Fourth Hiatus of 2012

Check back on Tuesday, June 5 for new blog posts.

Memorial Day Deadbeat

Picture of the Day for 5/29/2012. I'm a Memorial Day deadbeat. I did not visit or decorate my parents' gravesite for the following reasons:

1- I prefer placing flowers on their grave on their birthdays.

2- My dad was not a big believer in decorating graves on Memorial Day and I've kind of inherited his attitude.

3- My sister Paula invited me to join her family at the grave, but I knew I would cry. I'm still not done crying over my dad who passed away last year. I wish I could stop crying because frankly I'm tired of being weepy.

That being said, I was glad to see the flowers on my parents' gravesite and throughout the entire cemetery when I stopped by this afternoon.

No Teddy Grahams for Me

Picture of the Day for 5/28/2012. My great-niece Sadie spent about 1/2 hour at our family Memorial Day BBQ emphatically informing me that I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER get her Teddy Grahams.

Oh, look at that. I've got her Teddy Grahams. Sadie imprudently left them within my reach while she ran inside for a minute. Sadie never should have issued a challenge like that.


Sadie and I don't look the least bit alike, but you can tell we're related. We each have the same smug smile on our faces.

In case you're worried, Sadie was immediately reunited with her Teddy Grahams. I relinquished them to her upon request.

Anti-1960s Hair

Picture of the Day for 5/27/2012. To erase the image of my bad 1960s hairdo from your brain, I'm posting a picture my hairdresser took yesterday (and forwarded to me today) after she got done dyeing my hair. I like how the lighting in the salon gives my hair a funky effect- like it's dyed in alternating tiers of red and bluish-gray.

First Swimsuit Purchase in a Gazillion Years

Picture of the Day for 5/26/2012. I purchased a swimsuit today for the first time in literally a gazillion* years. I tried on at least a gazillion* swimsuits before deciding upon this one.

I suspect you've noticed there is no bottom to this suit in the picture. Not to fear, I'm not going commando the next time I go swimming (which would benefit no one). There's a little blue skirt that goes with this top. I was just more interested in taking a photo of the top than the whole ensemble.

*This is not an exaggeration.

**This is also not an exaggeration.

1960s Hair

Picture of the Day for 5/25/2012. My friend Karl and I meet once a week for either lunch or dinner where I enjoy tormenting him by arranging my hair into weird configurations in public. It never seems to faze him though. I guess he's used to my little peculiarities after 20 years of friendship.

This 1960s-looking hairdo was a complete accident while I was goofing around today. While it's definitely not flattering, it is one of my better hair creations. I was quite pleased with the bouffant.

Jogging Roadbloack

Picture of the Day for 5/24/2012. Jogging update- I'm making a lot of progress, especially since it's been 30 years since I've run on a regular basis. I have a 2-mile route and there's just one stretch of road (pictured above) where I have to slow down to a walk. The picture is deceiving, but this portion of my route is uphill and the incline is steeper than I can handle right at the moment. I'm looking forward to the day when I can run the entire route without stopping once. I'm getting closer!

Robbie's Prom Picture

Picture of the Day for 5/23/2012. My nephew Robbie recently attended a prom wearing one of my dad's suits. Robbie really is his grandfather Robert Merrill's doppelganger. Those two could not be more alike. The suit even fits Robbie like a glove.

Before leaving for his date, Robbie reached into one of the suit pockets and discovered one of my dad's omnipresent handkerchiefs. This made my sister (Robbie's mother) cry. It made me cry hearing about it. We still miss our dad terribly.

I'm sure my dad would have been happy to see Robbie looking so handsome in one of his suits. And, thrifty man that he was, my dad would have been pleased someone was getting some use out of his clothing.

(So Robbie- if you happen to read this blog entry, I know you're 18-years-old and all and I should really start calling you Rob, but I'm having a hard time making the transition. I'm your auntie so you have to cut me some slack.)

Apollo 16 40th Anniversary Photo

Picture of the Day for 5/22/2012. I just received my "official" photo from the Apollo 16 40th anniversary celebration that was held last month at the Kennedy Space Center. I'm pictured with Edgar Mitchell, Charlie Duke, and Fred Haise. Duke was the Lunar Module Pilot and Mitchell and Haise were members of the back-up crew for this mission.

Great Salt Lake

5/21/2012. Flew home today from Los Angeles and the flight path took us over the Great Salt Lake. I never get tired of seeing the view from the air.

Surpise Guest

Picture of the Day for 5/21/2012. I had plans to meet up with my friend and former client Ana today for lunch before heading out to the airport to return home. She let me know yesterday that she had invited a surprise guest, but wouldn't tell me who it was as she enjoyed seeing me speculate who it might be. It turned out to be Jamil, a friend and former colleague from my company's Los Angeles office. I could not have been more delighted as he was #1 on the list of people I was hoping it would be. Yay!!!

Busy Day

Picture of the Day for 5/20/2012. Busy day! I started off visiting the Museum of Flying near the Santa Monica municipal airport.


The museum exhibits primarily focused on Donald Douglas, founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company (located in Santa Monica, CA) which eventually merged with McDonnell Aircraft to become McDonnell Douglas- a very famous name in the aviation industry.

I particularly enjoyed sitting in the actual cockpit of a retired 727 from the FedEx fleet and playing around with the controls. I had no clue what I was doing, but it was fun.



After the museum, I drove out to Brea, CA to spend the afternoon with my friend Jessica, her husband Ed, and her one-year-old daughter Leighton who is just learning to walk so of course she is unspeakably cute. Leighton was highly suspicious of me at first, but it didn't take long for us to become friends. I'm posting just a picture of Leighton since I suspect Jessica would kill me if I posted a picture of her (although she looks great in the photo I took of her family).


After my visit with Jessica and her family, I headed back to Los Angeles to see a Clippers basketball game at the Staples Center with my friend Ana and her boyfriend Eric. This happened to be a play-off game against the Spurs. It was a quite a spectacle and a real nail-biter as the teams were neck-and-neck the entire game. It was only within the last minute of the game that the Clippers lost ground and were unable to recover. With this loss, the Clippers are out of the play-offs. Dang.

Excellence in Aviation Awards 2012

Picture of the Day for 5/19/2012. I attended the Excellence in Aviation awards banquet hosted by the Flight Test Historical Foundation. The event was held in Los Angeles and honored the following individuals:

Excellence in Space: Dr. Buzz Aldrin & General Joe Engle



Excellence in Aviation: Colonel Joe Kittinger


I know my readers must be familiar with Aldrin, but Engle and Kittinger have also had really interesting careers. I recommend you do a google search and look them up!

I had my photo taken with both Aldrin and Engle, but my face looked puffy so out of vanity, I'm not posting those pictures. When I was having my picture taken with Engle, I had to stop to pull my blouse back up over my shoulder since it had slipped down. He asked me what was the matter and I said "my blouse is falling off" and he said "well why didn't you tell me?!" That made me laugh.

The one picture of myself I did not mind was of me with Bob Gilliland (shown above). Gilliland is famous for having piloted the first flight of the SR-71 Blackbird, a reconnaissance aircraft used by the U.S. Air Force from 1964 to 1998. Gilliland was in attendance to give a few remarks about his friend Joe Kittinger. Gilliland was nice enough to autograph a photo of that first flight of the SR-71.


I kind of have a crush on Gilliland. He's a charmer. I also think Gilliland's son is handsome as well so I took a stealth photo of him.

I'm hoping neither the younger or senior Gilliland see this blog entry. You might think that's highly unlikely, but you'd be amazed at the people who have stumbled across my blog.

You Can See Me From A Mile Away

Picture of the Day for 5/18/2012. This is the automobile that greeted me in the rental car parking lot in Los Angeles today. I laughed when I saw it. Aside from being a violent shade of green, the car is huge! Definitely not what I ordered. Oh well, at least people will be able to see me coming and stay out of my way.

Third Hiatus of 2012

Check back on Tuesday, May 22 for new blog posts.

Creepy Special Effect

Video of the Day for 5/17/2012. So, today's picture of the day is actually a short video I created out of two photos I took with a new camera app for my iPhone that takes sepia-toned photographs. I noticed toggling back and forth between the two pictures produced a somewhat creepy smile special effect. Press the play button to see for yourself.

Just a quick note about the hair covering half of my face. I wasn't going for a sexy or sultry look. I was just trying to hide the deep vertical creases in my forehead.

Perfect Rose

Picture of the Day for 5/16/2012. I went on a walk today (no jogging yet- I'm still recovering from my cold) and came across the most perfect rose. I love the vibrant pink offset by the wooden fence in the background.

Corralling Socks is Like Herding Cats

Picture of the Day for 5/15/2012. I go through a lot of socks during the course of the week. (I'm guessing I don't really need to clarify that by "go through" I mean wearing a lot of socks as opposed to eating them.) I wear them while jogging or wearing my fall/winter/early spring uniform of dress boots (in addition to other clothing of course- I don't JUST wear boots and nothing else).

For the past few months, I've never been able to successfully corral all the socks and get them into the washing machine at the same time. I usually discover a single sock after it's too late to throw it into the wash (since I have a front-loading machine that locks, never to be opened, once a wash cycle is in progress). I swear it's like herding cats. I was congratulating myself this morning for finally getting all the socks into the wash when I discovered I had accidentally dropped this lone sock as I was carrying my clothes down the stairs to laundry room. Sigh.

Someday I will prevail and victory will be sweet. Someday...

Silly Reminder of My Mother #2

Picture of the Day for 5/14/2012. Continuing the Mother's Day theme, I thought I would document another silly reminder of my mother. She once read a helpful hint that old pantyhose makes a wonderful substitute for rope or twine. I'm sure there's no one on the planet who embraced this helpful hint like my mother. She used it for EVERYTHING that required some sort of tying up. My sisters and I have been going through some of her boxes where the lids were held down with pantyhose and it's made me smile.

Mother's Day

Picture of the Day for 5/13/2012. A friend emailed me the following message today, "Just wanted you to know I was thinking of you today and knowing you really miss your mom. You're in my heart as you think of her." Totally made me cry.

Comfort Food

Picture of the Day for 5/12/2012. I have a cold. This irritates me since I rarely get sick and when I do, I hate being sidelined. There's too much to do and too many places to go. And I suspect it will be a few days before I can resume jogging. Dang it.

The only thing that sounds good to me to eat is this mint chocolate chip ice cream. I've had several bowlfuls.

Registered Dietician

Picture of the Day for 5/11/2012. I took my friend Karl out for dinner tonight in honor of the fact he passed his registered dietician licensing exam today. This is the culmination of several hard years of work taking really tough prerequisite science classes to get into graduate school and getting his master's degree in nutrition. Now he just needs to find a job in his field...

9th Grade Science Fair Project

Picture of the Day for 5/10/2012. I just came across a rough draft of a poster from my 9th grade science fair project which focused on rockets. I guess I really was destined to be a space fanatic!

I can still see in my mind's eye the guy who judged my project. He was severely disappointed and disapproving that I had not built an actual model rocket, but it had never even crossed mind until he mentioned it. My mother was the one who helped me with the project and between the two of us we had zero rocket-making skills. I thought he was a little overly uptight about the whole thing since it was just a stupid little science fair entry. I had been rather proud of it until he gave me attitude.

I get a kick out of my syntax- "He used instead gasoline and liquid oxygen." I kind of sound like Yoda from the Star Wars movies. Not too auspicious for a woman who eventually grew up to be an English teacher for 10 years.

Yellow Irises

Picture of the Day for 5/9/2012. I was saw these yellow irises on my jogging route today and their bright sunshiny color made me instantly happy. Irises are right up there with geraniums, tulips, daffodils, and roses as my favorite flowers. Irises in particular make me nostalgic. When I was a little girl, the backyard flower beds were overflowing with beautiful purple irises and I remember thinking they were so lovely.

Welcome to Snailsville

Picture of the Day for 5/8/2012. I found a piece of artwork I created at the age of 11. Given the abundance of snails, the piece is appropriately titled, "Welcome to Snailsville." I actually think it's not half bad (for a child my age) and I love all the bright colors.

Jogging

Picture of the Day for 5/7/2012. After a nearly 30-year hiatus, I have resumed jogging again. I used to be an avid runner when I was 19-20 years old. Sure wish I had kept it up, but I guess the old adage better late than never applies.

I've been jogging nearly every day for a week now. Even though I regularly work out at my gym, running on the streets is a whole different ballgame. The first day out was brutal. I could only run a couple of hundred yards at a time and then I'd have to go back to walking. It's amazing how quickly your body adapts since I've been able to extend my running distance each day.

I Have a Lawn!

Picture of the Day for 5/6/2012. This is an update to a recent blog entry about how my yard was out of control and needed attention. The landscapers came yesterday and cut all the weeds, mowed, sprayed weed killer, and applied fertilizer. All that work revealed I actually have a lawn! This is exciting since less than a year ago the front and back yards were filled with wildly overgrown bushes. The yard wasn't seeded until shortly before the winter season so this is the first time I've really been able to see the results of last year's extensive landscaping project. I have a lawn! Yay!

Perfect T-Shirt for a Voice Teacher

Picture of the Day for 5/5/2012. I take singing lessons every Saturday morning. I'm improving- incrementally. It would help if I embraced practicing what I've learned between lessons.

I loved the t-shirt my voice teacher Bonnie was wearing this morning. Perfect sentiment!

Juicer

Picture of the Day for 5/4/2012. I've been gaining and losing the same 10 dang pounds over the past year and a half. I'm sick of it.

Since I've been off work and spend my days at home now, I tend to snack all the time since I have such easy access to the food in my cupboards. I'm sick of that too.

So, in an effort to quit battling those same 10 pounds and to eat healthier, I bought a juicer. Just got back from the store where I stocked up on a ton of raw fruits and vegetables. I'll let you know how my juicing scheme goes.

Mug Shot

Picture of the Day for 5/3/2012.

A few months ago I blogged about my niece Chantal's truly unfortunate driver's license photo (shown below).


Chantal's license was recently up for renewal and she thought, quite reasonably, this would be the perfect opportunity to improve upon her photo. So, she carefully curled her hair, applied her make-up, smiled for the camera, and ended up with this...


This is so tragic. Either way, she looks like a criminal.

My niece Lisa observed that in the "Chantal is a criminal" scenario, this photo would have been her mug shot right after having been caught and arrested...


And this picture would have been after she had gotten over the shock of the arrest and copped a bit of an attitude with the judge, like, "Yeah, I did it. So what?"


Kudos to Chantal for being a good sport about these pictures and letting me tease her on my blog!

Getting Paris to Pose

Picture of the Day for 5/2/2012. I was at my sister's house tonight and we thought it was cute when Paris the cat started drinking out of the little water fountain pictured in the photo above. Normally, an innocuous event like this would not be cause for wonderment or celebration, but this cat has so little personality (no disrespect intended to my niece Lisa, the cat's owner) we were all amazed to see her doing something remotely interesting. Of course when I tried to take a picture of Paris, she got camera shy and stopped lapping at the water.

We devoted quite a bit of time and effort trying to entice Paris in the most encouraging tones possible to drink from the fountain again so I could snap that photo. It went something like this:

"Paris, you long to drink from the fountain. Driiiiiiiink the water." Here is Paris' response.


"Paris, resistance is futile. You cannot possibly refuse to drink from the fountain." Here is Paris' response.


"Paris, your whole life has been leading up to the moment. Drink, dammit, drink!" Here is Paris' response.


At one point Paris turned her head to glare at us. This picture doesn't do her glare justice, but if looks could kill...


Eventually, she could no longer resist the siren lure of the water...


And became one with the fountain.