Where’s My Damn Answer is moving on up …

Fitness challenge is finally kaput!

As you guys know, I started an intense workout program in January.  I went kicking and screaming to meet my trainer the first few weeks, but then found that I truly enjoyed it (shhh, don’t tell anyone….) and missed it if I wasn’t there…

There was a fitness challenge for an 8 week period of time – I came in late…didn’t do all my cardio and for the first few weeks didn’t change my eating habits…but half way through when Cal measured me and I had lost 4 inches or so, it motivated me to do what he asked of me…

Well, there were 35 of us participating in this fitness challenge…and it ended the 2nd week of March – we did final measurements and I had mentioned before but I had lost a total of 8.5 inches as well as body fat.

Cal told me today that I came in 2nd!!!  Woo Whooooooooooooooooo!!!  I am in total disbelief!  I am so excited with the results.

I went to a CAbi party yesterday at my friend Jill Jackson’s house.  She is the owner and creator of all things wonderful at  Dessert Alert.  Her lemon bars and whoopie pies are TO DIE FOR….   www.dessertalert.com  Anyhow, we meet once a month generally, drink wine, talk baking and eat sushi most times…but one of the things we have discussed several times over is how to be in the biz that we are and not weigh 400 lbs.   I mean seriously…when you are perfecting that Vanilla Sugar Cookie Cupcake recipe and have baked it for the 25th time, tasting each trial run…it gets a bit scary!  Jill is Ms. Cardio and hardcore workout girl and stays away from the white flour…but I show up at her house yesterday and she has all her yummy goodness strewn about the kitchen…INCLUDING the most awesome chocolate dipped strawberries and a yummy trifle that Patty dropped off mid party…which by the way, thank you very much Jill for sending this home with me, as I sat there last night eating a bowl full at 10:30…Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

But I guess I must soldier on and continue with my working out…I still eat what I want, but I just need to make more conscious decisions…

And thanks for all the moral support during this time…most awesome!!!

OCD-ish

I made sloppy joe’s for dinner last night, yes it’s a veritable cornucopia of gourmet treats at my house.  While browning the ground turkey, it occured to me that other people might not pound the crap out of their meat with a wooden spoon like I do to make sure there is not one bit larger than a pea and god forbid there be a ‘string’ left.  You know how the meat comes out of the grinder in long strings and if you don’t, well, pound the crap out of it with a wooden spoon, it will brown in those long strings and that just makes me want to gag.

So I started thinking about the fact that I’m kinda OCD about stuff, but they are very random, which keeps things interesting.  It’s like I have some distant relative of OCD who comes to visit my brain once in a while at completely unexpected times and yet, when he’s here, HE’S HERE TO STAY.

I’m completely compulsive about the pillows on my couch.  The hub unit will throw them on the couch in any order and while I applaud him for the effort, IT MAKES ME INSANE that they are not all straight and in a particular color order.  I don’t mind that they get used, but for goodness sake, PUT THE ZIPPER SIDE DOWN!

Actually I’m pretty compulsive about how my house looks in general, as it must be NEAT.  However, I really couldn’t give two figs about whether it is CLEAN.  So thank you to Cathy for sending me EVA, our saviour 🙂

Then there is the difference between hub & I.  This morning he made a big show of putting on his Santa Clarita Choppers t-shirt, which came with the Harley we brought home a few days ago.  We got one for the monkey as well and as hub was putting his on, I kept shaking my head NO NO, cause the little guys t-shirt was in the laundry.   OOPS.  Meltdown. 

Hub:  How dirty is it?

Me:  Well, he wore it all day, and then he slept in it.  He’s eaten in it and played at the park in it.  Since then, it’s been in the hamper, under other dirty clothes for two days.

Hub:  Only two days?  Kid come here, let’s put your SCC t-shirt on.

Different standards.  Made my hair stand on end, but the smile on monkey’s face helped me keep the bile down.  Of course, I can’t hug him, but whatever. 

Update on Eat, Pray, Love

I just finished reading the Italian section and I must admit that I LOVED the first section. I SO want to travel to Italy after reading it. I won’t give details because, even though I thought I had to be the last one to read this book, I realize after the last post, that I’m SO not.

In celebration of the Eatting section this morning, I bought a small package of chocolate covered Bing cherries – OMG!! They are heavenly. So not on my diet, but it was my lil celebration after reading a whole section on just enjoying it – haha

I started the section on India … Cathy … your crazy brain is mentioned in there … only it’s “Monkey Brain”. I read the paragraph it’s mentioned in twice (because it’s SO me) and thought to myself, “Cathy is going to crack up here.”

So for those of you who are reading along with me … where are you in the book?

PUFFY 80’s Rocker needs a better writer, perhaps?

I’ve never been much for reality tv – I think it’s a load of bollocks…actually.  The contrived fashion makes me nuts.  The only ones that I truly watch are the food ones such as Top Chef, Hell’s Kitchen, etc etc etc. because I actually enjoy watching the people cook.  You can’t script that I didn’t think.  I even had a chance to go on Hell’s Kitchen in Season 2, as a guest of Chef Ramsay’s show…

This was a treat because he is a hero of mine…however, it was quite a surprise that even on the set of the show, we were given food that was catered by Craft Services out back…what a pity.

I digress…on to my obsession…
I can’t get enough of Bret Michaels and Rock of Love on VH1.  Are you kidding me right now???  What kind of mindless fluff have I gotten myself hooked on like bad crack cocaine…???

I watched last season and thought this has got to be a one off…no WAY will this continue on…Loved the girl he picked in the end, named Jesse – but she dumped him on the reunion show much to the millions of viewers chagrin.

Well, lo and behold there is a Rock of Love 2 – I actually TIVO this…and can’t WAIT to get home to watch the trainwrecks that alcohol and too many women in one place (read: GROUPIES) create…catfights, more name calling and puking than a sorority house all vying for the attention of one puffy ol’ Rocker from the 80’s biggest hair glam band, next to Winger.

What killed me last night was something he said and I couldn’t believe that he actually spoke these words about one of the girls’ ex boyfriends…

“With Daisy’s ex-boyfriend I knew something was up…it’s a bit of a conundrum…he’s an enigma…this is a mystery…”

HUH???!!!!  What the bloody hell does that mean? 

Why didn’t he just say “That guy is one sneaky, you know what…”  or   “That shady guy just ain’t telling me something…”

 SCRIPTED…No…*sarcasm, sarcasm*

Maybe I should have titled my post:

Puffy rocker uses THREE 25¢ Words in one sentence…

A day in front of the PC

I have been SO bad about updating the My Little Pretty site. I hadn’t uploaded any of the press or photographs from shoots/red carpet events, etc. since 2006 *gasp*

I guess that’s what happens when you are too busy huh – haha. As a business owner who also happens to be a designer, I sometimes find it hard to wear ALL the hats. Not to mention, I have a tough time drawing a line in the sand as to what I’m not going to do.

We’ve paid someone to help get the behind the scenes in tip top shape for our wholesale shopping section. We are wrapping that up and I decided I HAD to update the rest of the information on the site before we unveil the new shopping section to our buyers.

I added six pages of photos from the last year and a half. It could have been more too – haha. My Little Pretty has been doing a TON and has been involved in a lot of photo shoots and magazine stuff. So … I asked Ron to teach me how to do it myself.

At first I was totally intimidated. I wasn’t sure I could do it, but I didn’t let the doubts creep in. Instead, I buckled down and tuned things out and focused on the code that skeers me ;-). I tackled it and all the pictures even work – woohoo.

Ron also helped get the new Spa Boutique for a Cure page up and running for me. It feels good to have the site up to date and once we add the wholesale shopping area – my hope is that re-orders will be much easier for my stores.

Want to see what MLP has been up to in photos?

http://www.mylittlepretty.com/images/tears/fast_gallery/public_html/tears.html 

Observations on Surf Culture – Through a Mom’s Eyes

I’m catching up on my blogging today so you get two entries for the price of one!  We are on vacation in Carlsbad, CA.  – cute village, wine tasting, spas, cafes, nice restaurants, pretty beach, and yes, surfing.  We are at the Carlsbad Inn, which is pretty nice, just across a small street to the special stairs to the beach, complete with free chairs, umbrellas, boogie boards, and sand toys for the asking.  Because the water is not really warm yet, we rented the boys surf wetsuits yesterday and also rented a foam longboard for them to try out.

 

This brings me to the surf thing.  My oldest tried it out a couple summers ago with friends and was told he was pretty good at catching on.  Since then, he has wanted a board.  The skim board I bought him before he went away to school (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo – yes, a surfer campus) was no substitute, although he has gotten quite good at sliding on the water film made by the retreating waves, and can do spins and jumps.  I am pretty sure one of the reasons he chose this campus (besides the highly-ranked aerospace engineering program and the bowling alley in the student union) was the fact that they offer a “for fun” class in shaping your own surf board. 

 

I was not surprised when he told me he was taking the class the first month he was on campus.  I WAS surprised later on when he informed me that it would cost $225 to pick up the board from the guy who was doing the fiberglass coating on it, and that he’d be late getting back to his room to meet me when I picked him up for Christmas break “’cuz I just gotta get my board!”.  When I asked where he got this $225, it became clear he would be a little short on the rent money January 1^st.

  First surf culture observation #1: Surf stuff is really cool and worth spending your rent money on, as long as you believe you still have enough parental credits to get it covered in time. 

The surf board glass guy only reinforced my son’s view of how cool this board was when Kyle called him to arrange for the pickup.  He said: “DUDE!  You’re sooo stoked!  This board is great, man!”  ( Surf Observation #2:  Doing fiberglass for a living might be fun and even lucrative, but it really does a number on your brain cells.)

Now Kyle thinks he can not only surf (“You’re picking this up really fast!”, but that he can make boards, too.  It doesn’t help that I flash back to when we moved to southern California with our then 9-month blonde son and our friends prophetically said, “I can see it now – you’re going to have a surfer on your hands.” 

 

Surf culture observation #3: Anyone’s surf stuff makes all other surfers or wanna-be-surfers really excited.  Case in point:  Kyle “got to” store his friends long board (read over 9 feet long) in my garage for about a year – never used it – whole other story– but he thought it was so cool to look at and think about using.)

 

Now back to this week in Carlsbad.  I have now lugged the hand-made surf board all the way from SLO to Santa Clarita and now here, we have rented the wet suit, and as it turns out, he cannot try the board out because it has developed a crack.  We have looked up repair shops in the phone book, and thankfully thought to ask the nice surfer-dude man at the rental shop if he knows where to get repairs done.  Surf Culture observation #4: surfers are easy going and nice, and many are attractive in a sun-worn, muscular way.  Sorry to digress – the good news is he tells Kyle that he can use Solarez (a tube of special epoxy-like gunk), to repair the crack himself, and that it cures in the sun is about 1/2 hour.  “Great!”, I think, “this will save some of next month’s rent money.”  So a good part of yesterday was spent with Kyle repairing the board, AND re-finishing the skim board with spray on polycrylic we had to stop at a hardware store for.  Our condo deck looks like a repair shop (yes, my husband brought sand paper and steel wool along – don’t ask!), and the living room smells like what I imagine glue sniffers (or surf board fiberglass guys) are attracted to.

Surf Culture observation #5: working on your boards is almost as attractive as using them. 

While at the surf shop, we also had to purchase a “leash” for said new surf board, and some wax.  Cold water, and also base coat, since it has not been waxed before.  There were lots of fun things in there – cute and provocative clothing, board covers, and many other accessories and toys.  Surf Culture observation #6: There are lots of sexual undertones in this sport – and actually, some are pretty overt.  We could choose between Sex Wax or Sticky Bumps.  Kyle wanted Sticky Bumps.  He got an “XM High Performance Leash”  We could order a cover for his board called the “Thruster Cover”.  The wax packet said “How to wax your stick”.  Kyle told us one of his teachers says: “If it swells, ride it!”  You get the idea.  Slight uncomfortable feelings looking at all of this with my two sons, but sorta fun when I focus on my hubby.

 

After all of this, the boys ended up skim and boogie boarding with the wet suits – “The waves are no good for surfing.”, and the new board has still not made it into the ocean.  I do have to admit that it looks great, and it’s kind of neat to think of my muscular blonde son riding it, just like our friend foretold all those years ago.  Maybe I’ll get to see it on this vacation, or perhaps a future one.  Maybe there will actually be an application for it when he gets to fluid mechanics or aerodynamics in his aero program (a mom can hope!).  Maybe he’ll just develop another great physical hobby that makes him feel good and lets off steam. Surf culture observation #7 (really a Mom observation) : There are many less desirable things a kid could get into, I do think it’s cool,  and mostly, I wish I could do it, too.

Have a good one, dude!

Karen

Giving Blood – Literally

This entry goes back to Saturday the 22^nd.  I dropped my mom off at the Burbank airport – giving her and us a break from living together – she goes off to my sister’s in Alameda and we go on vacation to Carlsbad.  After the airport, I drove over to the Krispy Kreme donut shop in Burbank to get a dozen for the boys (my excuse).  As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed the blood drive truck.  It was kinda hard to miss – a large trailer with big Providence Holy Cross graphics on the outside, a canopy, and chairs lined up. 

As I got the donuts and my coffee (wow, they sell Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf now!), and I felt a twinge of guilt for even being at the donut place, what with this food plan I am following and all, I had the thought:

  “Hey!  Maybe this is the reason I am really here – I’m on vacation and have time – I can donate blood today!” 

So I did.  I had not done it for at least 4 years, and out of the 4 or 5 times I have, I have nearly fainted twice afterwards.  This is not because I think its icky, or that the idea makes me faint.  In fact, the first time it happened, I was totally shocked.  I think it is just some bodily thing that happens if I get up too fast, after losing a pint of blood. It does come out of me pretty fast (a fact that makes me never want to be bleeding after a car crash or anything).  Anyhow – they made me drink some juice and eat a donut first (smile), and lay there for a bit afterwards, and I had no dizziness at all.  Ironically, for doing my healthy duty, I got coupons for a free pint of Baskin Robbins ice cream, and for a free dozen Krispy Kreme donuts (too bad I already bought one).  Too bad they can’t reward us with a Whole Foods certificate, or some other healthy thing instead of sugary treats.

 

Another interesting experiencewas when I was filling out the pre-donation questionnaire.  This thing is pretty extensive these days – no donations if you have obvious things like AIDS or have been exposed, but also not if you have visited certain countries recently (Malaria risk), or if you lived in England during certain years (Mad Cow exposure).  As I sat there, a tall, well-built, young guy came over and sat down next to me.  He took one look at the questionnaire and, with a concerned look in his eyes, asked me “How much blood is a pint?”   As I explained how much I thought it was, he looked even more squeamish, and finally said “I don’t think I can do this!”  It didn’t matter that I told him it really isn’t so bad.  The big tough guy wasn’t going for it, and was out of there as fast as he could move.  The cute little nurse wasn’t able to make him come back either – he was genuinely spooked about it.  Made me smile.

 

All in all, it was easy, only took about 30 minutes for everything, and made me feel good.  I think you should consider doing it if you can.  That way, you can deserve a medal, too.  It was a great way to officially start off my vacation.

Karen  

I come from a family of “non-stoppers”

My brother called this morning to tell me that my Dad’s surgery went good – uh – WTH? I didn’t even know he was having surgery. :: blank stare ::

He’s had this thing in his hands. Apparently it’s like an extra tendon that grows a little like ivy does. It starts to attach itself to the existing tendons and then brings everything in nice and tight. For years we’ve given Dad shit because when he closed his hands, his middle finger still stood at attention – essentially flipping the bird to all in his view.

So now that the tendon with it’s own mind is moving to his thumb, the doctors have told him that if he doesn’t do something about it soon, his hands will both be balled up into fists. Nice!

He had the surgery done yesterday and this morning he was back at work. You see, my family doesn’t relax or rest very well. It’s just not in our genes apparently. The doctor called him at home to check on him and my step mom said he was in bed (lie lie lie). They said, well we just wanted to remind him that he shouldn’t be driving and he should have that arm elevated for the next 48 hours. Nice … he’s out driving around to job sites – haha. He said he can’t just sit there and do nothing. Which is true … he can’t. He’s never been able to. He told me, “I’m just driving around town, I’m wearing a seat belt and I’ve got an airbag.” :: rolling eyes :: … it’ll never be any different … that’s who he is.

When I mentioned before that I had a hard time just “being”… well … I guess there is no doubt where I get it from. Nobody in my family can just “be”.

If I ran the zoo, I’d take away his keys.

Can I be the “other woman” on the “other woman”?

That actually sounds QUITE RUDE…but, I got my license a little over a year ago so I can hang with the boys…or in this case, Mr. Gary!

All this talk of the “other woman”…makes me itch.   So Can I be the other woman, wholly & completely????!!!!???

Please click on picture below for me in ALL MY RIDING GLORY…HA!