Sorry, no top ten list this time, but I do think this paragraph will suffice: I had my date with Friendster Guy (FG) last night, and it was very good. He is super nice, cute, funny, smart, and witty and has the most fabulous arms. While the night didn’t go as planned–we had intended to check out The Woods, but they were closed because their security guard had not yet shown up, so we ended up at The Well instead–it was still a lot of fun. We had a couple of rounds over good conversation at the bar, then went back to my apartment (for all of you concerned, we have a mutual friend and she deemed him a very good guy) and talked and kissed until he went home. It was a very nice night and I look forward to seeing him again. Now I need to find a caffeine drip, because four hours of sleep is not enough for this 33-year-old body.

A very abbreviated post because I went to bed really early last night and didn’t have time to put much together. Here ya go:

Wednesday night’s plans were rescheduled, so I have nothing exciting to report about that.
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NJM of course called while I was out with FG Tuesday night. Speaking of FG, we have a second date this weekend, and yes, I am excited.
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In TV news, last night I watched Top Chef on Tivo but haven’t had a chance to catch up on the rest of my Tivo’d stuff. Who do you all want to win on Top Chef?
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Want to do a good deed and possibly win a cookbook? Here’s your chance!
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This week’s question: You have access to a time machine. What period of your life would you go back to and what would you do differently?

I knew the going out too much and not sleeping enough was going to catch up with me eventually. And it did, specifically at 2 a.m. Saturday morning.

Thursday
Straight from the office, I made my way to Ann-Marie and Jeremy’s to visit with them and see their baby. Oh my god, he is so cute and so sweet. He kept tugging on my finger, and when he was hungry, he tried to suck on my neck. It was quite funny.

Friday
When I got home from work, I felt a tickle in my throat and was beginning to lose my voice. Determined to not be sick for the weekend, I took some aspirin and convinced myself I felt fine.

FG picked me up and we went to The Woods. Since it was only 8:30, we were the only ones in the place for about 30 minutes, and we chatted with the bartender about the jukebox for a bit before settling into one of the round booths. The drinks there are huge and strong [side note: Instead of mixed nuts, they give you a glass of rice crackers, peanuts, and corn nuts; only in LA], and three plus hours and a few rounds later, we went back to my apartment and hung out. Around 2:00, I realized I couldn’t breath through my nose whatsoever and finally admitted that I was in fact sick. Before FG left, I apologized for possibly getting him sick; fortunately he didn’t seem too concerned about it.

It was a very lovely night, I had a lot of fun, he doesn’t have twelve toes, and there was non-specific talk of another date. Hopefully I didn’t jinx it by writing this and he will in fact call.

Saturday
I slept in until noon, took a shower, then ran one errand. I came home and felt horrible, so I got back into bed and slept pretty much the rest of the day, waking up to eat soup and watch Tivod stuff. Of course, this meant I did not make it to my friend’s birthday dinner, which sucked big time because I really wanted to be there. But I just couldn’t get my sneezing and coughing self out of bed long enough to brush my hair, let alone have a coherent conversation at a party.

Sunday
Woke up around 8:30 (which gave me about 12 hours of sleep) and threw some clothes on so I could go to WW. Expecting a huge gain from all the alcohol I consumed last week, I was pleasantly surprised to see I somehow managed to lose .8, which brings my total loss down to 10 pounds! Talk about ecstatic!

I then called NJM back and talked to him for about five minutes before my voice started cracking and disappearing. We talked about possibly getting together next weekend. I’m just not feeling it at all. The rest of the day was spent mostly in bed, save for a trip to the grocery store. I really want to kick this cold in the butt quickly and am doing everything I can to get rid of it!

Now I’m off to read and chill, (and will the phone to ring).

I just started Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst. The book is basically a bunch of character studies, as told from the perspective of a few two-person reality show (think The Amazing Race) teams in the middle of the competition. A few chapters into it, and I’m already hooked.

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, part eight, part nine, or part ten let us know!

Yes, I felt the earthquake last night. And thanks to it, I couldn’t get back to sleep until 3:00 because I kept waiting for a bigger one, so now I’m exhausted. Fortunately, today when I woke up I had an actual voice (for the first time in almost a week). Now if my sore throat will finally go away I’ll be all set.
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Earlier this week, a 26-year-old guy IMd me on Jdate and mentioned that he really likes older women. Ouch.
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For all intents and purposes, FG has been hit by The Bus. I hadn’t heard a peep from him until yesterday, when I received a really lame email saying he meant to call the other night but got busy with work, and that he’s swamped with work this week, and is going out of town next week. (Basically, I received the kind of email I’ve sent to guys I don’t want to go on another date with. Payback? Perhaps.) I was really bummed and a little surprised, I thought the second date had gone really well. I wrote him back, and part of my response included So I get the feeling you’re not interested in hanging out again. Care to confirm or deny? Not surprisingly, I haven’t heard back from him.

In related news, I made Boys Suck Brownies.

And in unrelated to brownies, but related to boys news, this brings me back to the whole mindset thing: If I go into meeting someone unenthusiastic and expecting the worst, people tell me I need to have a better attitude. If I go into meeting someone enthusiastic and expecting good things, I end up disappointed. Which is worse?
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If you’re looking for something to read, or have read something good lately that you’d like to share, check out the latest What Have You Read Lately? post.
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For those of you wondering, I never made it to Meltdown for lunch (instead we went to Nook). I was eating like crap that entire week and didn’t want to mess it up even further by eating grilled cheese. Of course, now I sort of regret not going, considering their Monday through Friday, breakfast/lunch only schedule.
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This weekend, I’m heading down to SD with my sister for some R&R (pool! Del Mar! parents! Julie!) and have plans to meet NJM on Sunday on our way back up to LA, in the late afternoon. My sister is going to visit her friend, and I am going to meet NJM. Interesting side note: When I suggested we meet at a coffee shop, his response was, “I don’t drink coffee.” So I offered up meeting for ice cream instead. Apparently he’s not a fan of that either, as he suggested we just meet at a shopping center with a Gelson’s in it and “go from there.” I’m so not looking forward to meeting him.
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Next weekend, I’m participating in a fundraising decathlon event that a friend’s friend is putting together. We’re doing a scavenger hunt then a little olympic style event (think egg toss and three-legged race). I’m hoping I don’t embarrass myself too much.
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This week’s question: What is your middle name? Does it have special meaning?

This weekend, I:

• Drove down to San Diego with my sister.
• Had lunch with Julie and her boys.
• Hung out with my family.
• Hung out with Bethany and her friend and her four month old daughter.
• Postponed meeting NJM because the friend my sister was supposed to go visit while I was on my date was sick, and Bethany didn’t really want to go grocery shopping with us. We said we’d chat later this week and he offered to come up to LA, so we shall see.
• Slept a lot.
• Ate a lot.
• Relaxed a lot.
• Read a lot.
• Did laundry, sans quarters.
• IMd with a really nice Jdate guy who unfortunately lives in New York.
• Had breakfast and shopped with my family in down Del Mar. I got a bunch of tops including this sleeveless one.
• Got cool gifts from my parents, including a set of measuring prep bowls and a new silicone spatula.
• Got stuck in a lot of traffic.

A fun weekend with my family, and as usual, too short. Fortunately, I’ll be back in SD for the high holidays and plan to make long weekends for each.

Recent Jdate correspondences, in their entirety:

Email
[Hilary], I’m like you inside and opposite of you outside. I enjoy being funny and sarcastic, not caustic, sensual and romantic, travel, shopping a fair amount more than most guy’s, working out and all the stuff you listed in your profile.

Are you open to starting a conversation about life, chemistry, lots of love, fizzy lotte milkis, kids and everything?
0:

IM
Hello Boodles. Do you open boxes from out of town?

How To End An Email Exchange
Recently, I exchanged a series of fun, witty emails with a guy on Jdate. While re-reading his profile, I noticed he didn’t answer the questions about religion so I included this in my response:

This might be a stupid question, what with it being Jdate and all, but…are you Jewish? I noticed you put “Will tell you later” in the religion and synagogue boxes. Just a little curious.

I never heard back from him. So much for the J in Jdate.

And Finally
Someone from Jdate’s marketing department emailed me saying that they receive direct hits from my blog (how, I don’t know, considering I never link to them, and when I emailed him back for clarification, his response made no sense), and asked if I would like to participate in their Jdate Affiliate program. (If I were to put their banner ad on my page, I’d get a percentage every time someone subscribed, using the link.) Kinda funny.

This week’s Thursday Things is all over the place, so try to keep up. Here we go:

I’m flying out of Burbank to go to Seattle in a couple weeks. Does anyone have parking suggestions for the Burbank Airport?
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In TV news, I know I already mentioned it in the comments of Nanette’s and Randi’s blogs, but did anyone else catch Whitney say WTF (instead of what the fuck) on The Hills? I kept replaying it because I thought it was so funny. Is anyone else watching The Pickup Artist on VH1? No? Just me? Umm, yeah. Let’s move on to Top Chef. I want CJ to win. What about you?
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In other news, it’s been hot as hell here all week and I’m over it.
—
This weekend’s decathlon fundraiser thing has been canceled, so I now have an entire day with no plans. I think I’ll end up spending it cleaning out my closets and getting my car smogged. So exciting, I know.
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You know those days where you just feel off? Tuesday was that way for me. The power locks in my car decided to stop working. Then a chocolate chip from a Fiber One bar fell down my shirt and into my bra while I was sitting at my desk at work. Then I got home and used toner instead of eye makeup remover to take off my mascara; ouch is right. Then I tried a recipe and it failed, miserably. Fortunately, last night was better and I tried another a different recipe, this one for peanut butter cookies; it wasn’t a disaster.
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In Jdate news, there are two men (neither of whom referred to me as Boodles) that recently asked for my phone number. I’m playing phone tag with one and the other hasn’t called yet.
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What is a ringback tone? How does it differ from a regular ringtone?
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Just a quick hello to Pam–we’re all thinking of you and Joe!
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This week’s question: If you could have lunch with one person (alive or dead), who would it be and why?

This weekend, I did not go to hipster filled Sunset Junction. Instead, I:

• Went over to Ann-Marie’s on Friday night and had dinner and hung out with her and the baby.
• Had an outing with my Little where not only did we go to her favorite restaurant ever, Soup Plantation, we also went to The Grove and got my car smogged. The latter is probably not in the Big Sister guidelines but I didn’t get any complaints from her.
• Went grocery shopping.
• Did a ton of laundry.
• Went to Century City mall to meet up with Karrin to see Hairspray. The parking lot was a huge mess which was obviously foreshadowing of what was yet to come. Every single movie was sold out, so we ended up having dinner, did some damage at The Container Store, then had frozen yogurt. It was fun, I just had no idea that mall was such a happening place on Saturday nights.
• Scrubbed my stove then cleaned out my kitchen cabinets, dresser drawers, bedroom closet, and hall closet, and donated a ton of clothes.
• Chatted with a Jdate guy and made plans for drinks on Thursday.

Today was quite a productive day, and I am about ready to collapse. I am just so thankful I have an apartment with central air. Now I’m going to make dinner and watch really good Sunday night TV.

Let’s start with TV news: What a good week for Reality TV! The Hills was awesome as usual, and this time, we got to see Heidi’s co-worker say OMG which I just find absolutely hysterical. And does Justin Bobby not remind you of every guy you should not be dating? Ugh, I don’t like him, he’s bad.

Speaking of icky, does anyone else watch Dr. 90210? Um, why would Mike Boogie go on national TV to have a genital wart removed? And why didn’t Dr. Will tell him it might be a good idea to tell all the women he’s slept with, because maybe they now have HPV, and HPV is a leading cause of cervical cancer? I know reality TV’s purpose is not to educate their viewers, but I still think they could have thrown that out there.

In not icky reality TV, I was so surprised by the judge’s decision on Top Chef. I was definitely not expecting that one!

In related to TV news, my DirecTV Tivo seems to be wonky again. It’s recording every single episode, not just first runs, of The Hills and The Real World again. So annoying!
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In crazy news, did you see the articles about how “one in four adults read no books at all in the past year?” Talk about frightening.
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I have a Jdate tonight, think good thoughts!

In other dating news, FG called me last night for the sole purpose of apologizing for not calling like he said he would after our last date, and that he had some not-so-good health stuff going on with family which he dealt with when he went back home. We talked about possibly getting together before I leave for Seattle, but I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.
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Yesterday I talked to my Little’s mom and it appears she finally enrolled her in [hopefully the magnet program at the] high school, nothing like waiting till the last minute. Anyway, during our last outing, my Little told me she was going to Israel for a year in October. When I asked her mom about that, she said that they can’t move there now, because Israel won’t give her money (read: welfare) the way the U.S. does. God forbid she, you know, get a job. As much as I care about my Little, her mother kills me.
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Over the past few months, I have become obsessed with sunomono salads (Japanese cucumber salad, usually with crab). Does anyone have a recipe for the dressing? I looked it up on the internet, but they all vary a bit and I’d like a tried and true one.
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This week’s question: If you could implement any rule, about anything, what would it be?

Fifteen minutes before your agreed upon meeting time, your cell phone rings and you have this conversation:

Jdate: Are you there yet?
Me: Um, no, I just left. It’s only 6:45, I thought we weren’t meeting until 7:00.
Jdate: We are, but I’m going to be late, I went the wrong way.

Side note: Tonight’s Jdate is new to LA, so when we spoke last weekend on the phone, I told him the cross streets and to be on the lookout for the House of Blues corporate office sign, as well as the Coffee Bean sign, because the bar is hard to find. I also offered to email him the Citysearch link, but he declined it, saying that he would look it up on his own. It should also be noted he was coming from 15-20 minutes away, just on the other side of the hill.

Me: Where are you?
Jdate: Sunset and La Cienega.
Me: What? Why are you all the way over there?
Jdate: You said it was near the House of Blues.
Me: No, I said it was near the House of Blues corporate office.
Jdate: No, you said the House of Blues.
Me: Trust me, I said look for the House of Blues corporate office sign and the tall office building that says House of Blues at the top. I also said it was next to a Coffee Bean. I thought you were going to look it up?
Jdate: I just wrote down House of Blues because that’s what you said.
Me: I didn’t say that. The House of Blues is in West Hollywood. The Well is in Hollywood. They’re not close to each other.
Jdate: You said look for the House of Blues. So how do I get there?

By this point, I was already annoyed and didn’t want to meet him. I gave him directions to the bar, found a parking spot, then at 7:00, went inside and got myself a drink and sat down. Fifteen minutes later he walks right past me. I briefly debated letting him do a lap around the place but decided to be nice (karma) and tapped him on the shoulder. We said hello and then:

Jdate: You already got a drink?
Me: Well yeah, I’ve been here for 15 minutes.

And it didn’t get any better from there.

The blog. Not me. Well, not yet, but soon I’ll be in Seattle! Just taking a little time off from here. See you soon!

Just a brief post.

I had another just eh Jdate.

I also had a third date with FG last week; it was a lot of fun. Date number four will be sometime after I return from Seattle.
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In baking news, I made mini milk chocolate Bundt cakes that are beyond delicious. Dorie Greenspan’s recipes are amazing.
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September is going to be a crazy busy month. I’ll be in Seattle, then back and forth to SD for the Jewish holidays. Lots of traveling and baking. And hopefully some relaxing thrown in as well!
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I went to WW last week and lost one more pound (-11 total), woohoo!
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Last weekend I had dinner at Ugo in Culver City and it took me until halfway through our meal that I realized I was sitting directly next to a girl I grew up with in SD.

Speaking of Ugo, has anyone been to the wine bar, Vinum Populi, next door? You buy a debit card, insert it in the machine, choose which wine you want a pour(s) of, and you’re good to go. My friend wasn’t feeling well so we didn’t stay, but I definitely want to go back and have some tastes!
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And that’s it. Tomorrow I leave for Seattle and couldn’t be more excited. I’m staying with my cousin, but I’m planning on also visiting one or two friends, and my aunt and uncle will be in town as well. And of course, there’s Bumbershoot! I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend.