nice people live in la too

Sometimes I get grumpy about speeding cars that almost mow down children walking in a crosswalk, or loud-voiced television people bragging about their careers while on a peaceful hike, or, you know, the fact that the sky isn't really blue. But yesterday I did experience a brief moment of niceness at the grocery store. This was not my usual grocery store and I did not, therefore, have the little membership card that allowed me myriad discounts. I said as such to the check-out lady because usually they have a little card up there that they'll swipe for you. This one seemed to be a stickler for rules, because she nervously informed me that they didn't like for the cashiers to do that. Oh well, I thought. But! Then the nice lady behind me put her phone number into my little machine, thus entitling me to my whole $4.00 worth of grocery store discounts. I attribute most of this niceness to the fact that I was not in my own neighborhood, where the person behind me would have impatiently sighed and tapped her foot during this encounter.

wedding time!

being silly, as per usual
Originally uploaded by kitty.pants

This weekend was the Big Event of my summer, aka Lauren's wedding. We arrived on Thursday night and had a yummy dinner in Berkeley. Friday was cupcake baking day. With a few trusty assistants, I made cupcakes for the reception. I made approximately 150 chocolate cupcakes and frosting--yes, from scratch. They turned out just fine, despite the fact that I was concerned afterwards that I had forgotten to add sugar to a few batches. No one complained, so hopefully I didn't actually do that.

The wedding itself was on Saturday. In the morning my family and I headed over to the Oakland Museum of California where we saw some California art and history. Then we headed off to San Leandro for the wedding! The ceremony was perfect. Touching but not cheesy readings, poignant sermon, funny and sweet officiant--what more can you ask for? Some of the UCLA people and I were laughing afterwards because their dates were Catholic and were shocked when the ceremony was over in under an hour--and they didn't even have to go up for Communion! Meanwhile, we were thinking it was longer than the 20 minutes of most non-religious weddings we were used to. Reception was wonderful too with fabulously yummy Filipino food, a tasty cake, and, of course, cupcakes! Beadle broke it down for us on the dance floor and a good time was had by all.

Sunday, the Wellesley peeps and I went to her family's house for a brunch and present-opening. I got to be the official gift recorder, a job that I am not really that good at, because I have bad handwriting. I think Lauren is up to the job of reading it, though. After the happy couple departed, we headed off for some brief San Francisco tourism and then to the airport!

Now I am back to the real world, suffering from a cold I acquired from Lynne, and trying to get back into the swing of things. Oh yes, and wishing I could be on a Hawaiian vacation like Lauren and Beadle!

saturday morning in la

That title has nothing to do with anything, other than the fact that it is a Saturday morning in LA. I am running a bunch of errands this morning and decided it would be a good idea to get to the mall right when it opens. I am pretty sure I inherited this tendency from my mother. Anyway, here is an article about how librarians are cool. It is the number one most emailed article from the NY Times right now. At first I was like, wow, how exciting, people really care that librarians are cool. And then I realized it was just that all the librarians in the country were emailing it to each other.

here i am!

According to my loyal fans (ie, my sister), I have not been updating enough recently. I'll start with an important news story. In case you don't want to follow that link, a UCLA professor received a "suspicious envelope" causing the bomb squad to shut down part of Sunset Blvd. this afternoon. Let's turn to how this affected me, since that's obviously the most important thing. I had decided to be lazy and drive to school to investigate the Dictionary of American History for my Advanced Reference class (yay librarians). This road shut-down totally ruined my laziness and it probably took me longer to get there and back than if I had walked. But oh well, at least I didn't have to use my legs. Also, I pretty much thought that Paris Hilton had crashed her car again before I read the news, and was kind of disappointed it was just animal rights activists causing trouble.

I have been a world traveler in the past few weeks. Two weeks ago Mom and I visited Lynne in NYC. We saw Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends at the New York Public Library, walked through Central Park, watched a ballerina fall at the New York City Ballet, and became fans of flamenco in the East Village. We also helped Lynne get a new air conditioner, which is considerably more difficult in New York than in a normal place where you can drive your giant car into the giant parking lot of a giant big box store and just get a new AC. Instead our trek involved lots of carrying and a taxi. Geez! I don't know how people survive out there.

Last weekend I went up to Lauren's spa day/lunch in San Francisco. I got to stay with Kate in her new and beautiful apartment and the weather was delightful! Spa-ing was great, lunch was delish and Kate and I visited Green Apple Books, so I was a happy camper. I may or may not have acquired a new book, which is just what I need since I already have a nightstand pile of at least six.

This weekend I'm sticking around home base and then next weekend is Lauren's wedding! Other than my travels, I am working at my library job and taking two classes. Don't want to get bored, you know!

Oh also, last week (I think?) I got my hair highlighted in Beverly Hills. I am fancy. I read good reviews of this place online, all of which mentioned their "coffeehouse" music. Indeed, they played a satellite radio station called "Coffeehouse." A Tracy Chapman song came on and my hair lady commented on the fact that everyone likes Tracy Chapman, but no one you know actually has one of her CDs. I informed her that I, in fact, own a Tracy Chapman CD. Of course.