I finally took your advice and bought earplugs–what a difference! My neighbor was playing his drums and stereo at 3:30 a.m. so I put those suckers in and slept until 10:00 (only waking up briefly to the sound of sirens on Sunday due to the fire on the Universal back lot). The earplugs are amazing, although I’m sure my ENT will have other things to say about them.
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I’m ashamed to admit it, but I stayed in bed until about noon watching a few hours of Bridezilla. Why is that show so addictive?
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Saturday, I went with Marissa and Jessica to Lori and Nicole’s super fun joint birthday party at the most amazing Malibu beach house I have ever seen. (They even have a window on the floor so you can look down and see the ocean, no joke.) When I wasn’t walking around in awe of the house, I got to know some of their friends and had some very fun and interesting conversations. It was a really awesome day and both Lori and Nicole were glowing. Happy birthday to both of you!
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A few days ago, I made some totally scrumptious chocolate surprise cookies. They have a chocolate cookie base, marshmallow middle, and chocolate frosting on top. Rich and yummy!
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My Jdate got rescheduled, but I should point out that prior to the change in date, he invited me to “fly somewhere for lunch.” Yes, he’s a pilot. I declined because a) I’m terrified of little planes; b) I won’t get in a car with a total stranger, so I wasn’t about to get in an airplane with one either.
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I think I’m the only 30-something woman in all of LA who hasn’t seen Sex and the City yet. But have no fear, the plan is to see it this week.
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Last week as I was in the stairwell heading to my car after work, a really cute guy said, “Hey, you cut your hair, it looks good!” to which I responded “thank you.” Only then did I realize I had no idea who the guy was, so I went back and asked if I knew him. (Side note: My coworkers didn’t notice I chopped two and a half inches, but a total stranger did. Ahem.) He said no, but that he’s seen me around a lot and that I have gorgeous hair. I of course then turned bright red, mumbled thank you, and bolted. Hopefully one of these days I’ll remember how to flirt. And in the meantime, I’m totally on the lookout in the stairwell at work now.

Yes, I’m a sucker. I paid for Jdate again. Here is one of the gems that was waiting for me in my inbox. It’s from a 49-year-old guy on the east coast:

My name is Xxxxx Xxxxx Single at the moment with a Kid thou my angel sandra 10 y/o. we should probably be friends,Maybe we could get to know each other better and work something out lol.

anyway, i’d go on and on, but I wanna get a response from you.. You Could Add me to your friends list on here (xxxx.xxxx@yahoo.com)Th en maybe we could chat Cos am online Now! you know what they say.. appearance captures the eyes, but personality captures the heart.. haha..

take care

Xxxxx Xxxx.

Uhh, yeah. Money well spent, eh?

My date with the pilot has been rescheduled to a dinner next week that I will drive to myself . Also, I have another Jdate planned with a guy who works in the music industry and actually sounds kinda cool. And, I’m emailing with a third guy who also sounds nice as well; he’s only 29. Stay tuned.
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I have a doorwall in my living room that has really ugly vertical blinds. I want to put something a little more attractive up, but since it only opens from one end, regular panel curtains wouldn’t really work (they would open in the middle, you follow?). I noticed something like these on the Home Depot website but haven’t ever seen them in person and can’t tell if they’re any better than my really ugly verticals.
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I’m totally bummed about Top Chef’s elimination last night. Guess I’m rooting for Stephanie now. In other reality TV news, did anyone else watch The Mole? I miss Anderson Cooper.
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Tonight is dinner at Fraiche with the baking posse. Yum and fun!
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I made more cake balls for my coworkers. I can now do no wrong at the office.

Speaking of the office, our CEO gave us all three extra vacation days to use before July 4. (Probably because the merger approval is taking forever and we are all in limbo.) I am so stoked.
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In a couple of weeks, I’m going to my first baseball game of the season, with my dad. We’re going to see the Padres play the Tigers. Don’t ask me where my loyalty is.

Speaking of baseball, I wish someone would remove that stupid billboard of Kirk Gibson the asshat on La Cienega.
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I finally got around to watching Confessions of a Superhero and now every time I walk past Superman at Hollywood & Highland I know I am going to be thinking freak freak freak!
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This week’s question: What is the last bad book you read? What did you not enjoy about it? How far through it did you get?
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And finally, the blog is boring again, I know. I still haven’t figured out what to do.

Thursday
Thursday night was dinner with the baking posse at Fraiche. The company was as always, lovely. And the food was very good. The waitress however, neither lovely nor good; in fact, she was a downright bitch. You can read a more detailed account of what went down and why I won’t be returning to Fraiche over at Jenn’s blog.

Friday
Came home and relaxed then went to sleep early. Exciting, I know.

Saturday
Slept in then went out to the Valley to meet Laura, a college roommate I haven’t seen in over 10 years (!!), for coffee. It was so nice catching up (I still can’t believe she has a seven-year-old daughter!) and we laughed so hard we were nearly in tears.

On my way back to the City, I realized Laura and I have really been through a lot together–a roommate in the dorms who attempted suicide, a roommate in the house who was slipped a Roofie (or what we now believe was a Roofie, as this was years before GHB was all over the news) then consequently raped, and of course, the Northridge earthquake. I know it doesn’t make sense, but that all seems like forever ago, yet it also feels like yesterday. I’m so glad Laura and I are back in touch (thanks to Laura being friends with Julie’s sister-in-law which I was reminded of on Facebook) and I know we will be friends for years to come!

Straight from coffee, I met up with my sister and her friend Ava at Century City mall for a quick bite to eat and to see Sex and the City. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I didn’t cry during the movie at all. I think the two men sitting next to me cried enough for all three of us though.

Sunday
Picked up my Little and headed out to Temescal Canyon for the annual party for all the Bigs and Littles. We had a nice picnic and talked to some of the other matches, then we had the opportunity to do the Ropes Course. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), time was limited, so it was mostly Littles that did the course. Let me tell you, my Little has no fear whatsoever! The instructors kept commenting on her enthusiasm and they even dangled her from the line a few time. I was terrified, but she really enjoyed it.

Now I’m home and finally doing laundry and cleaning and then intend to plant myself on the sofa for the rest of the night. I’m beat.
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In other news, tomorrow is the first of two Jdates in as many days. Please think good thoughts.

Things that sucketh:

• Putting your favorite t-shirt in the dryer.
• Skipping the sugar pills and immediately starting a new pack in an attempt to skip a period, which backfires and instead results in a five week long period which the nurse practitioner says “sometimes happens.”
• Cleaning your kitchen then opening the freezer and dropping Trader Joe’s taquitos on the floor, then hitting your head on the open freezer door while trying to clean up the mess.
• The price of gas.
• Learning that the average starting salary of people right out of pastry school is $10/hour.
• Being bored at work.

Things that rocketh:

• The weather.
• Having a new bedroom window screen that doesn’t fall out of the window and a working air conditioner.
• Lots of fun things scheduled for the month of June.
• A Jdate tonight that I’m actually looking forward to.
• Three extra vacation days, one of which will be used in the middle of the week, just because.
• Having time to read at work.

What are you booing or yaying about?
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And totally unrelated, but how gross is this? And yes, the bun is made from two donuts!

I had Tuesday off this week and wow, I could definitely get used to running errands on weekdays rather than weekends. I went to the market and was able to park downstairs. No elevator! No line to checkout! No old Russian ladies asking me to translate labels into English! Then I went to the drugstore and was able to find street parking. No parking structure! No escalator! Less crazy tourists asking where Hollywood and Highland is!
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Monday night was my Jdate with the guy works in the music industry. He was very nice, but conversation was just eh and every other word out of his mouth seemed to be about a band he used to rep, or a connection he made with an agent, which made him come across as a show-off. Maybe he was nervous, I don’t know. Over drinks, we talked about vodka, namely how I can’t tell the difference between top shelf or the cheap brands, and he said he could. This led to a discussion about the vodka freezer at Nic’s, which then led to an invitation to do a tasting there with him (in the freezer!). He called me Tuesday night but we’ve been playing phone tag ever since. Stay tuned.

Tuesday, in between the drug store and Ikea (I finally ordered a sideboard for my dining area), I met the pilot for coffee. He was nice, but definitely not for me. Plus, he mentioned his ex-wife three times during our hour long coffee date.
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I really want the new iPhone. Sigh.
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If you’ve emailed me via the blog in the past few weeks and I didn’t respond, blame it on stupid Yahoo Mail. I am so annoyed with them at the moment–I pay for Yahoo Mail Plus so that I can check my blog mail in Yahoo. Unfortunately, they rolled out some upgrade that fucked up the ability to check external mail, and it took them three weeks to decide to roll back to what they had before.

By the way, Yahoo chat support is useless. They didn’t even know about the issue even though it was clearly described in their own stupid blog. Fortunately, I was finally able to chat with a supervisor and then miraculously, the problem was solved. Go figure.
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My Little is going to Israel for the summer and I’m kind of bummed. I haven’t seen much of her lately, and oh my god, she is most definitely no longer a pre-teen. It really is amazing how fast kids grow up!
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I loved the Top Chef finale! But I swear the show was originally supposed to be two hours long, wasn’t it? Or maybe I just made that up. Were you happy with who won? (Possibly spoilers in the comments, take note!)
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This week’s question: Do you have anything fun planned this summer?

Friday
Left work and noticed the guy in the car next to me on Santa Monica looked familiar. After staring for about 30 seconds, I realized it was the parking structure guy! He waved and said hi and I was kicking myself for taking the shortcut home, otherwise we would have been next to each other in traffic. Anyway, I called my friend Karrin (we work together) to tell her about Parking Structure Guy, and as I described him and his car (black Infiniti), we came to the conclusion he is the same guy that stares at her every morning in the garage. So, either a) he thinks we’re the same person (which for some reason, happens more than one would think); b) he’s gay and has very specific taste in beards (tall, Jewish, dark hair); c) he flirts with everyone. We shall see!

Later that night, I had drinks with The Brit (uh huh, that Brit) at The Well. We talked a lot, and he filled me in on what had happened when I hadn’t heard from him, as well as the events that indirectly helped lead to the drama filled demise of a friendship (and consequent stupid blog comment from someone I don’t even know). It was a fun night and he asked me out for Tuesday. I’m looking forward to it.

Saturday
Slept in then picked up my sister, got gas (and the weirdest 16 ounce soda can) and headed down to San Diego, making a quick stop at Krispy Kreme in Orange County. We made it to Del Mar in pretty good time, even with the golf at Torrey Pines and the fair in Del Mar so that was a nice surprise. That evening I spoke to the music industry guy on the phone, we barbecued with some friends, then I hung out with my family and went to bed early.

Sunday
Slept in yet again then went had a lovely and delicious Father’s Day brunch at Il Fornaio in Del Mar. We then went back to the house and swam and sat by the pool–I even have tan lines to show for it! As usual, a wonderful weekend with my family and I’m looking forward to heading back down there next weekend for the Padres/Tigers game (and San Diego restaurant week).

Happy Father’s Day dad, I love you!

Has anyone ever used these clip on shades? I’m wondering if they will work with the new energy efficient lightbulbs (they’re longer than regular ones).

My sister is moving back to San Diego at the end of the month and is looking to get rid of her mattress and box spring. Does anyone know of a place in LA where she can donate it? Out of the Closet doesn’t take mattresses.
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In dating news, I did not go out with The Brit on Tuesday. Apparently something happened between the time he asked, “Are you free Tuesday?” and Tuesday night. What exactly, I’m not sure, but I’m guessing it involves a certain bus. Of course, a phone call or even a text message would have been nice, but he didn’t even extend that courtesy. (Yes, I left a voicemail making sure he was OK. No, he did not respond.) What an inconsiderate shmo. When I went to bed, I realized I was more annoyed that I got flaked on than I was disappointed that I wasn’t going to see him.

In related news, the music industry guy called me earlier this week and within 30 seconds of talking, managed to mention a friend of a producer’s party in Malibu that he went to last weekend, a band he allegedly reps, and a script he may coordinate music for. He asked me out for dinner next week and for some reason, I said yes even though I have a feeling I’m going to sit there annoyed with him for an hour. I’m guessing it’s not nerves, it’s a need to brag.
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Is anyone else watching The Next Food Network Star? I cringe every time I think about any of the contestants actually getting their own show.

In movie news, I’m back to loving Netflix. I recently watched Hairspray, which I really enjoyed except for John Travolta bugging me to no end. Next up is Devil’s Playground, a documentary about Amish teenagers during Rumspringa. Yes, I’m a documentary junkie.
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Is this not the cutest name ever for a bakery? It’s on 3rd near Crescent Heights so you can bet I’ll be checking it out when it opens.
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Lori tagged me in a meme that says: Write the title of your memoir in six words, post it on your blog, link to the person that tagged you, and tag five more blogs. So, my working title is: Hopefully, someone will avoid The Bus.

Rather than tag five bloggers, I’m going to use this as this week’s question: What would your six word memoir be titled?

Better late than never!

Friday
As I was leaving the street my office is on, I was driving next to Parking Garage Guy yet again. Unfortunately, I wasn’t going straight home so I was turning left and he was turning right. But…we waved again! I decided the next time I see his car in the structure I am going to leave a note with my email address or cell phone number, I just have to write something that doesn’t make me sound like a crazy person. Any suggestions?

Anyway, the reason I was turning left was because I was heading to Pink Taco at the mall to meet Randi for happy hour. It’s been so long since I’ve spent time with her, and it was super awesome to catch up and hear all about her upcoming wedding and what she has been up to! I’m so excited for her and Michael to get married, partially because I can say I was there the day they met! As a side note, the restaurant has the absolute weirdest hand dryer in the bathroom–you put your hands down into this thing and it blows air up and down. Hard to explain, but kinda cool, especially after two enormous margaritas.

Before I went to bed, I watched Devil’s Playground–it was good, but kinda choppy and I wish they delved more into the history of rumspringa. Next up, Who Killed the Electric Car, which stars, among others, my sister’s old boss.

Saturday
Slept in then went to the 109 degree valley for a manicure, pedicure, and hair cut and color (and I got semi-bangs! for the first time ever!). I then went straight from the Valley to a much cooler yet still almost 90 degree Del Mar. (Keep in mind since my parents live on the coast, they do not have air conditioning. Not fun.) There was a ton of traffic on the way down, and I was even passed by a man riding a bicycle on the shoulder of the freeway over by the nuclear power plant. I kid you not. That night, we out for dinner then came home and watched Fool’s Gold.

Sunday
Tried to sleep in but it was too hot (even in Del Mar which is right on the coast). Then my dad, his best friend since they were kids, and the son-in-law of my parents’ friend and I (I know, random group) went to Petco Park to watch the Tigers whoop some Padres butt (partially thanks to a bad ump call, but whatever). This was the second Padres game in a row that I’ve been to where Bud Black got ejected from the game. We had awesome free seats, courtesy of a patient of my dad who works for the team.

After coming home and chilling for a bit, we all then headed out to Kensington Grill for San Diego Restaurant Week (yeah, they have it twice a year in SD) and more importantly, to celebrate my parents 39th wedding anniversary! (Happy anniversary mom and dad!) Dinner was delicious, but the restaurant was hot and we were all sweating by the end of the night.

Monday
My dad and I went back to the ophthalmologist who did my LASIK almost 10 years ago to see if I am a candidate for a LASIK touchup. Turns out I’m a better candidate for PRK which is a little disappointing because it’s supposed to be pretty painful–when I had LASIK there was no pain whatsoever. So, I’m debating getting it done. PRK would most likely improve my astigmatism so I could ditch the glasses I wear at night, but I’m not sure if I want to go through another procedure at the moment. I’m probably going to talk to a few of my dad’s patients who had it done by the same doctor and see what their experiences were like. Stay tuned
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In other news, it appears Gwen Stefani is stalking the Baking Mafia. First Jenn saw her at Surfas, then Bethany and I sat by her at Buddha’s Belly (which by the way, is owned by a very cool Big Brother) just last week.

And in other other news, tomorrow’s date was postponed until next week. Yay!

And finally, Bethany is moving back to San Diego this week. I’m sad and am going to miss having her living two blocks away.

Remember the crazy cupcake lady who got banned from a cupcake discussion board following this thread? Well, she’s back! Earlier this week, she left multiple comments on my Flickr stream where she accused my “little group” of bullying people and also said that I’m trying to “trap” her by not blocking her and allowing her to comment on my photos. Uh yeah, that must be it.

Anyway, her comments were regarding that crazy incident from three months ago and I found one of them especially funny so I took a screen shot and posted it on Flickr. Well, the crazy cupcake lady then emailed Flickr and requested it be removed for violating TOS (they claim it was “abusive,” although I can’t quite figure out how posting a screen shot of a comment someone made is abusive, but whatever). Needless to say, I have since blocked her. She has entirely too much free time and is doing a very good job of making herself seem nutty, I don’t need to get more involved with that crap.
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In other news, I haven’t baked in entirely too long. But I did try these really cute little burger cookies my coworkers and I found in an Asian market on Sawtelle. Did you know they also sell Pocky that says “for men” on the box?
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I am slightly overwhelmed and exhausted at the moment. I’ve been out of town the past two weekends and have a friend coming in from out of town tomorrow, and I still have a bunch of things to get done. Plus, tonight I’m taking my sister out to dinner as she’s leaving for San Diego tomorrow.
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Please tell me someone besides me is watching The Next Food Network Star and loving yet hating every minute of it. I’m also enjoying The Mole, but I have no clue who it may be. What are you guys watching?
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I think I have a Scrabulous addiction. Things are so slow at work at the moment that I literally play it all day long.
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It doesn’t look like I’m going to make it to Bumbershoot this year. I have a wedding here in LA to attend, my Seattle friend’s days off are while I’ll be down here, and airfares are just getting insane. Hopefully next year.
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I don’t have a question of the week, so instead, I’ll take suggestions for questions for future posts. Go for it.

As I mentioned earlier, I have a friend in from out of town. Jess became my ally on the cupcake discussion board last year and we began chatting on IM and quickly realized we had a ton in common. Since she was planning a trip to the US, we decided she must stop in LA following her visits in NYC and Austin.

In no particular order, this is what we’ve been up to:

• Shopped: Loehmann’s, Trashy Lingerie, Bed Beth and Beyond, The Beverly Center, Hollywood and Highland, Marshall’s, Beverly Hills, Gloria’s, Surfas, 3rd Street Promenade, a couple of drug stores, Trader Joe’s, and Pavilions (she wanted to check out some of our American grocery items).
• Ate: Kung Pao Bistro, Campos, The Griddle, Jinky’s, Birds, good old Kraft mac & cheese and Pillsbury biscuits, Barney’s Beanery, Sprinkles AND Vanilla Cupcakes AND Yummy Cupcakes (plus a look in but no purchase at Crumbs), Boule, Cantaloop, Pinkberry, Sno Pod (in case there was any doubt, I did not partake in the icky natural frozen yogurt). By the time we finished shopping each day we were famished (I know it sounds like we didn’t stop eating, but we did take breaks) and just went to a nearby restaurant without a wait. I promised her next time she’s in town we’ll hit some of the more fun places to eat.
• Introduced Jess to the awesomeness that is homemade Rice Krispie Treats.
• Hiked Runyon Canyon and at the top a very nice woman offered to take our picture but apparently didn’t press the button hard enough, thus no picture. Annoying.
• Got manicures on Robertson.
• Baked cupcakes for a family friend’s daughter’s birthday. (Jess runs her own cupcake business called Sugadeaux Cupcakes and let me in on her most delicious chocolate frosting recipe.)

I think it’s safe to say we have had an absolute blast and I am so sad that Jess has to leave Tuesday morning! However, I loaned her my huge suitcase (to fill with all of her purchases) that causes me to pay overages every time I use it, with the promise that I will take it back when I visit her in Australia. Hopefully that visit will be sooner than later.