Guess That Scent

My favorite smells...the smell of the ocean, fresh cut grass, a fire burning in the fireplace when it's cold outside, honeysuckle, campfire (totally different than fireplace), and the smell of BBQ. BBQ was a favorite smell even for the 15 years that I didn't even eat meat (I know it's so wrong). However, none of these smells were what met us at home after our weekend away.

I love going away for the weekend and getting to come home and play..."Where's that smell coming from!" Woo hoo! I'm sure you all know how fun that is. What made it really exciting, was the fact that it wasn't very strong smell and this time we had multiple choices of origin. This time it was going to be an exciting game!

The first option were the cats. We don't keep a litter box in the house. There is a tiny window in the bathroom that we leave open. The cats come and go as they please and we don't have litter box smell. This window slides up and down and during certain times of year, depending on the swelling of the window frame, that window becomes a guillotine. Slamming down at will. It will be in the up position for weeks and then you walk in one day and it slams down. We were only gone for two nights. However, sometime during the weekend, that window decided to close on it's own. Locking one cat in and one cat out. I wasn't worried about Dexter being outside. I know that neighbor that hates him, actually feeds him (it's his own fault that Dex keeps coming back and pestering them). However, poor Bob. He was locked inside for who-knows-how-long. There wasn't much of a mess. However, as sweet as he is, he can be a little jerk. He'll pee on your luggage when you come home from a trip to let you know he's not happy. But after checking the house, I couldn't find any pee, but I did find some poop on Dexter's cat bed...which is a little funny. Bob is opinionated, He doesn't so anything without a reason. I'm sure there's something behind it. At least it wasn't our bed though.

Ultimately, I didn't feel it was the cats stinking the place up. The other option was the fridge. I think I smelled everything in that fridge. Nothing was sanding out. I mean there isn't too much in there. I spent Monday and Tuesday randomly throwing out things in the fridge that might possibly be the culprit. Last night we went out to dinner with friends. When we came home the smell really hit me. I was standing half in the fridge throwing shit out. I was giving up and just going to get rid of it all. Mario stepped in to try and give it a shot. Here's when the game really began. Every one in the living room started sniffing the air and yelling out options. "It smells like a hint of milk"...we don't have milk in there. "Well, maybe a milk product...yogurt, yeah it's yogurt"...no yogurt in there. "Maybe it's a mix of veggies and lunch meat"...nah checked all of those options. "Maybe, it's juice and that fish"...no they still smell fine. We finally just threw a few more things out and decided the rest of the things in the fridge had enough preservatives in them to keep them into the next year.

I took everything straight out to the trash...life smells better now. It was probably just a little something left in the trash bin from before the weekend...too bad we ended up throwing half the shit in the fridge out first.

I Wish This Happened Around Me

Oh oh oh it's magic...

Last night we went to the magic castle. For those of you not from around here, it's an old mansion in Hollywood, turned awesome club for magicians. There are rules, regulations, and dress codes, but we always have a great time. Because there are no photos allowed inside, this is the only photo I got. I really wanted a group photo but that didn't happen...

This is the second husband of Colleen and I...Happy Birthday lady! We are in the process of training him, but he cleans up well and can be very charming. Colleen and I are taking applications for girlfriends.

Tonight was the highly anticipated seance of Houdini! We have been wanting to see this since forever and we finally got it together. So, we got dressed up, ladies in dresses and men in suits, said the secret password and entered through the sliding bookcase...for real. We went up to the Houdini Room and had our seance. It was cheeserific for sure with some really cool things thrown in. I wrote the name of someone who has passed away and five people still alive on a piece of paper. The "spirit guide" of the medium was to pick the one name who had passed away. Well, he got it correct. It was all crazy with table lifting off the ground and things flying off the walls. Crazy stuff, but all good fun.

Then we headed off to one the bars to have a nice drink and chat. We didn't get to see Irma...the piano playing ghost. She's a blast! Throw out songs and she'll play...try to stump her, it's not easy. We did end up seeing a few quick shows. Fun-ny. Two older men, both with a wicked sense of humor and family in the audience heckling them. They were really great fun. We wanted to stay for a third show but had to take off. We had someone who had to drive over an hour home and another asshole who has to get up bright and early and drive up to Big Bear tomorrow morning to shoot.

It's almost one in the morning and I"m still awake, I'm never going to make it tomorrow! I'm one of those people who needs her sleep. I'm also on a jacked up sleep schedule that doesn't like getting up early. So Big Bear tomorrow will be a big long drag. I'm mucho better with my sleep. So I might as well give it a try, talk to you all tomorrow!

Have fun at Disneyland tomorrow Colleen and Happy Birthday again!

Confidence Boost

My productiveness is still on...today I got my shit together and got my eyebrows waxed. Can I tell you, I needed those babies waxed something bad! Besides going to the eye doctor and getting my haircut, I LOVE getting my eyebrows waxed! I know...very weird. For something that inflicts pain, it sure relaxes me.

I had found this great pedicure shop three years ago when I lived near Woodland Hills. One day after a pedicure, I was desperate and got my brows waxed there. The lady was awesome. This wasn't some back room extra. She was a pro. She's taken all the classes on skin care and knew the name of my skin problem, rosacea(red cheeks), right off the bat. Plus she wears a doctors coat...she's gotta be a professional if she's got the white coat! So anyways, she was awesome. She did my brows right and I always walked out with a scalp massage.

One day I showed up to get the brows done and someone else came out to take me to the back. I started getting nervous. When we got to the room, it was empty of her stuff. All that was there was a make-shift waxing room. I stopped in the doorway. Today was not the day to be testing eyebrow waxers. It was two days before our wedding and we had stopped on the way up to Santa Barbara specifically to see my favorite waxer. I didn't really have much of an option. I went in and figured, the makeup artist could fix me if I needed. Don't worry, this isn't some wedding nightmare story. It actually went well and I sure needed that 10 minutes to lay still and relax before the wedding.
However, now it seemed silly for me to drive half an hour for a wax if it wasn't my favorite lady. So today I finally decided to look for a local eyebrow waxer. We've been walking past a little shop on the way to my second favorite sushi place. Since I was in desperate need and I was so close, I took the gamble and came out with some nice brows!




Why this long blog about eyebrow waxing? Because, I can not be stopped when my brows are nice and waxed. I'm a bad-ass. My confidence is high and I feel good when the brows are pretty. My sister used to have a pair of shoes that used to pump her up. Her stride got longer, her shoulders went back, and her boobs stuck out a little more. What's your confidence trigger?

I Should Organize for a Living

So all of that good intention from the new year actually got me somewhere. I might have slept until 10:30am...I know bad, but I actually got my shit together! I worked for a few hours finishing up some work that's been sitting around. Then some bug got up my butt and I started in on all that organizing I've been wanted to do. I have organized and purged. Although because of my last years resolution of using what I have, it was more organizing than purging. I got under the kitchen and bathroom sink. I got all of the baskets in the bathroom. The cabinet in the bathroom is so high, I just keep everything in baskets. Then I can just pull down a basket. I also went through all of our cookware and cabinets in the kitchen. One thing I learned...don't trust us with your tupperware. Don't lend it to us, because we will absolutely not return it. However, now that you know...it's your own fault if you lend it to us and don't get it back!

I feel like I'm really only half way finished, but I think reorganizing the cabinets was a lot of the problem. Tomorrow I'll hit the bedroom and go through our clothes and closets. Which sounds like a lot, but I tend to hit those a few times a year and the last time wasn't all that long ago.

I kinda feel a little re-energized. I always feel so much better when things are all in place around me. Makes my thinking clearer...maybe it's a feng-shui thing? Either way I'm a happy girl! woo hoo...finally gettin my shit together!

Mars and I were at Target picking up some necessaries today. I noticed that they were already setting up the lawn chairs and gazebos in the store...I love trying out all the new backyard seating! Just as I was trying my first seat, I remembered that I needed to run back and pick something up. Knowing Mario loves this area even more than I do, I told him to hang out and I'd run back and get what I needed. After a quick detour through the clothes, I was back pretty quick. Next to Mario was a very inviting little seat, it looks like a nice respectful well made chair...well it wasn't. As soon as my cheeks hit the cushion, I immediately felt the chair going back farther than it should. There was no stopping it! Arms flailing out trying to grab onto the chairs around to slow the fall, on the slick floor they only scattered. I heard myself yell "OH SHIT!" Then I flipped ass over head backwards out of the chair.

I was laying on the floor laughing my ass off. Of course Mario was obviously embarrassed. He was half pulling me, half dragging me by one arm trying to get me off the ground. From my angle on the ground, I then noticed that the chair was totally put together wrong! I was no help, just laying there laughing. What was a relatively empty area previously, was now full of a crap load of people just staring at me. If they weren't going to help, they could have at least giggled with me in appreciation of the entertainment I was providing!

I spent the remainder of the shopping trip giggling and reliving the "OH SHIT!" in my head. I wonder how loud I yelled that...hehe

Can't get enough...

Because nothing is funnier than men in high heels and leotards...

I never thought...

So Mario came to me yesterday and asked me if this looked ok...



I think I shrieked...or maybe it was a muffled scream. Never in a million years did I ever expect him to even try to pull the white athletic socks with the sandals. He was serious about this. However, as soon as he heard the scream, he said "ok I was just checking!" This offense is pretty high up on the pet peeve list for me. I also hate the shorts, with black socks and white tennis shoes. Makes me cringe!

The only time I can handle the athletic sock with a sandal, is when it's socks with flip flops. This has only be pulled off by a hot strapping young surfer. It was still pretty nerdy but somehow it works. What can I say, I grew up in California.

Yesterday was a normal day up in Big Bear photographing vacation homes. I knew it was going to be a light day of shooting, so I brought my friend Tracy with me to help. Mostly to just hang out. She's a photographer also, so I made sure to let her know there'd be snow and to bring her camera. We ended up having a blast. It was a mellow day and we just enjoyed looking at some vacation homes and stopping taking photos of the lake. It was just a really nice day.

while we were taking some photos of a house. Tracy had this great red hat and scarf on. So I told her I had to take some photos of her.




So she decided that she needed to photograph me also. Its cute but all I see is fleshy face! I guess that should be my next resolution....

This is the late just as the sun started setting. It was beautiful. That light layer of ice on the lake was beautiful and we loved the pattern of the cracks in it.

Here is full sunset. The light was amazing!

Of course when there's a sunset with light like that, if you turn around there's usually beautiful light on something else...I just wanted to move right into one of those homes.

Of course here's Tracy

2009

I'm not sure how many times I've written this post. I just can't figure out how to say what's going on in my head...but that's really not all that new. I swear this is the fourth time I've started this post yet again.

So it's just occurring to me how much I really love the coming of the new year. The days really don't feel different, but I love the feel of a clean slate. I totally fall into that new years psychology of starting fresh and new. I just love the feel of it. I've never been a big fan of new years eve, but I sure love the first day of the year. I tend to be that annoying optimist, so the new year totally fits me. It makes me want to nest and refresh everything around us. So, I love to organize the shit out of the apartment. Lots of purging and cleaning. Papers, clothes, and junk are reorganized. I've been moving all kinds of shit around. It puts me into a good state of mind and makes me feel like I'm headed in the right direction...even simplified the ol' blog...makes me feel better already.

Now one thing I don't like about New Years...resolutions. They bug me. Mostly because I haven't ever kept one past week two. I think last year was the first time I made any resolutions in 10 years or so. However, I didn't call them resolutions. I called them changes I made at the beginning of the year, didn't want to jinx them by calling them resolutions. Not only did I make them, I kept them. So I decided to give it a go again this year. But I really have to think about it. I want to keep my reso~gulp~lutions going from last year because why stop. I just want to add in a little. But I'm still thinking this out. The one from last year that I thought I would have the biggest problem with was not buying books. I think the first couple of months were tough, but then I learned not to go near the books at Target. That really cut down on temptation. I actually considered buying a book for myself as a reward, but I decided it seemed a little backwards. Then someone awesome sent me some awesome books in an even more awesome care package. So I didn't have to break resolution. Thank you!

I figure I'll really have my resolutions figured out about the time I get the house together. I always have my business and personal goals figured out and those are totally different than resolutions for me. Maybe they aren't different. Goals are the the accomplishments we aim for. Are resolutions supposed to be used to get to those goals? I guess I think of resolutions as a betterment for us. Who knows. I guess they can be what we want. Maybe I should have some ridiculous resolution like "no wearing black on Fridays". That would be hard and I don't know that it would better me as a person really...hmm, so any ideas for resolutions? What are yours?