Get Love!

So some of my friends got together and made a little one minute film and now they have a chance to win $25,000!!! It's in the top ten on E!'s Cybersmack so please go vote for them!! It'll only take a second, and I've been promised a dinner should they win. I suggested Medieval Times. :)

http://www.eonline.com/On/TheSoup/Cybersmack/index.html

Certainly this pic from the film piques your interest, no?

If You've Met My Mother...

You'll know how freakishly much I look like her in this pic.

Punk & Pig - Best Friends Forever

Can you tell I LOVE taking pics and videos with my new camera? Wait till you see how many inane pictures I took of my friends at Benjamin's birthday dinner and subsequent bar visit to Formosa.

So my genius dog got her HEAD STUCK BETWEEN SOME BARS last night. We were on our way out for a walk, and had just gotten past my front gate when she smelled something yummy (gum? cat poop? no idea) and stuck her head through the bars to get to it. After eating whatever it was she wanted, she discovered her head was stuck. Much whimpering later (and me laughing hysterically and simulanteously feeling badly about it) she managed to wrench her head out.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me at the moment, but here is a pic of the gate, just to give you an idea of how FREAKING FUNNY it looked.


Here are some pics of the two "BFFs":

Just chilling. Punk ALWAYS takes the love seat, and Pig ALWAYS takes the couch.


Here they are waiting to go for a walk. Punk is really funny about it - she sits down immediately on the top step, with her front paws on the second step, as she waits.

Pig gives the term "bitch-slap" new meaning:

How I Start My Day

Punk-Sitting

So I'm Punk-sitting for the next few weeks while Thode is out of town. She's been adorable as usual. Here are a few pics:





Here she is watching King Kong. The lighting is low, so you might not be able to see her very well. Punk's review of King Kong? First it made her sleepy, then the sound effects confused her, and finally she had to get up out of her seat and leave. She gives it 1 out of 4 paws. :)

Good Poop News

Pig is back to normal. She's on this new food that is just awesome. It's especially good for dogs with food allergies so I've seen an immediate improvement. After six weeks of "soquid" poop she is finally not grossing me out (as much) 2-3 times a day. I was so excited I almost took a pic of her first good poop, but thought that would be crossing the line.

Weekend Recap

So I've been crazy busy having fun these last few days. It all started midweek when I was an extra for Thode's music video. She needed an audience to watch a juggler. Very fun and exciting, although I got shy and didn't want to actually be in the video so I sat in the back of the theater. However, I heard Lypstykgirl and Josh, who weren't shy and sat in the front are featured prominently in the video now, so that should be fun to see when it comes out.

Thursday was Reggie's birthday party. Also really fun. We went bowling - I did horrible. Not really surprising since I'm not much of a bowler, but I did worse than I normally do. Maybe it was because I was busy taking lots of pics and boring videos. I've noticed I turn into my mom when I have a camera in my hand. It takes me a while to find the camera in my purse, I make people pose forever before finally figuring out the shot I want, I accidentally take pictures of walls and feet because I don't know it's on, and I make people re-enact things all so I can get in on camera. Max has threatened to return it.

I was supposed to go dancing on Friday night, but just really couldn't muster the strength. I am a notorious "go out one night" kind of girl. On occassion I can do two nights in a row, but three? That's unheard of. I may be 28, and look 25 in low lighting and if I'm properly moisturized (so I tell myself!), but I have the energy of a 86 year old woman.

Anyway Friday night I was honestly in bed by 10:00 p.m. I had a lovely night's sleep, and actually made it to the gym for the 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning Cardio Kickboxing class. I've been very good about going to the gym lately. In the last two weeks I've gone to the gym 8 times (3 cardio kick boxing, 1 step class, 2 weightlifting, 1 club boxing circuit, 1 spinning) and went rock climbing once. And bowled, if you consider that an exercise. Sadly, muffin-top is still there, but I guess it's somewhat smaller. And I'm beginning to get some arm muscle so that's good.

Saturday was super fun. Lypstykgirl, Josh, Courtney, Courtney's friend from out of town, Max and I went to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. The highlight for me was the faire food. Turkey legs and hard cider, could there be a better combo?

Here are a few pics from our day:


I really wanted both of these items but felt it might be a little gross to doublefist a turkey leg and a porkchop on a stick.


There they are cooking on a grill!!


Max, being Max, commented that somewhere in an alternate universe, there was a line of turkeys waiting for their human legs at a Renaissance Festival.


Group pic of everyone with their turkey legs, except for Courtney who opted for a strawberry scone with whip cream. I think this is a great pic of us.


It's silly, but I really love these wood picture things with the holes for your head. Incidentally, I had no idea that man was behind me, so I was rather amused when I saw the pic!






Either my enthusiasm was catching, or everyone else secretly liked them too!

After walking around for a bit, drinking several glasses of hard cider, and searching for the cheeziest but least expensive souvenirs, we finally sat down to watch the grand finale act - The Joust to the Death.





I sat in the cheering section for the "Black and White Knight" - how appropriate, right? Our knight bore a striking resemblance to Draco Malfoy so we shouted "MALFOY! MALFOY! MALFOY!" as our cheer, which made the litle kid sitting next to me want to cry. I guess little kids don't like routing for Malfoy.

Finally at around 5 p.m., we headed back home. It had been a hot day and I was exhausted. After a quick walk with Pig and subsequent celebrity sighting (see below) Max and I both took a long nap, grabbed a bite to eat, and then went out to karaoke. Courtney took us to a very cool private room place in Koreatown. It was not expensive and you could bring your own drinks and snacks. I sang a few super cheezy songs including Lisa Loeb's "Stay" and then ended with a hammy rendition of Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love to You" complete with the standard R&B hand gestures and pantomines. I had a great time!

So far it's Sunday and I haven't done anything but eat breakfast and sit around. I plan to watch basketball and spend countless hours on my Agatha Christie computer game.

Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

Who Thinks Pig is a "Pretty Dog"????

Pig and I are walking down the street. A big black SUV with tinted windows and a chauffeur pulls over in front of a spa/salon. A young woman gets out and heads towards a car that's parked on the driveway of the spa. A second woman gets out and it is unmistakeably the one and only Ms. Diana Ross in all her a big haired glory. She spots (spots! get it? spots!) Pig and says, "Oh what a pretty dog." And I say, "Thanks." I notice she's wearing all black so I add, "She'd wreak havoc on your outfit though, with all her white fur." Diana Ross smiles and admiringly says, "She's a really pretty dog."

Diana Fucking Ross thinks my dog is pretty. How awesome is that????

I should have asked her to autograph Pig.

Awww... :)

My dad got me a belated bday present - the Agatha Christie mystery computer game I was talking about!!

Pig Gets a New Wilbur...and Proceeds to Ignore It

So Damn Cute

Hump Day Randomness

I have a new neighbor. I haven't seen him yet, but I did peek through the window of his apartment to see what his furniture looks like. You can tell a lot about a person by looking at their furniture. Anyway, on a scale of 1 to 10, how bizarre is it that he has one gigantic stuffed animal tiger and one gigantic matching stuffed animal white/snow tiger - the kind you win at carnivals?

In other news, am changing Pig's diet, per vet's orders. She is now a duck & potatos kind of girl, with a topping of canned pumpkin. Yum. Apparently the pumpkin is supposed to add fiber and will hopefully firm up her poop. Will report later if it works.

My mother commented that Katherine McPhee is like a female Constantine with the eye fucking and the relying on sex appeal aka Her Boobs. I think she hit the nail right on the head. She annoys me. Go Elliot Yamin!

Have exciting plans this week. Tonight, am going to play an extra in a music video Thode is shooting. Tomorrow night is Reggie's bday and we're going bowling. And on Saturday, we're going to the Renaissance Festival!! I am looking forward to eating turkey legs and drinking beer out of steins. And possibly jousting.

Also, anyone up for taking ice skating lessons with me?

Weekend Recap

I've so neglected my blog of late. Sorry bloggie. I actually forgot the password for a sec there. I've been on the computer plenty, but have spent a ridiculous amount of time doing everything but blog. I've been watching tons of video clips on YouTube and playing mahjong online. Actually, I'm sort of off the mahjong, and have been playing instead a computer game I bought on Friday. It's called Crime Stories, and it sort of sucks, but I can't stop playing it. I got it because 1.) I love mysteries and 2.) I love adventure computer games, like King's Quest and Hero's Quest and Police Quest and Space Quest and even Leisure Suit Larry. My brother and I used to spend hours and hours in front of the computer playing those games. (speaking of my brother, it was his bday on Sat - Happy Bday!!) I have a cute story to share about that - when we first started playing the computer games, we were pretty small and little and we'd both sit in my dad's big desk chair. One of us would be in charge of moving the character, and the other would be in charge of typing what we wanted the character to do. Anyway we must have gone through most of the games in each series, and then stopped playing for awhile since there were no others to play. One day we got a new one and rushed to the computer, all excited. Except as soon as we, out of habit, went to sit in dad's chair together, we realized we'd grown so much that we didn't fit anymore. And then we had to get a second chair. The end. Cute, right?

Anyway, Crime Stories sucks but I can't stop playing it. After I'm done with it, I'm going to do some research and get a good one. I hear there is an Agatha Christie one, and even a Law & Order one!

But back to the recap.

Friday was Cinco de Mayo and a whole bunch of us were looking to go out. Except we didn't know where. Finally Max suggested a place called El Guapo, which had sent him an email proclaiming "No cover on Cinco de Mayo!" and promised all sorts of fun. I was curious if they had any drink specials so I called and the guy said no, but there was a "$5 dollar cover" that would also put you in a raffle for all sorts of prizes. Okay, fine. Not what the email said, but everyone seemed okay with that. By the time Max and I got there, they had changed the cover to $10, and the raffle was over. Since we were there already we decided, fine, and after waiting in line for 15 minutes, we paid the stupid $10. Unfortunately, some our friends were fashionably late and for whatever moronic reason the management at El Guapo decided not to let people in the bar for about 45 minutes. Also, they had stopped playing music and the crowd was thinning. By the time they finally let people back in the bar, they had jacked the cover to $20!!! So we immediately left and everyone went back to our place to drink homemade margaritas instead. I'm never going there again.

Saturday we spent lying on the couch and watching basketballs games. Pretty noneventful, but it was still a nice day.

Sunday, I did something really fun and different. I went rock climbing!!! I'm really proud of myself that I did it and didn't chicken out (I had agreed to go after having a few margaritas on Friday night and in the sober moments of Sunday morning seriously wanted to bail) and I LOVED IT!! I went with Sharkie and Benjamin to the gym at UCLA, which has a indoor rock wall. They very patiently showed me how to tie all the proper knots and how to belay and cheered me on and were very supportive. I think I did fairly well for a beginner with weak wimpy arms and definitely want to go again.

Because this makes me laugh hysterically - Every. Single. Time.

I've watched this about five times now. Craziest dog I've ever seen.

Weekend Recap

So this weekend was the Birthday Weekend. First, on Friday night, Max took me to a lovely Greek restaurant called Sofi. We'd never been there before - in fact, we'd never been to a Greek restaurant so it was a real treat. The outdoor patio seating was very cute, and it was nestled behind a quaint little buidling with a red tile roof, and it almost felt like we could have been in Greece. At least that's what I think Greece looks like. Having never been there, I really don't know!

Anyway, I was feeling camera happy (actually at first, I was feeling camera sad since I managed to drop my camera as soon as I got out of the car) and snapped away. Here's the patio area:



Next, I moved to the table setting:



And then I took a few of Max, but he won't let me put them up here because he thinks he looks bad in them.

So I made him take some of me:



And then I decided to take a video clip of the flaming cheese appetizer we ordered. There is absolutely nothing interesting about the flaming cheese (at least not interesting enough to take a video of), but at the moment I was just really excited about the camera. I'm going to spare myself the hassle of posting the actual video clip, but will instead show my pic of the cheese, post flaming. Not that it's interesting either...but my point is that I was ridiculously camera happy.



Anyway, the meal was very nice. (I forgot to take pics of the rest of the food as I was getting busy eating the food). Afterwards, we went back to the apartment to party!

A whole bunch of people showed up to at our place for Plumb and my bday party. It was really fun, and after a few hours the party migrated to Red Rock for dancing. Now having been to RR a million times, I was a little disappointed to find they had remodeled and was now going for a slightly more upscale look, instead of their old frat house feel. After harassing the dj several times (I kept, reportedly, yelling out "PLAY SOME HIP-HOP, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!") he stopped playing the groovy "ecclectical" music he was spinning and humored us with a few songs we could shake our booty to.

After the bar closed, a few of us headed back to my place, and spent the next hour trying to find the carry-out menu for "that one Thai place that delivers really late." We failed to find it but luckily Max decided to make us bacon and egg sandwiches. Yum!!

We finally made it to bed at around 4:00 a.m., so I spent much of Saturday sleeping on the couch and watching the NFL Draft. Apparently the Lions used their first round draft pick to choose a guy who has had FIVE concussions...you'd have to be a real diehard Lion fan to get excited about a guy who probably won't make it through half a season!

Sunday morning we met some friends up for dim sum at a place I hadn't been to before. I always like trying out different dim sum restaurants - each place tends to do certain items better than other ones. In general, this one was okay. It's called NBC Seafood Restaurant. I prefer 888 Seafood and Ocean Star. After dim sum, we headed over to a Ranch 99 (gigantic Asian supermarket) to pick up groceries. I was rather proud of myself - back in the day, I would have come back from Ranch 99 with several packages of ramen and junkfood but instead I actually bought ingredients to cook a few decent Chinese meals.

Anyway, that was pretty much the weekend. There was a Festival of Books in Westwood, where hundreds of authors showed up for readings and signing but as none of my favorite cozy mystery writers were there, I decided to skip. Oh and Max and I finally got around to planning our upcoming Ireland trip which is going to be AWESOME. I am soooo excited. There are some really cool places to check out and I plan on taking a ridiculous number of pictures -everything from fish n chips to castles - I can't wait!!