California Adventure - The Return.

It's so great to come home from vacation to a three day weekend.

We had a blast on our California Adventure. Gina even straightened her hair for the occasion:



We realized that the party is 24 hours in Gorman, CA:



We enjoyed coffee:



But nothing compared to the end of Wednesday:





We enjoyed breakfast at a trendy little place across the street from our hotel:



We spent a good part of the day Thursday driving:







We noticed some fog ahead:



And then we drove right into it:





We stopped to take pictures and saw the politics of the edge of the country:



We eventually stopped off in Monterey:















After Monterey, we drove, and drove, and drove some more, until we stopped off to see some wildlife, several miles north of our Cambria destination:



They're seals! Don't worry - they're alive. And mating. We saw the big males having their way with any female they wanted.

We also saw some cute moms and pups:



As planned, we arrived in Cambria just in time for sunset:







The next morning, we got up in just enough time to order the Magic Bullet from an infomercial, have breakfast, and go see Hearst Castle:



Just so you know:



The castle itself was pretty amazing. Lots of art, history, and breathtaking views - and also a famous pool that had NO WATER IN IT.



View from the castle:



This is one of the guest houses on the property:



This is a 3400 year old piece of art:



This is the main house - Casa Grande:



Apparently, William Randolph Hearst used paper napkins:



Here's the indoor pool, with 22k gold at the bottom:





After the Castle, there was more driving. A lot more driving.



My turn signal kept going out on account of some loose wiring. We found ourselves fixing it every time we stopped:



Loving the self timer function on my camera:



We finally made it home at 8:30 last night, and were treated to some pretty skies on the 101 by Santa Barbara:





Fin.

Valentine's Day and future goals.

Happy Valentine's Day!

You all might notice I made a few changes to the blog. When you manage to stop by, let me know what you think. I like the simpler format, and I feel like it looks less cluttered. Still, I really would like a fun header, and yet, I know so little about web design that I can't do it myself. I'm still researching this.

I'm also working on thinking of labels. The new blogger lets you add labels to each post, and this ability to categorize entries is something I've been hoping for since I started my blog on blogger. Now that the opportunity is here, I can't think of exactly how I want to label entries. I love Kerri's categories on her website - I'm hoping to come up with things equally inspired.

And of course, the constant goal - to post more.

Enjoy your day, everyone. We're off to SF!

Happy Friday!

You might be wondering about the title of this post. "But Katie, it's only Tuesday! Have you lost your mind?" you might be saying. Well, I'm here to tell you I'm not losing my mind, but for me, it is indeed Friday, and that is because I am off. the. rest. of. the. week.

Tomorrow, as many of you might know, is Valentine's Day, and this year, that means we have a date with Sandra Bernhard in San Francisco. But oh no, we're not stopping there. Well, I guess we are stopping there, but only for a night. On Thursday, we're headed to Monterey/Carmel and then to Cambria, where we'll stay the night, and then on Friday we're going to see the Hearst Castle. I'm calling it our California Adventure. Hopefully Disney doesn't read this blog.

I plan on taking lots of photos and sharing them with you, my rabid fan base. I realized that last year I only posted 98 entries. There are 365 days in the year, and I only posted on 98 of those days. I'd like to up that number this year, at least to 200, if not to 300. I mean, what's the point of having this blog to force me to write if I'm not going to write?

In other news, today is Pigtail Tuesday at work. There are about five of us wearing pigtails. It's pretty brilliant. I'd post pictures, but I'm not sure that I have permission to post that picture for the whole world to see. Trust me... it's good.

View

I had a surprise breakfast date with KTP this morning, and I was discussing our move with her, and she remarked how she had never been to my place. She also said I had never posted a picture of the view from our apartment - I feel like I have posted a pic, but if not, I found this picture I uploaded to flickr.com a while ago.

Here's the view we're saying goodbye to:

Moving on up (or down)

Gina and I got some great news a few weeks ago that I've been meaning to post about, but I've been out of town for what feels like six years (it was a week). We are moving from our studio into a ONE BEDROOM in our building. That's right, we're saying goodbye to The Treehouse, and hello to the lap of luxury.

The move is just down one floor and towards the front of the building. We're losing our view and a bit of our seclusion (we're way in the back now - no one bothers us), but we're gaining a slightly bigger kitchen with BUILT-INS, a slightly bigger bathroom, and A BEDROOM. Our rent is increasing very nominally, which leads me to believe we're moving into the cheapest one bedroom in Hollywood.

This is a very meaningful move for us. It's a very grown-up apartment compared to what we have now, although that's not saying much. For me, this is the first apartment I haven't chose out of necessity. That is, ever since I moved here seven years ago, I've always lived in places solely because I can afford them. Even when I lived in my studio five years ago, I chose that one because I had a friend in the building. The apartment was not ideal at all - it had the worst parking situation I've ever had to deal with. But I could afford it, and that's all that mattered. Besides that place, I've always had roommates. The Treehouse has been great, but the lack of space is... not okay anymore for me. As a friend of gina's said, "A relationship needs doors." And I think it's true, if for no other reason than I'm an early riser and gina's a night owl. Now we can leave the other sleep and watch TV or do whatever in the OTHER ROOM!! And on top of all of this, we can actually invite people over for dinner, poker nights, movie nights, game nights, group sex, whatever!!

It's also meaningful for us because we set a date of end of this year to start thinking about having children, and now we'll be in a place that if we feel like we're ready, we can manage it. We both agree it's okay to have a baby in a one bedroom, as long as there's a plan to move into something bigger soon after, which there already is. The homebuying time frame is about a year to a year and a half from now, ideally. We've done what we thought was impossible: we found a one bedroom that will allow an easy move and cheap rent, which will keep us on our financial track. This might not seem tough to a lot of people, but any readers living in Los Angeles know this is not an easy task. This makes me think we can do anything, as long as we do it together.

Now, if only I can convince her that we should buy an actual couch instead of furnishing the living room with the two futons we own...

Please stay tuned for before and after photos

St Valentine came to our house early.

Gina surprised me yesterday by revealing some Valentine's Day plans a full three weeks early. And I have to tell you, I am thrilled.

We're going to go see Sandra Bernhard! In San Franciso! The pretty lady herself, the fun, kicky lady, the gem of Broadway, the lady who opens her mouth and spins GOLD.

I am SO EXCITED.

Confession.

I have been in denial for a few years about something I think I should share. I've tried to ignore the urge, and have failed miserably as of late. I am, and really have always been, a junkie for technology.

How has this manifested itself as of late? It started almost three years ago, when I bought my first very own computer. It was no one's but mine. I had to take a loan out to buy it and I loved it. I still love it.

About a year after that, I finally bought an iPod, after saying up and down that I didn't need one.

A few months later, after a bunch of pressure from my friends, I bought a digital camera, after resisting for so long.

A few months later, I bought a brand new iMac, so that I could have a desktop AND a laptop.

A month after the computer purchase, I bought a video iPod. Why? Because I wanted it.

Now? I want a video camera. I want a digital SLR camera. I want an iPhone. And above all, I want a flat screen TV.

I decided in the last month that instead of fighting these urges, I would embrace them, and insist everyone around me like me for who I am. I will always want the newer computer, the newer TV, the newer camera. And if that makes me a bad person, so be it.

Haircut.

My next album cover My new haircut:*



Now in color!




*After sleeping on it

Filler

I started this blog as a way to re-ignite any remaining excitement I ever had about writing. I thought this would force me to write more, thereby make me a better writer, and all around a happier person. This purpose has not been served lately, but I honestly have very little to talk about beyond work, and we all know the golden rule of blogging - don't talk about work.

So, just to have something to post, I'm going to post our proposed schedule for this weekend. Originally, gina and I talked about going up the coast to Cambria, but then we kept making tentative plans, "well, if we're in town, we can do that," and so we just decided to to scrap the trip and follow through with some plans. I've been not feeling well for the better part of the past two months, and I'm finally healthy and not traveling for work, so it's probably better that we reconnect with some people we haven't seen in forever.

Friday
I have a comp day Friday. One of the best parts of my job is that if I work on a weekend, I get to take a corresponding weekday off. I have two comp days from this past weekend, so I'm taking one on Friday.

10am - Haircut. I usually get my hair cut only twice a year. On that schedule, I'm four months away from needing one, but the more money I make older I get, I like to treat myself to more services which I once considered luxuries - massages, pedicures, expensive haircuts, and the like. Truthfully, once you've paid $140 for a haircut, and you've seen what a haircut like that looks like, it's hard to ever go back to reasonably priced haircuts. (Luckily, thanks to Liz, I've found a fantastic gal that charges me significantly less than that for a pretty rad cut.)

Post haircut - Hanging with my college friend, also named Gina. I call her little Gina, or Gigischmack (a family nickname), or the littlest Gina. She'll be in town from Seattle - I'm beyond excited!!

Dinner time - Hopefully, dinner with the littlest Gina, her boyfriend Dan (whom* I have yet to meet), and my gina.

Post dinner - Sopranos, then sleep.

Saturday
8am - gina has an 8 mile run for the marathon training. I will be sleeping, and then perhaps cleaning.

Post run and Starbucks - I think we're going to head to Ontario, (California, not Canada) where a fellow Hubbard High alumnus lives with her hubby and 3 kids. This girl graduated with gina, and I remember her, but she doesn't remember me. Another HHS alumnus will be in town, and they want us to come out there and hang out for a few hours.

Saturday evening - Dinner with older, more mature friends. Homeowners and the like.

Saturday after dinner - Possible birthday party in the south bay.

Sunday
Hopefully 11am - Possible brunch with Courtney's parents? (Courtney = one of gina's bestest friends)

12pm - Hopefully watching the Saints game with friends

6:00pm - Dinner in the south bay with Christian and Lindsay at a place where the artichokes are apparently to die for, truly.

Sunday evening, after dinner - Sopranos, then sleep.

Sadly, gina has to head back to work on Monday, while I will be enjoying another comp day.

If you've read all the way to the end of this, answer the following question: is it better to post uninteresting stuff, or nothing at all?

Made.

About six months ago, my friend Kim gave us the first and second season of The Sopranos to watch whenever we had time. The Sopranos is a show I had maybe seen three scenes of over the years. I wasn’t purposely avoiding it, but I felt like it was a show that if you don’t see it from the beginning, it’s not really worth watching. And it started when I was in college, back in the days when I never watched TV, so I never saw it.

Of course, everyone stones me when I mention I’ve never seen it. Finally, about a week ago, gina and I popped in the first disc of the first season to see what was what. Not surprisingly, we’re hooked. I haven’t been this addicted since Lost was on DVD, but I feel like this is even worse because gina and I have both fallen head over heels in TV love with Lorraine Bracco, who plays Dr. Jennifer Melfi on the show. I’ve had dreams almost every night for the past week about being involved in murder plots or other various illegal activities, and also one PG-13 dream about Dr. Melfi herself.

As I tend to do, I’ve been sharing my obsession with a few choice people, including my friend Joey at work, who is also a big fan of the show. She’s part of the Coffee Time crew, and because I think she’s hilarious, I have a habit of trying to make her laugh more than she’s ever laughed before. It usually works, but today, another Coffee Time girl, Liz, stole my thunder.

I can’t remember what we were talking about, but I was being my usual stupid sarcastic self, trying to make the girls laugh, probably sounding mean about something or other.

Joey said, “Now, Katie, Dr. Melfi wouldn’t approve of you saying that.”

I gasped. “How do you know what I’m thinking about every second of every day?!?”

She laughed, and then Liz said, completely seriously, “Wait, do you guys go to the same doctor?”

What the hell?

I suppose I can't have everything I want.

Last season, Texas beat USC in the Rose Bowl and thus snapped an annoying winning streak in an instant classic.

Then, USC lost this past season to the unranked Oregon State Beavers. HAHAHA!

Additionally, Ohio State had an undefeated season this past year, including the defeat of the Michigan Wolverines, a team just as talented and tough as the Buckeyes.

To top it off, USC LOST TO UCLA, in my second favorite game of the year!! (Top favorite: OSU v Michigan)

But sadly, with the Bowl season truly upon us, nothing good has happened for any team I like. I rooted for Michigan in the Rose Bowl because I think their team is better than USC. Michigan lost.

I rooted for Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl because I love Notre Dame. They lost - 41 to 14 (an eerie foreshadowing).

Then, in an unthinkable nightmare, the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes got SPANKED by the Flordia Gators last night. 41 to 14. One of Ohio's star players was injured early in the game, and that seemed to throw off the entire team. There was little to no pass protection, and the defense was nothing if not asleep. Because the QB kept getting SACKED, OSU only managed something like 84 yards on the night. It was terrible and embarrassing.

Is it next season yet?

The One Where I Describe Worrying

Last night, as we were watching ER, I started to notice something wrong with my vision. There was an amoeba-like creature floating in my line of sight, and it moved when I moved, and turned black (but still visible) whenever I blinked. It kept growing, until finally it got so irritating I had to get up and do something else. The kitchen still needed cleaned, so I decided I'd do that. As I began washing the dishes, the amoeba-like creature kept growing, until finally, I really couldn't see the stuff I was washing OFF the dishes. I could see that I was holding a plate, but I couldn't see where exactly I needed to scrub the most.

My immediate reaction was that I was getting a migraine. I've had two or three in my life, all in 10th grade, and the diagnosis of stress-related migraine made sense back then. I hated being 15. Seriously. Anyway, the beginning of them always started with something weird happening with my vision. The problem with what was happening last night was that there was no accompanying headache, but rather the vision kept getting worse and worse.

This was my train of thought as I powered through the dishes that I couldn't see:

"Please let my head start hurting. Please let this be a migraine. Oh my god, what if it's not? What if I'm going blind? Should gina take me to the hospital right now? No, I'm sure I'm not going blind. Let me just go to bed and see how I feel in the morning. But what if I can't see in the morning? What if it's too late for them to fix it? What if I'm really going blind? Oh my GOD, I've never even been to Europe. We'll go to Europe and I won't be able to see anything and gina will have to say, "oh, it's just like the pictures," and I'll remember the pictures but I'll have never seen the REAL THING. I'll never see my children! I won't even know what they look like! I'll lose my job! I can't be a blind producer! Or maybe I could? I mean, the camera guy could let me know if I'm getting what I need to be getting. But then what purpose would I serve? I'd have to go on disability! I couldn't write anymore. What the hell would I do? I'd have to get a guide dog. Oh, that would be cute, though! But wait! I wouldn't even be able to SEE HIM!! Why is this happening? Was it that banana berry sorbet from Trader Joe's? Oh my GOD..."

I finished the dishes and quickly went to the bed. I covered my head with my pillow to block out all light. I couldn't get it dark enough. I asked gina to bring me a vicodin, because if a situation ever called for one, this one was it. She did, and when I took my head out from under the pillow and looked at her, my vision was back to normal, but my head was pounding. I've never been so grateful for a headache in my entire life. And even this morning, as my head is still pounding, I'm so thankful I can see the sunlight coming through the window, and that I was able to catch an episode of Roseanne I've seen about 12 times.

Puzzling

When I was home in Ohio, my sister Jessie came home one night at 12:30pm with a puzzle one of her friends bought her for Christmas. It was a Star Wars puzzle, and we stayed up the entire night putting it together. I was thrilled that I found an activity that I could actually do that late at night and NOT fall asleep.

Therefore, when we got back to LA, one of our first purchases was a new puzzle. Went to Target and bought this one:



I wanted it because of the cute dogs on it. I wasn't really thinking of how difficult or easy it might be - I just loved the puppies. I mean, look at this:



Even out of focus, they're cute!

Gina and I began the puzzle like almost everyone I know begins a puzzle. We found all the end pieces and put those together first. Unforutnately, I don't have the process pictures, and only the finished product, but I do want to tell you a few things we learned about this puzzle.

1. It was HARD, mostly because so many of the pieces were the same color as countless other pieces, as evidenced here:







2. What is with puzzles today and all the wonky pieces?? See:



That one in the middle? What the hell kind of puzzle piece is that?

And what about this one:



That middle one almost looks like the United States.

3. As promised, those little puppies turned out cute:



4. The whole puzzle took us about 10-12 hours, over 3-4 days. There was a lot of swearing, a lot of assertions that "these pieces do NOT go to this puzzle!!" But finally, we finished it:



That's not all, though. Notice anything wrong with this puzzle?

How about now?



That's right. They sold us a 500 piece puzzle with only 499 pieces! Is that a Ravensburger Puzzle trick or something? It's not like this is a puzzle that's been sitting in our closet for years and years, a puzzle that's been put together over and over again by small children, a puzzle whose pieces might have been eaten by the family dog. No. We opened this puzzle and started putting it together right away, seeking out all end pieces first thing. And this is the thanks we get.

Show me the money

I'm setting a new record here, with all the no posting. It's almost as if things are moving along too smoothly, with nothing all that exciting to report, which is not to say any of my posts have ever been that exciting.

The most dramatic thing that's happened as of late is that the bank lost two paychecks of mine. Yep. Not one, but two. They were deposited a week and a half ago, and still have not posted to my account. It's been fun, seeing how little money I can live on right after I spent so much on Christmas presents. On top of this, I'm on hiatus, as is the whole production company I work for, so I can't even call the accounting department to find out if those checks have been cashed. I'm forced to just wait while Bank of America does some detective work.

Other than that, Christmas went off pretty well, except that I got an early present in the form of a sore throat. Merry Christmas! I'm still coughing, but it seems it's related to my random adult-onset asthma as opposed to any illness.

I guess I have more to talk about, but I don't want to lump it all in one post, so maybe I'll actually update again tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a picture of our Christmas cookies we made this year:

Long overdue.

I have little faith that people are still stopping by, waiting for me to update, but I do know that my beautiful girlfriend still awaits a new post, so I'm going for it.

I've been busy, busy, busy and worse, uninspired. Actually, inspiration is never the problem... it's just sitting down at the computer and devoting time to it.

I'm currently in Chicago for work, and I'm cold. To mark my arrival, the skies unleashed upon this city about 6 inches of snow. The snow was fresh and sparkling when I arrived last Sunday, and throughout this week of crazy cold temperatures, the snow has turned into a layer of crunchy, icy madness. It's slippery everywhere, and the cold is the kind that chaps your skin and freezes your blood. It's the kind of weather that chased me out of Ohio, and it's one of the biggest reasons I'm okay if I never live in the midwest ever again.

The good news about this weather is that it's put me in quite the Christmasy mood. I've been listening to Christmas music non- stop since I arrived, and on television, I've caught How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Every time I watch those cartoons, I go right back to being six years old and totally caught up in that magic that Christmas can bring. I remember the anticipation, the excitement. My memories of Christmases are my clearest memories of my childhood, and now the excitement every year comes when I think of all of the memories my future children will have of Christmases. It makes me all mushy inside, and while the cold weather in Chicago is bringing all of this on, the truth is, there's no place I'd rather be right now than home in Los Angeles, in 70 degree weather with no snow, in the treehouse, with my girlfriend and our Christmas tree.

Speaking of magic, how about that USC UCLA game?! It was truly a Christmas miracle!

Chicago

...or "How I Love That It's Part of My Job to Take One of the Company's Canon Digital Rebels With Me Whenever I Travel For Work."







I was going to mess with these in Photoshop, but then I realized, I have no real knowledge of Photoshop. I figure I'd just let the Digital Rebel speak for itself in these shots. The pictures aren't perfect, but I still think they're pretty f*cking cool.

Who knew?

Two weeks ago, as I was traveling back to LA from Orlando on a work trip, I started to get a sore throat. The sore throat turned quickly into a bit of a cough. The sore throat then went away and the cough went full speed ahead.

This wasn't just any cough. This was a wheezy, persistent cough, one that got worse every time I laughed (and I laugh A LOT). I had no other symptoms of anything and could not figure out what the hell was happening with this cough. I thought for sure it was bronchitis. I kept hoping it would go away. My co-worker finally dubbed it "the homeless man cough." When I realized people at work were sort of staring at me as though I were infecting them with the plague, I decided to go to the doctor. I also realized that I'm traveling to Ohio next week and I don't want to be sick in the cold weather, and around a couple of new baby cousins that have been born in the past 2 weeks.

It had gotten to the point where Sunday afternoon, before a dinner with some new friends of ours, I said to gina, "I hope they don't say anything funny... I'll be coughing all night."

I called my doctor, and in classic HMO style, she of course can't see me for a week. So I go to urgent care, where I see a doctor I've seen way more than my own doctor, because this one is actually available. He asks me a few questions about the cough and diagnoses it as asthma. Asthma! I'm 28 years old, and I've been diagnosed with asthma all of a sudden. Color me surprised.

Two doses of prednisone, two doses of cough syrup with codeine, and several doses of an inhaler, I feel amazing. I no longer sound homeless, and I no longer feel like a Rotteweiler is sitting on my chest.

Relief

I am in a great mood today, a mood I refuse to let anything ruin. Why am I in such a good mood? Two reasons:

1. The Democrats finally took back control of the House, with Liberal Lady Nancy Pelosi as the speaker. This is good for a few reasons - I think this will bring back a more centrist way of making decisions. I am thrilled to see history being made with Nancy being the first woman speaker. And above all, I'm hoping this means no more ridiculous time spent on stuff like a gay marriage ban amendment to the United States Constitution.

2. I played poker last night and WON!! Usually I go out first or second and am forced to sit around while everyone else h as a good time. Last night I won! Guess all those Celebrity Poker Showdowns that Gina tivos helped.

These are the days...

A while ago, KTP tagged all of her readers to post their high school picture. Well, remember when I told you I got a scanner with my new computer?


Class of 1996

I sure am rocking those huge glasses, huh?

It's an update. Now with more portraiture.

I'm barely keeping my eyes open to write this, but I haven't posted a real post in a while, so I want to give you eager readers something.

Work has been keeping me very occupied. I received a promotion I've been waiting for for almost two years. In TV, you go from job to job, and it's hard to stay somewhere long enough to get promoted. Someone really has to take a chance on you. I've been at my company for a while now, working my ass off, and I've finally been promoted. I couldn't be more excited. I'll get to travel all over the country and the world for my job, meeting new people and seeing new places. Imagine the pictures you'll get then!!

Something that helped me get promoted is that I am pretty decent at writing scripts for reality TV, which really is story editing. So I've taken on a script for my show and THAT has really sucked up any amount of free time I may have had. The good news is, it's a way for me to not only further my education as a producer of such TV, but it's also a way to earn some extra cash. The check, which hasn't even been issued because I haven't even finished the script, has already been spent. Here's what it bought this past weekend:



Maybe it should have bought me a new desk - my work station, pictured here, is a round table my friend Kim bequeathed to me a few years back, and trust me, it is NOT conducive to any sort of work. It's a dining room table! But in our little treehouse, it's all I have in the way of a desk.

So anyway, yes, I bought a new iMac this past weekend. "Bought" is a relative term. Really, Bank of America bought it, and I just have to pay them back eventually. My iBook has been giving me trouble as of late, intermittently freezing. I think the problem is covered under some sort of warranty, but with my script due this week, I had no time to give my laptop to anyone. I didn't think this was a good enough reason to buy a new computer, and then I realized that the iBook has as much memory as a 30 gig iPod. Since I now own a digital camera, this is not a big enough hard drive for me, and I decided it was time to upgrade to a newer computer. Also, with the promotion, it will be nice to have a for-the-road computer, and a computer that I can keep here at the Treehouse for gina to be able to check email and such. And on Saturday, when I lost about two hours of work for about the third time, I would have paid a lot more for a lot less in the way of a computer.

Of course with the computer came a free printer, which scans!! I've been wanting a scanner for 10 years and I finally have one!! Oh, what fun I'll have...

In other news, I finally filed my taxes for 2005. Yep, that's right. I'm a champ at procrastination. Unbeatable, really.

I want to tell you about the week I got promoted, wherein I had somehow hurt my back and my doctor prescribed me muscle relaxers 3x a day, 800 mg of ibuprofen (that's FOUR advil for those of you who are pilliterate) every four hours, and vicodin three to four times a day as needed (this wasn't just any backache, people - I really thought I might die), and thereby the news of the promotion came as sort of a fuzzy cloud of information I couldn't quite process, but I feel like I can't fit it in anywhere, so I'll leave it for another time.

I went pro recently - with flickr.com. Amanda B. invited me to a group on Flickr, a group that challenges you to take one self-portrait a day for 365 Days. My post earlier today showed my portrait from yesterday. Here for you now is my portrait I submitted today, which not only shows you a very cool feature of my new computer, but which also exemplifies an attribute I have worked, fought, cried, and clawed for my whole life and I am now to the point where I experience it at least four times a week. I think that's pretty damn spiffy.



"Self Love" taken with my iMac Photo Booth.

I'm alive...

...and I need a haircut.

More pesticides, please.

Gina and I go to the Farmer's Market every Sunday to buy a week's worth of fruit. We usually buy peaches and/or nectarines, grapes, mangos, a watermelon and sometimes a pineapple. If murcots are in season, we stock up on those. Lately, we've been buying ju ju bees, which look like little brown apples and taste much better than any apple I've had in the past year.

We came back with all of this delicious looking this past Sunday, and after all the groceries were put away, Gina decided to enjoy an organic white nectarine. She ate about half of it and offered me a bite. It's the kind of nectarine that pulls right away cleanly from the pit - YUM. I took a bite, and noticed something weird on the pit.

It.

Was.

A.

Bug.

A real live bug. Dangerously close to ingestion by ME. I hate bugs. Hate them. I jumped up and winced, ran over to the trash and spit out my bite.

"There's a bug!" I yelled. It was a little slimy red thing, moving around on the pit.

I might be officially against organic fruit. The more pesticides, the better, thank you very much. Better yet, cut out the fruit completely. Let's just eat Cheetos.