Saturday, July 31, 2010

OOMBBD


OOMBBD, originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

Outfit of my brothers' birthday dinner.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Stamps

Would you like to hear something ridiculous?

Travel and Leisure wants to publish this picture:



That's the same picture some other organization wanted to use in one of its pamphlets a year or so ago.

People love the stamps, it seems!

I wonder if they'll be interested to know that my main priority when visiting the World's Largest Ball of Stamps was the bathroom? Because I had a MEAN case of whiskey ass from the World's Largest Ball of Twine shenanigans the night before.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Lauren and I are waiting for Kenny Loggins.

I'm feeling footloose...

Hahahahahahah! She's my date for tonight's Kenny Loggins concert.

I had to delete a bunch of stuff to make this blog-appropriate...

...so ignore the random stuff about the links up top. The point here
is twofold:

1. I'm Ramona'ing myself. Except without the crazy eyes. RHONY fans
will understand.

Fat arms? CUT THEM OFF!

Stupid tattoos? LASER THEM OFF!

30 pounds between me and my drivers license weight? MELT THEM OFF!

2. Carrie cracks my shit up.

And for the record, I have to lose the 30 pounds before I can have my
chicken wings cut off, but I was DELIGHTED to learn that the procedure
is "only" $6k. So really there's only 30 pounds and $6k between me and
a tank top!!

If I'm going to visit Alyssa in Guam and Mordan and Baby Mordan in
Australia in 2011, I'll need to be tanktop ready.

So those are longer term, but I'm gonna call about getting the tattoos
removed (started, anyway) STAT!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

It's been a day.


It's been a day., originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

Good Thing: I got a KICK ASS compliment from a super big boss today
and word traveled so quickly that I became today's "Something to
Celebrate" in the staff meeting.

Good Thing: Everyone loved my shoes and my necklace today. Yellow
shoes start conversations with people all over the place.

Bad Thing: I confirmed my suspicion that Joe has a new girlfriend. I
figured it would probably happen eventually because as much as I
(still) love him (because I'm a fool), I thought we probably wouldn't
be the spectacular long term fit I was SO SO SO SURE about six months ago.

The sting of being replaced just a few weeks after we broke up? It's
pretty rough.

So tonight I give myself permission to cry over the 14 Valentines and
then tomorrow I'll wake up and feel better.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

BEHOLD: The beauty


BEHOLD: The beauty, originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

And the flattering cape!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Try Meditation: CHECK!

Hey Internet, hows about a post with some actual WORDS?!

1. I'm up to my eyeballs with this new job. This is equal parts awesome and OMG.

2. I just booked my flight to Palm Springs for my silent journey. I wasn't originally planning on flying but this new job is so CHA-CHING that it's actually a better value for me to buy a plane ticket and an extra night in the hotel and then work from there on Friday than it is for me to take Friday off to drive down.

3. I also need to book my flight to Portland because my old friend Joanie has surprised us all by saying "I know I've been engaged for 75 years but we're finally getting married! On a farm in Oregon! In six weeks!"

So now I'm going to Oregon too.

Plus Tahoe for a couple of nights.

All this travel means that I will be a busy, busy bee next month.

4. But back to my silent journey:

I've been making an effort to open myself up to new things. I'm searching for a RESET button and I'm willing to look under a lot of rocks to find one. The rock I looked under on Saturday afternoon was something called singing bowl meditation.

Bear with me here:

There are seven quartz bowls and the healer "plays" them and that make loud, vibrating sounds. Each bowl is supposed to awaken or stimulate or correct one of your seven chakras. So the healer plays them while you meditate and focus on your breathing and let the bowls do their healing.

I signed up for this because A) I had a Groupon and B) the Yelp reviews were all GLOWING -- everyone felt peace afterwards and I'm looking for peace so I said SURE, WHAT THE HECK?

So I went and the lady was lovely and my co-mediatators were lovely and we meditated and I tried really hard to focus on my breathing but I kept getting lost in this dream-like spin of all sorts of random thoughts. It was like I was Jody Foster in that movie Contact and had slipped into a black hole and it was all full of light and faces of people I knew and grocery lists and 5th grade homework assignments and all sorts of weird stuff.

So of course I couldn't help wondering if this was just the way the mind works when it's about to fall asleep and do I have this same thing happen every night but I just fall asleep too quickly to notice?

I'd refocus on my breathing for a minute but then I'd be back to watching this trippy movie playing out underneath my eyelids.

The other weird thing was that the room was cool but I was hot. At one point the healer lady came over to touch one of my chakras and the moment her hands touched me I WHOOOOSHED back out of the trippy movie and I felt COLD and the light coming through my eyelids felt BRIGHT.

When the meditation was over we all opened our eyes and she asked us each how we felt. I told her I felt fine. Hot, but fine. I didn't tell her that I was wondering if the movie playing in my head was a typical twilight type thing or if it was the singing bowls doing their magic (I'm leaning toward it having been a typical twilight thing).

I didn't feel full of peace or tranquility or anything. I felt fine.

The others all had glowier things to say. I couldn't think of anything to say other than I felt fine.

All in all, it was all pretty much just a random thing I can say I tried.

Ooh, except one of the chakras is at the top of your head and it's one that's supposed to help you "just know" when something is right and I will say that I did have a "I just know it" moment when I was driving home, but then when I got home I chuckled to myself as I hairsprayed that exact spot (a girl needs volume on the crown of her head) and now the "I just know it" is gone.

5. In other news, Lauren and I are going to see Kenny Loggins on Thursday. There will be singing, but probably not meditation.

6. Things that do not involve singing OR meditation include the presentation I'm supposed to be working on right now. Yay for PowerPoint!

BPPOTD


BPPOTD, originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

Back Porch Photo of the Day

Don't judge me for my crunchy hair. That's what it looks like until it
has the chance to dry all the way and turn awesome.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

I am playing with Jordan...

...and I have the worst letters ever.

And now I go to Target...

...Unshowered!

Good morning internet!


Good morning internet!, originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Fact of the Day


Fact of the Day, originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

Friday, July 23, 2010

If I were sending...


If I were sending..., originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

...my coworkers would know that I was working in my closet.

My brother swears by this stuff...

I've been choking down shots of this stuff for a month or so and I
don't feel any different.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

I already SUCK at this game but what am I supposed to do with THIS?

Anyone want to play with me? So far I'm only playing with strangers.
You can tell I won't be hard to beat.

SF does not = Cali

No self respecting San Francisco resident would ever wear this shirt. I'm even willing to go so far as to say no self respecting northern California resident would wear this shirt.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Monday, July 19, 2010

This angle makes my legs look like tree trunks.

Big, white tree trunks.

But anyway, I have a bruise and a big ol' LUMP. It was a getting-into-
the-shower injury, which is extra lame because I've only successfully
entered that same shower like 1,000 times.

I gasped in pain when it first happened but now it's just unsightly.

Leslie will be surprised to see which necklace I'm wearing!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Keep your panties on, ladies.

(Though I've heard that some JB shows are being canceled...is the
phenomenon over??)

BPOTD?


BPOTD?, originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

This BPOTD is pointless because you can't see anything, but I'm
posting it anyway because:

1. I just got ready for the Stella & Dot gala in the Panera bathroom.

2. I wanted you to know that I TRIED to include the shoes in the shot.
It's a shame you can't really see them because they're awesome.

Donut hole chasers


Donut hole chasers, originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

There are 1,000 people here and I'm the ONLY one who thought to FourSquare this??

Friday, July 16, 2010

Half price bling, yo!

Okay peeps, I have a number of Stella & Dot samples that aren't continuing to the fall/winter line. I'm keeping a couple for myself but I'm going to offer these ones up at trunk shows...before I do that though, I thought I'd give first dibs to my peeps for half the retail price.

The Uma for $24:



I'm not going to sell off the coordinating flower because I don't think it has held up all that well, but if you're dying for one, they're still available on the site.


Gemma Stone Hoop necklace for $29:



The Gemma is already sold out so if you want it, it's Sample City, sweetheart.

It hurts my heart to get rid of the Demi (I think that's "demi" as in "half" and not as in "Moore"), but it has to be done. Anyway, the sample Demi is $39.



Leslie gets first dibs on this one but given the 75 other necklaces she has ordered in the last couple of weeks, I don't want to hold her to it. So anyway, for whoever ends up with the Della, she's $49:



I would also warn you that Della is gorgeous and I love her, but she's a little bit deceptive. She'll tell you that she's "triple the beauty with luxe glass pearls and faceted smoky glass beads" but the big beads (the outer strand) seem more like plastic resin, if you ask me. She's still heavy and glamorous though, I promise.

So there you go, peeps. I just ordered an OBSCENE number of samples from the fall/winter line so I'd love to sell off these samples and pretend I paid that much less for the new line.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Not my crab captain of choice, but I still love me some Captain Phil...

I was shocked when I heard that Captain Phil died and had been "looking forward to" seeing how the show would handle it. The story has been headed in that direction for the last four or five episodes but last night was the night he finally died. On TV, anyway.

I was pleased to see multiple TV critics write about how wonderful (and heartbreaking) the episode was because I was watching the whole set-to-Johnny-Cash part and thinking that DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN, somebody had better win an Emmy for this.

But this part of the Gawker editorial KILLS ME:

We all dread being on the receiving end of that call, every day. Even when your loved ones are healthy, every time your phone rings unexpectedly, it's a little torture about what surprise might be hanging on the other end of the line that will change everything forever.

Because this is 100% me.

Every time the phone rings too early or too late, my heart stops for a minute.

My BFF


My BFF, originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

I am not sending


I am not sending, originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Hippo

July was supposed to be awesome but I've been called fat TWICE in the last 72 hours.

Twice that I know of anyway.

Most recently: I was running around the Rosegarden like I usually do and a group of women were getting out of their car as I ran by. They said something in Spanish -- I'm not exactly sure what they said but I definitely heard "mira" which means "look" and "hippo" which isn't Spanish, but it isn't flattering either.

And then they all laughed.

And then I spent the rest of that lap trying to talk myself out of thinking I understood what they said but when I passed them again they all stared at me, I just couldn't stand the thought of the three more laps and passing them three more times of them staring at me and thinking that I was a hippo so I walked back to my car and took myself home.

I am disappointed in myself because normally, when I feel myself being judged while running, it's *easier* to keep running...because I'LL SHOW THEM!

But not today. For no particular reason. Grr.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Blah.

If I’m reading my Facebook friends’ status updates correctly, I am one of the few people ON THE PLANET who believes that the Oscar Grant shooting was an accident. I keep looking for editorials or articles or ANYTHING that calls out the bullshit, but I’m just not seeing it.

It was a mistake a police officer doesn’t get to make, but a mistake nonetheless.

A mistake he handled poorly, but still a mistake.

The list of things that make Oscar Grant a lowlife is a mile long but I think all that is beside the point. He was accidentally shot and he died. This is a tragedy for his family and I am sorry for them.

I will not protest the “RIP Oscar Grant” sentiment out there because somebody loved him.

He should not have died that night, but given Oscar Grant’s life choices, I don’t think he was going to be around long enough to see many more birthdays anyway.

I *do* have to take issue with all the “Justice for Oscar Grant” messages that are flying around, all of them wrapped up in accusations of racism.

I do not believe he was “executed” or killed because he was black.

I do not understand why he is being turned into a martyr.

I was pleased to see that what was expected to be a legendary riot turned into a primarily peaceful gathering, but I am nervous about how this will continue to unfold – particularly after his sentencing. I believe that those who took the opportunity to riot and loot last night were not upset at the perceived injustice, but were instead just assholes looking for a fight or a reason to break some glass and steal some sneakers and organic groceries.

My sympathies have been with Johannes Mehserle throughout this whole ordeal. What a horrible (and stupid) mistake he made…the day before his first child was born, even. I think he screwed up BIG TIME (the shooting itself, but also his panic and attempt to cover his ass), but I do not think he’s a murderer. I can’t even continue to read accounts of the incident or the recent news coverage because looking at pictures of Mehserle makes me want to cry.

I feel so bad for him and for his family.

Things I Want to Happen, However Naive and Farfetched They May Be:

1. For people to stop bringing race into every incident between white people and non-white people.

I DO NOT CARE WHAT COLOR YOUR SKIN IS. I’ll admit that I’ll judge you for your behavior, your breath, your manners, your fingernails, the wash of your jeans, your use of styrofoam coffee cups and your grammar. But the color of your skin? I DO NOT CARE.

2. For Johannes Mehserle to figure out how to put all this behind him.

Postscript:

I drafted this post earlier today but didn’t publish because of work and this and that and blah blah blah. I just Googled for updates on the whole thing and found that a handwritten letter from Mehserle to the public has been published.

Tell me you don’t think it was an accident, that he’s sorry and that he’ll live with the regret forever.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Corporate Vanity

My old badge picture wasn't HORRIBLE, but that's only because there was a shadow on my excess chinnage and you couldn't really see it:



But daaaamn, I'm so happy I got to retake it because this picture is way cuter!

BPOTD!


BPOTD!, originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

I'm sorry to say, this might be the best I can do now. No full length
mirrors in this new building!!!!!

Monday, July 5, 2010

1-5

I was cleaning out my desk this morning and started going through the stack of concert and event ticket stubs I've collected over the years. I kept thinking "This is when I BLAH BLAH BLAH" or "This was the day So-and-So said BLAH BLAH BLAH" so I decided that I'd work my way through telling those stories here.

And by "stories" I mean "probably disjointed thoughts dislodged from my brain by looking at the ticket stubs."

Here are the first few, in no particular order.

August 10, 2002:



Joanie had moved to Portland for a while so we made plans for me to fly up and for her to take the train down to Seattle. We stayed at the Westin -- possibly using her dad's points for a free room? I don't remember, but I know that we did get complementary pretzels and beer because her dad had an ass load of Starwood points.

We spent the day shopping for Burning Man outfits on Capitol Hill and then had dinner at a sushi restaurant before heading over to the theater. We had no idea who Guster was (SO SORRY LIZZIE V!!!!) and I remember that we drank red wine in the lobby while we waited for John Mayer to start.

We drank A LOT of red wine and then all hell ended up breaking loose. I believe there was a cab ride to 7-11 later that night and when I got home to San Jose there was a GIANT LUMP with an impressive bruise on my back. We have our theories for how that happened, but when I think "Joanie and Elizabeth see John Mayer in Seattle" I think "It's a miracle we're not dead."

Labor Day-ish, 2007:



This was my last year at Burning Man. It was the year I sat around looking at all the high people and thinking that there were plenty of other places I'd rather be. There were moments of awesome, but not so many that I could look past the moments of SUCK. I remember sitting in my MaxxDaddy chair and surveying our camp, deciding what was going to be thrown directly into the dumpster when we got home and what I might want to keep.

November 10, 2007:




This was the first of two times I've seen Billy Joel in concert (and the BEST of the two!). It was a life list item for me so I bought the tickets months and months in advance and ended up bringing Joanie with me because she was one of the few of my friends who would go with joy in her heart and not just out of pity for me, her Billy Joel loving friend.

I remember that it was POURING rain that day, which you could probably tell from the state of the ticket stub.

I remember that we took the bus back to my apartment from BART and by the time we walked in my front door, we were DRENCHED.

I remember that Joanie suggested we take our pants off before walking on the carpet so our wet, bussy, BARTy, concerty jeans didn't drag along my carpet.

July 18, 2009:



I'm not a huge Kenny Chesney fan but I found cheap tickets so I asked my country loving friend Kathy to join me.

I made BFFs with the two girls next to us and we all added each other as Facebook friends right then and there but then I deleted them a few days later because they were far less awesome by the light of day.

I smuggled a flask of something-or-other into this concert by shoving it into my bra.

Country music fans are DRINKERS. What a bunch of drunk, hardly clothed, probably underage ladies! SHEESH!

December 14, 2000:



I'm 99% sure this was my first Sharks game and I only went because my employer at the time bought tickets for everyone. I remember we stood up to go to the concession stand mid-play and when we got to the bottom, an usher handed us a card telling us to stay seated during the action.

Oops.

I also remember this other chick I worked with didn't care about the hockey etiquette and started a shouting match with someone who told her to SIT DOWN.

And look! This was back when the Arena was actually still called the Arena!

In the garden with Grandma



Saturday, July 3, 2010

Pie!


Pie!, originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

I just made a lime and marshmallow pie! The recipe called for me to
make my own graham crackers and then crumble them into a graham
cracker crust but I think the recipe writer was smoking crack so I
used a leftover frozen pie shell instead.

Also note: I made a strawberry cake that will be frosted tomorrow!

Tattle Tale

I was loading my groceries into my car in the Lucky's parking lot today and I heard a CRUNCH. I turned around and saw that a car had hit the car next to it as it was pulling into a spot. I watched and loaded as the driver and her passenger pulled all the way into the parking spot, got out to look at the damage (a big swipe of paint and, as I later saw, a dislodging of the bumper) and then got back in the car and drove away.

Hmmm.

I've been the victim of a true hit and run and a few anonymous parking lot swipes and they are SO SO SO RUDE and inconsiderate and blood boiling so I got in my car and followed the hitter and runner to the next light and snapped a picture of the license plate.

I saw the guy (who was now the driver) seeeeeeeeeee me in his side view mirror and I hope his heart was beating hard and wondering if I was doing what he thought I was doing because as soon as the light changed, he drove off.

I did a u-turn and went back to wait for the swipeeeeeeee to appear, the whole time trying to decide if I wanted to get involved and if I did get involved would that make me a tattle tale or would that make me a good citizen?

I ultimately decided to tell the lady that I'd seen what happened and that I had a picture of the car's plate.

She was upset but grateful.

When I got home I asked my moral compass, AKA my dad, if I did the right thing or if I had been a tattle tale and he said that I had absolutely done the right thing.

Whew.

Good deed for the day: CHECK!

As close as I ever want to get to Chlamydia.

Friday, July 2, 2010

OALPOTD


OALPOTD, originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

w/ Walkera!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

DRPOTD


DRPOTD, originally uploaded by dumpstar_drummer.

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