Rainbow cake part 1

It has taken, quite literally all day long to make this cake.  It doesn't help that I only have one cake pan, but none the less, this is a time consuming endeavor.  Note to self.  I am kind of at the halfway point, which made me realize that the best photos of the cake will not be taken until Saturday night, when we cut into it.  Hence, part 1 with part 2 to follow.  But here are the photos of progress thus far:

Halfway there!

Starting from the bottom: Red, Orange, Yellow

Blue, Green, and baked Purple which looks brown in the photo.

I'm going for a ROYGBIV theme, but instead of indigo or violet it's a murky lavender color.  So, far, the icing is delicious.  More photos to come after it's cut and eaten!

Shameless Plug - DancePad

I'm not really a game person, but my amazing, brilliant friend's seriously brilliant husband just launched his first ipad game and it's like, break dancing for your fingers.  Download it.  It's free.  Then rate it incredibly high because it's good to support startup comapnies AND seriously brilliant people who run them and it's a crazy fun game even for a person like myself who doesn't super dig games.  Then tell your friends to do the same.

Cake coming soon!

DancePad for iPad by Moonshark, Inc.

Summer birthdays and rainbows

Tomorrow, I'm going to make that cake.  Well...ish.  We are making our 2nd annual Palm Springs pilgrimage on Friday (more about that later) and in lieu of buying an overpriced and potentially not even that yummy cake, I'm taking my mom's tried and true Betty Crocker Starlight cake recipe and knocking it out of the park via "rainbow" delightfulness.

I have never made a cake with more than two layers.  I have only, in fact, made the starlight cake on my own once.  Please keep your fingers crossed for me.  The celebration of four summer birthdays depends on me...

Stay tuned for the actual result photos tomorrow!

Tell me what you want, what you really, really want

Spice Girls Musical!!

Hold the phone.  There is a MUSICAL.  About the SPICE GIRLS.  Oh.  My.  I can't wait.  Apparently it opens in London soon, but the "girls," pictured above, are doing press drumming up excitement.  Excitement drummed.  I am PUMPED.  I hope it comes stateside soon.

June Gloom

I moved to LA on June 17th, 2007.  I remember the day exactly because graduation from the school I was working at was June 16, and I left the following day.  I arrived to what is affectionately referred to around these parts as "June Gloom" which means despite the beginning of summer, and southern California's gorgeous sunny year round weather, it's gray almost every day in June.  Go figure.

This is particularly true near the beach, where I live.  When I was working, my school got "Valley weather" which means it was hella hot almost all the time, and the sun always shone brightly by midday, even in June.

Now that I am home all day with the little guy, June Gloom has been in full effect.  In the morning it's kind of nice - we take our walk and I don't need sunglasses, the baby can have his nap in relative darkness, it's very calm and peaceful.  But by mid afternoon, if the sun still isn't shining brightly, day, after day, after day.  It starts to wear on you...

Unbridled enthusiasm.

From the Marina Del Rey Ralph's.  Wow.

I want to talk about Atlanta...

As you know, we currently live in lovely southern California, specifically a little nook called Playa Del Rey, which is the very bottom of LA proper.  It is very expensive here.  The schools are terrible.  Private schools are very expensive.  Our family (minus my sister) is far away.  We are going to move sometime in the next couple of years.  The question we have asked ourselves for years now, where to?  We met in NY, lived in Princeton, NJ for a year which we LOVED, but both of those places are also very expensive.  And I want a large house.  I mean, LARGE house.  Preferably a new one.  And I don't want to go broke trying to afford the payments on said house.  Hence, we feel like the southeast is our best bet because life is much more affordable there.

Evan, has a job that basically requires a large, metropolitan city.  Otherwise he will do a lot of traveling to different "territories" and that would suck.  I like him.  I want him around.  And vice versa.  So Atlanta seems a logical choice.  Awesomely priced real estate.  AWESOMELY.  Big city, decent amounts of culture and diversity.  Super quick flights to both our families.  So Atlanta we have decided on.

The only thing even worth mentioning, is that I have never actually been to Atlanta.  You might think this makes me hesitant to move there and settle down for seemingly the rest of my life.  Surprisingly, you are wrong.  I am pumped.  In fact, I am ready to go very soon and have been hinting as such to Evan.  We have a little guy now.  I want him to have his own room that's his "forever," I want him to have a yard, a play room, a nice big kitchen to bang pots and pans on the floor of while I'm cooking.
All that good stuff we tend to want as we get older and nostalgic about our own childhoods and the childhood we will provide for our children.

So, if anyone is out there, and lives in Atlanta, or knows anyone that lives in Atlanta, or knows anything about Atlanta, share!!!!  I want to know the scoop.  Here is the extent of my knowledge about Atlanta:

#1 - it is very hot.  Hence, "Hotlanta"
#2- these people are from there:

#3 They have a lot of these:

#4 We could have a house like this:

for TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.  That's right.  $250,000.  A little bit less actually.  Do you know what you can buy in Los Angeles for 250K.  A car.  Literally.  There are zero houses on the market for that much money.  In safe neighborhoods anyway.  Zero.  You can get a run down, tiny, bungalow for like, 600K.  But in Atlanta, you can have a beautiful, NEW, several thousand square foot home.  In a gated community.  With neighbors that are southern and therefore have no choice but to be friendly.

So seriously, if you know anyone that knows anyone that lives in Atlanta, will you send them this link and have them comment.  I want all the scoop.  Where the best public schools are, what the best restaurants are, what neighborhoods are snooty and mean.  I'm pumped.  Atlanta you are on my horizon.  And as I do with all things I'm even mildly interested in, I'm gonna stalk you.

LA Bucket List - Sam Rodia's Watts Towers

For Father's Day, I surprised Evan with an LA "adventure."  Two things to cross of the list of "stuff we've always wanted to see/do but haven't gotten around to it yet."  It turned out only one thing got crossed off, but none the less, we finally got ourselves to Watts to check out these towers.  What you can't from these photos, is that these sculptures are actually meticulously pieced together mosaics!  Every inch is covered with a small colorful detail of some kind, they basically look like little flat marbles and baubles up close.  From a distance, it looks as though the towers are constructed with some sort of construction grade metal or wire.  This is true, but upon closer inspection you find this:      "The Watts Towers installation consists of seventeen major sculptures constructed of structural steel and covered with mortar, adorned with a diverse mosaic of broken glass, sea shells, generic pottery and tile, a rare piece of 19th-century, hand painted Canton ware and many pieces of 20th-century American ceramics -built without benefit of machine equipment, scaffolding, bolts, rivets, welds or drawing board designs - besides his own ingenuity, Sam used simple tools, pipe fitter pliers and a window-washer's belt and buckle."

This installation is really breathtaking and the story behind it so bizarre and unexpected it really captures the imagination.  The pictures we snapped don't do the site justice.  Here are a few from the website.

 DEFINITELY worth a quick trip.  The arts center wasn't open yet when we got there so we just did a quick drive past them and really saw as much as we felt we needed too.  The gate protecting them is practically on the road we didn't even have to get out of the car.  Very very cool, so glad we did this!

Ombre again

Now that I've made a royal case about ombre and its stupidity, these flowers appeared on my morning walk.  Ombre by nature.  Actually quite lovely.

Inspired by US Weekly...

...who featured "Their Private World" (Will and Kate) on the cover this week.  Here is a list of some awesomely fun British words and phrases.

Bubble and Squeak

A Cuppa

The Loo

Cheerio!  - it's just "an informal parting expression"

The Telly

Trousers - a family I had nannied for in college had a British mom, and as a result their 18 month old called pants "trousers"  freaking cutest thing.

Spotted Dick

That's all I can think of right now.  Bubble and Squeak is still my fave.  I can vividly hear the whiny voice of one of The Wind in the Willows characters say it in my head :)

It's all about the benjamins baby.

Old Navy, $45!!!  as if.

Old Navy $30, actually this is really cute, but would never be "supportive" enough

Target $35 still seems pricey for what you're getting..

 Call me cheap, but why on earth are swimsuits so expensive?  And when did this start happening?  There are items of clothing I am willing to pay good money for.  Jeans.  Sweaters.  Shoes.  A great dress.  But swimsuits, no.  They are basically made of plastic.  And there is not a lot to them.  We all know they are not expensive to produce.  Yet, this summer even at TJ Maxx and Marshalls you can't find a basic, cheap-o bathing suit for less than $30.  Last summer I lived in this lovely, $20 one piece from Target.  I was preggo, but it wasn't even a maternity suit, just a big, roomy one piece that was cheap, not ugly, and perfect for a grab and go day at the beach or pool.

Sadly, nursing has deemed this low cut suit very inappropriate and unless I am prepared for an accidental wardrobe malfunction (NO) it needs to be retired.  So I went to Target happily ready to replace it with an equally basic and cheap suit - NONE to be found.  There are very few one piece suits at all at Target this year, same with Old Navy, and the discount stores, places a gal like me would look for a cheap bathing suit.  I finally settled on a "tankini" for like, $45!  Is it really too much to ask for a basic suit that doesn't have a "skirt" and isn't clearly designed for women over 60?

I think Tankinis are kind of dumb.  I don't need to "pretend" I'm wearing a bikini when I should be in a one piece.  I'm fine with a one piece.  That is what is best for my body and my now stretch marked covered belly.  But, se la vie.  It will be a tankini summer.

PS - what on earth is a "monokini?"

Ghetto Hikes

“Next time we out here, I’mma bring my gerbil, Terry. That motherfucka would be going  CA - RAAAAAAAAZY."

Please tell me you've seen this website: 

http://ghettohikes.com/

It's.  Amazing.  Kids rule.

Book Club 30 before 30...

Yesterday my husband was flipping through his internet sites that come nicely packaged through one of his apps on his ipad, and I saw a head "30 Books Everyone Should Read Before Turning 30."  As a member of the about to turn 30 population, I was curious.  What books do they recommend?  How many of them have I read?  Well the original list came from a website I had never heard of and I thought many of the suggestions were lame.  However, a different list appeared in my email inbox this morning and now it feels somewhat as if they are double dog daring me!

Can I do it?  Can I read the books I haven't read before I turn 30 (on August 29th?)  It's not a heck of a lot of time.  There are 18 books on the list I haven't read...some of which I should probably be embarrassed about but I'm not because my high school was very progressive and we read a lot of cool, forward thinking literature that most people have NOT read so there.

But, I'm gonna give it the old college try.  Here are the books I have to read before the end of the summer:

Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
The Trial, Franz Kafka
Don Quixote, Miguel De Cervantes
Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
Ghost World, Daniel Clowes
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
The Illiad and The Odyssey, Homer
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson
The Complete Stories, Flannery O’Connor                

 Okay so that looks like a hefty task, but I'm going to go ahead and dismiss The Lord of the Rings from the list, because I have tried to read it and it just wasn't for me.  Also, I kind of feel like if I've made through this much of my life without read The Illiad and the Odyssey, I'm good.  So that makes it a much more manageable task, eliminating those two(three) whoppers right off the bat.

What do you think??  Can I do it?  Check out the list and read along with me if you dare!!

She blinded me with science!

Our Animal Natures by Barbara Natterson Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers

My home page on Firefox (no Safari is NOT better) is set to nytimes.com.  So every morning, when I open the internet I do a brief skim through of article titles and hopefully have time to read one or two while I drink my morning coffee.  Today, I was delighted to discover an article written by a mom of one of my former students!  This woman is one of those "how DOES she do it all?" women.  She's an incredible mother, very present and purposeful in her children's lives, while simultaneously being a big time, hot shot doctor/researcher at UCLA. 

I dove into the article because she wrote it, not because I actually thought it would be all that interesting.  Surprise surprise, it was fascinating.  She is writing a book on the similarities between human and animal diseases and ailments (this is my pathetic non-medical summary) and in the article outlines how our genetics and evolution play a huge part in many of the struggles we currently face today ie addiction and obesity.  I found myself nodding and acquiescing each time she presented a new argument "that makes so much sense!  omg, that totally makes sense!"  And I am actually excited to read this book.  Give the article a read, I'd love to hear what you think.  I'm always so interested in super super intelligent people examining issues and finding actual reasons and solutions as opposed to the rest of us just complaining and avoiding the way we like to do :)

ps- I first knew this woman was incredibly cool when her son was eating two cookies during lunch one day with each of the presidential candidates faces on them (it was 2008.)  "Where did you get those?"  I asked him, very curious why a 9 year old had political cookies.  "Oh, my mom packed them for me.  We have documentary movie night every Friday and these were leftover from last week."  He replied.  Whhhaaat?  Ridiculously cool.  I went home and told my husband right away, we will 100% be copying that idea.

School's out for the Summer

Me, Giacomo, and my kids on Halloween

 The last day of school at my old school is Thursday.  I was helping my former teaching partner with report card comments and it made me feel all sentimental and such for the kids I loved before the kid I LOVE arrived.  Here we all are at Halloween, I was a "hole in one," if you look closely you can see the flag above Giacomo (my pug dog) that was attached to my costume.  Get it?  The belly was the golf ball and all around it was "the green."

Anyway, before the little guy was born, I had already decided I was not going to go back to work.  But I had SERIOUS anxiety and hesitations about it.  Once upon a time I even told my husband (before he was even my husband)  "I will NEVER be a stay at home mom, I am not one of those women!"  But when the reality of working mother/child care/housework/finances set in, it immediately became clear that my miniscule teacher's salary was not worth paying a sitter to raise my child.  It made the decision really easy.  It didn't make living with the decision easy until after he arrived.  So for the many months in between, I struggled quite heartily.  I knew once he was born I would be appreciative and glad (I STRONGLY hoped I would be anyway) and thankfully, I was.  Taking care of a newborn is no walk in the park.  Not worrying about returning to work was a huge gift.  However, the fact remains that I really loved my job.  I really loved my kids.  And every now and then, like today, remembering the little details of their little personalities that make a teacher's life so full and glorious, I miss them like WHOA.

One day I will go back to work, and who knows, it may even be sooner than later if the economy keeps collapsing in around us.  But maybe I won't go back for many years.  This school year I was a teacher, so when I tell people "I'm a teacher" it's not technically incorrect.  But come Friday, I am officially no longer a teacher.  There are no longer students that would claim me as "theirs."  And yes, I am thoroughly enjoying every second with my amazing, beautiful, incredible child.  But for a moment, every now and then, my heart longs for those amazing, beautiful, incredible children that were mine for seven hours a day, five days a week up until December 1, 2011.  I know they're fine without me.  I know they're happy, and had a great year with my teaching partner and her new teaching partner.  I know they even sometimes miss me too.  So universe, as they leave my former classroom and head off to fifth grade, keep them as loved in all their future classrooms as they were in mine.  They're wonderful, and worthy.  *Bell Rings*  And my time in the classroom is truly dismissed.

Back for a visit, with the little guy.  The blonde curmudgeon in front row holds a particularly special place in my heart.  She, and her grumpy little face, are amazing.