Reindeer Cupcakes

Alright people... it's holiday time. Ready. Set. Cupcake.

A few staples for the holidays...

But first, a disclaimer: Don't get me wrong, I think Chanukah is a beautiful celebration, but let's face it- even in LA where 98.5% of the population is a member of this blessed tribe, Chanukah gets no love. Therefore, I must fall back to what we all know best, Christmas. I am still a good Jew. (I think.)

Ok... holiday staples.

1. Kost 103.5: I have Love Songs with Karen Sharp "Holiday Edition" to thank for the constant stream of Goyim favorites- my top three being Last Christmas (a George Michael classic), Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (thank you Brenda Lee) and the can't live without All I Want for Christmas by the infamous Mariah Carey.

And...

2. The Grove: No one can take away my Disneyland at the Grove. Yes, it's touristy. Yes, it's tacky (at times) and YES the Cheesecake Factory is so 2001. HOWEVER, you cannot tell me that a place where fountains dance, music comes out of the sidewalk and there are occasional puppet shows and dancing on the greens is not AMAZING. And, because the Grove does not stop at AMAZING, the holidays bring out its best.

It SNOWS.

Yes, that's right my fellow holiday-cheersters. SNOW.

Upon arrival a few Fridays ago (after photos in front of the Christmas tree and lots of oogling at the gingerbread house and Christmas lights) my sister and I were treated to an impromptu performance by the 'Top Hats', a group of girls decked out in Santa outfits and riding a trolley gilded in holly and tulle.

Just as their rendition of the can-can was winding down, I began to tell my sister the story of this magical night two years ago when I happened to be at the Grove during December and it snowed...

Well, you can guess what happened next... 'Let It Snow' started playing from behind a bush, and all of a sudden- *POOF*-

SNOW!! We proceeded to take a dozen photos of us in the 'snow' and skip down the the lane 'my darling.'

It was the best hour I've ever spent there, and definitely a holiday highlight.

I'm sure there are cupcakes at the Grove, but those sneaky reindeer must have ate them all.

Or maybe it was Santa.

Yes We Cupcake

Today is the day of change.

Don't let me down America...

Cupcake of Peace

Do you know it has been exactly 2 months and 2 days since I last wrote? And even more exciting, it has been exactly 6 months or one half of a year since my 26th birthday. That's right... I am officially 26 and half. Tomorrow I will be closer to 27 than I will be to 26.

Terrifying.

There are so many things I want to be doing- traveling, writing, reading, resting, running, romancing (anything that apparently starts with an 'r' and I'm there.)

I am doing some of these things, and waiting for others to come along, and dreaming about the possibility of the impossible, but it's a tough place to be. 

Dreaming.

So that is why my cupcake of peace awaits and I must ride into the sunset with my yellow and pink swirled frosting. Figuratively only, of course.

Lopsided Cupcake

Oh my... this is one of those weeks.

All topsy-turvy and kind of feeling east coast-like on the westside.

I'm waiting for this to pass. It will.

Hopefully it does before I meet the big dogs on Saturday. That's right... the. big. DOGS.

Cross your fingers, sugar cupcake.

Bright New Cupcake

click goes this something.
and today i feel lighter.
30 days to go.

Candlestick Cupcake

What do you do when you find yourself and another someone stranded somewhere along the road in Culver City?

You wrap yourself in a blanket and blow out a candle. That is putting it in very basic terms and leaving out several important details.

On that note, details, details, details.

My prolonged absence from writing has been due to the fact that I have actually had a summer this year... as in, I am not working 100 hours a week, but am instead going to the beach, and waking up at 5:30a to say hoo-ya, and simply enjoying not being chained to my computer.

I have decorated my new place on cloverdale and I love the fact that when I open the door, it's all mine. Not in a selfish, possesive kind of way, but in a my space, my retreat kind of way.

I have gone up to the bay, out to Boston, and will be heading to Hawaii in less than two weeks. A real vacation for a real summer... minus the cupcakes.

Shower the Cupcake

I went to my very first baby shower this weekend. Knowing T, I knew it would be a beautiful afternoon, and it was.

Babylove. Cupcakes included.

Cupcake Eyes

Wish upon a moon.
It happens when you don't look.
Close your eyes, cupcake.

Daddy Cupcake

It's been a while. This I know. The past few weeks have been peppered with mini-trips and big events and falling in and out of like and lust.

The constant in this change of tides (as always) is my family.

By the grace of good luck, I spent the past five days up north in the bay with my family; exploring the best designers of the city, taking a surprise detour to Treasure Island, watching a play in a mountain, dressing in white and cutting the line, running uninterrupted- if only by a deer- along sawyer camp, and posing for san francisco's bathroom shoot 08.

And, for the cherry on top, it was Father's Day weekend. So, not only did I get to come home, I got to spend Sunday with my Dad, and my Mom and my little sister. In a mountain. Watching a play. I know... Why and how would you watch a play in a mountain? Well, friends, it involves a big yellow school bus and a red ticket. Think Willy Wonka's golden ticket and then replace the gold with red and the fantasy world with an open-air mountain and the Wizard of Oz.

And there you have it.

I want home.

And cupcakes, too.

Sealed with a Cupcake

Peanutbutter frosting: $4.99

Chocolate kisses: $2.99

A perfect combination of peanutbutter & chocolate?

Priceless.

4ever Cupcake

I am definitely not a person who uses the phrase best friends forever, or a person who buys charm bracelets each with one half of a heart, or a person who talks 101 times a day to my best friend forever.

Unless... you count my sister.


Best friends forever, little one.

And sisters for always.

Swimming Cupcake

Bubbles.

Cupcakes.

Bubbles.

Cupcakes.

Bubbles.

Bubbling cupcakes.
Merrily swimming along.
Don't forget to breath.

Breath, cupcake, breath.

Cupcake Moon

Goodnight little moon.
Under the same moon we sleep.
Exploring moon dreams.

Mama Cupcake

In honor of Mother's Day this past weekend, I have gathered some very famous quotes, sayings, and revered euphemisms (with my sister's assistance) that will forever remind us of our cupcake mama...

1. How do ya like them apples?
2. Ciao, bella.
3. You look with your eyes closed.
4. Dammi cinque! (Gimme 5!)
5. Right with eversharp.
6. You take the high road, and I'll take the low road, and we'll be to Scotland afore ye!
7. Bacci! (Kisses!)
8. You lie like a rug.
9. Rock-A-Bye Baby on the treetop...
10. You're a day late and a dollar short.

I am a day late on this one... but as my Mother would say, better late than never. Happy Mother's Day!

Love you, Mom.

Cloverdale Cupcake

Should you not know the daily happenings of my life, (common knowledge) I moved into a new apartment yesterday.

It must be love.

I feel giddy. Glow-y even. I feel all pink and rosy and strawberry sweet. (Did I just write strawberry sweet? This fuchsia-colored life feels strange...) A passerby might glance over and think I had truly fallen in love... They would be right. I have a new beautiful space that is all my own and that is lovely, indeed.

Let's name it, cloverdale.

Welcome home, cupcake. Welcome home.

Relay for Cupcake

a haiku.

relay for his life.
a baseball team by next year.
keep you in my thoughts.

cancer will not stop you.

Cupcake Poke

They say to cook a cupcake to perfection you should poke it with something (fork, toothpick, tongue) to check the status of said cooking perfectness. (Even if it creates a rather unsightly crumbling of your perfect cupcake.)

However, poking is no longer solely relegated to cooking in today's world. Oh no, friends. Long ago, poking decided it was tired of being associated with only baked goods. So, like any bored adjective it began a journey of finding a second (and more popular) home on a secret (not really) networking site called facebook.

There are so many tangents and novel-esque places I could go by simply writing facebook. However, I will spare you my lengthy asides and delve right into to the fascinating world of poking.

After being poked on facebook for the 783rd time, I decided to ask- what is poking? Why is it a feature on facebook, and why do people poke when you can chat, comment, or message?

Let me tell you, I asked the right person. What I got was the best facebook message/answer I have received to date (to date being since March.) His googled definition of poking absolutely necessitates further posting so it can be shared with all. (And by all I mean the mini-audience that reads this little known labor of love.)

Background: He too was uneducated in the meaning of what is was to poke. So he did what anyone would do, and googled it:

"A poke is an Internet version of someone going up to you, extending the index finger of the right hand, gently pushing on the region of the body above the hip, and then running away and hiding behind a water fountain whilst whistling 'I'm a little teapot.'"

But he wasn't satisfied... So to find the true definition he googled it again:

"[Poking is] a great way to flirt when you don't have anything intelligent or meaningful to say."

He felt that this definition was more on point, but I disagree with the unintelligent part. In fact, I believe the opposite. And that, young readers, is your lesson in poking for the day.

It's not just for cupcakes anymore.

Converse Cupcake

chuck taylors walk in.
long windows stare as night falls.
there's no where to sit.

meet me in the middle...

simple cupcake delight.

Wedge of Cupcake

Was this weekend not the most beautiful, relaxing weekend this year?

Between running through the city, and reading and sunning in the park for at least 3 hours each day, I couldn't have asked for a better mini-break before 2 weeks of moving and madness, which I will then be rewarded for with a 3-day trip to Palm Springs where I will do more of the same... and love every minute of it.

I also plan to have a few Corona's, most likely with a wedge of cupcake.

The Cupcake House

While signing the lease (on my 26th birthday no less) for my first very own little upper apartment with 610 windows and archways and hardwood (that's right, 2009 is here in 2008) I had a moment where I looked out window #492 and thought... I am one lucky girl.

I live in LA and it's good.

I still have this very strange, nagging feeling that I am getting much too close to feeling a little grown up. However, my youth is not fleeting and I am excited for what this year of 26 will bring...

Cupcakes included.

26 Birthday Cupcakes

26... yikes.

Today is the fastest, most intense, exciting birthday EVER.

And I got flowers at my office... I'm over the moon.

x s

Old-School Cupcake

I think I feel old. But young. Makes perfect sense, right? There is always this feeling that I am just getting started, but that I need to ground myself in something permanent, too. I wonder if this ever changes...

But, I love a good list (and cupcake) whether I'm 25 or 26 so here are a few bullet points -shout out to badass desena- I hold dear at my ripe old age of 25 and 364 days.

1. I love LA. It only took three years and some serious heartbreak/ rediscovery, but I do.
2. I love being in love. Even if it's with a city. I would prefer it be with a boy, but those things just happen. And I know it will, again.
3. I love knowing these things.

Cheers...

The Cupcake Walk

walk into my life.
it's cupcake love at first sight.
and 20 pounds, too.

i hate you cupcake.
but i love you just the same.
and now, finally...

i accept you.

Billie Jean's Not My Cupcake

I saw Sir Elton John perform last night. Yep, I know, you are DYING (and jealous.) However, let's take a moment of silence (with talking) to discuss the male bow tie.

A little background:

In case you weren't aware, the bow ties name originated from the French word 'jabot' (pronounced ja-bow) a type of lace tie worn in the 17th century. In 1886 the tuxedo was invented, bringing with it the popular black bow tie still worn today.

Well, I don't know about 'popular' today, but a bow tie has its own place and time. I for one prefer long ties, but on the right boy a proper bow tie can be adorable and endearing.

This brings me back to Elton.

I believe he was wearing a red bow tie to match his red shoes and his red piano. Not only did he play, but he played a set; a real set with sips of water in between songs and a little audience banter mixed in. This will sound trite, but it was magical.

Oh, and I attended the event as a guest of Anheuser-Busch so I was sitting at the best table in the ballroom, compliments of Budweiser (and Grover) thank you.

But I think the best part of the evening (aside from acting like it was prom at 25) was the bow ties.

No... not the bow ties... The idea that in this city of angels and silicone and superficiality, you can throw on a gown and heels, curl your hair, grab a clutch and attend The Billies, an awards show honoring the outstanding achievements of women in sports. From motorcycle racing, to snowboarding to swimming, the women onstage last night were who I would hope my daughter(s) (should I have girls) will choose as their role models. With so many negative images and influences impacting girls/ women on a daily basis (in part a large reason why I cannot let go of cupcakes) it was truly inspiring to witness firsthand the athletic successes of my piers.

Ms. Billie Jean King- I was honored.

Grover... thank you. Shenanigans.

Peek-A-Boo Cupcakes

How cute, right?

I adore these cupcakes. I have nothing else today though. Please let it be the weekend.

P.S. Peak-A-Boo... I want a cupcake.

Cupcake Girl

Sometimes a girl just wants to be a girl. She wants the boy to call her, ask her out, pick a place, pick her up, bring her flowers (cupcakes), open the car door, open the restaurant door, pay (preferably), drive her home, kiss her goodnight, and speed away.

Or sometimes, a girl wants just the opposite. Less talk, more play.

It's your job to tell which one.

J.E.W. Cupcake

I went for a long run outside this morning. I woke up early and didn't feel like running nowhere on a treadmill while watching MTV music videos that all tend to look the same eventually. I would like to take Panic At the Disco's 9 in the afternoon video (someone please enlighten me as to what the hell that video means) and splice it in with Snoop's Dogg's Sexual Seduction/Eruption (whatever) homage to the 70s. Imagine the possibilities.

But I digress. While running near my place, I passed several very Jewish families. And by very Jewish, I mean Hasidic. Now, let me set the record straight. I do not claim to know anything whatsoever about this sect of Judaism. Yes, I had a Bat Mitzvah (You wish you could have been there. There was a band.) And yes, I was confirmed and shipped off to Israel for 6 weeks, which, by the way, ended up being one of the best trips I have taken to date.

Needless to say, I am not an uber-jew (sorry, Mom) but nevertheless, I am Jewish and feel fortunate to have been raised as such. So, here is my reform take on being a M.O.T. For all of you non-jews out there (considering I know like 4 jews this is most of you) M.O.T stands for Member of the Tribe. Wait, maybe it's a double 'T.' Oy vey...

Anyway, please observe...

1. We get 2 days off (not really) during the year that you don't. Ha.
2. We all have slighty overbearing (but incredibly loving) mothers.
3. We can read Hebrew, but have no idea what it means. (Most of us.)
4. We can still recite all the prayers we learned at age 13. Verbatim.
5. We throw the best weddings/ parties around.
6. We know how to repent.
7. We created challah. (Holla! Please, like you wouldn't.)
8. We celebrate 8 crazy nights... of presents.

Among many other things, being Jewish reminds me of family and tradition and love and song and prayer. I am thankful to have grown up with this in my life, and I hope to carry on the Passover sedar and Rosh Hashanah dinner with my own family. (Except for the cooking part... well, maybe that comes later.)

One other thing I forgot to mention... I might have to fit in some Christmas music. You know how I feel about Christmas. Obsessed.

And what is a holiday without green and red (and blue) frosted cupcakes? Right, not a holiday at all.

Shine A Cupcake

shine a lone spotlight.
illuminates a cupcake.
set the dimmer dark...

yum.

Get that Cupcake

Before you ask, no... I did not take this photo. Some lonely kid online is now a featured photo on my little-known blog. I shall call him Emo. (Pun intended.)

I wonder if this is what I look like when eating a cupcake. Let me break it down for you just in case.

1. First things first. I do NOT like chocolate cupcakes. I find this very interesting (and you should too) because I like most things chocolate, but chocolate cupcakes are not one of them.
2. I do not like to eat the frosting and cupcake (cake) together. I believe they should be eaten separately, as in #1 frosting, #2 cake.
3. So kids... To review, frosting first and cake second.

Write that down.

I Love the 80s Cupcake

It is official. I love the 80s. I love the big hair, the colors, the leg warmers, the taffeta and toole dresses... but most of all, I love the music.

Those terrible synthesizers and amazing kaleidoscope video effects. It's love.

I could spend an entire day wondering what it would be like to be 25 in 1987. Would I wear ray bans and miniskirts? (And would I forsee both trends coming back in style 20 years later.) Would I quote Regan and the Bangles in one breath? Would I realize that this wouldn't be the last time I would have a former actor as my politician. (Thank you, Arnold.)

But alas, I missed the 80s. (Well, at least as a 20-something I missed them.) So, here I am... Twenty-five years old in the year 2008, and only 28 days left until I leave my early twenties behind, and enter the year of 26.

80s flashback please?

With or Without Cupcake

An interesting proposition?

To frost or not to frost? That is the question. Another question is how can it be that the world is literally the size of a peanut.

Like, world = a peanut. Or a peanut (butter) chip.

For the record, I'm going with frosting... More on the smallest world theory soon.

Happy St. Cupcake Day

i am not irish.
but kiss me anyway please.
we can play pretend.

Monkey Cupcake Monkey Do

Here is a good way to cease cupcake cravings...

1. Sleep in and monkey-around in the morning.
2. Pretend you have a lunch meeting. Go work out instead.
3. Pretend you are working. Don't instead.
4. Act exasperated when your VP calls an office meeting.
5. Rejoice with pure delight and curl into uncontrollable laughter when it is revealed that the above meeting is actually - a KARAOKE machine - in your office.

Working 5-days a week comes with a price. Singing the 'Beach Boys' Kokomo in front of your boss...

Priceless... ciao, cupcake.

Cupcake P.S.

P.S. For the record... I do not think all boys have trouble deciphering between a girl's tongue and her tonsils or adulthood and adolescence.

My sweeping generalization is just that- a sweeping generalization. So come here, cupcake.

Collar-Up Cupcakes

Have you ever heard the saying 'when it rains, it pours'? My beautiful mother always used to say this phrase when I was growing up, be it about boys or school or life in general, really.

I would say I am using it today in terms of work since I have been rather like a social butterfly (quite proud of myself) during this week of LA fashion... But tonight I am much more interested to know if I might one day meet a boy who likes me, and well, maybe only me?

It goes something like this. I like them. They don't like me. They like me. I don't like them. We both may like each other, but we live in different cities. There is an attraction, one person is taken. (Hint- it's not me.) They are busy. I am busy. They work at night. I work all the time. And so on, and so forth.

I have never thought of myself as the 'looking' type. If it happens, it happens and usually these things happen when you're not looking. So, for a long while in my book I have been actively 'not looking' and I have met some interesting people yes... but I do feel between the boy who thinks my throat is a playpen and the one who believes 30 is the new 5-year-old, I'm beginning to think I should start...

The irony I find is that many moons ago I was sad. (It almost feels good to say that now.) And that sadness permeated the world around me and those that I love. But, and this still amazes me to this day, time does help heal and the fog did disappear and I can say today, I am happy.

Am I completely, totally content? Of course not. I have about 1,537 things to do before I turn 26 and only 40 days to do them. I still am not certain what I want to do, or where I want to live for real (sometimes LA feels pretend) or who I'll be with forever... to be continued, I suppose.

So I find myself asking... why the cutie-patootie above? (Yes, I just said cutie-patootie.) Well, for one, he has the 'collar-up' look down and he is all of four years old. Maybe he could give some pointers to the boys who have 20+ years on him, but who cannot rock the polo half as well as he. Second, he is absolutely adorable, candidly posing while holding not one, but two cupcakes.

I think I'm in love.

Cupcake Berry

sugar berry blue.
cupcake moon and frosted fruit.
a blueberry you.

Kiss Me Cupcake

Just because Valentine's Day has come and gone, doesn't mean love has left the air.

Oh please, stop sitting there with your jaw lying on the floor. I am not talking about myself. (If I was, there would mountains to shout from and worlds colliding; in a good way.) However, that mini-heart in the middle has two little words that aside from those 'big three' every girl wants to hear a boy say (and mean) are next in line in the almanac of romance. Write that down.

A true kiss is the kind that makes your stomach drop into your toes. A kiss can make your head swirl and your mind go blank. A kiss can be more intimate than anything else you learned in school (or otherwise.)

Of course, a kiss can also be confusing and there can at times be an occasional shoving of the tongue when you just want to scream, RELAX! I am not going ANYWHERE. Take a breath. If not for your sake, then for mine.'

When this occurs, you must wade the delicate waters to find the right time (let it not be too early) to say to this boy, P.S. MacGyver, there's nothing doing in the depths of my asophogus. Less is MORE.

Because let's face it. You are the queen of the make out session. (If not you, then me.) And anything that appears to be not of the 'kiss that makes you swoon' variety is absolutely not your fault. Of course, people have different styles of kissing, but there is a fragile line between 'style' and well, 'sloppy.' Am I right? Write that down.

But... the amazing quality of a kiss is that you do it over and over and over again... A kiss is free. So is love for that matter. A kiss is the the easiest way to say 'I like you.' And maybe even, 'I love you.'

And if you kiss her and then pull out a cupcake (or two) from seemingly nowhere, well, that my lovecake... is even better.

Honey & the CupcakeMoon

Should anyone spend more then 30 minutes with me (I hope you would) they will soon realize that when I fall madly, completely in love, I fall hard. And fast, and for what I believe is my forever.

But, for once in my short 25 years, it is not a boy I am referring to tonight. While I have before, and I could be now, my primary thought for the aformentioned little prelude is a song... Honey & the Moon.

I can fall for a boy, or I can fall for a song. Right now, 'music is my boyfriend' so maybe it is one in the same.

Honey & the Moon is an alluring, hauntingly beautiful song with a melody that I will never tire of, and which may contain the most breathtaking lyric I can remember hearing. Joseph Arthur sings in a choked whisper, If you weren't real, I would make you up...now...

It's that short, and that simple, but I can't describe in words how much I love this line, and how I secretly harbor a serious amount of jealously that I did not pen it myself. I find even more distress in the fact that this song was released six years ago and only now was I able to listen... at 3 in the morning courtesy of a gifted music conessuire. And a boy who is kind and loving and stronger than even he realizes... Thank you...

I think every young girl imagines who that forever someone will be... but I have seen that the person we dream of is hardly the person we end up loving always. So, to turn a childhood fantasy around into an adult reality is beautiful, in my humble opinion.

Cris Cross Cupcakes

Is mercury in retrograde right now? Please tell me so...

My emails are crossing and getting lost and not sending and bouncing back.

Pretty much how I feel today. I am being pulled in 3,814 directions at work and I don't even know where to begin... Maybe if I just stopped and breathed and tapped and hummed I might feel better.

But then again... maybe if I eat a kupkake (JUST ONE) it might help...

Newsflash kids: IT. WON'T.

America's Next TOP Cupcake

I wonder if there is such a thing as a 'professional cupcake model.' If there was, I would be a prime candidate. I thinks it's fair to say I have the looks (no time for modesty) and most definitely the cupcake obsession- oh, and the somethin' somethin' to prove it.

I'm ready for my close up...

I take that back. I am thoroughly confused by the profession of modeling/ celebrity in general. Here we are, the general public (men and women) led to believe that this is the standard we should strive for; emaciated girls with perma-frowns (most likely out of hunger) who waltz down a runway in a size 0.

I see the magazine covers and let me tell you, the standard is an illusion.

For the majority of the time, I can usually take the intellectual highroad to remind myself that this fake paradigm is the creation of a team of people, most importantly a very talented airbrusher. But sometimes, the market becomes so completely saturated with this unreal idea of beauty, that it is much too easy to be swept up in the golden utopian image of what is seemingly called... perfection.

And that is when the cupcakes win... But now, thanks to a little company called 3-ball, I might have a chance to come to terms with the cupcakes once and for all.

Stay tuned...

Will you be my Cupcake?

Ah, 'tis the day of love.

The day of valentine notes, grand gestures and sweet nothings... and... the day of overpriced flowers, too much chocolate and gratuitous pda.

But who I am to get down on those who celebrate love... I celebrate love. The love of my irreplaceable family, my amazing friends and the love of a boy that in the end, was what I needed to learn who I was... I once heard;

"Good things fall apart, so better things can fall together."

This, I believe...

Enlightened Cupcake

Would anyone like to enlighten me to the meaning of the phrase to the left? I believe that this one went straight over my head as cupcakes will always be a majority in my life in some form or another.

But speaking of over my head... Do you know I can almost do a pull-up now? (And by pull-up I mean a slight bend of the elbows.) However, it is true that I do feel different. Whether this feeling of 'different' goes so far as to affect my physique remains to be seen, but please note, the feeling is there and I am happy to report, it feels good.

Yes, I have eaten cupcakes since I last wrote in the first month of the new year. Even though I swore off them on January 1, 2008, it goes as they say... absence makes the heart grow fonder. This rings true for both cupcakes, and its more common use, for people.

I have accepted certain things in my life in this year of 2008 and having this acceptance is making my life that much better and easier and more fun to live. I am still not as bubbly as I would like to be, but focusing on myself means being quiet sometimes and understanding that great change does not happen overnight.

Nor does leaving the beautiful vanilla on vanilla cupcake sitting there forlorn in the grocery store... but I do... and I have, and I will.

Cupcakes Say Aloha

Why is it that when you come back from a trip, no matter how large or small is it always a let down? Now, I don't mean to imply that the second I walk in my door, I am not overcome with a huge sense of relief that I am home where all things are familiar and I feel safe... I am. I just wonder how it is that I can be gone for hardly four days and feel like it has been a lifetime. And that things have changed... including myself. Maybe it was because I was in Hawaii... with my sister... in January. The BEST.

However, and much to my dismay this feeling of change does not extend to my desire for all things sweet, most blaringly so, store-bought cupcakes.

'Til the next vacation...

Jelly-Filled Cupcake

It has been exactly 12 days since I last wrote. Why is this significant? Well, in 12 days I have done the following 12 things (among others):

1. discovered the most awesomely bad love song of all time, bleeding love.
2. hiked runyan canyon.
3. sipped a japatini 2-feet away from mr. justin timberlake.
4. was told i may be on tlc. (what!?)
5. ate 6 cupcakes.
6. cried while watching television.
7. sweated to the techno while spinning with my little sis.
8. made eye contact with biggest loser bob. (did not relay #5 to him.)
9. reserved a flight to HAWAI-I (say aloha to me tomorrow.)
10. fell a little more in love with my taken pseudo trainer.
11. wrote my first pen pal in 10 years... again.
12. decided that i am WORTH it in 2008.

Take that, jelly-filled cupake.

Happy New Cupcake!

Ah... 2008.

Happy Birthday to a new year.

It couldn't have come soon enough for this young writer (who am I kidding- event planner first, then writer) but I will say that the last week or so of 2007 was absolutely priceless and wonderful and just what I needed (or what the doctor ordered- take your pick.)

I rode a bike. (Twice!) Once through winding roads of grapes, and once down by the ocean and into the sand of gorgeous san diego. Why is bike riding so much fun? I have NO idea, but I think it stems somewhere from the depths of schooling myself in Santa Barbara. (The best.) I also sat in one room and rang in new years with all of my favorite people from school EVER, and I was blissfully happy...

So, let's talk happiness for 2008. Right now would be the appropriate time to list all of my lists and resolutions and empty promises and goals, etc. Except this time... they're not empty. I completely acknowledge that I took 2007 to get over 2006. TRUTH. Some things just take time. But (as my former roommate Taya always told me) time is the greatest healer, and I think 2008, while officially named, 'The Year of Becca' is my year, too.

I want to walk, cook, sleep and dance... MORE... among other things.

Cheers to 08.