Snow and Swim

Birds ring in the Christmas season.

Today I sat outside in 75 degree sunny weather looking at Christmas decorations while a man talked about going snowboarding tomorrow. Snow capped mountains line the city but the temperatures say SWIM. That's the kind of white Christmas California talks about.

U rah rah Wisconsin

The University of Wisconsin Foundation sent me a touching e-card today. Click on e-card to view it yourself. Walking to work in Los Angeles where I never wear more than my suitcoat has its advantages. Still, I miss the snow and the people in the midwest.

So to this card I say, Go Bucky!
And happy holidays.

Brunswick, Georgia

Wondering where I've been? For most of the month of October, I've been near Brunswick, Georgia at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. My job requires I pass a 3 week training program here to keep my position. Today I graduated - so I'll be keeping my job. Hurray!

During my training I learned self defense, shooting, and correctional law principles. I also learned a lot about myself. You can only imagine.

While staying in southern Georgia, I took advantage of one weekend to visit Savannah - home of the Girl Scouts. I also attended a Jacksonville Jaguar v. Rams football game. On another weekend, I visited Atlanta where a dear friend lives. My boyfriend joined in the adventure, too. We saw the Dirty Projectors in concert and shopped for halloween costume accessories.

Soon I will return "home" to Los Angeles.

On another note, a few members of my family are experiencing health concerns right now. Please keep them in your prayers. My Grandma is awaiting an open heart surgery. She's been in my thoughts every day.

San Diego

Heading to San Diego for a week training.

Happy International Talk like a Pirate Day.

09-09-09

Happy 09-09-09. I'm spending the day in DC going to a soccer game. Hope you're enjoying it, too.

Vegas

This weekend I stayed at the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas during my first trip to the city. Remember to buy a little sequins dress before you visit Vegas. Then have a blast. I went cowboy instead of sequins. It worked.

My favorite part came when we went to the pool to splash away the 110 degree day. The whole weekend felt like I had fallen onto a playground for adults. We are amazing people, we humans, with great imaginations.

Fires

For those of you wondering, the Los Angeles fires are creating a lot of smoke but mainly not reaching me. I can see the smoke from my office downtown. It's a big billowing cloud in the sky. But unlike my friends in Pasadena, I cannot smell the smoke from my house. I am closer to downtown than the outlying hills. So no worries about my safety. Please do keep the other Californians in your prayers, though.

He Hugged Me.

Last night and tonight John Vanderslice (one of, if not my favorite singers) played in my neighborhood for free. He traveled from San Francisco to Los Angeles to participate in a radio show. As long as he was here, he put on free "gorilla" concerts, as someone in the audience referred to them. Basically he played at a "vinyl" store - a record store - on Tuesday and a different one on Wednesday.

The shows were called "gorilla" concerts by someone in the crowd because, I suppose, they weren't widely advertised or hosted in large venues. The band played with acoustic-like instruments: an orchestra bass and a bass clarinet, to name a few. The audience members varied but many were the same both nights.

Tonight he came up to me and hugged me after the show. This drew a confession out of me. "I want to sell t-shirts at your next show." I blurted. Guess who will be selling shirts at a show in February??

First Class is Free

Tonight I attended my first 30 minutes yoga/ 30 minutes spinning class in the neighborhood. Hey, first class is free. Let me tell you, it was a butt-kicking experience.

The studio is called "YAS," which stands for Yoga for Athletes. The founder is a lawyer turned yoga/fashion lady. Through her YAS studio, she is making Yoga more pertinent to athletes.

I consider myself an athlete, a runner. But tonight I found out the reality: I can barely spin a bicycle and it's tough to put my legs behind my ears in yoga. But because the studio sells those cool skull outfits I talked about yesterday, I cannot give up quite so easily.

Defining Hipster

Today I learned that I'm an Angelino... the name for one who lives in Los Angeles. My neighborhood of Silver Lake is said to be a popular hipster place. Thus, allow me to share some stories from this Angelino searching to find her hipster side.

First, I sought out hipsters at a hip event. I attended my first StorySLAM hosted by an org called The Moth. Basically 10 people from the audience get to tell 5 minute stories and one is deemed the winner by audience judges. This started in NY a while back and is apparently very popular with Angelinos. This event at El Cid took me from a strange looking building on the outside to a beautiful 16th Century Spanish Tavern on the inside. I would have never known about this place had it not been for word of mouth. That's the thing about hipsters - you gotta ask around to know where they go.

Next, I sought out the locations of where the hipsters worked their bodies into their cool hipster shapes. I jogged around visiting local gyms I had found on google. The only full service gym sports a super 1970's vibe, and the people there are so hip. One gal walked out wearing short shorts, tights/leggings, and tall boots. One guy walked in with tattoos working their way up his neck, hugging his face like a turtle neck. Down the street at the local yoga/cycling studio, I noticed a matching sports bra and yoga pants in black and white skulls for sale. There I was, competing with skulls, tattoos, and leggings, wearing my brother's elementary school age faded black tank top with some small holes near the belly button area. I think my outfit could compete with hipster exercise clothes.

But alas, I had to finish my journey learning about hipsters with a treat. At the local Pinkberry frozen yogurt joint, the Mariah Carey song "All I Want For Christmas is You" song blared. Maybe that is the secret to hipsters... keep Christmas in your heart all year long.

This is the newly established Angelino, signing out from this tale of hipsters.

Artists

My neighbor is a fantastic artist! He paints Eastern Market and Washington DC. Plan to gobble up a few before I move to Los Angeles

I'm moving to a new neighborhood soon, to find hopefully find this artist! In the neighborhood I want to move to in Los Angeles, Star Trek's Kirk was spotted getting coffee. Find me at the coffee shop. I'm trading Obama for Kirk.

Happy Belated May Day!

Fritz Scholder

Is Fritz Scholder the American Indian equivalent to Andy Warhol? I will leave this to you.



The American Indian Smithsonian's "Changing Exhibit" currently hosts the art of Fritz Scholder. To Purchase prints for me please visit this site. Or to see the exhibit brochure, go here. I hope you enjoy his work as much as I did (two visits so far!).

101st!

This is my one hundred and first post. We win!

The pics will share what I have been up to...
Posted are two pics from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's estate. Jefferson designed the University of Virginia campus, also pictured. Lining the main quad where students play frisbee and hang out on the lawn are single bedroom dorms. These dorms go to the student leaders by application. The rooms have no heat, explaining the wood outside the doors. Also, the bathroom is down the quad, so students walk around outside in their bathrobes on the way to the shower. Fascinating ideas.










Lastly, I share more pics of DC in spring bloom. What better way to share this with my neighborhood than the attend a birthday party for Shakespeare at the Shakespeare (Folger) Library?

Swedish Fish!

This is something to see.

I always wanted a horse.

Some day I will own a horse. Thus far in my years, I have received bails of hay, 200 pounds of horse feed, horse toys that walk on their own, horse calendars, horse stuffed animals, Swedish horses (plus Swedish horse signs) and a horse bridle, but never have I received a bronze horse. Some day I will own a horse.

Winter Weather One Week Ago - Kodak Moments

Lincoln Mania

All the rage is about Lincoln this year (and a little about Darwin), the 200th anniversary of his birth. I've hopped on that bandwagon.



Last week I saw a play called "The Heavens are Hung in Black" at Ford's theater, where Lincoln was assassinated. The play covered five months of Lincoln's life, from the death of Lincoln’s son Willie to the Emancipation Proclamation. Over the next week additional Lincoln adventures really solidified what I learned in the play. Lincoln's humor, love for his children, the relationship with his wife, how he avoided the Marshal's personal security, how he placed papers in his hat, and on and on.





The weekend after seeing the play, I visited Lincoln's cottage. The webpage describes the cottage as a place "Designated a National Monument by President Clinton in 2000, President Lincoln’s Cottage served as Lincoln’s family residence for a quarter of his presidency and is the most significant historic site directly associated with Lincoln’s presidency aside from the White House. President Lincoln’s Cottage is located on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home in northwest Washington, D.C." The grounds also hold the nation's first national cemetary, home to over 5,000 Civil War Union soldiers' final resting place. Today, this acreage is in Petworth, a developing neighborhood. The location is still beautiful, overlooking the city and allowing for cool breezes in the summer.


Today this Lincoln article discussed a photo that may be the last known Lincoln photo before his assassination.

Tonight I saw The Watchmen. It's altogether unrelated to Lincoln. But it is the greatest graphic novel of all time. I recommend the book over the graphic movie. First, thought you may want to know my reading selection has branched out. Second, a woman sitting a few rows in front of me brought her own spray butter and sprayed what seemed like the whole bottle on her tub-o-popcorn. That's a new experience. Lastly, the movie referenced Eleanor Clift, who strangely enought moderated the women in politics panel I attended last week. Small world.


My reading selection has also incorporated the Lincoln obsession. Along with most of America, I'm reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. So far, so good.

Finally, I celebrate Lincoln in my home. On my bedroom wall I have a Lincoln framed picture with a Lincoln quote: "I trust that as He shall further open the way, I will be ready to walk therein, relying on His help and trusting in His goodness and wisdom."

Happy International Women's Day (Friday)

Tonight I attended a Women in Politics panel at the National Archives.



Eleanor Clift moderated the panel, comprised of:


* Marsha Blackburn, U.S. Congresswoman from Tennessee;
* Mazie Hirono, U.S. Congresswoman from Hawaii;
* Grace Napolitano, U.S. Congresswoman from California;
* Madeleine Kunin, former Governor of Vermont and former Ambassador to Switzerland; and
* Jennette Bradley, former Lieutenant Governor of Ohio.



I also saw an old friend who is visiting DC for a few days and volunteering in the 100 days campaign,

Today my friend prayed and demonstrated at the White House. He wasn't one of the people dressed in orange suits, but he was with them. The 100 Days Campaign aims to end US torture of detainees, in Gitmo and where the US holds detainees in other countries. Making no particular comment about my persuasions on the issue, I support that my friend's conviction and perseverance. Fascinating is the fact that he stood outside praying and demonstrating while I researched at my desktop. What a different day we led.

In general, the two politically minded experiences in one night reminded me of how much I enjoy advocacy activities. Time to get back into volunteer mode.

O Canada

Last weekend while shopping I told the clerk that "I don't need a bag." With the use of the words "don't" and "bag" in one sentence, I drove her to ask if I was from Canada.

I laughed really really hard.

Then I said nooooooooooooo in a Wisconsin accent :)

The Business of Layers

Tonight I attended a Kalb Report event - a George Washington Forum on journalism. The topic was "The Business of Business Reporting." Alexis Glick of Fox Business Network, Diana Henriques of The New York Times, Steve Pearlstein of the Washington Post, and Ali Velshi of CNN joined Marvin Kalb to talk about the role journalists in shaping how the American public thinks about business and the economy, particularly at this time. One of thoughts I most enjoyed was shared by Steve Pearlstein who writes for the Washington Post and said that Americans have been spending 6% over our means... meaning we spend $1.06 for every $1.00 we earn. He said we need to spend $0.96 for every dollar we earn... a downsize of our personal economies. An interesting way to think about it.

One of the presenters was Alexis Glick from Fox News. I identified with her as a young professional though she has attained a bit more thus far by way of becoming famous and outspoken. Look at this lady with a husband and three children. I'm placing myself on the Alexis Glick ten year plan for happiness and success.

Then after the intense session on a gloomy economy, a woman approached my friend and I. Perhaps she wanted to ask about my career as an attorney, I thought. Maybe we would engage in conversation about our alma maters, ran through my head. But what she asked perplexed me more than the event. She asked, Where did you two get your hair cut? The layering is fantastic. Unbelievable commentary.

BASE

Tonight I saw six short films at the Banff Mountain Film Festival about extreme mountain sports. The most tempting to me, even topping extreme mountain hiking/skiing, and extreme mountain climbing, was BASE jumping. To be a BASE jumper, apparently you need to jump from each of the four:

* Building
* Antenna
* Span
* Earth


These jumps have led to many fatalities due to the jumpers proximity to their object and numerous other reasons. Also common are arrests and convictions because often the object being jumped from is not an approved one.

Due to the high risk involved in BASE jumping, I am going to opt for jumping up and clicking my heels together but not actually jumping off anything. Baby steps. I cannot even imagine jumping from the Eiffel Tower.

True Confessions

1. I ran Saturday morning in 25 degree weather that clearly erased my ability to function. I fell down. Just fell. Right there near my friend's apartment. I fell. There was no ice. There were no jagged brick sidewalks. I just flew onto my hands and sprawled on the sidewalk with my headphones laying about. True confessions.

2. I postponed buying a cool Lykke Li ticket (Swedish indie rocker) because fees ran the price up to be about $7 more. I let the cheap skate side of my brain get the best of me and the tickets sold out. As a result I didn't get to eat a hamburger for dinner before the concert. I have been hungry for a hamburger since giving blood several weeks ago when the nurse told me to eat more hamburgers. That Lykke concert was clutch because I ate a hamburger before I saw her last fall. But no. I was too cheap to purchase a ticket ahead of time. True confessions.

3. I bought a multitude of John Vanderslice tickets 2 minutes after they went on sale Friday. He sings a song with my name in the title. I bought more tickets than I have friends. True Confessions.

Youth Inaugural Ball

 

Obama on the Jumbo-Tron

Inauguration Day!

Pre-Inauguration Pictures

On the chilly Wednesday evening before Inauguration, I circled in front of the Capitol and around on Third Street to capture the city's preparations. The roads were repaved down Independence Avenue with beautiful red brick painted at the cross walks. Brown chairs littered the Capitol lawn. The Capitol boasted a facelift - the newly built platform where the swearing in would take place - made of wood but acting like white marble. Fences and more fences told of the swarms to come. Restaurants like Chef Spike's Good Stuff Eatery displayed signs with Obama themed foods. And most eye-catching were the hundreds of port-au-potties that lined the mall like a fence. These would later be popular seats for Inauguration revelers. But for now it all stood cold and empty.