A. - What would you do if this guy walked in and wanted to hire you to represent him?
and
B. - Does he have a ready-made insanity defense just because of the hair? "Your honor, my client couldn’t possibly have been in his right mind when he shot the victim. I mean, seriously, just LOOK at him!"
The craziness has finally subsided around here and things are pretty much back to normal. The family has dispersed, we have our house to ourselves again, and things are nice and quiet. It feels like we’re finally HOME.
We did nothing this weekend. Absolutely nothing. It was lovely. Took some stuff to Goodwill, cleaned my office, took our big jar of loose change to the grocery store and did that cool Coinstar thing. Got $175 out of it! Of course, hubby has claimed that $ as going towards his new motorcycle fund. Yeeeah - don’t want to talk about that one.
In good news, I have a new candle customer. It’s a small one, a little store near San Diego called the Squash Blossom Trading Co., but they are really excited about my candles, so that’s cool. I’ve got another order from my one regular customer, but the weather here has been so bloody hot that I’ve been having to make the candles in the kitchen, and I can only do a few at a time. Total pain in the ass. I hope all summer isn’t like this.
Not much else to report. Babymaker 2005 continues unabated. Me being me, of course I am totally worried that I’m going to have a hard time getting pregnant, even though there is absolutely no reason to think that yet. But, as I’ve told you before, I’m crazy.
Shockingly (not) similar wisdom from America’s favorite idiot President, and America’s favorite idiot heiress.
I am still working on the pictures from our Europe trip. There are just so many. Here is a preview:
The ceiling of a covered plaza in Parc Guell in Barcelona
A side view of Notre Dame
Hawk in front of the Eiffel Tower
Me in Bern, Switzerland
We are getting central heat and air installed in our house today. Woo-Hoo! It’s costing a pretty penny, but will be so worth it. We live in the San Fernando Valley, and, brother, let me tell you. It gets HOT in the summer time. For the past almost-three years, we’ve been using two wall AC units, and they just don’t cut it. And as far as heat, we only have one heater vent, and it’s in the living room. So, in the winter, we get no heat in our bedroom, and we freeze our tootsies off. We’re really excited about this.
Thanks to Freakgirl for posting this nugget of hilarity on her site. I guess I won’t be buying the new NIN album anytime soon…
Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are expecting their first baby in November. Umm. Congrats, I guess. I love her and am totally apathetic about him. I don’t think I’ve forgiven him for the whole J. Lo thing.
Sorry I haven’t posted pictures yet, I know you are all waiting with baited breath!
Hawk’s grandma passed away this morning, surrounded by her family. We all spent the weekend going back and forth from the hospital to the house, just being together and supporting each other. The next few days will be tough, with planning a service and everything, so I’ll try to post pics as soon as I can.
Aah, L.A., how I did miss thee. We got home at about 9pm last night after very long but uneventful plane travel. Daisy and Maggie did little backflips and lots of wiggling when we walked in, and that was so cool. I remember reading somewhere once that your dog is the only creature who will treat you like the Beatles every time you walk in the door, and it’s true.
Sad news, pretty much as soon as we got off the plane, we found out that Hawk’s grandma is in the ICU at UCLA after being diagnosed with cancer and kidney failure, so first thing today we’re headed over to the hospital too see her. His aunt and uncle who we saw in Italy are already here with the kids, and his Dad is here, too. It doesn’t look good and it seems like everyone is coming to say their goodbyes. So keep her in your thoughts, please, she’s a wonderful lady.
Sometime in the next few days we’ll get around to putting up pictures of our trip, so check back!
It has been way too long since I’ve posted. We’ve spent most of the last week in the Italian and French countryside with no internet anywhere. Kind of nice!
OK, so when we last spoke I believe that I was either in Florence or we were on our way there. We were in the city for three nights, and stayed at the Pensione Pendini. We had quite high hopes for the place, because it had come very highly recommended by my in laws. It certainly was a beautiful room, with huge high ceilings and double windows that looked out onto the Piazza Republica. But then there were the little things that we noticed - like the hunk of moldy cheese on the windowsill and the fist sized spit ball on the bathroom wall. Then, the shower door fell on me - while I was taking a shower. That night we froze to death, and when we went to ask the front desk if we could get the heat turned up, we got Bitchy McGee who barely looked at us and just said "OK". Then, of course, the heat was turned off in our room completely. Then, Hawk went to take a shower on Monday morning, and there was no hot water. He emailed the manager of the hotel, who wasn’t in Saturday or Sunday, but we were told by Bitchy McGee’s counterpart, Crabby Crabberstein, that he would be in on Monday. When he finally came in and we talked to him, he basically didn’t give a shit. So that was that.
While all this was going on, we were having a lovely time in Florence. Had great food, went to the Uffizi to see the Boticellis and such, and to the Academia to see the David. It is so amazing - you see it in books all your life, but standing in front of it is a totally different experience. Went to the Ponte Vecchio, which was so crammed with tourists you could barely walk, but did some great shopping. I have acquired a lovely new purse and wallet, both from the Mercato Nuovo, near the Ponte Vecchio. We patted the "porccelino", or "little pig", which is a bronze statue of a boar in the Mercato, and it is supposed to mean that you will come back to Florence one day.
We also made a new friend, Ramin, an Iranian Charlie Chaplin impersanator. He has lived in Florence for thirty years. We spent a good two hours talking with him on Sunday night in a little cafe after one of his street performaces. We debated politics (Ramin - "Is bullshit."), religion (Ramin - "Is bullshit."), and he told us about Iran. We got his address and email address and promised to keep in touch.
We did have a good time in Florence, but, like Venice, during the day it is so crowded with tourist hordes that it is maddening. Luckily we had made reservations to go to the different museums, or we would have stood in four hour lines to get in. Streets are jam packed, and it’s just crazy.
Tuesday, we headed out of the city to a little town called Panzano, where we stayed at a wonderful B&B called Il Fagiolari, run by a great woman named Giulietta. She picked us up at the bus stop and drove us to her beautiful home, a sixteenth century farmhouse that she bought in 1980 and restored. We were only supposed to stay one night, but as soon as we arrived, after driving through absolutely gorgeous Tuscan farmland, we decided to stay another night. We sat by the pool in the sun, drinking a bottle of wine and eating a baguette. Perfect. While we were therem she made us dinner both nights, and the woman should seriously open a restaurant. Five course meals - amazing Tuscan food, and wine from her own vineyards. The first night, we ate with Jum and Steve, a couple from Seattle, and Paula, a Texan who now lives in Lucca, Italy. Paula was nice enough to give us a ride into town the next day and we went to a local winery and did some tasting.
The next day, we headed back to Florence, then jumped on a train headed back to France. We spent the night in our beloved Nice (I had lavender ice cream again), then the next day, Friday, we took a train to Avignon, rented a car, then went to our next B&B out in Tarascon. Provence is the most beautiful landscape in the world - lush, green, rolling hills, pastel sunsets. I’m in love. We stayed at Le Mas de Comtes de Provence, run by the friendly Pierre and his wife Elisabeth. His eight year old daughter, Brune, and twelve year old son, Antoine also live there. Again, we were only supposed to stay one night, but as soon as we got there, we added an extra night. It is also a sixteenth century farmhouse that has been restored, and we had dinner that night in what used to be the barn. Pierre cooked us a wonderful meal. Earlier that day we had hung out by the pool in what used to be the stable, and played some badminton. The room was amazing, and the bathroom was covered in Italian marble. Unbelievable. They also have three Golden Retrievers, Lille, a big fat ball of love, Rafael, her playful son, and Bouclette, her shy daughter. They gave us lots of dog love we desperately needed. We will definitely be going back.
Saturday we went into Arles, a small walled city with a two thousand year old Roman colosseum. Walked around, had some pizza. Really nice little town.
Now we are back in Paris for our *sob* last two days here. We were so happy to get back here. It is definitely our favorite place out of everywhere we have been. Going to do some shopping and tomorrow we are going to Versailles!
I guess I won’t be posting again until we get home, but I’ll get pictures up as soon as I can!
See you all at home!
Au revoir!
