A Day Late and More Than a Dollar Short

Its been a busy 2008 so far, and I guess my brain can only hold so much information.
So it was with a slight bit of horror that I looked in my planner last night at 11pm and realized it was my nephew's birthday! How did I miss that??! Granted, he had his birthday party this past weekend so maybe I somehow mentally crossed it off my list.

But here's to you RJ! Happy Birthday My Love! Light of my Life!

Such a cliche but he's just growing up so fast. It's been a marvel watching his personality develop. And what a hoot to see how he takes after his YeeMa. He's a camera hog too!!! lol

Vegas Baby!!

Vegas is a funny place to be with children.
Nudity pops up willy nilly in all shapes, sizes, forms.
It's hard to give a 5-year-old a moral differentiation between arcade games and those other, "grown up" games. (After all, they all involve money and crappy odds.)
And how can really explain the popularity of Lance Burton??

But there I was.. in a three-generational mambo on the Vegas Strip. With both my parents, a 5-year-old, and an infant in tow; Sin City sure took on a funny spin. .. First off, my sister and I didn't know what to make of the revamped pirate show at Treasure Island. What was once an action-packed (though cheesy) pirate adventure, turned out to be a free PG-13 burlesque show by Pussycat Doll Rejects. "My name is Cinnamon, but you can call me Sin."... Good gracious! How do you explain that to a pre-schooler? And should you?? Seriously, we all felt a little seedy after that. Not just because of the subject matter, but because some of the dancers were in worse condition than Britney Spears.

Non-moving objects sure seemed a lot more appealing after that!
















All in all, we had great fun, ate some fantastic food, and ultimately have some great stories to tell. But you know what they say....girlfriend... everybody, all together: WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS, STAYS IN VEGASSS!!


PS. LoSt is BACK!!! yay!!!! Who wants to come over and watch tomorrow night???!

If Its Free, Its For Me

Lots of thoughts and feelings and goings-on so far in this New Year.
But seeing as this is time sensitive... it gets posted first.
Seen on SavvySugar, Turbo Tax and H&R Block are offering free tax advice until January 31.

• Submit a tax question online at Turbo Tax, and a tax professional will call you within 48 hours. They'll give you up to 20 minutes of tax talk.
• H&R Block's service is basically the same deal, but they give you the option of communicating with a tax professional over email or phone.

I want to take advantage of it... but can't seem to get my brain wrapped around a specific question. Well, at least not one that is tax-related. I mean, I would love to sit and discuss this year's Oscar nominations... But I'm not sure thats what H&R had in mind.. ...

GirlSMILE

It's a classic scenario.
Girl gets new responsibilities. Girl works hard to prove herself. Girl works a 60-hour week.
*sigh* Not complaining. I'm just flippin' dog tired. Home after 8pm every night and I've only made it to the gym once this week. I'm breaking out. Pimples? I might get that one special pimple once a month, but I don't get pimple(S)!

I'm now managing new cosmetic brands that deal with emerging trends such as wellness, science and technologiy, and LOHAS(Lifestyles of Health and Sustainibility). And it is indeed a LOT to take in. I'm anxious to learn and soak up everything I can. And yet, walking home in the misty rain tonight, I realized how ironic that I feel so stressed out and UNhealthy! ha! Made sure my dinner was healthy and light (rigatoni with broccoli and chicken sausage in a tomato sauce).

Hopefully I'll settle into a good rhythm and these long days will come to an end soon.
In the meantime, Girl got a $110 GoSMILE starter kit from her vendor and Girl is ready to get her teeth whitening on~!

Billy G's Last Day

The Consumer Electronic Show(CES) in Vegas is pretty much TechGeek heaven.
And who better to deliver the Keynote than the King of Geeks: Bill Gates.

Due to "retire" in July, Bill will be working fulltime with his foundation instead. Face it, we all think he's a bit of a ninny, but the video he made speculating on what his last day might be like.. dare I say? ... AWESOME!!! "Just think high.. H-I-.. to the sky."

This is the funniest thing I've seen in a while. I actually let out a yelp at my desk... And with cameos by TWO, count them TWO, sexiest men alive!

New Year's Resolve

After a busy holiday season, my body has been left feeling,"shmooshy". Strangely enough, I stepped on the scale this morning and found I actually lost about 2lbs; but nonetheless, I am still left with a general sense of "shmooshiness". So in response, I, for the first time I think, ever, have a New Year's Resolution: Lose some flippin' weight.

I saw the success that my sister had with Weight Watchers and thought, what a great inspiration! I'm going to give it a shot too!

So today is my first day. It's 2:27pm and I've already eaten all my allotted points for the day. WTF??!!! Granted, I haven't gone to the gym yet, which should credit back some points. But jeez! No wonder I'm a fattie fat fat! Evidently I've been eating for an army!

Happy Shiny New Year

Happy New Year dear friends!
I predict a momentus year.

Hunky Crushes Retrospective

Edit: I know, it seems a crime that I somehow left dear Matty Matty off the list. I guess it was my way of coping since my DreamGuy-Next-Door went off and got married; dashing all my hopes and desires. Not mentioning him must have been my coping mechanism at work. But I cannot deny that Matty Matty had a big year. He tops off the Bourne Trilogy in a critical and box office burst of acceptance. He gets to smooch with Ellen Barkin in Oceans 13 (The nose plays!) And then he is crowned Sexiest Man Alive. And all the while he maintains that sense of humor of his that I absolutely adore. I don't know where I on my list he falls... but he certainly deserves mention. Go with your bad self Matty!!!

I've been recently caught up with all various retrospective lists that always pop up at years end and I've decided to compile a few lists of my own. But I find the trouble with these lists is, I have a damn lousy memory! Everything in the "top" is quite likely from the last 3 months!.. hahahaha. So I guess this may just be the Top 5 from the last quarter of the year.... let us see what happens shall we?

Top 5 Hunky Crushes of 2007:
5)Viggo Mortensen: Not actually "my type", but I admit there is a certain stillness about him that is appealing. Not to mention, he's a kick ass actor who gets to kick ass completely nude in Eastern Promises. Viggo makes the Top 5 mainly because I got to see his twig n berries. But also because I rewatched The Two Towers over Christmas and Aragorn is really growing on me.

4) Justin Timberlake: Sure, I talk about him too much as it is. I was going to just allot him honorable mention; but his priceless D!ck in the Box earns him a slot. Plus he won an Emmy®!

3) Tony Leung Chiu Wai : Okay, I got to see his berries too; but he makes the list because with his work in Lust, Caution, Tony cements his place in the acting world. As the NY Times so aptly put it, "Mr. Leung doesn’t do much talking: he looks, he conquers." He is just as brave(if not more so) as any "western" actor out there (Viggo, Daniel Day-Lewis, Ed Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman). Anyone who appreciates good acting should be digging into his work.

2)Brad Pitt: Brad, Brad, Brad. He should just be given Hall of Fame status. But he makes it on the list for his tireless work in NOLA and for starring in a relatively well-received arthouse western with the longest name ever!

Before I bring you #1, I have to list 2 honorable mentions..

George Clooney - As the girls from SATC say, "Clooney's like a Chanel suit, he never goes out of style." Here, here. Oceans 13 was a disappointment, but he balanced it out with Michael Clayton.

Eric Bana: My hot red-carpet hunk of 2006. Ok, Lucky You sucked at the box office this May, but isn't he adorable? Plus he just won Best Actor nods at the Australian "Oscars". Watch for him next year as the baddie Nero in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek. He just may make next years list!

And *drumroll*... my number ONE Hunky Crush of 2007?

1)David Beckham: BECKS! In the looks department, there really doesn't need to be anything said is there? But this Greek God landing on California ground cements his standing as #1. I mean, my goodness! The press coverage! And I thought no one cared about soccer!
He arrives, plays a little soccer for $250 million, and promptly injures himself. Kind of a wanker maneuver I must admit. But he makes up for it by posing for uber hot photo spread in W magazine with his wife.

He also captures the other end of his fan base by landing a Disney shot. This is the only G-rated photo of him I can hang at work.



Then, before the year is out, he signs a 3-year deal to be the spokesmodel for Armani Underwear! And Voila! I mean, seriously. WHAT THE HELL???! Ladies, whatever he's selling, I'll take two! (Unfortunately, I cannot hang this picture at work.)


And despite the fact that his wife Posh is ten kinds of crazy, he loves her. And gets totally steamy for her. That's absolutely hot. And that makes him my Hunky Crush of 2007.

Merry Christmas

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'"

Keee-YAH!

20

Holiday Rundown

The Holidays have been kicking my hiney. I don't recall being this frazzled in ages. Even Sake is pooped!

The usual holiday work functions, and an office birthday trifecta have left little time for actual work to be done. And strangely, we are actually busy! I tried to adopt an active slacker work ethic this past year after my crappy buck-up-or-get-demoted review and lo! it worked! ... Effective January 7th, I will be moving on to new brand responsibilites at work.. New brands, more volume, more visibility, and more travel( most likely NYC, Hawaii, and Hong Kong).... I say score one for the slackers!

My dinner party was a success. I got The Band back together for a meal of homemade meatballs and marinara sauce. I must admit, it was yummydelicious. I was too busy being hostess to take pictures but it warmed my heart to see 16 of my closest friends pack themselves into my home for a holiday get-together. The Captain approved....

Since then, I have been focusing on organizing my boss' birthday party, finishing my holiday shopping(done!), writing Christmas cards, organizing Christmas Eve dinner, wrapping presents, and still putting in time with family, friends, Honey, and Sake (not necessarily in that order!). Shamefully, I still haven't finished cleaning up from Saturday! Ok, the salad greens, dressing, and croutons are from tonight.

Right now I'm just trying to crank out the giftwrapping in between loads of laundry. I AM very excited that my holiday shopping is finished though! I got some great gifts this year, I can't wait to see everyone's faces when they open them up! Do you spy the Borg Cube ornament there in the tree? My holiday pride & joy...

And now I find Project Runway is a rerun tonight. -DOH! I need something to watch on the telly when I'm giftwrapping. I guess its time to pop in that holiday favorite: The Lord of the Ring trilogy. Ahhh how I love holiday geekery....

Citizen Philanthropy

Update: FUNDED!!! Fully fricking funded!!! The Leonard R Flynn Elementary School project to plan, do and review has been fully funded! I don't know if its because of my readers, but it sure can't be coincidence! I shall take credit for it nonetheless! hahahaha! We've got the power people! If anyone comes across a project they are particularly interested in helping, post it!!!! Or send it to me, and I'll post it.

I was slow on the uptake this year and didn't get a chance to send a Christmas carepackage to the troops in Iraq. Poo.
Soo... I've opted to help someone in need online instead.
.. Crate & Barrel sent a gift certificate to use at the innovative DonorsChoose.Org. If you haven't heard of it yet, its a website where teachers pitch to you ideas for project and materials and experiences their students need to learn, such as: improving vocabulary with a class set of dictionaries ($150); discouraging teen pregnancy with “Baby-Think-It-Over” dolls ($500); taking students to Washington, D.C. to see the Supreme Court consider a case ($2,000). There's a lot more accountability here than what goes on in a Hollywood production thats for sure!

You can search proposals by areas of interest, learn about classroom needs, and choose to fund the project she/he finds most compelling. Donors receive a feedback package of photographs, student thank-you notes, a teacher impact letter, and an expenditure report showing that their gift was spent as directed.

Their Mission: "DonorsChoose improves public education by engaging citizens in an online marketplace where teachers describe specific educational projects for their classrooms and individuals can choose which projects to fund. We envision a country where students in every community have the resources they need to learn."

DonorsChoose.org received a surprise shoutout yesterday morning during the CBS Early Show. President Bill Clinton was speaking with Harry Smith about the importance of charitable giving, and he cited DonorsChoose.org as an example of a non-profit that harnesses the power of the internet to enable ordinary citizens to have an impact. BOOYAH! At DonorsChoose you can be a philanthropist for just Ten Bucks. Citizen philanthropy at work!

I used my Gift Certificate and contributed additional funds to a school in the Mission District of San Francisco, learning puzzles, etc, that future classes can use too. And I know where my money is going! .. They are close readers! If you feel you'd like to give, they could get their project funded and completed!! Or find something that is close to YOUR home, and better yet, YOUR heart.

Golden Compass Geekery

Behold, Philotheus, my Daemon!
Yes, yes, I'm a geek. I couldn't wait to take the quiz and find out what my daemon would be! And strangely, I like him!!!

DIY

Where the frick have I been?
Busy Busy.

My mind is so fragmented that I haven't been able to sit down and think too clearly. Just checking off things I need to do for the Holidays. With all the Christmas shopping I have to do, I also wanted to throw a dinner party for a few friends("Dude, we're gettin' the band back together!!"). I know, methinks I must be a masochist. So yeah, I've been stressing myself out wanting to spruce up my place for the coming Saturday soiree.

But right now , my place is a MESS due to a wiring issue. The contractor ultimately had to cut a piece of wall out in order to find out why my dining room lights stopped working. Good news is, he fixed the faulty wire; but the bad news is I have to sand down the new piece of sheetrock. ugg.
Don't ask me why but I have one of these laying around the house...
Edit: Note, this is NOT my hand. Its just a random picture I googled....

Why did no one tell me it would leave crap ALL OVER the place? Everything turned white with a layer of crap. Seriously, I NEED a houseboy! Now I have massive cleaning to do, and I can't get my hardwood floors clean. Not to mention I probably took 2 years off my life by neglecting to mask myself while sanding. (I finally wisened up and used my hoodie hood to cover my mouth and nose.) Silly Sake felt the need to supervise so she kept standing there right next to me, no doubt inhaling a much of crap. Great.

I singlehandedly bought a tree Saturday too, and lugged it up my stairs (What a sight I must've been with a 6ft tall tree hoisted over my shoulder!).. But with other commitments, I didn't put the tree up until Sunday night. It was, as they say... getting hella dried out!... So anyway, at 11pm last night, I was battling an uncooperative tree, trying to get it into the tree pot without the whole thing tipping over. After hanging the lights, it was far too late to deal with ornaments. Thats tonight.

I guess I should look for the positive side and be happy that I am getting things done. But I'm so frazzled, I don't can't remember where I actually put my positive side!

Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Make every moment count like this turkey did.

The End of an Era

Vogue is tired. Anna Wintour's iron-fist reign has run(albeit in Prada heels) that magazine into the ground. I realized slowly that I had become less and less excited each month as the issues arrived. The articles no longer resonate. The editorials are uninspired. The new batch of "supermodels" bore me.

Agyness Deyn excluded of course....

Nevermind that Vogue doesn't actually put models on the cover anymore. The actresses they shove at me are not icons of style, grace, or daring. Jennifer Hudson? Scarlet Johanssen? PUL-leeze. And I believe I actually suffered a small cardiac arrest when I saw Anna gave Sienna-f&cking-Miller the September issue!

And I guess I'm just sick and tired of reading about fashion, fitness, and style that I don't feel are attainable or even relate to me anymore. .. I likely just kept the magazine out of habit. So, after 22 years, I finally ended it. I did not renew my subscription. You may think, so what? Its just a magazine. A magazine full of useless, expensive crap they try to shove down women's throats. ... But any Vogue devotee can tell you, Vogue is really more than that, at least it used to be. The magazine showed me about style, not just fashion. And for a dreamy 15-year-old culture hound stuck in the burbs, the monthly editions were my bible.

I still recall my very first issue. Isabella Rosselini showed me that I didn't have to be a blonde blue-eyed vixen to be beautiful. Oh, how I wanted to be her! I actually had my Vogue in my schoolbag as I walked up to the Lancome counter to buy my tube of Cabaret Red. *sigh* Oh, yes, I remember it well.

I hope one day to rebuild the relationship I once had with this venerable book, to recapture the magic. But I think, for now, Vogue and I need a bit of a break; deep in my heart of hearts, I'm hoping it won't last too long.

If It's Free, It's for Me

It seems so simple. Play a game. Feed the hungry.

Yep. At Freerice.com, you are presented with questions aimed at testing your vocabulary. For every one you get right, ten grains of rice are donated to the The United Nations World Food Program by the game's sponsors (Apple, Time|Life, American Express, etc). Right now the focus is cyclone-ravaged Bangladesh.

It couldn't get any easier! Oh hmm.. Well, for some of us, its still going to be a mountain to climb.

Edit: On 18 November 2007, 170,885,620 grains were donated. Since its inception on October 7, total grains come to 2,628,006,040.

That Time of Year Again

Its that time of year AGAIN!.... "Serious" movie season.... Bear with me now as this post may be more for me than for you, my esteemed reader.
Realistically, I won't get to even half of the interesting movies that will be released, but here's a wrapup of my list of Must-See's:

Wes Anderson's latest work, The Darjeeling Limited, is another rumination on family. This time he brings his usual suspects (Owen Wilson, Angelica Huston, Jason Schwartzman) to India. I was entranced just from the trailer. "Does anyone have any questions?" "Yes. What happened to your face?" There's also a 13min "prequel" you can download free from iTunes.

The buzz on No Country for Old Men has been huge, and I don't think it will disappoint. Dark and relentless, Javier Bardem is the most frightening baddie you will see, haircut notwithstanding.
I'm not the biggest Keira Knightley fan, but again... the buzz on Atonement has been really good. And, I'm pretty much a sucker for a period movie. Gothic mansions, catastophic misunderstandings, I'm in.

Sidney Lumet is back with another heist gone awry movie, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.
Philip Seyour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke. How could this Lumet piece go wrong you ask? Well, don't forget Family Business with Matthew Broderick and Sean Connery.. and who though remaking Gloria with Sharon Stone would be a good idea? But again, the buzz is good and I will watch PSH in just about anything....
I'm sure there are more coming out that I haven't listed. But again, I'm trying to be realistic about what I can fit in. Have any films to add to the list?

BRING IT!

I am often telling people who don't live in San Francisco all the cool stuff that goes on in San Francisco. I don't always take part in it but its always comforting to know its there. But lo! This past Saturday night I found out about Style Wars and felt it was too cool to resist. So I got tickets online, D and I rounded up some friends and headed out to 111 Minna to hang out with some cool fashionable folks.

We bumped into some unexpected friends and our little group got even larger. (Love when that happens!) None of us knew what to expect but we lined up by the runway stage anticipating F-A-S-H-I-O-N.. But the show didn't start until midnight and it got hotter than a U2 concert. We're talkin' General Admission.

When we saw the models saunter out in their wifebeaters and black hosiery, we knew the Battle had begun.I got caught up in the moment and forgot I had my camera phone until the last matchup.

We didn't stay past the first freestyle round, but we did see some fierce ensembles. This was one of our favorites on the left. Her skirt is rope coiled around.

I'm not sure if I saw San Francisco fashion in gear that night; but it just felt good to be in the presence of creation.

Gravel '08

I took a quiz today at Glassbooth.com. It tallies up which political issues are important to you and then spits out the candidate you should vote for..... It said my #1 choice for president should be Mike Gravel?! I don't even know who the hell he is??? Me thinks he may have been my Atmo Sci professor in college, but I can't remember anymore...