BookClub!

I am in a bookclub. This should be obvious because A) I am a woman in my mid-30s, B) I like to drink* and C) I have friends who are also A & B. and d) we all at one point either read a lot or thought it would be good for us to read (that got a little "d" because it was very minor in the decision to form a bookclub, oh the irony.).

ANYWAY - With very few exceptions we have met every month for 6 years (seriously, 6 years is impressive!!) We don't ALL always go every month and the cast members have changed a bit and we have probably all thought about dropping out at one time but it is a really great time to see our friends, eat some foods, drink some wines and relax. The thing is. We really don't read. This makes us probably A LOT like most other bookclubs who are A, B and Cs. We don't read so much that we actually started alternating bookclub and gamenight every other month. Except that we don't play games either.

So, this month we read a book. And. I actually read it. GET THE FUCK OUT! I swear. I finished it even. And I didn't even like it. Since we probably won't talk about the book tonight at our monthly meeting I thought I would give you my 20 words or less review:

Repetitive
Melodramatic
Cliché
Obvious
Buy it used if you must read it

meh.

*- I shit you not, while I was writing this someone said to me: "You OBviously like beer and wine…"

The one where I get a little sappy and kind of judgy.

Last Friday I heard a father's day story on NPR you... it's short - go listen to it. It's very nice actually... I just had a teensy problem with the way that it ended:

"When we spend a weekend together, she often says, "I love you." But it's the look she gives me that eternally confesses her feelings. I look at my father the same way now that I know he was thinking about me all those years we were apart. I no longer see a man who did nothing for me my whole life, but a man who has always loved me.

After all, he's my father; just as I am hers."

So, what I am hearing is it's ok to be shitty because you're her father and she should love you regardless of what you do just because of it? Yeh - I don't think so.

A good father, just as a good wife, brother, friend, etc is determined, or SHOULD be determined, by more than their title and place in the household. A good father protects and provides for their son or daughter. A good father listens, supports, encourages, and teaches. A good father is patient, knows when to shut up and when to speak up. A good father is a good husband, even if that means knowing when to let his wife go. A good father is a good son. A good father is a good man.

I hate to be all conditional but let's be realistic. I hope daughters and sons all over the world love their fathers - but I hope those fathers feel like they have to earn that love. Nothing is free. Nothing should be taken for granted. Give love. Accept love. Earn love. Don't expect love.

loveyoubye.

Happy Solstice!!

Today is allll kinds of things:

1) Solstice!
2) Father's Day
3) My first sunburn of the year.

Yep. I am 36 years old and have lived within 15 miles of the beach for all 36 of these years and I STILL cannot manage to go to the beach without getting a gnarly sunburn. And it's not even like I completely forget to apply it - I just do such a poor job of it - I am just blotchy. Blotchy legs, blotchy arms, blotchy chest.

Some day I will learn.

YO! What's up? What's going on in the world?

Some random thoughts while perusing the news..

Lakers - I'm from LA, and I really could not care less about basketball, but it's always good to see the hometown team win. At first I was a good liberal and was all up in arms over the parade that was scheduled - I agreed that people who were out breakin shit and looting do not deserve a parade. But you know who does deserve a parade? The other several million fans who did not break any laws. Why should the good fans be punished? I agree that the cost of the parade is high and comes at an unfortunate time but I also think people need to celebrate and it's great that our DamnMayor was able to raise some private funds for it. Party on and don't act like assholes is what I say to the parade and rally goers.

Dodgers - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for beating the A's last night. I am SO over interleague play. And I am SO over the AL dominating the NL with their cheating not real baseball no pitcher hitting ways!

WTF is up with Diet Cola "for men" ??? Stupid.

Congrats to Silversun Pickups on getting to number one on Billboard... I still think you're kind of boring.

Huh, David Sedaris at the B&N at the Grove tomorrow night.. That's kinda cool. I never actually read him (the bookclub girls will frequently remind me that the Christmas book they picked is only like 4 pages long or something...) but I do think he's funny, I just don't really like essays or short stories (that's what he writes right?)

If you haven't been to Wurstküche you are totally missing out. Unless of course you don't like sausage, fries or beer. If that is the case you can close the browser, your kind is not welcome here - unless you're a vegan and then you can stay - but at least they have vegetarian options.

Food Inc. Let's go see it!

Obviously there are things arguably more important than these happening in the world... those things bring me down. I don't read regular news, I read blogs. I get my news from The Daily Show and Twitter and I figure if something is important enough I will hear about it. Unlike a lot of people though (brace yourself, I am about to judge) I don't argue over world events, I don't retweet unconfirmed Tweets, I don't make my decisions on who I will side with or what I will believe based on 30 minute TV shows, Whole Foods solicitors in American Apparel Tshirts with clipboards and a smile, or social media without doing a whole lot of research first. Now I just need to figure out why everyone's Twitter avatar is green... Green isn't really my color.

The way my brain works - sorry world.

So I am walking around San Diego and pass a guy in a wheelchair - and he's no slouch - he's like a Murderball kind of guy - all in shape and shit and I notice he's wearing New Balance and the first thing I think of is "Man, if I lived in a wheelchair I would totally not wear sensible shoes."

Do you ever eat too much butter?

Do you ever think to yourself: "HEY! I'm on vacation and I've already walked all over town and sat by the pool and done yoga in my hotel room via a really awesome online yoga site and decide that it would just be too much effort to put on real clothes, brush your hair and go outside in search of dinner? So you decide to order room service. Only everything looks kind of expensive and kind of unhealthy except for the "Fit" options which just look boring. Then you find Salmon! (which is good if you like salmon.) And you look at the options for sides and see carrots! So you order Salmon, a baked potato and carrots! And you're all proud because you ordered healthy AND yummy! And it comes in 30 minutes or less, as promised, and it looks amazing. And it actually tastes amazing. And then about 17 bites in (because it was the hugest portion ever) you realize it tastes amazing because it was cooked in AT LEAST a stick and a half of butter. But you keep eating it. But you don't finish it because not even you are that hungry. But you do have to go wash your face because you feel like you just bathed in butter.

me too.


So - vacation update day 2 - I slept in late, went for a tasty breakfast of eggs, hash browns and a biscuit and then walked around the marina, for like EVER. I was hoping to take the ferry to Coronado, but I literally walked up as it was pulling away and didn't feel like waiting an hour for the next one. So I just kept walking. And walking. It was good. So good that I took a nap. After being awake for like 3 hours. I got up, searched for food and ended up with some pretty yummy fish tacos. Came back to the hotel and read by the pool before coming back to the hotel room, Facebook, Twitter, Photoshop research for new-ish Mac, decided I didn't need a new iPhone for $500 and did Yoga online. Before the great-butter-dish of 2009 occured.

The best thing happened by the pool though... there was a family there on vacation, a mom was sitting poolside with her baby in the stroller while her husband (I assume) was in the pool with his 3 daughters (I assume). He was towing the 3 girls and hollering out: "I AM ON VACATION! ON VACATION! WE ARE ON VACATION! No lawns to mow! On Vacation! No work! Vacation! SEVEN MORE DAYS OF THIS POOL!" - Man, his excitement was awesome. I hope they had a nice buttery dinner!

Now I am finishing up a decent glass of Pinot, watching Friday Night Lights on Netflix (man, that pilot was REALLY GOOD! Watch it.) and waiting for Guy to get back from dinner.

San Diego on a Sunday

Spending a couple of days down in San Diego for absolutely no reason at all. There is no occasion. There is no agenda, really. I hope to get to a yoga class, to an elliptical, to the pool. I hope to read a book. I might take the ferry to Coronado... I am going to eat some crappy food and probably some salads if I can find a Whole Foods or health food store. I am going to drink some cold beer. (oh! I already did that!) Isn't it funny how we have to schedule time to do nothing? The view from the hotel room could be enough to just keep me in bed though...

sunset.

Do you ever

Do you ever fall asleep in yoga pants and wear them to yoga in the morning?

This morning while I was getting ready for yoga, in the yoga pants that I slept in, I talked myself out of going to the class because I thought my hair looked cute and didn't want to ruin it with exercise and sweat and showering. And then I looked at my arm flab and thought: "yeh, I should go."