:: Giddy Girlie ::

countdown to Comic Con

2009-07-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

Comic Con is nearly upon us once again! Remember all the fun we had last year? Well this year it's going to be EQUALLY FUN if not maybe even MORE SO than last year.

Ryan looking sinister at the Top Cow booth

Firstly, there's the fact that it's Nerd Prom. Secondly, Ryan was nominated for a Harvey Award so... you know... we'll be able to be all "oh, excuse me, Harvey Nominee coming through! Step aside! Do not make eye contact!" Thirdly, Ryan has a new job that will be 'official' once it is announced at Comic Con. I'm not allowed to say who he's working for yet, but let's just say that they're a company that produces comic books and they use artists and writers to create those books [*winks knowingly*].

Need a refresher of why Comic Con is so awesome? You can watch a slideshow of our 2008 Comic Con adventures!

Or, re-live the memories via my crummy blog posts!

Comic Con 2008 - Thursday
Comic Con 2008 - Friday
Comic Con 2008 - Saturday
Comic Con 2008 - Sunday whoops. Looks like I forgot to post something and then got side-tracked by Monkey's death and Ryan's birthday and all the usual excuses.

Fun List: Orange County Fair

2009-07-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Sunday we headed over to the OC [don't call it that] Fair for some good, ol' fashioned fair fun, including Twittering live our various food finds (aka: tw-eating).

We saw Weird Al's Brain, which looks exactly like you'd expect: Hawaiian shirt, curly hair, and crazy eyes! Actually, it's a 3D movie that explains how the brain works (with cameos by Tom Lennon, Patton Oswalt, and more) and one of the best brain songs that I've ever heard. Look for this movie coming to a town near you (tour schedule is available on their website).

After Al's Brain, we got down to business: eating. Kate tw-eat'ed (tw-ate?) everything as we went along and her rating system is hilarious.

Fried White Castle Burger: 1 out of 5 greased pigs
Tasty Chips: 4 out of 5 greased pigs
Funnel Cake: 4 out of 5 clogged arteries
Key Lime & Red Velvet mini cupcakes: 3.5 out of 5 aching teeth
Meatball slider: 3 out of 5 pepperonis
Lemonade from cupcake stand: 4.5 out of 5 curdled tongues
Largest other fruit: 5 out of 5

We saw baby chickens and goats and pigs and even a calf that was trying to suckle on a girl's shoe and walked through the crafts building and looked at all the collections. We didn't see all the art, so I guess we'll have to go back (aw, shucks!) another day. We saw some interesting people and also some very interesting people. We got some free nail polish (from this kinda cool nail art stamp-thingamajig. I got a strawberry.) and saw a Paul Bunyan quilt and got henna tattoos. I even got a chance to put on a How To Eat Funnel Cake clinic, while wearing my funnel cake earrings! We were all so sad that the day had to end, so Ryan and Kate decided to go down the Big Slide. I stayed at base camp to photograph it all, but my camera started 'thinking' in the middle, so I only ended up with a couple of pictures. Oh well - I guess we'll just HAVE TO GO BACK!

More Fun List photos over on Flickr!

Fun List: Marc Davis Exhibit & Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour

2009-07-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Kate, Ryan, & I started The Fun List of all the things that we want to see/do in appreciation of all of the lovely places that we have access to: museums, libraries, gardens, amusement parks, etc. and this weekend we checked a couple of things off our list!

Marc Davis Exhibit at Forest Lawn Museum
Marc Davis is, hands-down, my all time favorite Disney animator. When I first started my love affair with Tinker Bell, I learned that he had been the designer for the playful pixie and numerous others of my favorite Disney characters (Alice [from Alice in Wonderland], Aurora [Sleeping Beauty], Cruella DeVille [101 Dalmations], etc.) including the hitchhiking ghosts inside the Haunted Mansion. Aside from his Disney work, he is a fabulous artist and we got to see a few of his pieces (including his personal collection of tikis) at a Tiki exhibit at Forest Lawn a couple of months ago which were astounding. So when we heard the museum was hosting a gallery of his original paintings, we HAD to go. And man... there isn't much to say except that my brain melted out of my ears. He played with a lot of familiar artistic styles, but in my opinion, his were better than some of the better known artists of the genre (Picasso, etc.). The whole museum was an overload of wonderfulness and something that I am truly appreciative that we got to see!

After this, we headed off to Santa Clarita to the last Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour...

Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour
Did you have a Farrell's near you when you were growing up? There were 130 parlours in the US at one time and today only 2 remain: one in California* and another in Hawaii. When I was young, we would go to the Farrell's in Cerritos (in my mind it's attached to the Cerritos Mall, but it might have just been nearby?) and it was a sensory overload. There is ragtime music playing and Americana memorabilia everywhere. The servers dress like turn-of-the-century soda jerks and when someone has a birthday, they all march around the restaurant with a giant bass drum, creating a parade to the lucky boy/girl. If someone orders a big ice cream dish, alarms go off and sirens wail and a team of Farrell's employees serve it to you like royalty (watch this old commercial for Farrell's to see what I mean).

Not much has changed over the years, I am happy to say, although I did have to laugh (often and loudly) at the player piano versions of modern songs (including Beyonce and Pink Floyd). We had a very good lunch and then an overload of ice cream. We met up with Miss Bliss and Tianana & her husband and had more fun than should be legal.

After eating a metric ton of hot fudge, we went to the arcade next door and had a blast. Kate and Ryan played Dance Dance Revolution and then we all crammed into a photo booth (which, as per regulations, turned into complete pandamonium, bringing to mind Buster Bluth being terrorized by a sheep on Catalina Island). Then we used up the remainder of our game tokens playing skee ball and earning over 500 tickets! We each chose some goofy stuff from the prize counter (miniature shoes, parachuting soldiers, etc.) so we all had souvenirs from a lovely day.

After that was done, we just couldn't stand to go home, so Ryan suggested a movie. Ryan, Kate, and I went to see The Hangover which is so funny that when we left the theater, we all were massaging our tired faces and were exhausted. Ed Helms and Zach Galafinakis are two of my fave comedians and they did a roaringly great job. THIS is an example of comedy done right: was there a redemption-cheesy ending? Yes. BUT they pulled it off without it being stupid. I won't spoil anything, but if you go, please pay attention to the wedding band. Oh. Mah. Gaw.

After the movie, it was really late (1am?) and we were punchy as all get-loose, and that was when I remembered that I had bought these little pencil toppers in a 25 cent machine and everyone needed one! They came in these tiny bubbles and Ryan thought he should stick it in his nose. We were tired, for sure, but this was hilarious at the time because it would just fall off his face again and again.

*a second California shop is planned to open this year

Cemetery Sunday

2009-07-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

One of the lovely places that we have the great fortune to live near is Forest Lawn Memorial Park. I know, it sounds weird to be glad that we live near a cemetery, but it's true. There is a lot of beautiful thought behind the design of Forest Lawn [read all about it here], but the essence is this: a Memorial Park should be a place of life and not death. So, in his vision, The Builder designed a place with no towering grave stones (except just a few, more on that later) and lots of open spaces with sweeping views and private gardens and world-class art. The essential thought: if you build it, they will come. And they do! It is a lovely place to spend an afternoon, just wandering the gardens and hillsides or even visiting the museum.

That was our original intention. There is an exhibit at the museum currently, showing the Art of Marc Davis, but it happened to close just before we arrived, due to a private party. Oh well. So we set out to explore Forest Lawn, and there is a surprisingly lot to see.

A same-size replica of "David" in marble taken from the same quarry as the original by Michelangelo

In one of the gardens, there are several marble statues and benches and it's a lush little sanctuary of green and solitude. Also, it's an advertisement for the various statuary that can be purchased. Two birds with one stone!

In that garden is a giant marble statue titled "The Mystery of Life" which depicts several different people from various backgrounds, ages, etc. and the intent is that you will look at the statue and find someone that you identify with. Below there is a bronze plaque that gives some background info on each of the depictions and you match it up to see if you agree with the interpretation of the sculptor.

I selected The Atheist "...the fool, who grinningly cares not at all"

After spending some time in the gardens, we drove through the park toward the Memorial Court building, which is in actuality a giant mausoleum but in Forest Lawn fashion is open and inviting and full of beautiful art, including the Last Supper stained glass window. The glass was absolutely beautiful, although I was getting a little punchy by that point (I was hot and sweaty and giggly) and so I had a hard time keeping it together. The stained glass window is behind a giant velvet curtain and, apparently, they only display it on-the-half-hour. At the :00 or :30 mark, you take a seat in the hall and hear a narration about the artist and how the window came to be and then there is this cheesy trilling brass section duhhh-nuhhhh kind of music while the curtain is opened. I almost laughed out loud. But the window IS really lovely and the light filtering in behind it did lend it some sort of magic.

Driving around, we noticed a small area of the park that had raised grave markers (which aren't seen elsewhere) and so we drove through and just happened to spot the marker for L. Frank Baum (and his wife, Maud)!

Our last stop was at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather, which was originally a small village church in Scotland that was brought over and re-assembled, stone-by-stone. It's a cute little chapel and outside it has a cool, quiet garden (perfect, because it was nearly 100 degrees outside) in the back. In the front, there is also a Wishing Chair. The Wishing Chair has two side-by-side seats, made of stone (blessed by fairies!) intended for a bride and groom and at the foot of the chair is a magic poem to be read by the betrothed that will ensure success. Kate insisted that we sit in it for a picture...

...where we grudgingly kissed.

After that, we were all so sweaty and heat sick, that we decided to go somewhere nice and cool and get a soda. We went to Downtown Burbank, which is really cool and someday I'm going to have the time to explore it all more. We grabbed a quick soda (and walked through all the misters set up along the patios) before Kate had to dash off to a previous engagement.

It was a great day and went by so fast! I am hoping that we can work it out to see the Marc Davis exhibit before it closes at the end of July.

And, of course, I am just realizing that everyone in the world is probably ultra aware of Forest Lawn right now, seeing as how it is where Michael Jackson's body will be interred. Which also means that the heightened security and flocks of fans are going to prevent us from getting back to the museum. :(

WonderWinns: established 2001

2009-07-07T04:25:00.000-07:00

The years just fly by, don't they? In 1997, I was 19 and working at the Irvine Spectrum at a coffee house and had just started dating This Guy (who had been my BFF for a couple of years already) and then one of my coffee-caffeinated co-workers (Chris) jumped ship to another store at the Spectrum* that was a photo studio. I can't remember the name of it and am having a devil of a time finding any similar stores online, but basically it used a few props and costumes and a giant blue screen and they would superimpose you into several movies or classic scenes or wacky backdrops. IT'S MINDBOGGLING THAT THIS BUSINESS DID NOT LAST FOREVER. Anyway, business was pretty slow, so they'd basically try and convince anyone they could to come inside and try it out for free (then if you like the pictures, you can buy them) and that was fine until teenagers started catching on and they'd spend hours in the make-up room, trying on wigs and mixing the costumes and then wanting 10 different backgrounds and never buying anything. SO. Chris came over and asked me to pleasepleaseplease help him out after I got off work. If I could just puh-please come and pose for a couple of pictures, he would be really thankful (because I wouldn't just be jerking his chain) and plus, he'd let me have whatever prints I wanted for free.

I agreed, reluctantly. I'd worked the opening shift, which is 5:30am-2:30pm so I was pretty beat. Plus, it was August and swelteringly hot. But a deal's a deal. Then Ryan showed up unexpectedly to pick me up from work and then I had the unpleasant task of getting HIM to agree to a cheesy photo session (which was not easy work!). But in the end, he agreed. I was exhausted and sweaty and looked like I hadn't slept in decades. My hair was greasy and in an awkward parted-down-the-middle coiff. Ryan was slightly better looking, but not too pleased about being photographed. But in we went.

In the interest of getting out of there as soon as possible, we didn't look through the book of the 100 different backgrounds available, but instead asked "which costumes are the easiest to put on?" So the wardrobe gal handed me a floral dress that was somehow gigantically big and tight. The body of the dress was XXXXXXXL and clearly intended to be a one-size-fits-all number, which is the norm (you know, with those saloon pictures or whatever), so it was gathered in the back by binder clips** but the arm holes -- somehow the dress designer expected a 600lb woman with chicken legs for arms. The band was stiff and starched and had NO give to it, so my flabby ham arms are crammed through the narrow opening. I was already sweaty, but the exertion it took to get into a dress that is the size of a tent was boggling (sounds like it SHOULD be easy but wasn't. AT ALL.). Ryan was outfitted in slacks and a long-sleeve button up shirt and a leather bomber jacket. Which should be everyone's go-to outfit in August, when under gigantic lights in a studio space that had little air conditioning.

So we stood and we pretended that we liked it. People watched from the window, seeing us, via video monitors, transformed from a couple of sweaty 20-somethings on a blue screen stage to a nostalgic time when I was a young war bride, come to see my soldier off to war. Behind us sits his plane, the In The Mood, with a cheesecake pinup girl stretched out and beckoning. He's about to rush out and bomb the crap out of some unsuspecting island atoll and I'm going to hold this bouquet of flowers in my hands until he comes back.

We were such a hit with the crowd that 2 families watching us, came inside and starting being outfitted for their own wacky pictures. The staff was so pleased that they printed off various copies of our 'session' and eagerly handed them over, excitedly jabbering about how we should use these pictures for our wedding announcements (har! That would be another 4 years and 40lbs down the road!). We were supposed to have stayed to do another background, but since the families came in, everyone in the studio was busy, so we just picked up our prints and left.

*~*~*~*~*~*

That night, we went to hang out with our friend Trevor and we were telling him and his family about how lame this photo session was and look at these cheesy pictures and his mom asked to see them. So we showed them to her, sending her into immediate tears and asking for a copy of her own which was immediately nestled with the rest of the family photos in the entry hallway.

Personally, I was never really affected by the picture. It was funny, I suppose, and looking at it all that I ever think of is how sweaty and smelly I look and how hot it was and uncomfortable and how the glint from my nose-ring makes it look like I have a glitter booger... but now that I am getting old (ahem), I have a new appreciation. Not just because 'oh, look a faux vintage picture of us' but because it's a moment in our history that wouldn't have otherwise been captured.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Four years later, he showed up to the boat in a tuxedo - as was previously agreed upon - and he made a huge, stumbling production of coming up the stairwell to the Muppet Show theme song (don't ask). He smiled and waved when the crowd cheered. He spun his cane and acted a fool. And he didn't run away when he saw me coming directly at him in a big white dress. A little while later, we exchanged rings and promises and communed with our friends and had a fun little party. And, once again, he got forced to pose for pictures in a suit that was too hot for the time of year and take pictures and give me a bouquet of flowers and make everyone's mom cry.

July 7, 2001

Happy anniversary, Bub!

*For those of you familiar with the Spectrum, you know that it is a billion dollar shopping center. But in 1997, it was really small. Anchored by the movie theater and Barnes & Noble bookstore (which is now a 24 Hour Fitness; the bookstore relocated) and a few scattered restaurants and mostly kiosks.

**a mainstay of the wardrobe designer's toolkit, in case you weren't aware

FYI: TMI

2009-07-06T16:38:00.001-07:00

In case you're at all interested (no, you're not), I am going to be doing some heavy lifting around this site in the next couple of days. If you access this blog via RSS feed, you won't even notice, but I am changing the re-direct for http://www.giddygirlie.com/ so that it no longer lands here. It's a whole side-business thing... but there are only 3 of you that look at this anyway (hi, Shannon!) so I figured it's no big deal.

Just wanted to let you know. Changes coming soon! :)

onward and upward

2009-07-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of bloggy back-tracking to do, to catch-up on all the things that I have been too busy (ahem), ok LAZY to write... but I don't have time for it now, either. Dang.

On with it then: This week has been harder on me than expected. It was this time last year that we learned that our dear cat, Monkey, was not just suffering from allergies* but was instead in the late stages of heart failure. We leapt into action as soon as we could, but as with every fatal disease, there is only so much you can do. We made him as comfortable as we could and relished in every moment that we had left together. But by 4th of July (also his birthday), he was in pretty bad shape. The diuretics helped pull some of the fluid out of his lungs but he was pretty weak and tired all the time. I also suspect that he had a lot of headaches (being a fellow migraneur, some of the signs are as bright as neon) and so he preferred to hide away in the back of the dark, cool closet.

We stayed home that day and went about our normal routines and tried to spend time with him without overly pestering him. The only time we left the house all day was to stand on our own driveway and watch fireworks and then we came right back in.

Fourth of July was his birthday and so it sits a little heavy in my heart that he isn't here this year. He would have been 10 years old. And while I have an enormous amount of gratitude that he is no longer suffering and that his heart beats on eternally elsewhere in the universe, I still miss my kitty. Will it be nice to leave the house on the 4th without worrying about his 4x daily medications? Yes. Isn't it better that he won't be pestered by screeching Piccolo Petes all night? Absolutely**. Am I still making plans and carrying on? Yes, of course. But it won't be the same. Some days I'd trade all the worrying and couch-scratching and shedding and barfing and eating plastic bags in the world to have him back for one more day.

SO. This 4th of July we're making plans to hang out with friends and eat fried chicken and ride rollercoasters and eat funnel cake and wear dorky Americana outfits and it's going to be great. And every smile, every laugh, every dorky guffaw will be dedicated to Monkey.

photo taken July 3, 2008

*he had these periodic sneezing fits and sometimes would have a big wheezing cough, which are the exact signs of allergies (and also heart disease) and so he was on antihistamines and responding fairly well. An earlier x-ray showed an enlarged heart, but since he was a big cat (in height as well as girth) and we also didn't have any 'before' images, there was no way of knowing if he'd always had a big heart or if this was being caused by something else. Also, the vet said that when cats get x-rays done, they tend to hold their breath, which can distort the lungs in the images and sometimes causes the heart to expand briefly and also look bigger on the film.

**he HATED any kind of sustained high pitch noise (a single 'ooooooooo' for 2 seconds was all it took to get him to stop scratching on the couch) and these fireworks are the worst (they also make me crazy).

yeah, he's cool like that

2009-07-01T15:32:00.001-07:00

You probably already saw my tweets and my spamtastic emails BUT what kind of wife would I be if I didn't blog about this too?*

My husband, hereafter shall be known as "Harvey Award Nominated Ryan" and he should be addressed as such in all correspondence, personal or professional. Thank you for your adherance to these new rules.

Why? Well duuuuuuuuh! He's been nominated for a Harvey Award for Best Inker for his work on The Darkness last year! WOOOOOO!!**

The Harvey Awards are kind of special, because they're industry awards, which means that your own peers have to nominate you (and it is also your peers who will vote for you). Which is super sweet! They like him, they really like him!

SO: if you're at all affiliated with the comic industry -- that means web comic folks, writers, editors, colorists, copy boys, etc. -- you can vote! Here is the link to the form which needs to be returned by August 28th. Please do take the 2 minutes required to complete the form and send it back by email or postal mail. It means a lot to everyone involved.

*don't answer
** congratulations to everyone else nominated in this category as well! And yes, we are aware that Jamie Grant uses a lot of 'digital inking' processes, but it is still an art form and though we're pen-and-brush people ourselves, we can still respect that Jamie creates some beautiful pieces (it's about the end-product, not the tools).

Giddy Glossary: Favorite Color

2009-06-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

This is another stupid phrase that grew out of shorthand used during people-watching. Coined by Dave, it's used to quickly and discreetly point out someone who is wearing either a loud color (neon green t-shirt) or who is dressed all in one color. Both of which happen more often than you'd think.

Now at Disneyland (where this happens nearly every hour), I can just turn to Ryan and ask "what's your favorite color?"

Related Post: Best Outfit

Giddy Glossary: Best Outfit

2009-06-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

This phrase was actually created by my former boss, Shirley, who said that the slap-dash way that Chinese ladies dressed themselves was not just ugly, but promoted ugly stereotypes about Asians, but especially the Chinese (my boss was Chinese herself).

I had to laugh, because it's true. Some of the Chinese ladies in this area (of which there are a lot, this is a big Chinese immigrant community) don't just wear ugly clothes, but they wear a lot of different ugly clothes all together. In a single day, you will encounter women with paisley pants, plaid shirts, and neon green sneakers. Or a giant bucket hat, a lace blouse, and MC Hammer pants. Individually, the clothing pieces aren't anything to write home about - not my taste, but generally kind of under-the-radar - but the thing is that when you combine them all into an Outfit, it exponentially increases the power of the fugly.[And, nowadays, there's a trend for women to wear these gigantic green plastic sun visor kind of things over their faces, so they look like welders. Or, they opt for the traditional surgical face-mask.]

So Shirley and her sister devised a reasonable explanation for the crazy outfits. Since none of the ladies seems to be trying to make a fashion statement or start a new trend, and they mostly seem dressed for comfort, Shirley decided that these were just the ladies' "best outfits." That was their best blouse + nicest pants + most comfortable shoes = Best Outfit. Material, color, pattern, print... these are all irrelevant in your 'best outfit' because you may not have a coordinating set of favorite clothes.

Now we use "best outfit" as a catch-all for crazy or terrible clothes, which is handy for people watching. You don't even have to whisper "hey, best outfit on your left."

This is a good example of a Best Outfit and also Favorite Color

Related Post: Favorite Color

giggles and grudges

2009-06-19T15:33:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to see Kate perform in a stand-up comedy showcase/show-down/smack-down/thingie, which was really cool.

The competition was all amateur comedians, so some of the acts were a little rough. And some were... woo boy... um, to put it kindly: rough. [For the record, I am allowed to sit on my cloud of judgment handing down comedy lessons to all the beginners* because I watch a lot of comedy on TV, which makes me an expert.] This was the first time that this type of show was performed at this theater and there was an American Idol-style panel of judges who critiqued each performer as they finished their set. The immediate feedback was an interesting idea, since everyone needs feedback on their sets, but it seemed like the judges didn't have the chutzpah to say what really needed to be said and in other instances were overly harsh. But, hey, that's how it goes sometimes, right?

Kate was next-to-last, which was a clear sign that she was one of the stronger comedians to take the stage (they got progressively better through the night) and she was really good! She's well-practiced and has funny material and the crowd really liked her. I think her one disadvantage was that the guy who was up before her was really over-the-top and kind of alienated the crowd so she had to win them back... which is hard to do. But she did really well and we were super proud of her. The judges were hard-pressed for anything critical to say (even in a constructive way) because she's already got such a solid act. The worst that she got was from the "Simon Cowell" judge who didn't like her shirt. Which is... you know... not even a 'thing' really. So: YAY KATE!!

Afterward, we made a brief stop at a diner to get some biscuits & gravy and re-cap the night and also to talk about everything under the sun. The night culminated in Ryan singing some of his favorite songs from childhood (mostly from Barry Louis Polisar) with diddies like "Don't Put Your Finger Up Your Nose" and "Underwear Are Everywhere (But Mostly Underneath)" and if YOU want to listen to them, extended samples are available on Barry's website here and available to purchase on iTunes. Go forth and sing underpants songs!

It was a great time and we got home really quickly and I went directly to bed because I was exhausted from Fun Times. And then at 4:30am, Ryan wakes me up and whispers "hey, don't panic, but Ruckus got out and I can't find him. He's been gone for a half hour and I'm worried." So I jump out of bed with my heart pounding in my chest and throw on flip flops and go outside to scrounge the bushes looking for Ruckus. Apparently, Ryan had just taken him on a long walk around the neighborhood and came inside and unleashed him before running to the bathroom, and when he came back a minute later the door was open and Ruckus was gone.

Ryan had already searched high and low and was starting to panic by the time he woke me up and I grabbed a flashlight and went searching. After a while, a patrol car pulled up (someone probably thought we were really lousy prowlers - not going into yards or houses, just looking under bushes) and asked what we were doing and as soon as Ryan said "we've lost our cat, he's all grey and he's pretty big - not a small cat AT ALL" Ruckus came sauntering out of the bushes, crying for us. I think he'd scared himself pretty good, being on his own out in the Big Wide World. He ran all the way back to the house, exhausting himself. He barely made it inside the door before he flopped on the floor, refusing to move.

He slept the whole night snuggled next to me, clearly scared. But I was still holding a bit of a grudge. Both against the Person Who Left The Door Open and the Cat Who Decided To Take A Walk At 4:30am. Both are still on my bad list, but trying to win their way back. I'm a sucker, I guess. A foot massage and purring snuggles kind of win me over.

*inspired from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - a good example of comedy

Flickr + Twitter = Love

2009-06-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

Just in case you weren't aware (I just learned this myself) Flickr now has a way to integrate with Twitter, so that you don't have to use a 3rd party URL shortener (like TinyURL) or another photo repository like Twitpic.

Use this link to activate & get all the details: http://www.flickr.com/groups/flickrtwitterbeta/

I personally love this for a couple of reasons:

I can cross-post via email, which is handy for updating via cell phone. The subject line of the email is the tweet and the picture is posted to Flickr and assigned a shorter URL
The short URL comes from Flic.kr, so it's very clear where your link is pointing to (whereas with TinyURL or others, you can't tell 'til you've clicked)
I can tweet directly from Flickr, using the "Blog This" button - it shows your Twitter account as another blog that is enabled.
It shows the character count remaining for tweets via "Blog This"
Easily tweet other interesting photos using "Blog This" (this assumes that you have permission - this is a customizable setting that usually only your contacts or friends have enabled, but some people allow anyone to blog their photos)
Once people use the short URL to view my picture, they can instantly comment
PLUS Flickr tracks all the pertinent data about where your photo traffic is coming from -- so I can see how many views were from my tweet vs. search vs. friends just browsing. Very cool.

birthday Kate

2009-06-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest. I've been sitting here for a couple of minutes, trying to think up a good pun that involves subsituting "Kate" for "cake" and my brain isn't up to the task. The closest I got was "Cake Danley" but I think that requires a visual, don't you? Like a cake made in the shape of a Kate? But I'm not a baker and not all that great with photoshop either, so it would end up like this:

Which isn't a Cake Wreck, per se, but still... it doesn't do dear Kate any justice. SO: you get a title like "birthday Kate" instead. *Ahem*

Anyway, as you may surmise, this is Kate's birthday week! On her actual birthday, we went to Disneyland to take advantage of their birthday promotion and it seems that everyone in America came out to celebrate! It was the Perfect Storm of Disney Nerds... the last day that the cheap annual passholders (guilty!) could go before the summer black-out days, the premiere of the new fireworks and Fantasmic show, plus some other summer promo stuff. The parking lots were all over capacity and we heard that shortly before we arrived they were turning people away at the gate, which means it was pretty darn busy! We had to park about a mile away, but we still had fun and got our fix of crack pasta and then had some of Kate's famous popcorn cake. Plus, her mom sent some birthday goodies, like dinosaur rings for us to wear -- which we did to the envy of every kid around! HA!

We toodled, we browsed, we watched people get their silhouette portraits done.... then we headed over to California Adventure (Disneyland's lame-duck cousin) to watch the newly improved Electrical Parade and ride Toy Story Midway Mania (where Kate was generous enough to let me win, even though she's the expert! I think she pitied me a little because the Japanese family behind us in line had a different definition of 'personal space' and the kids were literally on my back the entire wait).

It was super fun, despite the crazy crowds - including a toothless lady who smelled like a dumpster who stormed into the bookstore in Downtown Disney (the adjacent shopping area, not operated by Disney) and shoved me aside to scream at the top of her lungs multiple expletives (in front of small children) because she was unhappy about having to park so far away from Disneyland. My hat was off to the bookshop girls, who apparently had been getting this kind of harrassment all day, who just gave her the facts (keep to your right, the park is down that way, we work for the bookstore, etc.) in a calm voice. I was about to yell right back at her - for berating the bookstore staff, screaming like a crazy person, cursing up a storm in front of small kids, as well as smelling like something from a sewer - but I thought better of it because she looked like she'd stab me with her keys. Plus, there is nothing to be gained by talking back to crazy people. Nothing. (As it was, she went outside and started her F-bomb spiel on anyone who happened to be standing in her way, mostly other families who were grabbing to cover their toddler's ears.)

Needless to say, it was an EXCITING day! I smiled so much that I am pretty sure my cheeks are sprained. I also got in about 3 miles of walking 'exercise' so, thank you to Kate for getting born. You're improving my health! Laughter being the best medicine and exercise being the best attack against fat-butt syndrome! I owe you tremendously!

So, you think YOU can?

2009-06-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

I just have to brag a second about my lovely friend, Katie Thompson, who just completed her run of "Giant" in DC (before it goes to Broadway!!) and is amazingly talented and wonderful in many ways... and THEN last night, one of the contestants (Paris Torres) on So You Think You Can Dance did her solo performance to Katie's song "It Doesn't Hurt" -- how cool is that?

[link in case the embedded video doesn't work. Total play time: 38 seconds]

Fanmade Friday - featuring.... ME!

2009-06-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

I know you already read the Haunted Mansion Collectibles blog, because... well, why wouldn't you?

WELL today, you won't want to miss it because your favorite blogger and all-around dweeb (*ahem*) is featured for Fanmade Friday! Yay! PLUS: you can enter to win a special prize hand-crafted by yours truly!

Go! Read! Comment! Glorify me, minions!

Sock Zombie at Funny or Die!

2009-06-11T17:58:00.001-07:00

Got 3 minutes and the ability to click a button that says "funny" without getting winded? Then please go over to Funny or Die and vote for Kate's Sock Zombie movie!! I'd sure hate to watch the undead get killed. Pass it along to your friends and neighbors! There is safety in numbers!

(then immediately afterward, go to SockZombie.com and order all of your Christmas gifts in one fell swoop!)

Sock Zombie: the Movie! - watch more funny videos

Here's the link if you have trouble with this player!

Sock Zombie: The Movie

2009-06-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, Erin lost her damn mind and started sewing enough Sock Zombies to start an army. And somewhere in the height of her delusion, she made a Sock Zombie puppet. And then I bought it. And then I gave it to Kate for her birthday, because she's ~~a puppet nerd~~ an awesome person.

Now Kate has made a movie (!!) with the Sock Zombie puppet. It's totally awesome and the best 3 minutes you will spend all day!

Giddy Glossary: Mother Fucker

2009-06-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

A lot of people use "mother fucker" as an expletive, including me (I never said I was perfect, mofo!) but I want to share the comment that my mom left on the 'Sorry From' glossary post:

I have a better one.. I was always telling Mia not to cuss, that it wasn't befitting a girl. She learned a lot of stuff from her dad that should not have been repeated. Ok, so we're toodling around in the VW (before the days of real seat belts and laws) and someone throws on their brakes, then I do, too.. and Mia goes sliding to the floor. She was totally indignant when she got back up on the seat.. and looked so mad and said, "OK!! Is it alright to call that guy a MotherFucker??" :)

the one that got away

2009-06-08T23:06:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, I saw a tray like this one (below) in an antique shop. I wanted to confirm that the price was fair before I bought it so I left it in the cabinet and decided I'd come back on Sunday.

I found it online and it turns out that it's worth a LOT of money and would have been a great steal. So I ran back to the shop after lunch on Sunday and someone had bought it. Ultimate sadness.

And I know you're thinking "who cares about a stupid TV tray?" but here's why it's special: it's a Disneyland souvenir, featuring the original park map. The park has grown and changed over the years, and I have never seen a "Disneyland" TV tray before. Sure, plenty of Mickey or other Disney characters, but not one from the park. *sigh*

Luckily, I didn't leave the shop empty-handed. I found a vintage tea pot that was a Disneyland souvenier from the late 50's/early 60's. I found a picture of the full set, but so far I only have the tea pot. Isn't it so cute? It's even stained inside from some little girl having a tea party with her friends. Awww!

I also found an old dollhouse/shadow box that was in a bad state of disrepair. At one point, someone lovingly hand made this house and put in dollhouse wallpaper inside. But it looks like it's been living in the back of a garage for a decade. I scooped it up for a couple of bucks and have already re-painted it and bought new paper for the walls. I'm going to use it for a display at craft fairs. The little cardboard one that Ryan made me for last year's craft fair was the envy of every kid in town! This one is going to knock 'em over dead!! ;-)

Before the vintage shop, Kate and I went to a craft fair and I scored a Tiny Tim prayer candle (so that he will bless me in my ukulele lessons!), a brooch of Bob's Big Boy achieving enlightenment, plus a Ouija board candle for Ryan. After that, we went to Tall Mouse craft store which is deadly on your wallet. I bought several ADORABLE fat quarters of fabric and also more peg people and somehow escaped without having to sell my soul. It was an accomplishment, let me tell you!!

That evening, I got to spend the Border's gift card that my mom gave me and was able to get FIVE. NEW. BOOKS. [insert audio of angels singing] and then we met up with Ryan to go see Up in 3D. Up was just as sweet and cute and funny and sad as everyone said. I just wish that people could admit that cartoons don't have to be for kids. The theater was packed (seriously, every seat was taken) full of kids, most of whom seemed pretty bored or were crying and squirming. It's a very touching story of an old man living his life's dream before it's too late. Clearly written for an older audience (I feel the same way about Wall-E and Cars). But it was very sweet and silly and the kid (Russell) adds great comic relief. I laughed, I cried, I ate Whoppers. It was a great night.

Afterward, Ryan was in a hurry to get back to work, so he suggested that we grab a quick cup of tea and debrief about the movie... which, of course, turned into at least 2 more hours of chit-chat (interrupted once by a guy in a bowling pin costume - you can't make this stuff up!) during which I told a bunch of embarrassing stories about myself (sorry Kate!).

Needless to say, it was a fantastic day and I was exhausted when we got home.

Giddy Glossary: Truck Fag

2009-06-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

Truck Fags are all over Orange County. They're idiots who drive gigantic trucks with multiple lift kits in the suburbs. They're dudes who don't have boats or trailers or any reason to even have a truck, let alone a behemoth like one of these.

They're classic over-compensators, the kinds of guys who would punch you in the eye if you suggested that they have a tiny penis or called them a 'fag' because they are so hetero that they have a gigantic truck, obviously.

In addition to being obnoxious to look at, they all park like assholes, in compact car spots and drive like morons. They don't use signals or slow in school zones or have brains.

photo by Coffee Is Life

Giddy Glossary - Sorry From

2009-06-06T13:46:00.000-07:00

There are probably 20 different phrases that I use on a daily basis that I stole from a small child at some point. This is one of them.

Sorry From (Sayin' Fuckin' Shit)

When my brother was almost 3, my mom picked him up from preschool and asked the teacher how his day was, and the teacher told her that he'd gotten himself into trouble, but he'd had a time-out and apologized and the matter was settled. So mom loads him and his stuff up in the car and he's very quiet (unusual for him) and his eyes are cast downward. As they drive toward home she asks how his day was and he tells her it was "terrible" and then bursts into tears. She pulls the car over and unbuckled him from his carseat and pulls him into her arms, where he's inconsolably sobbing. "What's the matter?" she asks, and he tells her that he got in trouble and starts choking on sobs again. She asks him if he's sorry for what he did and he looks at her directly in the eyes* and says "I'm sorry! I'm sorry from sayin' fuckin' shit!" and starts bawling the likes of which you've never seen.

Of course, mom is startled "you said that?!" but he's obviously repentant so she doesn't push the issue. After getting home and calming him down a bit, she called his teacher to ask for the full story and to extend her apologies. The teacher laughed it off and said that basically he was playing alone (balancing blocks into a tower or something) and when it toppled he muttered to himself "damn" and some of the other kids overheard. So she asked him not to use that kind of language. And then the next time it toppled, he muttered "fuckin' shit" so he was given a 2 minute time-out. She tried to keep it very low-key, so that the other kids wouldn't get too interested in what he was saying but Daniel got very upset (in his mind, he didn't do anything wrong. She told him not to say 'damn' and he didn't).

In his defense, he didn't know that one swear word was an escalation of the other. Small kids don't know that 'fuck' trumps 'damn' in expletive math. fuck > shit > damn > hell > heck

SO. That phrase has stuck. Nearly every time I apologize for something to Ryan (which isn't often - zing!) I say "I'm sorry from stepping on your toe" or as short-hand "I'm sorry from sayin' fuckin' shit"

*you have to factor in that Daniel was a handful of a kid but as cute as they come. He looked like he was carved out of cream cheese with buttons made of the Caribbean for eyes. He was hard not to forgive. (Even when he ate your Chapstick for the millionth time)

Giddy Glossary - Can't Want To

2009-06-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

There are probably 20 different phrases that I use on a daily basis that I stole from a small child at some point. This is one of them.

Can't Want To

When my niece Molly was little (maybe 3 or 4?) she uttered the phrase "I can't want to do that" which immediately ingrained itself in my vocabulary. Ever since, if you ask me to do something that I'd really rather not, you're likely to hear something like "sorry, I can't want to do the dishes." It's not that I won't or refuse to, it's just that I can't seem to summon the desire inside myself to do whatever terrible thing you're asking (generally this applies to dishes, litter box cleaning, getting out of bed, etc.). It's a complete lack of want and dear little Molly got it exactly right.

Giddy Glossary - A Best

2009-06-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

Yet another weird thing that Ryan and I say (quite a lot, actually) is "a best" as in "you are a best."

It started off as a grammar joke, but evolved into something meaningful (?). Using "the" seems so definitive. If you're the best, you're the absolute best. There can be no others, right? However, if you say "you're a best" then you're meaning to say that 'you're one of the best.' Not as absolute, but a decent compliment just the same. For us, it's an honorific. We don't say you're a best if you're not. Luckily, we know a lot of people who are A bests!

You can also expect to hear:

"you are a funniest!"
"you are a cute!"
"you are a ass!"

Happy Anniversary Bub!

2009-06-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

June 4, 1997 Ryan and I officially became a couple. It was a bit of a hot debate at the time because I'd only been separated from my previous boyfriend for a few months and Ryan had been both of our friend. It caused a stir, I'm sorry to say, because it divided up the group of friends for a bit (kind of like after a divorce, no one wants to be disloyal to either side). Everyone tried to talk Ryan out of dating me and everyone said that it wouldn't last. But indeed it did. And has. And still does. And continues to do so.

On our first anniversary, we went to the Griffith Observatory and got crazy super ~~stoned~~ nutritious food and watched the Pink Floyd Laser Light Show. Ryan commemorated the event with a polaroid of me in the parking lot. Obviously, I had it going on. No wonder he was madly in love with me! I can't find a picture of him from that day, but I DO have one of him in an astronaut suit. Same difference, really.

It's been an awesome TWELVE years, bub! And I still love you! Can you believe it?! ;-)

Giddy Glossary - Crack Pasta

2009-06-03T21:31:00.000-07:00

There are so many weird terms that are part of my every day vocabulary and I realized lately that I've been foisting these terms on unsuspecting folks, and they're looking at me like I'm crazy. So I thought that I'd create a glossary of the stupid things I say so that a casual observer might understand that I am not mentally unstable... just loopy.

"Crack Pasta"

At Disneyland in the Plaza Pavilion restaurant there is a pasta bar. It's rigatoni pasta with your choice of marinara or alfredo-pesto sauce. I always get the pesto-alfredo which is pretty good. Pretty good. Not great. Not the best sauce you've ever had, but it's servicable. While you're eating it you think "this is pretty good" and lick the bowl clean (especially if you get the child's meal like me - shown below). Then you go about your day and don't think about it again.

But then a few days later you think of it again. And in your mind, it was the best pasta you've ever had. The creamy sauce calls to you like a siren song. You can almost taste it on your tongue. It's heavenly, it's delicious and YOU HAVE TO HAVE IT. Like, well, crack. You can avoid thinking about it for hours or even days and then it invades your dreams. And then you find yourself calling around to everyone with a Disneyland annual pass, trying to find someone anyone who's willing to make the trip with you just so you can fill your gob with more of it. If days stretch into weeks you may even find yourself making the trip to Disneyland alone just for the pasta.

Of course, when you get it, the first couple of bites are great. The rest is pretty good. Not great, but good. But you've gotten your fix and you move on... for now.