the village idiot

went to dinner tonight, the village idiot on melrose in hollywood. it was a really nice, chill monday dinner with a friend i haven't seen in a long while, and a friend i see every single day. it was a great monday evening actually, full of conversation and great food. lisa and i both ordered the mussels, de-lish! dustin has bite-sized lard appetizers - chorizo wrapped in bacon. and shepherds pie. but the best part of the meal was the guinness, it was so good! almost as fresh as a pint in dublin, which i find extremely hard to believe.

anyway, you should check it out for yourself! i'm dying to get into some pj's now and watch some flight of the conchords that i saved on the dvr.

just another thursday night...

magi=wingman=roommate you get the picture...
anyway magi and i were kicking it like any other thursday since she moved in last month, which means when we got home from work, she made dinner and we drank a bottle of wine, red cause we don't mess around. she made "healthy" mac & cheese. i'm not sure what the recipe is, but i know it calls for squash. either way it was awesome, but before we ate she warned that "it's not going to be as cheesy as you're use to in a mac & cheese". whatever it kicked ass! while we ate we watched episode 1 of californication, magi hasn't seen any of the series yet.

i had a hankering for billards after dinner so we walked the three blocks to closest table, which just so happens to be the bowling alley on pico. so we waddle on down, order our beers from ron the best bartender a girl could hope for. while we are playing out second and final game we notice that people are watching the college basketball game on tv. it was unconn and syracuse. well i don't have to tell you now how kick ass that game was, 5 overtimes. which apparently wasn't a record, 6 overtimes is. magi, who hates all sports, actually got into a bit. i told her, you really don't ahve to pay attention until :30 left in the game...and funny enough that happened a couple times to us! i give the people at madison square garden credit, the house looked packed the entire time. i think it was 1am by the time that game finished. anyway we met a couple of dudes at the bar, it was a good time. but i'm worried that i don't remember the walk home, or what i did when i got back to the apt, or how i got into bed, but i remember flossing my teeth. my gums are killing me today. lesson: don't floss when you're drunk

have a great friday kids, keep it safe.

Raining on my Commute

I'm happy to report there's rain in LA today! Oh glorious day! I love it! It reminds me of the east coast, AND it makes it so much easier to go to work. Sure, I'd rather be on my plush green couch right now taking in the latest episode of Eastbound and Down, but I'm at work, and today it's ok. I'd much rather spend the day at my desk when it's gloomy. Cause usually in SoCal you are forced to work when it's 75 and sunny. Remember in school, when the weather started getting nice and you knew if you could hold out a little longer summer would be here! Well, it's like that everyday, but with no summer vacay! Today the suffering is eased!

Maybe I'll grab my umbrella, that I've only used twice in three years, and go for a walk at lunch today!!!!

Here's a shot from my commute...not that you don't know what rain looks like

Happy Birthday Ben!

Dear Ben,


I really hope you have a fantastic birthday!


Best Wishes,

Brodie

Coraline's Sweater

I was cruising through Entertainment Weekly this morning, the one with the Watchmen guys on the cover, when I saw the Style Hunter section. Apparently people are asking where they can find the sweater that Coraline wears, the one covered in stars. I was surprised to learn that someone actually knitted the one she wears in the movie. Althea Crome is a micro-knitter, and the piece is only three inches tall! So hard to believe, I'm a knitter and there's no way that I'm going to make anything that detailed and small...EVER!

Anyway, EW has a link for all of you knitters out there that want to make your very own Coraline sweater! I'm not sure if I will tackle this one, but did want to pass this on...

(I also printed the pattern, so if the link is down let me know and I'll send you a copy.)

elevation was not my friend

oh my, mammoth really put the hurting on me this weekend. i've been in the high altitude before and never had this rough of a time with it. my sinuses helped in the kicking of my ass. the pressure on my head was extreme. i had puffy eyes and all, and that eye twitch thing in both eyes pretty much the whole weekend. i'm still experiencing that, but just about 15 minutes every hour or so. i had a bloody nose every night too. to keep this from getting too negative, i want you all to know that i still went out there and hit the bars and slopes with the girls i went up with. the second day of snowboarding was way harder, what with all my ailments and all. it was really hard keeping myself together on the drive home. i was pretty much a ball of mush and slept the whole way, it was the only thing i could do. i just hope all of these aches are just sore/tiredness and not the flu, then i'd be really mad!

i'm going on the couch now to forget all my troubles...

Here's Magi trying on all her gear before we head up to Mammoth! She looks ready for the cold!

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whoa, it's been since 2008!

i have no excuses, i'm just a busy girl...
since the new year, i've gotten really, REALLY into making lists.
for the girl on the go it's a must!

i'm so looking forward to this weekend! me and the girls are going to mammoth for some skiing/snowboarding, and i can't wait! i'm pretty sure i'm not going to get any sleep tonight. so, to prep for the trip, here's my list of things to do...

*bake a lasagna
*go to rei and get the odds and ends i need. (i think i might finally break down and buy a platypus water pack.)
*grocery shop for the weekend
*charge up the flip video camera & other electronics - there's going to be a lot of moments to catch on that little video i'm sure
*pack up all the snow gear
*pack a small bag of everything else i'll need (space in the car is limited with five girls)
*finish doing my laundry
*try to make it a full day here in the office, i'm probably going to cut out early.

we are all soooo excited, it's like the last day before a long break or something! having to work with rainbow (one of the girls going) has been even more difficult...all we have talked about this week is the details of this trip!

...oh yeah, i have to remember my bathing suit too for the hot tub!

i hope i don't break myself too much!

The night before, the night before Christmas

I'm in a standard commericalized Pittsburgh bar, but one that is only commericalized in the Pittsburgh area and South Florida. Drinkimng watching the Pens and seeing friends that are usually labeled for the "summer".

It was a good time! And raining when me and brother left. The brick road my parents live on was quite a treat to walk on when we got home. A memory that I will surely cherish, and one that I hope miller lite allows me to keep!

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Cusp of Vacation

what a horrible few weeks i've had. really, really bad. things are looking up though, i ran away from la and escaped to tahoe this past weekend. thanks to magi for being an awesome friend/wingman and coming with me. i would have freaked out if i had to stay in la and rot. salvation came from making the 7-9 hour drive to tahoe from la to see an old friend from pittsburgh, devore.

now, i'm just getting through work for one more day and then heading east on a big metal bird to be with my family in pittsburgh for turkey day! with all the havoc life has been lately, these short breaks from work/la/rat race/life couldn't have come at a better time! and i'm truly grateful, or is it thankful! :)

i know people can't wait to have time off, but i feel like i really, really can't wait! and i can't wait to people watch/get drunk at LAX tomorrow.

i want one

how bad ass are these? some company in chile is making them. here's the link.
full motion in your sleeping bag, now that's luxury!
this rodrigo alonso schramm is a pretty cool designer!!!

Something horrible happened last night...

My boss and good friend Matthew passed away last night. It was a long battle which ended with him spending 10 days in the hospital, before he let go last night just before midnight. I'm consider myself lucky to have visit him on Wednesday after work. This blog post or any amount of words will do him justice, but since I have spent this whole day alone I felt I needed an outlet.

I knew the end was near, but yet was still taken back by the text message that delivered the news when I checked my phone. I spoke with a coworker soon after and towards the end of the call said, "what am I suppose to do?". And all day I've been trying to figure that out. My mind hasn't been filled with just a montage of thoughts like this in awhile. And nothing can distract it.

I'm going to miss him so much, as we all will! But I'm glad his pain is gone.

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Here I am

I'm sitting in the office of one of my company's VPs waiting for my 11am meeting to start.

He continues to take phone calls and have long conversations while I'm sitting here. And mouthing to me "sorry". Thank god I brought my blackberry in and for the Snake talking to me on text messages.

Now he's slamming his assistant and the economy. Waste of time...
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who does that?

for valentine's day 2008 i bought my man friend a beta fighting fish and a tank, both were red. we named the fish, andrew. i wasn't optimistic about this fish living too long, he was studying for the california bar exam, and overall is sort of into himself. but he did it, he took care of it for eight long months. at the end of august he moved the tank to the kitchen, i got a lot less face time with andrew after that. i mean my time spent in the bedroom is way greater than my time in the kitchen.

we went to whole foods on monday to grab some dinner so that we could get home to his projection screen to watch the monday night football game in comfort and style. we got everything out of the boxes and on plates and settled. and it occured to me. i didn't see the red tank in the kitchen. so over my spinach lasagna i ask, where's andrew?

apparently, a couple weeks ago he was cleaning out the tank and let andrew swim down the drain! i was mortified! then instead of telling me, because he felt so bad and ashamed. he packed up the red tank in a brown shopping bag, went into a fish/pet store and left the tank in the store and left! i have no idea what to make of any of this! who does that?!!?!

Nike "Leave Nothing"

i'm not sure when this commerical started running, but i do know when it touched my life. i saw it in just about every commercial break during the steeler/bengals game this sunday, and simply fell in love. it's super cute for a football commercial!

i <3 troy polamalu so much!

i'm sorry he suffered a concussion during the game, but i'm pretty sure he's practicing this week. we're against the giants this sunday, 4:15pm EST, and we're going to need him.

maybe he just needs to watch his nike commerical to become inspired...

what people are looking for...

i'm proud to say, that since my last political post. i've been getting mad hits through the search engine sites. apparently, there happen to be quite a lot of people asking that same question i did, "how do i know if i'm registered to vote?" i've got 100+ hits since then, from people looking for answers to that question.

i couldn't be more proud that i have enabled at least 100 people to get out there and vote this november 4th. it's going to be a big one for us peoples of america, and i know that is said every four years, but this time, i think it's pretty true.

i don't care who you vote for, just go out and vote!

don't be lame, don't let us turn into this...

my printer at work

dudes, sorry that previous post turned out to be lame. i need to take the time and upload that thing proper. it was taking to long, and i needed to use my computer. so sorry!

things have been so hectic the last two weeks here at work. i don't think i want to get too much into, but imagine worst case scenario and that's pretty much me. oh, and yesterday i wanted to throw my 10+year old printer out the 17th floor window. maybe i'll just do like boys in 'office space' and get hip hop on it!



or maybe like the guys from family guy:
this one doesn't have sound for some reason,

here's my drive to work

for any of you who don't know about commuting here in lovely la, this video is for you! this is my morning commute. i decided to record it today becausei it was so gorgeous out. keep in mind that my commute is only 6 miles. happy looking!
*this wasn't posted to stress you out, but to educate you :)

UPDATE: peeping toms suck

this story ends on a happy note...my friend, rainbow, with the peeping tom problem has found an apartment. she's moving to the beach, where she's always wanted to be. she gives up her dog to her ex-husband though, there are not dogs allowed in this new apartment building. but she's happy and this is where she wants to be. move in is on monday, and she's about a 10-15 minute walk from my apartment. so i have a new neighbor as well! yay carpooling!

cheers!