JOURNAL REVOLUTION

The Longing, Part 2

It was great to read what everyone was longing for. It was especially great because it was like a real live United Colors of Benetton ad came to life and answered the questions. I mean the Benetton of the 80s and early 90s, not the Benetton of today which we found out today is less cool than it was. If you read the comments carefully and followed the links, you'd see that comments were from all types of people- gay, lesbian, black, white, belly dancing (WOW!), Jewish, Christian, a mom, a student, a teenager, scrapbookers (double wow!)...a whole WORLD of people with one thing in common. We all long for something, even if it is just ice cream, or in Neil's case- breasts. Thanks for sharing a bit of your lives with us! And, we are happy that you know you can be yourselves here. You totally can.

Last week (or was it two weeks ago?) when I was in Northern California, not too far from where we grew up, Maria and I made a late night run to Safeway. We don't have Safeway down here in So Cal. We have Vons which is the same company but smells different and has different food so it is not the same at all. The Safeway Maria and I were in smelled like the Safeway from my childhood and as we stood in the ice cream section in the middle of the night, I had a The Penny from Somewhere In Time moment when I saw a box of Mint It's-Its. I was suddenly 11 years-old again. I was standing in the hot sun with Tod and Karen as we ate our newly discovered  It's-its, the chocolate shells cracking,  the mint ice cream rolling down my arm. The sun was melting my treat faster than I could eat it, taking my troubles with it.  That was a good day.  I was longing for that day.

When I got back from my trip, I found It's-Its at the Albertsons a few miles from my house! See, wishing for stuff makes them appear! The Secret works!* The It's-Its come three to a box: one for breakfast, one for lunch, one for dinner. No prescription required.

FRANCES!!! You win a YOU MATTER print! Please email me your address.

*Uh, not really like that, tho. And it really is not a secret. Just call around for stuff and you might find it.

it's quiet in here

Yesterday was my husband's 40th birthday. I still haven't gotten him a gift because the day before my birthday he spent $400 on my car and I decided me driving around in a safe car would make him really happy. And, since he's not working for 6 weeks,  it seems like that was enough money that we didn't really have spent on stuff for one week. I think knowing that the best wife ever won't suddenly spin off the road due to faulty brakes is a great gift for a 40 year old man! I also baked some brownies for him. See, I am a great wife. Good thing I waited until the last minute to think about the gift, too, or I'd have spent a lot on a gift and on the car and then we'd have been really screwed.

So, my husband is home for about 6 weeks because most people who work on tv shows don't really work all year long. With the writers/writer's/writers' strike that just happened, most people barely worked all last season. Just as I was getting back into my routine of working from home- jetting off somewhere, jetting back, rushing to get stuff done, watching this Eddie Vedder video over and over while trying to get caught up on email and trying to get work done from what I was doing when I was in the place I jetted off to, blasting music while I painted and glued,  - all of this at home alone in my pajamas, it changes again. I am not alone now.  It is quiet in here. My husband is taking a nap.
I am now a WIFEYBLOGGER.

What do you long for?

I keep hearing the word longing. It's odd because it's not a word I used to hear often but it's one of my favorite words. It's so poetic. Suddenly it is in every song or story I am hearing. I hope it's going to be the word all the kids use to replace random. I doubt it though because it doesn't seem like anyone will suddenly say hey, longing question...
We do have a question. What are you longing for today?  We are longing for a Mint It's-It.   You never know, there could be a prize for some random commenter.

*The art is ink and charcoal on watercolor paper.

that damn time fairy

Getting caught up: The night before I left for Northern California, my husband and I went to see Lukas Rossi and Stars Down  at The Viper Room. That man can sing. Someone smuggled a camera in to the Viper Room and caught his very cool version of Here Comes The Rain Again. I love that song. I am so glad I got to meet Lukas and his lovely wife, Kendra, while my favorite men from House of Glamma were in town working their magic. What a cool couple! Both couples, that is!
Now, about the Viper Room: GROSS. Read the reviews here. I am just glad I didn't take my camera there because I would've had to boil it it to get the sweat of strangers off it. I'm still trying to get the sweat of strangers off me and it has been days.
Because I am me and that means time is never really on my side, the thing with the thing happened to be happening* while Jake and Kev were here so I had to sleep only a few hours after the Stars Down concert then make my way to No Cal for some photo shoots that didn't exactly happen as I planned but some other ones that did even better as well as some spontaneous fun in a cherry field and some serious fun with Maria and Beth, two of my favorite shooters, and an unexpected lunch date with Perfect Friend Terry and her Perfect Kids. There is never enough time to spend with them and I am grateful for each second, which is exactly the same feeling I was having last night. That damn Time Fairy has not made a deposit yet!  The Brandi Carlile concert did happen and I am still happy about that night. I am pretty sure Maria and I will be talking about that one for the rest of our lives. I could still talk about it right now but I suspect you all might be sick of it already. Maria and I aren't sick of it, yet! In fact, I am going to stop writing this right now so I can go look at my pictures again while listening to her amazing version of Creep from that night. Yes, I am still 15.
Now that we are sort of caught up on what I have been doing (ok, not really. I left out a lot of stuff because I want to watch that Creep video again), let's get to what matters. I heard from the Yummie Tummie people about products for those of us who are blessed.

We are currently making adjustments to our patterns so that our tanks and tees will comfortable fit larger bust sizes.  I have saved your information and will let you know as soon as we have a better fitting style for you.

OK! As soon as I get the word, YOU will get the word. Until then, I guess we will just have to be rolly poly.

*Sorry, can't talk about it yet.

Photo: Maria and I stayed in a really nice hotel for a change!

 

it captures my feelings

Every time I return to LA I get the worst headache. I think I am allergic to this place. Yes, I know I say that every time. It hasn't changed so I will keep saying it. I have been popping advil and sudafed all day and it's not helping. I am kind of wondering if I can stick those pain patches to my forehead but I am guessing not. It might be funny to try. It might also be lethal! I think my camera also has a migraine! It was very slow tonight, no matter what setting I had it on. Or maybe my camera was just telling my story. I was taking pictures of my oh-so-beloved Jake and Kev tonight and trying not to notice that my head was throbbing, but it is really hard for me to betray my camera. Even when I try, it captures my feelings. I love it when that happens.
It's so weird how the world seems like such a small place when you bump into an old friend at the grocery store, yet it seems so huge when the friends you love the most live so fucking far away. Like in Minnesota. Or England. Or Canada. Or West Hills.

I'm home and I'm falling asleep

I'm getting ready for bed after what was the busiest two weeks ever. I don't think I have really slept slept in two weeks because I have either been in transit and awake for that hell  or awake preparing to be in transit. Or, awake and thinking about what I will be doing in the place I am going to. Lots of thinking, lots of going, lots of doing.
I am so happy that I get to go and do some of the things with my dear friend,helper, and awesome photographer Maria Hammon at my side when Karen is unavailable. Maria and I had an awesome time with our cameras last night! It was good to be us! Maria and I were on deck to photograph the Brandi Carlile concert, which was a dream for us because we love her. That Maria and I got to do it together made it even better. I am fairly used to doing photo shoots with Brandi's songs playing at the same time, so this was a bit weird. This time the songs where playing but she was THERE singing them! She even walked around the stage while singing and playing the guitar! Whew, that's a lot of work for us shooters! When the night was over, we felt like we'd run 12 miles! It was great!!! She played all our favorite songs, interacted with the audience, told cute stories, said fuck occasionally, and sang some more. It could not have been better! Well, it could've been better if she'd sung every song off her first cd, but that's the only leetle thing that could've made it better. Oh, that and a churro cart would've been good. It was one of the best concerts I've been to that I got to listen to and photograph at the same time. If Brandi comes to your town, get tickets!
The best ever concert was just one small part of my trip to No Cal and I'll expand on that later. I must now get caught up on sleep as the Ambien just kicked in.

hot and sweaty

I am too hot and sweaty to try to hide my camera in a pad with or without wings right now as I get ready to go meet my beloved House of Glamma men at The Viper Room to see Stars Down. The Viper Room doesn't really allow cameras, even when you are allowed to have cameras and this is a problem that keeps happening to me. If I were the owner of the Viper Room, I'd let the entire world come in and take pictures so it would become the happiest picture place on earth instead of the place where River Phoenix dropped dead. But, hey, not everyone is as great at business.
After the concert ends tonight and I hug Jake and Kev a thousand times, I am going to rush home, sleep a few hours, then pack up all my cameras and head to northern California to see Brandi Carlile. Brandi Carlile's song Follow is one of my theme songs from the Feel The Beat project in Journal Revolution.
Three concerts in two weeks is a lot for me considering that being around a lot of dancing people makes me really nervous. I am always afraid that some long spidery arm will bonk me in the noggin and then I will be trampled to death  by drunk people. That is totally something that would happen to me.
I am not sure if I will take my laptop with me, but I will twitter and flickr from the road.

it was spectacular!

In 1980, our older brother did a really horrible thing. He went away to college! It was just cruel! We grew up in Northern California which is pretty much an entirely different country from Southern California (but now same-ex couples can marry in both places! It's about time! YAY!). When he packed his bags and headed south to UCLA, we thought he was a goner. But, since he was not like the other men in our lives, at spring break, he drove his Chevette back to Walnut Creek, packed his 3 younger siblings in and took us for a road trip to So Cal that we'd never forget. I can't tell you most of what happened on that trip because we all took the DON'T TELL MOM vow and she is reading this.
One of the first places Lee took us when we got to LA was to see a mural he was fascinated with. It was painted on the side of a building and was a scary image of a broken freeway in the middle of an ocean- pretty much what California would look like after an earthquake. It was spectacular! I took a photo with my crappy little instamatic camera and we went to lunch. I remember the lunch, too. It was a Mongolian BBQ! What an adventure! I never forgot that day or that mural.
Five years later, I moved to LA. I never saw that building with the mural again, but I did wonder about it.  We did find the Mongolian BBQ and lucky for us, they opened one in the Valley so we still get to eat there often.
Yesterday (28 years later), Karen and I met with the amazing Jann Arden for a photo shoot for the thing we aren't really talking about about but the internet already is. WE LOVE JANN! You must buy her cd Uncover Me (it's sooo great, especially her versions of At Seventeen and Son of a Preacher Man) and you must read her blog. Do those things.
Back to our story-
So, Jann suggests a cool place for the photo shoot and Karen and I take separate cars because, as you know, we don't really live together. We park on a side street, get out of our cars and start walking toward the building where the photo shoot will happen. Right there before us was the mural. It was faded and old but there it was, on the building we were about to enter. I've been in this neighborhood a thousand times in the last 20 years and never saw it before. How could that be? I guess I never made a U-turn on this particular street!

I wonder what sign the universe is sending us with this?
It was a great day!

days special to them

It's always been surprising to me that suicide rates are highest near Christmas. You'd think they'd be higher near Mother's Day or Father's Day. I know more people who were totally fucked over by their parents than by Jesus. Father's Day- what a nightmare for so many people.
I think it has been about 4 years since our deadbeat dad dropped dead. I am not sure. I thought I'd always remember the exact date and time that bastard died but it turns out that you don't really count the days of your life when you're free and happy.  But growing up, we did count days and we were very much aware that he was alive, even when he was acting dead. On Father's Day, we sat in fear that the phone might ring and it might be HIM and we might have to hear the voice from the fake dead because for some reason, deadbeat dads do like to call on the days special to them.
Does Jesus  call on Christmas?

*This is a rare photo of Karen, Lee and me with our dad.

i am finally home

I wish there was some way to get the text conversations between me and Karen from the last few days off my iPhone so I could just paste them here instead of having to relive my entire travel nightmare. Oh what a nightmare it was. It was really funny, though, so I do want to talk about it. I would say I'm never flying on US AIR again but I don't think their planes work so that won't be an option anyway. 
I have a lot to say about my adventure, Minneapolis, the True Colors concert and some important life lessons learned in the last few days, but I need sleep first. In the mean time, the lovely and talented Jane Devin has written about what we did (and where we walked) in Minneapolis and she also posted a video I made for her. I am on a mission to find her a date. It's a funny video! I look really tall! Minneapolis makes short people look TALL!

*I snapped this photo of the desk in the hotel in Minneapolis one morning ~ lipgloss, iPhone and laptop. That was pretty much all I had with me when I was stuck in Phoenix without my suitcase which had the chargers for both things packed inside it. At least my lips weren't chapped.