Rainbows! Ponies! Hearts! Love! Hugs! (bleargh!!)

“She must not air out her mind much” – Robin

That quote from a comment by Robin  (which makes me laugh every time I think of it) – is sooooo apropos for that which I am about to rant.

Raise your hand if you are on Facebook.

Now tell me if you have a friend like this in your list. One whose every status update makes you think of something like this:

Their lives are constantly *awesome!*  Their status updates cover things like “I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband!” or “Looking forward to the weekend with loving family and hubby!” or “Thanking God every day for my many blessings!” or…well..you get it right? They are never stressed, or busy, or cold, or hot, or sick or in any way posting about anything other than Love & Happiness!

Now, I am largely a very very positive person. I mean, I’m the gal who treated the Power of Positive Thinking for Teens book as my bible in high school (and drove quite a few friends a little batty with it!). It really is my first instinct to view anything/anyone in a positive light.  And sure, the title of this blog seems on the surface to be all sweetness & light right? But it’s a cover for something a tad more – ironic. As anyone knows, I don’t ONLY think that way. There are times when things irritate me. Occasionally. Maybe. (oh shut up and stop laughing!) I think I strike a pretty good balance in my twitters, facebook updates & blog posts between rants & positive observations. Because that is LIFE. A mixed bag of nuts. There is just NO WAY that anyone can live in My Little Pony world all the time, right?

Don’t get me wrong. I am VERY happy for those who are so so happy. Really. I can cheer lead with the best of them. But, around the umpteenth straight update like that and I’m rolling my eyes and making the gagging gesture because honey, that’s all just a little too piled high and deep for me. Who are you trying to convince that life is all peaches & cream? Your friends? Or you?

 

February is the Monday of months

What is it about February? How can shortest month in calendar days also be the longest? I’ve been ready since the weekend to change all my computer themes to March! How can there still be another week??

It’s getting busy around here again. Well, busy being relative of course since its never really NOT eh? Little League games start tomorrow. Should be more fun finally – coach from hell moved out of town (yay!!) Which reminds me that I DID have a story for my Friday post! The Worst Thing Ever for me was when the LL coach busted me for writing about him on my blog! Which he was not supposed to SEE (dammit) and when he did I just about died from embarrassment.

Pop Warner gearing up for registration. Board meeting tonight which makes for a very very long day and then online sign ups will start with the first in person day in two weeks. One. More. Year.

Did you watch the Academy Awards? I had so much fun Sunday night twittering and face-booking about it with my friends across the country. It was like one big viewing party! So rare to have an event like that be live in all time zones – usually we left coasters have to avoid anything online until the show ends for us in order to keep from having things spoiled by our yappy east coast friends. I have no idea why I enjoy the show so much given that I almost *never* see movies that are nominated until well after. I guess it’s just always a good show. Not sure about Hugh Jackman hosting. I loved that he sang and danced (most seemed to hate the production numbers, but I liked them), but I missed the wit of someone like Jon Stewart or Billy Crystal. I think it is better to have a comedian who can provide ongoing quips and reactions throughout the show. Anyway, all that mattered to me was that the one movie I saw and adored was Milk and it won in the writing and Best Actor categories so I was thrilled. I was actually *shocked* that Sean Penn won since the buzz leading in had been all about Mickey Rourke.  I was biased since I only saw the one movie but I liked how it was put by someone who saw both The Wrestler and Milk back to back on the Sat night before the ceremony:  “Mickey played a fictional version of himself. Sean acted his ass off to play Harvey Milk.” That description goes along with what Robert Deniro said while introducing Sean as a nominee Sunday night:

“How did he do it?” fellow Oscar winner Robert De Niro wondered in introducing Penn. “How for so many years did he get all those jobs playing straight men?”

The media – GAH! Or, maybe it’s the people watching?

*Note – my own life is rather incredibly routine at the moment so putting the spotlight on others is just way more interesting *

I saw this tag line on Politico today during lunch: “Going gray’s just fine, man” and I immediately knew it was a write up on Howard Fineman.

Why? Because while watching him yesterday on Hardball I noticed that he has been letting himself go gray.  This picture shows him before – I searched and could not find a recent one with the gray more prominent. Actually I noticed it a few days ago on Countdown when he and Keith were side by side and it kinda looked like Keith’s natural gray (which I love) was bleeding over onto Howard. And I like it. I wrote once about how I love gray hair and will not be coloring over mine. So when I see TV stars/personalities letting their gray show I tend to notice. But, it was just something I *noticed* – not something I freaked out about which prompted me to start emailing or blogging about the hair color change.

Freaked out about you say? Blogging about it you say? Emailing the man himself over it? Yeah – check out this part of the posting from Politico:

Perfect strangers, we hear, go up and talk to him about it. If you Google “Howard Fineman” and “hair,” 30,500 hits pop up.

Fineman told Shenanigans, “I’m letting my hair go gray — duh — but it grows slowly. I attribute [last week’s] particularly disconcerting look on ‘Hardball’ to two factors: I drove around town with the top down on my old convertible, and I read the hair-raising details of the stimulus package. By the way, nothing I’ve ever said, reported or written over the years has generated as much comment as the Hair Transition, which says a lot about the power of television and, I guess, the importance of what I have said, reported and written.”

(emphasis mine)

Agree or disagree with him, this is a very well respected political correspondent. The Chief Political Correspondent for Newsweek magazine and someone who has interviewed every President since 1984. And it’s his HAIR COLOR that has people talking about him?????

I would love to blame this on what is an easy to pick on shallow media, but from that Google stat and the feedback he is getting from what must be much more than just reporters, I now have to just put it out there – perhaps the media is shallow because the VIEWERS are shallow?? Maybe that’s all they really want? Is this a which came first question? Did American dumb down the media by only demanding and responding to fluff? Or did the media dumb us down by only feeding us fluff?

Well?

And yes I realize that I will be adding to the Google stats with this post.

Is there some holiday this weekend?

Ohhhhhhhhhh!

OK, I kid a little. My Sweet Prince has done an excellent job over the years with this holiday. Roses (both live plants and the cut flowers), jewelry, teddy bears – all very lovely things. But by and large I do tend to look at this as a huge gretting card industry endeavor. Because couples should do thoughtful things for each more frequently than once a year for sure.

The real pressure though, is the dinner out. No matter what day of the week it falls on, finding a restaurant to celebrate is something you better have though of in January. Otherwise you wont be having dinner until after 9pm – I know this from experience But this year it is a Sat night. Prime dinner out night as it is. Since I am really not all that wrapped up in this particular holiday, I was happy to give SP a rain check on the dinner scene. I would much rather spend a quiet, slow dinner at a nice restaurant two weeks from now than the rushed affair that will be tomorrow night as every place tries to maximize seating and turn around. Thank you, no. And if you have kids, how the devil do you find a babysitter for a Sat night V-day?

So what will I really be doing tomorrow night? Well, weather permitting, SportsBoy and I will be up in LA for a baseball tournament. His last game of the day should end around 6:30 or so. Meaning that 12 families will be heading out at prime dinner time to find a place to eat. On a Sat night. Which is Valentines Day. I’m thinking that the fast food craving I had earlier this week will be satisfied! I mean, where else are we all going to go?

And I do have to say that if I cannot have a nice, quiet, romantic dinner with SP, then spending it with SB and the baseball families is probably the next best thing right now

So what are all of you doing? Will it meet the standards of romance that everyone thinks it will be? Or will your night be a little more reality based like mine?

Oh, and lest you think I am too cynical to enjoy the holiday – this was delivered to me earlier as a bit of a bribe for some work that was dropped off with it . Heck yeah,  I am always happy to partake in the special treat part of the day!

Etiquette help please!

It’s kind of funny because there is this name meme going around on Face book today and right after I finish it, this scenario played out in my life again. Here’s the situation – everyone at this point knows that my first name is Christina. I’m old enough now that I don’t have people automatically trying to shorten it. What IS the problem is that I am often called Christine.  Explain to me though, why *I* am the one who feels awkward when I have to correct their mistake? It feels rude to do that! Is it just me being silly feeling this way?  Then there are some who cannot seem to get it even after I correct them. Which would not matter, but if it is someone who I see a lot and who uses the wrong name in front of others – causing the wrong version to ’spread’ – then I *really* have to say something, but now it is to multiple people!! Aaack!

Even worse than those in person ones though, are the emailed ones. Which frankly piss me off more becuase – hello! – you had to see the proper spelling when you sent the email Even worse is when they reply back *again* even after seeing your signature line on your email with your name spelled out yet again and they mess it up AGAIN! And when hose emails have some cc’s on them? Yep – the virus spreads. Argh! So I finally had to zip a private email to the perpeptrator with a little – “fyi – it’s ChristinA” Ugh. Then I feel like a boob again..but it’s not ME being a boob!

So dear peeps – what say you? Am I just being silly feeling awkward dealing with this? What’s the proper thing to do? if you’ve been corrected, do you feel like the person correcting you was wrong to do that or was pushy or picky or???  Do I just need a stiff drink?

I feel pretty, oh so pretty…

In keeping with the occasional tradition of obtaining my inspiration for a blog post from the bathroom at work (classy!), I saw a lady re-applying her make up during lunch hour today. Eye shadow to be specific. And yeah, I found it odd. But why would I find that odd? I mean, don’t most women wear full makeup to work? Foundation, blush, lipstick, eye liner, shadow and mascara? Don’t they all also carry compacts for each of those in case of the need to freshen up mid-day?

I would answer that with a ‘no’. But that just could be me (I am known to be outside the norm on many of these more girly things.)

Now, I know my mom’s generation wore/wears full make up like that all the time. I know ladies in the southern states probably do too no matter what age. So I started to pay attention to the other ladies in my little slice of basement cubicle heaven.

As a frame of reference, I only wear pressed powder & eye liner. Over the years I did *used* to apply the full repetoire. But I’ve been slowly eliminating things. I dropped the blush first as it seemed to be overkill with my darker skin anyway. Then after years of trying to find a foundation that I liked (and realizing that my liked *expensive* ones only!), I just stopped wearing it altogether. The full eye routine went by the wayside gradually too. I think I stopped using eye shadow at least 5 years ago. I clung to the mascara until I had the laser surgery. I got so used to how I looked without ANY eye makeup (none was supposed to be applied for one full week after the procedure) that I decided I could get by with liner alone. IOW – I am as lazy as can be and hate to spend more than 2 mins applying makeup each morning!

Back to my informal office survey of today. In addition to the woman with full makeup I saw in the bathroom, there was one more who appeared to have all but the eye shadow, but other than that I can name almost 10 other women who either have nothing visible or none at all (one woman for sure is a none at all gal as we’ve talked about it before).  Ages range from the late 20s to early 50s.

Not sure what that says about us – is it a typical so Cal thing to go more au natural? Is the minimalist style just ‘in’ these days? (Like I would know ‘in’!) is it just that I work in a basement office that does not deal with the public? I guess I should pay closer attention to the ladies I see at the bank or grocery store.

What say you my female readers? (which is all but 2 of you I think!) What is it like in your neck of the woods?

Another mystery for you to solve

My workplace has become very entertaining. Earlier this week we had the Mystery of the Missing Phone Chord. Last month we had the Mystery of the Scuff Mark. Today we have another bathroom mystery. It’s the middle of the day, the janitors have not come around and wont until after hours. So eliminate that from your realm of possibilities. When I went into the ladies room just now (different stall from the one with the scuff mark), the toilet seat was UP?!! Thoughts?

A quickie

You know those scuff marks that your shoes make on hard surface floors? Especially if you have new shoes with fresh heels? Can someone please explain to me why there is one on the toilet seat in one of the ladies room stalls here at work? kthxbye

More pictures from the weekend

So a little while ago I shared this from our hike at Torrey Pines. I want to post it again to provide a contrast.

Even if I took this photo to show then entire San Diego coastline it would essentially look like this. Nothing on the horizon.

OK, now lets see some pictures from my walk along the Huntington Beach boardwalk yesterday.

This looks pretty nice. It was a typically hazy so cal day, but other than that, a charming little pier, right?

What’s that? Oh, right. An offshore oil rig. Pretty dang close to shore at that. My camera is nothing much as cannot zoom all that well. I have this vague memory of discussion about these rigs. But I don’t know that I had ever really seen them. When we lived in the OC in the 70s we were not big beach goers and I had moved to San Diego before I became attached to the shore. This…would piss me off to no end let me tell you! And this was just the closest one. There were four visible from where I stood. U-G-L-Y.

But, it gets worse. Here is a picture of what are probably some very expensive houses facing the shore along Pacific Coast Highway just up from the pier:

Now a picture of what is on the corner not showing up there – in other words – on the corner across the street from that house on the corner:

Yep, more oil drillers. There is a full block of those things just across the beach and PCH. Behind the block of drillers are more very very nice looking, newer, probably terribly expensive homes. They get to look out on the drillers, then off in the distance, the ocean with the oil rigs. Wow. I remember those drillers from growing up in the OC. Normally you see them in an industrial/commerical area. In fact, further inland, more near the ball fields, I did see one all by itself on a corner lot. It’s a very funny thing to turn a corner and see that. Gas station, rubios, condos, oil driller. OK.

All in all, it just made me even more appreciative of San Diego.

Sat morning in the neighborhood

After many weeks of strictly indoor exercise thanks to rain and schedule conflicts, I finally got out for a walk this morning. I didn’t get moving until after 10:00, but it was nice to be lazy and putter first. After much indecision about what route to take and what to bring with me, I finally settled on the long circle around the nearby school and then looping out to the bank/pharmacy/Starbucks before heading back home. It always seems such a waste to use my car to run those kinds of errands when the shops are literally 2 blocks away. So I stepped outside and…holy sunshine batman! It was *hot*!! Back inside to re-do the wardrobe and then finally hit the pavement around 10:15.

I live in a very low key (translation, lower income) older area of a very upscale bedroom suburb which is surrounded by some very very wealthy rancho and beach communities. I love my little circle of houses. No HOA, but no need for it. Everyone keeps their places looking nice. Nothing fancy, just your basic, middle class stucco dominated rows of houses. The area is old for here (25).

First thing I notice is my next door neighbor out in her gardening clothes tending to her yard. I make a mental note to do the same thing tomorrow morning. My back yard needs some serious attention.

Another neighbor is washing his car. Then I see it. Flashback to the 60s. Two women talking over a fence! I didn’t think people did that anymore. Up at the corner, two small kids are riding their bikes in the circle as dad looks on. Turn the corner and there’s two more people talking in a driveway. Clearly the sunny/warm Saturday morning air has brought people out of their houses. As I transition to a busier street, I merge with a jogger. Turning another corner downhill towards the school, I see a couple pushing a stroller. There is someone out front of at least one house on every street I pass. Then I notice the smell. February in So Cal and all the yellow flowers are blooming:

I always refer to February as the yellow flower month. There are trees and these ubiquitous landscaping bushes all over which bloom profusely with these tiny puffs of yellow. Pollen count is high as my sinuses can tell you (yep, had to take a claritin after walking). But it smells so distinct and lets you know immediately that spring is around the corner. The yellow is just a preview.

As I made my way out of the neighborhood towards the shopping center, I came upon the little park and grassy area on one corner. Today it was filled with tiny soccer players. Not more than 5 years old for sure. Parents lined the perimeter of the rectangular playing area watching as two coaches demonstrated some maneuvers and tiny legs tried their best to copy. Ah, the early days of youth sports!  A lazy Saturday morning at the local park vs driving an hour for a high pressure tournament or kick ass football game. Enjoy these relaxing days in the park young parents!

At the shopping center I was encouraged to see I was not the only one walking to do my errands today. I passed a man I recognized who lives around the corner from me who walks every single day coming out of the grocery store. As I came out of the store I saw the couple from earlier with the stroller. I also saw some firemen doing their shopping – is there some rule that all firemen must be former GQ models?? Seriously!  Wow. Anyhow..I love that I could get my coffee, pick up a prescription and take out cash all in one store. Back out on the pavement I met up with another mom pushing a stroller as she was walking back home form her coffee run.

Just a glorious, warm Saturday in San Diego!