2010! Where does the time go?

It's been 10 years since we feared the end of the world with the Y2K bug (remember that) and now we count down to the end with 2012 (the event- not the movie) and things haven't changed, much. Yes, I am a few years older, a few grey hairs richer and many more miles traveled. Thank goodness for modern transportation.

I haven't made it a priority to write in my blog for the past year or so... not really knowing what to say... but I think I will make it more of a regular part of my life going forward... I don't want to forget all of the great things (and even not so great things) that come along.

For example, in the past month I've had a few highs and a few lows hit me at the same time. On the one hand we've had a very serious bout with cancer to deal with in the family that has been both stressful and challenging at the same time. Even with the best of medical care and the most deliberate attempts at surgery and after care- nothing can prepare one for the emotional toll this takes on the patient and the family and friends. It has really been a challenge. Then a few weeks later I blew out (or ruptured) a disc in my back. I woke up at 3 AM one morning (about 12/9) with the most excruciating pain and discomfort I had ever experienced in my entire life. My whole leg was cramping and my foot was numb and felt like I had sharp glass on the bottom of the balls of my foot and the side. It was UNREAL. I moaned and wailed for about an hour and almost ALMOST called 911. I was beside myself and did not know what to do... I finally got the energy to make it to the medicine cabinet and popped a pain pill and a muscle relaxer to try and take the edge off and get back to sleep. I thought it was a cramp of some sort and that my leg just needed to relax.

Well! Flash forward a few weeks and a few visits to the Orthopedist, the acupuncturist, the doctor and an MRI later and it turns out I had ruptured a disc. How? I don't know. I had not done any major activity prior to the event and I was in good health. The only thing I can think of was a poor reaction to the stress in my life. Otherwise, I don't know.

On the UP side on the 26th of Dec. I drove down to San Diego with my mom and we boarded to ms Oosterdam for a wonderful 7-day voyage down to the Mexican Rivera for a New Year's cruise of dreams. It was wonderful. My mom had never been on a cruise I was thrilled to have been able to take her and share my love of the open sea and of cruise ships with her. We had a terrific time and spent many hours just talking, eating, exploring the ship and making new friends. It was a great new year. The best ever.

So there are my ups and downs... life goes on... I am still looking for new clients or work at this time and things are still very slow. I hope that some of that stimulus money starts to trickle over to us here in California. We need it! I need it! I need to work and feel stimulated!

More later... this has been fun. Oh yeah, went to the dog park today... it was a balmy 75 today... cooler than it was yesterday at 78! It's been a VERY warm 2010 so far.

Happy New Year to us all... and all the best for a better tomorrow.

Queen Many 2 Pays a Royal Visit to Los Angeles

Yeah, the regal Cunard liner Queen Mary 2 (QM2) paid a royal visit to San Pedro (The Port of Los Angeles) for a short one-day visit.

She was in port on February 10, 2009.

I went down, as usual whenever a Cunard ship is in port, to pay my respect and say 'hello gorgeous!'

I took some shots of this majestic liner and she truly is a marvel to behold. I can't wait to sail on her again.

Enjoy the photos!

QM2 LA 2.09

The following day, on Feb. 11th, I sat for the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT). This is an exam adminstered a few times a year by the State Department. All persons interested in pursuing a career working for the State Department must take and PASS this all important exam.

I took the test the first time about 13 years ago. I passed that time. However, the second stage in the process after one passes the written exam, is the all important oral assessment. They need to see how well one performs... (get your mind out of the gutter seriously!) meaning... in an interview-like environment. Like a job interview. And they also assess one's foreign language skills.

So I studied for three solid weeks prior to the test. About 8-10 hours a day reading, researching, taking practice tests, studying the constitution, the 27 Amendments and history. There is no really way to cram for the test... it's simply a matter of being able to recall all the facts, figures and details one needs in that line of work. Things like political process, history, economics, English grammar and spelling, government, etc... all help... but not one area makes or breaks your ability to pass.

I'll get the results in 8-10 weeks. So we'll see! It will either be a time to celebrate or a time to start studying for the next test... in 330 days. You are only allowed to take the test once every 330 days... so next year.

I'll keep you posted. In the mean time, enoy the photos!

I love Pizza

I love Pizza. I really do. It is such a satisfying food. Went to dinner tonight on Larchmont Blvd. at the best pizza place in the area. I am talking about Village Pizzeria. Terrific! Had a meat ball and basil pie. The meat balls were thinly sliced however, not the way we were expecting to get meat balls. In any event, great.

We sat outside since it was in the low 70's still. Hello, it's January and it was 80 degrees today. The 12th time this month that it hit 80. Set some sort of record. Crazy weather! We never really had winter.

So I am sitting for the Foreign Service Officers Test in a little over 2 weeks. I am looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. I want to do well but am nervous I will do poorly since I have been out of school for so long. We'll see... It would be nice to go to work in another country for a while... see the world... live a new life. Fingers crossed.

I have been listening to my new favorite radio station online: Frequence3.fr. It originates in Paris, France and has a terrific mix of music. Jazz, easy listening, pop, techno, remixed... totally my station! They so get me. :) Oh, and it's commercial free and FREE. Am thinking I will cancel my Sirius now that online listening will cost an extra $2.95 a month. We'll see...

So there ya go! See ya in line at the concession stand... that's my new sign off... I used to say that when I was Miss Info at the HSX. Still rings true... and it's all mine!

Queen Victoria Photo Album

I have posted a great assortment of photos from today's royal visit of the Queen Victoria to the Port of Los Angeles (San Pedro).

You can check out the album here:

Queen Vic LA 1.09

The Queen Victoria Visits LA

On her second world cruise, the youngest Cunarder Queen Victoria stopped in to say
hello to her friends in Los Angeles.

With fewer than 10 guests at the port of Los Angeles (San Pedro), the Queen Victoria slips out once again into the open sea bound for Hawaii.

This is the second time Vickie has visited Los Angeles. Her maiden call was in 2008 during her first World Cruise.

The weather this time was considerably warmer than last year. The channel was perfectly calm and the sky was a brilliant color. They pick such a great time to leave. Makes for some terrific shots!

Next up- Queen Mary 2. In port Feb. 10, 2009. This will be the last time she stops in for sometime as in 2010 her world cruise will not take her to the Pacific. Got to make this one count!

Aug. 1 Update

Seriously, this is starting to be embarrassing... not for anyone but myself, since I am the only one who reads this or knows that this is even around, but I haven't written anything on here since MARCH? What the F'! Ok, so, from this day forward, as it is the first of Aug., my new regime will include a post and a photo at least a couple time a week.

Why?

Well, I want to be able to remember today and yesterday ten years from now. Really? Yes. I have written in my journals since I was a kid and quite frankly I have always enjoyed reading them. I can almost see myself and feel the moment where I was when I read an entry from many years ago.

So, for today. It is Friday, Aug. 1, 2008. It is just after 5 PM. The sun is out, I am on the second floor of the apartment over looking the street at my make shift desk (aka card table) in my bed room. I am in shorts (blue Adidas) and a white v-neck t-shirt. I have my New Balance running shoes on. I am going to take the dogs for a lovely run/ walk up Runyon canyon as soon as I finish this posting. Plus, I need to send something at the post office.

This morning I had another terrific interview for another great job I would love to get. It is with a major record label and involved online strategy. Right up my alley. Good meeting (at 9 AM in Burbank) and good vibes all around. But I have good vibes very often, so I don't count on any feelings as being an indication of anything. We'll see... that's all I can do. After coming home I set about cleaning the kitchen drawers, adding some liners to them and cleaning them out. Plus I rearranged the shelves and basically moved things around adding some order. I am an organzier and a clean freak. But that's just me.


The dogs are sleeping lazily on the bed next to me and are loving the sun. The dogs are Bugsy and Clyde. They don't know that in a few minutes they are in for a great treat.

Bugsy is the Italian Greyhound (on the left) Clyde is the Chihuahua mix (on the right).

I have been running Runyon canyon for about two weeks now. Every day. I run up one side and down the other. Or, I should say, I walk up one side and then run down. I hope that soon I'll be able to actually RUN up and RUN down. But I have lost about 12 pounds so far from eating only brown rice and veggies and salads and running Runyon.



Ever since I canceled my gym membership at GOLD'S in Downtown LA, which I never went to because it was too far from the house, I have needed a new workout regime. So, I do my yoga, my crunches and then a walk/run Runyon. It works for me and I sweat it out!

So that's it for now... more later... have a good night and a great weekend!

2nd Post- March 12th, 2008- Good day

Okay, so maybe I forgot where I blogged the first time and maybe I didn't really have anything THAT interesting to blog about and maybe I am a little wired tonight since I had a couple of glasses of red wine and when I do, well I stay up and can't sleep- hence it is 1:41 AM on a Wednesday night and I am writing!

Welcome to my 2ND blog post ever. What's happened since day one? Well, sadly to say the store closed on Jan. 31, 2008. After a little over 2 yrs. in business the store closed its doors. Due to a variety of reasons - namely the building sold and the new owner was going to be adding the triple net clause to the lease- meaning taxes, insurance and maintenance - immediately to the monthly rent. Add that to the general slow down in business or sales stoppage- and it was time to cut our losses and wait out this economic storm. We knew something was brewing since last summer. Fall is typically a very good time of year for redecorating and sprucing up the house. Well not this year. Fall 2007 was dismal.

Before that we took off for 2 weeks to Europe and went on a terrific vacation on the Danube. We started off in Budapest and ended up in Prague stopping off in Vienna, Salzburg, Nuremberg and other little Austrian and German towns along the way. Photos are available on request! That trip went from Nov. 28-Dec.12, 2007. It was amazing. Cold, but still beautiful and amazing.

Yesterday, 3/12/08, I finally accepted a job offer I have been sitting on since Monday (3/10/08). I will be the new editor in chief of a new movie site- name TBD and launch date TBD. Very excited and looking forward to the adventure.

Speaking of adventures! I just got an e-mail from author Alain de Botton. I thought of him a few minutes ago and sent him a thank you e-mail for his amazing book The Art of Travel. Well, about 15 minutes later I actually got an e-mail back from him!!! He was in Heathrow airport on his way to Zurich for a book reading. (This I know because I read his web site which advertised his appearance in Zurich.) He even mentioned how fitting that he write me from the airport since I was writing about his book on travel. I have never written a 'fan' letter to an author before... so this was a real treat to have him write me back- and so soon! I am totally, as I said in my e-mail to him, bouleverse. That is French for 'overwhelmed'. The word came to me in French first so I just wrote it out. He understood, he is from Switzerland so I am sure he speaks French.

Last night we also had guests for dinner. Our friend David had his friend Karen visiting from Long Island and her son Ben - who is 9- was with her. We had a great dinner and an even better desert. We had asked what desert was Ben's favorite. What did he reply? Lemon meringue pie. This coming from a 9-year old! So Ragen made it and it was OUT OF THIS WORLD AMAZING!

So pretty busy entry. Nice to have something interesting to write about for once.

So we'll see how often I come back to this. I have to figure out how to post photos and make this more interesting.

See ya!