A golden Olympic moment

The cauldron on Coal Harbor.

The Olympic rings on the water. Every day that Canada wins a gold medal, the rings change from blue to gold. At midnight, they revert to blue. Click on the bottom pic to see it bigger.

Vancouver Olympics, day 3

It's an amazing and overwhelming energy in the city. Frenzy. Pride. Joy. Everyone knows the whole thing ends tomorrow with the rematch between the US and Canada mens hockey teams. After that, closing ceremonies.

Today we hit some "cultural" events. The CocaCola tent, Samsung pavillion, and Quebec house. Tonight is dinner with friends, then the last fireworks over Fakse Creek. From what I hear, they have some spare cans if fireworks and they firing them all tonight. Nothing held back!

I've lost my voice. Tomorrow will be off the hook.

Vancouver Olympic pics, day 2

This pace is exhausting. So much to shop for. A nail-biter of a hockey game. The fever is getting to me!

Vancouver pics, day 01

You have received new photos from Jim Kehl.

-- Email sent with the "Multi-Photo Email" iPhone application --

Olympic Fever hits home

I've got my team outfit on, these white pants are horrible to keep clean in the rain and snow!
(psssstttt, that's me on the left!)

You've probably noticed I've been not here lately. I've been watching TV. SPORTS on TV to be more specific. I'm getting an average of 12 hours of Olympic coverage recorded to my DVR every single day. NBC has cleverly mixed the things I want to see with things I don't want to see. Even to fast forward through every single hour of recorded events would take an hour or more just to get through 12 hours of broadcast coverage.

But I manage. I just don't have time for anything else, like writing a blog, reading a blog, cooking a meal, or doing any work.

Mikka represents, G-Oh Canada!

I've even gone so far as to go out in public and watch a sporting event in a bar. Canada vs. USA Men's hockey, at a British pub in Santa Monica. Hunkered down with 30+ rabid Canadian sports fans. I had the fish & chips, they were delicious.

Lyle and I have watched as the world turns the focus on Vancouver and I have been very sad that I am not there taking part in all the festivities. I feel a proprietary ownership over Vancouver. I grew up an hour south of Vancouver, just inside the American side of the border. I spent the summer of 1986 at the Vancouver Expo and we lived there for year in the middle of our California lives. Every time they show a street, a landmark, an aerial shot from the Goodyear Blimp, I go, "I should be there! I know that street! I used to have coffee there!" and I get crazy in my head.

My dad has a phrase, "Everybody complains about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it." So I'm doing it. I'm changing the weather.

By the time you are reading this, I WILL BE IN VANCOUVER.

I found a cheap flight. I bought my ticket. I've got a place to stay. And I've got friends willing to sell me their tickets to the CLOSING CEREMONIES. Look for me on the television, I'll be in row, "Holycrapthatsclosetothecieling, Section J, seatZZZ"!!!

All potatoes, no meat

So I've got nothing going on here. I mean, I always have 10,000 things going on, but nothing on a grand scale worthy of blah-blah-blogging about.

The weather is nice. It's been almost 80 for a few days. The forecast is for rain to come again on the weekend.

Work is busy. Either because I've left a bunch of stuff to pile up, or because other people waited and dumped it all on me at the last minute. Either way, its nice to have work to do.

The house is out of control and needs that "clean slate" clean post Christmas re-do. You know, the one where all the tchotchkes move to the dining room table and get re-placed about the house, or into storage while other things come out of storage.

I need to fold my sweaters.

The Winter Olympics in Vancouver are taking over my life. I've got almost 9 hours of coverage to fast forward through every night to find the nuggets I want to watch. I am continually two days behind on all events.

So you can see I am just as dull as my neighbors without a blog and still, I got nothing to write about over here.

Ham bones are the best!

Cooper and Lola agree, "Ham bones are the best!". Possibley the best ten minutes of their weekend!

(please note the completely different backgrounds of the photos; two dogs, 20 feet apart, with me in between.)

OLYMPIC FEVER!

Though we had planned on being in Vancouver for these Winter Olympics with our friends Robb & Lewis, alas, we are not. As gracious and giving friends, they have launched a limited blog to take us all along for the ride of a lifetime. I am going out on a limb and recommending Robb & Lewis In The Olympics!

As Robb emailed me last night:

I figure you'll be hearing so much about Vancouver that you'll be thinking of us constantly! Or maybe you forgot altogether that the Olympics are in Vancouver starting in a few days... So in case you want to follow us through the Olympics I've created a blog (I think I can manage a two week blog). Now you can get the real on the ground story. And please, I won't be offended if this is the last time you look at it - it may be the last time we update it!

So, get it while it's hot!

Also, another friend of mine who regularly blogs, will be attending the Olympics and sharing her experiences, check out Haute Today. She should be arriving in Vancouver in the next day or two.

Via my friend Derek Morrison (another Vancouver Local), come these photos (I stole off his facebook page)

Inside BC Place where the opening ceremonies will soon begin.

Derek and a friend who ran part of the torch relay. He tells me that for $400, you get to keep the torch after. It's like going to A&W and paying extra to keep the mug, only better.

As for my Olympic viewing plans, I will sitting in front of my TiVo watching every night suffering through the NBC coverage with far too much talking, and far too many "human interest" stories interrupting the coverage. What other choice do I have? Oh, and I ill be rooting for my favorite figure skater, Johnny Weir.

Weekend in the desert, part 2

My favorite literal store name: HUH? The help you hear center.

Cocktails and dinner with borrowed aunts and uncles.

The outlet mall. The outlet mall. The outlet mall. Uh, yeah, I got a pair of shoes.

A weekend in the desert, pt 1

Five days in Palm Springs apparently requires more stuff than a two week cruise. Dog bag, ice chest, 2 bags for clothes (that's one for each of us), toiletries, food to eat, pillows and on and on....

The Palmelo is like a giant lemon. Actually, the fruit inside is the same size, it seems to be all a big rind.

The cinnamon rolls at Koffi in Palm Springs are OUT OF THIS WORLD! I can't live here, I'd eat one every day!

Fun with puppies and phones

I got an application for my phone that mimics the look of an old photobooth. Then I went looking for test victims, I mean subjects.

Oops, I missed something...

Ever have those months (or years) where things go by so quickly you don't even have time to wash your clothes in between, let alone blog about it? Yeah, that's been my December and January. Today I am washing shirts that came home in the luggage from Vegas. I think this means I haven't done the shirt laundry for a month. Socks, underwear and jeans I am not so picky about so they got done a few times in between. On the bright side, this tells me I have plenty of clothes. On the down side, I was missing my favorite shirts as they were at the very bottom of the laundry pile.

So, where were we? Oh yeah, I missed a couple of big deals on this blog. I was too busy out living them to sit down and write about them. Technically, I didn't miss them.

My dad celebrated his 80th birthday on December 21st! I was very lucky to be able to fly to where my parents live and celebrate with the rest of my family in person. The way I see it, my dad will only turn 80 once (I on the other hand, plan on turning 42 a number of times).My father's family. Rosie, Alice, his father Christ, his mother Katherine, and in the front row, his twin brother Ed (on the left) and my dad Ted (on the right). Ted & Ed are around 8 years old.

Slow forward 72 years and here are Ed & Ted on their birthday:
The day started off with breakfast with the extended family of aunts, uncles and great aunts, and peaked with an open house at the senior center where more relatives and friends dropped in for cake and coffee. You know, one of those days where it all becomes a blur of faces and hugs and impossible to remember all that went on. I got so busy, I forgot to get my camera out. Luckily my brother Scott took many photos.

Then everyone left. It was a Monday. People had jobs to return to and Christmas was just around the corner. Since I had flown in, I made the plan to stay until the next day. That night my parents took me on a driving tour of the county to see all the Christmas lights. (You'd never know it from this blog, but I kinda enjoy Christmas decorations.) We toured our way to a small town called Everson and went for German food to celebrate my dad's birthday.
With the word "schnitzel" in the title of the restaurant, I knew I'd have to have some. Though I come from hearty German heritage, somehow I had NEVER had schnitzel before in my life. I only know about it from the song in the Sound of Music, "Raindrops on roses, and schnitzel with noodles..." I ordered the schnitzel with noodles.

It's pork. It's covered in sauce. It's delicious.
I know, the photos doesn't look all that appetizing, but trust me, I would eat some RIGHT NOW. (and you know what a food snob I am.) The portions are huge, I took half home.

Since it was my dad's special day, we HAD to get dessert. Apple strudel with ice cream and a sparkler.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (again) DAD!

I flew home the next day, and suddenly, it was Christmas.
Our friend Erica and the Buche de Noël from our favorite neighborhood French Bakery Maison du Pain. I'm sure you can tell from her expression, why she and I get along so famously.

Christmas nibbles for a casual cocktail party.

Nutcracker, candy, cookies and assorted delightful decor displayed on the bar in the dining room.

That's some of what "got away" from me in December. Oh sure there was that trip to Puerto Rico, New Year's with friends, decorations, undecorating... oh my head... stop, stop, STOP! I can't remember anymore. It's all going blurry...

PS, you're beautiful.

After a week of rain, here's the view I woke up to in Palm Springs.

Oh hello, I didn't see you sitting over there...

It's raining. In Los Angeles. If you live anywhere else you probably don't get what a huge ordeal this is. Rain in LA is like snow in Seattle, or a hurricane in Manhattan. Yes, you know it could happen. You know it has happened in the past. But it doesn't happen often enough for people to just get over it and get on with their lives. Unlike rain in Seattle or snow in Chicago it's a BIG DEAL when it rains in Los Angeles.

We had to hurry up and put in ten bags of gravel in the far back yard for the dogs to use as their potty. If not they'd have come in with complete mud boots instead of just slightly wet mucky boots. We need to monitor the water level of the turtle pond, too close to the top and he'll climb out. Chair cushions go in the garage. Take down the outdoor pavilion drapes, put away your suede shoes! People, did you see what happened to those gorgeous gowns at the Golden Globes? THIS IS THE WATER-APOCALYPSE!

Or perhaps it's no big deal.

This blog has been a little quiet. We went to Vegas the first week of January. True to form every single person who went for the week came home with some form of the "Vegas Crud". The ugly beauty is, every single person returned to far flung corners of the nation returning home to share their "Vegas Crud" with their neighbors. I believe when the next plague begins it will roll straight out of Vegas.

Not me though. I had a sore throat, I fought back. Every day in Vegas I took a Claratin and and Airborne vitamin-C fizzy. I continued my program when I got home. The crud hit me but I deflected, only a minor flesh wound. Lyle got hit much worse. He gave in on day two and just announced, "I'm sick," and that was that. The crud keeps trying to get me. After announcing I had dodged the bullet, last night I got all nasal drippy. Back to my regime this morning, I WILL NOT GIVE IN.

As for the quietness over here, I've been tired. You can't give 123% of yourself for 8 days in a row and not be drained when you get home. Who am I kidding? I gave 150% the first day, 110% the second day. 243% the third day and by the end of the week I was phoning it in with only 60% left in my fuel tank. I forgot it's a marathon and I kept sprinting. Sometimes literally running through the Palms hotel to get where I needed to be.

I tell my fellow bloggers to only blog when they are inspired. If you blog because you "have to" then it becomes a job. A poor paying job at that. I've been uninspired this week so I took the week off.

We are home. We are alive. We are wet. I am uninspired, but I'll be back shortly.

Vegas in three photos

Matt Goss performing in "the Gossy Room".

Future Hermés store at City Center.

Calendar signing at the convention.

Sunrise, Sunset

Except I kinda got it bacwards... Sunset, sky villa, sunrise. That's what ya get for making friends in Vegas.

In case of fire, take this first!

Just picked up my new most cherished possesion in the world!

My Vegas boyfriend, Trent Parks, has hooked me up with my very own SIGNED KYLIE MINOGUE poster!

For those in the know of my unending love for Kylie and the two performances I saw of her US tour last October, yes, I peed my pants just a little when I got this.