The Boys

I realize I haven't blogged in... oh, almost a year and a half. It's not because I haven't wanted to, and it's not because I don't have a ginormous list of blogs I've planned on posting, and it's not because I haven't had a ton of ridiculous experiences and sightings that really, the entire world would be the better for hearing about... it's because I've gotten out of the habit. Oh, and because of this:

Yeah. I stopped 'needing' to tell myself things on a blog, because I just tell him instead :)

BUT-- I really do miss blogging, and sometimes LW would rather I not blather on about things to him, AND he has a bad memory, so my awesome stories certainly aren't going to be recorded by him, mentally or otherwise, so-- I'm starting my NY resolution a bit early and have returned to Doezieland. Yay :). And, I'm home sick, so I have a bit of time. Boo :(.

Oh and also, a bunch of people just asked for this recipe and I figured this was as good a place as any to post it, so here you go--

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* * * * * 

...this recipe was given to me by Wendy Taylor Bennion, a roommate at BYU way way way back when...  

and which I just can't NOT make every year, even though they're time-consuming and I sometimes don't 

know if I can ever eat another one.  But-- I think, this year (after many), I have finally perfected it! 

Dissolve:

2 tsp baking soda

(in) 1/2 C HOT water

Simmer:

1 C molasses

1 C shortening

(simmer for five minutes, but NO MORE-- bubbles get lighter, smaller, denser...)

While simmering, Whisk/cream together (in a large bowl):

1 egg

1 C sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Add:

soda mix to sugar mix

Add to that:

3/4 tsp cloves

3 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ginger

Then add:

the molasses/Crisco mix. It will bubble up!

Beat in:

6 C flour

Roll out:

1/4 - 1/2 thick on a floured board. Cut out shapes, place on ungreased sheet. Rolls out best while still warm. I use little 1 1/2 - 2 inch cutters in the shapes of a gingerbread boy, an angel, a tree, and a star. Then when I get bored at the end of re-lumping and rolling out and cutting and pushing from the cutters so many times, I sometimes switch to a 3-inch star or even a five-inch gingerbread MAN... :) 

Bake:

@ 375º just until set (touch gently and barely leaves a dent)

this year, it was 7 minutes to perfection for me, in my old O'Keefe and Merritt oven, and with these small shapes about 1/4 inch thick)

While still warm (as soon as they're set enough to remove from baking sheet), dip in glaze. Set onto a cooling rack with waxed paper laid underneath to catch glaze drips.

The recipe for the glaze was this:

3 C powdered sugar

3/4 C milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

... but, I generally found that to be too thin. Or thick, can't remember. I generally dump some powdered sugar into a bowl, then add a little milk a bit at a time, whisking in throughly with a small French whisk so no lumps or bubbles, until it's a semi-thick glaze. Then I add a little bit of vanilla (which thins it a tad more). If the glaze is too milky, it just seems to 'wet' the Boys so they look soggy and don't really dry. If it's the right consistency, it will mostly hold its shape as it dries into a matte crisp-ish glaze and is super-delicious.

I used to use a dipping fork, dropping them in top-side-down and then turning to coat the bottom, lifting out with the dipping fork and placing on the cooling rack... Though they were coated on all sides this way, it used a TON of glaze, and there were big pools of dripped glaze under the cooling racks, and I'd have to move them from one spot on the rack to another mid-dry so they wouldn't fully stick to the racks, and it was all a big big pain...

THIS year, I decided to not fully dip-- instead, I made sure the glaze was thick but fluid enough to hand-dip just the tops... I would remove the Boys from the baking sheet onto cooling rack or pan, top-side down (so they were ready to pick up), and then--using my fingers only--carefully dipped the tops into the glaze and turned back right-side-up as I set them down on the cooling rack. 

The thick glaze would drip a teeny bit down the sides, and the bottoms remained dry, the glaze cooled to the perfect consistency and even with three full cooling racks of Boys, the entire process from beginning to end (including clean-up) was less than two hours. Yeah!

And it made this many:

(this is a half-sheet sized pan)

(by the way--- if you can't eat them all right away and/or are giving them away, another plus of the boys is that they tend to keep soft and fresh for a very long time, in an airtight container!

* * * * *

I made these this year primarily for some friends who nicknamed them "The Boys", with whom I had a tradition with to get together and bake them for the past few years...  and who moved away this year, so I had to do it alone :( . But I sure thought of you, and I hope they arrive fresh and delicious! 

(this is not the perfect photo because it's from my inferior older
iphone, plus their kitchen was under construction-- but sooo fun)

* * * * *

enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

100 percent awesome, squared

It's taken me a while to blog about this, the most awesome of birthday packages ever and throughout all time and in the future, because I'm totally intimidated to try to put into words just how great it was and what it meant to me. Any attempts will be meager. And, I've forgotten how to write in general, I thinks.

BUT-- I cannot -- CANNOT -- leave this Package of Awesomeness un-homaged. Nor my incredible friend Sam, who designed, created, and sent it to me. Best birthday package ever, Sam. THANK YOU!!

So... let me try to describe it with the most powerful of words: images. :)

It started with a box. Derr. I would've included a picture of the label on the box, because even that was great, but then I'd have to blur out the addresses and that would have just ruined the design. But suffice it to say-- even the LABEL was designed to match the theme of the package! Sam had told me pre-delivery that the bday package had a theme (I was so excited :) -she is TALENTED, after all) --and which I was about to learn when I opened the box to this greeting...

... and found out that the theme was "all things graphically minded"...!

Here's how cute it was even all organized, within the box... SO excited to discover everything... Behold...

The entire package started with a jar. Sam knows I love jars and bottles, and she has a knack 

for finding cool ones... and when she found THIS one, she created an entire theme around it!

The cool jar had a square/graph design on it... and the next thing she found was a
locally-made, "graphically simple" lotion... that happened to fit perfectly inside the jar!

...and of course she included a pump for the lotion. And of course I had to
photograph it individually on a graph-type fabric.

... Next, I pulled out a series of books and a little glassine package...

This one, Sam made HERSELF. 

A little booklet of graph paper, bound with red ribbon and entitled "Brilliant Ideas" 

(soooo appropriate for me :)

(...and so cute!) 

Next was a group of three little notebooks with awesome graph-ey designs on them, and a sleeve/label

which read, "Too Many Notebooks? Never!"

My sentiments exactly :) (Sam knows me well...)

...and the little glassine pack held a cool section of graphic ribbon... 

she knows how much I looooove ribbon :)

AND-- also in the box-- a Ritter Sport!! Ritter Sports already have "meaning" with us,

 but it was more than that-- as evidenced by the little sticker that said, "What? It's a Square!"

Finally, after ALL THAT-- I also found a little bottle of Essie nail polish, in 'Vanity Fairest'

Why, you may ask? Why is nail polish included in a graphic/square-themed package?

:)

I love it. 

Thank you so much, Sam!! You truly made my birthday. And I am, as ever, sooo lucky to have you for my friend-- and not just because you're so creative sometimes it makes me want to puke. And that is a heartfelt sentiment.  Love you tons--

Be afraid. Be very afraid. And if I was cheesy, I'd write "bee" instead of "be".

Did you know that bees have tongues? I did not.

I did know that I don't particularly like bees, delicious honey and pollinate-the-earth-so-I-can-eat-fruits-and-veggies notwithstanding; and especially not bees and swimming pools-- because once when I was nine and swimming in a neighbor's pool, I put my hand on the edge of the pool (to halt a particularly fast swim from one side to the other, I'm sure) and there was a bee there and it stung me. Didn't like being pressed under my hand for some reason, but whatever, that's no need for bitter revenge. (Joke's on you though, bee, because YOU DIED for that revenge. Kamikaze death.)

Anyway, that was the last time a bee had the misfortune to sting me, until just a couple of years ago at my own pool... The bees in my neighborhood think it's a great place to get a little drink, and they like to fly around and light on the surface, not realizing it's a pretty high-risk maneuver just for a little pure chlorinated water-- usually they get watered down in the wings, and never make it back out of the pool. As a pre-drink aphrodisiac, they also like to come around and take a sniff of my Coppertone SPF8 as I'm floating around, which I can't really blame them for. And that may seem all tame and commune-with-nature-y, but I have a healthy fear of these bees because I see them attempting subversive attacks, either with sneaky oh-hey-you-smell-great-so-let-me-get-closer flybys, or under the guise of using my floating lounger as a personal liferaft to dry off their sodden wings (if they can paddle close enough to get on).  When this happens, I usually splash water in retaliatory attack and then flop/shriek straight off my lounger and go underwater, breathing through reeds until the bee leaves.

Well, this one time I was watching a bee flounder in the water in my pool, and I started feeling less dubious and more gentle and Mother-Nature-esque, and thought maybe I should save him. So, I got the skimmer thingy and used it as a rescue pole, fished him out of the water, and set the net down gently on the side of the pool so he could crawl off. I watched with a proud-mother closed-lip grin on my face as he shook the water off his wings and took a tentative jump into the air, and flew off into the bright blue sky. Then he promptly circled back around and stung me on my inner thigh.

And-- OUCH. (the poison coursing through my entire leg, that is, not my emotion and betrayed pride-- who cares about THAT...) And-- again... really, bee? You know you're going to die after stinging, right--? Was it worth it? Senseless death.

SO--

Today, I was sitting on the edge of a friend's pool, writing letters with my feet in the water, when I noticed a bee was sharing my towel with me. I didn't have any reeds handy and was kind of too relaxed to jump into the water as it was, so I just watched him for a while and figured I'd whack him into the pool if he started getting frisky or doing anything fishy. He was pretty preoccupied with grooming himself anyway, so I didn't feel there was imminent danger... and it was pretty cool to observe (and I felt very National Geographic). He seemed to be stroking his goatee a lot with his hands, and then would use his hind legs to scrape the top and bottom of his... bottom. I congratulated myself both on my keen observations and my knowledgable bee-body-part vocabulary, and thought maybe I should take some field notes. Then I realized... heeeyyyy, bees don't have goatees! and looked closer (with my supersonic eyes, not by leaning closer, I don't have a death wish) and watched more carefully, and... GROSS! It was a long TONGUE that was coming out of there, and he'd wipe his hands on it and then smooth back the hair on his head. Di- sgu- sting. Sure, kittens do it too, but kittens are SUPPOSED to, and everyone knows kittens aren't doing it out of male vanity, which is worse. Anyway, that tongue was GROSS. Long and thin and tapered at the end into a slight curl, which is even grosser. It was longer than the length of the bee's head, even. And pink. Dark pink with a blackish tip. Gross gross gross. The site of it made me rethink french kissing, that's for sure.

Anyway, I quietly got up to get my iPhone to try to capture it in a photograph (I may have been grossed out, but I was still National Geographic), and first successfully snapped the non-action photo of the bee you see at the top of this post, but then couldn't see its movements if I was looking at the screen, so I held my phone at what I thought was the correct angle and would hit the capture button every time that tongue came out. Here is the award-winning shot I got of the bee and its tongue by doing that:

but since that didn't really work and he got bored and flew away before I could try again, here is a photo I found via the Google-net of a bee with its tongue out:

so you can be sufficiently grossed out by it as well. (Here, by the way, is the link to this exceptional photo--I don't know to whom to give the photo cred, so you can go look for yourself.)

Anyway. You learn something new every day, I guess.

(... And thus, I return to blogging :)

Fame! I'm gonna live forever...

... Or at least for the duration of the Winter 2010 edition of Latter-Day Woman magazine, because I am IN it! Which clearly means that I am now famous! Baby remember my name. (Remember. Remember. Remember. Remember...)

I know I just went on a small tirade a few blogposts back about my loathing of fake fame and those who seek it, but... I'm going to have to take that all back. Fame ROCKS, whether short-lived or long, fame-ish or famous. Andy Warhol knew what he was doing, in his quest for it. (and look how good he turned out--)

I myself was first introduced to the sweet nectar of fame by the musical, Fame. There I was, 12 years old, in my first mature stage production-- playing the part of Marianne, with 14 speaking lines and a position as Lead Dancer-- ...ahh, I can still remember the choreography we did to the title song. (Some of you have been lucky enough to see a re-en-dancement of it, in recent years.) It brought the house down then, and I'm pretty sure it would do the same now. I at least love viewing the VHS recording of the performance and marveling not only at my triangle-shaped perm and pre-teen body, clad in an eighties' leotard, tights and legwarmers, but also at the impressive ad-libbed "warm-up" moves I did to the opening bars of the song. Man I was good. I did make it to heaven, I did light up the sky like a flame. Fame! And today, people would see me and cry.

Since then I've had tastes of fame here and there, like that one time I reached 1,000 views on LDSLinkup during the early days of the site and got in the "Stars" column for a day or so. That was big. Then there was the time I went to an open casting call for Martha Stewart "Apprentice", and was interviewed by the San Diego NBC news when I tried to sweet-talk the authorities into letting me cut to the front of the line. That video clip was online for a while, along with a few quotes by me in an article ("All my friends said I should try out for this. Because I AM Martha Stewart"), but is gone now. Weird-- I'm sure they get a lot of demands for it to be put back up, but whatever.

Most recently, I thought I'd reached real fame by gunning my way into the Top Five of scores on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters at Disneyland, but that only lasted maybe a few hours before I was bumped off the winner's platform. And not enough people around me realized they were in the company of true sharpshooting genius.

Man... Stacy did HORRIBLY that day. It's still a sore point between us.

But this time--I'm in (digital) print! And it will last not only for a month, but live forever in the archives of the Information Superhighway (thanks, Al Gore, for inventing the Interweb!) And while Fame and Martha Stewart and Buzz Lightyear all sound like worthy causes for self-recognition, this one actually is a nice thing to be a part of.

A writer for Latter-Day Woman magazine, doing an article on Rising Star Outreach, found my India blog linked to the RSO website and contacted me with some questions and a request for photos. I was only too happy to oblige, since I love Rising Star and am passionate about what the organization does, and always want to help get the word out. 

So-- here I am! More importantly, here is an article about volunteering with Rising Star, in a section of the magazine called "Choose to Give". What a lovely way of putting it.

Table of Contents page-- the photo in the "40" box is one of my special favorites
from the summer, because one of my favorite ladies is not only actually SMILING
for a photo (usually they remain austere), but she was laughing at that moment.
We were communicating without speaking the same language, and it was great :)

Two-page spread for the actual article. I love the main photo they chose, of my good friend Dani and one of the artists at the Bindu Art School of the Bharathapuram (leprosy) Colony.  Once again, there's a language barrier, but smiles abound :)

To see and read the actual article, rather than my ghetto yes-I-took-pictures-of-my-computer-screen images, click HERE

You can also read it in post format on the main website, HERE

and then do two things: go to Facebook and "like" Latter-Day Woman magazine (it's really a great publication!), and then go to the Rising Star website and learn MORE about what you can do to help the leprosy-affected of India! Oh-- that reminds me-- I appear to be actually even MORE famous, because I'm on that website, too... there's a photo of me, as well as a photo I took, on the volunteer page...  and I had nothing to do with those (they were put up without me knowing), but-- man. All this fame could go to my head.

If, in fact, I really cared. I actually don't. Fame is fleeting. Mock-pretend-fame (what I've got :) even more so. But what you do for others, is lasting-- THAT lives forever. I don't know about you, but it's the people who go about quietly giving to others, never for the fame of the world-- those are the people I look up to, those are the ones I want to be like, not those whose faces and trivial lives grace the pages of popular culture. So to echo the words of the magazine, CHOOSE TO GIVE.

Thanks, Latter-Day Woman, for helping to get the word out about Rising Star! :)

there are no small cameras, only large blogposts.

I'm in Not-My-Party Hell right now. My roommates are hosting a fantastic Christmas soiree with a ton of their friends, and it sounds like a lot of fun out there, but I am 1) tired, and 2) tired. Didn't get a lot of sleep while sick this week (being sick is not restful), so after getting home at a reasonable nine pm tonight after my own Friday night activities, I'm holed up in my room for the remainder of the evening. Unfortunately, I am hiding in here to the ironic tune of Of Course I Can't Actually Sleep.  TOO - LOUD.

So, figuring I have a few hours to kill before I have to get up at 6:30 am tomorrow (argh), I first watched some episodes of LOST, then decided to go through and document all the coins I have from around the world (riveting) (actually, it was-- I'm sure I'll blog about it at some point), and then I turned on my phone to check messages and decided to look through my camera roll, and...

decided. It's time to take a scroll down iPhone memory lane, with me, again. Welcome (for the second time) to an intimate look at my life, in terms of what I deem so important or interesting or visually cool that it's a dang good thing I have some sort of camera on my person at all times, thanks to the iPhone, so I can take a picture of it. And now, apparently, I think it is so important or interesting or cool that I have to share it WITH THE WORLD.  :)

And so, the rest of Year One with my iPhone camera, begins with:

 MARCH

HAHAHAHAHAHA

 Someone pantsed (pants'd? pants-ed?) the mannequin! Which I am not offended by, because I really hate those Old Navy commercials with the supermodel mannequins. This one had it coming.

 APRIL

Spring Break Cruise 2010! Day One! Someday I'll blog about the rest! 

(plus I get much more tan as the week progresses...)

My favorite place in Los Angeles :). I usually breathe a sigh of relief when I finally

get to this intersection, because the traffic trek is pretty much over. Then I have to catch 

my breath, because the sheer enormity of the temple and grounds are breathtaking.

Reason enough to go to Disneyland: The Captain EO Tribute. It's just as good as you remember. 

And even cheesier than you remember, if that's even possible. 

 MAY

Creating a space in the 60-year-old garage so I could park my car in it while in India for the summer. A few of you will appreciate what a considerable undertaking this was. And how very very spidery.

Glen Ivy Spa does not disappoint in its lunch selections (portabella sandwich, YUM). It does, 

however, disappoint in the sulfur-pool-realm. How, exactly, does smelling like rotten eggs soothe you?

 JUNE

Guitar Hero on the big screen in my classroom during Finals. I think this could have gotten me voted

Teacher of the Year, except it was the last day of the school year and voting ended a month earlier.

Later that same day, I relaxed in front of another big screen (it swiveled out!) on my way to India, on the best plane ride OF MY LIFE. I wanted to build a fort in my personal compartment and live there for at least a week. Lie-flat beds, you know.

happy happy happy

*   *   *   *   *

I rarely didn't have at least one "real" camera with me at all times while in India, but 

the trusty iPhone still came in handy in times of photo emergency...

 As we came up behind this bus, I noticed it was listing strongly to one side. As we passed it, I saw why... the bus was crammed so full, about ten men had to hang out the doors and off that side in order to get their ride. Not going to lie, I was pretty envious-- if you didn't fall off or get hit by passing vehicles, think how fun it would be! And those are probably the high-cost "seats" because it's much more airy than inside the over-crowded bus. 

 JULY

 Opening Day of ECLIPSE in India! July 30, 2010. We thought the theater was pretty fancy 

and awesome until we got inside and the screen was about 6 x 10 feet.

-And except for our group of five American girls, the entire theater was filled with Indian men. Strange. Until we figured out it was because there was kissing in the movie, which is VERBOTEN in Bollywood. So really it was a theater full of a bunch of pervs.

 ...who, apparently, were allowed to talk to each other and on their phones the entire movie, but during the Intermission (a halt at a very illogical point in the movie), I tried to take a photo and THAT was forbidden. So this was one surreptitiously taken in the dark. Never mind, by the way, that one could buy a pirated copy of the movie in the neighboring mall.

 I love this shot. POURING rain, four girls crowded into the back of an auto-rickshaw, about 

to get even more soaked barreling down the insane city streets of Chennai.

*   *   *   *   *

 AUGUST

BACK IN THE U. S. of A...  What better way to celebrate the democracy and frivolity 

of America than to spend my first Saturday back at an amusement park? Not to mention enjoy 

edited religious freedom... (Close, Magic Mountain. You were so close.)

 If John really loved me, he'd win me that Rastafarian Banana. Any real man would. 

(I can't believe how many people were actually carrying that thing around...)

I did it! I rode Tatsu! Best rollercoaster on earth! I would have enjoyed the face-down-flying 

more if I wasn't worried the whole time that I couldn't get a decent 

folded-arm-grip to hopefully keep me from falling out if my chest harness 

was faulty or malfunctioned and/or happened to spring open.

 I'm sorry, I know Colossus is old and low-tech... but it is really, REALLY scary. 

That thing is made of WOOD! That looks like a cartoon character ramshackle-nailed-it-together at random.

 Late late later that night, Stacy almost hit me while backing up her car. 

Good thing it is a fancy new car with a backup camera.

*   *   *   *   *

 SEPTEMBER

 This photo doesn't make the pizza look larger, the pizza was actually larger than it 

LOOKS. Man. Thanks, Kristie!

 A friend made fun of the nine pillows I have on my bed. I protested. (Um-- necessary!!) 

So he gathered the pillows from the guest room to add even more to my collection, 

and created his own version of my "made" bed. In the form of Burning Man. 

I was pretty impressed. :)

 heeheeheehee

 I asked, Did you write that on your arm to ask someone to Homecoming? 

And he said no, but to make girls THINK he was asking them to Homecoming. 

(And in the lamest way possible).  - SO - GREAT ...

 Sho the sushi chef. Landon gave him a vague general idea, and Sho came up 

with an impressive and delicious culinary masterpiece. OH I love sushi! Then

I took this picture and Sho got mad at me. Then after I turned red, he started 

laughing because he was kidding. OH I love Sho!

*   *   *   *   *

Another culinary masterpiece: FOOD TRUCKS. There were so many great ones at 

the Los Angeles Outdoor Cinema Food Festival, that we had to eat from at least two. 

And the movie...? 

FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF! When was the last time YOU saw it on the big screen?

 (and an INFLATABLE screen, at that--?)

*   *   *   *   *

Sometimes students make me happy, like when they make ascots out of screen fabric.

Other times, they don't follow directions and get untreated ink in the sink, 

and make me mad. So I take photos of the crime scene, to bust them later.

 And I'm afraid that, someday, I'm going to drop my iPhone when holding it 

backwards out the window while driving 45 mph. But-- sunset!!

 OCTOBER

 Lab Fee Contest winners. (Aforementioned Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting...) I'm impressed that the kids liked them.  Refined palates, those...

An even WORSE Ink-In-The-Sink offense. (low growl.) This kid got

the "I'm sounding overly patient but really I'm seething inside"-type-of lecture.

 Running the Rose Bowl loop, I saw this sign for the first time. I was REALLY excited 

that Stephen Colbert was running for Congress. And I was REALLY wrong about that.

 This was a great moment. I confiscated this kid's phone for a class period because he was texting without permission. Joked around that I liked the phone, how did anyone know it was his, maybe I'd turn it into the Dean's office and say that it was mine and had been stolen... At the end of the period I gave it back to the kid, after having labeled it as mine... which the student DIDN'T SEE until two periods later in another class, when he was using it again without permission, and the teacher walked by and said, "Put your phone away... I mean, MISS DOEZIE's phone??" and almost sent him and the phone to the dean's office. 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! 

(Here is where he came in to express his indignation. And laugh, of course. Totally got him. :)

After running the Rose Bowl loop on another rainy day, I encountered the Tea Party in the

parking lot after they drove by. And as I'm famously unaware of the goings-on in the world right now, 

I was pretty clueless about the Party. But I DID learn that Colbert for Congress is NOT Stephen Colbert. 

And that the US flags they were handing out at the rally weren't for free.

For Staff Development Day, we helped to "weed" the art section of the library. 

There were a lot of treasures to (sadly) throw away. I got quickly attached to this 

one. I TOTALLY judge books by their covers (literally), and this one got me both

on title AND on image. "Native Funk & Flash"! And the cover photo speaks for itself. Shrieks, really.

 (...I'm sorry, but the hippie era was WACKY. Read below.)

 Really? -- REALLY??

 We (the Southern California Mormon Choir) were privileged to get to sing with a Baptist 

choir in Los Angeles for a special community event. It - was - AWESOME!! Loved 

the accompanying band, particularly when there was background organ/synthesizer music 

during the prayers. Seriously so great.

Running along the Venice/Santa Monica beachfront at sunset. 

Talk about soothing.

(that's not me)

 this picture doesn't capture it, but the gulls were right overhead, going

just slightly faster than me and flying low, fat bellies tinged gently pink by 

the setting sun... it was surreal.

*   *   *   *   *

While I appreciated the effort in color scheme, this shirt was so not quite right. I told him to keep 

his jacket zipped up, and just let her peek out. It was a good compromise.

 Granite Bay, NoCal... great place to run. And an even better place to visit my dear

friends, the Gallachers, who lived in Austria at the same time I was teaching in Salzburg, and who made

an AWESOME Austrian dinner for us when I came to NoCal to visit! 

Rothkohl, Gruener Salat, Bauernschmauss, Spaetzle, Brot... ohhh yeah.

 NOVEMBER

 This abandoned sign says, HAVE ANY MONEY YOU DON'T WANT?

I almost picked it up and took it for myself. Seems like a pretty legit request, really.

 *   *   *   *   *

 There are many reasons I like Leesburg, Virginia. I especially appreciated being 

there for Veteran's Day, where the kids actually celebrated the holiday by going to school,

and having an amazing Veteran's Day assembly! Patriotic songs and all. Okay, some

overly-cheesy, but the overall hour was a tearjerker. I love America.

 On my way to Congress. To visit Stephen Colbert, of course.

 Dulles airport. Pretty cool-looking.

*   *   *   *   *

 Really? "NEW"-?

*   *   *   *   *

And finally... 

 Sometimes, even driving in downtown LA traffic is enjoyable. With a spectacular sunset

in my rearview mirror, the city ahead glowed pink against a backdrop of storm clouds, 

and I experienced it all to the soundtrack of Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. 

And cried, it was so beautiful.

I wonder what my iPhone will see next... hopefully not a picture of my face tomorrow, because even though the party is now long over, insomnia has set in. Argh. Three hours' sleep is enough, right?