This is late, because I had blogging problems, which have been resolved (although I don't know how, because Katie, my webmaster, saved the day!
I received a lovely birthday gift, while I was still in NY. I mentioned to a friend that I needed a stronger magnifying mirror to put my makeup on, since I seem to be getting blinder and blinder by the month. Next thing I knew, she bought me one. It’s very laborate and high-tech. It has a regular 6” round regular mirror above a 6” round 10x magnification mirror, with a light around it and an alarm clock! It all folds up for travel, so I guess they figure it’s a nightlight, make-up mirror, and alarm clock all rolled into one. Fabulous!
So, I set it up and the battery for the alarm clock is already in there (I had to add batteries for the light). I tried to set the clock, and I’m usually very good at these type of things, but this was very complicated and the instructions weren’t very good. Suffice to say, I couldn’t figure out how to set the alarm or the clock, so I just left it.
Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed that, from time to time, the mirror beeps and I figure it’s the alarm going off, but it was always during the day or early evening and it would stop after a few beeps.
So, this morning at 3:30am, the thing starts beeping and it won’t stop! I finally had to go over there and press buttons until it stopped. Then, I couldn’t fall back to sleep for about an hour. Now, I’m not telling you this so my darling friends, who gave me this lovely gift, would be wracked with guilt. No, I LOVE my mirror and don’t think I could give it up if I wanted to. I NEED this mirror! No, I’m just telling you, so you’ll understand why, at 4:00pm I was falling asleep while I was driving!!!! But I’m getting ahead of myself.
I was up a few times during the night and when the alarm went off at 9:00am to call Eric, I was already awake. I spoke to him and then started my day. I had breakfast, worked on the computer, and started packing for my weekend in Los Angeles. I had everything ready, but needed to go pick up my shoes (they were being fixed at the shoe repair) and then go get my mani/pedi.
When I got back, all I had to do was change clothes, put on some make-up (with my 10x magnification mirror), and then carry everything to the car. I had put the mirror I was delivering in the car when I did my errands in the morning, but I still had my laptop (in a new much-smaller laptop case I purchased at CIRCUIT CITY yesterday), my clothes on hangers, my small pink and black suitcase on wheels, my purse, a box of tissues (because I’ve been using so many), and a small bag of jewelry to give back to Marlene.
It’s a good thing I didn’t have very far to go, because I was carrying MUCH too much stuff! I got it into the car, made a quick stop at the drive-through STARBUCKS, and got on I-5 North to Costa Mesa and then Los Angeles. It was exactly 2:00pm when I left and I figured I’d be in Costa Mesa by 3:30pm and then Los Angeles by 5:00pm.
Well, I hit a lot of traffic on the way. I was either driving 80 MPH or 20 MPH. Very frustrating. I brought some great CDs with me – Bette Midler, Vonda Shepherd, Madonna, etc., so at least I had some good listenin’ and I was singing along. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to Costa Mesa until 4:00pm. I told Marlene that I couldn’t come up, because I was so late and wanted to try to get to L.A. before dark.
She came down with her son, Buddy, who is 26 and is absolutely gorgeous. He is in a wheelchair, but you could see immediately from his bright eyes and his smile that he is full of life and personality. I immediately gave him a hug and told him I felt like I knew him, because Marlene talked about him so much, and I had seen many pictures of him that she had emailed.
They were so disappointed that I wasn’t coming up, and I DID need to use the bathroom, so I parked the car and went up with them for the 5-minute tour of their gorgeous apartment. Marlene is just like me – she loves decorating and she is really talented. She loves bright colors, and lots of sparkle and glitz. Her place was decorated for Christmas, and it looked even more festive than usual.
They have two dogs – a Chihuahua and a Yorkie, so I knew I had to make it very fast, and I told them that my cousins were expecting me for dinner. I was out of there within 15 minutes, but the minute I got on 405N I hit a lot of traffic. It was much the same as I-5 – speeding and then crawling; speeding, then crawling.
I finally got to Ilene’s house just as they were all getting into the car to go to the synagogue. They knew I wasn’t going to go, but it was perfect timing, because she didn’t have to tell me where the key was hidden, and how to unlock the doors, etc .
As they all drove away, I got everything out of the car, put it away in Tyler’s room (my room for the night) and then got busy raiding the fridge. I was STARVING! The only thing I had eaten since my cereal this morning (at 9:30am) was a Piadini at Starbucks. If you don’t know what that is (I didn’t know until I bought one), it’s a pastry with egg, spinach and mushrooms inside. It’s one of their breakfast sandwiches. It was yummy and was gone within 20 minutes of my ride!
They had Mexican food for dinner, and I had leftover rice and beans and then macaroni and cheese. Lots of carbs – just what I need!
I had called Eric and Marlene to let them both know I had arrived safely. Eric said it was pretty nasty in New York – first it was snowing and then it turned to rain and sleet. I told him the good news was – he didn’t have to shovel! He had to admit that was a good thought!
I had brought my laptop, so I put it on the kitchen table and blogged and checked my emails while I ate. How lovely to NOT have to even plug it in. This one actually has a working battery! The one on my old laptop died, so you have to have it plugged in at all times. What an inconvenience that was!
I worked on the computer, but couldn't post (because of my blog problem), so i just relaxed on the couch and was just dozing off when everyone got home. I helped Ilene and Katie (Ilene's niece and my cousin) make gift bags with all kinds of fun candy in game-themed tins and boxes. We all went to sleep around midnight. I was really exhausted. It was a long day!