O.G. & Ted's Excellent Adventure

What did you do today? Today I held the hand of one Mr. Keanu Reeves, thanks very much.
O.G. and I took the baby to Hollywood and stood to watch Keanu get his star on the Walk of Fame.

We saw the mayor of Hollywood Johnny Grant and Shia LaBeouf, who happens to be in Constantine. Then again, we also saw Cat Woman, and that sure as hell was NOT Halle Berry.

After he got his star, he went around signing autographs and he grabbed my hand and I took this (left) picture. The picture is a little TOO close, it doesn't do justice, cause let me tell you - in person - he is one good looking mutha.

Anyway, O.G. was thrilled cause she likes him too, although someone behind her hit her in the head while screaming and reaching to get his autograph. Sheesh, the woman's 84, give her a break. Anyway, it was loads o' fun. Click here to see more pics...

allez cuisine

I gotta say, as much as I hate Mario Batali's ponytail & Bobby Flay's attitiude - I am riveted by Iron Chef America on the Food Channel.

The food they come up with is exciting. I gotta give props to the CATFISH dessert last week, that was out there.

More importantly, I chalk it up to Alton Brown's commentary, I can't get enough of that guy. I'm just pissed that I missed his book signing--TODAY. Sheesh, I should just stay on the internet all day. Then I wouldn't miss things....

sick bay - part deux

Well guess who ended up in the hospital tonight. That's right, ME. Ugh. It was the same night staff of ER nurses too and they were like, "what are you doing back?"

My stomach pains were horrible. They ended up giving me a flourescent green concotion of things that tasted like bleach. The diagnosis? Acid reflux a la Ashlee Simpson. I should have hoe down-ed my way outta there.

sick to my stomach

Picked up dinner.
Went to the emergency room.
The kid barfed on me.
Walked around for 4 hours.
Came home.

Turns out the kid had a 102 degree fever. Luckily medicine via syringe and a nice vomiting on my favorite sweater seemed to cure him.

**UPDATE
Hello, nightmare. I woke up with the worst stomach cramps on earth, basically crying it hurt so bad. The kid woke up with a fever again. Kid comes first. So I took him to the doctor and she suggested that he might have a bladder infection, since he had no signs of a cold. Aka, he'd get a catheter.

I freaked. I started bawling right there in the office. When I had my appendectomy the catheter lead to a series of infections that spans YEARS. So I could just assume the worst was coming this boys way, later in life. But I gave in, I'd rather know that he was fine then for something terrible to happen. A friend's baby had a bad kidney infection that lead to surgeries and I wouldn't want that to happen to my kid.

Anyway, he got through it and so did I. Meanwhile I still have stomach cramps.

I've had enough of scheming and messing around with jerks

Well I'm back to work. And you know what, it ain't half bad. Seeing as how I leave at noon and only work three days a week, I'd say it's downright satisfying. Plus, my kid is sleeping anyway so I don't miss too much, yay!

On the downside, the office terminated me without telling me. No paperwork, nada. I smell lawsuit, but who cares. Now that I'm a consultant dumb things don't bother me the way they used to.
Like the fact that there's a skylight in the office shower.
OR, the fact that there is an office shower...

what not to wear.

So they fired Paige Davis from Trading Spaces.

From the sounds of this article it was because she was fat, did a striptease, and a sex video. All valid reasons for a firing. Ha.

GIFTY 2 electric boogaloo

click for a larger look

Well my GIFTY2 arrived today! Man, Australia is along way away. Jen was the perfect GIFTY partner for me, one - because of her name. hahah And two - because she and I have the same tastes.

She crocheted me a powder blue scarf (a color I am really into this month, and she didn't even know that!), two very cool tea cups with silicone bands so you don't burn your hands (genius), a little pink kitty, and, best of all, little rice molds.

Cooked rice goes into the molds and when you pop them out, they are in cute shapes. My kid will love this, since he just started eating rice. It just so happens that I am always looking for rice molds, since I already have some of these Hello Kitty ones.

GIFTY rocks!

chocolate wafers

As requested, here is the recipe for the chocolate cookie wafers that I used for the cherry ice cream sandwiches. I got it from the All-American Cookie Book by Nancy Baggett - i.e the best cookie book you will ever own!!

Don't let the length of the recipe fool you, it's super easy, I swear!

haircut 100

I have been going to the same hairdresser for over 5 years. She's good, it's just that it's a pain to make and appointment and haul down there. So I took a chance and went to a salon around the corner. I gotta tell you, I went there cause the font on the sign was fabulous. I told you I have a thing about fonts.

Guess what - it's the best haircut I've ever had. When I was younger in my teens - I had my hair all kinds of crazy. Spiked, short, bobbed, pink whatever. Then as you go to college, get a job, get married - have a baby - you don't have time to have fun with your hair. You get stuck in an easy rut.

So I went in and I chopped the sucker. She maniacally took a razor too it and it looks fantastic. When I looked down at the hair that was swept up, it looked like a wig lying on the ground! So much was cut off, but the hair on my head still looked great.

Now the kid needs a haircut. I've been putting it in a mohawk for my own amusement, but I'm sure that's just one of the many reasons I am a bad mother. Yet another reason? I let him play with a plastic container for half an hour while I watched Jennifer Lopez, Making the Video.

working for the weekend

Well here's something new. I'm going back to work this week. Architecture is THAT lucrative that a paycheck is more important than my son. YEAH RIGHT. The money I am going to be making will be even more measly than before, since I am only going back part time. It's short term, for one particular project, and even for the little money I'll be getting, at least I can pay for this kid's over the top (not my choice) one year birthday party, as well as a few diapers.

The good thing is that I only work half days, three days a week, and it's only for two months. Guess who's watching the kid, that's right, O.G., Original Gangsta in the hizzy. We'll see how that goes.

My supportive husband who said it was "my choice", couldn't hide his joy when I got the phone call. HA! Poor guy, ours bills are killing him. I've got to admit I'm a little happy to be going back. And seeing as it's part time and there's an end in sight I'd say there's no way I could get that frustrated with the politics of that place. (We'll see.) At least I know I will be coming home to my son's sweet face.

six o'clock already i was just in the middle of a dream

Today is a very special Monday - it's my son's first birthday! Wow, no joke that time passes fast when you have kids. Seems like he was just born!

To celebrate we were going to go to Disneyland, til I got on the road and realized that it's a federal holiday, therefore, forget it. The crowds would ruin the day. So the next best thing - I swerved off the road and went to IKEA. Ha! What a nice way to spend your birthday, in a giant, feelingless shopping mart.

I went to get him this cute penguin sippy cup I saw in Lucky Magazine, but as usual, the IKEA did not have what I wanted. However I got some cool gift wrap for only 10 cents. Course the kid doesn't have a gift, but oh well. Happy birthday kid of mine!

pieces of you

Holy crap. Do you ever have a revelation, like, you're just sitting there minding your own business and you remember something...weird?

I watched ONE episode of the Ashlee Simpson show (that was more than enough) and she was dating some pretty boy named Josh, who ends up dumping her ass. The guy looked familiar but I couldn't place him.

Then I'm flipping through InStyle magazine, and there's that same guy again as someone's date at Katey Sagal's wedding. Who is he, some man-gina who hooks up with chicks in Hollywood? What is with this dude, he's haunting me!

Then, just now, I was looking at the music on my iPod, and thinking, where did I get all this crap music, I certainly don't remember buying it. Then it hit me...I saw a cd by a band called Scene 23. Who the hell...OH YEAH. The faux band from that faux show "Popstars." Hello - that guy Josh was a member of that group!

Whew, what a relief. Now my mind can focus on more important things. Like the Brad and Jen split or the war in Iraq.

everybody's talkin' 'bout - pop...

My latest obsession: Kettle Corn. Because of the rain I haven't made it to any farmer's markets lately so I got the next best thing...make at home microwave kettle corn! Yeah baby!

And next to the next to that best thing? MINI bags of microwave kettle corn! Genius I tell you! And it tastes even better in the perfect container, I'll tell you that!

seat BELT

Today I drove over to my Grandm's house. She got in the car and was so engrossed in talking to the baby, she didn't put her seatbelt on. I asked her twice. On the third time...

Me: "Gram, you better put your seatbelt on.
(nothing.)
Me: "HELLO?"
Gram: "Just drive, I'll be fine."
Me: "Are you nuts, I'm not gonna be responsible for your injuries."
Gram: "Alright, but I don't have insurance, so there's no point in trying to kill me."

What the hell does that mean? Maybe she's still angry about the fact that I threatened to punch her in the face if she didn't stop talking about egg salad after an hour straight. Oh well. I'm sure she's called Elder Abuse on me already.

house of cards

When I am under pressure to design things, it takes days - sometimes weeks to come up with something I am satisfied with.

In March, two of my friend's kids have birthdays. I am the "unoffical invite designer" for both of them. Every year I try and design something unique and fun, but now that I have my own kid, I'm quickly running out of creativity. Then, one morning I wake up - and they appear to me.

Last year was all about stamping and embossing for me. Don't have time, too toxic. So this year is all about folding and cutting. I designed these aloha shirt invites for my son's first birthday, which morphed into bowling shirts for BJ's bowling party, then came up with these little purse cards for MB's 3rd birthday.

Whew. I am officially tapped out of ideas...

A shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather, a quiver in my lips as if I might cry

Damn this rain. This is Southern California, dammit! And of all places, the hottest place next to the sun - The Valley - had a tornado touch down this morning. What the... is this Oz?

The rain has done so much damage that people are dying, there are mudslides and roads are closed. Speaking of the valley - look at this picture. I thought it was taken by a dung beetle who owned a digital camera, but no, it's actually Topanga!



image courtesy of...

chocolate heaven

I've got to tell you, I've found the best recipe ever, for chocolate pound cake. It's from the Williams-Sonoma Nordic Ware Bundt Classics cookbook, and it's moist and delicious and not too heavy. I changed the recipe slightly (as usual). I'm not a fan of loaf pans so I used my cathedral cake pan. Look, doesn't it look nice and church-y? Ha. This is Grandma's bday cake.

Chocolate Pound Cake
3 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1-3/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup Valrhona cocoa powder**
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
8oz mini chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325 degrees. I used a pastry brush to butter up my cathedral cake pan. In your mixer mix sugar and butter til light and fluffy then add the eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Then mix the butter mixture while alternating the dry ingredients and the milk - ending with the dry ingredients. After it's well mixed, fold in mini chocolate chips.

Spoon into your cake pan. Bake at 325 for approx 90 minutes, checking with a toothpick for a dry center. If you are using a bundt pan, let it cool down for about 10 minutes, then turn it over on a wire rack - don't lift the pan off for another 20 mins or disaster may strike. I.e. your cake will fall apart.

This tastes damn good with ice cream.

**Valrhona cocoa powder makes the cake 100% better. Trust me.

butt wipe

Ever seen a frog wipe it's butt?

Pampers has these new baby toilet training wipes called "Kandoo". Clever. I applaud whoever came up with this ad. It's cute, to the point and damn funny to look at. I'm sure it works too. I've got to get some for my frog.



(image courtesy of procter & gamble)

rollin' down the street smokin' endo

Guess what. Today is my Grandma's 84th birthday. Doh. What an old fogie.

We all call her "grandma" but she thinks it'll confuse the baby since she's his GREAT-grandma. "Ba-chan," the word for grandma in Japanese sounds decrepit to me. I hate that name. So...

Gram: I want everyone to call me O.G. from now on.
Me: Daahhah-are you freakin' kidding me? O.G. as in Original Gangsta?
Gram: "No no, O.G. 'Old Grandma.'"
Me: "Forget it. Pimps up hos down, you asked for it."
Gram: "What? O.G. Old Grandma - That what I want to be called."
Me: "Laid back, with your mind on your money and your money on your mind."

Happy birthday, Original Gangsta.

Fight on

deep fried

Geez do I hate frying. I hate that gross greazzed up feeling, and the mess? Whowee do I hate cleaning up the floor and the stove top. Lucky for me Rusty's wife bought me the coolest fry daddy ever! That sucker is self contained - no mess.

I made wontons. TONS of wontons...

smile and the world smiles with you

It's the new year and I'm all about organizing. There is too much crap around the house. Not to mention the millions of toys my kid got for Christmas.

Isn't it weird how you make a gift list and buy gifts for people, and they don't give you anything in return? Not that I want a gift, that's not the point, I just think it's odd that you think so hard about someone, and little do you know, they aren't even thinking about you. Ha! Meanwhile, you don't get someone else a gift and THOSE are the people that totally go out and get you something! Yeesh.

Anyway, the season is about giving and I am more than happy to give out tons of gifts. I just like it. Getting a gift is fun, it feels like someone is thinking nice thought about you.

Speaking of nice thoughts, having a baby makes you smile. NOT ME - I'm not having a baby, hello, but several friends of mine are. And that makes me smile.