I Made Room for The Cougar

May I introduce to you, for the very first time since her move to Tinseltown, The Griffith Park Cougar (II).



Cougar was born in Manhattan, Kansas, and Pepper brought her here for a better life.

Now, I am not a cat person and didn't give them much thought until recently. I've met a couple cool cats in my day... Selina plays "catch," Gilbert is my boyfriend, and Rocky is just like a dog. But for every cool cat there are a million lame ones.

I gave Cougar a chance, and she's the perfect bud. She's cross-eyed, likes to gab, loves to play with the laser pointer and hangy things, and she's super sweet. She is very popular at the groomer's and the vet because she's so cooperative.

I tell her I love her a lot and give her lots of kisses.

I have so much to share that I've run out of memory on my computer! I have been slaving for two weeks uploading past and present pictures. Man is this a chore.

Before I forget, go see Avenue Q. You HAVE to.

Really Exciting and F'ing Scary

It was a LOT of work preparing for Pepper's departure. Cleaning, packing, moving, schleping. Heavy stuff. With all the other things on our plates it came down the the wire as usual.

Drop off was Thursday at 1 am, which means last Wednesday was it. After being released very early for work, Pepper and I had a nice breakfast at Cracker Barrel, met Reel at Walmart, and checked into the hotel. We did the final clearing of the apartment and had an early dinner at Coach's. I asked the guys if we could go bowling since that was really the only thing we could do other than watch a movie and stare at each other and be sad.

We invited a few more friends and headed down to the bowling alley on of all nights, league night. We ditched that place and headed to the bowling alley on post. We played a couple of games and headed back home for final packing.

I was exhausted the entire day and lasting into the wee hours was rough. It was a rushed day but it gave me no time to wallow in sadness.

For the person who is always looking for signs, I got two of them. A silver lining and a rainbow.





We didn't know what to expect on the airfield at 1:00 am. The army is very good at being vague if not entirely elusive. We arrived on post at about 12:30 am, and it was kinda like a scene from Field of Dreams. It was black and empty out except a long line of cars.

I dropped Pepper and his bags off at the hangar and was directed to park across the street. Bags were checked in. As we were standing there waiting for something to happen, we both felt really excited. It wasn't a huge number of people as they are sending off people in increments, but there were enough and it was unlike any other experience. We found out we were given an hour to say good-bye, but it was more like telling tales with the boys. They could have tried a little harder by playing some music or giving us some games to play, but I'll take what I can get.





We said our good-byes, they went into formation, there was a brief speech, and off they went.

But not really. After the crowds left they sat around for 5 hours and then got on a motorcade of buses to Topeka. I got word from Ft. Riley on Friday that my soldier has arrived in Kuwait.

I was so excited, so full of pride and love that I didn't cry. Ok, maybe I leaked a few tears when a little girl was screaming for her father, but I made it back to Junction City in one piece.

It took me a long time to fall asleep, even though it was the longest day and after 3:00 am, and I woke up a few hours later when Reel left. No sleep and no cries made Thursday a shaky day for me. I treated myself to comfort food at Cracker Barrel and then couldn't bear to eat for the rest of the day. Got my nails done. Configured 5 big packages that needed to be shipped back home. Watched Ratatouille on pay-per-view. It was kind of a waste of good pay-per-view since there were so many things available, but it was kinda all I could take at that point. Couldn't talk to anyone on the phone.

It was a weird day but I'm glad I had it so I could get my head back on straight before heading home. I'm also glad I don't have to do that again.

Friday I had a gross breakfast and drove to Manhattan to catch my flight. This airport is so small that you don't even go through security until your plane gets there. The same guy at the ticket counter was the same guy directing the plane, and the same guy doing baggage and the same guy checking us in. Yep, 3 flights a day to Kansas City from Manhattan, and the smallest plane I have ever been on. I think there were 10 of us on the plane with 2 seats left empty. I'm not one for small planes but I'm glad I didn't have to drive to KC.

And now me and Cougar are doing our best to carry on. The week of back to back weddings is virtually upon us.

Status

Well, well, well. What have I been up to?

I've been in the great center of our great country. I've been in Junction City, KS for over a week and I'm winding down my time here. Pfc Pepper is expected to deploy in the wee hours of Thursday morning and I will return home shortly after. At the moment, Pepper is non-deployable because of his right ear, which is no surprise to any of us but of course becomes an issue at the last minute, but maybe he'll finally get a hearing aid and I won't have to repeat myself 10 times.

Calm down. He's still leaving.

Yesterday we loaded the Uhaul with all the insanely heavy furniture Pepper has accumulated. I failed to mention we have a roommate, Pepper's friend who is also deploying. It's actually been nice to have someone else around, especially to help out with things that are beyond me. Like carrying the dresser.

So, most things are in storage including the Saturn, which we left the day before in the middle of nowhere, somewhere near Topeka. Today we clean and pack up what's left and tomorrow we move into a hotel.

I'm ok. I kinda just want this all to be over, you know?

In the meantime I've been occupying my efforts (otherwise known as completely distracting myself or thrown myself wholeheartedly) into photography. I've spent a chunk of change on some toys and will probably buy more toys soon. But the good news is I've got a part-time photography job waiting for me at home! By part-time I mean it won't pay for my rent and probably won't even pay for my weekly groceries but it's only a few hours a week and it's something. I'll be working for Going.com, which just launched it's L.A. division. The application process was long and I worked my behind off at the test shoot, and now it's mine!

There will be lots of good things to come. This insane mind of mine never shuts down.

Oh yes, and WorldWideJag.com is celebrating it's FIRST BIRTHDAY! There's a major facelift happening there and you can preview it by clicking the bottom link on the homepage. It's still in the works but will re-launch soon.

The picture above was taken yesterday. That thing weighs approximately the same as Nicole Ritchie pre-pregnancy. It's not so easy to do the Robot or the Roger Rabbit in it. I tried.

Lucky

Photo by Jessica Alvarado

I am pretty dang lucky, even if I have to say good-bye to him in a few days.

Even if, at the moment, I'm stuck alone in an apartment in The-middle-of-Nowhere, Kansas. Even if I have to play housewife to a couple of soldiers. Even if there's nothing to eat here but fast food (yuck). Even if I have to be a crazy lunatic for the next 15 months.

It's totally worth it for this.

Five Questions

This one is from Valley Grrrl

Leave me a comment saying "Interview me." I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions. If you don't have a valid email address on your blog, please provide one. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

1. If you could have a sitting with anyone in the world, who would you most like to photograph?
Man Kelvis, you start with a doozy. As much as I would like to SHOOT Britney and LiLo, I'll instead say Stephen Hawking. Final answer. John Lennon if he was still around.

If I really thought about it I would have a top 10 list. Hmm, something for the future.

2. What do people most often misjudge about you?
I think people's first impressions of me are usually wrong. On the surface I can be pretty serious and quiet and Renato would go as far as saying I was a bitch, but the more you know about me the weirder I get. Yep, people see me and I know they think I'm a B and a snot (that's only true to some extent). But really I'm a total nerd and goofball.

3. Do you have a karaoke song?
I don't have a signature song yet, but I'm working on it. I'm thinking it would be something by Neil Diamond or Queen. Something feelgood, something to get the crowd pumped. Toto's Africa perhaps? The last song I sang at kareoke was Bohemian Rhapsody with Lorelei. We rocked it.

4. As a future "military wife", I imagine you have an opinion when it comes to the US' presence in Iraq. If you could sit down with President Bush and tell him one thing, what would it be?
I would tell him, "How do you like them apples?!" after beating the crap out of him with a wet bag of nickels. I may even take off my shoe and pound him with that too. Get them the F out, I say. Pepper leaves for Iraq in just a few weeks, and if something happens to him I am not afraid to wail on the President.

5. Are you really "forever 21?"
If I was I'd be 25 pounds lighter.

21 was fantastic but with every year I discover more and have more adventures so I'm not afraid of the future. Besides, all my friends are older than me, and they rock so I'm definitely excited about being further from 21. I just think it would be rad to have that license plate at 60.

Thank you Valley Girl. I miss you.

Follow Up: Best Weekend Ever

Ok ok ok. I have a lot of those. But this one was pretty good.



As I mentioned, Christian was in town for a long weekend and had 3 big celeb sightings! I was fortunate enough to encounter Sandra Oh and Colin Farrell with Christian, and while soaking in some stand-up he also came across Dane Cook. I'm not sure what kind of juju Christian mixes in, but he's one lucky visitor. Last time all we got was good parking karma.

Yep. Colin Farrell at Ralphs. I'll let you take a time out to think about that.

Friday was my last day at work and Lorelei's turn to throw a big bash of the summer. There were lots of people there and the party was still raging into the wee hours.

















It was going on so late in fact that I was ready for 4th meal. Good ol Christian took the liberty of blowing out the candles and turning off lights so people would move towards the door. It worked. A handful of us jogged over to Astro diner for some grub. I don't know why I was the only one who ended up with a Monte Cristo.

The only reason I woke up at a decent hour on Saturday is because of the heat. I picked up Christian and we did the traditional shopping spree at the Hustler store. I picked up some gifts for a certain someone having a bridal shower. I will leave it at that for now.

Saturday night was Justin's belated birthday dinner in WeHo with a handful of friends. It was so so so nice, being outside, sipping sangria, being in the company of cool people I barely know except for the birthday boy, the visitor, and my date my life partner Marie.

Life partner and I then proceeded to the Shermy for Sarah's birthday party. I think I say it every year but CHRIST I adore a lot of leos. I have no more room in my life for one more.



This is decades of friendship right here folks.



Anyway, at Sarah's there was catching up with old friends, a little dancing, a lot of drinking, and some fantastic cake.


Brunch was with my Wildcat Alum bros in WeHo. Dinner was with Sarah, her family and her beau.


To conclude the weekend, we knit and got lit. Lorelei finished her rasta hat!



It's dark, but Mr. Rasta man is looking over Lorelei.

A few more pictures can be found here!

Best Week Ever

I have to take a few steps back. I am getting caught up on cleaning, unpacking, laundry, reading, friends, and now blogging.

I arrived home last Saturday and I was so so happy to be home and see my dog. I really do like being away from home, I love traveling and going to new places, but so many things were waiting for me at home! (Like bills, US Weeklies, and wedding invitations)

SUNDAY
Sunday was a big day of wine tasting with Julie, Lorelei, and Tim. We did a Sideways trip and explored Santa Ynez which is above Santa Barbara. The drive was over two hours to get there, and we wasted no time on the sampling. We started at Gainey Vineyard which was not bad.





We then moved onto Bridalwood, which was excellent. We even bought a bottle of Rose to take with us to lunch.



We lunched in Los Olivos and had fantastic sandwiches.




After we had food in our bellies, we walked around for a bit and stopped in a tasting room. From there we proceeded to Sunstone which was recommended to us by the kind man at Epiphany Cellars.









Sunstone had both fantastic and awful wines. And I'm not too picky about wine. We started with the whites, and the four of us agreed that they smelled awful. Really bad. We confronted some of the staff and they did not offer any kind of information that explained this pungent odor. We then moved on to the reds which were great.

Towards the end of the wine tasting our sweet tooths were calling, and we decided to go to Solvang for a snack. In theory it was a great idea, and Solvang is a cute place to shop and pick up raspberry jam... however, on a hot day with lots of wine and then ice cream in the belly... let's just say it didn't quite mix so well. By the time we all got in the car we were beat and couldn't even pull it together to stop in Santa Barbara. It didn't really matter because it was a beautiful day.

MONDAY


Back to work. Pretty uneventful until I was on my way home and got a last minute invitation to see Snow Patrol VIP style. Lorelei was invited by the bassist of the band, and along we Shannon and I, we dolled ourselves up and ran to the Greek Theatre. Really. There was running involved. The show was actually really good and fun, and afterwards we headed to the courtesy room where we would ogle at Shirley Manson, Tommy Lee, Josh Kelly, Katherine Heigl, and T.R. Knight. Shirley Manson looked great, Tommy Lee was surrounded by a young female entourage, Josh Kelly is cuter in person, Katherine Heigl is tall and skinny and wonderful, and T.R. Knight is wee and I could put him in my pocket. There was a lot going on, some good, some drama, and we had to walk away with no pictures to sell to TMZ.

TUESDAY
Paid a visit to Gillian who just moved back to SoCal from Vegas. Pulled into Huntington Beach and was a little creeped out that the homes looked the same, there was plenty of parking, and kids were playing in the yards. Yeah, I was scared, but it's perfect for Gill. It's totally her speed and she's a mile from the beach. Briefly saw Brayton, met the cat, toured the apartment, talked wedding stuff, lunched, and spent all kinds of money at South Coast Plaza. I'm so glad she's back.

WEDNESDAY
The spending did not end Tuesday. Turnip and I did some damage at H&M in Pasadena. And Urban. We were so traumatized by our spending that we had to make a Pinkberry run.

THURSDAY
Back to work. And really did work.

Christian came to visit for a long weekend. We dined with his host Justin at my favorite breakfast spot, and bumped into Sandra Oh on our walk home. That's 3 Grey's cast members in a week! It's only a matter of time before I meet Patrick Dempsey. He will be mine. Oh yes, he will be mine.

FRIDAY
Worked worked worked. Only because it was my last day at W/G.

To answer your questions, W/G has little going on so I don't know that I'll ever be back. Perhaps someday, perhaps. So many people that I consider family I met at W/G. It's sad to leave it, and sad to leave it with strangers.

No, I am not looking for work. No, I am not scared. I am going to enjoy the summer and be a normal person for once and not a nomad, and try an earn a paycheck by fall.


Friday night deserves its own entry.

Swimming with Stingrays

It's probably the best thing I've ever done.


One of the big things to do in the Caymans is to visit Stingray City. It's a sandbar 30 minutes off the coast and the water is only 3 feet deep.

Last Monday, we were taken on a boating adventure with one other family. There were a total of three stops on our excursion. The first was at coral gardens.


The second was at a barrier reef.


And finally, kickin back with the stingrays.


Approximately 50 stingrays live here, and were drawn here years ago when fishermen would toss scraps overboard. They don't seem to mind the tourists because we bring food offerings, but most people are scared the F out of their minds.


Yep, most people are struck with terror.

However, they are so gentle and soft and they like to rub up against you. They are amazing to watch underwater.



It was so much fun we went back again on Friday, but this time we just hit the last two stops so we would have more time at each.

I leave you with a video of my sister freaking out as she feeds a stingray. Enjoy!

Killed Clever. Fled Country.

After approximately 12 hours of arriving in Los Angeles, I got back on a plane to Grand Cayman Island of the British West Indies. We are on a fam trip to celebrate my sister's graduation from LMU and her exciting upcoming career in accounting.

Hate me all you want. Sometimes I hate myself. Do yourself a favor and get down here or anywhere else outside the country the first chance you get.

I've been lucky to make a big snorkeling adventure every year or every other year.

So we're here, relaxing, soaking up sun, relaxing, hanging out at the beach. It's a super small island with super friendly people and there's no pressure to make a holiday agenda. Just relax.



Our trip is winding down and tomorrow I'm heading back home. I don't really want to leave but I do miss my dog, my pals, good old Silver Lake. I can't believe a good chunk of the summer has passed me by and I've been away.



Oh well. I already miss the stingrays.

Goodbye Memphis

That's it folks. I Killed Clever. It's over.



It's pretty much a blur, and while I do not miss work I do miss working with Richard and Lowell, and hanging out with Turnip every day.

Yep. Over.

I didn't at all mind living in hotels for the last year and a half. Someone does your bed everyday, the dishes, cleans the bathroom... what's the problem?

I will miss the traveling opportunities that Clever has given to me, but something tells me the jet-setting is not over.