patches.

i've always loved the smell of philosophy's 'soap and water' perfume. so i ordered some. and it arrived. and i'm OH so allergic to it. it makes me sneeze and makes my eyes water. devastation stations.

*
the other day we had a glitch in our email list serv and about ten thousand people received a survey request for a show they did not attend. the email basically said 'thanks for coming to the show - please fill out this short survey'. so, naturally in this age of stolen identities and credit card fraud we received many anxious calls with people being concerned about why they received this email since they had not in fact, purchased tickets to the show.

we had to keep reassuring them that no, your credit card has not been charged. no, we did not sell their email address. no, your identity has not been stolen. etc. you can just imagine what a fun morning it was in my office that day.

anyway, one of the calls that i will never forget was a woman who called FURIOUS about receiving this email. she said that it confirmed her fears that her husband was cheating on her! she assumed that as the email said 'thanks for purchasing tickets to White Christmas' that he (husband) had bought tickets using their credit card and taken ANOTHER woman to the show. she was livid and i couldn't get a word in to even calm her down. finally, she took a breath and I explained the issue. and that's when she told me in a very matter-of-fact voice 'well i just want you to know that this little email nearly resulted in a divorce'.

woah. well let me just add that little accomplishment to my resume.

i did feel really bad for her though. i mean, things must already be pretty shaky if an email like this is the final straw.

**

i know you want an update on la. but i'm not going to talk about it much here except to say that it was a necessary part of this year of mine. in terms of the city itself, i loved the mountains, the ocean, the fact that 'agave' (cactus nectar) is just as available for your tea as sugar/honey/splenda. i love the farmer's market in the grove and the rose bowl swap meet with all its vintage treasures. i enjoyed the best latte i've had in america at cafe primo. in terms of the real reason i was there... i loved how effortlessly i made sense to you. laughter. tea. dissecting 'closer'. same room texting with j rolling his eyes at us. laying on the couch and having you rub my back. taking me to my pacific ocean. i had missed it so much.

***

tonight marabeth and i were driving to our work holiday party and suddenly it was like she drove into the "eighties" because out of nowhere we got all this cassette tape wrapped around the car...i don't know where it came from, or how it tangled itself around the car but out of every window you could see brown tape streaming down the side of the car. a web of the stuff surrounded us. we wound down the windows and pulled at it, and it just kept unravelling. hysterical laughter ensued. laughter that hurt my core - more than the pilates "hundreds". i laugh a lot. but no one, makes me laugh as much as marabeth does. she constantly opens my eyes to the lighter side of life and i love her for it.

****
list of foods i'd be content with if stranded on an island

mango
fresh pineapple
havarti cheese
yogurt
oatmeal
peanut butter (crunchy)
almond butter
raspberries
bananas
laughing cow cheese
feta cheese
blueberries
boysenberries
blackberries
almonds
cashews
honey roasted peanuts

so basically, fruit, chees and nuts. i'm a regular squirrel. except for the cheese part i guess.

*****

mm has bought me a PINK polaroid camera. i'm very excited about this. angela is going to teach me how to boil the polariods and transfer them onto watercolor paper. 2008 is about art projects galore. watch out.

******

luca robbani lizarrga (tell me that's not a movie star name if ever there was one) is eight days old today. i saw him last wednesday when i went over for baby time/prayers and project runway. i'll see him again tomorrow. i can't wait. he is the adorableness of his parents combined. and let me tell you, that is a WHOLE lot of adorableness.

*******

mum. i love you.

********

turkey - september 2008. i will finally get to meet my grandmother on my dad's side. it will be amazing for my father. he hasn't seen his mother for thirty years. i can't even comprehend what that must be like. it just doesn't make sense.

*********

i've decided that i'm going to be a little bit possessive over the final days of 2007 so i may be unavailable and i hope that it's okay. there are things i need to do and they mainly revolve around me. getting more sleep. going to yoga. and only picking up the phone if it's an emergency. i spend a lot of my time in motion and surrounding myself with others...and although i love the fast paced existence i live, i've realized that i rarely carve time for myself. time to focus inward. time to examine what i'm doing. where i'm going. how i'm feeling. so i'm making an effort to simplify and detox from the distractions. and while i'm at it, from sugar.