stuff about where I live and play, and maybe some stuff about where I work and play.

11.22.2008

today we experience a cool, sad and random event: an open-urn memorial service for a dog.
the dog being celebrated was jackie, the dog who belonged to the owner of our little mom 'n' pop pet store.


it was cool because it we got to know some of our dog-loving neighbors on a different level. it was cool because the pet store owner hasn't been "OK" in the two weeks since her best friend passed. but today, she was so full of gratitude and she felt so loved. it was cool because we UNDERSTOOD what it's like to lose a furry friend, and how important it is to celebrate that life.

it was sad, because, hello.

it was random because how many dog memorial services have you been to? i'm guessing none. also? she made gingerbread cookies in the shape of her dog, and she made them in the shape of a "J," for jackie. also? an open-urn? unreal, but she is so quirky and adorable that it was OK. she also served wine and cheese. chips and dip. and of course, treats for four-legged friends that she made herself. i died of teh cute.

and now? we are about to leave for the airport with our little furry friends. it's mu's first plane trip and for cosette, it's probably her 10th.

i'm really just SO grateful to have them.

11.21.2008

conversations of late

REGARDING THE POOP SAMPLE RESULTS

ruby (5:58:36 PM): camus has a F8cking parasite can you believe that?
tenna (5:58:49 PM): oh no.............
ruby (5:58:49 PM): fecal freak
tenna (5:59:28 PM): that is weird....so, on meds he goes?
ruby (5:59:32 PM): they are both going to take the special powder and 5 days from now poof it shall be gone
ruby (5:59:44 PM): i want a parasite, just for thanksgiving though
ruby (5:59:55 PM): i want to eat a shitton but not have to digest it
ruby (6:00:14 PM): know whutimsayin

tenna (6:00:23 PM): HAHAHAH! are you drunk?!?!?!?

~~~~

REGARDING ASHLEE SIMPSON & PETE WENTZ DECISION TO NAME THEIR SON BRONX MOWGLI

jason (10:33:58 AM): what the F is mogli anyway
ruby (10:34:07 AM): the guy from the jungle book
jason (10:34:11 AM): oh
ruby (10:34:14 AM): http://images.google.com/images?sa=N&tab=ni&q=mowgli
jason (10:34:14 AM): OMG
jason (10:34:25 AM): they named him after the guy from jungle book
jason (10:34:29 AM): or is it just coincidence
ruby (10:34:33 AM): um no
ruby (10:34:35 AM): they did that

jason (10:34:39 AM): geez
jason (10:34:48 AM): that could be the most ridiculous thing I've heard in quite some time
ruby (10:35:25 AM): indeed
jason (10:35:45 AM): i wish i was friends with them
jason (10:35:47 AM): I'd be like
jason (10:35:48 AM): ummm
jason (10:35:50 AM): what!?!
jason (10:36:13 AM): I don't think I could keep a straight face
ruby (10:36:34 AM): i wouldn't be friends with them
ruby (10:36:39 AM): that is some sick shit

jason (10:36:43 AM): hahah
jason (10:36:43 AM): yes
jason (10:36:44 AM): it is

11.20.2008

this one is for my pants, ya'll

dear my pants,

prepare to get yourselves ROCKED! normally you only have to deal with one Turkey Day per year. but this year, my tight little friends, you GET TWO! oh yes.

the traditional turkey day will take place, appropriately, in the midwest. it is there that i will dine on delectable midwestern fare which undoubtedly will have to include meat, potatoes, starch and fat.

THEN! we will whisk ourselves back to LA on friday and we will do part deux, courtesy of the wonderful in-laws. this feast will probably have less potatoes, starch and fat, but it will probably include more chocolate, wine and gamey animals than you can shake a fist at.

ahhh, my belly is growling in anxious anticipation.

so hey pants, i suggest you install a belly expansion panel. cuz, uh, you're going to need it to contain the beast formerly known as my belly. yeah, i said that.

stay strong!


love,
ruby

11.19.2008

floating tidbits

i keep forgetting that i'm going to MN on the red eye saturday night, and it's messing with me a bit. holy crap, i need a vacation. i don't think my brain is able to comprehend the fact that i will not have to work for nine days.


today aaron dropped off some poop samples for cosette and camus with the vet. he has a theory that they are upcharging people to do a parasite test by preying on our fears and insecurities. this test is $104 a pop. i think his sentiment about this was something along the lines of "dude, come on, just because cosette has a bit of the drizzly droo* or the ra-ra**, doesn't mean it's a parasite!!" but on the other hand, she has had the ra-ra for almost a week straight, and camus' ra-ra has come and gone, so i guess it's good to be more safe than sorry.


in other news, they are both vet-certified to fly on our aforementioned red-eye flight, which now sounds funny to me when i just got done talking about the brown-eye. i know, i'm gross. but! the one thing that IS worriesome is the fact that camus has to fly in the luggage area underneath, and if the temp is BELOW 10 DEGREES either on this side or that side, they cannot fly him. current temps for mpls are projected to be in the high 20s for the day we fly, but...i'm a little nervouse. and yes i wanted that e on the end of nervouse. it makes it seem french or somesuch.


today i had a meeting with some fancy talent agency research people who were not only smart, they were also some pretty hott ladies. they got in a three-way discussion with my boss about NANNIES which was where i promptly glossed over and started thinking about wine. this always happens when anything relating to babies comes up. i automatically think about wine or sushi.


currently, aaron is one half-hour into a 90-minute massage with the enviable zach t. i will be taking my turn with zach around 7:45pm tonight, and i wish i could communicate with typed words how UNCONTROLLABLY EXCITED I AM ABOUT THIS, but alas, you will just have to imagine my unbridled excitement for yourselves.


so there you have it.


18 nablopomo entries down, 11 mo' to go. (see, i skipped a day, because i suck)


* aka diarrhea
** aka diarrhea

11.18.2008

i have to say.

so mostly, today was a good day.

i had a great client meeting (my first at the new job! very exciting!) in the morning.

lunch was some tofu over brown rice with a rich thick tahini sauce or somesuch. so good that i drank the remains of the container once i had thoroughly drenched the veggies and tofu with it. delish.

then, i interviewed a potential analyst for "my team." she was effin whip smart and totally cool. great first candidate.

then i pulled together a bunch of powerpoint slides for a lunch meeting at a prestigious talent agency tomorrow. my boss only had a few tweaks, which was totally refreshing.

then! i went to grab my car keys from the valet in our parking structure, and they were, um, how you say, MISSING. after a very in-depth and thorough investigation, turns out the P5 valet dude had "accidentally" taken my keys home with him. so i had to wait upwards of 45 minutes for him to come back. so that was fun.

then i got to catch up on lipstick jungle, gossip girl and priveleged because aaron had a production meeting.

when he finally came home, he came bearing chicken wings and pinot grigio. um, hello, it doesn't get ANY better than that.

and now, we're finishing up fringe and tomorrow i am working from home for half the day and then going to a fancy lunch meeting.

not bad i say. not bad at all.

11.17.2008

on meh.

it's pretty cool when gawker decides to write about one's blog.

what meh says about us

well, maybe it's not about MY BLOG, per se. but it is about my blog's title. so yay, i'm awesome?!

in case you're too lazy to click the link, here's the article:


What 'Meh' Says About Us
By
Richard, 1:16 PM on Mon Nov 17 2008

Meh, the unimpressed expression of "who cares" coined on The Simpsons, has now officially entered the lexicon. It's being listed in the Collins English Dictionary! In these crazy times of war and crumbling economy it could have been some dread-filled "word" like ZOMG that got the honor, or it may have been a Hope and Change rally word like Obamamania (well, all right, that would never happen, but still). I guess it speaks to a young generation defined not by apathy exactly, but by a sense that we're (they're?) not supposed to be easily impressed, that this dismissive, tarty little word made the list.

Kids have been sort of unimpressable for a while now, probably, but only recently has the idea of childhood become such a resoundingly cynical one. Markets are tested and groups are focused and everything's dangerous and sarcasm is now mistaken for cute, youthful willfulness. That 'meh' became the battle cry for this seen-it-all generation makes perfect sense; it's funny in its onomatopoeic nonsensicalness—it's like someone gave up halfway when trying to come up with a word. It's a bit sarcastic, just like kids like it, and it came from a pop culture touchstone. It worked its way up, in such a modern little cyber-organic way, through the school halls and internet chatting rooms and it's now in a big British book. It even beat out the über-popular Sex and the City term "frenemy," which was being considered too!

Maybe that means that a meh attitude isn't a path to slackerness and failure, but rather an alternative route to success! The meh sentiment demands a lot—impress me!, it yells. And maybe that's a good thing. Or, you know, whatever. Maybe not.

Who cares anyway.


So there you have it kids.

We are the MEH GENERATION.


11.16.2008

mailbag!

dear The Future,

you is looking good, dawg. lookin real bright. i cannot wait to see what you bring.

~~
dear the fires of socal,

please you can stop burning now. your ashes, not so much good for the complexion or lungs. also? my eyes are burning. so maybes you can die, mutha f*ckers. it's been real, but your time? it's over. no one likes a you.

~~
dear northwest airlines,

thanks for allowing both of my ridiculous french bulldogs to fly the friendly skies. maybe you can think about not charging camus as much as a human, because he ONLY WEIGHS 33 POUNDS. that's like, a large baby. but he has to fly IN THE LUGGAGE area, mmkay? cut a dawg a break.

~~
dear mr daniel craig,

well done, sir. you make an amazing Bond. although this movie wasn't one of the best i've ever seen, it was still fun. and i'm all about fun.

~~
dear upcoming half marathon,

please be kind to my knee(s). kthxbye.

~~
dear new job,

thanks for making me feel like a REAL ADULT. i am equally overwhelmed and excited about the responsibilities i now have, but we all now that fear is a powerful motivator for awesomeness. so, thanks, yo.

~~
dear aaron,

you're adorable. love you long time.
~~

11.15.2008

smoke hangs heavy in the air. it's unseasonably hot in los angeles, or maybe it just seems like this weather SHOULD be too hot for this time of year.

one cannot be sure.

in the past week i've donned big girl britches in a way i don't think i've ever done before. i feel like i'm changing, as much as i feel the world around me is changing.

paradigms seem to be shifting everyday. nothing seems concrete. and frankly, nothing needs to feel that way.

the same way that flames are burning all around us in los angeles, the flames are being fanned internally. some of those changes are going to be everlasting in ways i still cannot fathom.

but one thing rings true throughout:

i'm excited.

i'm feeling a renewed sense of optimism. i feel like my perspective is malleable, but not in a bad way. and nothing seems bad about any of this.


so i choose to revel in it.

11.14.2008

o to the v to the ER.

in one week i will be on vacation, finally. i've gone a whole year without any "real" vacation and i.cannot.wait.

other than that.. it's friday night. what are you doing? not reading this i hope.

i cannot wait until this one blog a day sh*t is OVER. O to the V to the ER. and off i go.

11.13.2008

whole new world

there wasn't anything "wrong" with the last place i worked. it's just that i got lazy and maybe turned my brain off a lil bit.

but hey! good news! it's back on. and it's ready to think my face off.

get ready for it.

11.12.2008

on this day, a mu was born.

it's camus' 1st birthday!

(he's the tannish one)

only 2 more years until he can drink.
f yeah.

11.11.2008

11-11-00

  • 20 year ago I first laid eyes on him. I was in 6th grade, he was in 5th.
  • 18 years ago we had our first date and remained together for a turmultous couple of weeks. I broke up with him, but we got back together a few months later, and and stayed together through the summer of '90. but then I broke up with him again when I became a high school freshman. he was in 8th grade.
  • 17 years ago he became a high school freshman and I worked for months to convince him to give me "one more chance." on Decemeber 11, 1991 at midnight, he FINALLY gave in, and we made it "official." I promised I would never break up with him again.
  • 13 years ago we took a 3-month "break" when I was a college freshman and he was a senior in high school. but we quickly realized we were meant to be together and resumed our 4- year relationship. (ps I kept my promise - he did the "break" this time)
  • 10 years ago he moved to California, while I stayed in MN. But he came back to visit for the holiday break, and he proposed to me at the strike of midnight as we welcomed in 1999. I moved to LA a few months later.
  • 8 years ago (on this date) we made our love official in front of our nearest & dearest in Palm Springs, CA.



11.11.00

It's been an amazing ride, and I'm still so proud and happy to call the same person I call my best friend, my husband.

Happy Anniversary, Love!

11.10.2008

oh about that blog-a-day thing..

i totally effin forgot to write yesterday, even though i composed 4 or 5 different ideas throughout the day yesterday IN MY MIND.

blurg.

well anyway, mostly it would have been something about HEY THE VIKES BEAT THE PACKERS THE SAME WEEK THE BLACK GUY BEAT THE WHITE GUY. so next up> FLYING PIGS! AWESOME!


in other news.

i started my new job today. i have an awesome view of the observatory AND downtown los angeles. apparently, when there are fires, i also have an excellent view of those. woo! i also have a DIRECTOR title and blahblahblah.

anyway, i have to go now. but uh, see you tomorrow? same place, same time-ish.

ciao.

11.08.2008

moreso.

today it was just aaron and i...

...at the gym for two hours

...eating lunch and sipping french wine at the little next door

...wandering through the farmer's market

...eating dinner at taste

...drinking a delightful bottle of jordan chardonnay

...celebrating 8 years of Married Us, and many more years to come.

....still contemplating the rest o' the evening

...feeling GOOD about our future

and so on.

ps/ i don't have a laptop until monday, so making "do" with aaron's which is some janky ass business.

lovin you long time

11.07.2008

celebrate, ya'll

tonight we went out with aaron's brother and wife and celebrated.

we celebrated my new job, which starts monday.


and we celebrated our upcoming wedding anniversaries; our 8th anniversary on the 11th and their 2nd anniversary on the 10th.

we celebrated a new chapter in our country's history.

what have you celebrated lately?



ps/ i know this is a lame excuse for an entry, but i'm EXHAUSTED. the end.

11.06.2008

mushy.

so my work farewell thingie was awesome. it was too many apple martinis and all sorts of debauchery, and i was in a world of hurt today. i'm going to miss those silly bastards. (especially tenna. aw)

i struggled through the day with bloodshot eyes and flashbacks of inappropriate conversations, and for a few fleeting minutes i actually felt, um, nauseous. but i'm nothing if not a hangover trooper, and i survived.

in other news, after a 90-minute massage with the magical zach from the aplty named "healing hands" wellness center, i am feeling 1,000 times better.

in summary, if you HAVE to party hard, make sure you have an intense deep tissue massage waiting for you on the other end of the situation. words from the wise.

11.05.2008

winding up and winding down.

It seems pretty fitting that at the same time our country is CHANGING, I am also CHANGING. Well, I'm changing my JOB, anyway. Tonight is the Celebration of Me, per my co-workers, and even though I am exhausted by the excitement that defined last night, I am still going to rally to give myself a proper send-off.

But this is a bittersweet evening; i.e. super EXCITED for the new jobby, but sad to leave the cool peeps I've grown to love.

Which worries me.

The last time I was TRULY sad to leave a job, the night ended with me crying in a napkin and giving 200-lb men piggy back rides. To be fair, I am 100% more sophisticated and classy now then I was oh... 6 years ago or so. But you know, one never knows how these evenings will go.

Especially when you walk through certain parts of the office and you can just SEE people thinking about the shots they are going to try and force you to drink tonight.

At any rate, bring on the alcohol-absorbing carbs, and let's get down to business.

11.04.2008

it's what the cool kids are doin'

I woke up anxious, and for a minute I forgot why. But as I looked outside and saw the sun shining brightly on glistening drops of an earlier rain shower, I smiled and thought: IT'S VOTING TIME!

But since I was up earlier than normal, I may look like I was a bit irritated. Don't be fooled! I AM EXCITED!


I kind of feel like blowing off the rest of the day and sitting in front of a large TV tuned to CNN, eating popcorn and drinking sauvignon blanc.
but alas, no.
I will, however, try to force myself into the gym so I can obsess over the results whilst on a treadmill.

and THEN do the sauv blanc/popcorn/couch thing. ya heard?
GO VOTE!

11.03.2008

fallin'

i love...


...setting the clocks back

...the chilly chill of the fall air

...dressing my dogs up in playboy costumes

11.02.2008

once upon a time.

one year ago, i ran a damn marathon. it was one of the coolest, most painful things i've ever done.

today, i ran 10 miles and realized knee pain just 8 miles into my run. i thought to myself, self, ain't it GREAT that we don't have to run 26+ miles today? and myself said, HELLZ YAH, dude.

so anyway.

after my run, we headed over to the bro & sis-in-law's house. we drank bloody marys, ate ahi tuna burgers and watched the vikings rough up the texans.

i have to say it was a good day.

in other news: fall has FINALLY arrived in LA. thank you cold weather gods, you make me smile.

11.01.2008

it's national blogging month, something or other.

so here begins the attempt to post one-a-day for a monthski.

today's entry is brought to you by douche-duds. you may be asking yourself, what, pray you, are DOUCHE-DUDS, ruby? pray tell!?

aaron and i decided, whilst watching a douche walk by us on la cienega / beverly today with designer duds on, that we shall hereforth call such duds by the name from which they originate. because, it causes us great pondering. when we see dudes dressed from HEAD to TOE in OBNOXIOUS designer clothes (aka ED HARDY) that there are a few things going on.

1. if this dude is wearing designer clothes, he has money
2. a dude with money likes to show off
3. an unintelligent dude with money might think wearing obnoxious, but obviously expensive, clothing will make "a statement"
4. this dude is a douche.

henceforth, DOUCHE DUDS.

ya heard?