Saturday evening street scenes

While waiting for Angels Theater to open Saturday evening Jeff and I walked along Main street while I did an impromptu photo shoot.

Dinner & The Rum Diary

Late yesterday afternoon I met up with Jeff for dinner at McD's. Originally, I had planned on having a hamburger then when I saw that the McRib sandwich was back on the menu and loudly calling my name along with a small order of fries... well, it was goodbye burger.
After lingering over conversation Jeff and I eventually cruised a few blocks downtown to catch The Rum Diary starring Johnny Depp whom Jeff says could be chewing cudd on screen and make it absolutely fascinating to watch.

Tiring of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, journalist Paul Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local newspaper, The San Juan Star, run by downtrodden editor Lotterman. Adopting the rum-soaked life of the island, Paul soon becomes obsessed with Chenault, the wildly attractive Connecticut-born fiancee of Sanderson. Sanderson, a businessman involved in shady property development deals, is one of a growing number of American entrepreneurs who are determined to convert Puerto Rico into a capitalist paradise in service of the wealthy. When Kemp is recruited by Sanderson to write favorably about his latest unsavory scheme, the journalist is presented with a choice: to use his words for the corrupt businessmen's financial benefit, or use them to take the bastards down.

Logline:	A love triangle takes place against the politically charged backdrop of Puerto Rico in the late 1950's. We thoroughly enjoyed the movie and would suggest you see it-- you won't be disappointed.                     Amanda Heard's dance scene from the Rum Diary.                                                     Cast interview.

Musings du jour...

                                                                   sadistic slug humor

After what seemed like an extraorinarily long work week the weekend is here at last. Jeff is working~ we plan to meet up later for a dinner date and movie. Specifically, a greasy burger and a showing of The Rum Diary. I've lost another pound this week, let's put it back on, I say.
 I do get one pig-out day a week and in the last several weeks I've only indulged in one pig-out day. I figure this is okay as I can't indulge (at all) in any extra holiday goodies~ I'll enjoy them twice as much next year.

Speaking of movies, Director Clint Eastwood has a new biopic out entitled J Edgar, looks intriguing:

This morning I've ran errands in town, stopping off at CVS pharmacy, then Angels Market and picked up a great yoga video at our thrift store. I'm half-way through Ron Suskind's The Way of The World- love his writing. He weaves facts of past and present in a John Grisham kind of narrative. A fascinating read.

The day has cool autumn temps with a slight breeze.  Time to  listen to some tunes, read and maybe catch a brief nap before venturing back into town to meet up with Jeff.

                                 One of Dad's fav songs seems to be getting a new life.

Introducing Stuffy...

        Original Audi A8 commercial

 Can you spot the subtle changes in the revised version?

These Audi commercials were based on Good Night, Moon.

Once upon a time a few short weeks ago, on a swealtering summer evening, I was sitting in our computer room browsing facebook. The fan was swirling air about the room, the windows were open, and finally, it dawned on me there was something meowing outside, underneath the eyebrow window. Faint, but persistent . A hungry kitten.  None of the outdoor gang had been with kitten recently, hmmm. A conumdrom! Walking across the patio terrace, past the pond, and almost around the corner, in the side yard, stood a petite black and white kitten (about 3-4 weeks old) looking remarkably like Sylvester.  No other kittens in sight and no mother cat around. The outdoor gang accepted that he was on their turf, but offered no support. With the exception of Gracie, who adopts and nurses all kittens. She walked up to him, licked his head then walked away to go lie in the dry grass, in the upper backyard, he was on his own. 

 I returned inside and could still hear his meowing. The next morning I went outdoors to feed the outdoor gang and there he was in the same spot. He walked towards me and kept meowing, obviously hungry.  I brought him inside, gave him a bottle of KMR formla and placed him in a large kennel.  Over the weekend he grew stronger, as our beloved Bonbon unexpectedly became gravely ill and later in the week had to be put to sleep.  I decided to name him Stuffy after the Audio commerical because his mouth is always open- notice Stuffy the fox in the commercial yawning with his mouth wide open? That would be him. He loved his bottle and would hold the bottle with both of his front paws and back feet and as soon as the formula was gone he would begin to yowl LOUDLY to note his displeasure. In the wake of Bonbon's departure Stuffy has filled in her paws sweetly.  Misha and Kyoko who, in particular, keenly grieved her loss have taken Stuffy under their care, particularly Misha-- they're now inseperable. Stuffy is now learning to eat from a bowl and still gets upset when he discovers that he's finished off his food and there is nothing left-- I know what he's talking about. I, too, have the same feeling when my meals are finished.

INTRODUCING...

Stuffy

The children's classic "Good Night, Moon".

What's New?

Saturday morning... and I was up at 4:30 AM, what's wrong with this pic? Jeff was up before me surfing the Net for his fix on politics and news before having to jet off to work. It was the aroma of freshly brewed French roast that woke me.  I decided to get up, make our bed, plump up the pillows, bring in a black ceramic espresso-sized cup of coffee and lazily kick start my morning by getting comfy on the bed and turning on the DVR. 
Rewind to last evening: Jeff cheffed up a delicious pasta; garlic, scallions, green bell peppers, sun-dried roasted tomatoes and zucchini in a white cream sauce over linguini noodles which  we ate in the den while we watched Burlesque:

Following Burlesque we tuned into, Just Go With It, we decided to watch the rest of the movie in the master bedroom- doesn't that sound relaxing? And, yet... no.
Our 42" tv decided to short itself out (Which somehow balances out the week as we began the week with the microwave having a meltdown), so Jeff had to take it out of the master bedroom and bring in the tv from the living room as I had pre-programmed the DVR to record Blue Bloods and Kelsey Grammer's new series Boss. Mission accomplished, we hunkered down to watch the rest of the movie.

 FF to this morning: Jeff joined me in the master bedroom, getting comfy on the club chair. Over coffee and in-between conversation  WE watched  the premiere of Boss- which we both were impressed with~ great acting, photography and dialogue.

After watching Boss, we watched Blue Bloods:

 Then Jeff was out the door to work and I'm getting ready to head out the door as well on a round of morning errands....

gratitude

I have this book whose title I can't remember about gratitude. The author's theme is about being grateful and keeping a gratitude journal. She began writing this book when she was very ill and through the illness which lasted several months realized being grateful and writing about everyday blessings lifted her out and beyond her circumstances. She felt better mentally, kept negatitivity at bay, the writing and acknowledgement of her gratitude in itself was a blessing.  

After reading the book, a few years back, I thought what a great idea and was amazed at day's end of how many blessings we each encounter throughout the course of the day. I now do this every evening after I write in my daily journal.

So, I decided that some of the blessings that I was especially grateful for receiving yesterday~ feeling beyond awful because of having a helacious cold that is shared by many of my co-workers would be a good starting point to share with you on this blog.

1. The rush of chilled morning autumn air carrying the scents of damp earth/leaves and woodsmoke greeting me when I stepped outside the glass door to the patio terrace to give the outdoor gang breakfast.

2. Leaving for work: I looked across the expanse of the front yard (as I walked toward the jeep) to Bear mountain which was enveloped in a light mist with clear sunshine illuminating the beauty of the natural landscape- took 5 to savor the moment.

3. If it's Friday it must be Starbucks. Ordered a vanilla latte grande with whipped cream/extra espresso and freshly baked banana walnut bread to go.

4. Driving over Melones lake eating my banana walnut bread, sipping my latte and loving the spectacular view. The lake looked like smooth sapphire glass, the surrounding hillsides had the look of damp hay with the bull pines and oaks spread out in muted sage greens~ rolled down the windows to inhale the fresh scent of morning air (and with this cold- that took a few moments, lol) Such a beautiful morning!

5. After Work... tooling over to my hairstylist in Murphys (she's opened a new shop in the same upscale local of Main street, just a few doors down from her old shop, but this shop has pedicure/manicure/facial stations- which look spectacular! Shoulda brought my camera to share on blog- next time).  

6. It was great to see my hairstylist and catch up with one another, to see old friends (nearby business owners) who popped in just to say hi. 

7. Being able to laugh at having my hair weaved while sneezing my head off and blowing my nose continually- 3 things that probably shouldn't be done simultaneously. It also amused the foot traffic that passed by the window. Was it the tinfoil? My sneezing? The unending supply of tissue needed and on hand (literally)? Or, Romulas, my hairstylist's dog who was sitting in my lap undercover, but who would pop her head up every so often to look at me and openly wonder what was wrong with me? All of the above....

8. When done with the weave, the cut, the sneezing~ I was offered a test drive of the new steamer in the facial room and get an upper body massage and facial while under a plush blanket, listening to relaxing water and birdsong. How very cool is that? Very.

9. Getting back into the jeep made a return call to Amanda; enjoyed our chat.

10. Leaving Murphys at dusk is magical. Twinkling icsicle lights (on houses, businesses) give a warm holdiay glow. Heading toward Angels the dark grape colored hills and black silhoutted oaks backlit by a soft peach horizon that changed to a deep raspberry as I neared San Andreas.

11. Home: Pulling in to the driveway at dust I could clearly see into the brightly lit living room and see Jeff walking through the living room to walk outdoors to greet me.

12. Jeff had rustic sliced French bread with cheese slices ready. We sat down in the dining room at the long oak table. Swapping stories about our day. The end to a lovely day of many blessings.

footnote: I forgot to mention that before dashing in for my hair appointment I stopped in at the post office, picking up mail and received the latest issue of the Paris Review.... perfect weekend reading material to hunker down with in the master bedroom while I fight off this nasty cold.

Good Morning Shiva Goddess of Destruction!

Who knew that MC Hammer's classic "You Can't Touch This" would become the theme of my Sunday morning? Slept great, got outta bed and almost immediately (except for the short trek from the master bedroom through the hallway to the kitchen) became the Goddess of Destruction leaving a wide path of debris behind me to rival any natural hurricane.

It began innocently enough. I saw that the indoor gang's water bowl needed to be refilled. I filled a plastic container, when full, I walked over to the water bowl and began to pour the water in, then lost the grasp of the bowl and the water flowed all over the kitchen linoleum in rivulets spreading out far and wide across the entire kitchen floor. Jeff came to my rescue with the mop and kindly mopped up the floodwater.

Changing out of my now wet scrubs, I carried a large glass of water and my coffee cup to the master bedroom. I have a side table whose original purpose was to hold items like this. That is until Kyoko and Misha decided that this table was the perfect nap spot for them- they alternate. Kyoko was napping on the side table as I placed my coffee down the French styled cabriolet legged console behind it. Jeff brought his coffee in and had just sat down in the club chair to chat with me, when I picked up Kyoko (a very hefty hymalian girl who has the image of herself as a svelte and agile anorexic ballerina) So, as I picked her up she moved one way, while my hand, again lost it's grasp, she was thrown to the floor (smack down) with a WTF is wrong with U look on her face, which somehow closely mirrored Jeff's expression, as she slammed onto the ground, to be followed by my large-sized glass of water tumbling out of my other hand splashing over her, my comforter and my just put on scrubs with water just going absolutely everywhere in super slow motion.

Jeff said, I'll get the mop. You go change and stay away from water. Don't touch it, don't go near it, no water for you! Kyoko come with me...  Kyoko followed Jeff, turning around to give me a baleful look that said: Stay. Don't you follow me you crazy woman!

Once again changed, we went back into the master bedroom and over coffee (which I managed to not spill) we had a great conversation about our goals for 2012.

While Jeff was on the computer, I went into the den and listened to some great 1920's jazz while writing down what I want to accomplish next year- so far up to 5 pages.

                      Duke Ellington's "The Mooche" later hit the Big screen in Cotton Club.

It's now time for Sunday brunch. We're having leftover chicken pasta (wheat) with a tossed green salad. My new diet is doable, sticking to it, may be more difficult. Thank goodness Jeff was the head Dietary Cook (at a local hospital) for 20+ years- he's so creative with food. He'll whip me into shape... with that thought in mind, it's time to chow down.

            After lunch I plan to read A Foreign Affair and take a nap. I love Sundays!