Paramount. Due to my being under the weather, I didn't actively search for the celebrities, but I had front stage access to see all of the limos going in. I heard someone announce who was arriving followed by screams and many flashing cameras. Surprisingly, the whole thing was very quiet with the exception of the helicopters. I thought for sure I would be treated to an outdoor Jonas Brothers concert, but alas, just the symphony of helicopters and screaming girls.

like a horror film a sinus infection never dies

I have to apologize again from neglecting the blog. I have been sick for 6 weeks with a sinus infection, that I thought was going away but came back last weekend stronger, nastier and unrelenting.

I think I am back on the up and up, but I am not making any promises. Being sick for so long has really effected my stress level, which was really noticed by my message therapist today.

One thing I vow to never do again when I am sick is to check into WebMD. Why do you ask? Well every symptom on WebMD ends in death. For example, I needed to watch my sinus infection to make sure that my neck didn't get stiff because if it did I would surely go into a coma and die. Pretty scary.

Everything on there ends in death. Go ahead and look.

Oh yeah be careful if you smile too much, it may be a facial aneurysm that will break off in your brain and kill you.

Thanks WebMD if I didn't have war, inner city crime, poverty and the fear that some crazy person coming to my work and cutting off my hair to worry about at least I'll always have you WebMD.