I haven’t forgotten about you guys–I’m down in SD for the seders and have been ridiculously busy baking and um, baking, and yeah, baking some more. But here are the highlights, beginning with Friday. More bullets, because I’m too tired to write actual paragraphs:

Friday

• Went to the clusterfuck known as Hollywood and Highland to buy pants for work. The pants at Express no longer come in long. And the longs at the Gap were too short. I’m only 5′9″, what the hell?
• Saw a man walking/skating in those gym shoes with wheels, then noticed the kiosk he was working at. Yes, they make those for adults now. Insanity.

Saturday

• Spent four hours on the freeway getting to SD.
• Spent about one of those hours talking to a new Jdate guy who shall be called The Artist, because well duh, he’s an artist.
• Stopped for frozen yogurt with Julie and her boys.
• Went for sushi with my parents.
• Watched The Quiet, a very odd movie.

Sunday

• Slept in and went for breakfast at Pacifica with my parents.
• Hit Banana Republic. They are having an awesome sale, and I got two lightweight v-neck sweaters and a black blouse.
• Made two apple crisps, a mango torte, and mandel bread with my mom.
• Had dinner (including bread!) with my parents.
• Watched The Amazing Race and The Apprentice then went to sleep.

Monday

• Slept in.
• Made a flourless chocolate cake, matzo brittle, brownies, and meringues, because really, we didn’t bake enough on Sunday.
• Talked to The Artist on the phone again.
• Finally changed out of my pajamas.
• Went to seder number one.
• Came home and caught up on email then posted this.

Tuesday should be a repeat of today, then Wednesday morning I’ll be waking up nice and early and heading back to LA to go to work. I’ll hopefully be awake enough to you know, actually work. I already can’t wait for the weekend.

I’m back! And if I never see another box of matzah cake meal, I wouldn’t be happier. Even though my parents’ kitchen has double convection ovens, we still spent three days baking for the two seders (25 people and 48 people in attendance). It was kinda sad to see three days worth of baking get eaten up in about five minutes. But at least I was able to give out about a dozen business cards. Woohoo!
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As you may remember, I am addicted to Cadbury mini eggs. Yesterday, I read about these–mini eggs with pop rocks on the outside! I must have them. Unfortunately, they’re only available in Canada (hey, I did my research) which means I may have to ask one of my friends in Michigan to mail me some.
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Looking for a calligrapher? Erin of erin-go-blog (one of the first blogs I began reading on a regular basis) does beautiful calligraphy. Check her out.
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I have to get two fillings this afternoon. I have nothing more to add to that thought, other than I’m of course looking for sympathy because I hate those damn needles.
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Is anyone else’s DirecTV Tivo acting up? I have it set to record only first run for a lot of shows, yet it’s recording every damn episode. Which means, I have about 15 episodes of Engaged and Underage and The Real World recorded. Or I, would, if I uh, watched those shows.
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I spoke to The Artist last night and we made plans to meet up on Monday. No idea yet as to what we’re doing.
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Also last night, I attended a Jewish night of HurryDate. Of my ten “dates,” I had previously met two. One was this guy who asked me a) why I wasn’t at a seder for the third night of Passover; and b) if Passover was “the ma nishtana holiday.” The other was a guy I knew from college (he was a friend of a friend) who is a really cute optometrist now. We spent a good chunk of our five minutes talking about my LASIK experience and resulting residual astigmatism and halos. Sexy conversation, eh? Apparently this is what happens when you’re the daughter of an optometrist and meet another optometrist. Maybe vision talk can lead to a date? Who knows. Anyway, I put “yes” to a few men and should know if I matched with any of them by tonight. I’ll keep ya posted.

Thursday night I got my Hurrydate matches. I got three yeses, two of whom I put yes for–the optometrist (!) and a teacher. I heard from the teacher, but not the optometrist so I decided to email him. Haven’t heard a peep. Oh well.
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Friday we got out of work early, so I hit Target and ran a few more errands then came home, ate dinner, and proceeded to fall asleep in the middle of Law & Order.
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Saturday I ran errands, set plans for a Monday night coffee date with the Artist, then spent time with Jen. We went to Surfas, Tender Greens, and for frozen yogurt. She had the nasty bitter faux-Pinkberry stuff. I had old school fro-yo. Because you care, right?

I also at some point, spent $70 at Borders on Dorie Greenspan and Donna Hay cookbooks. I can’t wait for Passover to end so I can make some of their recipes. And I know I could have gotten them for cheaper on Amazon, but there’s something to be said for instant gratification.
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Sunday I took my Little on an outing. Since the weather was too cool for the beach, we nixed our plans of going to Venice (she’s never been) and went indoor glow-in-the-dark putt-putting instead. Again. We’ve now gone three times in our three years of being matched. I keep thinking she’ll find it boring. Apparently not.

After dropping my Little off, I headed over to meet my family (my parents’ dog included) at my sister’s apartment in Santa Monica. We went for brunch, did some shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond, then drove around westside neighborhoods looking at apartments because my sister is moving yet again. Later in the evening we headed toward my ‘hood for dinner and now my parents are on their way back to SD. And I’m stuffed.
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In other news, the Artist left a voicemail during dinner saying he has to work tomorrow so we’re going to reschedule. Bummer.
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Now it’s time for Entourage and other Sunday night TV.

It’s that time again! While I’ve been busy buying multiple copies of the same book (come on, you’ve done it too), I have yet to read any of them. However, I have been trying to get into The Book Thief, but I think I need something slightly more uplifting at the moment.

So, what are you reading? And if you’ve read a book that someone posted about in the comments in part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six, part seven, or part eight let us know!

So I ended up ordering the pants I wanted from Express in “long” using their “fashion delivery” option. You order in the store, they ship them FedEx, and you get them in a couple of days. Well, turns out mine were overnighted and I didn’t have to pay sales tax. Pretty cool, huh?
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I think I ate more turkey and chicken during Passover than I have eaten since the new year began. The Passover diet is awesome–I am down two pounds.
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While I was in SD for Passover, I received an email from a reader asking for suggestions of restaurants to go to in San Diego. Well, turns out she and I went to college and worked on our school newspaper together. Small world.
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The Artist and I were hoping to meet up tonight. Unfortunately, he’s still working on a show and I’m leaving for SD tomorrow evening, so now we’re shooting for sometime next week or perhaps March of 2008. I had forgotten what it’s like to make plans with someone who works in production.
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I keep forgetting to mention–how nice of Jdate is it to let us non-subscribing folks know who is emailing us? It’s about time!
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If you haven’t already, please tell us what good books you’ve read lately.
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In TV news. Did anyone else watch The Real World last night? Wow, they’re all nuts on that show. I’m so bummed Uchenna and Joyce lost this week’s episode of The Amazing Race. And for my fellow What About Brian watchers out there, rumor has it the show isn’t coming back for another season. I know, big surprise there.
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And finally, I put a Recipe Index on my baking blog. I’m still tweaking it, so it will hopefully look prettier in the next few days. Or not.

The majority of my weekend was spent doing this:

The rest of the weekend went like this:

• Drove down to San Diego in less than two hours on Friday night.
• Spent from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday baking cookies and cupcakes.
• Realized after the cancellation (again, due to work) of tentative date number three, I most likely won’t be meeting the Artist. But that’s okay, because a) he smokes; and b) he doesn’t have a stove. Yes seriously. He has a hotplate and toaster oven. This is not acceptable when you’re 36.
• Watched both adults and kids’ faces light up when I brought the cupcakes over to my parents’ neighbor’s house.
• Spoke to a new Jdate guy (we’ll call him Computer Guy since he works in computers) for a bit on the phone. His condo has all the regular appliances, as well a barbecue.
• Made it back to LA in about two hours.

The end. I’m beat.

Today is my mom’s sixtieth birthday!

Happy birthday Mom, I hope you have a wonderful day. I love you and can’t wait to celebrate with the family this weekend!

Two fun things: Awesome reader Dawn mailed me Popping Mini Eggs. How cool is she? And, earlier this week, I enjoyed a couple of these flaming margaritas with two lovely ladies.
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The Computer Guy and I are going to meet next week. Stove-less Artist has disappeared. Yes, before I even met him.
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Did anyone else catch the goof on Entourage this week? When Ari and his wife were driving down Hollywood (you could see the Hollywood and Highland clusterfuck on the north side of the street) and he suddenly decides to go rescue Lloyd in West Hollywood, he makes a u-turn. But…he was already going west. So he made the u-turn and consequently, was going east, away from West Hollywood. It bugged me.

In other TV news, anyone else watching Notes From The Underbelly? And have I mentioned I’ve been Tivo’ing Little People, Big World as well?
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So, one of my awesome coworkers offered to make me a website for my baking business (in exchange for baked goods of course), but I need help from a graphic artist or someone with design expertise to create the look of the site. I’m thinking of having an other contest, similar to the one I had for the header image. Would anyone be interested in entering?

In other blogging news, my baking blog has been nominated for a Blogger’s Choice Award. Thanks to Tori for the nomination!
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And finally, I’ve kept my TV off most of this week, save for Tivo’d shows. I just can’t bear to watch any more coverage of the shootings at Virginia Tech. It amazes me how much life has changed in the 10 years I’ve been out of college. When I was in school, our major concerns consisted of roommates eating our food or others in the dorm stealing our laundry from the dryer. Never in a million years would I have ever thought about someone coming onto our campus with the intent of killing people. It makes me scared and sad to think about what life will be like for my generation’s children.

Friday night I headed straight to the market to pick up ingredients for World Peace Cookies (which by the way, are amazing) then came home, made the dough, scrubbed and cleaned and vacuumed my apartment, baked the cookies, watched TV, and fell asleep in about .02 seconds.

The next morning, unable to sleep in, I made the Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding (sorry, no pics) for my family (I can’t stand pudding, blech). That afternoon, I headed out to the Valley for a haircut and color then came home and met up with my parents and sister. We hung out at my apartment a while then went to La Terza to celebrate my mom’s 60th birthday. Sadly, the service sucked, the food was just okay, and even though we twice confirmed we were celebrating a birthday, they neglected to acknowledge it whatsoever. Needless to say, we won’t be going back anytime soon. Talk about disappointing.

Sunday morning my sister’s boyfriend joined us for brunch at the French Market in West Hollywood then we went shoe shopping–I got one pair of heels and one pair of gym shoes. Good stuff! We also stopped and looked at some insane three bedroom condos in Hollywood that sadly, are way out of my price range.

My family just left, so now I am going to put on pajamas, write my acceptance speech for my Big Sister award, watch TV, and at some point, order Indian food for dinner. This weekend was fun but flew by and next week is packed with a Jewish Film Festival screening, dinner at Buddha’s Belly for all the Big Brothers and Big Sisters, a menu tasting for the luncheon reception, a Jdate, volunteering at the Israel Festival, and more. Should be fun!

People who talk on their cellphones in the market. Shopping carts can be dangerous when you’re not paying attention. Plus, I don’t want to hear about this morning’s walk of shame thankyouverymuch.

Furniture stores that won’t give you their one year finance free special because you are one penny short of the $1000 purchase. Not kidding.

People who pick their nose while sitting in traffic. You mean you didn’t know others can see into your car windows?

People who get mad at me for not turning right on a red even though there are five billion huge signs that say NO RIGHT TURN ON RED. (Santa Monica at Beverly Blvd.)

People who are your friend when they’re single, then too busy to get together the minute they become part of a couple even though you tell them you still want to be their friend, then expect to be your friend again the minute the relationship fails.

Post office employees who, mid-transaction, say, “You’ll be next in line, I have to go to lunch now.” Yeah, seriously.

People at the [now-defunct thanks to this] Century City Farmer’s Market who insist on walking super slowly in the middle of the sidewalk so no one can pass or walk next to them.

The line down the block for Sprinkles cupcakes. Sprinkles! Drive a little further west and go to Buttercake Bakery instead. Also, Pinkberry. Enough! They’re beginning to take over the City.

Okay, I’m done. Your turn. What do you think is lame?

I’m exhausted. This week has been super busy and I haven’t had time to breath or go to Target. Both of which are equally important of course. Fortunately, I have nothing aside from a date with the washing machines and my Tivo planned for tonight. Possibly a visit from the local sushi guy as well. Oh yeah, did I mention I gained back most of the post-tonsillectomy weight I lost while I lived off of Slurpees? Time to start counting points again. Ugh.
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Monday night I saw Comme T’y Es Belle (Gorgeous) at the Jewish Film Festival. None of my friends could go, so I ended up going by myself. I used to have a huge complex about going to movies alone, now I don’t mind it at all. Anyway, the movie was really funny (it’s being touted as the Jewish, French version of Sex and the City) and should the festival come to your city, I highly recommend it.
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I ordered these super cute reusable grocery bags. I know they’re pricey for bags, but I had a discount and I’m splitting them with a friend. And maybe their cuteness will make me remember to actually take them to the market with me so I don’t have to waste plastic ones every time I go.
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Maria (a Grammy nominated graphic artist, creator of my awesome header image, and giver of beautiful personalized note cards), has started her own letterpress business. Order from her, she is awesome.
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The Jdate with the Computer Guy will be rescheduled because I messed up and double booked my Wednesday night. I’m not sure when we’re getting together, as we’ve been playing email and phone tag.

In more Jdate news, I spoke on the phone to a really cool guy who stumbled onto my blog following our phone conversation in which I shared my lovely story of how Kirk Gibson broke my heart. We had the phone conversation Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning I noticed a search for “kirk gibson is a jerk” with a bunch of hits. So, being the nosy person I am, I did a trace route (yes, I’m aware I’m a nerd) and discovered the IP address was coming from the same area in which the new Jdate Guy lived. He knows I know he read it and he’s cool if I mention him, and it’s all good, albeit a little weird. But, it was bound to happen eventually, it just took three and a half years to do so. So, hi Kirk Gibson Guy, looking forward to meeting you on Monday!
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In TV news, I’m addicted to Run’s House now. Why? I have no idea. I blame Tivo. But I know my sister watches it too. So who does everyone think will win The Amazing Race? And Meg, I’ve been watching you on Workout and you look great!
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Yesterday was the awards reception menu tasting at the Beverly Hills Hotel. We tasted two soups, three main dishes, and three (!) desserts. I want to kidnap the pastry chef and make him mine! The hotel is gorgeous, everyone there is so nice, and we walked past Kathy Griffin having lunch. I also learned that one of the other two women being honored is the wife of the mayor of Beverly Hills. Talk about being in good company! I am so looking forward to the luncheon, even if I do have to speak in front of 300 people. At least this gives me an excuse to buy a new suit.

In more Big Sister news, Tuesday night was a dinner for Bigs at Buddha’s Belly (owned by a Big!). While I was there, I chatted briefly with a Big Sister who recently quit her day job and rented a commercial kitchen downtown. Now the exciting part–she cooks but does not bake. We traded info and I’m hoping to meet her for drinks or something to discuss potentially working together in the future. How cool is that?
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In other news, I thought that after getting dissed by a postal worker mid-transaction last weekend, I’d be cool with the post office for a while. No such luck. The mailman (postal carrier?) for my apartment building has apparently decided that he/she no longer needs to sort fliers, catalogs, and Bed Bath and Beyond coupons (!!!) and instead, dumps them in a post office box thingy in front of the mailboxes in the lobby. Now I know why I haven’t been getting my BBB coupons lately.
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And now, for something new. I think every Thursday I’ll ask you guys a random question. This week’s question is: What is your least favorite word and why? I hate the word panties. I hate how it sounds and I don’t know anyone who uses it aside from Victoria’s Secret (and men who learned it from Victoria’s Secret).
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Finally, I’m so glad to see my commenters back. I thought you all had ditched me or something. I missed you.

Friday
Friday night I went to the Valley to hang out with DG. Yes, that DG. No, we’re not dating again. We’re just hanging out. We were originally going to get drinks somewhere, but I told him I was exhausted from the week so we got food and rented Little Miss Sunshine instead. The movie was awesome.

Saturday
Woke up around 9:00 (so much for sleeping in) and snagged the washing machines early. Ran errands, went the mall and Loehmann’s in search of a new suit and bought nothing, went to Target and Trader Joe’s and bought lots, then came home. I caught up with JAB on the phone, did bills, made sablés dough, organized some stuff, worked on my speech (which I’m totally unable to write for whatever reason), watched everything on my Tivo, then went to bed. I desperately needed that night at home.

Sunday
I headed out to the Valley (I know, twice in one weekend) to volunteer at the Big Brothers Big Sisters booth at the Israel Festival. [Side note: Security was insane--purse checking, metal detectors, police everywhere, Israeli security, and bomb sniffing dogs. It's sad all that is needed.] Anyway, the festival was good–we signed up a lot of potential Bigs and Littles, including one 13-year-old boy who was inquiring about the requirements for getting matched. As his friends were trying to pull him away, he said to me, “My dad isn’t dead, but he doesn’t spend a lot of time with me. Is that okay?” My heart nearly broke; I hope they find him a Big Brother quickly.

On my way to the booth, I saw Joel and chatted with him very briefly. While at the booth, I saw the manager and an employee of the Trimana across the street from my office who both stopped by with their families and said hello. Then, as we were breaking down the booth, I saw The Ex. (Oddly enough, the guy I was sitting at the booth with ran into his ex earlier.) We hugged and chatted for about five seconds then he quickly and rudely said he was meeting friends and had to go. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of his wife, but I don’t think she was there. Anyway, he couldn’t have been any colder and it seemed like he couldn’t get away from me fast enough.* This is the man who a couple of a years ago asked me to go away with him while he lived with his girlfriend. What the hell? And of course, when I got in the car and began to cry, “Don’t Speak” was playing. That song was all over the radio when he and I broke up, and I must have cried to it a million times before.

Seeing him made me think about how different my life would be had I married him. I’d most likely have children of my own now and wouldn’t be volunteering as a Big Sister. Then again, I’d probably also be divorced. Life is so weird.

Now that I’ve wiped the tears, I’m going to try to have a relaxing night. I have TV to watch, Jdate boys to talk to, and sablés to get in the oven.
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This coming week is going to be super busy–Jdate with Kirk Gibson Guy (next week instead, I have too much pre-luncheon stuff to do), Jdate with Computer Guy, the luncheon, dinner with Marissa and Jessica, a trip down to OC to buy and make stuff (including a diaper cake–not the edible kind) for Ann-Marie’s upcoming baby shower, a birthday party if I’m back in town early enough, then Sunday is the annual event for all the Bigs and Littles at the Magic Castle.