Food, Travel and Fun

March 11: Someone You Talked to Today

2012-03-11T00:01:00.000-08:00

Kind of cheating here, but then again ... the creator of this project did say that all ideas and concepts were open to interpretation. That's a large part of the fun of this, I think.

Also, I have plans to speak to absolutely no one today. It's Sunday, and the day includes a 6.5 mile training run for an upcoming half marathon (which I plan to make the absolute last & final half marathon that I ever run, in my life. What is wrong with me that I keep signing up for these things ? I don't think I really even like them !) ... and I will also drink coffee, read the paper, put away laundry, and engage in other solitary pursuits that involve no human interaction whatsoever.

It's hermit day, so this is really the best representation of "someone I talked to today" ... and technically, it may have happened after midnight on Saturday, so ... today, sort of.

I'm looking forward to "fork" tomorrow !! That should be fun !

March 10: LOUD

2012-03-10T10:20:00.003-08:00

The funny thing is, I don't like loud noises. There is nothing that will send me into a flash of foul mood faster than the unexpectedly close blare of a loud car horn or the dryer buzzer accidentally set to "On" instead of "Off." I just tell myself that I have superhuman senses ... that's more flattering than thinking that I'm simply too easily irritated by the random noises of the world around me. (But, really ? Screaming toddlers ? Who can tolerate that ?)

"The voices !! Make them stop !!"

This photo was taken at a super secret location that I cannot reveal, and it's also kind of cheating, since I didn't take it today. I pulled it from my iPhone photostream ... it had been sitting there for awhile, waiting to be called to duty. Normally I try to take the "photo of the day" on the exact day that I'm posting it; I think that's the spirit of this photo project. But just for today, since this photo fit so well into my interpretation of "loud" I decided to just be a rebel and go with it.

My other option was going to be a fire truck (doesn't that immediatly conjure up the thought of screaming sirens ?) but I didn't want to be yet another female standing in front of the fire station taking photos. So cliche.

a great Friday adventure !

2012-03-09T19:13:00.001-08:00

Warning ! Serious FOOD TALK ahead ! Don't read this if you're hungry and can't get to something good ...

Operation Not-a-Catlady continues. Goal: to put on adult clothes and get out of the house at least once a week. Today Heather and I decided to make the quarterly wine club pick up at Sort This Out Cellars into an adventure, so we visited not only Sort This Out, but also their neighbor Carivintas Tasting Room (Oops, I joined the wine club. Not sure how that happened) ...

a typical Carivintas wine label

It was a pretty standard wine-tasting day ... we sampled the wines that were in each shipment, and I was reminded that all the net proceeds at Carivintas (after the owners pay themselves, of course .. they have to make a living, too !) go to animal charities. Right now they're heavily into Best Friends Animal Society, but they also do great stuff with wild horses and retired greyhounds. Which makes me feel REALLY GOOD about buying and drinking their wine !

The highlight of the day was a visit to Succulent Cafe & Trading Company in Solvang. Check this place out:

My photos don't really do it justice, but the menu is awesome & delicious and homemade (they cure their own meats !), and the shop is filled with jams & jellies & pickled vegetables that they make right there, in their own kitchen.

For my friend Evonne, who does her own fair share of home-canning, I picked up this variety ... we'll sample it next time she visits, which probably won't be until September, but it'll keep. That's the point of canning, right ?

I love the reflected iPhone in the shot !

Okay, you want to see the food, right ? I went with the honey roasted root vegetable salad. I was trying to somehow mitigate the caloric & nutritional damage from the morning's football-sized quiche (bacon & spinach !!) and a day's worth of wine ... though of course there was more wine with lunch. And this salad was not disappointing at all, as I think you can see. That's Humboldt Fog cheese on top ...

Not to be out-ordered, Heather went with the mixed cheese & charcuterie plate, and I will have to admit that perhaps she won this round. It's hard to beat house-made charcuterie (I heard the word "duck" in there somewhere when the chef/owner was describing these meaty delicacies) and she did get a bigger piece of Humboldt Fog. The person with the bigger piece of Humboldt Fog is always the winner, in my book.

These looked interesting, as well ..

I basically wanted to photograph the entire place, it had such a charming "country" feel (in contrast to some of the overly-kitchy, faux-Danishness of Solvang) ...

After a morning of wine-sampling and some more wine at lunch, I was absolutely not going to get straight back into the car and drive home. Good news: we had planned ahead (as responsible adults do. Crazy, isn't it ??) It was a gorgeous day, and the perfect afternoon to kick back on the grass and get started on that new Stephen King novel that I promised I'd read last month.

So, I'd say we pretty much kicked Solvang's ass. No abelskievers, no wooden clogs for souvenirs, but that's fine by me. Wine, house-cured meat, homemade jam, honey-roasted vegetables, one not-yet-mentioned run-in with a very cute Beagle in the park, and some gelato after lunch ... I think it was a success.

March 9: "red"

2012-03-09T15:32:00.001-08:00

March 8: "window"

2012-03-08T07:58:00.003-08:00

One of the things that is fun about this photo challenge is that by naming a theme for each day, it really provides a focus to my daily wanderings and nosiness and random observations. I woke up today knowing that I wanted to get a picture of a window. If I hadn't been focused on that, I probably would have walked right past the gorgeous wagon-wheel stained glass creation on the church on the corner. I have walked past this church probably a hundred times in the last two decades (okay, probably more than a hundred times !) and I don't recall ever paying much attention to this particular window.

I'm sure that with a "real" camera (I am just using my iPhone these days, which still does a pretty amazing job) and some afternoon light, it could be a really spectacular photo. But I also like this one just fine.

March 7: Something You Wore

2012-03-07T07:04:00.002-08:00

Ugh. I forgot about this one until after I showed up at work, in my usual ugly shoes and man-pants. Not a great look, but real life isn't actually Hollywood. There's no place here for fancy heels and sexy pants, like on Castle. (Sorry kids, that's just the ugly truth.)

Anyway, I came up with something kinda cool, or at least I thought so:

I wear this.

March 6: 5 pm

2012-03-07T06:47:00.002-08:00

The photo assignment for today was "5 pm" .. which I remembered at about 5:12. So I ran out the door and down the hall to the balcony at the end of the stairs, and snapped this one:

March 4 & 5: bedside & smile

2012-03-05T19:27:00.000-08:00

No time for much more than a quick update on the March photo project. That should hold you over. There's other stuff brewing, I promise - good stuff - but it will have to wait for the weekend.

I tried to make "bedside" kind of artsy, and I avoided the temptation to stage a bunch of big-brain looking books and expensive scotch in heavy crystal glasses ... I did, however, wipe the dust off my nightstand with my hand. Because I'm high class that way.

Then, for "smile," because I am not comfortable pointing my phone at people and demanding that they smile, I snapped a photo of my little kitschy beaded skull that I got in a tourist-y visit to Mexico. I bought it specifically to go on my desk - my imagined desk, as I hadn't received a promotion yet - and two months later, it had a home. So this little guy is kind of good luck, and the memory of that trip makes me smile, so that counts.

the smiley skull

March 3: "My Neighborhood."

2012-03-03T09:33:00.001-08:00

So, that was the assignment for today. Which I remembered on my way in to work, with 10 minutes to spare (my last chance today to see my neighborhood in daylight ...), leaving me with the option of taking a snarky photograph of yet another abandoned shopping cart on my street. As of last year, several families of shopping-cart-scofflaws apparently moved into my neighborhood and started leaving them in herds on the sidewalks and parkway. So ghetto. I became increasingly obsessed with the unsightliness. It seems to have subsided somewhat, but there was still a lonely Costco cart lingering on the corner.

That's another issue.

I chose to ignore it and instead took this photo of the wannabe-retro carwash sign about a mile away. That's still "my neighborhood," right ? It sure feels like it. That carwash has been there for as long as I can remember ... it pre-dates my college experience (which, oddly enough, took place only about 3 miles from where I now live) and I have vague memories of going there - or to one just like it - as a child. So it feels sort of nostalgic, and I doctored it yet again with the "1977" Instagram setting, which is my current favorite.

The carwash has always had a business / restaurant attached to the front. It used to be a great, old-fashioned burger place, and now it's a drive-thru coffee place, which makes a pretty mean breakfast burrito.

Photo challenge: fruit

2012-03-02T08:12:00.003-08:00

So, I had grand visions of creating some wildly amazing, offbeat interpretation of "fruit." But that just seemed like a lot of unnecessary work, and I wanted to get on with my day, so I went the simplest route instead: I grabbed a piece of fruit already in the house and took a picture of it. Can't get much easier than that, right ? Now, go meditate on simplicity or apples or something.

Kristy of She Walks managed a nice one - she used a photo she had taken on our recent wine tasting trip to Napa, specifically a shot of the gorgeous berry-laden vines climbing up the stone wall at ma(i)sonry. (Yes, yes, I promise that very soon I'll stop constantly mentioning that I went wine tasting with Kristy.) I never thought of using that for "fruit" - plus I'm making myself TAKE a picture each day of this challenge and use that one, from the same day, but I loved her idea. I've been wanting an excuse to use one of my own berry-wall photos anyway, so here's mine.

I hope that's not a fluorescent light inside. That would totally ruin it.

It's also a nice reminder of a great day.

Photo Challenge: Up

2012-03-01T15:02:00.002-08:00

stairs, circa 1977

Yes, I have joined the Instagram crowd. Seemed like a fun way to jump into the March photo a day challenge. The theme for today was "up" and initially I wanted to snap a photo of the $4.89 per gallon gas sign near my house, because that is going UP so rapidly, but I went with this instead. I walk up these steps two or five or nine times a day when I'm at work, so they fit nicely into my own personal "photo a day" stream over on Flickr.

March: a photo a day

2012-03-01T12:10:00.002-08:00

So, THIS is what is about to happen around here. Kristy pointed me in that direction, and I'll be using "Fat Mum Slim's" photo promts throughout March to take some fun photos and post them. Because my life isn't all about extravagant weekend trips to San Francisco and photogenic winetasting tours ... only sometimes. The rest of the time I'm sitting at a desk or driving to work or flossing my teeth or cleaning the bathroom or doing all those other sorts of mundane tasks that don't necessarily inspire amazing blog posts. Thankfully, she has provided some creative inspiration to get me going:

At least you'll have something to look at, if you're here.

Oh, and "Fat Mum Slim" should not be misread as "fat muslim." An easy mistake to make.

Back to the real world

2012-02-28T20:35:00.000-08:00

Just a few quick photos to show what I was up to last weekend.

Sharing an amazing vineyard picnic with Kristy, Ish, Dionne and Evonne ... and (not pictured) Andres of Vin Ambassador.

And yes, if I may brag for a moment and bask in the reflected glow of a true blogging celebrity, that IS in fact Kristy .... as in KristySF of She Walks. So yeah, I drank with with her. AND Ish. Neener neener. Because we were all very mature like that. (Until the diaper dance party, when decorum went out the window, but that's another story ...)

Winetasting and admiring pretty things at Ma(i)sonry in Yountville, CA.

Okay, just kidding. I wanted to see if you were paying attention.

And if you happen to have aspirations of winetasting in the Napa Valley, you cannot do any better than a tour with Vin Ambassador. Amazing. The word "tour" doesn't even begin to capture the experience ... I felt privileged to be there, the entire time. If you can laugh hysterically while feeling "privileged." I think you can.

Oh, just one more: the whole tasting gang (minus me, behind the camera) at Jessup Cellars, with the magnificent Andres at the head of the table, ready to gather up his oenophiles and herd them along to the next wonderful destination.

We all look super happy, right ? Of course !

Woot woot !! Zuzana's back !!!

2012-02-19T14:52:00.000-08:00

I missed her since she & Freddy broke up. She's back !!

I initially discovered Zuzana's workouts back in January 2011 when she was still working with her husband, Freddy, and I watched them on and off throughout the year. Notice I didn't say that I actually DID all - or some ... or even many ... of the workouts. But I followed along, and was sad to read in late 2011 that they had parted ways. I watched the new Bodyrock site a little bit, but the new host they found isn't really to my liking - I found her cockney accent a little jarring, and I would talk back to the computer, "The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain ..." but it never helped. And I just stopped watching.

Earlier today I started planning a Hawaiian vacation in June (the trip really belongs to my friend Dionne, but she was nice enough to invite me along - two single gals in Kona ! Watch out ! - so I immediately fell into fantasy-vacation-planning mode. This is something I do very well.) In an hour or so I had a sampling of Kona activities planned out, complete with researched airfare, hotel options and the island's best plate lunch and happy hour. Of course there will be snorkeling, stand-up paddle boarding, and laying by the pool with a froofy umbrella'd cocktail in hand.

I can't think of anything more motivational on the whole "fitness / weight loss" front than the threat of a bikini in one's future. Time to get to work.

Sorry for the radio silence ...

2012-02-17T21:15:00.000-08:00

Not a lot going on around the blog, since I've been pretty busy out there in the real world. Here's a photo of a run down, kitschy old motel in Baker, CA ... because that's exactly what you were waiting for, right ?

I always mean to take a photo of this sad old place, since the next time I pass by it may well be gone !

The night before, I was elsewhere ...

Didn't want you thinking I was ONLY about cheap motels.

Thursday Adventure: Avant Tapas & Wine Bar

2012-02-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

Yum, yum, yum !!! In keeping with my promise to myself to get out and about and leave the house a little bit more in 2012, Heather and I went up to Buellton to check out Avant Tapas & Wine Bar. I had been there once, months ago ... I thought it was great then, and it seems to have gotten even better since. I had a Groupon which cost $20 and got us our first $40 worth of food, so it was pretty much guaranteed to be an awesome evening. What can go wrong when you're already getting $20 worth of wine for free ?

If you've been there, you know the first thing we ordered was the Yuppie Crack. 'Nuf said. That and the poppers were the first course (the poppers were fine, but the yuppie crack wins the grand prize, as always) along with an assortment of wines from the bar. Then Heather spotted the Hitching Post Pinot Noir tasting flight ... what a deal !!

The flight includes 4 Hitching Post wines, starting with the 2009 Cork Dancer (which was Heather's favorite) and ending up with the 2007 Gen Red, which I thought was incredible. All for $14 ... so said the bartendress, though she only charged us $12 apiece on the final receipt. Was it happy hour or something ? I have no idea but I'm not complaining.

Oh, and the St. Rita's was great, too !!

We went for round 2 of food: one of the salads and the sliders. Last time I was there, there was a general outcry going up because the sliders had been replaced on the menu with a regular burger. Everyone was hollering for the sliders to come back ... well, the chef listened, and once I tasted them, I understood what all the fuss was about. These things were as delicious as they look ...

Oh man, these were good.So good.

Then, not ready to quit, we went for a pre-dessert cheese plate. It was as delicious as it looked (though be careful of those toasty little bread thins ... they kind of tore up the roof of my mouth.)

So much food porn in one place !!

Avant Tapas and Wine Bar gets an A+ from me ... definitely worth the 20 minute walk from the glamorous Pea Soup Anderson's Inn !! (Oh yeah, you don't think I drove home in that wine-soaked food coma, do you ??)

Mobile Blogging from Carlsbad

2012-01-22T07:14:00.001-08:00

Well, here goes nothing ...

Is there anything that this phone CAN'T do ??

I see that the sizes on the photos are a little weird (in Safari, anyway, viewed from my phone) but I'll clean that up later.

The Gentle Barn

2012-01-15T15:52:00.000-08:00

Remember back in 2011 when I said I was going to write a blog post every day ?

Ha. That was funny, right ?

I really have no excuses - I've been off on some sort of adventure* every weekend, and now I have a swanky new iPhone 4S, so I can easily take photos of just about any ridiculous thing that I come across.

So, here's hoping for dramatic improvement in 2012.

*Case in point: on January 9th I went to The Gentle Barn and visited the animals ! Very fun ! (These photos were actually taken with a good old-fashioned Nikon D40 SLR, though.)

"My" horse, Sir Lancelot

Mammoth Lakes

2012-01-06T22:14:00.000-08:00

From the ocean on New Year's Day, up to the mountains by January 3rd ...

There was no snow (didn't matter ... this was a work trip, not a ski trip) but it's still gorgeous up there.

And as a reminder that it was winter (even though we were in shirtsleeves and it was in the mid-60s in the daytime, in January at 8,500 feet !!) ... there was a little bit of ice over a creek that we had to drive across. And yes, the idea of driving over a frozen creek totally freaked me out.

I didn't have a lot of opportunities to take photos, but when I did, the new iPhone 4S really impressed me ! This photo was taken from the open window of a car, at about 60 mph ...

Nice work, Siri.

even the signs are beautiful

2012-01-01T13:58:00.001-08:00

I took a New Year's Day stroll down to Butterfly Beach this morning, since it dawned clear and warm and gorgeous. It was absolutely beautiful, and a great way to start 2012.

end of the year food porn

2011-12-31T08:10:00.000-08:00

So, on this last weekend of 2011 I am spending a couple of days with my good friend, Dionne, and we're living it up. Spoiling ourselves rotten, as one of my other friends put it. We started the long weekend on Thursday evening with cocktails and snacks at Elements, and though I'd normally like to post a shiny, glittering picture of a pretty cocktail, on this occasion the french fries win ...

Surprisingly, our bill at the end of a few hours only came to $35 for 3 cocktails and 2 snacks ... that's a pretty good happy hour deal, if you ask me. Which you didn't, but I'm telling you anyway.

I know that 2012 is supposed to be the year of Paleo, and that those fries - and the food I am about to show you - is pretty much the complete opposite of that. But, as I said above ... spoiled rotten.

Friday morning was a training run for the upcoming Carlsbad Half marathon ... then massages with my favorite (and only !!) massage therapist Kathy Gruver ... then a post massage stroll through Chaucer's Bookstore and a meal at Via Maestra ...

That's their mushroom ravioli - wow. It was worth every bite.

Today - New Year's Eve - is a day of yoga, professional hair blow-outs, and then dinner at Lucky's. There won't be any photos of that; I can easily restrain myself in fancy restaurants and not whip out the camera. So you'll have to imagine. But tomorrow - New Year's Day - there will be a great hike up Gaviota Peak and that can definitely be commemorated in photos.

Merry Christmas ! Shiny thing !!

2011-12-25T09:49:00.000-08:00

Santa brought me a present yesterday ! This would be the Santa who works for the US Postal Service. Courtesy of the Etsy shop Chloe and Paige, I now have this amazing vintage brooch-turned-cocktail-ring.

Yes, it fits all the way, but I didn't want to force it on right now. Plus ... I need a manicure.

It's part of a much larger production which I refer to as The Prom. Two of my best girlfriends and I get together on February or March each year and have a decadent weekend, involving cupcakes, spa treatments and a dress-up dinner (which is how we started referring to this as The Prom ... we wear fancy dresses and obsess about our hair and such ... only now we're not in high school, we're in our 40s - or almost - so it's extra ridiculous. Plus - champagne.) Anyway, the planning has already begun. I have selected my dress from Dig For Victory - another Etsy shop - and was scouring the other sellers for vintage jewelry to go with ... and I found a winner.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T14:47:00.000-08:00

New plan here on the ol' blog. A post every day. And since every day isn't a Sydney Harbor Bridge climb, I'm sure some of these will be random and mundane, but I'll still try to make it fun. So that I have a memorial of all the stuff I did in 2012. We're not into the new year yet, but I thought it would be good practice to snap a photo of something from today, however meaningless, and post it up.

It's Christmas Eve, and I'm making a little extra dough by working. It's a nice slow day, so the original Ocean's 11 is playing on the DVD player, I've had a chance to peruse someone else's discarded issue of Real Simple magazine (always worth reading, never worth buying) and I made myself a nice cup of coffee. And, as a thought for the day, I made sure to include (part of) the motto on my reusable plastic bag:

SOMEONE STILL CARES ABOUT QUALITY.

It reminds me of a thought I had last week, as I was pushing a fleet of abandoned shopping carts down my street towards the empty lot at the corner (yes, I live in the ghetto, apparently), so they could be collected by the shopping cart herders ... sort of a 2012 resolution that I made in that instant:

THE WORLD IS FULL OF LAZY ASSHOLES. DON'T BE ONE OF THEM.

Good thoughts for heading into the new year.

2012 book and movie list !!

2011-12-23T10:49:00.000-08:00

Awhile back, I used to keep a different blog ... it was feeling outdated after awhile, with lots of photos of things that were no longer part of my life and no longer relevant, but at the same time ... there were some real GEMS there, as far as posts, and some great memories, too. One post in particular is significant right now: my friends Regina and Dave, both movie buffs in very different ways, each provided me with a list of their favorite movies ... at my request, of course. Neither one of them just walked up to me and declared, unsolicited, "These are the best movies in the history of mankind and you must watch them all !!"

I didn't want to lose that post, so I am linking to it here ... maybe eventually I'll feel like actually transferring it all over, but oh, the work ... the photos. You get the idea. So for now, I present:

The Best Movies Ever That You Absolutely Must See.

Last year, I did watch Roman Holiday, Casablanca, Picnic At Hanging Rock, Master & Commander, Godfather, and Indiana Jones. This year I plan to get to the rest ... I'll be starting out this week with Regina's silent film recommedations:

Harold Lloyd in "Safety Last !"

Regina's commentary on the "American Silents" category -"both of these are romantic comedies, and I think it is fun for people to see what else was happening in silent, physical comedy beyond Chaplin, these two guys are just as phenomenal ... I bet your Mom would die laughing at these films. And, they feature lots of interesting views of 1920s Los Angeles, both Keaton and Lloyd were not only comic geniuses, but they were two of the first to really make the shift to filming in LA, and made use of actual locations before shooting on location became cool !"
And, of course, there's the trusty annual New York Times "Best Books of 2011" list ... HERE.

Looking at their list, it appears that my book for January will be The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach.

Friday morning light

2011-12-23T08:15:00.000-08:00

On the couch with my espresso, getting ready for a training run for that pesky half marathon I entered awhile back ...

Coke - Oh - Van

2011-12-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

Ever since listening to an episode of "Splendid Table" last week on npr, I have been obsessed with making chicken in a pot. It's a basic whole chicken recipe, with credit going to the French for some reason, and it sounds so simple and delicious that I can't wait to get started.

Obviously, I simply cannot attempt this until I procure one of these:

And I can only hope that when I'm done with this experiment, it will look as beautiful as the chicken in a pot featured on the cover of Around My French Table, by Dorie Greenspan

W Hotel Westwood

2011-12-11T10:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I made my somewhat regular pilgrimage to my happy place: the W Hotel in Westwood, to visit the world's greatest facialist. No, I won't tell you her name ... I already have to book a month in advance, and I don't want you people taking up my spots. I'm selfish like that. The photo above is from the stretch of 101 between Santa Barbara and Ventura ... it was a gorgeous day.

Traffic wasn't too awful, so I made it in plenty of time to enjoy a pre-facial cocktail at the W's Backyard bar. Unfortunately the fabulous food & beverage manager, Stephanie, wasn't there yesterday, but I did order her namesake drink: Steph's Berry SaintSation. I think all those berries in the drink must add up to a significant dose of antioxidants, right ??

Paired with a copy of LA Weekly ...

The Backyard pool is all set up for winter ... they cover it and set up an ice skating rink, bring in purple Christmas trees and cover the outdoor eating area. To protect us from the snow ? Not sure ... but it looks pretty nice, and is a GREAT place to hang out for Sunday brunch:

While I was sitting at the bar, I couldn't help but admire the excellent pedicure that I had received that morning at newly-remodeled Elegant Nails in Goleta. I have been going to that spot for years, previously known as Century Nails, and it's under new ownership as of about a week ago ... and they're doing a great job. Kudos to them ... I'll definitely return.

One last shot of the bar ...

... and then I was off to Bliss for my afternoon of pampering.

I am looking to return and stay a night in February, but the W rates are through the roof !! $409 for a Thursday night, which is just ridiculous. Fortunately, my facialist recommended a less glamorous - but still clean and safe and perfectly servicable - hotel directly across the street called Hilgard House. I'll be checking that out, and I plan to post a review of that if I stay there in February. It looks a little shady online, but we'll see ...

Home shopping and dogs

2011-12-09T10:36:00.000-08:00

The other day I was helping a friend with some home decorating, and I got to wander through one of my favorite local furniture shops: Urban Home. I saw this amazing console / shelf unit / cabinet thing ... I'm not sure quite what category this piece falls into, and I have absolutely no use for it and no space for it in my house, so I won't be buying it, but I really, really loved it, so I took a few photos.

I realized that what I really liked about the piece was the contrasting color inside the cabinets. So even though I don't need this piece, I can replicate the effect of it when I finally replace the boring white particle board bookcase in my den. Someday.

So there was that.

I also liked this arrangement they did with leaning shelves. The furniture pieces are pretty basic, but they styled them up so nicely and made a pretty bare-bones piece look really substantial and fun:

That center space is obviously intended for a flat screen TV, which they don't have in the store. But I like how they surrounded the TV space with books ... remember those, kids ? Actual paper books that you read, and turn pages ? Kind of a nice contrast to the mind-numbing effects of the television that would go in the center. Again, this is a piece that I don't specifially need or have room for, so I have no plans to buy one, but I am taking notes on how they made it look good. I also like the arrangement of various pieces of art placed sort of haphazardly (and yet, we know, carefully measured and arranged ...) above the piece. That's something I could take and copy in my own house, above my sofa. That wall is currently pretty boring.

I also liked this guy:

No, I'm not particularly Buddhist, but I for some reason I think these make cool decorations. That's probably somewhat blasphemous, to enjoy a religion's symbols purely for decorative reasons ... then again, Buddhists seem pretty laid-back and probably wouldn't mind me enjoying their little fat dudes in my home.

Upon leaving the store, I saw this little guy waiting patiently in his car for his humans to come back out of the store. He looked very concerned.

I think he was hoping that his humans would buy him this:

This is actually one of the pieces that my friend will probably get for her new place. But I think it looks like a great dog bed, too.

Okay, I'll say it.

2011-12-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but this just screams "douchebag" to me.

I have great taste

2011-12-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

Dooce posted this photo on her blog today (all appropriate photo credits go to Dooce, Goddess of the Internet, etc, etc ... I'm not trying to steal anyone's photos here, alright ?)

And I just want to state, for the record, that I own this exact watch. Michael Kors. Same. Watch.

Obviously Dooce and I have great taste. Just sayin'.

Another Dog Day

2011-12-02T18:59:00.000-08:00

My day was filled with dogs ! First, I'd been noticing a little bit of a burnt-rubber smell coming from my trusty ride (164,000 miles ... something should go wrong sooner or later !) so after my workout, I dropped by my mechanic to have him take a look. That's one of the advantages of having a real, old-fashioned mechanic that you can trust. He's been working on this car since it was new, about 10 years ago, so he's happy to take a quick look and not try to sell me something I don't need. Try that at Jiffy Lube. Another reason I love this garage are the dogs:

Blue, an 8 month old silver Great Dane.

That's Blue, the newest addition to the garage, and Allie, the black lab, in the background. I had a tough time getting a picture of Blue, since he's a puppy and didn't really want to stay still long enough for my camera phone to snap a photo of his cuteness.

There he is, looking even more handsome.

Later in the day, across town, I was getting back into my car (which is fine by the way - just some normal oil seepage as a result of old age. Might need some new valve cover gaskets in the next year or so, but there's no immediate crisis ...) when I looked over and saw these adorable pugs waiting patiently in their owner's car:

Of course I got right back out of my car and walked over to see if they were friendly. Obviously they were - they wanted to climb right through the window and make out with me immediately. There was only a 3" crack between the window and the doorframe, and YES I did try to squeee my hand through it to pet them. Didn't quite happen. I think they appreciated the effort, though.

Wintertime running

2011-12-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

There's this "half marathon" thing coming up in a few months, in Carlsbad. Apparently I have signed up to do it. So I went for my first (long overdue) training run last weekend, and was treated to a pretty nice view along an old route that I used to run quite regularly. I guess it's time to get back to it - this wasn't so bad. Especially for late November. Eat your heart out, East Coast !!

Less Travel, More Dogs

2011-11-27T11:53:00.000-08:00

So ... the final months of 2011 were a frenzy of monthly trips to Palm Springs, Cabo San Lucas, San Francisco (twice !!), and - finally - Australia. Of course I decided to re-start my travel blog at the tail end of these adventures, when the coming months hold no big travel plans - maybe a few close to home day trips - and might actually be kind of boring. Oh, well.

That won't stop me from filling this space, though. It's time to bring back the dogs ! The dog days are decidedly NOT over, despite what Florence and the Machine say about it. Have you seen this video from "The Sing Off" yet ? You should.

Here is Zoey, enjoying her own dog days:

C'mon, Dad ! Throw it already !!

Love that face !

Sharing space with her new friend, Rayna

Zoey and Rayna are VERY lucky girls - both were adopted by my friends Dave & Tara and now they live the high life in San Diego County. A dog could not possibly wish for a better life than these two have.

Donner Pass

2011-11-22T15:19:00.000-08:00

I had to take a quick, post-Australia trip up to Reno for a two-day conference in a smoky hotel / casino type of place. Having just traveled first class across half the planet and wined & dined myself in the Southern Hemisphere, this was a tad bit of a let-down. Reno is an okay place, but it's no Sydney.

Though ... I did experience something called "Lobster Corn Dogs" ... those were pretty damn good.

The drive home was pretty beautiful, and was also a little shocking after the 90-degree temps of late-springtime Cairns !

Australia highlights

2011-11-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

I don't really have much to say here... the pictures really say it all. Seems like a GREAT way to start a new travel blog, right ? Only the single most fabulous and faraway vacation of my life ?