Another not terribly exciting weekend.

• Went to Target to get a hairdryer, spent $50, then came home and realized I forgot to buy the hairdryer.
• Went back to Target for the hairdryer.
• Bought two huge tubs for my cookie cutters and sprinkles. They are both filled to the top.
• Organized more cupboards.
• Saw Definitely, Maybe with Karrin.
• Bought new Clinique lipstick and lip gloss. Rumor has it they are going to start putting SPF in their lip products shortly. Yay!
• Was supposed to have my Little over for a sleepover but was told “I’m really busy, I have a lot going on this weekend. Can we do it in a few weeks?” Yes, I was dissed by a 14-year-old.
• Made more cake balls for my coworkers. This time, I made white cake with vanilla frosting with rainbow thingies in it.
• Went for a walk.
• Went to the Hollywood Farmer’s Market and Bed Bath and Beyond.
• Spent entirely too much time on the phone with DirecTV because my new DVR sucks sucks sucks and they don’t care. Also, they charged me for my free receiver then signed me up for a $5.99/month “protection plan” without my authorization. I got the charges reversed and the plan canceled and they offered me a $5 credit for three months because I was “patient and understanding,” but I think the whole thing was a scam. Sadly, DirecTV is the lesser of the three evils in my area. Ugh.
• Relaxed on the couch.
• Cleaned up my apartment as Esther will be staying with me for a couple days this week and my parents will be here the following week. Did I mention my mom, sister, and I are all doing the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in a couple of weeks? We’re walking for my grandma (she died when I was a teenager but was a breast cancer survivor), and also a family friend who is a survivor.

In other news, there is yet another baked goods photo thief. Only this one is stealing not just my photos, but my posts too. What the hell people?

And in other random news, I have 10 unread messages waiting for me on Jdate and for a brief second I actually considering rejoining so I would have something to blog about. Yes, my life is that boring at the moment.

Things that sucketh:

• Going into the office early and leaving late.
• Paying $9 to park at the doctor’s office. And that’s without tipping the (mandatory) valet.
• The price of gas.
• The neighbor in the building next door with a drum set.
• Getting dissed by my 14-year-old Little.
• People who steal cupcake photos.
• DirecTV.

Things that rocketh:

• The annoying neighbors who had the bass on the stereo so high it shook my apartment moved out.
• Cake balls.
• People who beat up cupcake photo thieves. (OK fine, I don’t know anyone who does that, but if they did, they would rock.)
• Trader Joe’s opening within walking distance of my apartment.
• Green Giant corn in butter sauce.
• Microwaved Peeps.
• The kickass letter I started writing that I will send to DirecTV.

As always, feel free to add your own.

This week at work has been nuts. A coworker in a totally different department quit, and I have been assigned her project that is in no way related to writing of any sort. In fact, it’s all about numbers, which is something, being a writer, I suck at. Anyway, for the first time ever, I have been going in early, working through lunch, and staying late. Fortunately for me, they reclassified my position a couple of years ago and I am now eligible for overtime (something I haven’t received since I had a part-time job in high school!), which is the only thing that is keeping me somewhat sane. I am drained like you wouldn’t believe.
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You know you live in LA when instead of being interested in what is being filmed on the street in front of your office, you’re more annoyed that they closed the street and you can’t walk to the lunch place until they are done shooting.
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I am so behind in reading blogs.
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As much as I loved Millionaire Matchmaker, this made me go hmmm. Did anyone watch Tuesday’s episode? I wanted to reach through the TV and wax that guy’s eyebrows so badly.

What about Project Runway, what did you think? I liked Rami’s collection the best. (POTENTIAL SPOILER IN THE COMMENTS. DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU.)
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I’m going to Vegas in a month. Have I mentioned how excited I am to get out of LA? I can’t wait.
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This week’s question I’m stealing from one of Jessica’s posts: Do you think dating was better old school (pre-Internet, voicemail, caller ID, and cell phones) or new school (with Internet, cell phones, voicemail, and social networking sites) and why? And if you’re too young to remember the old school days, please keep that bit of information to yourself, thankyouverymuch.

Friday evening I came home from work exhausted, ate dinner, made part of the next Tuesdays With Dorie recipe (apple pie-cake, details later), packed a bag, then crashed for the night.

Saturday I slept until 11:00, drove out to the Valley (on the way stopping to fill my car up with $3.63/gallon 87 gasoline!) and enjoyed a manicure and pedicure then had my hair colored and two inches cut. I headed down to San Diego straight from the Valley and made it to my parents’ house in just about two and a half hours which isn’t bad, considering I was coming from Chatsworth.

That night, we all went out for dinner then to the drugstore where I bought my first ever Cadbury creme egg. The wrapper said it had a fondant center so I was all excited to try it. Ewww. I’m not exactly sure how I’ve managed to go 33 years without ever having tried one of those nasty things, so I’ll assume it’s because I’m Jewish and never had an Easter basket. Or maybe I just always knew the goodness that is Cadbury mini eggs. Moral of the story: Cadbury creme eggs = gross. Cadbury mini eggs = yum. Bonus: I can’t believe I just wrote an entire paragraph about Cadbury creme eggs.

Sunday morning I again slept in then headed to the Del Mar Fairgrounds with my mom and sister to meet up with my dad and the dog for the Ugly Dog Contest. We had a bunch of friends there too, so Da Vinci had his own cheering section. Like last year, my dad and Da Vinci participated in the “dog who looks most like its owner” category. Unlike last year, Da Vinci didn’t get first (but still placed with third). And yes, there were some really ugly dogs there!

Following the contest, we had a celebratory (okay, not really) lunch at Pacifica, then I packed up my car and headed back to LA, once again, sans traffic. As always, a wonderful (yet super short) 24 hours with my family.

And now I’m going to watch really bad TV.
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In other news, I broke down and paid for Jdate. Think of it as a momentary lapse in judgment, as well as wanting to read an email from a cute, sane sounding boy whom I “clicked” with. Sadly, the email was to basically fill me on an “embellishment” in his profile “written by very generous friends.” I kid you not. Stay tuned, there are some real gems in my inbox.

First, some background. Jdate has this thing called Clicks. Basically, if you think someone’s profile is cool you click yes on this little heart thing. And if they think your profile is cool, they click yes. And if you both click yes to each other, then you see two little hearts next to each other (aww) and receive a click email. So, I clicked yes for this guy, he clicked yes for me, I sent him a flirt (free way to correspond), and he wrote this back:

Hi,
Your profile is sweet and your pictures are cute. I have to say though, much of my profile was written by my very generous friends. I’m really 5′ 6″* although the rest of the profile is under-embellished (or at least subjective).

Who actually believes his “friends” wrote his profile? Not I.

*His profile said he was my height, 5′9″.

Tuesday morning, I got to work before the air conditioning turned on, and also before sunrise, which I watched from the lunchroom. No one should ever have to go into an office at that hour.

Wednesday morning I woke up at 2:30 freaking out that I messed up my redlines for the very important project from hell. (I didn’t of course.) The rest of the day was filled with more fun edits which not only kept me really busy, but took time away from playing Scrabulous. Also, I had to stay a little late which forced me to postpone my eyebrow appointment to later in the evening. (By the way Lori, I’m still going to the place you referred me to; I love them!) On my way home from the eyebrow place, there was a ton of traffic and I was in a bad mood and started crying and decided I wanted chicken McNuggets (don’t ask me why), which I haven’t eaten since I saw that movie Super Size Me in the theater in 2004. For whatever reason, I craved them and probably won’t eat them again for another four years. Blech. Anyway, I then got home, ate, and read the comments on my last post and started crying again because I felt like you guys were attacking me for something I didn’t even say, and then I read Amy’s and Keith’s comments and thought yay, some people get it and then I thought maybe I just shouldn’t write about dating anymore. Which then turned into, maybe it’s time for the blog to end. Then I ate some Cadbury mini eggs and felt better, at least until the pimple under my eyebrow (weird, right?) started to hurt and that’s when I just got really annoyed. And that concludes my stream of consciousness and run-on sentence packed paragraph. After that paragraph, I bet you couldn’t tell my job title has the word writer in it, could ya?

In somewhat related news, I’m (obviously) still employed, and one of these days (when I’m no longer employed there), I will fill you in on the drama. Possibly. Maybe not. I don’t know, I’m paranoid.
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I made another Tuesdays With Dorie recipe! This time it was Russian Grandmothers’ Apple Pie-Cake. I thought it was just OK, but my coworkers gobbled it up in no time.
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In TV news–anyone watch Beauty and the Geek or Top Chef? What’d you think?
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My mom is coming into town Friday night so that she and my sister and I can do the Komen breast cancer walk on Saturday (my dad is working then coming up to LA later that day). Of course, it’s supposed to rain (!) which would kinda suck. Whatever. Walking in the rain is still preferred over redlining documents.
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If most of this post doesn’t make any sense, it’s because my brain is only focusing on the document from hell and really boring legalize. Sorry.
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This week’s question: You just won $1 million (after taxes to make it simple). What are the first three things you buy/spend it on?

My mom came into town Friday night then my dad drove in Saturday. It was a super busy weekend and we did a ton of eating, as evidenced below:

• Did the Susan G. Komen Race For the Cure at the Rose Bowl on Saturday with my sister and mom. Fortunately, we had beautiful walking weather–mid 60s–and the rain and wind didn’t kick in until much later in the day.
• Had yummy salads with my mom, sister, and aunt Nan at Joan’s On Third. (Side note: they have amazing green beans, I think they’re in an XO sauce! And their vanilla cupcake was just sorta eh; it reminded me a lot of Sprinkles.)
• Hung out with my family once my dad got into town.
• Had dinner with my family and aunt at The Farm.
• Had brunch with my family, aunt, and Bethany’s friend Brittany at Jinky’s, where I bumped into my neighbors.
• Hit my side mirror on the pole again. Don’t ask. Not happy.
• Went shoe shopping and to Surfas with my family.
• Fought with my mom.

Have I mentioned how cool it is that I’ve been able to see my aunt so much lately? It’s always fun spending time with her and my family.
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In other news, the Jdate profile embellisher hasn’t read my email nor logged on since he emailed me corrected his height. Also, I got brave and emailed a cool sounding guy from the same town as me in Michigan who now lives in LA and received a rejection email in return. I guess I get an A for effort, right?

Email #1
thinks you are enchanting~! heartstopping ravishing~! breathtaking~!intrigued….ps..we live 5 mins apart~!aroma cafe for coffee?

Since when is the Valley five minutes from Hollywood? Even on a good day, it takes at least 12 minutes to go through the canyon. And even weirder, he wouldn’t know I live in Hollywood because my profile says Los Angeles. Whatever.

Email #2
His email:
Hi, I’m Xxxx. You’re a gorgeous lady, and your profile really resonated with me. I’d like to get to know you.

My response:
Thanks for the email, but I don’t think we’re a good match. Good luck with your search!

His response:
That’s for damn sure.

These men are 16 and 17 years my senior, respectively.

Totally random post today. Just go with it.

I’m now writing for Inside My Target Cart. If you love Target, you’ll love the blog!
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Does anyone know the secret of how to retract the retractable hairdryer cord without injuring yourself?
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In random news, my XM Radio trial ran out in my car and I miss my 80s station and up-to-the-minute LA traffic. Does anyone pay for it? Are you happy you did?
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Tuesday we celebrated a coworker’s birthday at a most delicious Korean place on Sawtelle called Tofu Yya. I can’t wait to go back, mmm.

And last night I had a very fun and long overdue dinner with Nicole, Lori, Samantha, and Abby at Taste. While my former neighbor was working, he sadly wasn’t our server. Instead, we had a girl who sounded like she was practicing for the interview portion of the Miss America pageant. No joke.
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Did anyone else get an email pushing Jdate’s new toolbar? Yes, you can have a Jdate toolbar alongside your Google and Yahoo ones. Seriously.
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This weekend I’m finally having my Little over for a sleepover. It’s so sweet how excited she gets whenever she stays over. She walks around and looks at everything and always says, “You’re apartment is so clean and pretty.” Her house is filled, and I mean filled, with junk.
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In TV news, How I Met Your Mother is back! I am kind of over this yellow umbrella thing though. Anyone else watching Beauty and the Geek? I think I miss the old format where they have geek/beauty teams, and I’m kinda hoping that’s what the big surprise is next week.
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In baking news, I’m feeling brave and am going to attempt hamentaschen this weekend. Maybe I’ll enlist the help of my Little. I’m sure that’s what every 14-year-old wants to do when they’re away from their mom’s house, right?

Speaking of sweets, I’m participating in the The Great Candy Swap–each participant gets matched and sends (and then of course, receives) a minimum of $10 worth of candies unique to their area. Any suggestions for local LA candies? I was thinking of hitting Boule, Jin Patisserie, or the Farmer’s Market. What do you think?
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This week’s question: What music has been playing on your iPod lately?

It’s 3:30 and I’m still in my pajamas if that’s any indication of what my weekend was like. Here are the boring details:

• Got out of work three hours early then proceeded to sit in more traffic than during rush hour on a regular workday.
• Spent entirely too much time fighting with a crazy woman online who eventually got herself banned from a cupcake discussion board.
• Went to the market and found tons of new Passover stuff and bought boxes of matzo cake meal for my mom as her local store in Del Mar doesn’t carry it.
• Made Hamantaschen.
• Got canceled on by my Little again, this time because she’s sick. I’m beginning to think I’m just not cool enough for her anymore.
• Caught up with Jen over salads at Tender Greens. We had planned to go to Akasha but apparently they aren’t serving lunch on Saturdays yet. Whoops.
• Hit the sale at Banana Republic and got some cute tops.
• Went to Target with my sister.
• Went to sleep with a horrible allergy-related headache and woke up with an even worse one.
• Wrote most of my letter to DirecTV.
• Finally caught up with Julie.
• Finished the redesign of my baking blog. I’m having a few issues, so if you’re good with Wordpress plugins and want to help, shoot me an email please.

After two crazy busy weekends (two weekends ago I was in SD, last weekend my parents were here), I finally got to catch up on stuff and laze around and be a bum.
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In other news, if you like the original formula Coke (made with real sugar rather than corn syrup), go to your store now–Passover Coke is available, just look for the yellow caps!

Also, I ordered XM Radio for my car because my coworker found the most amazing deal–$77 for the entire year.

Happy Easter to those celebrating today!

And finally, I’m going to Vegas in less than two weeks. Woohoo!

I received an email this week via my baking blog asking if I would like to review recipes from a review copy of a new cookbook, how fun is that? They’re even sending me an extra copy to giveaway on the baking blog, so I’ll let you know when I post the contest.
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What is up with all the New Yorkers who move to LA then continuously whine about how they don’t like pizza/bagels/Chinese food/deli in LA. Hello, it was 85 degrees and sunny with no humidity this week. Shut up about the bagels.
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I lost a game of Scrabulous to a 19-year-old. That is embarrassing. And by the way, QI = best Scrabulous word ever.
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I still want to try The Waffle, who’s game? They have waffles. And a bar. How can that be bad?
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The battery on my Blackberry hasn’t been holding a charge very well so I called AT&T in hopes of them sending me a new one. Since it’s still covered by its one-year warranty, they told me to call the warranty center to have a new battery mailed to me. So, I called, waited on hold for 10 minutes, then got disconnected. Three times. Finally, I got a CSR who told me to remove the battery from my phone, look at the area on the back of the phone above the SIM card, and “describe what the tiny circle or square looks like.” Umm, I couldn’t find the tiny circle or square so I asked what color it was and was told “I can’t tell you that, I need you to describe it to me.” What the hell?

I finally noticed a tiny white square and practically squealed with joy at my desk and asked the CSR if that was the correct answer, which fortunately it was. What’s the big secret about the tiny circle/square you ask? If it’s white, it means your phone doesn’t have water damage. If it’s some other color (don’t ask me what color, I have no idea), it means your phone does have water damage. Am I the only one who wasn’t in on this secret?
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Remember the whole merger/acquisition thing going on at my office? Well, the shareholders approved it, so now it’s up to the regulatory agency to do the same. Stay tuned.
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In TV news, The Hills did not disappoint did it? Speaking of the show, if you haven’t already, you must read B-Side’s recaps and while you’re there, check out his fun post about his celebrity sighting at my favorite yogurt shop. In Top Chef news, how did I not notice until last night how cute Ryan is?
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In other news, I’m leaving for Vegas a week from today! I. Can’t. Wait.
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This week’s question: If you could choose anyone to play yourself in a movie about your life, who would it be and why?

Awesome weekend!

Friday
Came home from work, made dinner, watched TV, then went to sleep. Terribly exciting, I know.

Saturday
Slept in, cleaned my apartment, lounged around, made Gooey Chocolate Cakes, and stayed in my pajamas until early evening. I finally got dressed and met up with Eve and her friend at Eve’s condo for drinks and chocolate cake before heading over to The Happy Ending for Fun Joel’s birthday party. We had the whole upstairs room to ourselves which was really cool.

We walked in and chatted with Tamara very briefly, got drinks at the bar, wished Joel a happy birthday, then were approached by a few guys, two of whom had British accents (swoon!), and one of them was even taller than me in my three inch heels. Right away, the tallest one told me he liked my “spectacles” and that I have sexy eyes. Oh, and it came up that he’s Jewish, did I mention that? We chatted with the group for a while, he asked for my number and I obliged, and we chatted some more. I don’t really remember how we got separated from everyone else at that point, but we ended up on the balcony (read: fire escape) with all the smokers (so much for fresh air) for the majority of the night, where we talked some more, he told me I have a “nice bum,” and then shared a few kisses. It was a fun time, and I dig his accent.

After last call, the three of us girls and the Brits (they’re brothers) and their friends all headed across the street to In-N-Out, then over to Eve’s condo for a couple more hours. When I got to my car, the Brit hugged me and said he’d call and we’ll go out soon. We’ll see if it happens, especially since he’s going to London for a month beginning next week. And if he doesn’t call, it was still a fun night and a much needed boost to my ego.

Sunday
I woke up four hours later at 8:00 because the moron in the building next door was playing his drums (!), then tossed and turned for a couple of hours hoping to fall back asleep. Unsuccessful at getting more sleep, I decided it was time to start my day and went to the market (where I saw Wee-Man and another guy whose name I can’t remember) then came home and did laundry. Now I’m going to plant myself on the couch and hope I don’t fall asleep too early tonight. Zzzz.

Even though I’m trying to not set myself up for disappointment, it would be kinda cool if the Brit calls.