Joshua Tree - Patrick's 30th

Last weekend we went to Joshua Tree to celebrate Patrick's 30th birthday.

Birthday boy

I got up at 5 a.m. to do my training run (more on that later...), then set out to join Tammy and the architect crew at our rental cabin.   They had spent the previous night and were already in vacay mode.

Driving off the paved road for about 15 min takes you to 'Shangri-La'...

which is the name of this sweet mid-century modern pad...

with a crazy desert view.

Of course- everyone was gone getting hippie sound cleansed when I arrived, so I played catch up with JD and candy.  Then I had a mini photo-session in the desert.

The group returned and we set out to Joshua Tree National Park for a hike.

Once the sun went down, we headed out to Pappy & Harriet's for bbq dinner and some live music and additional Jack Daniels (well, for me anyway...)

After dinner- we went home for birthday cupcakes and gossip and a fire and outer space watching.

..and another sip of Jack.

The next morning- we woke up for nutella breakfast.
After eating half our collective weight in hazelnut spread, we ran around the desert like over-excited, over-caffeinated looney bins.

Shipping container slaloms!

Desert ballet!

Best part of waking up.

Johanna swings!

The we cleaned up the house and went into town.  We saw looots of antique shops.

Which are generally boring and lame.  Generally.
One shop broke the mold by selling real buffalo skulls.  WHAAA?  A real skull?!  I had to buy one.

So did Patrick.  

(pictured with Skullward)

After Skulliver was purchased and safely placed into the backseat of the mazda,

Carefully wrapped skull and my pajamas.

 I headed back to LA.  Only to get caught in an epic traffic jam like none other.

My view for 3.5 hours.

The humanity.

It lasted forever.

Aside from death traffic, it was super fun time!!!!

Conflicted Feelings, Or Why I Stopped Hoping And Learned To Hate Valentines Day

I have always been mentally conflicted over Valentine's Day.

Part of me (the common sense part) knows its a stupid fake holiday constructed to sell cards, candies, flowers, nice dinners through an overpowering sense of guilt and obligation (which are the two worst reasons to do something 'nice' for the person you love) disguised as 'ROMANCE.'  The thought of a person anguishing over a purchase intended to appease the demands or requirements of their valentine (who is supposed to love them regardless) really upsets me.  That's why after a few years of trying to observe the day, and never feeling good about it... common sense Sara sets the bar impossibly low.
i.e. we don't 'celebrate' Valentine's Day.

The other part of me (the girl part) (no.. not the physical girl parts... get your mind out of the gutter...the part of my mind that was socially conditioned to respond to 'girl' stimuli- i.e. 'Love Actually' and cats in booties) still believes that maybe there is such a thing as romance?  And maybe if someone really does love you, they will manifest it through surprise cards, candies, flowers, nice dinners?  The girl brain sees flower deliveries and candy hearts and gives them a lingering side-eye of envy immediately after common sense brain did the full-on eye roll.

Though common sense Sara and girl Sara still battle over the deeper meanings of Valentine's Day- they have reached agreement that thoughtfulness and expressions of love on all the other days are far more important than a single day performance.  And common sense Sara and girl Sara both know that the husband who would assume the role of 'Valentine' does an amazing job of making her feel loved throughout the year.

So, win?  Yeah.

To further suss out my conflicted feelings- I copy/pasted a list of pros and cons about this day of 'ROMANCE'

PROS:
1.
From a high school friend's post on facebook (he's an EMT):
I just picked up a gentleman who's wife passed away 4 months ago. 2 days after their 51st anniversary. He hates valentines but his wife loved it so he's wearing red socks and a red shirt for her. He still has her license in his wallet because he always carried it for her. Anyone think they can beat that? He laughed when I told him about giving my wife a wedgie for valentines.


(skrilla note: real love should be celebrated, right?)

2.

These are good.

3.
THOUGHTFULNESS = MAKES PEOPLE FEEL GOOD

4.

gawww, this guy.  doing something mischievous.

5.
Its nice to feel special and loved.



CONS:
1.
From an IM convo with my brother:
Skrilla:
    I hate valentine's day so hard
    fuck any holiday that excludes single people.  because single people are the fun people.
    couples are boring.  and hallmark is an asshole.
    and nobody wins on this day.
    (except for my insulin levels.  after I steal all the free candy from reception)
DT:    lol

    I couldnt have said it better myself.

2.
From an IM convo with an unnamed source:

    yesterday one of the commercial guys was all anxious because he hadn't bought flowers and was worried  

    that his girlfriend wouldn't like them if he ordered them from somewhere

    it was kind of sad.

(skrilla note: ungrateful bitch... this is why us cool girls have [to pretend] to hate Valentine's Day) 

3.

(fuck them)

4.

OBLIGATION =/= ROMANCE

5.

OBLIGATION == RESENTMENT

These equations get confused.  And then all tangled up.  And then its not fun for anyone.  

6.
Being on the sidelines.  And that constant FOMO (Natalie's amazing name for our shared disease- the 'fear of missing out')

So, there you have it.

I will mull it over for next year.

Grand Theft Sandwich - Bay Cities

Just had the Friday-est Friday lunch run!  Drove from our Century City office to Santa Monica to pick up a dozen of Bay Cities' finest.  Windows down, shades on, stereo blasting, ghost riding... well. not quite ghost riding.  Err. not at all ghost riding :(

Anyway- this was our theme song:

She'd be so happy to know two white girls in a mini-cooper were bumpin' this through Santa Monica on a gourmet sandwich run. HAAAAAARDCORE, YO!!!!!!!!

I don't know how or why they are so good- but Bay Cities sandwiches are the TRUTH.

Looking forward to the desert this weekend.  Gonna check out some crazy shit.

Semi-Recent iPhone Photos of Things I Cooked

I got bored of talking about the holidays.  We did stuff..blah..blah.

Its February now!  Daaayum!  Most of my time has been invested in work, shows, hanging out with friends, and working on a top secret mission that will be revealed in March.  In between these things, I managed to cook a lot of food.  Here were some of my favorites!!

Sweet Potatoes!! (swoot perderderrrs!)

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Perfect for cajun potato sticks!

First you chop 'em up.... chop! chop!

Then you put in a baking dish with olive oil, thyme, oregano, and cajun spices (stir...stir..).  Mmm, open up a german beer while this is happening.

Then arrange on a cookie sheet, and proceed to bake for 20-30 min at 400 degrees

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Turn 'em over once to get the other side crispy

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And you get crispity crunchety outsode, soft inside spicy sweet potato sticks.

Next, I made lots of roasted root veggies!!

Turnips!

Then I cut beets, and my cutting board looked quite 'Dexter.'

Yum! Toss with olive oil and spices.  Bake for a while at 425.

And then.... eat as fast as possible.

I was going to add pictures of my potato leek soup recipe- but I think its bedtime since I'm getting up at 5:30 to go to the gym.  

Hooray!

Holidaze

Recap 3: Christian Styles

True facts: Even though I self-identify as Jewish, I'm a halfie.  This has only benefited my life, since I get two sets of holidays and a greater cultural understanding of how religion affects people.  Catholic school still didn't make sense because my other half is Episcopalian, but whatever.  I know the Hail Mary and how to read Hebrew and I get 9 days of presents in December (unless Hanukkah falls late in the month).

This also means we had to leave the Anniversary and Hanukkah celebration two days early and drive up to our Christmas celebrations in San Francisco.  My family has a very VERY VEERRRRYYY rigid holiday schedule- so this meant we had to arrive by 5:30 for dinner.  Xmas Eve waits for no man.  Jesus sure as heck didn't...wait, no.  He died for all mans.

Grandma and Grandpa's Xmas eve lasagna dinner:

  I totally didn't see Mike making that face.

The old kids table.

Tha Sibs!!!

We had a good (delirious) dinner, then went home and wrapped gifts while watching the Pope do his Vatican thing.

Then the earth turned, and sunlight once again streamed down upon us, and it was Christmas Day!

Cool dudes and Christmas tree at dad's house.

Gifts!!! Fun times.

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Then we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's for more exchanges of gifts.

Mid-day snoozing.

Delighted confusion.  The outcome of a successful gift.

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Other outcome, total Zombie annihilation

Dad and Laura

Auntie Karen is the coolest. 

What started as his inappropriate joke at the dinner table turned into an epic gift opportunity. 

Hah. Four feet of Fingers.

Protecting the 'living' room from the undead.

Making dinner.  Dylan pranked me too!

Christmas was fun and exhausting and full of family and love and good treats!  We stayed in SF for the day after Xmas, and started our journey back home...