:: Giddy Girlie ::

Sweet Monkey

2008-07-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

My dear Monkey cat is my best friend. I'll just say that right out the gate. I love this guy more than cookies. He's the most well-behaved cat I have ever known. Friendly, funny, talkative. I just love love love him.

A couple of months ago he started sneezing and coughing and so I took him to the vet, suspecting allergies. She agreed and after some chest x-rays, decided that it was probably asthma induced by allergies. He had a short round of antibiotics and some allergy pills (kitty Claritin, basically) and was much better. And then about a week ago, he started the coughing again. The coughing isn't 'productive' coughing, but a deep, wheezing, trying-to-get-out-a-hairball type of sound that is actually an asthma attack. So I crammed him into the cat carrier and back to the vet. More x-rays showed some lung troubles and an enlarged heart. So a series of (expensive!) blood tests were done and everything looked pretty good. No change in blood count, urinalysis was good, mild elevation in liver and blood sugars, but that could be a nominal change, so we're just assuming that he's got a pre-diabetic type of thing and he'll be going on prescription diet food to help him lose weight. This tiny baby - the runt of the litter - weighs nineteen and a half pounds. HA! Because he's such a big cat, the doctor says that he should be about 15 lbs. So, essentially, he's like 40 lbs overweight - not good, but not lethal. And his heart is big, but not terribly so, since he's a big guy - he should have a big heart.

So today I talked to the vet again and she says that the radiologist confirmed that his heart enlargement is due to heart disease. Luckily, he's not too bad off, although she did have to give the disclaimer that most cats show no signs and just suddenly die. So it's good that he's being monitored, but it's scary as hell that he could just be gone at any moment. He's my buddy! I love him! He can't die! I know he's 9 years old, but that's too young! Our last family cat lived to be 21! I want to have him around for at least another decade!

I have just ordered his new medicines, which will be Eanalapril and Lasix. The Eanalapril is for the heart and Lasix thins the blood, so hopefully we should see some changes soon. I've decided to start chronicling it all here for my reference.

7 years of 07/07

2008-07-07T23:33:00.001-07:00

Seven years ago I got married to a dude by a psychic who invited himself, on a boat that ended up sinking, surrounded by people who weren't all invited, and we ran out of food, but not out of booze, and we didn't have our music and the DJ was really terrible and I hardly got a chance to see anyone and the night went by really fast and the boat was late to the dock and I have hardly any pictures because people took the cameras home and there are only 4 pictures that exist of the bride and groom together and my hair wasn't quite right and my shoes weren't comfortable and the groomsmen didn't match and two people had their cars towed and the people at the hotel were snobby and some people ended up drunk and crying at the bar and other people went out to the street to fight and our room was all disheveled from the bridesmaids getting ready there and room service stopped serving and would only bring us soup and we were so wary that we fell asleep in 5 minutes.

And if I had it all to do over again, I would. Every day.

Fourth of July weekend

2008-07-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

Train trips, explosions, laziness, and not leaving the house.

I hope your Fourth of July weekend was full of thrills and chills and fireworks and friends. And maybe a sense of purpose. Mine very vaguely contained these things, but strangely I am ok with it.

Thursday night, I took the train to LA to meet up with Kate and Miss Bliss to discuss our plan for Comic Con - there's a lot more logistics and planning than you'd think! - and I got to experiment with the LA mass transit system. All-in-all, pretty fun.

On the ride to Union Station, I watched episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and kept thinking of Danielle's brilliant video interpretation.

The metrolink, apparently, time travels as well. It took me back to June 23rd.

I finally nabbed a train-window picture of the best grafitti ever.

From Union Station, I took the red metro line north, to Hollywood & Highland. All the trains start/end at Union Station, so it was pretty easy. You just get on and can't go wrong, right? So I'm sitting on the train and this lady gets on who is clearly strung out and she's pushing a baby stroller and anyone who tries to look at her baby gets rammed with the stroller. It was amusing and slightly scary. She plopped down next to me and threw all of her bags (which were many and filled with assorted junk) on my lap and was nervously eyeing the door. Until the Tourists across the aisle leaned over to confirm with her that this train would take them where they wanted to go. Crazy Baby Lady says no. That this train is going to some stop (undecipherable and also not on the map) elsewhere, so these people should get off and go back up the stairs to switch tracks. They were going to the same place that I was, so I was curious, although not completely trusting. I got off the train at the next stop and read the signs that confirmed that the train that I was on - though painted red - was the purple line and would soon change course and take me away from where I needed to go. The next train to the platform (about 2 minutes later) was the 'right' one, so I got on it and there were no problems. In fact, I stood the rest of the trip next to Kate Flannery and shared an I know who you are but don't want to be a Fangirl smile. She smiled back and all was lovely. As we exited the station, she was directly in front of me and I was tempted to say hello, but too shy. As it turns out, she's dating a friend's brother (also with her during this trip) and if I had known that beforehand, I could have said hello to both of them. Ah, well.

So I get outside the station and Miss Bliss is just pulling up to get me - perfect timing! So I hop in the car and we sped off across town to meet Kate for dinner and discussion. Which of course took hours and lots of delicious food and then cookies and coffee. And then Ryan came and shanghai'd the conversation... which took lots of additional hours, a change of venue, more coffee, and food. It was great fun though and just reminds me why I must hang out with these people more often. There are not enough hours in the day. Especially when there are things that you must talk about.

Friday was the 4th and we were invited to a couple of BBQs, but we're pretty lame and I wasn't feeling great, so we decided to stay inside the air conditioned cocoon of our house and do stuff. Our neighborhood association does a big fireworks display just a couple of blocks from our house, so we didn't even have to leave the comfort of home to watch them. Out in the driveway, I wore my new patriotic glasses to watch the show. It was so nice afterward to just turn around and walk 10 steps back to your front door. No lugging chairs or coolers, just step-step-step and you're there.

The cats were a bit scared this year, I think mostly because Monkey had a vet visit on Thursday that made him weary of all humans and Ruckus was scared of Monkey being scared. They were both super sketchy and wanted to sit on my lap. At least until the neighbor kid set off a string of firecrackers and then Ruckus bolted to hide under the bed.

The rest of the weekend has been equally uneventful. We watched some movies, made some artichokes, took some naps, made some crafty things. I feel totally bored with myself and the prospect of washing dishes is no better. Although, in actuality, I need this boring lame-ass weekend at home. I need to rest up because next weekend, we've got company coming, and the weekend after is Comic Con -- which is enough to kill a stronger person. I've got a lot on my plate with Work and also my side projects and getting Ryan ready for the convention... so I need to appreciate the slow times. Instead, I am going slightly stir crazy.

A Tribute To All Nations, But Mostly America

2008-07-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth of July, dudes.

needle felting madness

2008-07-02T21:13:00.001-07:00

I made the hippo from it's a small world tonight. Because I have always loved that hippo. And I am a dork.

with a penny for scale

More about the Presidents

2008-07-02T13:49:00.000-07:00

I posted my needle felted presidents on Craftster and they're getting a lot of good responses. Hey, maybe I should needle felt historical figures for a living!

See the forum thread here

update: my presidents have been featured over at www.geekcrafts.com!

Hiding in Time - optioned!

2008-07-02T00:19:00.001-07:00

Last year, Ryan pencilled and inked a comic, Hiding in Time, for Shadowline comics. He was brought in late in the game (story of my life!) and had to rush and unfortunately the story arc was cut back from 4 issues to 3, but it still did pretty well. And Warner Brothers announced today that they have optioned it for a movie. It's pretty exciting for us and Chris Long (the writer, and a friend of ours) -- and Ryan is super excited about seeing his artwork being used in all the promos!

Read all about it at the Hollywood Reporter!

Change Your Life!*

2008-07-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

*not guaranteed!

A while back, I saw a post over at Evany's blog about freezing lemons and so I had to try it. If you are like me - or Evany - you like a little fresh lemon in your tea or water or everything you drink. But the problem is that once you cut a lemon it starts to turn on you, right? The peel gets all thick and ooky and brown and just plain sad.

WELL. Did you know that you can freeze lemon slices? Yup. Slice it up, stick it in an airtight container or ziploc baggie and they'll keep fresh and pretty and tart forever. Well, I don't actually know about the forever part, but the ones in my freezer have been sitting pretty for over a month now. Just take one out and drop it in your drink of choice and you get the bonus effect of tangy lemon and an extra ice cube! Once it thaws out a bit, you can squeeze the juice out more if you like.

This past week I have been grumbling with an ear/nose/throat bug and drinking hot tea (which in summer is a beeyotch. It's 100 degrees outside and in my cup!) so the frozen lemons are great. They cool down my scalding tea and give me that lemon lift that I am so fond of.

expected downtime

2008-07-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

Just an FYI that I am tweaking some stuff behind-the-scenes, so it's possible that the site may have some downtime in between.

Wondermark Contest

2008-07-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Over at Wondermark, a contest is being held to win the new book "Beards of our Forefathers" in which anyone can submit anything they like, so long as it is slightly Wondermark related. I decided at the last minute to throw my ~~hat~~ beard in the ring with some needle felted submissions.

I used the book title to play on the "Forefathers" as being the former US presidents. There are 5 presidents who had full beards, but since Garfield isn't funny (referenced in a Wondermark comic) I left him out. So instead there are 4: Lincoln, Harrison, Grant, and Hayes. Plus, I kind of liked Van Buren's psycho mutton chops so I threw him in there for good measure.

I don't know when winners will be announced, and even if I don't win, I will buy the book, but it was still fun to play along.

Friday Funtimes (again)

2008-06-30T20:16:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, I took the train up to LA to meet up with Kate for a tour of Chinatown. I have lived in Southern California (specifically, Orange County) all my life. And yet I have barely scratched the surface of all the awesome things are to experience around here. Luckily, Kate is a good influence (thus, the list on the right side bar) on me and she's always up for taking me exploring. Bless Kate. She braved cross-town traffic on a Friday night to get me at Union Station, which is no small feat. Lesser women have perished in this traffic. This is the mark of a true friend.

So it was of critical importance for me to get to my train on time, which I did, but just barely. I hit every single red light on the way there AND had to park in BFE and run for dear life to get the train. The northbound track is on the other side of the station, so I had to hustle up and then down 3 flights of stairs on the bridge that goes over. My feet hit the platform just as the train pulled up. Luckily, I landed a seat directly beneath the air conditioning vent so I was blasted with icy air immediately and was able to dive right into my latest Fables book (vol. 10, The Good Prince - read it!).

Union Station is so pretty. I stopped to take a few pictures as I walked out and so many people stared at me like I was an idiot, then for the first time noticed the beauty of it. Much of the features and furnitures are the originals from the 1930's and it's amazing that any of it has held up through so many passengers!

Kate was waiting for me outside, so we jumped in the car and headed over to Chinatown to browse around. I scored a SWEET wooden fan for a DOLLAR (incidentally, someone is selling exact same one on eBay for a penny plus $7.95 shipping. Wuh?!) which is going to solve all of my summer heat stroke issues, along with my ever-present Disneyland towel AND my fancy schmancy new PAPER PARASOL. Heck yes! Chinatown is awesome. And the parasol was only $5! For $6 I have effectively ended all of my overheating problems for the summer. Boo-ya!

After scoring some excellent treasures and barely resisting the allure of ninja boots, we went to a recommended restaurant for dinner. The place was lovely and appointed all over in gold and had a giant dining room and at least 20 people on the waitstaff. And no customers. There were only 2 other occupied tables, obvious tourists like us. The waitstaff was bored with us and ignored us as much as they could. Between you and me, I think it was a front. I'm not making any accusations, but... *coughcoughmafiacoughcough*

After dinner, we headed over toward the theater where we were going to enjoy an evening of sketch comedy! Shows start every hour, so we stopped off at Susina's for cookies and coffee, and were enjoying our pre-show plate of cherry bombs and Mont Blancs (the best cookies in the house) when we got word from Adam that he was in the neighborhood, so we told him to come over. He was on the fence, but we sent out the cookie bat-signal. A few minutes later, someone attacked our table and shoved the whole cookie phallus in their mouth: it was Adam. Yay! So we skipped the show and got caught up with him for a while. He was supposed to be leaving to meet up with some out of town friends, but it turned out that while on the phone with him, they'd typed in the addresses in the wrong order into the GPS, so they ended up at Susina's instead of their hotel. So they joined us too.

I have to say, those poor girls. I hope that their LA trip turned out as good as they planned. They had booked a hotel "only 10 miles from LA" to save some money, but the poor dears hadn't realized that LA is a big city. It's not vertical like NY or Chicago, but instead it's spread out low over miles and miles and miles. So yes, their hotel was 10 miles from LA, but that's the furthest point of northeast LA. What they had counted on being a 5-10 minute drive is in actuality 30-45 minutes from anywhere they want to go -- and that's without traffic. Their faces fell when we kept advising them on new strategies. "Give yourself at least an hour and a half to get to... oh, no, wait. There's a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Give yourself two and a half hours... well, maybe 3 or 4 if you want to get dinner first."

So we sat, ate more cookies, more coffee. Then Ryan joined us. He'd been working in the LA office all day so he came over to meet us and we ended up missing the next show too, hanging out with MORE cookies and coffee. But it was all good. Eventually, we dragged ourselves home and set Kate free to join her friends at the theater for the post-mortem. It's good that she had someplace to be or else we would have kept her out on the street chatting all damn night long. We're good like that.

don't cry for me

2008-06-27T11:26:00.001-07:00

I love to look at my stats and my rankings just so I can see how few people care about what I am doing on the internet. It's reassuring. Really, it is. I'm not out here to make money on ads or network myself into oblivion. This site is my journal, since I don't keep a diary. It's where I record my life in a very ME-centric fashion. Totally unpalatable to other people. And that's ok.

But it looks as though 6.5% of my readers are from Argentina! Which is interesting. I don't even know anyone directly in Argentina! And I also rank there!! I'm 397,532!! In the US, I am not in the top million most trafficked sites! So clearly, I need to play to the Argentinians in the crowd. I learned Spanish from an Argentinian, so I already have the accent. Plus, I love their food. So... here I come Argentina!

(also funny, this site was hosted by Blogger for a while and if I look at the stats for that, um I rank number NINE. Out of all the sites on the internet!!! That cracks me up.)

I need to invent a 'rock star weekend' bootcamp

2008-06-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

2 nights at home in a row have softened me. I am now a lazy marshmallow of slothy cream puffed inside pajama pants. What happened to the me of earlier this week? The theme park adventurist! The land-stander-inner? The out-til-midnight-damn-the-curfew girl? The somehow-surviving-on-three-hours-of-sleep enthusiast? Gone.

You know what I did with myself instead? I read. *gasp* I watched TV. *gasp* I took a nap. *gasp* I tinkered with this website. *faints from all that gasping*

Tomorrow is already Friday and there are so many prospects! The city is unfurling before me with myriad adventures to be had! I have received invitations to dinner and movies and dancing and BBQing and swimming and sunning and comedy shows and one act plays and cookies and chimmichurri sauce and moving furniture... and all I can picture myself doing is eating sunflower seeds in my pajama pants on the couch under a blanket with the AC turned to 'arctic' and watching Venture Brothers over and over.

I need to get back into fighting form.

You are WANTED

2008-06-25T13:20:00.001-07:00

This post lacks all subtlety and tact BUT let me 'splain why... you see, my husband (Ryan) works for a little comic book outfit known as Top Cow. Top Cow has a book called Wanted. Some movie doodz came to Top Cow and said "OMG 4 realz we luv ur buk can we make moobie now plz?" (movie doodz talk like LOLcats - ask anyone in Hollywood) and so they did. Ryan got to go to a special screening of the movie yesterday and loved it. Actually, really, authentically loved it. (I know! Sounds biased, right?) But that's not the important part. The important part is this: Wanted is opening this Friday against Wall-E. Now, I have no beef with Wall-E and lord knows that most of my income is spent in the House That the Mouse Built, but Wall-E is getting some lousy reviews. Which means that it might not open as strong as some of its Pixar predecessors. Which means that Wanted could possibly (with your help!!) be the first movie ever to open with a stronger box office than a Pixar film. Which would be cool, right? (yes!)

PLUS if Wanted does well, there are talks of more movies from Top Cow. Which, as I mentioned, is where my husband works. Which can only mean good things. For me, I mean. Well, actually it's kind of symbiotic -- you buy a ticket, watch an enjoyable movie, and my friends (who worked on the book) and Ryan's co-workers (who had a lot to do with the books and movie) have a job and continued success. PLUS maybe there will be more movies! For you to enjoy!! Plus more work and more money for Ryan - and thereby, for me!

Monday Mania!

2008-06-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

After all the fun this weekend, I was exhausted. I told Ryan as we both sleepily ate breakfast Monday morning that I would be in bed by 8pm. He laughed, I told him to shut up. We finished our bagels.

So it was no surprise that Kate, the original Crazy Girl on La Brea, sent me an email in the early afternoon asking was it too crazy to think about going back to Disneyland tonight? Yes. Yes it was crazy. Crazy like a fox! Which meant that we had to do it. Plus, our passes will be blocked out after this week until August, so we had to squeeze in s'more action-adventure time!! Even Ryan didn't want to miss out.

Just before we left, Ryan went and got his hair cut (!!!) so when we met up with Kate, he was able to sneak right up to her unnoticed. He stood directly in front of her making fart noises until she got uncomfortable and scooted away. Then she looked directly at him (holding her nose, no doubt) and realized it was him and burst into laughter. He gave a whole spiel about my not being able to come after all and then I snuck up - surprise!

The heat was much more tolerable, compared to the days before, but my sunburn kept my internal temperature somewhere near boiling so I was basically a sweaty mess the whole time. BUT - fun! We used all of our Disneyland-insider knowledge to sneak through the crowds and exploit the short lines! The highlight was riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad after a three minute wait* while the fireworks were being shot off. They launch from right behind this ride and I know I was tired and a little dazed, but I swear that they were timed perfectly for our ride. We'd come around a bend - boom! boom! Breeze down a hill - sizzle! pop! pop! The sky was full of fire and sparkly glory and it was ALL FOR US.

In just a few short hours, we got to ride in the VIP** Green Caboose which delivered us into the open arms of the Haunted Mansion. From there we set sail through the Jungles of the world, then a jaunty hop directly into our schooner for a trip through the Caribbean (where there be pirates). Plus, a speedy train + fireworks extravaganza, lots of shopping, gawking, and of course, dinner. We also got in line (and quickly quit) for the new Toy Story Midway Mania! ride, none of us were willing to wait 90 minutes to see it. In 6 months it will be the same ride, but with no line (see: Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters).

The drive home was all smiles and Cherry Coke (I intended to get a regular Coke but apparently poured myself Cherry). It was 71 degrees at midnight, and it felt like a winter's day. Ryan and I kept cracking ourselves up (a specialty of ours) about my glow-in-the-dark DMP skeleton shirt that shines brilliantly in the blacklight of the Haunted Mansion. The skeleton on the shirt runs down the left side of the body, with his head on my boob. So as we went through the Mansion and into the graveyard, every jiggle would make him dance. So I started jiggling on purpose (oh, REAL mature!) and we were just cracking up. We're so dumb. And tired.

It was such an awesome night - I am so glad that Kate had the guts to propose the trip. Maybe she's not as crazy as we thought. But she's still almost as crazy as us, which is scary in and of itself.

* The sign said 5 minutes, but it didn't even take that long - score one for us!
**technically, since we are the VIPs, everywhere we go is the VIP area

Super amazing fun times

2008-06-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

The Lady in the Moon granted my solstice wish and gave me a weekend bursting at the seams of fun times. It was so much goodness that my brain is already shutting down. Overlook the typos and expletives. I know not what I do.

Saturday I had tickets to Save the New Wave concert that were some comps that I got from Live Nation as a make-good for the Piestasters being booted off a concert lineup that we went to a few months ago. The tickets were at will call, so I figured that they'd be nosebleed seats up at the top of the balcony. Dead Man's Party was playing (I am a huge Oingo Boingo fan and as I've said a bajillion times, Dead Man's Party is the best tribute band ever!) and so I dragged Ryan and Kate and Adam to come with me. They are super awesome and agreed to go.

We met Kate and Adam up at the City Walk where everyone was glowing. And not just radiating happiness but heat as well. Hot day. HOT day. HAWT day. So we headed over toward the ampitheater, which is actually inside Universal Studios. So we go in and the boys get sidetracked by a Dippin Dots kiosk (which is technically inside the theme park and thereby off-limits to us concert goers) and come back. Nobody seems to notice/care. So we make a mental note.

DMP put on a FANTASTIC show. It was awesome to see them in a great venue with a grand stage and a good sound tech! Yay! And Richard Elfman played with them! AND Steve Bartek!* Oh, and our tickets? Row H in the orchestra section, right in the center. UNBELIEVABLY GOOD. [pictures]

After the DMP set, we decided that we didn't need to see the rest of the show. It was cool, but Adam and Kate aren't all that in to New Wave (what?!) and were struggling to name a Morrissey song - any Morrissey song! WHAT?! And it was so so so hot. But Adam had his towel (good little hitchhiker that he is!).

We're all game for anything, so we said 'hey, let's see if we can get into Universal Studios and check out the new Simpsons Ride!' so we ventured back down the hill and again - no guards, no gates, no security, no worries! So we walked right in, saw the short line for The Simpsons and jumped in the queue. The waiting area is ADD-inducing. Video screens, episodes of the show playing, loud music... it's hectic. But the theming is fantastic. And there is no hint at all about what the ride is. I wasn't sure if we were waiting for a roller coaster or a dark ride or...? We of course took pictures - even simultaneously!

If you are a Simpsons fan, you will like this ride. If you're a Simpsons freak you will love this ride. Krustyland is full of Disneyland mockery (Captain Dinosaur's Pirate Rip-Off is my favorite) and every Simpsons character - plus a trip through Springfield. It was so much fun!**

We were hooting and hollering and rolling down the walkways afterward. It was great. The park was closing, so we snuck in to the Kwik E Mart to browse.

We were immediately up to about 300 degrees internal temperature, so we headed over to grab some dinner and 85 glasses of ice water - so refreshing! After dinner, we headed home so we could rest up for...

Sunday. It was the Tiki Room 45th anniversary merchandise event and it started at 8am. Kate and I made a plan to meet at the gates at 7:45am. But I slept directly through my alarm and also Kate's phone calls and so I didn't get to the park until almost 9am. I am such a jerk. Seriously. And you know what she did when I got there? She bought me a Dole Whip. I am so unworthy.

So we stood in line - which was an incredible line, by the way. Check out Mini_Jen's shot of the line which wrapped from the Gallery on Main Street to Tomorrowland. It took us over six hours to get to the Gallery. It was a comedy of errors and terribly organized. Some of the merchandise didn't make it from China (understandable) but then about 1/2 way through the day they realized that some of the merchandise wasn't delivered to the shop (!) so they sent trucks out to the warehouse to get it. Which was great - it meant that we actually had a shot at getting some of the stuff on our wish list - but it also meant that hordes of angry people were coming back to the front of the line, people who had been there earlier and didn't get what they wanted and then heard about new shipments, and they refused to be sent to the back of the line. And the Disney staff wasn't sure how to handle them, especially since they'd been getting yelled at all day for the hundreds of people who had cut the line (some inadvertantly, I suppose) during the day. So they let all these people jump ahead, which was a bummer. Especially when one of the ladies who insisted on coming in ahead of us was showing her receipt for her earlier purchase and it was three thousand dollars worth of stuff. Obviously, not a collector, but an eBayer. Which is cool, but we've been here for six hours why should she get to buy more when we haven't had a chance to buy any?

But whatever. I got to wear my kick-ass ukulele earrings (get yours here!) and I got my fancy schmancy new bracelet (yay!). And I sweated out like a billion calories. So all the dole whips and sodas don't count. Yay!

Unfortunately, we missed out on the Dodgers game. The plan had been to be done with Disneyland by noon-ish then head up to LA to take advantage of Kate's sweet ass VIP tickets. But we had invested too much time in line (I have the nose sunburn to prove it!) to leave and by the time we got our merchandise, the game was halfway over. So we had lunch at Storyteller Cafe and cooled down a bit and then hit up California Adventure to scope out the new Toy Story ride. The line was almost 2 hours long - most of the wait in direct sun, no less - so we skipped it for another day. Instead we made a GENIUS decision to buy some Disney Princess washcloths to soak in cold water and wear around our necks. Why did it take us all day to think of this?! I will never go to Disneyland without a towel again (like a good hitchhiker). After some refreshing toweled coolness, we hit up Muppets 3D for some air conditioning and then we realized how exhausted we were. So we wrapped it up and headed home.

I am hardly functioning. Sun drain. 3 hours of sleep. Super amazing fun times. But I have to stay awake a little bit longer... new Venture Brothers tonight!

*guitar player from Oingo Boingo! His last show was Boingo's Farewell show at the same theater!
** for the record, it's a flight-simulator-type ride in front of a giant Imax screen

best summer solstice EVER

2008-06-22T00:29:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to be in bed, asleep hours ago, but I am still to amp'd up from today to sit still. Man, it was a good one. Scorching hot but super good. The news said the high was 97 today, which means for all practical purposes it was 115. Crazy heat wave!

Dead Man's Party was awesome (uploading pictures to Flickr as I type) and after they played, we snuck over to Universal Studios and got to ride the new Simpsons ride (pictures also uploading) which was so. much. fun. Details to come. Disneyland and Dodger Game tomorrow!

speaking of technology...

2008-06-20T15:21:00.001-07:00

I want to put tabs on this site, directly beneath the banner. They can be text or images (preferrably images, so I can style them all pretty-like) and I will probably need to fit 5 or 6 of them across the screen.

I have found a bunch of great websites that let you cheat by copying the CSS code, which is great, but I have no idea where do I paste it in my template code? Is there anybody out there know how to do this and willing to email me? (mia [at] giddygirlie.com) I'll do all the heavy lifting - I just need someone to say "paste here you stupid idiot moron girl". Thank you!

technology - go! county fair - no!

2008-06-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

Do you already use Google Reader? I do and I love it. You just add in your favorite websites and bam! You can see when things are updated on all of them in just one page, which is handy.

Plus, you can 'star' your favorite posts to go back to anytime and 'share' your favorites with other people. I really love this feature and thanks to Kate I am always getting awesome updates from sites that I wouldn't have thought to go and look at.

If you want to join up with me (yay!) use this email address: giddygirlie [at] gmail [dot] com. For a sneak peek at some of the things that I have shared with my friends, click here.

In other news... if I don't spend the entire night crafting my fingers to the bone, I am going to miss the Fair entry deadline for the craft contest. Which isn't really a big deal. I'm kind of ok with it, especially right now, because I have been so busy with everything else. Plus, now whatever I make will be available immediately for sale on etsy. Hey!

more hobbies

2008-06-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

More hobbies! That's what I need! Especially this week. Entries for the Craft Competition at the OC Fair are due this weekend, and I am not anywhere near done with my entries. I also started making a boat load of things to sell on etsy to raise my profile with a local crafting affliliate (or two) which are all half-done. Additionally, I have been reading a lot, catching up on old movies (in fairness, I craft while TV is on), eating, and trying to knock out a couple of hours a night of sleep. PLUS I've got concerts to attend, movies in the cemetery to watch, Disneyland to visit, and a feud to moderate.

All the while, Ruckus will not just find a quiet spot to lay down. He alternates between staring at me, directly in my face, and scratching on anything that makes noise. AND to add insult to injury, my iPod is on permanent shuffle mode and driving me batshit crazy.

So what am I doing? Teaching myself to render images in Photoshop. Of course! Thus, the banner and my new various icons 'round town. AND some new image works for The Taint. It's laborious and tedious and detailed and I love it. Do you need an image? Really? Please?! Send it to me! Give me another excuse not to vacuum!

Also: what do you think about the text area being purple like this? Is it hard to read with black font on purple? Should I put it back to white?

update: I found the shuffle solution! Whew!

Rewind back to Monday.

2008-06-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

Monday was Kate's birthday. You know Kate, right? If you don't know her yet, go introduce yourself. You'll like her, I promise. I'll guarantee you a full refund if you don't. And what did Kate want to do for her birthday? She wanted to see MacBeth. Ok, fair enough - oh wait, MacBeth performed by tiny ninja toys. OK!

So we went. And so did a bunch of other people who adore Kate. We filled up the entire balcony, creating a heatwave of laughter and adoration. When we left, everyone was sweaty but smiling. The tiny ninjas were great! There were some funny parts (you can't have ninjas playing the McDuffs without stifling a giggle) but it was serious theater. And Dov Weinstein not only directs the ninjas (and smiley face people and other quarter machine toys) but he plays all of the lines. The entire play. It's not played in a ninja voice or with a lot of karate-chops, like I expected, it was much more serious and actually very dramatic and full of sincerity. Great show.

Kate says SIT DOWN or goddamnit she will turn this balcony around, mister!

After the show, we headed over to The Alcove for cake and desserts and s'more Kate-loving. We took over the entire side of the building (not all pictured here) and ate too much. For your reference, I had a chocolate cupcake with chocolate fudge icing and Heath bar crumbles on top.

Some people were overly protective of their food and were practically hiding behind the tree. Which, if you've ever eaten there, is understandable. I had a BLT and it was no regular BLT. All quality ingredients plus a smack of pesto. What? Yes, it was fantastic.

And because so many people love Kate, she got lots of cards and gifts and cake (!!). The present from myself and Ryan included a hot-off-the-line Sock Zombie puppet. The entire sock zombie family is adorable (go look for yourself!) but the puppet is a puppet. So many more brain-eating possibilities with articulated arms. In fact, rumor has it that there is now a theme song in the works...

Part Two of Kate's Birthday Extravaganza is still going on. Join us this Sunday for the Tiki Room 45th Anniversary event at Disneyland. There will be tikis. There will be Dole Whip. There will be lunch at Blue Bayou. There will not be, however, a new dress for me. Time constraints and material incompatibilities have forced my hand and I will no longer be making my own dress. BUT I will be wearing my sweet-ass ukulele earrings, so... you know. I will be awesome.

a good idea gone bad

2008-06-18T00:45:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to be blogging about my awesome time hanging out for Kate's birthday, but got sidetracked making my own vector images. What? I know. It's difficult and contagious. So then I came up with a girlie that I liked. But she was lonely. So I made some cats. And some toys. And all the other detrius of my life. Which, of course, called to be uploaded right away and then I had to make a new background, tweak the layout, add some widgets, yadda yadda... now it's hours past my bedtime and I my brain is done.

If you're reading this via RSS, you will have no idea WTF I am talking about. Click over to the blog (http://www.giddygirlie.com/) to see the new design and layout.

When I awake from my coma, I will blog about Kate and the Tiny Ninjas and Sock Zombie puppets and cake and pie and crazy Mr. Kang and all the other wonderful parts of Monday night.

What Kind of Old Ladies Are We Gonna Make

2008-06-16T15:26:00.001-07:00

Natalie Dee created this picture and I have always loved it. I was thinking about it all weekend after The Taint played a GG Allin song. ha ha ha ha

where'd you go?

2008-06-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

After successfully breaking my website, I headed out to have more adventures. Now that the days have passed and my brain is too tired from Weekend Fun plus Mexican food overload, I have to cop out and just recap.

Thursday - Ryan's band, The Taint, played at The Blue in HB. It was a last-minute show (they didn't even get posted on the website) and although there were something like 6 bands that were scheduled, there was no crowd. The good bits were that the opening band stayed to watch, the bar staff loved them (sound guy wants to record them, the rockabilly version of Astrozombies was voted "best cover song I have ever heard in my life" by the bartender, etc.) and they actually sounded good. Plus, The Blue has a full-size stage so the guys were able to spread out a bit and Jack (drummer) had space to travel*. I also got video of Dead Man's Cove which turned out pretty ok.

After the show, we had to hurry home to move the new futon into the office and clean up the backyard in preparation for the painters (scheduled to start on Friday morning), so by the time we were done it was 2am and I dropped like a sack of rocks into bed.

Friday - The Taint played again, but this time at Alex's Bar in Long Beach. Jake, the bass player, was graduating from college (again!) so our buddy Kevin filled in on stand-up bass. If you ever have the chance to see Kevin play TAKE IT. He travels around the world playing stand-up bass so there is a good chance that he'll be in your town soon**. He is so amazing at bass... no words can describe. And he is a showman through and through. Ever seen someone play the stand-up like a guitar? NO! That's because they don't have arms that are 8 feet long like Kevin. Seriously, I love this guy.

Anyway the show got started late and then the Taint got bumped to a later slot, which turned out to be perfect. Alex's Bar has a pretty big crowd of regulars so there were quite a few people who were there and appropriately receptive (drunk) by the time the guys took the stage. It was a punk night and all the other bands were vaguely Dead Kennedys with a bit of Bad Religion thrown in, so The Taint stood out (being a subtle blend of punk, rockabilly, bozzanova, and pirate jazz) and the crowd really seemed to dig it. They also did a GG Allin cover (I Want To Fuck Myself) that was very well received. Astrozombies killed again and more than one person was Yar-Har'ing to Dead Man's Cove (the pirate song). They sold a lot of CDs (thank god! I think I personally have 200 of them sitting in the office) and signed some autographs (!!!) and had lots of people come and chat them up after the show. Oh, and they got PAID which is rare and sincerely appreciated. THANKS ALEX!

Kate came to the show (thank you!) which says something for how awesome she is. Seriously, would I do that for your husband's crazy little garage band? Um. Probably not. Even worse: she got to hear all the ridiculous stories of the dumb shit that my stupid friends did in their early 20's which I was not a part of, for the record. It's funny but kind of gross and I'm sorry that a nice lady like Kate had to hear about it (think poop jokes in the extreme). But she was gracious as always and even kind enough to laugh along with me about my former high school friends stalking me on MySpace. GOOD TIMES!

I also got to hang out with M, who I haven't seen in too long. M and I are cut from the same cloth. We're both so awesome, um, I mean sarcastic and blase and so laid back that everyone thinks you're a jerk. We haven't seen each other in person in like 2 years and we're like "it's been so long! Anyway, blah blah blah" and just picked up exactly where we left off. She's awesome. And after the show, she invited us back to her adorable little house to play with her adorable little dogs. Both dogs are the size of peanuts but twice as bouncy and so so so so sweet. I almost pocketed one on the way out, but she caught me. NEXT TIME!

In every life, a little rain must fall, so in exchange for all the awesome fun times and great crowd, we sacrificed two cars to the tow yard. God damn tow truck peoples! And let me tell you, Long Beach impound is NOT cheap. The cars were there for about an hour (not days) and it cost over $250 each to get them out of hock. WTF?!

OF COURSE there are more pictures on Flickr (newer images are at the bottom of the screen) and I also have posted several videos on YouTube (we recorded the whole show, I got the first half and Danielle filmed the second half, so hers are coming soon). 'Til then, enjoy Ryan being a total dork (singing) and some awesome bass-spinning action.

*he bangs those drums so dog-danged hard that he moves across stage, even with the cinder block in front of the kick drum
**Kevin plays a LOT of shows with Brian Jay & the Last Call Boys and can also be found stepping in for a lot of other bands, PLUS he sometimes plays at Disneyland.

home page improvement

2008-06-15T20:34:00.000-07:00

I am a genius. Just in case you were wondering. I broke my website with - wait for it - a DOT. Yep, a dot. A period. One just like this --> .

Are you impressed? I used one minor punctuation mark to kill a server. Clearly, NASA should be studying my brain.

Now I am back online and a few days behind and I have all these deadlines looming so I have decided to re-design my website. Why not?! So... um... yeah. You'll either see it here or read about it (if you use an RSS feed) when its done. Hopefully sometime this decade.