Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Last night I had the opportunity to go to the Magic Castle once again. It's funny how I have never been in the 12 years I lived here and all the sudden this year I am going quite a bit. My friend, Danielle is taking magic lessons there and so she has become an honorary member. She is able to get four guests in for free. See if you go with a member its free entry otherwise it costs $25 bucks which is steep but I guess not really considering you are paying to see super cool entertainment. Danielle and I have been meaning to meet up for drinks at the castle after work, since I work so close by. Last night, our schedules finally matched up and we made true on our plans. Luckily our men, who are both TV editors were able to leave work behind and join us. My brother-in-law, Neil, who is in town was also able to come courtesy of some of hubby's clothing. And yes, for all of you wondering, Neil's "big arms" fit into one of the hubby's suits. In fact, ...

Last night, I was the victim of yet another rear ending, as in car accident. Just for clarity's sake that would be the second rear end in under two years of owning my new car. (I am beginning to think my Jeep has bad mojo, hum?) At least the Jeep people make a good steel enforced bumper! That baby has now protected me twice. So what happened? I was sitting in traffic on Los Feliz stopped at a light when the light turned green and the over zelaous guy behind me must have blanked for a moment and hit the gas. Problem was I hadn't moved as the car infront of me hadn't moved. He didn't hit me hard. Caused some scratches and luckily no dents to my car and his lovely Mercedes... but man!...Is it ever annoying to have to go through this again! Life is funny. Well, this time around the guy admitted responsibility unlike the last guy who outrighted lied and took me for my deductible thanks to arbitration that sided in no ones favor. I knew this guy couldn't beli...

San Francisco to see Carmen & Dan Friday Night Take 9:10PM flight from Burbank to Oakland 10:30PM Get picked up by Carmen & Dan 11PM Meet Enzo, the cutest dog, a whippet Once again amazed by Carmen's cute house Saturday Sleep in till 9AM - glorious 10:45AM Breakfast at a local joint near Carmen & Dan's house in their Mission Neighborhood 12:30PM Visit local Farmer's Market and buy honey 1PM go back to Carmen's place so they can walk their dog 1:20PM Watch Carmen dance to the Muppet Show Theme Song - funny 1:45PM Take silly pictures of all of us wearing mustaches 2:00PM Take off to a food market on the Bay and look at all the pretty stalls. Taste test chocolates, grab coffee, etc 3:45PM Sit down to fresh oysters and champaign. Watch my hubby eat oysters. 5:10PM Try and find GNC so Carmen can buy some GU. We make it to two different stores right when both are closing. 6:30PM Visit biggest Anthropology store in the world -ok the biggest one I have ever...

So this past week, I got a letter from Human Resources informing me I got a promotion. I am now an Executive Director. Normally this would be a fun and positive thing in a person's life but I can't help feeling a tinge of sourness. This is due to what has been going on at work and how this promotion came about. See a few months ago, the boss that I had been with for five years left. So my other boss, who became my new boss was trying to get us all paid better (which we appreciate him fighting for us). They weren't replacing my old bosses position nor his executive assistant's position. But they were replacing him with a lower level position, namely a Director position which was my current level until this promotion. So that left a ton of money open. We had been made promises for the last year and a half that things would get better in our department so everyone thought that this would be the time they would boost everyone up to the proper level and compens...

This past weekend was like a return to the good ole 1990's I saw ANGELS AND DEMONS and also, I finally caught DUPLICITY. I miss Tom Hanks and Julie Roberts. Remember Mel Gibson? It's like these guys fell off the face of the planet or something. Don't retire yet people. I need you to make more good movies. You know who else I miss?... Meg Ryan... and her girlie (good) romance movies. I have been thinking lately that it would be totally awesome if Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan teamed up yet again in a new movie (remember JOE VS VOLCANO, YOU'VE GOT MAIL and SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE?). I miss these guys. When is the Governator going to break his political habit and make that sequel to KINDERGARTEN COP? I want to see John Kimble and his ferret! I miss you movie stars of the 90's come back to a theatre real soon. Okay?

WARNING: This blog contains spoilers for FRINGE, LOST, and GREY'S ANATOMY I hate this time of year. I really hate it. I hate it it because after investing hours of my life into episodic stories TV people feel the need to wrap up seasons and take a break. I think these prime time shows need to take a cue from Soap Opera's, now those people manage to get 5 shows on a week. Some might argue quality but 5 shows is a lot. I practically feel those people over at THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL are part of my family. Heck! I have known those people for 20 years! So why should those prime time TV people limit themselves to 22 episodes a season ? I know, I know, advertising and money. But darn it, I want more than 22 episodes. I need my Barney, my Hurley, my Jeff Probst, my Gosselins, and those desperate housewives! If you are like me, you get so friggin' attached to some of these television shows that you are suddenly thrown into traction in May as the season comes to a ...

The world it seems just can't get enough of Leonard Nimoy. At the very least JJ can't. Mr. Nimoy had an awesome cameo in the new Star Trek movie which by the way I love, love, love and you should see, see, see. And he has even done a cameo on one of my favorite new TV shows, Fringe. However, I thought at the very least he'd be on the TV screen more than 3 minutes. I am kinda mad at the Fringe folks for advertising Leonard Nimoy only to stick him in the last three minutes of the series finale. I kind feel like I got cheated. And since he is so popular right now I was looking forward to this new outlet to see him in. His three minutes better turn into a guest starring role next season or, or, or I am going to send my remote control into the next dimension. I am sure in the other dimension Leonard was on Fringe more than 3 minutes.

Before I start, I want to give a quick shout out to my mother and two my two mother-in-laws and say Happy Belated Mother's Day! Well, it's the beginning of the week once again. This weekend in the life of Lollipop and hub was sort of a bust. We had plans, then those plans changed for new plans and then those new plans changed again and by the time I got things straight my hubby had to go to work on Sunday afternoon. Suffice to say, this weekend didn't go to plan. What eventually played out included making yummy hamburgers on the grill, seeing STAR TREK (my third time and the hub's first), visiting the Pasadena Flea Market and getting burnt to crisp, watching some DVD's and going to an hour long meeting regarding the eventual retirement of the hubby and me. Now this last one might not sound very exciting but it actually kinda was. Our tax guy also gives retirement advise. We have never been before and since I like to dream pretty big I thought it was ...

The Santa Ana winds are strong, extremely dry offshore winds that characteristically sweep through in Southern California and northern Baja California in late fall into winter. They can range from hot to cold, depending on the prevailing temperatures in the source regions, the Great Basin and upper Mojave Desert. However, the winds are remembered most for the hot dry weather (often the hottest of the year) that they bring in the fall. I lived here 12 years and I have to say California has some weird weather trends. When I got here all anyone could talk about was El Nino. I thought if it's El Nino in Los Angeles then it was El Nino in Michigan all the time but no one talked about it. Just to give you a sense of how crazy Southern Californians are about anything other than sunshine....When it rains, you'd think a tropical storm is a comin'. Newscasters are quick to put their Weather Alert '09 label at the bottom of TV screens for what literally amounts to a few spri...

So the next morning I woke up and had the day to myself. I didn't have anything planned as some of the best days in life are when I wander around and have no plan. I woke up and decided I need to buy some new shoes. My only pair of shoes which were, cloth, were soaked. And the hair blower can only do so much. So at 8:30AM I headed to a department store. Only when I got there, I found what must be shoe heaven. Never in my life have I seen such a display of amazingly awesome shoes! All so pretty and sparkley. A girl could have spent the whole day trying on Jimmy Choo's and Christian Dior's and whatever those Sex in the City girls went on and on about. Every single pair of shoes were hundreds of Euros except for this thin, stringy pair of flips flops which would have done me no good. Oh well, it didn't look like a new pair of shoes was in the cards for me that day. I decided to keep my purchases to some tea and some macaroons for the hubby. After th...

So as it turned out, I made it to the weekend and eventually got on that plane to Paris. I had a great time! Caught up on 3 movies on the plane enroute from LA to NY to Paris. I arrived in Paris at 7:30AM this past Monday. The Paris Office sent a car to pick me up and I arrived at the office about 9:25AM. I was greeted in the lobby by the main AV person who took me up to the studio offices. I handed over the four boxes of French and English trailer negatives which quickly made my one carry one piece of luggage a lot lighter and proceeded to enjoy a coca cola as I needed some caffeine in my body. I wasn't really able to sleep on the plane. I was tired but excited to be there. Hilary, the AV person asked if I needed to go to the hotel and I said "Nope, I am read to go!" So I waited a few minutes and then people I have known for years started to come by. Some I have meet at conferences and then some I have only emailed. It was great to be able to put faces t...