Julia's Mexico City

In Which I Learn Another Lesson About Judging Books By Their Covers

On Sunday we had a mattress delivered. Two Latino guys made the delivery. As I was following them into the bedroom, I noticed one guy had a tattoo on the back of his neck. It read, simply, "Fuck The World."

I started to make some assumptions about him. (Use your own imagination.) Unfair, yes, but I'll admit I'm human, plus I was about to get schooled.

As they were walking out, the tattooed one kept glancing over to our dining room which seemed odd. I made another assumption-maybe he was casing the joint? (No, I'm not proud of myself.) Then at the door he said, "Does your husband play cricket?"

I said, "What?"

He repeated the question and I said, "What? Cricket?"

He said yes.

I said, now totally confused, "No, why do you ask?"

Then he said, "You have a cricket ball."

Kurt walked in just then and heard the conversation. We laughed as he picked up a squeezey ball made to look like a cricket ball that our British cousins had given us. It was in the dining room.

I said, "Why did you ask?"

He said all excited, "Because I play cricket!"

We chatted briefly about that then he was on his way.

This is one of the many reasons why I love LA.

And I'm grateful to be taught a lesson about making assumptions about people.

Happy Happy Joy Joy! Ten Years Later...

Ten years ago today I woke up extra excited! Kurt and I were getting married. Jen and Grace and I went to get our hair done, then had In-N-Out for lunch. We all met up at the Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Club and got changed into our wedding finery. It was a lovely day and all the flowers and leis were perfect. We took photos before hand, the last few gunshots were fired off at the range next door, we had a sip of champagne, then we got in our positions. Mom walked me up the stairs/aisle, Dorian sang beautifully, Jen and Glenn were waiting for us at the waterfall. Tom had a lovely ceremony and married us.

Joy!

Then a wonderful party with friends from all over, dear loved ones, a few of whom are no longer here. Jen, Jack and my friend Jai and her lovely children. So glad there were there to help us celebrate and get us started on this wonderful path.

I can't believe it's been ten years already. Time truly flies when you are having fun and Kurt has been the most fun person in the world. How did I get so lucky to be married to a man like him? He's handsome and funny and brilliant and determined and dedicated and just so much fun to hang out with.

And soon there will be three of us! Amazing.

No one is more grateful than me for all the wonderful things I have in my life (and are about to have)!

Thank you Kurt for making my life even better than I could have imagined in my wildest dreams. Here's to the next ten!

 

Hawaiian Antiques

I was looking for something in mom's closet and found these awesome antiques! (Click all for bigger pictures.) Dig the old phone numbers and I wonder if any of the addresses still exist or if they are all big hotels now.

 

My grandmother must have made off with this next one. You can still stay at the Royal Lahaina resort, but I bet their hangers are not this cool.

Personally I love this one: Banzai! "We'll get your clothes clean or die trying" (okay I made that up and it's probably really wrong of me.)

Another nice Honolulu hanger:

Here's a bonus round quiz for you Honolulu folks: Name the store this came from!

"I'd Rather Be Petting A Yak" -- UPDATED!

It's the hot new phrase sweeping the nation! Okay actually it's just a funny thing my friend Cyana said on the phone in the middle of a conversation the other day. I liked it so much I had to stop her and laugh and say "I'm going to put that on a t-shirt!" The next morning she sent me this:

And with that, I made this:

So if you'd rather be petting a yak and would like the world to know, CLICK HERE.

(I love me some Zazzle.com!)

UPDATE (5:30pm):

You can also get it in Mug Form! Go the the Yak Link on the sidebar to purchase your very own!

...And A Bag Of Chips!

Digging through some papers yesterday, this photo popped out at me. Awesome! This was 1997 or 1998 and a gang of us went to Las Vegas and decided that one of the nights we were there we would dress up as cheesy as possible. We all went shopping at Jetrag and other similar stores and found outrageous outfits. When I spotted this dress, and it fit, I knew I was golden. The shoes, well, not so great, but cheap and LOUD.

But the hair. Oh the hair. That hairdo cost me $50 and it was well worth it. The hair looked fabulous (oh I'll be the first one to say so) and it DID NOT MOVE all night. And by all night I mean a good 14 hours from the time I walked out of the hotel salon. Then it brushed out easily the next day and still looked awesome. 

When the six of us were in our full regalia, we turned heads while walking through the casinos. Someone asked us if we were a band! Highest compliment, really. At one point we took over a blackjack table (only six seats) and people came to hang out and watch us play. What a blast!

If I could do my own hair like that easily every day, I would.  (Key word there is "easily.")

Viva Las Vegas!

Interrupting Maui For A Bit Of Rock Band

When Grace and Audrey were here we played Rock Band (Green Day and RB2) for about 3 hours. It was a blast. Grace took this photo and I find it so hilarious. I'm so square and yet I want to be a punk rocker.

 

Fans Become Friends

You may recall I worked on a project last fall in Belfast wherein my blog became quite popular with a certain segment of the population. Okay, I'll say it outright and risk sounding self-centered: I have fans. (That project is called Game of Thrones and there is now an official HBO website.)

The lovely thing is, these fans have become friends. I met some in Belfast and then became better friends with them via twitter and facebook, some I only know online and one I met in LA this past weekend! That's right, I got to meet Axechucker IN REAL LIFE! We met at the LA Metblogs Donut Summit (hence my t-shirt and silver donut award for best apple fritter.)

We had a great time chatting about all things donuts and GOT. Okay, not ALL things GOT of course, still can't chitchat too much about that...

 

Axechucker was behind the interview that was posted on Winter Is Coming earlier this year and it was really a pleasure to spend some quality donut time together. 

I love the internets!
 

Wee Frog

Weeks ago (WEEKS!) my friend Helen and I were chatting online. We worked together on That Project and became good friends. She's an amazing photographer. During that chat we were sending each other photos of where we live and family and other fun misc stuff. Then she sent me this awesome photo:

 

I promised to post it on my blog. And I failed miserably until today when she asked if I had. My only excuse is that I've been so distracted with all the writing. That's a good thing, right??

So here is Helen's Wee Frog in all it's amphibious glory.

I love the wee fellow! 

Weigh in Wednesday

Woo hoo! 

Weighed in at 181-even today. Down another pound from last week and down 11 overall. I had been a bit stuck in "ten pounds down" plateau land. I was congratulating myself for about two weeks for getting ten off, conveniently forgetting that there were 15 more to go. Now I've broken past the ten and am looking forward to the 170s next week.

I'm highly motivated and feeling great. My pants are getting looser and looser. I'm almost ready to try on some of my smaller jeans, but I might wait till next week. Again, I'm not feeling skinnier yet, but I know I am getting there.

I'm considering running again when I get to about 175...

My hair is getting longer and while it's not a bother now, if I don't get to my goal of losing 25 pounds by September, I'm going to be all pony-tail all the time and never blow dryingl.  Must be able to cut my hair before it gets way too hot.

PS Love me some plump hedgehog!

 

Donut Divas

People ask me what it's like to be a blogger. "Sometimes," I say, "there is food involved." 

Remember last year? Hot Dog Death March?

 

That was cool.

This year is Donut Summit. 

 

Donut Divas: Alexandra, Lucinda, Julia. 

I've never been prouder to be a blogger.

 

It's only too bad we couldn't shellac these headdresses to wear on the day...