It was another busy Saturday and I was inspired to write, however after the length of last weekend's post, I thought I would include these inspirations under "Random Thoughts" since that's what most of them are anyways. I have been addicted to taking pictures with my crappy iphone camera (it's so easy), so most of this post is in pictures, albeit not very good ones...

• I met some friends in Pasadena yesterday morning. We went to Dick Blick, one of my favorite stores and then the Cheesecake Factory for lunch.
  
  

  

  On the way back to the car we walked past Mrs. Beasly's bakery and spotted some cupcakes. Cupcakes are all the rage right now, but these are not your ordinary cupcakes.
  
  My friend's son said, "I don't think I'd like those very much." Ha, ha! I agree.
  
• My wonderful dog Koho has some hot spots on her paws. She got them many years ago, and there is no medical reason why. She has them again and she licks them raw. There is nothing I can do to keep her away from them other than an e-collar, a.k.a. a cone collar. I don't like the regular, plastic collars because they are uncomfortable and hard. She runs into and scratches walls, couches, tables, and me because she can't judge the size of her cone-shaped head. Yesterday I bought her a padded, nylon one that is supposed to be more comfortable. I think Koho would beg to differ.
  
  
  How funny looking is this. I feel so bad, and I can't even look at her because it makes me feel bad. She stands in the middle of the room without moving. She's so sweet though and wags her tail the entire time. I took it off of her for a little while this morning to give her a break. She slept the entire time, probably so exhausted from having it on. I keep telling myself it will just be a couple of weeks and once the hot spots are healed, she won't have to worry about it, but I still feel bad.


• Last night I went to the Van Morrison concert at the Hollywood Bowl. The Bowl is probably my most favorite place to see a concert - it's outside and the sound is great. I love Van Morrison and was so excited to hear him do so many of the hits that I grew up with. However, last night did not meet my expectations. The music and his voice are great, but he only sang four, count them, four songs that I knew (and I have 3 or 4 albums that I regularly listen to) and those four were sung so differently than the album versions that we weren't able to sing along. It was a disappointing show.
• After the concert we walked down Highlands to Hollywood Blvd to jump on the subway. It was a quiet walk back to the station until we got to Hollywood and Highland. All of a sudden, we were in the middle of a Prop. 8 protest. The protesters were on two corners, chanting, and not really bothering anyone. The police dotted the street, there to keep order if needed.
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  We stood across the street and watched with other lookey-loos for awhile. As we watched, the protesters got louder and then walked into the crosswalk and stood, blocking Highland. The police ran around a little bit and then a police truck drove past us with police in riot gear hanging off the sides. The "audience" gasped. The police lined the intersection. We were told to either go across the street and join the protesters or leave. The subway station was right behind us so we slowly walked towards it. Before taking the escalator down to the station, a large group of protesters poured onto the streets from the station. We stood and watched for awhile and then a police officer looked at us and said, "Go, now." We quickly turned and hopped on the escalator. On the ride down, I had two thoughts. First, I wondered why the police armed up so quickly. The protesters were chanting, but being very civil. No one was being disrespectful or dangerous. My second thought was about the two 15ish year old girls riding down the escalator in front of us, who then turned around and rode it back up behind the protesters. Tell me, how is it that these "little" girls are out, in Hollywood, at 11:00 PM on a Saturday night with no parents around, and gay marriage is being blamed for the crumbling of family values. Just wondering.

• It is hot and humid here like we are living in the South even though we are in the desert. I am tired of it and it needs to stop now. I don't mind the dry heat, but the humidity sucks! It makes my hair frizzy.


• Funny story...last week I had some friends over for dinner and decided to make a new garlic-tomato pasta sauce. I made a grocery list and of the things I needed at the store. Before I went to the store, I decided to go to the Farmer's Market and get my produce. I didn't bring my list with me, but I knew what I needed and that included 2 pounds of plum tomatoes for my sauce. I took the things home and took my list back out to cross of the things I didn't need. When I crossed off the tomatoes I realized that it said 5 pounds of tomatoes. "Oh, great!" I thought. The Farmer's Market was across town and was probably closed. After being mad at myself for a minute I decided to just pick some more up at the store. So, I bought 3 more pounds. Fast forward to later that day when I started the sauce. No, I didn't need 5 pounds of tomatoes, I need 5 cups of tomatoes or 2 pounds. After all that, I had 3 extra pounds, ugh! But here is the pasta and boy was it good! (The recipe is below...super easy and super good. Just remember, only 2 pounds of tomatoes.)

• A Green Bag Update...Well, the Green Bags met their match this week and that would be the 3 extra pounds of tomatoes. They were put in the bag on Sunday while I figured out what to do with them. Today (Thursday) I threw all the tomatoes out because they were wet and moldy, blech! Granted, I left them on the counter rather than refrigerate them, but still.
• This weekend I watched a mini-series that I got from NetFlix called State of Play. It's British and really, really good. I would highly recommend it.
• Bad News Everyone...Manuela left me a note on Friday that she is making her annual summer trip to Mexico effective immediately. She's usually gone 4-6 weeks. {Cries} What am I going to do?

Garlicky Tomato Pasta

1 Tbsp – EVOO
3 – chopped garlic cloves (I used 4)
2-3 lbs – chopped plum tomatoes
½ cup – white wine (pinot grigio)
1 package – cooked pasta (farfalle)
¼ cup – grated parmigiano-reggiano
½ cup – chopped basil

1. Heat EVOO in Dutch oven over med-high heat. Add garlic. Sautee for 30 seconds.
2. Add tomatoes and wine. Cook over med-high heat for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
3. Add cooked pasta, cheese, and basil to tomatoes. Mix together. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In addition to meeting some new bloggin' friends, my day-to-day life has changed a bit since I have started blogging. It's been a subtle change, but a change nonetheless. As I am sure most of my fellow bloggers do, I am constantly saying, "That would make a good blog," to myself as I go through my day. The problem with that is by the time I get home and make the time to write a post, that thought is out of my head and I don't remember what was going to make a good blog. OR I tend to remember those things, but don't really feel that they warrant an entire write up. To make a long story short (or maybe still long) I have decided to write a weekly (more or less) post of random thoughts; thoughts that I think need to be put out there for the world to see, but don't necessarily need to be elaborated on. So here it goes...

• Why do people who drive slow insist on driving in the fast lane RIGHT next to a car driving in the slow lane? Get over for goodness sakes. (I could write an entire post about my issues with other drivers, but I will spare you on that.)


• Why is it that over the summer, when I am off, the only kind of movies at the theatre are the kinds that I don't want to see? All year long there are good movies that I try my best to see around my busy schedule. Now that I have time and could, if I wanted to, go to the movies every day there is nothing that I really want to see.


• JLo over at Almost Famous has invited me to a Pampered Chef party. If you're not familiar with Pampered Chef it's kind of like the mafia but with kitchen utensils. I have been to and had my fair share of these kinds of parties in the past. In fact, a few years ago I got myself involved with a candle party "family" that became a vicious circle. I went to one that a friend had and then signed up to do my own to get my own free stuff. Then a friend signed up to do one and since she came to mine, I came to hers. That cycle continued until I realized that I could have my own candle company with as many candles as I have in my garage. In fact, I had to join the witness protection program in order to hide out from "Vinnie the Weasel" a.k.a. "Karen the Suburban Housewife". In all seriousness, the parties are fun if you haven't been in awhile. Some people don't feel that way, but I don't mind them every-so-often. You can get together, socialize, and maybe even find something useful. Since I've been out of the "family" for awhile now , I have gotten better about feeling guilty if I don't spend a lot of money. I always find something to purchase, but I don't go beyond that and sign up to do my own party. I'll be going to the party and will have a good time because that's what friends do.


• I have been in Santa Barbara with some work colleagues. Last night we were invited to dinner in Ventura. It's been a tough year for a lot of us and last night we let loose. I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this bottle of wine and it was goooood. I held that bottle in my lap and wouldn't let anyone get too close to it cuz it was mine all mine. Four glasses later, the bottle was empty and I was having a great time. Today is the real first day of my vacation so last night was a good start.