Starbucks and iTunes

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Starbucks and iTunes, now there is some beautiful marketing at work together.

I went in for my tall drip of Joya (today's mild blend) and there is Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell staring at me from the counter, side by side.




It was like my dad was saying good morning to me or something.

For the next 35 days, Starbucks is giving out a song of the day on iTunes, first come, first served.


Today's song


I'm going to download it after I post this.

Get thee to Starbucks and happy listening. :)

Shanghai

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My friend Vic and his wife Christina recently moved to Shanghai from Pasadena for two years. Yep, they're ex-pats now and it's quite the life over there apparently. But talk about destiny, within the same time period, their respective companies offered them opportunities in Shanghai only one mile apart (he's an architect and she's management at the Ritz, ritzy eh?).

Since I'm stuck in the U.S. and not doing any foreign travel anytime soon (um I don't even know where my expired passport is), I am happy to be on the recipient list for email pictures. I heard rumors of a photo blog at some point but for now I can share these few glimpses of a land far away and very different from my own.



These are from The Bund and came around my birthday.


And these just came through as I was typing this post,
it's the Opening Ceremonies of the Special Olympics
at Shanghai Stadium.

Nifty Home Products

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I am in a nesting mood. I've been spending my free time at IKEA, Cost Plus, Pottery Barn, and lots and lots of places online. The new house inspires me very much. I want to retain its aesthetic beauty and get our stuff to fit seamlessly and efficiently.

Here are two nifty products I've seen in the past two days.

1. folding drying rack from Ballard Designs:




2. strappy "droog" thing from Twig:


Ironically, there is an amazing home store in Los Gatos called Twig as well, but they are not affiliated.

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

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These pictures are from Jaden's second trip to the Boardwalk (was the first time one or two summers ago?) He pretty much thought it was the bee's knees both times. This year is the 100th anniversary. He still hasn't been with his Daddy though.



While we waited for Nana to come back from the bamboo nursery, we hung around the actual beach part of the Boardwalk.


Then Nana arrived and we started cruising and checking out the big rides like the Giant Dipper.




Jaden and I went on the Red Baron together the first time I took him to the Boardwalk.


It was probably my last time ever going on it since my kid likes to lean over the bar when we're paused at the top and yell "Howdy" to every little ant on the ground.

We learned that Nana is not a fan of the Red Baron or the Sky Glider. I like the Sky Glider, or at least I did when I was a kid. I never liked ferris wheels though.


We all stopped to watch the Typhoon in action.


And then we watched Jaden imitate the ride.

We ended our trip with an exciting ride on the Sea Serpent.




See ya next summer at the Boardwalk!

Drooling

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Ana blogged about some finds on Etsy recently and one of her finds has got me drooling.



This carnelian ring is so simple and beautiful but there's more to it than that. My grandma gave me a ring of hers that my grandfather had bought her, it was a garnet solitaire set in gold. It was her birthstone and extremely sentimental.

And I lost it during college during one of many moves. It haunts me to this day that I lost something so precious. It's not that it was a fancy stone or extremely expensive. But he's gone and then it was gone and now she's gone.

She was a gold kind of gal and I'm a silver kind of gal so if I still had it, I would have had it re-set by now into white gold (methinks platinum would have been a tad excessive in this case).

Anyway this picture just reminds me of it.

Nonna, mi dispiace e mi manchi.

Hello Asthma Attack

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Tonight, 45 minutes before we were to sign our lease and pick up our new house keys, I was struck by an asthma attack. I've never had asthma before, but I assume that's what I experienced.

I have allergies and have an inhaler for the dry cough I get sometimes from that. I did not have an inhaler with me, but I did have two dependents: Jaden and Jackson. The fires going on around here have made our air thick with smoke and the sun hazy as can be.

Honestly I am trying not to be dramatic but it was really terrifying to have Jaden and the dog under my responsibility and totally unable to breathe. I have wheezed plenty in my life with a dry cough, but I never wheezed like that. I couldn't speak or breathe, I just used everything I could to dial Jeff on my cell and toss it to Jaden in the back seat. Unfortunately Jaden couldn't tell Jeff where we were, only yell "It's an emergency! Mama can't breathe." I was trying to choke out "Sequoia High School" but Jeff was yelling back, "It's huge, where at Sequoia?"

I was getting so scared that I just decided to drive. (It struck me right outside the car after I had tried to run Jackson to tire him out. Somehow I got us all in the car and buckled and that was before even calling Jeff). Poor Jeff. What he must have been thinking as I choked out, "I'm just going to drive, I'll be okay" and hung up on him.

Anyway. Long story. Got to Renkoo parking lot and sent my 4 y.o. unattended through the parking lot, down the hall and into the office to get Jeff. I managed to get in the hallway and collapsed on the stairs. Started crying pretty much. My lungs were spasming at a slower rate.

Eventually we made it to the appointment to sign the lease. What a handful of a family we were -- the anxious dog, my over-tired, over-hungry child, my heaving self and Jeff who had been dealing with melting servers all day long. In the middle of all that, I went to Walgreen's and had my inhaler Rx transferred and filled. We picked it up on the way home. It helped very little. The hot steamy shower helped a lot -- while I was in it. Now I am sititng very still, typing very fast and not talking. Talking = Lung Spasms = Bad.

Google'd "coughing asthma henry coe fire san jose" and got this KRON article titled: "Health Advisory Issued Due to High Level of Pollutants."

Nice.

NOT!

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Plenty

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I checked this book out of the library and I'm about 2/3 of the way through. I had to renew it once already so I need to hustle and finish it.

It is really thought-provoking. I have read a lot about eating locally in the past, but this book slams the idea home. The authors state that the average ingredient travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate.

I can't get that number out of my head. Here I am stressing over my Element's mpg and really my food choices are a way bigger problem! I thought organic or not was a big stress, now I need to worry about how far my food has come.

For example, my Trader Joe's canola oil comes from Canada. Ouch. My super yummy Ritz replacement cracker, Late July, comes from Maine. Goodness, I don't even want to talk about my olive oil. I need my Italian olive oil, hello!

My challenge to you: go see how many things in your pantry come from your own state. Forget 100 miles, just see if you are eating in-state.

I am beginning my Google process and this was the first link I checked after this search: average mpg semi trucks. 6 MPG!!! OMG. My Element is practically a gift to the planet after the amount of gas my little crackers traveled to my pantry.

I am going to drown with my crackers in a cup of long-distance tomato soup now.

I Miss...

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...my Harpo.

Girl, you had your issues but you were my girl and I understood you so well. I did well in a way, getting Jackson after you, because he is nothing like you and never will be. He could not possibly be mistaken as a replacement for you. He is the complete opposite of you. You were a princess. You were graceful. You were wise and you were wounded. You were stunningly beautiful.

Okay Jackson is a pretty boy so I guess maybe you have one thing in common: good looks.

Okay two, he is part lab also.

Okay, three, he is a dog.

That's where I draw the line!

I am here to tell you that Jackson did help ease the pain of losing you simply by aggravating me to such an extent almost every waking hour since three days after his arrival in our home. How could I grieve you once he was bumbling, peeing, biting, barking and growling down my hallways? It was impossible.

So here I find myself, almost one year after making that awful, horrid but necessary decision to "put you down" (um whatever that means -- put you where? down? down where? where are you anyway?), realizing that for the first time in my life, I have squashed some difficult emotions. Not by self-medicating the way most of our society does, but by self-aggravating.

Yes, that is more my style, I couldn't have let myself drink a little for a few months, no a good Cab isn't good enough for my grief. I needed a totally insane puppy to get over you.

All I am trying to say is, Harpo?

I'm not over you.

I MISS YOU SO MUCH that I can hardly stand it anymore.