Hot Tranny Mess

I kind of feel for her...a little.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42aujhtAYzU

Update: SF and Coachella (part 2)

So, Mateo came down to spend the long weekend in Palm Springs with us. He decided that he wanted to surprise Jason so I didn't say anything. We drove the 2 hours and got to the house that we rented in Palm Desert. It was such a beautiful house: 3 bedroom, 2 bath with a pool and hot tub...plus a guest house with another bed and bath.

Oh and if you couldn't tell by the title of this entry, the reason we were in Palm Springs is because of the Coachella Music Festival. Andrew and friends of ours (Michelle, Jason G and Gordon) have been going every year for the last 4-5 years. I went last year for the first time and had a blast. We all rent a house as close to the shows as we can (hence why we were staying in Palm Desert instead of Palm Springs proper) and make a great weekend out of it. Michelle also always hooks us up with VIP passes which makes the events much more enjoyable. The VIP amenities are pretty awesome and gets us up-close and personal with all of the celebrities that tend to go to the event. This year Paris Hilton leaned on Andrew as she was trying to get through the crowd. LOL

Unfortunately the line-up this year wasn't that great. So I decided to not go to any of the shows but instead make it a lazy weekend by the pool catching up with my dear friend Jason. So, here are the highlights of this past weekend:

- Wed Mateo and I drove down to PS. We got to the house, dropped our stuff off and immediately went to the store to load up on booze, food...and more booze. Jason came over after his classes and was very happy to be surprised by the big Armenian friend in the kitchen making drinks...not calling you fat, Mateo. LOL. Andrew got in from SF around 9 and we all had dinner....and more drinks. Needless to say, Wed night was a ton of fun and very messy.

- Thurs the rest of the group trickled in throughout the day. Pretty mellow day...pretty much hung by the house playing games and by the pool. Everyone made it by dinner time and Mateo cooked for all of us. It was sooooo yummy. He made an Armenian dish which apparently is his parents' favorite dish. It was so good, that our vegetarian friend, Michelle, had two servings of the pork that Mateo made.....okaaaaaay!

- Fri was an incredible day! My husband, Michelle, Jason, Mischa (Jason's girlfriend) and Gordon headed to the festival. Mateo took me out to this place he had been to before to ride ATVs. It was soooo much fun! It took me a little bit to get the whole gear thing (ended up in the bushes within the first 4 minutes because I didn't know how to slow down - LOL), but once I got the hang of it, it was so much fun. We were like little kids up and down the hills, racing each other and just having a great time. Here are a few pics:

- Fri night Mateo and I had dinner plans at Jason and Ashley's place. Ashley had friends visiting from Santa Barbara and Jason wanted us to meet his PS bff, Joel, so it was going to be a nice big dinner party. I was a little stressed because I had a surprise for Mateo and Jason. Rex called me up the night before to tell me that he was checking out flights to come down to PS and surprise Mateo and Jason. Apparently he wanted to surprise me as well, but needed a project manager on the other end of the surprise to make sure it worked out....LOL. So, the plan was that Davey would call me when he got to Jason's, I would come up with a reason why I needed to go to my car and pick something up, bring him upstairs and lead him to the kitchen where he would casually be making a drink until Jason and/or Mateo spotted him. It worked and they were all surprised!!!! It was soooo awesome! Had a great dinner - Ashley, your South African chicken was delicious - we went out to Hunters and tore it up. Here is a pretty pic of Jason, Rex and Mateo riding the sketch train:

- Sat we decided to have everyone over to the house and have a big 'ol pool party. Tons of fun...lots of sun, lots of booze and other things. Passed out by 6PM....LOL. Rex and Mateo rallied and went out around 9PM. I stayed home. I was done partying. They got home around midnight and said the bars were a bust. Glad I stayed home.

- Sun we met Jason and Ashley for lunch and then made the drive up to LA. As if we hadn't had enough parties that weekend, Mateo and I rallied and met my dear friends Roger and Darin at the Young Hollywood Awards show and dinner. We were exhausted but glad we made it. Mateo's highlight was seeing Abigail Breslin receive an award. My highlight was seeing America Ferrera...she is gorgeous! No ugly betty here.

Anyway, that's it in a nut shell. So awesome to spend time with my friends. Love you all so much.

This weekend my sister and her fiancee are visiting. It will be nice to spend time with them and get to know Jason a little bit more. Will write again next week.

Update: SF and Coachella (part 1)

The last two weekends have been so much fun. First a jam packed weekend in SF (4/17 - 4/21), then an awesome long weekend with most of my best friends in Palm Springs (4/23-4/27). 

Here are some highlights of the weekend in SF:

- Got in Thurs night and surprised our friend Daniella at dinner. She has been our hairstylist/friend for almost 10 years. She decided a while back that she wanted to become a flight attendant. She has been working really hard at it for the last year and finally got the call from US Air that she had been hired and had to move to Phoenix. Andrew asked her if he could take her out to dinner before she left and I changed my flight and got in a day early to surprise her. It was so great to see her and catch up! Wishing her all the best in her new endeavor!

- Friday day went to lunch with my husband at one of our favorite places - Yank Sing. It was sooo good. Then went to meet up with Mateo, Mattress and Rex. Mattress was in town to surprise Mateo for his b-day. We went for a great hike in Muir Woods.

- Fri night I was able to meet the boys for dinner: Matt Duke, Gabe, Jim, Matthew, Andy, Pooh Bear (Rex) and my husband. Had a great meal at Home and then headed to the Castro for a few drinks. Ran into Mateo and Mattress...they were tore up. LOL. We weren't feeling the bar thing so we headed to Jim and Matthew's for a little Celebrity. THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Thank you Jim and Matthew for hosting us.

- Sat day was Joaquin's 4th b-day party. It was great to see Edith, Chris, Joaquin and our family (Nancy, Gerry, Kristy, Monte and the girls). It was weird to be in our old house not living there anymore. Otherwise, had a great time. Joaquin is getting so big. He is sooo cute. Here is a pic of him blowing out his birthday candles:

- Sat night was Ellena's party (the original reason why we came up to SF before all the other events piled on - LOL). That was great. Mateo and Rex did a great job hosting the party. As most of you know the reason for the party was because Ellena might need to leave the country due to a major fuck up by her school. Long story short, it looks like Ellena is working a few angles and may not need to leave the country. Thank the baby Jesus! Sending you tons of positive vibes, Ellena!!!!

- Sunday day was Andrew's parents' housewarming party in Marin. It was great to see everyone and catch up with the extended Marin family. So happy for Nancy and Gerry...their house (which has been under construction almost all of 2007) is finally complete and beautifully decorated. It has such a warm and inviting vibe. It was a great party!

- Sunday night we met up with our friends Pascal and Steven. Hadn't seen them since last year. It was really nice to see them and catch up. It was also great to see that they are doing really well. Looking forward to having them visit us in LA.

- Mon had lunch with Mateo and then he took me to the airport to get back to LA. Thanks, Mateo.

Oh and while I was in SF, Andrew and I decided it would be a great idea to invite Mateo to Palm Springs with us since he isn't currently working. We got him a ticket for his b-day and he came down to LA on Wed. I picked him up at the airport and immediately drove down to Palm Springs together. 

More after the jump...

Peoria, Arizona

So awesome weekend! Andrew Ruiz, Myk, Vet, Vinnie, Andrew Parsons and I went on a road trip to Peoria, Arizona...which is about 20 minutes north of Phoenix. We went to celebrate Myk's dad's 70th birthday. We drove down Thurs night and got in around 2 AM...I drove most of the way there. Needless to say, momma needed a drink after that long drive. We stayed up until 5AM catching up with Myk's sister, Nancy, who is sooooo funny! She just bought a house in Peoria...her first home. It is such a cute house (w/ a pool) in a really quite neighborhood. Dad lives with her.

Friday was a nice day: went for breakfast (couldn't believe the prices - $5 for a FULL meal), visited the local Wal-Mart (the biggest Wal-Mart I have ever seen) and hung out at the house playing games. We kept it mellow since the party for Myk's dad was Friday night at the local bar where Nancy and Ernie (Myk's dad) know everyone.

The party was AWESOME....and surreal. It was great celebrating Ernie's b-day. Oh I forgot to mention what a sweet, sweet man he is. He was so happy that we all drove down to celebrate him. By the end of the weekend he was calling us all his sons. Isn't that sweet? Anyway, we got to the bar around 8:20. Friends of theirs began to trickle in by 8:30. By 9 it was ON. There were over 50 people who turned out for the party. Everyone was mingling, drinking and having a good time. I said surreal before because the venue (and people) was totally strip mall USA. Young to old, all having a good time and P-A-R-T-Y-I-N-G! Oh, I also forgot to mention that Myk, Nancy and Vet created a giant faux cake that stood about 8 feet tall, decorated in red, white and blue - Ernie is a Vietnam veteran and a decorated soldier. So, at 10 PM an MC stepped out with a mic and presented Ernie with his gift. Lights on the faux cake, and out popped the stripper. I have to tell you, we were all afraid Ernie was going to get a heart attack...LOL. Anyway, Nancy put me in charge of supplying dad with singles ($ bills) while the HO gyrated all over the old man. The funny thing was I would give Ernie 5 singles for him to give away one by one, but he would take the whole wad and give them up. I then gave him 10 singles, and he did the same thing....LOL. All of us kept running to the bar to make change for Ernie....I am sure that stripper left with about $500 dollars. Teehee. 

So after the stripper, the bar turned into a karaoke bar. This went on for an hour. A few of us sang. Then after karaoke the dancing began. It was the electric slide - young and OLD doing it in the middle of the bar. At this point, we were like, "AND SCENE!".....hahaha. So we asked for the bar bill and get this, the bar bill for 7 of us for 4 hours of drinking was $110. Needless to say we gave the waitress/bartender a very nice tip. We then went back to the house, Ernie went to bed and we stayed up until 4AM hanging out and chatting by the pool. Ernie had a blast!!!!

The rest of the weekend was mellow, playing games by the pool and working on the tan. We drove back yesterday and stopped by this new favorite place called Baker's. Apparently it's a regional fast food place where they serve burgers and Mexican food. Okaaay! It is ALL ABOUT the shredded beef burrito. If you ever see a Baker's, stop in and get one. You will love it.

Anyway, thank you Myk and Andrew R. for including us in the festivities. Had a blast!

To be direct or not to be direct....

That is the question I have been asking myself lately.

I always pride myself on being a straightforward and direct individual. I try to minimize BS and get straight to the point with things. I am like that at work as well as with my friends. My thought is that spending time on BS is wasting valuable energy. I get this from my mom. With her it's always cards on the table and you always know where you stand with her. I do have to say that sometimes it can be hard. Sometimes you don't want to know exactly what she is thinking. Sometimes I wish she would keep things to herself.

Through the years I have learned that sometimes people don't want to hear it from me. Or that sometimes people don't know how to take me....especially at work. I realize that being direct can sometimes be misconstrued as having an agenda or be off-putting. I have learned that people are just more sensitive then others, and can't handle directness well. I have been in situations where people get upset because I can be too forthright. Or most recently, piss a friend off because I am not being direct enough. 

So it's a balancing act that I have to always keep in mind. I realize that some of my best relationships (both at work and personal) are those where the other person gets passed it and learns to appreciate the fact that I will always call it how it is.

So, I continue to learn everyday about myself and about others. I guess the lesson learned is that I should be myself as best as possible and hope that people will know I am coming from a good place.

Sorry for not Blogging

So, I know I have not been the best at keeping this updated. I really, really want to but haven't been in the mood. I think it's because I've been a bit depressed lately. I am sure it's because of the no-job-yet thing. I REALLY need to do something soon. There are a couple of leads that I am looking into, so hopefully something will come up for me soon.

On a lighter note, my sister-in-law, husband and girls are coming to visit this weekend. Looking forward to hanging out with them and spending time with the girls. The girls are going to love the pool. Can't wait!!!