last call for stuff

this week has been full of all sorts of fun stuff.  like, i put out a "last call" post on my facebook page for those mermaid tail blankets - i figure, winter is almost over and nobody's going to want fleece blankets much longer, right?  and i had piles of excess material sitting around, which was driving the hub absolutely crazy.  so i just said something like "hey, if you want one, let me know" and immediately got requests for like 5 of them.  sweet!

cutting out fabric is my least favorite part of sewing in general, so i just sat my happy ass down one morning and got through all of it in one shot.  and then of course life got in the way and it was another couple of days before i could sit down at my machine and start sewing.  but i did it:

i actually have two more to get done, and then that does it for that round of mermaid tails.  i also need to crank out one adult-sized shark tail blanket to fulfill the IOU i gave the old lady's special friend back at christmas.  and the nice thing about all of this is that it's given me the motivation to start sewing again, which is particularly great because i have a ton of fabric lying around, just waiting to be used for something fantastic.  don't worry, piles of fabric, i'm comin' for ya.

because guess what?  this is the final weekend of girl scout cookie season 2016!!!!!

that's right, folks, this is it.  sunday is your very last chance to get your fix of thin mints, samoas, do-so-dos, trefoils, tagalongs, savannah smiles, rah rah raisins, and toffeetastics until next year.  look for your friendly neighborhood girl scouts in front of local grocery stores this weekend and show 'em some love while you stock up on treats that you can stick in the freezer to make 'em last for months.  and if you're local, hit me up - we can deliver!

i dragged the old lady out for a 3-miler the other day, and when i opened my nike+ app i found that i'd hit a milestone of sorts:

that's my lifetime mileage right there.  i suppose it's not particularly impressive considering a lot of my runner friends do that in one year, and that's taken me five.  heh.  but still...it was kind of cool to see the number.  i'm still adding to it, after all.

the old lady and i also attended the bean's award assembly for the second trimester of the year.  she's continuing to kick ass in school, and i love seeing her accept awards for her hard work.

that 60-day challenge is winding down to an end.  i'm fairly certain i haven't lost any poundage, or any inches considering i didn't alter my diet even one bit. i did, however, commit to doing at least 3 barre classes per week.  so when i found myself having to cancel one of my classes this week because of a conflict in my schedule, i realized i'd have to do something a little crazy to make up for it:  do two classes in one day.  eek.  thursday saw me in the studio for the early 6:05 class, after which i headed home to get the bean ready and dropped off at school.  and then i changed into fresh workout gear and showed up again for the 8:30 class.

i'm not gonna lie, you guys - that shit was rough.  and probably not something i'll do again if i can avoid it.  but i'm glad i did, so that i can at least tell myself i met the fitness part of the challenge.

oh, and one last thing - my friend jessica love released her second book this week!

i'm super proud and excited for her, and i can't wait till i have some free time to dive in and read it...most likely in one sitting because i already know i won't be able to put it down.  you should totally get a copy too!

and now i'm going to mentally prep myself for the weekend of running i have ahead of me.  this is after tonight's girl scout meeting and amongst a bunch of other stuff to get accomplished over the next couple of days.  phew...i'm tired already.

bookin' it

we've managed to make the l.a. times festival of books a yearly tradition by now.  it's always a fun outing, with lots to see and do.  i actually hadn't planned on attending this year because we originally had planned to hit up the renaissance faire with the girl scouts, but with a lack of interest we ended up canceling the outing altogether.  this was fine by me, because i didn't really want to miss the festival anyway.

it took just one text to my friend lilcee and just like that, we were there.  as it's been for the last few years, it was at her old stomping grounds - the campus of usc.

as luck would have it, the entrance we used dumped us right into the children's area.  the first booth we visited was - of course - sponsored by disney.

here we collected a captain america poster that i don't know what we'll do with, and something that proved to be quite valuable as the afternoon went on - a round baseball-shaped towel advertising last year's "million dollar arm."  because you know me - put me out in the sun and i'm sweaty betty.  it was perfect.

a booth for mrs. nelson's book fair was next.

i always think of my friend jessica whenever this guy is mentioned.  i wonder if she knew he was going to be making an appearance here.

i considered picking this book up for the bean - kind of like a starter version of the diary of anne frank.  i didn't, but only because i wasn't ready to start carrying too much stuff around just yet.

besides, she was distracted by the sight of the ice cream carts that we kept coming up on.

at this booth, she and mini cee got to spin a wheel, complete the activity that they landed on, and earn a prize.

 a booth sponsored by mcdonald's offered up some cool treats - sample cups of their mango pineapple and strawberry banana smoothies.

we all stopped in at this booth to get a free weight/BMI/blood pressure check.

the bean wasn't all too sure about this one, but she sat down and suffered through it anyway.  that face, man.  kills me.

the oc fair is apparently celebrating its 125th year.  i had no idea the fair was that old.

around the corner, they stopped to make a quick craft.

the cooking stage section was really sparse.  the stage was tiny, and there wasn't much to see.  but just a little ways away was the food truck court.

the pantages theater booth didn't have much, but they were promoting the crap out of the upcoming "phantom of the opera."

we each grabbed more freebies here:

and stood in this line for a few minutes before deciding it wasn't worth it and heading back out to the parking lot to get outta there.

only at usc would they have a beach volleyball court.

oh, and across the street we stumbled upon a major spoiler for this season of "hell's kitchen."  don't look if you don't want to know.

while it was fun, it was slightly disappointing this time around.  it seemed smaller, with less to do and not as many vendors and things to visit.  that's okay, though.  we'd still had a good time hanging out and checking things out, and maybe next year it'll be better.  we'll see.

push girl love

when i was little, i wanted to be a doctor.

and then i realized that meant blood and needles and a lot of school, so that was out.  so then i thought maybe i'd be a teacher like my mom (don't most kids go through a phase where they think they want to be a teacher because it sucks to be a student?), but i didn't want to be up in front of a classroom with all the attention on me.

later on, i discovered that i liked creative writing and decided that being a soap opera writer would be the most fantastical job in the whole wide world.  i wrote sappy poems about teenage love and life, which would be so awesome to read now (for cringing and snickering purposes, clearly), and totally thought i'd be an awesome author.

but then life happened.  it took me in different directions, as life usually does, and i haven't written a thing but this blog in years.  i don't think i have any creativity left in me anyway, and so you guys are stuck reading about the only thing i really have to write about - me.  muahahahahaha.

so i was super duper extra thrilled for my friend jessica when she announced that she'd landed a book deal and had an agent and a deal to publish her very first novel.  it's loosely based on a reality series on the sundance channel called "push girls," which follows the story of four girls living life in wheelchairs.  her co-author, chelsie hill, is a cast member on the show.  i mean, how freaking awesome is that?  she wrote a BOOK.  and it's been published.  and you can find it at amazon, barnes & noble, or pretty much any bookstore!

 
i made it a point to get my copy at vroman's, a little mom & pop-style bookstore in pasadena - site of the last book signing i attended.  jessica and her co-author chelsie hill had an appearance and book signing scheduled there, and a bunch of us made plans to meet up to support our friend and then have dinner together afterwards.

when lilcee and i arrived, a group of our friends had already arrived and saved seats for us right in front.

and there were snacks!  cheeeeeeese.  i love cheese.  and crackers.  and cookies.  can you tell i was hungry?  what else is new, though, huh?

jessica and chelsie were introduced by a member of vroman's staff.

they both spoke a little about the story and how it came to be, and then jessica read an excerpt from the book.

after a little q&a session, we all lined up to have our books signed.  and, of course, a photo op.

before we headed across the street for dinner, we managed to gather for a group pic.

huge congrats to jessica on her debut novel!  can't wait till i have some free time to sit down and read it.  hopefully i'll finish it before her second book comes out next fall.

not quite the peach pit

so, you're familiar with my love for 90210 - the OG version - yes?  i mean, i tried to get into the new one that's since been cancelled, but i just couldn't.  90210 is nothing without brandon, brenda, dylan, kelly, donna, and david.  NOTHING!  and since soapnet got shut down last year, i've had zero opportunities to reminisce with old episodes of my favorite 90s show.  so sad.

instead, it seems i've made it my mission to meet the actors from the original cast.  i mean, we all remember this:

 and then there was this:

and then a couple of weeks ago, lilcee tweeted me this:

vroman's is one of the few indie bookstores left 'round these parts.  they have two locations, both in pasadena, and the last time i'd been there was also for a book signing...several years ago.  anyway, it's easy to get to and not far from home.  so with the teen home with her sister, i hopped in the car and headed out to meet up with lilcee here:

she was already upstairs saving us seats, so i headed up to will call to pick up my copy of his book.  i totally giggled to myself as i passed this:

and as i stood at the counter waiting to be helped, i heard it:  the unmistakable voice of brandon walsh himself.  i glanced to my left and just inside an employees-only doorway, i saw him.  he was standing just a few feet away from me, accepting an offer for something to drink, and i fumbled like mad to open the camera app on my phone.  alas, my frenzied fingers were too clumsy to get to it in time, and he disappeared down the hall.  damn.  i was so bummed.

book signings are serious business here, yo.

i found lilcee sitting in the third row, right in the middle with a pretty good view of the podium.  we giggled like schoolgirls as we perused the photo sections of the book.  

there weren't too many people there yet, and she'd already warned me that those who were there were...um...not youngsters.  i cracked up as i saw this dude snapping pictures with his FLIP PHONE.

right next to lilcee was a couple who was watching an episode of 90210 on their iPad.  research?  looking for talking points?  either way...awesome.

because vroman's is an organized sort of place, they handed out numbered tickets to everyone who wanted their books signed.  i love it when staff has their shit together, especially since the place was filling up at a rapid pace.

after a quick introduction by a member of vroman's staff, there he was.  be still my heart.

lilcee and i were pretty surprised to find that he wasn't actually doing a reading or discussion of the book.  he said a few words and then just basically invited everyone up to meet him and get their books and memorabilia signed.  i mean, you don't have to ask me twice.

ahead of us was this fan, who greeted him very enthusiastically.  jason was really nice to him, even recording a quick clip on the guy's phone for him to use as his outgoing voice mail message.  it was sweet.

although i loved brandon, i didn't have the insane heart pounding, i'm-gonna-pass-out feeling that i had when i met luke perry.  i don't know why.  i was just as excited, but maybe old age has mellowed me out.  who knows.  he greeted me with a smile and shook my hand as he signed my book, and i managed to make non-idiotic conversation with him that i don't actually remember as i swooned and silently giggled to myself.

money shot, folks.  here it is.  i kind of wish i hadn't chosen a top that makes me look like i weigh a thousand pounds, but whatever.  i was comfy and not sweaty - bonus.

because lilcee had chosen not to buy a copy of the book to be signed, i wasn't at all sure that the staff would let her take a picture with him.  so i pulled her in for a group shot, just to be safe.  i totally look like such a creep here, but i don't care.

i should've known lilcee better than that, though.  she handed a staff member her phone and managed to get her own solo shot with him.  she's good.  he thanked us for coming and told us it was nice to meet us - well, of course it was.  heh.

after we flagged down another employee to make sure we weren't going to miss anything if we left - because hey, he could've done a reading or discussion or something after the signing - we headed outta there in search of some dinner.  we decided to join the hipsters and went here:

lilcee's green tea was pretty.

my ice-blended spanish latte granita was delicious.  it's a good thing this place isn't too close to home, because it could be very addicting.

we decided to order two sandwiches and share them.  here's my panini prosciutto de parma - so good.

we had a great time together - it'd been forever since we'd been out without the kids, and it was nice to have a little grown-up time.  and then i headed home with my precious cargo (which, of course, was endlessly mocked by the hub and the teen):

do you see that?  BRANDON WALSH LOVES ME.  my life is complete.