Carly is coming to visit over the holidays!!!

There will be wine. And Buffy. And ACTUAL CONVERSATION WITH ADULTS. And let's not forget Twilight: The Mockening, which will take place with the help of much booze and sarcasm and giggling. And trips into Vancouver. And... and... and...

*faints from happiness*

Am tired and very, very happy.

bgrice gave me the best Christmas present ever this year... a baby-free weekend in L.A. It was a complete whirlwind... I flew in Friday and back to Vancouver on Monday, and Carly had a full roster of activities planned, which included a night at a spa, a hot oil Swedish massage (less dirty than it sounds), TONS of Sex and the City, a visit to her psychic, a hike to the Hollywood sign (SO FUN but goddamn I hate the hot sun), the Hollywood farmer's market and much, much wine drinking.

Also I ate at thee best Mexican restaurant ever, where they served us some killer margueritas, and apologized that they weren't set on fire when they were served.

Am exhausted, and very happy.

I missed Iz a bunch.

There's a thing about travel... it is good for my soul in a way that's hard to quantify. There's something about having my eyes rest on different sights, on smelling different air and tasting new food, that jolts my brain out of the ruts it tends to get into. Especially after having a baby, and dealing with the immense amount of daily administration involved in keeping her warm, safe, fed, and dry on an hourly basis, it really just felt like someone had taken my brain and was sprinkling fairy dust on it. I felt like I was waking up after a long, long nap and was remembering what it was like to be alive again.

I have decided I quite like L.A., or at least parts of it. It only took me, what... five visits to come around?

Am now going to bury my nose in my baby's head for, oh, four or five days. Missed her. Missed her smell.

My husband rocks so hard for doing this for me.

Have I mentioned how proud I am that I managed to leave the house only 3 weeks after giving birth?

Have I mentioned that I am enough of a ridiculous Madonna fan that I am actually willing to wear matching fangirl t-shirts in public with one of my best friends?

Proof of both points, below.

I'm back from L.A.!

Behind the cut: many pictures, many words. You have been warned.

( Read more... )

I'm pretty sure that around 10:00 this morning, I'm going to be very grumpy that at 5:30 this morning I wasn't fast asleep.

Ah well.

Jill's wedding was in the afternoon, and it was beautiful. She looked so happy, and absolutely gorgeous with the baby belly and her gothic-style dress. Best to you and Paul, my dear.

I left the dancing fairly early, as apparently I am incapable of being vertical after 9pm these days... and sure enough, by 11 I was fast asleep in Carly's couch, totally missing the last episode of Season Two of Buffy. Fortunately, I've seen it at least three times before.

Yesterday morning was a visit to Car's psychic, who hedged with, "I'm not always right," but did indeed confirm a GirlBaby. I gleefully informed B, who said, "Welcome to Parenting Hell. You know she's gonna wrap me around her little finger, right?" I asked if she could see anything about her, and she couldn't give me too much, other than, "This child is going to be so gifted. Not physically, mentally. Such an intuitive mind. Incredible."

Well, obviously.

This visit has been different than others, as Carly isn't feeling well and I'm obviously not as energetic as I usually am... but it's been cool to hang out with Carly while we're both in this different space. Obviously it's way more chill than usual... yesterday was a lot of hanging out, cooking, watching Buffy and doing of nails. It's sort of exactly the type of vacation that really works for me right now.

Okay. Gonna try to sleep again now.

In L.A.!

Weather is gorgeous.

Got to tell the customs dude that my purpose for visiting was a shotgun wedding.

Currently camped out on Carly's couch, watching Angel and waiting for her girlfriend to show up for dinner.

Life is good.

Tomorrow I leave for L.A. to hit the fabulous sockgirl's wedding, and hang out with the lovely Carly.

On the schedule (besides the wedding, of course):

- Madge stalking (so nice of her to schedule her trip to L.A. around mine)
- Impromptu Buffy tour (eat your heart out, Buffy girls!)
- A visit to Carly's psychic, where she will hopefully confirm that I am indeed carrying a GirlBaby (fingers crossed)
- Numerous long, lovely walks
- Numerous long, lovely talks
- Much giggling
- Tea with the gorgeous, charming and super-special (but not like THAT) slatergirl

Friends are good.

From Carly's Ninja Drop-In Visit over Christmas...

I'm a little late on this, but L.A. Weight Loss has gone out of business.

Pure Weight Loss has been involved in a number of lawsuits over the years for making false claims about its weight loss program. (...) Two years ago, Washington state Attorney General’s office reported it had settled with LA Weight Loss for $800,000 plus $75,000 in attorney’s fees and court costs for similar charges of misrepresenting its programs. In addition, the centers were “prohibited from claiming that their supplements have any health or weight loss benefit unless they first have competent and reliable scientific evidence to substantiate their claims.” The Attorney General also alleged that there was “no such evidence to back up LA Weight Loss claims that its FB500 supplement caused customers to lose weight by trapping, blocking or otherwise absorbing dietary fat.”

It goes on to talk about other complaints against L.A. Weight Loss. Interesting Stuff.

Further to this subject, I am currently reading this book:



I'll talk more about my impressions of it later, but I wanted to mention the reactions I've been getting from women on the bus as I read it. Everywhere I go, I find women's eyes being drawn to the cover and examining it. One woman actually tilted her head completely to the side to read the title.

I haven't received this kind of reaction to bus reading since I was reading Carly's Sexography.



An interesting note on the gender divide: practically no men have noticed me reading Rethinking Thin, but numerous men noticed Sexography. One young man even commented, "That must either be incredibly interesting or incredibly boring." I smiled and said, "Incredibly interesting," then moved to the other end of the bus.

Because apparently this is the Month of Random Carly-ness, yesterday slatergirl showed up on my doorstep for tea. All the way from New York.

Fruitful conversations were had. That is all.

When Carly showed up on my doorstep last week, she presented me with a Christmas present: an angel for my tree. She told me it was an angel to watch over my womb. Awesome.

This morning I was chatting with her in the living room, and as I got up to leave, my eye caught the angel hanging from the branches of my Christmas tree.

"Wait. I had a dream about that angel last night."

"What was it?" said Carly, typing away on her laptop.

"I was putting my tree away, but I couldn't put the angel away because it's watching over my womb. So I put it in my office by my computer... and I think we had a conversation."

Carly stopped typing and looked up. "Really? Do you remember what you talked about?"

I looked hard at the angel, trying to remember, then suddenly broke into a peal of laughter. "Dude. This angel was telling me about all the meetings she had to get to, the flight to Portugal she had to catch, and all the work she had to do... she was trying to multitask while looking after my womb!"

Carly rolled her eyes. "GEE. I wonder what THAT signifies!"

Let's tell a story, shall we?

Spring, 2000 - I fly to San Francisco to meet the beautiful Carly for the first time. We walk down the street on my first day there and simultaneously check ourselves out in a reflective store window, then catch the other person checking herself out. A friendship is born. I am introduced to Nina Hartley.

Summer, 2000 - Girlfest in San Francisco. Numerous blogger types meet up in SF, descending on Carly's space with vast quantities of squealing and estrogen. I share a hotel room with Cyn and a legend is created around the random pair of granny panties we find hanging on the back of the bathroom door. Carly purchases the peasant skirt, although it's best we don't speak of it.

August, 2000 - Car shows up in Van, and wear the peasant skirt. Despite this, the friendship deepens. Carly is painted by Annelie, we visit Under the Volcano, and the seed for a book is planted.

September 11, 2001 - I am set to fly out to Los Angeles to see Madonna perform her Drowned World Tour. As I'm going through security, the planes hit the buildings and all flights are locked down. I spend the next few days at home, glued to CNN and on the phone with Carly.

Summer, 2004 - Three long years later, Madge tours with the Reinvention tour, and I make it to L.A. this time. I see Carly as a blond for the first time. There is an embarrasing amount of squealing and crying in the airport. The Kurt Lockwood Incident happens. We drive to Vegas and see Madge again, just because we can.

January, 2005 - Carly invites me to go to the AVN Awards with her in Vegas. It is quite possibly the weirdest week of my life. A cameraman follows us around for most of the trip. There are incidents that it's better we don't speak of.

Summer, 2006 - Confessions Tour. We see Madonna twice in L.A., and drink wine together for the first time. Carly has officially entered her woo-woo phase, and I am impressed by the lack of action figurines surrounding her desk. I am introduced to Runyon Canyon, and I think I might like L.A. just a little bit. We eat lunch at Chateau Marmont.

December 27, 2007 - That lying bitch, who told me she was in Hawaii, SHOWS THE HELL UP ON MY DOORSTEP WITH NO WARNING.

Seriously, Car? You are devious beyond belief, and I love you for it. Best Christmas present ever.