You guys, don't be sad...

Life is really cool most of the time.

Treats

Spent my evening watching some live music at a bar with a less than happy bartender. He hardly looked at me when I ordered, wasn't amused when I tried to make him laugh and was very offended when I called the draft beer I was drinking Bud instead of PBR.

At some point, he had his back to me and I noticed he was snacking on something.
"Are those Orange Slices?!" (only one of my favs)
He turned around with one half hanging out of his mouth and just smiled.
I proceeded to tell him how they reminded me of my mom and how delicious they are.

I went on my way, danced a little longer and then came back for one more drink. After I handed over my cash, he slid the bag of candy over to me and there was one left in the bag. He didn't say a word, he just nudged the bag again and nodded his head.

Yay for candy.

Dirt don't hurt.

Had such an amazing weekend getting my hands dirty.
More to come on that.

But here's a little story:

We were at the Wilton & Sunset garden adding some leftover mulch from the weekend and three young boys walked by. They were all of 15 years old, laughing and pushing each other down the sidewalk. As they passed by me (on my hands and knees and gardening gloves clad), one of them sort of giggled and said, "Hey, what are you doing...heh...need any help?"

They kept walking past as I turned and said, "Yea, sure...if you want help spread mulch."

They laughed again and then one of them slowed down and headed back towards me, "You got any gloves?"

His friends sort of made fun and tried to convince him they had places to be. He shewed them away, grabbed some gloves and spread mulch with me for about 20 minutes.

GARDENING: Bringing Los Angelinos together one passer-by at a time.

Could I have better friends?!

No way.

The flowers I received on Tuesday were a bit of a mystery, but I had a pretty good idea who they were from. And last night I came home to a FedEx box with a 10th grade Homecoming dress (like, MY 10th grade), a personal bottle of champagne and the sweetest card from my best friend.

She was asking me to be her bridesmaid.

I immediately put the dress on over my clothes, popped open the champagne and celebrated!

A Much Needed Thursday Afternoon Giggle

(from a much missed friend)



You can buy this online.

Lesson Learned

Secret admirers are amazing and they send things from their heart.

Whether they're best friends or cute boys.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks.

I love the acceptance and agreement and the underlying rule at baseball games when someone in your row wants something from the strolling vendor.

Vendor passes the peanuts.
It goes through everyone's hands.
Fan passes the cash.
Also through everyone's hands.

And people just do it.
No questions asked.

Honesty.

I feel like I catch myself saying things like:
"I'm so old."
or
"Ugh, well I'm 30 now..."

Etcetera.

It's almost always in jest and more just an excuse. But in general, people's responses are:
"You're so young!"
"What are you talking about?! You're a child!"
"You've got plenty of time." (for....?....just curious...)

But tonight, in discussions with an acquaintance (the kind you hardly see, but for some reason have a connection with) I mentioned something about the events world being for "young people, but, ahem, I know, I know, I'm young..."

And she simply said, "Wait, how old are you?"
"Thirty."
"You're not young...I mean, thirty...it's not 21."

And all I could think was, "Thank you." Good-ness. That's how I feel. And not in a woe-is-me kind of way, but thirty isn't exactly young. And thank you for not sugar-coating it.

Bluntness is a good quality, no matter what people say.

Termite Circus

I realize the people who live here might not see the bright side of this, but I have a weird fascination with these termite tents.

It feels like the circus is coming to the neighborhood. And I like that the termite fumigation industry has a sense of humor of sorts. I mean, termite tents could be brown and dingy and depressing. But someone at the Termite Fumigation Association clearly thought this through. No matter what we do, the neighbors will know your home is infested with termites, why not bring some vibrant color to the neighborhood while you're killing millions of little bugs.

Or maybe the termite industry is backing the circus industry by purchasing tons of tent material.

Who knows.

When the lights... go down... in the citaay...

Um, have you done this downtown?
I might start making special trips, just to play.



They light up as you step on them and even make music. We literally could of played for hours. Too bad we had places to be. Ya know, people to do.

You come here often?

I was driving down Santa Monica Blvd today sort of putting on make-up at the stoplights. I noticed the truck next to me had slowed down exactly even with me and I could feel someone staring. I looked over and the driver gave me those Roll Down Your Window eyes...so I did. Thought he might need directions somewhere.

He said, "You gettin' pretty for me?"
--I just smiled.
"What time are we having dinner tonight?"
--"Mmmm, 7:15?"
"Ha, you're probably married aren't you?"
--"Nope, totally single."
"Perfect, let me get your number so I can call when I'm on my way."
--I smiled again.
We both laughed and he said, "You have a wonderful day," and drove off.

Innocent. And great. And way better than just sitting in traffic.

Dirty, dirty.

Pretty sure I still have dirt under my fingernails from gardening...but I'm ok with that. Our backyard is looking like a little greenhouse and it's great. And today I ran into one roly poly after another.

These little guys made me happier than I expected. Roly Poly is my alias for LA Guerrilla Gardening and it was fun to hang with my peeps for the day.

Ok, DVD Player, fine.

One Day Without Shoes

Today we walked barefoot down Abbot Kinney in Venice to show our support for TOMS. Even Google and Microsoft went a day without shoes. For every pair of shoes you buy, TOMS will give a pair of shoes to a child who needs them. It's called One for One and you should check it out -- sweet kicks too.



Walking around barefoot reminded me of home and the day they decided to pave our street. I remember it being a big deal in the neighborhood but I had no idea what it would do to my feet. My friends and I used to run around barefoot all the time and my toes were used to the rocks and the rough. But once they paved our street my feet became, well, wussies.

And today they were nervous at first, sort of stepping lightly and watching for obstacles. But I think they remembered where they came from and when the music started, they were happy to dance around all free and non-covered like.

Highly Recommended

I know everyone reads the news on their Blackberry/Kindle/iPad/computer now, but next time your packing up things in your house, buy a newspaper to wrap your breakables.

My roommate and I have been doing some moving lately and today as I was clearing off some shelves I found a picture frame wrapped in a newspaper page from Orlando -- 1999. There's something organic about physically touching news and stories from the past.

Easter and Ears

Yea, yea yea....Easter, friends, food, candy...heartwarming stuff.
Check.

But more importantly, I came to terms with something yesterday and appropriately enough, it was on Easter -- a day known for its big ears.

Big ears run in my family and I've forever been in a fight with them. Well, I guess my hair has. In nearly every picture of me since I had hair (which wasn't until I was 2 1/2, mind you) one of my ears is peeping out from behind my hair. Every year, I would anxiously await for my yearbook photo and low and behold, every time, ear.

In a conversation with a friend last night, I discovered I'm not alone. And I'm just going to own it, and make it my trademark.

Done.

Some rest.

You know those days when you wish you didn't have to get out of bed... and there's nothing you want more in the whole entire world then to just curl up and stay there?

Well, people, today I did that. I didn't budge until late in the afternoon. And two years ago I would have been angry with myself and my laziness. But today, I was so grateful that I COULD do that.

Sometimes single, no kids, no responsibility pays off.

Success!

As a wise man once said, “April Fools Day is for amateurs. You NEVER need an excuse to mess with people's heads.”

I'm pretty sure that quote has been stolen twice now, but I like it.

And today, I did it. I fooled quite a few people. So what if the wise man would call me an amateur. Oh the power of having a huge email list to mess with people.

For Guerrilla Gardening, we posted The White Stripes had been confirmed for an upcoming event. And people bit. They bit hard. Sorry guys.

Sort of.