I'm in The Larchmont Chronicle!!

Thanks to Suzan Filipek at the Larchmont Chronicle for such a lovely piece! This really made my day.

Click here to check it out and go to page 17!

http://issuu.com/larchmontchronicle/docs/lc_issue_02-09_100-4pf?mode=embed&documentId=090127225503-8278d0ee2f174b92a5fc1625a528c87b&layout=grey

It's love...

Sorry I didn't write yesterday, I was too busy spooning my new Mac. We are in love and it is grand. Shiny, bright and able to communicate with it's little buddy the MacBook, we are a happy threesome, alright 4, okay 5, Jeff and Mabel gotta get in on the action too. But I am okay to share. With a monitor this big, there is plenty of Mac Lovin' to go around.

The pad is almost complete..final hallway being painted today, a trip to the container store, this afternoon, and wait for it...the possibility of a built in dishwasher...tears of joy.

And tears of pain. Today was my second mysore Ashtanga class in a row and after 16 sun salutations, I thought my arms would fall off. But I made it through all my standing asana's and after 70 minutes, my wonderful instructor showed me mercy and said I could move onto the finishing postures. Whew.

It has been ages since I practiced Ashtanga and I am excited about the possibility of builidng my practice up again to the daily ritual it once was. I am not so excited about tomorrow's 2 hour led class...but when it is done, I know I will feel great. Although I won't be able to feel my limbs. Small sacrifice. Wonder if this Mac has voice command?

Tonight is Mac night!

Yup. It's gonna happen. Tonight I am off to the Grove to buy myself a new Mac. I am thinking...wait for it...Laptop with Desk monitor. Decadent.

I have a big day planned for my new Mac and myself tomorrow...flowers, chocolates, a romantic day spent in each others company...I can not wait.

And because it is a new phase, with a new computer and new projects, I am going to try to renew my commitment a long forgotten old love...yoga. Tomorrow morning I will take my first Ashtanga mysore class in years. And yes, I expect to be sore.

Start up disk full!!!

Apparently my start up is full...which sounds about right. I am full up on moving, full up on being surrounded by boxes, full up on waiting for deliveries and repair man who never show...and now my Mac is full up too!

Only problem is I have a deadline this morning and must turn in my work which I have to retrieve and save by making room on my hard drive...again. Time for a new computer. Sigh....

Frazzled, Fried, and Wide Eyed...

We moved. We did it. It took 5 hours more than the movers said and was 3 times the quote, but in the end we made it. I love the new apartment. Loathe that I can hear the neighbors tv when it is turned up and am determined to find a solution. My neighbors are great and any issues are the fault of an old building with little insulation...it is the California way...but after hours of researching and some great dialogue on Apartment Therapy, a site I love, I have discovered and am going to try soundproofing insulation rubber on our living room floor.

The stuff weighs about a pound a square foot and should dampen airborne noise. It will cover the beautiful hardwood in the living room, but we have a gorgeous area rug to brighten it up and my friend just gave me a great West Elm sea grass rug that she had in her garage! Thanks Stella!

My office is waiting for me to use it, and we are patiently trying to work out the wireless with
AT &T. In the meantime I am naming and copy writing, surrounded by boxes and held in place by Mabel who sleeps on my lap as I write.

Thankfully the cable was up and running and I could witness the amazing historic moment of the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama. Fabulous.

Countdown...

I am up to my eyeballs in boxes and packing paper and bubble wrap!

Last night we signed the lease and inspected our new apartment and it is beautiful!! We also met the new neighbor across the hall who will be moving in 2 weeks after us. She is a full time working mom with a young daughter, who attends school full time and spends half the time with her dad. She totally gets that I work from home and assured me all will be well noise wise with the exception of an occasional play date, same with us, but with the exception of an occasional dinner party. And she is going to get a dog...so I am hopeful that Mabel will get a friend. That would be great. Although, I am still dreaming of getting a little buddy for Mabel ourselves. But so far the building seems to be full of nice, considerate people, who care about their space and getting along with the other tenants. Good neighbors are a blessing.

As if this week couldn't get any busier, I now have 2 deadlines, for Monday and 2 auditions today. To me this is a fantastic week, full of writing, acting and if my place could just magically pack itself it would be perfect!

Less than a week away!!

It's all very exciting, our move is less than a week away! All we have to do is pack, paint, decorate, meet deadlines and then unpack set up and get back to work. Yup, that's all.

Meanwhile the Santa Ana winds have picked up and are blowing across Los Angeles and wrecking havoc with my allergies! They were really blowing last night up in Chatsworth where we were guests for a Golden Globe feast at the house of dear friends! We dined on caramelized onion soup and cranberry squash, green beans and tomato gallettes, followed by baked apples and vanilla soy ice cream and peanut butter and chocolate squares!! And wine, wine and more wine! I have to say that the Globes were so boring and tame and safe this year...thank goodness for the outstanding hospitality and terrific company of great friends. I can not wait to cook them dinner at our new place!

Time out for the move...

My brain is consumed with our upcoming move! I can not believe that I haven't posted since Tuesday...this is not good. Maybe it is because every time I am on line, I am scrounging the web and craigslist for rugs and bookcases and wall units for our new apartment. It's madness! We even went to Ikea...and were there so long that we had not one but two meals in their cafeteria! I had a salmon ceasar salad and soup and it was delicious! And it was all under $6.00.

I have to say it...I like Ikea, I think that mixing and matching their furniture with other pieces from other places is the way to go. Ikea's designs are clean and functional and great for small places and yes affordable. We got an armoire closet thing there and a new glass topped desk and a platform bed frame and of course...cute paper napkins, which I can never resist. What I don't like is going to Ikea, as it always takes forever and I dread assembling the furniture. But that's the trade off for great prices.

And today we have to go back, because we need to cancel our order for our media unit in the living room (and can only do it in person)...it will no longer go with our new distressed leather art deco french style club chairs that we got...at half price!!

You see, I really am obsessed with moving!

Decorating Distractions and School Seductions...

Where are the pictures from your Europe trip?!

This is what one friend asked me, and she was right, I am slow in posting them. I am distracted. I am excited about moving into my new apartment and frustrated that the landlord hasn't called me back yet about going in to take measurements and choose paint colors. I am itching to get into our new space and set up my office. What will it be like to have a place where I can go and work, close the door and not see and hear everything that is going on in our apartment? Will Jeff and I need walkie talkies to communicate from one side of the apartment to the other? When I am working and he is in the living room, I will actually need to get up out of my chair and walk to get his attention. There will be no more simple waving of my hand to get his attention, and my voice will not carry as far as the other room...or should I say rooms.

Of course a new office means hopefully no more excuses or distractions for the writing, and I am honestly looking forward to some serious study and consistent practice. I miss my writing and I am eager to tackle new challenges this year. Of course I am also scared out of my wits, and so whenever that happens I look at school courses and what I can enroll in. What can I say? I am a good student, and I love learning, but right now the exact class that I want to take at UCLA isn't offered this term and as I am near completion of my certificate in the writers program, I am saving those few courses left for teachers I really want to continue studying with. I also know that taking a class now, would be a way of procrastinating, albeit a very time consuming and difficult way of doing so.

And so, I will have to design my own curriculum and set my own goals and meet my own deadlines. And with my very own new office...I will be happy to do so.

On the topic of schools here are some pictures of our trip into Oxford, and the university, which is the alma mater of my brother in law Stephen, who is a scientist. At this point of the trip we are in South Moore, having just left London and are visiting Jeff's sister Jenny and her kids Alex and Matthew.(not pictured.) We have enjoyed long walks in the Cotswalds, Indian curry dinners, pub lunches and lots of tea! The countryside is gorgeous and it is great to just relax and catch up with family and without the hectic pace of London.

One thing about Oxford, okay maybe a couple...the town is so beautiful and the university campuses are incredible, that gorgeous domed building is a library! The buildings are hundreds and hundreds of years old and spectacular. And there is a smell, of crushed stone and holly that if I close my eyes I can still conjure...it is intoxicating, and after a few hours of walking the grounds and smelling it, I wanted to go back to school! Well, to Oxford that is.

Last Day in London...

My cousin and I had great plans to go shopping, but after a long night of laughing and talking and getting to bed at 3:00 a.m. we all slept in. It was just as well, as it had been raining non stop and showed no signs of letting up. We dressed up and headed out to Bistroteque a super hip warehouse place in East London that is a favorite special occasion place of Anya and Eric. Spare in design with an all white decor, the tables are arranged around a huge white grand piano where the pianist plays classical versions of pop and rock songs from the likes of Depeche Mode, David Bowie, and The Cure. The food was outstanding, I had a lobster salad, salted cod, and creme brule, and we all shared a pitcher of raspberry bellini's. We chatted and ate for hours catching up on family history, which is something that my cousin and I are both interested in, putting together two sides of the story from two sides of the family.

After lunch we wandered around the city by bus, and when 5:00pm rolled around we walked along the river for a good hour until we got to Gregory's the oldest wine bar in London. It is literally under the Thames. The bar itself is in an old wine cellar and it is dark and crowded and warm. I spotted a group getting ready to leave their table and paused to ask me if I was American. I said no, Canadian, but I live in America now...and they said that if I was American, they wouldn't have given me the table! This prompted a brief dsicussion about politics in which I reminded them that change was coming to America in the form of Barack Obama, and they said they really hoped so.

We left Gregory's for the Symphony and listened to a performance of Mahler's last work. It was gorgeous. Wonderfully raphsodic and remiscent of old movie scores. It was the first part of the evening, the second part being Wagner, which none of us are huge fans, and so we left for more walking, more wandering, more staring out at London all lit up along the water.

A late dinner of pasta and salad at a local joint and finally home. Truly a great visit with two of our favorite people.

New Year, New Apartment, and Last Day in London...

Well it's a new year and I am going to have a new apartment! We have given notice and given our deposit, but don't get to sign the lease until Monday...so I am not allowed to order anything for the new place until then. This is actually a good thing, as I only saw it the one time, and need to go back and take measurements.

We had been bantering around the idea of moving again, checked out Craigslist and when we saw a place on one of our favorite streets we decided to take a look. We had a list of things that this new place would need in order to leave behind this amazing building that we are in and all of our wonderful neighbors and to be honest I wasn't expecting to find anything for months. Well, our new place has practically everything on the list. An extra bedroom and bathroom, balcony, washer/dryer, hardwood floors, central air conditioning (!), central heat, a common backyard with lots of potential, cool neighbors, pet friendly, room for entertaining, a kitchen I can cook in...it's all there, and it is in our new price range (gulp)...the only thing missing...a dishwasher...but oh wait, the landlord is pretty sure that he has a portable one...that he will give us. Come on. I thought I was dreaming, and I knew that I really wanted it, when another person showed up to check it out and I thought...No! Go away! You can't have it, it's our apartment!

Now, it needs a little work like a lot of original older Spanish style buildings do...but it will be painted and cleaned and I am hoping for new linoleum in the kitchen. Whatever the landlord doesn't do...Jeff and I will do ourselves, having great experience at making any rental feel like a home.

The best part is...I get an office. A real office. It will have to double as a guest room sometimes, but most of the time our guests can stay in comfort in the large living room that will be screened off from the rest of the apartment. It will be like a suite! Oh boy, we are gonna fill up quickly at the new B& B...I mean apartment.

So a new office means...a new desk, or rather for now, my old one from the garage, a clean white and metal one from Ikea...and a new computer. It is time, and I was wondering from all my fellow writers out there, what do you prefer...laptop? Or desktop? I have always used a laptop, but am considering going desktop. Thoughts?