"Home"

I was "home" last week for a family emergency. Well, not so much an emergency, as an end. My father unexpectedly died. It's hard to explain to most people, because up until last December, I hadn't seen my father in 15 years. So it's not like I lost a parent. No, I lost my parent when I was 13. I grieved him back then, when my mother and I left.

He was troubled, unstable, and a loner, and so it's sad, because his life was sad, and it's sad because my grandmother (his mother) who helped raise me, outlived everyone--her son, her husband, her sister/best friend.

He died in his home due to heart problems, died alone, and no one found him for days. Take a moment to imagine the mark that leaves on the house, the imagery, the smell, the horror. I didn't dare go into the room, but the smell permeates everything: my clothes from that day, the things I put in my car, my car seats, my grandmother's bills, his laptop, which I later hacked into and was on the bed next to him when he died. I found he had a myspace (which was locked) and a Twitter (which was not). He wrote mostly mundane things on Twitter, including trips for coffee, listening to music, and his dreams of the beach. But he did make one post about seeing me for the first time in many years, and it was all I could do not to cry and be weirded out by the whole thing.

There's tons of issues regarding my grandmother's estate and guardianship that I have to deal with now, and I'm overwhelmed. One day at a time, is all I can do. In my next post, I'll show you some of the good stuff that came out of the trip, including my favorite tacky Mexican place, and sparkly jewelry.

lounge

You know, I was going to go to a local festival (and i love my street festivals) but I'm actually rather content to stay in my apt in my pjs, eating bread and olive oil, reading blogs, and uploading pictures. A post about my trip back home to deal with family stuff will come later.

Dealing with a major family emergency. Will post again once I get my head back on.

lovely

The Clothes Horse is so lovely and down-to-earth, and I love how she manages to choose outfits that perfectly highlight her shoulder-blade tattoos.

Drinking my favorite wine, Norton Malbec, from Argentina, eating some fresh bakery bread, olive oil, and cheese, and about to head over to my neighbor's apt. I love city living!

IMAGES

I love the Internet for its wealth of images. Like these, from georgasm, which is by a 17yr old (say whaat?!)


This is a My Little Pony. I totally had like 65 of these and all the houses/sets as a kid. I'm actually pretty distraught that they're gone now, lost in a move.



Donut porn. I lust for donuts a lot.




Sparklers should be at every occasion.



I like shiny things

Haaa

Watermelon Love

Homemade watermelon rum punch, grilled squash in the toaster oven, Manager's Special Foccacia bread with olive oil+dressing=great Saturday night. Oh and I also saw Harry Potter. It was long. I liked the teen angst/romance. Emma Watson turned into quite the lovely young lady. I still think Hermione and Harry need to get together. Watermelon is the greatest food ever. It is so juicy and delicious.

Summer

I love summer porch-sitting, even though my point-and-shoot is crappy and takes blurry photos. All photos I want to take tend to happen in low lighting, so I'm pretty much screwed.

Went to the Big Brothers, Big Sisters duck race fundraiser this weekend. We had 6 ducks in the race of 25,000. Sadly, we didn't win, but some guy next to us did. What a visual!

This is the chute through which the winning ducks are chosen. Whichever gets through first wins. The canal is looking particularly algae-y and gross.

Clearly the Travelers Insurance man has drowned here and the real ducks are waiting to jump the plastic ducks who win and take them out.

To Eat

Occasionally I like to post lists of what I ate today.

Mixed Berry Lite Yogurt
Coffee
Handful Wasabi almonds
Banana
Hard Boiled Egg
1/2 can of green beans

Caaake

I have been really agitated after a phone conversation this evening, but reading Cake Wrecks makes me feel better every time. Like this:

As Cake Wrecks says, "Resistance is futile."

Why?

Why does my cat always wait til I get home and am sitting at the desk next to the litter box to use it? Ew.

Also, I know I realize this is now my second post about yogurt in one week, but day-am, Archer Farms(a Target Brand) has amazing fat free yogurt. The consistency is thick, more like that of pudding than yogurt, and it has cool flavors like Black Cherry, Honey Almond, and Blueberry Pomegranite and are $.54 each. (I did not eat the "Bread Pudding" flavor-EW, this was just the only web photo I could find).