I'm Late, but... WOO!

This makes me happy to be a Californian!

A little late but, congrats to the gay community in California, and everywhere! As I once told a close friend of mine, she will be legally able to get married in her lifetime! Woot, woot!

Had to include this! It says it all!

The Very Best Risotto

I'm easily influenced apparently, as everything I've been working on lately has made me want to do it. I'm working on an environmental show and am trying to go as organic as possible. Well there was this cooking segment where they made some risotto and it looked so good I decided to try and make some. I took their recipe and since it was incomplete, paired it with some recipes I found online, and made my own recipe. And let me just say, it's maybe the best thing I've ever made. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups of Arborio Rice
1 Cup of Chardonnay
4 Cups of Organic Chicken stock
olive oil
a yellow onion
fresh asparagus
a tomato
fresh parsley
1/2 - 1 stick of butter
fresh shredded parmesan (like Digorno)

Okay, on medium heat, heat up a little bit of olive oil in a frying pan. When it's nice and hot, slowly add the chopped yellow onion. When the onion starts getting a little brownish, added a couple of handfuls of one inch pieces of the chopped asparagus. Saute those until they look nice and yummy. Add the rice. No liquid-yet. Stir the three of those around, so that the rice gets shiny with oil. Continue stirring for a few minutes. (I'm bad at measuring time.) Then add 1/3 cup of the chicken stock. Stir. When the chicken stock is fully absorbed, add another 1/3 cup. Continue until you've put 3 cups, in 1/3 increments, in the rice, (slowly, waiting each time until it's absorbed.) Now add the parsley, chopped. Mix that in and then continue the 1/3 cup of chicken stock routine three more times. Then, once all that is absorbed, switch to the white wine. Again, 1/3 cups, waiting each time for it to be completely absorbed. At this point, it should start absorbing slower. When that happens, you're getting close to deliciousness! Once, everything is absorbed, add the chopped tomato. (The fresher, the better. Go organic people!) Stir it around, until the tomato gets warm and soft and is integrated with the rice. Then, in slices, add the butter. A whole stick if you want, or a half a stick. Depends on how much you love butter I guess. Once everything is mixed, spoon to a plate and sprinkle the parmesan on top.

Prepare your mouth for the best thing ever. Eat. Love. Dance in circles. Thank me. Smile at a stranger.

It is that good.

The whole process takes about 45 mins to an hour and will feed three hungry adults. Or two really hungry adults.

So yummy!


You're Welcome

It's A Creepy Night Out

There's this wind blowing that if I were in NC I would recoginize as the wind before a bad thunderstorm. I think I've written about them before, but LA has these things called Santa Ana winds that creep me out. For the reason stated above - but the rain never comes. Tonight, in addition to the wild winds, the sky is a terrible shade of smog. An orange, almost pink color covering everything and furthering the illusion of forthcoming rain.

I'll snuggle on my couch, in my living room lit by my new lamp and watch Law and Order while the open windows allow some of the wayward wind in. Sounds like a good plan.

Sometimes You Just Have To STOP! (hammer time)

This will most likely be brief since my new old fav is coming on right now, (Law and Order - I go through obsessive phases). But today, as I was driving home to grab some lunch, I saw something unbelievably unusual. I can only hope that I can paint this scenario to you with as much detail as I witnessed, allowing you the same appreciation.

Just another example of the fun of living in the city. A favorite story of mine is a few months ago when I literally nearly bumped into a couple having sex on outdoor apartment stairs near mine, as I walked by with my dog within three feet of their, ahem, coupling. They were not bothered. At all.

Okay, so I was driving today when I got stopped at a light. I was just glancing around the somewhat deserted street, (no big businesses, not a whole lot of people), and I spied something that I couldn't tear my eyes away from. This woman. Mid-aged, no visable marks of homelessness, just standing alone on the sidewalk, her bags she had obviously been carrying dropped to her feet, and her arms, bent at the elbow, palms down on either side of her. Her hips were swaying, and she was enjoying the pure bliss of some unheard music. She had dropped her bags on the middle of the sidewalk, and with a huge smile on her face begun to dance. Now my windows were down, and I immediately turned down my radio, which was pretty low to begin with seeing as I was waiting on a phone call, so it wasn't my music she was listening to. And there - there was silence. Or as close to silence as one can get in mid-day Hollywood.

I guess sometimes you just have to stop and hear the music. She seemed to be having a pretty good day.

How To Blow Eight Hundred Dollars In One Weekend

That's depressing. I kinda went on a spending spree this weekend. Eck. After successfully finishing me two-job work week, I got two paychecks. So I decided I should get new stuff for my apartment. (And YET ANOTHER bridesmaids dress.)

And then I came home and checked the damage, and woo-wee, I can swipe a card to death. While I want to buy the two Mary Roach books I don't have, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, AND the Chelsea Handler book, Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, I think my card, (and account), could use a break.

My damage went towards:

A side table for my couch,
a lamp to go atop,
wine glasses,
(non-related!) candles,
a couple of new coffee cups,
dog toys and doggy blanket,
a car wash,
a tank of gas (GUH),
bought dinner for a friend,
the aforementioned Bridesmaids Dress,
and a wooden figurine guy in which I can paint and decorate to my hearts desire, and was only 5 bucks but thought it was one of the cooler things I purchased.

I rationalize by believing I helped the economy a little this weekend.

But yay! Lamp light! No more overhead! How exciting. In hindsight, the lamp, table, and dress were the three objectives for the weekend. And now I sit with all these new dishes and stuff, and a hole in my pocket where money once was.

New job is good. It's good work-wise, friend-wise I feel like a total loser, not seeming to really click with anyone. And I think my boss hates me. And the guy who sits in the cubicle, (that's right, I'm editing in a cubicle), next to me, freely interchanges "bro" for "bra" and I think I may go deaf from turning my volume up so loud to try and drown the sac-relig out. "Bra, you got to check this out. Bra, Bra, Braaaa." Vom.

But lots of work, a little play, and lots of stress-relieving shopping going on. (Isn't it ironic that I shop to relieve stress, but after checking my account, the stress comes back full force?)

Oh and then there's this fun, but oh so speculative and probably just me projecting, (it needs to be taken with less than a grain of salt), thing, in which I went to the beach on Sunday morning and got quite a surprise. I was driving down Sunset to pick up my brother, (or "bra"), and I saw a black Range Rover with a brunette in a yellow hat leaving the street in which my fav Matt in the world lives, and it was definitely a drive of shame hour. Okay so if you know how many black Range Rovers there are in LA, (I counted fourty in thirty minutes once), you will know that the probability at what I am suggesting, without actually suggesting, mind you, was probably me wanting to see that. If that made any sense to you, your name is probably Christie, or you are as insane as I.

I love wine. I love decorating my apartment. I love visitors. I love a clean apartment, that oh-so rarely happens. I love my new wine glasses! I started the "I loves" for a reason and now it has escaped me.

Another random thought: whatever happened to the Charlotte Hornets? I told you it was random.

Memorial Day weekend is on the horizon!!!! Wooooo-to the-Hooo!

Work, work, work! (Sleep?)

I am up early as the sun today to start my hell week. It's actually awesome week because I ended up getting an amazing job last week! Okay, so since I have a little time, (woke up before my alarm convinced I was going to sleep in), I'll tell you the whole story. I'm going to channel Chandler for a second and have a "my diamond shoes are too tight and my hundreds won't fit in my wallet" kind of moment.

So a couple of weeks ago, despite having a job, (same place I've worked for like forever), I started applying to a few jobs to see if anything would come up. If somehow I could make the transition to editing. Well, last Wednesday, I got an interview for what I thought was an editing position, so I jumped for joy and then went to the interview. (I should probably start switching that order.) It ended up they thought I was better suited for the assistant position. I was not really looking for an assistant job, but they were awesome and really wanted me to work with them, offering me more than they had budgeted for and calling my phone to remind me that they really wanted me. On the other hand, my current job, who I went ahead and told I was considering the other job, was very ho-hum about the whole thing and didn't offer me anything to stay. So I went ahead and accepted the other offer, even though hours and money were the same. My job told me that this Thursday (night) would be my last day.

Not ten minutes later though, did I get a call from a company looking for an editor! Of course, this is an opportunity I couldn't pass up. So I went into the interview on Friday and they later called me and told me I got the job. I accepted without hesistation and called the other job. I apologized profusely, but they were totally cool and completely understood. Problem is, new job starts today. (days), and old job ends Thursday, (nights). So basically, I'm left working both for this week. How am I going to juggle it all? Only time will tell!

But editing, woo!!!

And then, yesterday, my phone was stolen from the beach, after I had just taken beautiful pictures of a seal that had come to rest on the shore. I knew if I didn't get a new one yesterday, it would be an entire week before I was able to get one. Problem is, since I deactivated mine yesterday, the only way to activate it was to talk to a customer service individual, who wasn't there until today. And in one of my finer blonde moments, I decided I would just call this morning when I woke up. Except for the little fact I don't have a phone. Genius. So now, I guess I will be searching for a phone to borrow today at the new job so I can activate my phone and not be without a lifeline any longer.

Anyway, it's shower time and then work time! Woo! I'm excited and a little scared and just ready for this week to be over! Godspeed readers!