Monday, November 30, 2009

Turkey! (and a ham)


It's been a while since I have written...please accept my most sincere apologies. The truth is that I have been so crazy busy that I really haven't had an ounce of time. Then again, when is there really a ton of time? I mean, I do remember a couple months back that there were breezes and free afternoons and plenty of tv getting watched. However, this last month of November has been action packed and my calendar indicates that December will be more of the same. December actually looks even more busy. There are a couple of art shows, a few performances for me and then my trip to the East Coast to hang with Tommy's fam for Christmas.
I'm so excited for it all. Every day just keeps getting better for me. There is plenty to do, lots of work coming my way creatively and so much love around me I wonder how the heck I got so lucky.
Tommy and I made a pact that he would come home with me to the bay for Thanksgiving if I was going to make the trek out his way for Christmas. Luckily, he had already met almost everyone in my family because of Jimmy's wedding (which I should probably devote an entire entry to as well) so there wasn't too many more intros to be made. My mom got him involved with the turkey cooking and I must say, no offense Mom, that I think this was our best turkey yet! We had all the classic items in addition to my grandma's homemade sushi and a fantastic potato salad from my Auntie Liz. I need to hit the gym, like hard folks. My size 6 pants still fit but as you can see in the photo, I've got some chubby cheeks to deal with. All good though, life is a series of ups and downs. I'm fat and happy, y'all.
The trip up north was a bit of a whirlwind but that's always kind of been my thang. We drove up on Wednesday afternoon---surprisingly little traffic and chilled that night at my mom's. The next day was Thanksgiving and that seemed to come and go quickly. We made a stop at a friends where we were forced to drink a bunch of tequila and then we headed up to the city on a last minute change of heart. The original plan didn't include SF until the next day but I'm really happy we went early. The city was cold but it was great hanging with Eran and finally feeling like I got some quality time in with him. On top of all that goodness, I finally got to introduce Eran and Tommy and to my delight, they hit it off smashingly.
We were up waaaaaaaaaaaay too late Thursday and Tommy and I crawled out of the house to search for some breakfast but ended up at a slightly strange bar. Eran met up with us shortly after and we got some El Salvadorian food. It was yum...After an incredible nap, we got gussied up and got to hang with the likes of Leigh Phillips, Kate Scott and some other cool peeps. Keeping up on our pace, we also checked out the SF branch of the Catalyst Art Collective. It was so much tinier than the one in LA and I kept trying to figure out who played what roles----who was the SF Misty? Must be that chick with the dread locks, or wait, was it the twenty other chicks with the dreadlocks? Everyone was nice and we enjoyed a cool performance by a guitarist who had his shit all hooked up to what looked like a million different processors. He was accompanied by a great dj and a gorgeous woman dancing behind him and some translucent fabric. After that jaunt, it was off to see Leigh's buddies play their electro project by the name of "Simian Mobile Disco". Everyone at the club was ecstatic to see them and the lights flashed and people screamed. We laughed and I danced on the balcony as we enjoyed the music.
Tommy and I were getting pretty sleepy by the end of the show so we headed back to Eran's. Him and his awesome friend, Maureen headed back shortly as well. We all chilled on Eran's super comfy bed and talked, watched the hilarious "kittens inspried by kittens" on youtube and eventually we all fell asleep in our respective quarters.
Saturday was time to head back to LA to see my visiting grandmother from Washington State. The trip took longer than expected but I was happy to let Tommy take a well deserved nap as I drove and listened to what Tommy so affectionately calls, "my girly music". I got to hear a bunch of wonderful and quirky singer songwriter stuff that was inspriational and peace invoking. I'm so used to being alone on those road trips with my big book of cd's and iPod but my toyota doesn't have either of those components so I haven't had a chance to indulge like that for a bit of time. It worked out great.
Grandma looked great and we visited for a bit with her and the rest of my so-cal fam before heading back to the Catalyst for some needed rest. Got to chat with Grandma again when I picked her up in the morning to head to LAX. Since I work for the department of airports, I have an LAX security badge which allows me to get all the way to the gate without a ticket. We were able to visit for a nice chunk of time which I really appreciated. We had our girl talk and caught up on the day-to-day before I sent her off with a hug and a kiss in her pink jump suit. I felt good about it on all fronts.
The weather was beautiful in signature LA style yesterday and a bunch of us rode bikes to see the new movie, "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" based on an old book. This was a childhood favorite of mine, written by Roald Dahl. Judy reccomended his autobiography called, Boy. It sounds wonderful and I guess I have a new item to add to my Christmas list. At this point though, I feel like I couldn't ask for anything more than all the wonderfulness that I have.
Life is good, love is sweeter every day and somehow (as December is about to make her entrance) the sun continues to shine upon me.
Got a lot to be Thankful for....