Oh wow, it's been a while since I've shared.
Short recap: Summer came and went and soccer was king. Drew started playing soccer again as well and that is going well. Kids prepared for school. Gabi started her freshman year at high school. My little peanut is now in high school! Job search for us has been fruitless, as it is for millions of other Americans. Also, my husband's great uncle passed away just this month.
Gabi went to her first homecoming dance last week and she was so excited. We had a lot of fun shopping for her dress, especially when the one she finally picked was on clearance for $17.99! It was a little surreal seeing my baby girl in high heels looking so beautiful. I was worried all the anticipation building inside her, that her night would not live up to all the hype. She came home beaming, "Best night of my life!"
I started writing a food article on Examiner.com and I really love it (please note that the website has my new title marked incorrectly). It inspires me to cook and bake more, great for the fam but hell on my ass. I made cupcakes last night just for the hell of it, because honestly, we really need to have two dozen cupcakes sitting around the house. Off they went this morning, boxed up for coaches and teachers alike. Hey, a little sweet bribery never hurt anyone!
After making a few visits back to my hometown L.A., I realized how much I miss it. I noticed the abundance of quirky and interesting restaurants and eateries, and not one of them was a product of the mass produced crap spewed out by the chain gang.
On one of the trips back, I took the kids to my sister Lisa's house in Pasadena. With her kids and mine in tow, we took the train to Olvera Street, bought Mexican candy and gobbled up the amazing taquitos they are famous for. Then it was a short stroll to Phillipe, my all time favorite. Gabi swore up and down that she was not hungry but once she took a bite she was hooked. She still talks about how amazing those french dip sandwiches are. Walking through that place, with the sawdust all over the floor brought back so many great memories from the many times we ate there when I was a kid.
My next trip was solo. The drive we made from Lisa's house in Pasadena to the streets of Silverlake was another trip back in time for me. Rolling along down Colorado Blvd. through Eagle Rock, I was reminded of all those nights after hitting the clubs in Hollywood, how we all hit Tommy Burgers to quell those cravings you get after dancing non stop for hours.
The trip we took to Silverlake turned out to be a much needed night of hilarity. There were six of us ladies that went to go see Chico's Angels. My sister had been dying to get us all there since she had already had the pleasure. Basically, its a comedy skit based loosely on Charlie's Angels, um, performed by Hispanic drag queens. It was one of the most hilarious things I have seen in a long time. If you get a chance, please go, you won't regret it, that is of course, as long as you are not a homophobe.
If it wasn't for my kids, I would move back to L.A. in a hot second. It's not easy to have real friends behind the Orange curtain. Sure, you meet a lot of people, but most (not all) are incapable of being a true friend. Only in the OC can one be completely disrespected by people who call you friend and then excuse their bad behavior with a myriad of proclamations like, "I am so sorry, but I went off my meds", or "I'm sorry but hey, I was on my period", and "I can't be friends with someone who doesn't agree with my politics...it doesn't matter if I didn't vote."
Of course, there is the mom who won't let her kids say "fart" because its offensive. Yet when my 11-year-old son is at her house playing with her 11-year-old, she hands them each a b. b. gun, lights her cigarette, and sends them up into the hills unsupervised. She thinks I need to give my son a bible.
ARGHHH, I can't take much more of this...
