There’s no place like home

Well.  We’re home!  I’m using our beloved giant TV to console myself in the moments when I accidentally find myself saying, “That’s okay, I can just stick it in the dishwash…oh.”

The Thai Town hotdog is gone!  WHAT will appear there?  Hopefully something, and not years of nothing.  :P

The creepy prosthetic store has been painted green, and has magically become a lovely yoga studio!  Lovely yoga studios are MUCH nicer in neighborhoods than creepy abandoned prosthetic stores.

And straight out our window, a block or so away, a big ol’ crane works every day to build a senior housing facility.  The site is JUST far enough away that we don’t get much construction noise, and it’s kind of fun to watch the crane swing around (remind me to tell you my “I got to swing around a giant crane once on a date” story), though we obvs hope the seniors don’t need very MANY floors of facility, because we like our fairly unobstructed view.

Tall crane at morning, Angeleno take...florning.

Here’s a fun thing about the crane:  it makes a tinkly, descending three-note piano-sounding chime every time it does something.  At first, I thought it was a neighbor’s ring tone.  Someone in the building said it was one of those vans that drives around selling tomatoes or dresses in the neighborhood.  Adrian and I sleuthed it out the other day, though--it’s mos’ def construction related, and I’ve decided it’s the crane.  It’s hard to describe, and I’ve never known anything like it; so far, it still entertains me no end.  Time, as always, will tell.  (Cut to: me, six months from now, weeping and beating my fists bloody on the construction fence.)

This is how Hollywood welcomes one home.  And by ‘one,’ I mean me.

Speaking of me, I have questions:  does anyone have any tips about what to do with plum wore out sneakers?  I feel like such a jerk throwing them away.  I swear that when I was in high school, we had a bin to dump old sneakers in, and they’d be recycled into running tracks.  No one I know who has kids in school has heard tell of such a thing.  Googling tells me Nike…sometimes does such things?  But…what if you don’t wear Nikes?  Anyone?  Tips?  Advice?

Finally, Smasas International needs a new couch.  The couch we have now has served us well, but…well, frankly, it’s too small, too stained, too squashy, too flat-out busted to even deal with any more.  I’d LIKE to get an environmentally responsible couch…sustainably harvested woods, no insane chemicals in the manufacturing (or that’ll slowly poison us in our sleep, or hours and hours of movie-watching)…  (Plus I want whoever brings the new couch to magically take this one away, and hopefully do something with it besides throw it in a lake.)  Tips?  Advice?  Recommendations?  Horror stories?  Anyone?  (Yes, freecycling furniture off the curb is ALWAYS an option in Hollywood…but I’d ALSO like our new couch to be free of vermin and bum pee, soooo…)

Okay!  Thanks!  You’re nice!  Everyone have good weeks!  (High fives everyone)

"While we're young!" Wednesday!

Old people everywhere agree (a statistic that is scientifically based on a conversation with Adrian's grandfather, some article my second cousin linked to on the facebook, and my assumptions about Ooo, travel foods are preeeetty! (from EatYourWorld.com)old people) that we all should be traveling while we're young.

As long as we're going, we should eat delicious things when we get there.  (That tip's from me, not old people.)  There is much delicious + travelly at EatYourWorld.com !  Also, many ways to play along...posting pics of things you eat as you travel, or things people should eat when they travel to you...

Hooray!  Desk travel!  Now, quit staring at a computer and go someplace for real.

Happy Year of the Dragon!

Hope you all had a lovely New Year's Eve and Day. We hustled and purged. Cooked and cleaned. And in the end went to bed full of noodles and sweets. Not a bad way to kick off the year. A post of pics...since even though I tried to add some calm to my life, things are still hectic. (Do not launch your next month's classes on the most auspicious day of the year...*lesson learned*)

cherry blossom branches - they smell wonderful

H gave me this rubber ducky tea infuser which I used to make the green tea with.

My Buddha and Lucky Kitty. With requisite citrus fruit, rice and candies.

BEST gift ever. My very own Hello Kitty sewing machine from Noah. Now I have a machine to travel to Juniper Moon Farm with for my sewing camp.

AND the BEST gift ever if you hadn't received a HK sewing machine. This book. From Doug and Doreen. L.O.V.E. (run to library and read this book - it's amazing)

May your year be filled with handmade goodness. The smell of sweet cherry blossoms. Surprises like treat boxes from faraway friends. And the love of real nice people.

OH HAI

I'D LOVE TO STAY AND CHAT, BUT:

...THIS WAS AN HOUR AND A HALF AGO, AND YOU GUYS, IT'S SO MUCH WORSE, NOW.  (I'm also running the 'auto clean' on the oven, so what you can't see is that it's ALSO pretty warm and weird-smelling in here.)

(Yes, I knew this day was coming; no, this wasn't sprung upon me when I woke up this morning.  Look, AT LEAST BUILD SOME BOXES IF YOU'RE GOING TO STAND THERE AND ASK THESE KINDS OF QUESTIONS.)

I'm trying to cheer myself with the notion that once I get over this monumental initial "get everything out and in piles" part, the "now put everything in boxes" leg will be a downhill coast, but I'm only believing myself some of the time.

TALK NEXT WEEK FROM A DIFFERENT TIME ZONE, YEAH?  KTHXBAI

Save the Web Wednesday

Okay, we could get all hot discussing why SOPA is good for Hollywood. Which pays my mortgage (not forever if I'm lucky) and my health insurance (well, actually I paid for my insurance when you really think about it) so I'm not going to poo-poo Hollywood. My union has told us why we should support this legislation. But commonsense has me fighting it. I suggest watching The Oatmeal's SOPA and PIPA protest explanation which I've embedded. (This is NSFW - well, I don't know where you work, maybe it is!)

 

Feel free to contact your legislators. And why not sign google's petition. And spread the word.