Begrudgingly.

Great word, eh?
I couldn't think of another word that fit my thought more appropriately.

Today I was updating our master contact list at work and was begrudgingly going through each category of my boss's list trying to put them in the right sections. I made it about 3/4 of the way through his list and as I started to get antsy and wanted to move on to the next project....I came across a category that I didn't recognize.

I laughed out loud when I saw it and immediately recognized every name in the group.

Category name: Wacko.
Brilliant.
And every single one of them had earned the right to be categorized as such.

Overcome

Some people are scared of spiders or confined spaces or commitment.

Me?
I'm terrified of being on a non-moving escalator and have it suddenly start or vice versa. And today, that happened.

And I didn't die. (or dislocate a knee)

I was running down the escalator at a metro stop and out of nowhere, it just stopped. I screamed and kept going and as I squeezed between the doors of the metro my friend said, "See, you're OK. It wasn't as bad as you imagined."

And he was right (grrrr), I was OK.

It's back!

I had a sunshine today and realized I didn't need/want to broadcast it over the internet, so I restrained.

Then I remembered the little black book that's been left lonely on my desk and practically untouched over the past year. The REAL sunshine journal I've had for years now.

It was so great to pull it back out, document a moment in time and then read through entries of sunshine past.

I had a friend recently tell me that only girls keep journals....but I highly recommend writing down silly/fun/sad/exciting moments from your life in one place. Just a sentence or even picture at a time. It's pretty fantastic reading material.

My fingers are covered in red.

Because, ladies and gentlemen, I spent my morning at the airport gripping a poster made with Crayola markers that said, "Welcome Home!"

I love, love, love the arrivals gate. But we already knew this.

Today, joined by 10 other amazing people, I welcomed a friend and her new baby boy home from Ghana.

The tears and the hugs and the tears....man it was great.

Orion

Today, nothing overly out-shined anything that's happened in the last week or so. But I caught myself sulking and remembered that forcing myself to find a sunshine on days similar to this was always a little piece of therapy.

So here I am.

And in my search, I realized my sunshine is the stars. Both kinds.

Ironically enough, LA's livelihood is built on the warm-blooded type but rarely does it get to see the celestial kind. And tonight I enjoyed a little of both.

Exhibit A: Meryl Streep. I want to be her and every character she's played. I didn't see her in the flesh, but somehow her movies always make it seem as if I am.

Exhibit B: Even with a full moon, the stars seemed to whisper at me as I unlocked the door to my apartment. So I stopped and stared for a bit. Sadly, I've been doing this less and less...and even though they are few and far between in this city, they still amaze me.

Things that wiggle.

Even though I love silly hats and themed socks and going overboard for the holidays, I've never been overly in to animated decor. They always seem cheesy and/or creepy.

However, my boss has a knack for finding some brilliant ones. And more than being amused by the toy, it's so amazing to watch his presentation and reaction when he first brings it in to the office. He's like a 5 year-old showing you his new toy.

I love it.

I was hoping for silly hats...

Sooo...I might have received a ticket some time back and I might have opted for community service instead of paying the silly government.

I also, in true Pontius-fashion, waited until the very last minute to start putting in my hours. So I've been spending my evenings this week at the Santa Monica Moose Lodge.

There's minor cleaning to do, but never enough for the 5 hours each night I need to be there.

Tonight, there was a pot luck and after offering to help an elderly lady grab cookies out of her car, I ended up at the bar chatting with her all night. Her name is Brenda. She's been a member for 64 years, drinks VO and water (easy on the water) and has buried 2 husbands, 3 lovers, 1 son and 1 sister...and she warns, "Be careful around me, I seem to be the only one left in my little circle."

I learned so much about this woman and I couldn't get over how saucy she was for being 88 and hanging at the moose lodge. At some point she sashayed past the pool table teasing the 20-somethings about checking her out and even stopped to do a turn to give them a second look. She complained about bitter step children and gossiped about men in the bar.

I mostly listened.

And then we commiserated/puffed our feathers about being Scorpios and how the world needed to watch out.

Of course she talked about the "good old days" at the lodge and the crazy Friday nights she had there. And she did a fabulous job at trying to convince me to be a Woman of the Moose.

I could go on, but I won't.

The whole experience -- the smells, the oddly mismatched crowd, the fancy jewelry -- it was all my sunshine.