Saw a really good show at UCB with Karrin. Unfortunately, one of the stars, Jeff Garlin, was super out of it (drunk? high?). Went to the beach with Jen. Went to Milk with my sister and had some really yummy desserts.

Spent a long weekend in San Diego where I baked a gazillion Passover desserts and spent time with family and friends and went to seders. Had brunch with Julie (who is pregnant with baby number three, congratulations!) at the Shack, where we would go when we’d ditch class in high school. After Passover, went to Mozza with three fabulous women. And attended a good-bye party for a friend who is moving up north.

Speaking of friends, I learned that reading a friend’s friend’s blog may lead to reading something I didn’t really care to know. And also, that if someone is a true friend, they will help, not hurt, you. And they’d eventually get around to responding to an IM.

Got my candy swap package! Speaking of candy, anyone know where you can buy Pineapple Lumps in the U.S.? Had a marshmallow recipe failure. Had much more success with flourless chocolate-walnut cookies and chocolate chip sour cream pound cake.

Got a couple of texts and phone calls from the Brit all promising “I’ll call you” and/or “we’ll get together soon” just before he got hit by The Bus. Learned I am capable of not obsessing and not driving myself crazy with thoughts of “will he call?” and more importantly, that if he doesn’t call, amazingly, the world won’t end. More recently, went on a few dates, including a second one at the Getty (where the weather was gorgeous and the date was eh). Also, had a fun first date with yet another unemployed writer.

Received a letter from XM Radio saying if I sign up for automatic debit (for an annual subscription, weird, yes I know) I would get a $12.95 credit to my account. So, my $77 a year subscription just went down to $64.05. Not bad, huh?

Got back into exercising regularly and eating well and, with a little help from Passover, lost a few pounds.

Had a really bad four days where I tried to limit my crying to while in the shower only. Entertained the idea of going to pastry school. Thought about moving to San Diego once things filter out at work; more on that later. Speaking of work, remember that crazy deadline I had a couple of months ago? Currently going through it again, this time for first quarter 2008; not fun.

Realized that some of my blog readers are fabulous people who actually care about me; learned some of my blog readers think I am selfish for not blogging. And also, there is a plugin that will automatically upgrade Wordpress and it is awesome. And as a bonus, did you know you can now post videos to Flickr?
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Yes, I know, random stuff, totally out of order, and not very detailed. And of course, it’s only some of what I’ve been up to. The last month has provided a lot of introspection as well as re-evaluation of a friendship. And blog-wise, I was surprised to find that I didn’t miss blogging as much as I thought I would. I’m not sure if that means I needed a break, or perhaps this blog has lived its life. I guess we’ll see.

The Getty Center. As you can see, we had absolutely perfect weather for our visit.

I never got a chance to say thank you to everyone who emailed me during the blog hiatus–your emails really meant a lot, thank you!
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Yesterday I requested information from a few different baking/pastry schools in LA, one of which offers a program that is two evenings and every Saturday for 43 weeks! The only downside thus far is that I’m going to be paying at least $25,000, ugh. I’m going to make appointments to visit the schools and if I do end up enrolling, I’ll be taking out student loans.
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Lori wrote a fabulous essay titled “When a personal blog gets personal” that was published in the LA Times. If you haven’t already done so, go read it!
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In baking news, I made a peanut butter torte that was not only gorgeous, but delicious. And in related news, there is a weird baking blogger who deletes people’s comments when they correct something she said in a post. What is up with that?
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In TV news, how awesome is sweeps? I have been loving Law & Order lately! I think I’m finally over Grey’s Anatomy though. And are Julie and I the only ones watching Beauty and the Geek anymore? And finally, what has the world come to when Justin Bobby is the only person on The Hills saying anything that makes sense. What are you all enjoying?
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I have a second date with the screenwriter next week. Hopefully it will be more fun than the Getty date.
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I know some of you are in SD–any recommendations on small plate or new fun restaurants? Also, has anyone been to Market or Bite?
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This week’s question: What food did you not eat as a kid but did begin eating when you moved out of your parents’ house? (Either because it wasn’t allowed or because you didn’t like it.) I know I didn’t have my first Pop Tart until college, and then I would eat them almost daily while I lived in the dorm!

Although the week began with totally ridiculous drama (the friend I referred to in this post accused me of, among other things, “trashing” her in my blog), it ended with quite a lot of relaxation!

I went down to San Diego early on Friday, thus beating the traffic and even made it in time to have lunch with my parents near my dad’s office. Then I spent a lot of time in my pajamas, watched TV, read a book that I don’t want to end (book post coming soon, I promise, Dawn!), baked low fat chocolate chunk muffins, saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall in the theater and Reservation Road on DVD, and just chilled with my family. This morning we walked into downtown Del Mar and had a delicious Mother’s Day brunch at Sbicca. I’m now back in LA and for some reason, feel like I can still use another weekend.

The only weekend bummer was that Bethany was up north celebrating Elise’s 30th birthday (happy birthday Elise!) so she couldn’t join us. But have no fear–the annual classic car show and Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles for Father’s Day is coming up soon enough.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there. I love you mom!