I Love to Justify Spending Thousands of Dollars

Do you remember in February 2007 when we went to Paris with Amanda and Brian? Of course you still do! After all, that's the last time I fucking posted a picture on Flickr! Pro account...wasted.

Anyway, we had saved up quite a bit of cash dollars American Brand for Paris, but actually didn't end up spending all the money in cash (if you remember,I had a bit of an impulse buy at Chanel because I'm an asshole so I stopped buying things after that), so at the end of the trip, instead of changing 700 Euros back to dollars, we decided to save the Euros and hid the stash in a clear ziplock bag in the super secret spot of Matt's nightstand table. We are really good at hiding things out in the open.

My uncle works for Hyatt and has spent the last 2 years stationed as the General Manager or something in the Tenerife Hyatt in the Canary Islands.

In addition, after flying on British Airways for the past 7 years (our first BA trip together was to London and Paris in October 2001, exactly 3 weeks after the terrorist attacks) we now have 2 free tickets in Business Class.

So you see, this trip will be practically free! Well, not really since the tax we have to pay on the tickets will be close to one coach ticket and we still have to pay for a hotel if we go to anywhere but Tenerife (and even then it still won't be free, hopefully just deeply discounted), but the bulk of the vacay is paid for.

Also, we've been to Costa Rica. And Argentina is our NEXT trip.

But we had these Euro's, see. And these miles, see. So Europe it is. See?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What are you all doing for the big 4th weekend?

I let myself get roped into driving to a lake in California when the price of petrol is soaring above the $4.60 mark there.

We are renting a house where you have to bring your own towels and sheets. I think this is stupid. But because I love SteveKoch! and really want to meet his mom, I am going.

We are driving up together, 4 grown adults, 2 grown dogs, all our various accouterments. 1 SAV. This should be interesting.

Roman woke up this morning and promptly puked in the hallway. I think he's nervous about sharing the backseat with humans.



Roman...either seeing scary ghost, or thinking about having to sit by SteveKoch and Aaron for 6 hours.

It's Like 2006 Up In Here

What? 2 posts in one week? It's true, friends. I have things to tell you about.

(First of all, let me apologize for the grammatical and spelling errors in the last post and this post. Time is not my friend...the only precious minutes I have to myself lately are when I'm working out or have a session on the royal throne if you catch my drift and that dry heave you just suffered through tells me that you do....and it's kind of hard to post while working out....so....heh.)

We have a ghost in the house.

I'm totally totally serious.

The ghost has never manifested itself to me or Matt, but something tells me the dogs see it all the time because they have been acting increasingly off kilter lately.

I'll tell you more about my ghost's antics next week, but right now I have a question for you:

It is your 10 year anniversary coming up. You are going to take a romantic trip. would you go to The Canary Islands, Portugal, Corsica, or Monaco?

Reparations

Kisses.

I'm sorry but is it the end of June? As in June Two Thousand EIGHT?

I'm not exaggarating even a teensy bit when I say that the past six weeks have been an exhibition of controlled chaos over here at Tequila Stakes Croquet. Have I written a post about the TSCT 2008? Have I even downloaded all the pictures from it? Have I MOVED THE FURNITURE IN THE BACKYARD BACK? No. Non. Tidak.

You are saddened by this. I know. I feel your moroseness from here. It's palpable. But there are lots of things that I can share with you right now.

First of all...

BEHOLD!



I killed a cheetah with my bare hands for it's skin to make them.

Second, we just returned from a fantastic road voyage to La Ciudad de Angeles to see Vaguely Urban and her precious Man. They treat us right, man. I'm talking high class all the way. I hinted that I was in the mood for some sparkling Rose, and guess what we were greeted with after the long ardous 6 hour journey (oh, and hellooooo 4.65/gallon gas...you are kind of a stinky and a little bit greedy). That's right, motherfuckers, so much Rose, sparkling and non-sparkling, along with roasted shrimp, brie and carmelized onion tartines, and hummus with the most delicious Persian cucumbers. I'm sure Ina's roguish little noise twitched in glee at the inkling that someone was replicating her menus so well.

Then we went to downtown LA to go to a Ethnic Michael's where if you ask a lady a questions, she'll give you a very adamant answer to a completely different question.

Then we went by my old house in Culver City. The first house I lived in after we moved to the States from Indonesia. I don't remember Culver City being so posh. But my old street (Wesley Street!) looks ridiculously cute with mostly restored bungalows and mature trees and my old house that was once a 2br, 1 b back in 1980, look to be possibly a 2br, 2 b at least. I was tempted to ask Dave to stop the car so I could knock on the door and something like, "Hi, I used to live here, can I come in and see the backyard where my swing used to be so I can re-live memories of pooping my pants by total accident but being super embarrassed to tell my mom, tying my brother to my bicycle and riding around with him dragging behind me to help build up his cardiovascular strength, learning how to read English by reading Cheepy Chick over and over again, playing Strawberry Shortcake and Lego's and playing "orthodontis" in the kitchen?" But I didn't, because I didn't want to drag down the agenda.

Then they took us to a very posh sushi place call TakamatsuFujimotoNikon. I actually don't remember the name of the place, but the rolls were super delish and because I totally retained VU and her lawyerly ways with 5 dozen cupcakes last February, I was treated like a client. I like having a lawyer on retainer. Don't fuck with me. I'll unleash a malestrom of VU ass on you.

Then I almost got raped by a drunk Mexican on a bike.

Then Stanley left a big steaming pile of shit on the carpet in their workout room.

Then we had tea in Venice and I learned that if you are friendly in LA and people say hello to you and you say hello back they automatically think that you work in the store and ask you to try something on.

Then I ate a Pinkberry.

Then Dave made us a delicious snack of cheese, olives, nuts, chips and gherkins and then we were back on our way home to the PHX.

I like those two people. A lot. I'm sorry you aren't friends with them. Haha!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Matt and I saw the Sex and the City moive AND The Happening. Like in a theater. With other people. In the dark. Sex and the City was good. The Happening was awesomely bad.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Matt and I started working out again after a 1.5 year hiatus. I totally forgot how good working out feels. It doesn't even suck that bad while you are doing if you have good tunes, and afterwards you feel all thin and your clothes fit better and you fall asleep super fast and you have more energy the next day and you want to have sex. I forgot, okay? But I'm back!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have been working and baking and working and baking and working and baking. There is no end in sight. It's cool because both activities give me money. It's bad because I would rather not have to work or bake for money. I would rather have a secret basement full of $100 bills that just replenshes itself magically like the streak of gray hair I have at the crown of my head. But since I DO have to work, I guess it's not so bad that I can occasionally do it from home, and I can bake and sell my wares.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What have you been up to? How's the weather over where you are? Are you laying by a pool? Are you eating a popcicle? I want to know.


It's good to be back!

I'm Sort of Musically Inclined, I Guess

The other reason why I can't seem to get a spare hour to write a post about the namesake of this bloggity blog is that SteveKoch!, Matt, and I are really super busy right now busting Career-style at Guitar Hero.

I'm pretty fucking good at the Guitar Hero. I mean, like, really. I'm probably going to fly to Tokyo to compete in one of those Guitar Hero contests. Maybe this summer. Who knows. I just killed Metallica, Slayer, and Tenacious D.
Sorry guys, maybe you should make your songs a little more intense because these thick little Eurasian fingers are no match for your little diddies. You may as well be James Taylor. Or John Mayer. Or Sheryl fucking Crow. Frankly, I expected more from you.

Also, yoga room has turned into Guitar Hero room until further notice. Sorry body, but you are going to have to deal with a little extra padding for awhile. Mama's gotta jam.

All I Need Are Frogs Falling Out of the Sky

Hi, read this bulleted list.

* Work is fucking insane right now. My mentor has recently announced her resignation, I'm back on conference calls at all hours of the night to the Sub-Continent, and I'm watching my PTO bank grow and grow because I can't take a fucking day off.

* Cupcakes are fucking insane right now. You'd think that with the opening of a L.A. based Oprah-backed cupcake store right here in Scottsdale, I would be dead in the water. Luckily, people like artisanal cupcakes made by hand by moi and not factory cupcakes that require you to wait in a 30 minute line to purchase. People have good taste. THANK GOD.

* Kickball is fucking insane right now. After a glorious season where we sat in first place week after week, last night we were unceremoniously de-throned by a team that hadn't fucking won a game the whole fucking season. If you want to ask how that went over with my team, look up the term "Sore Losers" in the dictionary. You will see a picture of us sitting at a picnic table, downing Miller High Lifes and chain-smoking Parliments, rooting the other team they played after us on. It wasn't pretty.

* My house is fucking insane right now. Did you know that our house is haunted? Well, it is. And the Poltergeist that is haunting me is having a banner month. I haven't slept in weeks. You try sleeping when doors open and close all the time, you hear odd claps and creaks all hours of the day and night, one spot on your front door starts bleeding a waxy discharge, and your dogs wander out into the main hallway at 1am to sit and stare at nothing and then start whining and crying eerily. They're here.

* Croquet pictures are fucking insane right now. I'm coming up with a proper post that adequately describes the mania that happened here...but I leave you with this awesome teaser. Don't wet your camouflage cargo shorts from Old Navy while viewing it.

This is a Tribute!

While I wait anxiously for Omer and VU to send over pictures from Tequila Stakes Croquet....I present you a tribute.

So, first of all, I'm never throwing another Tequila Stakes Croquet again if VU and Dave don't fly in a day early to help.

Their flight was delayed so they didn't get to the house until 9pm at which point we drank delicious Pinot, ate triple creme brie (why people bother with the double creme is beyond me), and homemade bread (no-knead bread strikes again) and interrupted each other in excitement to catch each other up in our lives. We had Dave's new job to dish about, news about friends and friends of friends to discuss, compliments to give on how teeny and adorable VU is and general conversation about war and politics and porn.

We had quite a list to get through on Friday before we could lay down to rest. We had to grill ourselves up some dinner, then grill up 10lbs of chicken, lamb, and beef kebabs, make hummus (with a GIANT can of chickpeas I snatched from Haji Babba's), organize teams and t-shirts, and finally at 1am, we said our goodnights and retired to our sleeping quarters.

The next day, we were up with the dawn's early light to get started again. I had a morning cupcake order that was picked up at 10m and then decided to go ahead and bake and ice 7 dozen cupcakes for the party since I had the KitchenAid out. Dave chopped this and that, artfully arranged veggies and hummus and cupcakes all over the house. There was literally a cakestand filled to the brim with cupcakes (red velvet, chocolate, vanilla) everywhere a cakestand would fit. All tables? Cupcakes. Mantle? Cupcakes. Bar? Cupcakes. Coffee table? Cupcakes. There were cupcakes as far as the eye could see. It was like a little girl threw up her idea of a fun party in the house.

While Dave and I were shaming the hacks on Food Network, Matt and VU busted their booties outside setting up croquet courses and conversation-inducing gatherings of chairs, putting ice and beers in buckets, and skimming the pool. At noon, the house was glittering with calm, ice slowly melting in the perfect 85 degree day, mallets lined up ready to be used, the scent of choclate lingering in a low cloud.

Also, LusiLee came to help me with the kitchen stuff...timing things in and out of the oven and passing around the Armenian appetizers of lahmajoons and cheese boureg.

Dave and VU have spoiled me forever. We had such rhythem! Such cooperation! We moved together in synchronicity with the grace of The Dancing With The Stars professionals. I am so grateful they came early, not just because of the white slavery they proffered so willingly...but because I was able to spend some wonderful private time with my favorite L.A. couple.

Thank you VU and Dave. I love you guys more and more every time I see you.