The L.A. Dime

Frequent Dime reader and long-time family-friend, Uncle Jay, has a granddaughter by the name of Mabel who, along with her daddy, has formed the band SNOW MONSTER!, and they are now all the rage.  She writes the songs and sings them, and daddy composes the music.  Read this recent review of Mabel’s latest performance, and click to hear her song, No More Sea Monsters.

This time last year I was enduring my epic L.A. Marathon run in sweltering heat. My dad came out to support me then, a life-long coach, providing massages, encouragement and a calming influence. Before we even made it home from the race, we had decided that next year (this year), he would come out again and we would ride the course in the Acura L.A. Bike Tour. This morning we accomplished our mission, alongside my brother, Brian (now an excellent cyclist himself), who made the trip as well. The temperature was much cooler, and the course far more fun on wheels instead of feet. Amidst 15,000 other riders, we finished in a little under 90 minutes (the Marathon took me over 5 hours).

When we lost my grandmother, dad’s mother, Libby — known to family as “Me-Me” — last year, Brian had the idea that we memorialize her, and the chain of markets she owned with her late husband, Lewis, in the 40′s and 50s. Thus, Team Riddell’s Markets was born, with jerseys designed by Mark Dempsey. Joining us today were Jan, Mark, and Atila — worthy teammates, and now welcome members of our family. Here are some shots from the ride:

Friend of the Dime, The Cheese Fry, is much distressed that the George W. Bush Presidential Library will be located on the campus of his alma mater, SMU.  Outraged, he sent me this link to the site, the front page of which, I think, makes Obamadamus look like a credible source for information.  I know many of the Dime faithful are Red-State Bush supporters, and that’s fine by me, but I hope even they can admit that this is absolutely ludicrous.

This post will now serve as the host for all fishing conversations with Scott Hait, as opposed to the one where I endorsed a candidate for President of the United States. Scott has recently discovered the L.A. Dime, and set off a flurry of correspondence. He has a new baby boy named Aaron, to go with an older one named Evan. He has not figured out how to use his camera yet, so we have no pictures, but I’d like to encourage him to start his own blog, so I went ahead and set it up for him.  I say we email him relentlessly until he complies.  I, for one, would read it every day.
http://getate.blogspot.com/

Our good friend, Jan, just returned from a trip to visit our good friend, JT, in Portland, where JT now makes his home and is Nike’s new Worldwide Music Tzar. These photos leave me wondering if JT still has his job, and how, exactly, Jan managed to make it home.

But she’s not ours. Had you going, didn’t I?

This is Julia, born to my life-long friend, Beth, and her husband, Bob, on August 9th. She was 7 pounds and 9 ounces then, but recent reports have her at a pound and a quarter heavier, and an inch longer already. Jules joins her older brother, Hank, in the family, though he doesn’t seem to be too happy about it. Congrats and best wishes to Bob, Beth, and you, too, Hank.

we are so very fortunate to have our family and friends plan not one, not two, but three showers for our little Sophie!! Each one was unique and special….read on for my favorite moments from each:Shower # 1 – Hosted by Saundra and Me-Me; having family and long-time friends help celebrate our happiness over the soon-to-arrive little one, every guest creating their very own onesie for Sophie, the poem/message from Sophie (courtesy of proud Grandma Saundra), the large & very tasty selection of foods, the jungle/safari cake and just plain being with everyone that Brad and I love (and miss) so dearly.

Shower # 2 – Hosted by Lupita, Chong, Kelley and Laurie; the “Welcome Sophia” banner that everyone signed with a message, the fun games (the video of Brad carrying a water balloon between his knees almost makes me pee my pants!), all the tasty treats (including that fabulous home-made cake) and all the cute safari animals used for decorations that we got to bring home and now live in the nursery.

Shower # 3 – Hosted by Faleena and Kelly; the hand-made & absolutely adorable invitations, the games (boy, who knew having a friend put a diaper on me would get so personal), watching everyone create onesies that are truly one-of-a-kind, and a super-yummy & beautifully decorated cake from Porto’s.

Brad and I feel so incredibly blessed to have all of you along for this journey. It’s been a long 1.5 years, and you all have been there through the joy, the pain and now the joy again. We couldn’t image doing this without each of you. Whether it’s an encouraging hug, a sweet card, a gift, an offer to cook or babysit or just sharing in our joy — you all are the very best and we thank you so very much for everything, from the bottom of our hearts.

…my very oldest and best friend finally came to visit me in LA!! Yes, Kelly Z. left her 3 adorable girls in the wonderful hands of their dad and grandmothers, so she could enjoy a 4-day get-away to the hot west coast. Although it certainly wasn’t under the best circumstances (our beloved Me-Me had just passed away), we tried our hardest to enjoy the sites, while continuing to remember her throughout each day.

I showed her all the usual touristy sites (Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive, Hollywood, Venice Beach, Santa Monica), but we also added the Warner Bros. Studio tour which was pretty cool. Most of all though, we just enjoyed having time to really catch up and share what’s been happening in each other’s lives. My two favorite moments of the trip were probably getting the same Henna tatoos (yes, we’re still in 7th grade!!) and having a little girl in Beverly Hills ask us if we’d like to buy a lemonade for $ .50!!! Worst part – getting sunburned on the beach.

Kelly was my first friend when I moved to the US in 1989, and actually came up to me in the lunchroom at Connor Middle School to ask if I’d like to sit with her and her friends. I will never forget that moment as it was my first day out of the comforting ESL class I had been a part of until that moment. Since then, we’ve managed to remain close through different high schools, colleges, and now 3,000 miles. We still talk on the phone at least once every week, and the post office is making a bundle on the cards we mail to each other frequently.

I have always been one to prefer fewer, but deeper friendships and I am proud to know that Kelly has been there with me through it all. To have someone who knows you so well and understands you so well is truly a gift. I actually have two people like that in my life — my husband is the other – and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to welcome Kelly to my LA home and show her our LA life.

Been lots of Kentuckians infiltrating L.A. of late, including Lexington’s Vice-Mayor, Jim Gray, who had dinner with Tina and I at Lucques last week. It’s fine dining to be sure, but not so hip and dripping in image consciousness as to be off-putting like many of L.A.’s more pricey establishments. And to be honest, it’s not all that pricey considering the atmosphere and excellent food. I had duck. Tina had chicken. We both found the heirloom tomatoes to be the best part of the meal.

A week or so before that, we joined a posse of friends to see Wicked at the Pantages theater. We ate at The Velvet Margarita before the show. It was disappointing. I’ve had better tamales from Trader Joe’s freezer, and our friends Mark and Nancy had to go to their favorite Mexican restaurant a few days later to eat some good molé in order to get The Velvet’s bad molé out of their system. Not worth the wait or the money.

Wicked: loved a lot of the music, adored the performers, thought Winnie Holzman’s dialogue was fantastic, but there were many aspects of the story that just didn’t make sense to me. Some musical-lover friends of mine claimed that story is always subverted to character and spectacle in such productions, and in this case, their notion definitely holds true. I will say, though, that the idea for an Oz behind-the-scenes, having come from a novel, of course, is almost as brilliant as a school for Wizards. FYI — Potter #7, not so good. Average. But I understand. She’s tired from counting all that $.

Our friend, JT, recently sent me a link from The LAist about a wonderful Japanese Garden right here in Van Nuys. Mom and I went today, and it’s gorgeous. Water, fish, bonsai, sunshine, grottos, etc…. You’d almost forget you were in the middle of a large city if it weren’t for the airplanes and the sounds of the sewage plant next door (which you can see from an observation tower in the garden — not so pretty, but surprisingly, you can’t smell much and it’s not terribly loud either). I highly recommend you pay a visit some lazy day and repose by the waterfalls contemplating life and spider webs.

Cousin Shannon Galbraith-Kent visited for a few days, enriched our lives with tales of her PhD. in Ecology and Evolution, and braved the public transportation system to take the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. Yes, she took a bus. Two in fact. She lived to tell about it, and then to make her way to a conference in San Jose (by plane).

Check out the Op-Ed I wrote for the most recent issue of Business Lexington. This issue also features an interview with Lexington’s Vice-Mayor and long-time friend, Jim Gray.