Mea Culpa

This is Just to Say (Again)

How cute is this?  What can I say, it makes me happy.  I'm having a gross idea of modifying it into a toilet shape.  Also check out cupcake goddess Clare Crespo's Yummyfun website for more culinary quirkations.  From the Rice Krispies website:

A Walk in the Park

Long time no post!  Not to say that nothing's been going on.  It's just hard to blog about.  Operation Kris N' Kay moveout is chugging along, kicked into high gear by the v. real possibility (am I deluding myself. . . I guess it's a certainty) that the house will be rendered uninhabitable mid-next week, when they start the asbestos removal!  There is still a TON of preschool stuff downstairs, come to the big sale this weekend if you'd like.  Conchita will cut you a deal.  I don't have too much furniture to move, so I'm not worried about relocating my own personal effects (to the parents' house in Valencia. . . oy).  Though it's weird to think that my life's possessions are slowly making their way to Valencia in a steady procession of brown Trader Joe's bags.  Can I just say that empty bookcases, cd shelves, and walls are inutterably depressing.  The girls and I are going up to San Francisco this weekend for our much-ballyhooed and much-delayed trip.  It will be fun, though poorly-timed, as I could be moving and I'm missing SunJunc which is synonymous with L.A. summerfuntimes. 

Anyhow, here's some pictures I've been meaning to post.  Last Sunday the fella and I decided to head for the hills!  Here's a suggestion for a nice day.  Grab your special someone and head for that trail that starts near the Observatory.   Walk past a tree commemorating a certain Beatle, and learn a bit later that Los Angeles is sister city to Berlin.  Climb up, up, up past the smog for some killer views.  When your shaky legs finally get you back to your car, congratulate yourself for being a badass urban hiker-about-er.  Now, why not have a smoothie at the Los Burritos near Vermont and Sunset?  I like orange juice blended with ice, strawberries, honey, & banana.  Look for the 'street lights through the ages' display in the parking lot.  You won't be sorry. 

Dear Observatory, please open soon!

How to Boil An Egg, And Other Exciting Tales of Emergency First-Aid

So I decided to bite the bullet and finally take a First-Aid/CPR class at the Red Cross.  I figured it would be a good thing to have on my resume, and I might as well make the most of my summer vacation.  Our instructor was decent, just grating enough to make class interesting and bond us in our mutual clandestine eye-rolling at him.  And my classmates (it was a small class, only 6 of us) were a cool bunch, all around my age.  A couple chicks who were teachers at a soon-t0-be opened charter school, another with a preschool background, and a couple dudes.  Our instructor started off last week with some examples of non-emergency 911 calls he's heard about, such as, indeed, 'How do you boil an egg?'  Then we ran through the gauntlet of rescue breathing, CPR, Good Samaritan laws, etc etc.  There were some funny moments when we'd pair off to re-created emergency situations.  'My baby my baby!'  'Ma'am, do you need assistance?  I am a trained in CPR by the Red Cross.'  There were also some rather. . . unappetizing pictures of burns and jacked-up hand wounds in our booklet and instructional videos.  In lieu of the usual written exam (we didn't have one because it seems like they simply never sent one down to us) we were orally tested instead.  Man was he grilling my ass and I also experienced the peculiar sensation of knowing the answers to all the questions asked to other people but not my own.  At any rate, 9 hours of class wiser, I am now proud to be a card-carrying, Red-Cross-certified administrator of CPR and first aid.  Holla!

Here's me and my trunk manikin (not mannequin).  I named him Ricardo; I've probably saved his life 8 times and spent much more time lip-locked with him than I'd like to admit.  Too bad I didn't get a picture of my plastic little baby. 

Slingshot:

More to Love in Morro Bay

Weekend tally:

Giant chessboards: one.
'Old Guys Rule' t-shirts: one.
Beaches surfed: one.
Tidepools observed: two.
Creeks splashed around in: one.
Dolphin sightings: one (pod).
ATM cards lost (and found): one.
Pretty pretty flowers and plants: like a zillion.
Fanciful bread sculptures: about ten.
Octopus (octopi?): one.
Sea otters: two.  'Now there's a laid-back kind of creature.'
Giant whale (fake): one.
Awesome moments in the invigorating salt-tinged air  with the special fella: countless!

See the photo album for proof.