tiny bubbles v.3

for last year's words belong to last year's language
and next year's words await another voice.
and to make an end is to make a beginning.

~t.s. eliot, "little gidding"

happy new years.
m

happy holidaze

dear to-do list,

i'm ignoring you today. motivation is down and surfing is up. nothing personal, just the way things go.

dear nbc,

i hate you for getting me hooked on another reality show. 'momma's boys' is addictive and i can't believe that it's happened to me once again. i couldn't press 'series record' fast enough. damn you, nbc. damn you.

dear starbucks on fairway,

you know i love you (as i visit you way too often), but on rainy days in the drive-thru i get soaked because rather than putting up an awning above the window, you cheaped out and put up a trelace-like item with 2-feet gaps. it was so bad this morning that i had to ask for extra napkins so i could wipe my left side and glasses off. please help a girl out and put some covering up there. or, better yet, have a cute 'bucks employee out there holding an umbrella. i'm just saying.

dear house of m followers,

i hope you have a very merry Christmas! it's been a tough year for a lot of us and it will be nice to take a few days to look around and be thankful for what we all have. thanks for reading.

love,

m

my safety light's on again. magic!

as an avid movie lover, i do love the yearly holiday movie rotation (and yes, occasionally still get pulled in to the god awful lifetime holiday movie marathon). to me, part of the joy of the season is seeing some great christmas films show up on the guide and nary is one passed up for recording. even the infamous 'yule log'.

hence, i thought i'd pass along my list of favorite holiday flicks. feel free to chime in with yours or even ones that i horrifingly (in your opinion only) left off the list. and, oh yeah, please don't start with 'a christmas story' not being on this list...hate that damn movie.

10. White Christmas

9. Scrooged

8. L.A. Confidential (i know it's not strictly holiday, but the whole story revolves around that time of the year)

7. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

6. The Polar Express

5. The Ref

4. Love Actually

3. Nightmare Before Christmas

2. Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (original version)

1. Home for the Holidays

the season

in the last week, i traveled back and forth to sf, attended 2 holiday parties/ 1 team lunch, partook in 1 secret santa offering that lasted the whole week, saw a 3-hour holiday concert at grace cathedral, walked up and down california street 2 times and took more taxi rides than i'd care to admit. the holidays are, at times, exhausting.

walking back to the office in sf on wednesday night after leaving the company-sponsored holiday fiesta, i walked by the embarcadero skating rink. i love this rink. the basic idea even makes me happy. there's something about it--being plopped down in the middle of a business/retail area and thus enjoyed by every type of person from every walk of life you could imagine.

i decided to stop. to listen. to watch.

there was an older couple swaying along on the ice, hands clasped. their sparkling eyes telling everyone that they remembered the first time they skated together like it was yesterday. even if it was decades ago.

there was a teen couple out there too. he, not knowing how to skate at all, but not wanting to look bad in front of his girl. she, graceful on ice, not rubbing it in for fear that he feel embarassed.

as i stood outside of the rink, watching people and children wiz by, i thought to myself--this is the joy of the holiday season. watching moms hold on to their little ones tight as they skimmed over the ice; two friends still in work clothes singing along with the music and taking pictures of each other to cement the happiness in that moment in time.

i wished i was out there.

wished i wasn't so behind in celebrating this year. wished that i wasn't falling behind in life--that i wasn't trailing in doing things that give me the utmost joy of the season. wished that it all wasn't speeding by so fast.

i look up at that moment and was snapped out of my thoughts. jolted. i see a young girl enter the turn to the left, just as a young boy, around her age, lightly smashes in to the wall in front of me. mere seconds later they gently collide, both reunited--grasping the wall as they each try catching their respective breath.

"who's there?" she says.
"it's nick, hi jane! isn't this great?!" he replies.
"it's amazing."

and then i see it. they're blind.

i'm overcome. i'm suddenly filled with emotions all at once--joy, sadness, inspiration and peace. for they are feeling life. living it unafraid. enjoying the season and not taking one thing for granted.

and here i am, on the sidelines. tired and weary. just trying to keep up.

i turn and walk on, take a breath and think about what i just saw; experienced. what it was meant to teach me. what it was anxious to say...

a case of the cool kids

first off, way behind on the blogging. i have a lot of making up to do. no time like the present. shall we?

it doesn't happen very often, trust me, but last thursday night i got to be one of the 'cool kids'.

first, a little background. luckily, i befriend great people. not sure how it happens or why i'm so lucky, but i get some pretty awesome friends--one of which being the QB. so, just so you know, the QB is so the 'cool kid' in our friendship--which is great for me because it keeps me at least close to the inner 'cool kid' circle. a circle that i'm usually pretty far from.

a few months back, i walked in to work one morning and the QB excitedly greeted me with 'oh my god, the killers are playing at not so silent night this year and we're going!!!' (the killers being the QB's all time fav live show). not one to say no to such enthusiasm, i instantly jumped on board and before i knew it, i was at oakland oracle arena (f.k.a. the oakland coliseum), hanging with the QB and the QBHB--enjoying a much too expensive beer and trying to take in the whole scene which is a concert these days (let's just say it's been a while since i've been to a rock concert--willie nelson anyone?).

observations:
one: if you're a smoker of the herb, no need to even bring your own. everyone else has it more than covered. just walking in to the place got me feeling relaxed. and that's even with the mile-high (no pun intended) roof providing some pretty good ventilation.

two: a good amount of parents bring their kids to these things. and some are not prepared. like the guy two rows down from us covering his ears when bloc party came on. little did he even realize that it would get even louder when death cab and then eventually the killers came on. what did he think 'not so silent night' really signified? i do have to say that it's pretty awesome that the parents come though--and it gave me some insight on how cool the QB and the QBHB will be when they have kids.

three: the girl in front of us spent more time ichatting than actually watching the concert. and then when the killers were up, she and her friend got up and left. now that's just unamerican. not to mention, why leave then? the killers were last up and you'd been sitting there for 3 hours prior to that. stick it out, will ya?

four: the guy next to me actually mimed out dcfc's 'i will posses your heart'. now that's a fan.

five: the lead singer of bloc party likes to look at himself while singing. a lot.

six: biggest 'cool kid' award goes to the lead singer of dcfc, ben gibbard, who sings off to the right side, rather than the middle like a lot of other big bands do. AND he called out a guy who tried to crowd surf telling him he was a dick--multiple times. so cool, it's hot.

seven: watching the QB get so in to the killers performance was great. calorie burning was at a peak and the girl had a smile the size of texas on her face. this is what music (and really sexy lead singers) have the power to do.

but besides the craziness that is people watching at an event like this, i have to say that i had a fantastic time and i can't wait to do it again--even though most kids there were 10 years my junior. dcfc ROCKED and i haven't quit listening to them nor the killers yet. both bands, golden in my book.

speaking of which...back to the heavy rotation.

great news for people who love baked goods

today at the house of m's workplace, we had our annual bake sale fundraiser. lot of pressure here--on two fronts. first, there's the pressure to raise lots of money for homeless kids. second is the pressure to outbake coworkers. and sure, the second is much less important, but hey, i'm competitive. let's get our bake on people. there's a rumble in the sugar jungle. bring it.

alas, the whole process starts three weeks ago. magazines are perused, the internet is scoured, recipe books are cracked open. eventually shopping is done. only the right baked items would do. only the best of the best.

then begins the baking. now this is where i usually get in trouble. i've been accused by some that know me of not reading recipes. to them i say this: i do read them, just not all the way. i skim. i'm a skimmer. it's the efficiency coming out in me. it cannot be helped. just the hand i've been dealt. to love me is to love the fact that i may, only occasionally and completely not purposefully, mess up a recipe.

this "problem", as some would term it, only manages to get me in trouble once during this voyage of baking. the kind of trouble where you might find yourself standing in the kitchen, looking at the recipe saying, "ahhh shit"--shaking your head in shame as you realize that you were supposed to add egg yolks, not egg whites...or that you merely left out one silly little ingredient (what exactly do you need flour for anyway? really now).

luckily this time, i find myself in this spot only once. and to my credit, it was not a huge mistake. and easily fixed. (no, you're not going to find out what it was. that's for me to keep and for you to only ponder).

more so than missing ingredients or setting the oven to the wrong temp, this task was more about the labor involved (thanks a bunch Martha S., thanks a bunch). so much labor in fact, that phases needed to be implemented. hours had to be chunked out and planned accordingly. lists had to made and monitored. only the strong would survive.

but in the end--after 3 long phases and countless loads in the dishwasher, 4 yummy sets of baked treats emerged. and they came out pretty decent (at least that's what people are saying--you never know). the neopolitan coconut strips shined in their pink, brown and white splendor. the lime thumbrints beckoned cookie lovers in with their light frosting of powdered sugar. the peppermint cookies went fast as their presentation promised. and the raspberry pinwheels, in all their sticky glory, satisfied the true jam lover in all of us.

money was raised, calories were taken in and in the end, i could only sigh in relief that the whole thing was over (and that i managed to outshine some of the previous years baking braggers).

someone remind me next Holiday season not to bake. really. for the love of all things holy.

birthday peel out!

yes, one year ago (seems like only six months), i signed on the dotted line and hopped in my biggest purchase of my life to date. thank god, after 365 days, i still love my car. this is good news on many fronts, most notably good for the fact that i'll be paying off the loan for many a day to come.

you had me at bose sound system puff, you had me at bose.

still under pressure

dear DayQuil,

i like what you've shown me so far today, but you still need to step it up a bit. you can rest later. i promise.

m

under pressure

dear DayQuil,

i need you to come through big time right now. hopes are high and my social desirability depends on you.

please deliver as promised.

m

tiny bubbles v.2

alas, a quote that sums up my thursday. and actually now that i think about it, more days than i care to admit.

"lack of planning of your part does not constitute an emergency on mine"

-anonymous

they call her mimi and she doesn't know why

this past sunday, after much anticipation, the marcia (mom) and i finally went to see the sf opera production of la boheme. now, i adore this opera--always have. not an opera snob by any means, but it's a great story (albeit a wee bit tragic) and the music is fan-tan. the sf opera house isn't too shabby either.

this is the second opera the marcia and i had seen in as many weeks and i have to say that i've already been able to make some pretty good opera observations.

therefore, behold a list:

1. some people still wear black tie attire. these some people really shouldn't. especially to a matinee. makes us sub-black tire attire wearers feel inferior and edgy. i'm just saying.

2. at operas they have "supertitles", not "subtitles". as far as i can deduct, it's the same thing. opera--always making something out of not so much.

3. a 3-hour opera can be summed up in less than 30 seconds. for instance, la boheme: boy meets girl. boy and girl fall in love. boy and girl break up. girl gets a sniffle. boy and girl get back together. girl dies. (oh, sorry. spoiler alert there. my bad.)

4. every time the conductor comes out (at the beginning of the opera and after each intermission), he/she goes up to the podium, bows a bit, does some crazy motioning and then shakes the hand or two of a designated orchestra member (almost always a violinist). my question is this: doesn't that make the other members feel just a wee bit left out? and shouldn't we be weary of pissing off a grown man who has chosen to play a tuba for the rest of his life? or the oboe? snare? watch your back string players. i sniff revolt.

5. there are never enough restrooms at these sort of things. here is the advantage of the opera. there are a lot of olds. i mean ALOT. this means that unlike other kinds of audience events you don't even need to get aggressive--you can easily pass one or two up on the way to the restroom at an intermission with barely a slow walk, hell, a crawl even. this mild physical activity is all for not however when the floor restroom literally only has two stalls. really. two. it's 2008 people. let's add some plumbing.

all in all, i can't wait to go again. be it la boheme or another classic, i think i'm hooked. bring me arias! bring me tragic love stories! bring me more restroom availability!

p.s. stopped by citizen cake before the event to grab some sugary delightfulness. and oh my god did it deliver. get there, and get there soon peeps.

complicating the smores

so, i should be unpacking to pack right now, but instead i have been drawn in to the world of martha stewart's daughter and her new show on FLN, "whatever, martha". yes, the show first drew me in with the archived segment of "domino toppling" (really, if you can catch it, it is a must see) and had me for life at the "smores" segment (see video below). these girls are a riot and they take the words out of my (and many of my friend's) mouths. leave it to martha stewart to even complicate a smore.