i have a license again!

i had so much fun today. i got to go down to the daley center which is downtown in the pouring rain complete with thunder and lightening. i had to pass through security and then i got to go to a courtroom in the basement with no windows and wait for the judge to appear. i had brought my book with me so no big deal. once the judge arrived, he gave a long explanation about stuff that went over my head and since i looked like the most intelligent person in the room (not to stereotype, but really) i figure it must have been 'hunh?' to them too. anyways, whatever. all i was there to do was show them proof of my new registration and get my license back. the judge called my name and i did just that. then i was free to go. back in to the even heavier rain. but, i must say i'm glad i had to go today and not yesterday. yesterday was gorgeous and i did a nice long run along the lake. it was a balmy 50 and sunny. i'm just happy that i don't have to carry around my passport anymore!

meeting graham & nelson

Last Wed (the 18th), I got to go to park ridge which is a very nice northwestern suburb of Chicago to visit marlene (a former coworker from Gemini) and her two adorable little boys. They fairly recently moved there from downtown and they have a wonderful house. So much space! And then, holy cow, they have the best playroom ever! The whole downstairs basement is so cute and just for the boys. Lucky little guys! It was so nice to catch up with marlene on all the gossip and everything else. We both used to work for the same crook though not at the same time (tsg) and then we both worked for gemini at the same time and since it is such an industry in distress there is no lack of things to talk about there! And she’s also expecting her next little boy in about 3 months!! Yay! She has yet to decide on a name but she loves rand. However, daddy does not. I can’t wait to see who wins that battle! But I think she should get to name him whatever she wants b/c she’ll then have 4 boys to contend with! I should mention her boys are absolutely adorable and have the biggest prettiest eyes and their smiles could melt any heart.




**i must admit, i didn't take these pictures... i lifted them right off of their blog! if you guys want to see more of these adorable little guys, you can click on the graham and nelson pictures under the blogs i read**

last day in ca... sad!

when I was booking my ticket, I asked sarah if there was a more convenient time to take me to the airport – would she prefer morning/afternoon/evening. She told me she had something to do sun morning, but mid afternoon would work well for her. I was curious about what was going on sun morning, but I figured since she didn’t say what she didn’t really want to say. Well, then I got an email saying that she was going to run in the Redondo beach 10k and I was all, what!? You don’t run! But as it turns out miss sarah does indeed run these days and I am so proud of her and her efforts! So, we woke up early on Sunday and drove to Redondo – I think the race started at 830? I can’t remember. Anyways, we parked the car and trekked to the area to pick up our t-shirts where we also found one of sarah’s coaches who is a ridiculously fast runner and was an ‘elite’ runner in college or something. I think he said he ran a 4 something mile. Someday I’ll be there… right… anyways. We met a few other team members and then it was time to head over to the start line. It was freezing. I was so cold! But, I knew it warm up fast as soon as we started running. As I usually do I ran the first mile which is dumb b/c then I get off my pace and I tire out quicker, but I never learn my lesson. I think in part b/c there are so many people and you kinda get run over if you don’t run. And plus with all the excitement, it’s hard to stay on pace! Sarah and I stayed together for a little bit and then we split up.

The course was beautiful for the most part b/c we ran down pch (I think it was pch… whatever they call that portion right along the beach). It was super sunny but nonetheless the glare wasn’t too bad off the ocean. It’s a hillier course than I’m used to here in flat Chicago, but it’s the kind of hilly that is a long grade and so you don’t really notice it too much until you get to go downhill. By notice, let me clarify: it feels much tougher, but you can’t figure out why it’s harder until you finally realize you’ve been steadily going uphill. Now, a 10k is just a little more than 6 miles which is a nice length. However, it is so not so nice when you are about 5.5 miles along and then there is a huge hill. And by huge, holy crap this thing was steep. I walked the whole way up and I was still about to die when I reached the top so I had to walk some more before getting back in to my pace. I crossed the line around 1hr 17mins which is pretty darn good for me. I’ll take it! I had planned to meet sarah back by the jack fm tent, but I figured she wouldn’t be that much further back than me and people were waiting at the finish line so I thought I would too and then I could be her cheerleader… I kept looking over at the tent to make sure that she wasn’t over there and never saw her. But apparently, her shins/legs were killing her and wouldn’t work for her so she was unable to finish.

So we walked back to the car, we were see that a car has blocked us in! are you kidding?! So rude!! So while we were pondering what we were going to do, a car in front and over one space came to the car. Thank god. b/c I had been trying to help sarah maneuver in the very small amount of room we had between the two cars blocking us (it was a dirt patch area) and trying to somehow get out of the small spot behind us to the right. We weren’t doing so well at that. The guys who ended up helping us agreed that the truck behind us was super rude and then they moved there car and helped sarah get her car out through their spot. They were so nice! Who knows how long we would have been stuck there. To properly thank that nice truck who blocked us in, sarah left a great note on their windshield. I believe that note is captured on her blog if you’d like to know what it said. So with the car out, we headed on our way.

Sarah needed to stop by her office, so I got to see where all my emails get read and where she spends her days. I’m kind of weird, but I enjoy seeing where people work and their office atmosphere. It gives me such a better idea of what people are talking about when I can visualize it.

After that, we headed home where I had about 30 mins before I had to jump in the shower to get ready for my flight. So, we decided to flop on the couch and relax. Sarah fell asleep and I had to be careful not to do that… I needed a shower … I doubt anyone would want to sit next to me on a flight with my stinky self for 4 hours! So I got ready and then it was time to go to the airport. Sarah was kind enough to drive me and I was beyond sad that my ca week was coming to an end. It was an awesome awesome week as I knew it would be and I’m so glad I was able to see all of you!! I can’t wait to come back…

i'm still in ca for this belated blog...

After a bit of a hiatus on the blog… I am back. I haven’t finished my ca trip so I’ll start there. On sat, sarah and I woke up and went to pick up some bagels to bring to catherine and matt. It was so wonderful to see catherine, meet matt, rosie and finally meet miss lucy whom I have read so much about on her blog. She is such a wonderful little girl full of giggles and big big smiles. Rosie is a super sweet dog who just wants to be a part of everything, but right now she has a cone on her head b/c she blew out her leg and had to have surgery. I had no idea this could happen to dogs, but what do I know?! It was so fun to catch up with another scrippsie and also perhaps meet a future scrippsie! Catherine is such a wonderful mommy and you can see the love in her eyes for this adorable little girl. It’s so sweet…it almost makes me want to have one… wait, what?! Did I just write that?! Anyways, the time to leave came way too soon, but I did manage to get a lot of great pictures and you can see those below.







From catherine’s house, we went to the beach where we met up with aj, his gf Rachael (who I’d met when they were here in Chicago last year) and her brother ari. The beach was beautiful and warm and sunny! Though I did hear from a couple of the ca folks that it was a little chilly. I couldn’t have been happier and was sad that the beach time had to come to an end and I wouldn’t get to spend anymore time there. Rachael came up with the idea to go and get food and since sarah and I had just had bagels that morning, we were game for some grub. We went to the apple pan which I’d never heard of, but has apparently been around forever. If you have the chance, I highly suggest going! It is a burger style counter place and at like 330 or 4 in the afternoon is was pretty well packed and even a wait. Luckily, we got there just in time and didn’t have to wait to order our burgers and fries. Delicious. Then ari wanted to try the pie so I had to be his partner in crime and we devoured the apple pie and ice cream. You can barely see the remnants in the picture.






That night sarah and i took it easy b/c we were doing the Redondo beach 10k the next morning and we were going to have to get up rather early. So we had a very nice night on the couch watching girl movies and vegging. I love those kind of nights! I really have no idea what movie we watched as I’d never heard of it before, but I really liked it… sarah, what was it? In addition to our loafing around on the couch, we made a trek to sarah’s favorite taco place where they know her ridiculously well and they won’t let her pay for her food. Seriously. Now, where can a girl find something like that here in Chicago?! After our bellies were full and we were good and tired, we went to bed.

friday funday

friday was fun, sad, and fun all rolled in to one day. the day started off by doing s1's new workout dvd - jillian's biggest loser. it has 3 levels and each one is 20 mins. i originally thought i might do two levels for 40 mins, but i quickly realized that the first level was hard enough. holy moly! it was so good and hard that afterwards i went up to s1's computer and ordered it and a couple other biggest loser workout videos. i had no idea a workout video could kick my ass so much!! i was sore for several days after that!!

once s1 and i were ready to head out for the day, we went to the getty villa. again, a place i'd never been to before. it is so beautiful! we enjoyed walking around and checking out the view and the beautiful gardens and water fountains. we accosted several other 'tourists' and made them take our picture. we were pretty sure that people were telling others to stay away from us unless they wanted to play the role of photographer!! but in any case, i don't care and i thank those people b/c i think we got some excellent pictures! we had to pose with one of the statues, with several different points of the views behind us, and of course with the umbrellas that they hand out all over the getty to keep its patrons in the shade. yes, they actually hand out umbrellas. we literally picked up the umbrellas for 2 minutes while we got a guy to take our picture and then we put them back and decided to head for a bite to eat. we split a fruit and cheese plate as well as some bread. it's a very nice little cafe on the premises and it has a great view and again we were able to sit outside. i couldn't get enough of being outside!!

we left the getty villa and headed down pch towards santa monica when i decided i had to step foot on the beach. and so, s1 found a parking lot and we parked ever so briefly so we didn't have to pay for parking - just long enough to take a picture and then we jumped back in the car and found one more parking lot along the way to do the same thing. after our 30 second beach photo shoots were over, we continued to santa monica and parked by sarah's house. since we had a couple of hours until s2 got off work, we walked down to main street and roamed around the shops. while they were practically giving everything away, neither of us bought anything. after a quick pit stop to starbucks, we went to s2's manicure place and got mani/pedis. we s1 did. i just got a pedi. it felt pretty great. and then, we stopped by a store and picked up some wine for miss s2. by then it was time to head up to s2's b/c she was going to be home shortly.







we got to s2's and hung out for a bit. we had originally thought about going to dinner, but decided we would all be happier ordering in. so we ordered chinese food. it was getting later and the dave was do back in town (after being gone all week at duke) a little later that evening. s1 had planned to get some work done and beat the dave home, but he got home sooner than expected and so s1 left before dinner came. so s2 and i had a hearty meal meant for 3! more food for us!! i still don't have any clue why miss s1 would want to leave us, the most wonderful scrippsies ever, to go see her husband, but eh, whatever!! :) just kidding. i promise, we completely understood how excited you were to see your hubby. before s1 got to leave, s2 and i decided to make the dave a birthday card (his bday had been earlier that week) and so we very skillfully and artfully made dave a bday card. i think it was pretty fantastic. if i were dave, i'd totally hang that up on the wall somewhere for sure. you all know yhow creative s2 and i are!! so, after we stuffed our faces, we got ready to head out.

s2 and i went to a new wine bar (name of which i have since forgotten). we met chadford and chloe there as well. we had never met chloe and chad didn't really explain and we didn't ask. so mystery girl was nice enough. after we'd hung out for awhile, we were all duly tired and decided to call it a night. i must point out here that s2 was wearing a coat. yes, a coat. she found it freezing, i found it delightful in a tank top! the wine bar was on main st so it was an easy walk back to her house.

so the day was both fun and sad in that i had a great time, but i was sad to say goodbye to s1. i can't believe how fast the week went. but not to worry, i still have sat and sun with s2 to tell you guys about!

a view from above

it's strange, i lived in claremont and newport for so many years and yet i never did make it to the observatory or griffith park. so i was super excited when sarah had mentioned that we could go for a hike and see where dave had proposed with its amazing views. so thursday morning, we set off for the park and parked near the bottom. it is beautiful there! i definitely should have gone there sooner... anyways, we get started on our hike and it is a gorgeous day. fairly clear and warm and sunny. we get going up the trail and pretty soon i am out of breath! well, not completely, but it definitely was not as easy for me as i would have thought. i generally like to think i'm in pretty good shape. i mean i work out at least 4 or 5 times a week and i ran (& walked) a marathon for goodness sake! but i guess i generally do flat runs and workouts and hills use different muscles. i guess i really outta start doing some weight training.

once we get to the top, we explore around the observatory and sarah showed me where dave proposed and i must give a round of applause to the dave as the view was great and sarah said that there was almost no one up there when he did it so they basically had the whole place to themselves. the same was true for us, though i'd imagine our trip was significantly less romantic!

after taking in the view and asking a few strangers to take our picture, we went on the hike that would take us closer to the hollywood sign. again, i'd never done that one and it was a lot of fun. i love doing things on the weekday when things are so much less crowded! after this small hike, we went back down the hill and to the car.






that afternoon we went to pasadena to do a little shopping in old town. it was a great day to wander around and do a little shopping though neither of us bought any of significance. we did, however, stop in at 21 choices and indulge our sweet tooths! i had a peach banana flavor with fresh raspberries mixed in. that was perfect for a warm afternoon. i forget what sarah had but i know she did half peach banana and half something else. once we were good and tired, we headed home with a pitstop to the grocery store. we decided we were both tired and a home cooked meal where we could sit on our bums and watch tv and relax would be great. sarah made us sweet potato wedges and chicken with her famous mango salsa. yummy!!


we tried to document our visit, but apparently the sun was not cooperating with our photographer.

and with that, it was another fantastic day!!!

tranny bingo!

wednesday was a nice day as well. s1 and i headed over to her gym for a morning workout. after that, s1 had work and some meetings to go to so i decided to wander around glendale. my first adventure was getting the front door open. oh yes, i'm not kidding. sarah and dave's condo got a new door a few weeks ago and apparently it has gotten stuck once before on sarah, but i didn't know this. i thought i was just completely dumb! i swear i could not get the lock to budge and unlock the door for me. since there is only one door, i kept thinking great, it's gorgeous outside and i'm stuck inside b/c i can't open a stupid door. so i took a break and came back to it... still can't get it to budge. i take another break and just as i'm about to give up and resign myself to the couch, i tried again and FINALLY was able to open the door. anyways, i headed out in the warm sun and walked over to the outdoor mall that is a few blocks away. there is everything there. it's kind of like fashion island, but new with bigger open spaces. i wandered around there for awhile going in and out of shops, but there was nothing i needed to buy. i came back around the time sarah thought she'd be coming home and then we decided to go to dinner. i can't remember the name of the place we went but they had delicious sweet potato fries and a great burger. yum!

after dinner, we headed to west hollywood to meet up with s2 for a night of bingo. but it wasn't just any bingo, it was tranny bingo! i had never heard of this before, nor had i ever played bingo before so i really wasn't sure what to expect other than it had to be fun. it was being held at a place called hamburger mary's which is a really fun place. at one point we saw a table getting cupcakes and so we indulged as well. they were delicious! yummmm! and so the bingo started. there was a tall 'woman' with magnificent blond hair who was one of the emcees and then there was another guy up there with her also calling out the numbers. at one point, a guy on the show the l word came up and called out some numbers too. i've never seen that show, but he was cute up on stage with the other two. tranny bingo is supposed to be loud loud LOUD! and boy did we have some fun with that... when certain numbers were called, we were supposed do call backs. so for I 18, we were suppose to yell 'that's what sheeeee said!' and for O 69 'it's everyone's favorite number... and then there was something about sauce on the side. i can't remember all of the call backs, but they were funny. there were also prizes, but none of us won. boooo. but we did get to wad up our losing cards and pelt them at the winner as they ran up and down the restaurant!

here is a except from an article i found on the internet "There is always a fabulous Tranny emcee for the night with an equally fabulous name: “Bridget of Madison County” or the slightly reserved name of “Willa.” But don’t worry, the bingo games don’t just benefit trannies, each week all bingo proceeds go a local charity. So what if the charity is the Gay Scuba Club, it’s still a charity and they deserve our hard-earned money too!

Along with a “celebrity” guest, the tranny calls out bingo numbers with catchy sayings that everyone screams, such as “To date Michael Jackson you must B-14,” “I-18, that’s what she said,” and “Our favorite number O-69, dinner for two, sauce on the side” and “The Disco G, G-54, whoop whoop.”

To win prizes you must first win one of the bingo games. They are appropriately titled “Top or Bottom,” “Camel Toe,” and “Rim Job.” If you do win, you have to run around the bar as onlookers throw their losing cards and yell “pelt him, pelt him” at you. But be careful, if you falsely claim a bingo win, you will be spanked with a paddle by the tranny. If that doesn’t give you nightmares, I don’t know what will.

after a night of that much excitement, we bid adieu and went home to glendale.

surprise! it's meeeeeeeeeeee

tuesday morning, s1 and i got up and had some breakfast and then we prepared to go to courtney's. s1 and i had cooked up a little scheme where we were going to make my visit a surprise. i must say s1 is excellent at keeping secrets... i was ready to burst, but i knew the surprise on courtney's face would be way better. we drove down to san clemente and stopped by a nordstrom in mission viejo on the way. i'd managed to forget my sunglasses since i don't tend to wear them a lot here and i always seem to forget them when i travel. so s1 and i hurried in and had a couple nice salespeople help us. they did a great job as it usually takes me a hundred years to find some i like, but i love the ones i got! they are a deep purple coach... you'll see them in pictures to come. but i thought i might go blind, so thank you s1 for stopping at the nordstrom.

we get to courtney's house and park. we decide to leave the cupcakes in the car b/c s1 was going to take pictures of the surprise in action and i wanted my arms free for some hugs. we quietly made our way to c's door and knocked. i didn't know c had looked out the window, but when she opened that door i think it took a second for me to register and then the hugs began and i even saw a couple tears in miss courtney's eye. it was truly the best! s1 then ran out to the car and brought in the cupcakes before they melted... and i got to meet c's absolutely adorable little man!! alex has to be the cutest little boy and he is so full of energy! and he's walking so well that he's all over the place.

since it was about lunchtime, we changed alex (who is super squirmy - apparently he hates getting his diaper changed) and then all piled in to the car. alex has great taste in all the current music though i'm glad his little ears don't understand the lyrics yet and he is quite the dancer. he is so cute dancing in his car seat! the first place we tried to go to wasn't open which is too bad b/c it looked really cute. so we headed to el ranchito for a little mexican and a margarita. yum! lunch was great and alex was such a good guy - everyone fell in love with him. after lunch, it was waaay post poor sleepy alex's nap time so we headed back to c's house to put him down. he promptly fell asleep in his car seat.

while alex was napping, c, s1 and i all got to reminisce (all of a sudden i'm a dunce and can't remember how to spell that!!) about the good ole days over some bitch wine. it was bitchin. harharhar... i know i know, i am funny! we ate a cupcake and they were delicious if i do say so for myself.

once alex woke up, we went for an afternoon walk. i couldn't get enough of being outside this past week - it felt amazing. we put alex in his super trendy buggy thingy (c's blogged about how all the kids have this thing), got the dogs - lola gets carried, harrison gets dragged on the leash) and went on our way. sarah took over the 'walking' of harrison which was humorous b/c harrison, my precious little pooch, has gotten quite lazy. but, he made it! during our walk, we stopped by the little shopping center and stopped in to a couple of the boutiques. after that we went to the ralph's and picked up some components for dinner. back at the house, s1 did most of the cooking, but i tried to help! i stirred the mushrooms. and cut them. and tried to locate items in the kitchen for sarah. and oh yes, i was in charge of the garlic bread which was yummy. while dinner was being made, peter came home. his face was classic when he saw me. i think it took him a bit to register that i was in their living room! i love surprises when they work!!

we all ate big kid dinner and alex joined us. we had a delicious pasta and salad. and cupcakes for dessert. after dinner, it was time for s1 and me to leave which i did very sadly. it was such a fun day and i was just getting to know that little bugger and it was already time to go?? no fair! it was so good to see you c - you look amazing and are such a good mommy.

surprise!!!

me and sarah with the munchkin

so cute! what an adorable mommy and son picture!

and yes, all three of us were in stripes. i say great minds think alike!

the start of a fantastic week!!

i know i've been a terrible blogger as of late... and i promise i will get back to those daily blogs! starting now:

as my birthday present, i asked for a ticket to ca. i'd been thinking about a trip there, but i wanted to spend more than a weekend and i didn't know what i'd do with myself during the week. well, while i was talking with smac a couple weeks ago she mentioned that she wasn't teaching again until feb 17th. and i thought - bingo! we found a week that worked for her, me, and sarah l and booked my ticket.

on mon, the 26th i took the brown line el and changed over to the orange line in downtown and then took the orange to midway airport for my southwest flight. i was a19 for boarding and found a great seat in row 6. we pulled back from the gate and then the captain says we have to go back b/c the maintenance crew needs to check out a light. at the gate, the maintenance guy comes and fiddles with stuff and then the captain announces that it is not a false alarm and we have to get another plane and to stay seated and he'd let us know what to do when he could. ohhhhh joy. well, he comes on again and says that luckily sw found another plane for us that we can use, but that it is all the way at the end of terminal a and we were at the end of terminal b. it was a rather long walk, but the whole plane unloaded and trekked over to the new gate. we eventually boarded our new plane and i think everyone pretty much stuck to our original seats which i was happy about since i had the middle empty and a nice lady who had all the gossip magazines and b/c i'm broke i'm not buying them anymore, but she was nice and let me read them when she was done. yay!

once we landed a loooooong 5 hours later, i hurried off the plane to find sarah s (who i will now refer to as s1). we had a relatively traffic free ride back to glendale all the while chatting away. the dave was away at duke this particular week, so i had missed getting to see him but i did get to have so much fun with s1. that evening we ordered pizza and made cupcakes which were for the following day. i was even semi-helpful in the kitchen! s1 has tons of cupcake decorating stuff so we had fun making ours as pretty as possible. after cupcakes, i think we watched some tv and then went to bed exhausted.

i'm adding stuff to the mixer... don't i look like i know what i'm doing?!

icing the cupcakes, s1 does a fantastic job - she was very generous in her frosting!

doing some decorating. i loved the sugar bees. and pink sprinkles!

the final result!