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A Birthday, A Brixie, A Chicken Bus and DIY Dog Bath
Here we are in the middle of July. It’s always a big month for me with my birthday and Fourth of July celebrations. I decided to skip the party this year in favor of getting spoiled by Matt. Long-distance relationships definitely have their perks. Those perks for me are dinners out and fun-filled quality weekends.
I am spoiled rotten. Matt took me to Nobu in Newport Beach, and I have to say it might be my favorite restaurant of all time, next to the Blue Agave that used to exist way back in the day in Santa Barbara. Nobu is NOT cheap, but you definitely get what you pay for. It’s not like I can go to Nobu any old time I feel like, so this was a real treat. I love the Japanese design of the restaurant, the curving staircase with the hanging lamps, the view, and of course, the melt-in-your-mouth popcorn-flavored beef and crazy yummy drinks and desert.
When Matt is in town, we go out. Sometimes Bug and her boyfriend come too. I love it. It was fun to dress up with my crazy bombshell acid-blonde hair and pretend I’m a kept woman. The rest of the month I’m a stressed-out, single mom boss bitch who works all the time.
The blonde bombshell look is fun, but I’m excited about cutting off this feathery mess. I might just stay short forever. I recently found a new hairstylist in San Clemente near where I work for Rasta Taco, and I LOVE HER!!! I love my old stylist too, but this new girl knows how to cut hair in the Jayne Edo style that I’ve been following on Instagram for about a year now, and it was so great to meet a kindred spirit. Short, short, and shorter! I love the way the back doesn’t touch my neck. This cut is called a Bixie (Brixie for me) but I think I’m going full pixie next time. Be gone Blonde feathery mess! Then we can talk about Wolfies and Mullets…
And Speaking of San Clemente, I have to show you the latest truck wrap I designed. We call it the Chicken Bus because it was inspired by the Chicken Buses of Guatemala. This one was a hard one. I had to work with another creative director to get my boss’s full vision but now that it’s done, I love it so much! It looks so rad showing up to parties. If anyone needs a truck wrap, hit me up. I’m looking to diversify!
In other news, Cody got a DIY bath! I found the cutest little do-it-yourself dog-washing shop in Costa Mesa. (I wanted to tie in my hair and how owners and dogs look alike, but we’re moving on from hair news.) Cody has been a stinky dog for quite a while now. I’ve been trying to save money, and since he weighs 107 pounds, grooming him can be quite expensive. I don’t have a yard or a garden hose, so bathing him outside is out, and my bathroom and shower are not really conducive to large dog grooming. So he stunk. Then I found this place, and it only cost us $23 to wash and dry. What a deal!! It was hard to get all his fur completely dry, and he left a bit damp, but he’s sooooo much cleaner. No more gross greasy, smelly dog. I love him.
That’s all the news for now! Happy July!
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the month I hid
Hiding from your blog and social media is nothing new to me. I’ve done it before. Life gets hard; you want to hide from the world. You know how it is, especially for people like me who are supreme people pleasers that can’t handle criticism. I’ve been working on this my whole life, and I thought I’d tackled my worst demons, but they came back in April with a vengeance.
This time I thought about shutting it all down for good. I was going to. I liked the idea of a simple private life. My niece, Rapunzel, and Bug telling me not to for their sake pushed me back. I’ve had a tough month. Work has been arduous, and my trip to Amsterdam ended disastrously. I lost some friendships that meant a lot to me.
I’d love to spill the whole story. I’d love for everyone to chime in and tell me that I did nothing wrong and they don’t deserve me, but it’s not fair to them. I can’t paint a clear picture because I don’t know what really happened. I’m sad and it’s going to take me a long time to get over it. So I can’t write about my Amsterdam trip. It was really fun and I saw a million cool things but right now all I can think about are my hurt feelings so I start and stop and never write anything.
Work has been hard too. Growing pains, corporate politics, learning Microsoft when I’ve worked in Adobe for 500 years. I love my job and I think I’m doing well but you know, I worry about getting fired every other minute. It’s a big culture change for me to not be my own boss. I make so many mistakes. Stupid silly mistakes too. But I also work with people I really like and I’m learning so much.
Kady comforts me. She also annoys me by constantly putting her wet nose on my face, nudging my glasses sideways by trying to pet herself with them, and licking me on the mouth (ew!). Does anyone want an aggressively cuddly cat? Just kidding. I wouldn’t part with her for the world.
Weekends are a new novelty for me. Remember when I would proudly proclaim that every day is Monday and every day is Saturday when you are a freelancer? Now every day feels like Monday, and weekends feel like a mad-dash marathon chore-fest with two minutes of vacation. I savor what I can but I miss my coffee dates, gardening, staring at the golf course, doing laundry whenever I feel like it, clean sinks without dishes, sewing, cooking… yeah, all that stuff. I miss it. But it sure is nice being able to pay my bills. As Kate Moss says, nothing tastes as good as having money feels. Or something like that.
(vase by Bug)
April has also been a busy month for visitors. My fairy godmother, Susan, came to visit. She’s so fun. She took Bug and I shopping at Ross. She always does this. It’s her love language. I bought a bunch of work clothes and Bug bought candy and shampoo. Then we took Susan to the Anaheim Packing District and ate like foodies who’d never heard of calorie restrictions.
We especially love the lanterns
Then this last week, Matt came to visit! We took him down to Doheny Beach, where my parents were camping with Cody (and their cats!), and we had a nice turkey burger dinner that my dad cooked. The weather was crappy, but I love a beach campfire when it’s chilly. We sipped Topo Chico “cheerleader beers” and then had hot chocolate and roasted marshmallows for dessert. It was really fun.
My parents are testing out their camper (Did I tell that whole story about how it got stolen and then they got it back? I need to go dive in the archives and find that story.) because they are taking it to Texas next month for my brother’s wedding. Then they are traveling across the country to a Christian camp in Wyoming and then to harvest in Idaho (my Dad always drives trucks for his family’s beet farm) until November. Cody is living the life! He’s going to have the best summer ever. Camping and hanging out on a farm with lots of kids and room to run. I’m jealous.
And now you are all caught up! How do you like the new blog template? I did it all myself this time, which is why it’s a bit wonky here and there. I don’t love the portfolio template, but… it’s gonna have to do until I find some of that mysteriously elusive free time. I also really need to update my crusty old About pages.
Ta ta!
