Hey there! I’ve been so busy lately that I can’t figure out how I got anything done when I had to work every day. Unemployment is weird like that. Here is my highly disorganized and long bulleted list of stuff I’ve been up to:

• Went to a Padres game with my dad where we gorged ourselves on the 5 for $5 deal. It also happened to be the 25th anniversary celebration of the ‘84 Padres (boo!).
• I haven’t had a professional manicure in months and my nails are looking better than ever. When I was working and stressed, my nails would break and peel like crazy. Now that I’m a lady of leisure, they are strong and growing. Go figure!
• Saw a wonderful movie with a friend called Pressure Cooker.
• Met a friend for sushi in downtown at a place with strict rules including “no tempura, no teriyaki, no noodles, and no rice alone.”
• Went on two Jdates. One with a guy who supported Prop 8 and one with a guy who wasn’t for me for a variety or reasons.
• The first guy was cute and nice, but the Prop 8 thing pretty much killed it.
• While out with the second guy, two of his girlfriends just happened to show up at the bar long enough to walk by our table to say hello but not long enough to order a drink. Also while on that date, I went to the restroom and a girl in there apologized for taking so long, to which I told her not to worry as I was on a bad Jdate. She hugged me and said she understands because she’s on Jdate and told me if I wanted to, I could walk past her table and tell my date my friends are here and we should join them. She was sweet.
• Went to a Dodger game birthday party. My friend bought 25 of the cheap seats and invited a bunch of her friends and we had a blast!
• Jess was in town for a bit so we ate (and she shopped) our days away. Literally. We’d leave the house at 10 a.m. and get home around 9 p.m., stopping only for soup or salad lunches, and cupcake desserts. You can read about her favorite US desserts here.
• I also introduced Jess to Costco, and she found the enormous cans of cheese to be hysterical.
• During one of our shopping excursions, I found a Crock Pot on sale, and with my Bed Bath and Beyond (love that store) coupon, it was only $20 so I bought it. I’d been holding out because I wanted to find one that switched from low or high to warm when it was done cooking, but those models were always so expensive. Until now!
• Remember how I had to fight with my former employer to get some money they owed me almost two weeks after my termination date? Well, I filed a claim with the labor board and have a “conference” scheduled for the end of the month. Apparently there is a hefty penalty they may have to pay me for each day they were late giving me my check. Should be interesting. I’ll keep you posted.
• Discovered this site.
• I have a potential 6-9 month contract job lead so please cross your fingers for me!
• If I don’t get the job, or even if I do and I can take some time off, I’m planning on going to Australia to visit Jess (miss you!) as soon as I can. I have enough miles for a free ticket, and I can stay with her for free, so it will cost me very little. So exited!
• Hailing a taxi in Los Angeles is finally legal, and now there are signs all over Hollywood with instructions on how to do it. Seriously
• My Blackberry’s trackball died and came back to life about 10 times over the last week. I took it out, cleaned it, replaced it, and it kept dying. Fortunately for me, my birthday is next month and my parents offered to buy me an iPhone as a birthday gift! I went to the mall last Friday (there were only five people in line), got my iPhone, played with it, couldn’t move the apps around, asked everyone what I was doing wrong, and even watched a video on how to properly move them (why yes, I am dork). At that point I realized I was not in fact iPhone challenged, but that my brand new iPhone was BROKEN. On Sunday I went back to the Apple store and got a new phone. Not the iPhone start I was hoping for, but so far so good with the new phone.
• I had lunch with my former team at my last job and my former boss emailed me and said I looked so relaxed and happy. And I am. Getting laid off was the best thing for me.
• Saturday night, my parents and sister and I had dinner at Baby Blues BBQ. As soon as we sat down, I saw The Ex’s parents sitting a couple of tables over from us. I went over and said hello, then on their way out they came over and said hello to my family. Awkward.
• While in my apartment, my family asked what the pounding noise was that they kept hearing coming from my bedroom. Um, that would be my next door neighbor and his girlfriend having sex.
• My parents and sister came into town for Father’s Day and as usual, we went to the classic car show in Beverly Hills. To change things up, this year we first had brunch at Grub instead of Roscoe’s. The weather was perfect, food was yummy, and it was a great day with the family!
• At the car show, my dad got to have his picture taken in the car from Entourage. The owner was super nice and chatted with people all day.
• Today is my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary! Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!

That’s about it. Any suggestions for must have iPhone apps? I already got a bunch, but would love to hear what you guys are using.

I’m enjoying unemployment. There, I said it. I feel so much better now.

Has anyone been reading the articles about this phenomenon known as funemployment? Well it’s TRUE. There’s something–dare I say fun–about being unemployed right now. Maybe it’s because so many of my friends are also unemployed, or because I received a semi-decent severance package, or because I don’t have to deal with my horrible former employer anymore, but I feel so…not stressed.

The last six months at my former job were miserable. I would go to sleep dreading going to work in the morning, knowing I would have to sit in my cube at an office where no one was happy and the work was boring. Lunch breaks were the highlight of everyone’s day, and were often secretly extended past the allotted one-hour period. Analogies to the movie Office Space were heard throughout the office on a daily basis, and the whispered conversations in the hallways usually included the words, “Did you hear who cried today?” Sad but true.

Then privileges were taken away. No more PCs–welcome to the world of thin clients/remote desktop which allowed Big Brother even more power. Internet usage (the sites that weren’t blocked by corporate) was monitored. As were phone calls. The nice gym? Buhbye.

Oh, and there was also the instance of being required to work the weekend before my termination date. And the “exit interview” where I was told “We think you get COBRA paid for three months per your severance agreement, but we’re not sure if it’s for medical, dental, and vision,” or “We don’t know how long you can submit claims to your FSA account, but we think it’s 30 days. We’ll email you.” Um, you laid me off and don’t have my email address. How are you going to email me? And let’s not forget me having to beg them for my final check. Or call and email them six times in order for them to pay my past due COBRA balance.

So yeah, I don’t miss any of that. And I’m decidedly way less stressed than I’ve been in a long time, even though I’m living off of severance plus $475 a week and don’t have a job lined up. I’ve gone on a few dates (stories for another time) and am going out a lot and not worrying about what time I get home at night because of work the next day. I’m setting my alarm and waking up at a decent hour and exercising almost daily. I’ve met friends for coffee, baseball games, shows, meals, you name it. I’ve fulfilled my unemployment duty of driving a friend to the airport in the middle of the day. And people whom I haven’t seen in a while always tell me I seem so relaxed.

I’ve spent quality time with my Little. I’ve been back and forth to San Diego. I’m volunteering more. I’ve embraced my Jewfro. I’m baking for friends. I’m learning to live on a budget. I’m going to the market in sweats and no makeup with a baseball cap and getting chatted up by the new-to-LA unemployed actor in line behind me. I’m reading more. I’m exploring my neighborhood, on foot. I’m realizing I don’t want to work another soul sucking job.

Life is good. Scary, but good.

And because I’ll always be me, I still desperately want to find a job before my severance runs out. But for now, I’m enjoying the time off.

Just wanted to say hi and that I haven’t [completely] forgotten about this blog. I have nothing terribly exciting that I want to talk about on here, so I will leave you with a picture of burgers I made out of candy and cookies. They and some other goodies are going to a friend’s birthday shindig tomorrow night. Hope all is well with you guys!

I don’t know how I got stuff done when I worked. Seriously. My days are so busy and always filled with stuff to do that I can’t imagine having to run errands and pay bills and all that stuff while working everyday. Then again, until now I didn’t have to follow up on my former company not paying my COBRA, or transferring my 401k to an IRA, or sending resumes daily. Well, you get the idea.

In other news, I:

• Baked Snickerdoodle Muffins. Oh yeah.
• Had lunch with Jenn at Bluebird Cafe, a cafe that (pre-recession) was only open Monday-Friday from 11:00-4:00 and I was never able to go to. For $10.99, you get a salad, burger, fries, and a cupcake. Quite the deal!
• Gave a Cuisinart tutorial to my neighbor by making Real Food Daily’s vegan “cheese” (her idea, not mine).
• Went to San Diego for Mother’s Day.
• Had a “job search assistance session” at the EDD. A few weeks ago I received a letter in the mail instructing me to show up PROMPTLY for my assigned appointment at the EDD office in Marina Del Rey. So, I drove 30 minutes out there, stayed about oh, FIVE MINUTES, then drove 30 minutes home. What did my session entail you ask? Showing them my driver’s license and social security card so they could verify I am a real person. According to the woman I met with, they are cracking down on unemployment fraud. Who knew?
• Learned yet another friend has been laid off. Unemployment is totally the new black.
• Learned the City will be coming next week to inspect my apartment building, so the owner and manager came around and checked out all the units to make quick repairs prior to the inspection. I am so happy to finally have stuff fixed that was never a priority to them before. Yay for the City of Los Angeles!
• Received an email from my building manager in which he forgot to use BCC to my neighbors, so I looked most of them up on Facebook and now know entirely too much about all of them. (Why do so many people have their Facebook profiles public?)
• Went with my neighbor (who by the way, graduated from my rival high school, and our moms know each other through Jewish stuff, random) to her friend’s (free) comedy show at the O Hotel downtown. I rarely go into downtown unless it’s to see a show or for jury duty, so I was surprised to see a mall right there. I really need to check out that area more often
• Had a mid-day coffee with another friend.
• Went with a couple of high school friends to another high school friend’s amazing show at Groundlings. Yay for more comps!

Why yes, I have become a lady of leisure. When I’m not job searching.

I’ve always wanted to serve on a jury–I think it would be interesting and a great way to see our legal system in action. So when I received my notice* (with a call-in date in June) a few weeks ago, I jumped at the opportunity and called the courthouse to get my date moved up to May 4. Excited to finally be able to serve on a jury and not miss work (my former employer only paid for one day of jury service), I was thrilled that I had to report to service yesterday. I ended up at one of the criminal courthouses in downtown LA (which turned out to be mostly traffic incidents and DUIs). Some of the highlights:

• Sat in a room with 50 people, most of whom ignored the “If you want to talk on your cell phone, go in the hall” rule, and put up with one exceptionally loud asshat yapping away and getting dirty looks from people for an hour before I went over to him and asked him to go outside. After that, no one else used their phones in the jury room.
• During orientation it was announced the courthouse has weekly earthquake drills, and that we must “duck and cover” by putting one arm over our neck and the other over our head. Yeah, thanks.
• It was announced there were no celebrities reporting for jury duty or in the courthouse that day, but “Brad Pitt was in this exact room six months ago.”
• Orientation started 30 minutes late and people continued arriving up to three hours later. What the hell?
• We were reminded, “Please cover your mouth or nose if you have to cough or sneeze because of the Swine Flu.” Yes, seriously.
• A guy came up to me and asked if I grew up in LA because he thought I looked familiar. I didn’t recognize him at the time, but realized why he also looked familiar. Jdate.
• There is wi-fi in the jury waiting room! I of course did not know this and was laptop-less.
• The TV was set to ABC all day (lots of soap operas) and no one really watched it until Oprah came on. Suddenly everyone put their books away and all eyes were on the TV. Apparently everyone loves Oprah.

After lunch, about 30 people were called in for jury selection. Unfortunately, I was not one of them. Instead, I read a book next to a woman who felt the need to quietly read her own book out loud (why do people do this?) and a man with a Kindle who moved his head left and right as he read (??) then watched Oprah. Shortly after that we were excused. One of these days I will sit on a jury!

*Los Angeles has a “One-Day/One-Trial” system, meaning you receive a summons with a phone number and date, usually about a month away, and must call in for five days beginning that date to see if you need to report to jury duty the following day. There are three things that can happen: 1. You call in every day and never have to report. 2. You report for a day and don’t get on a case. 3. You report for a day and get on a case. Then you’ve completed your service for the year.

Life is exciting when you’re unemployed. Not.

Everyone keeps asking me if I’m “enjoying unemployment,” and I kind of look at them like they’re an alien. I’m sorry, but I must be missing the fun part of having all this free time to do stuff, yet no money to do it. Yes, I have money. However, I’m trying to save it while I don’t have an income. And I know it’s not just me, because I’ve talked to other unemployed friends and they say the same thing. Moral of the story, please don’t tell someone to “enjoy unemployment.” It’s not that enjoyable. It’s stressful.

Anyway, I’ve taken a lot of your advice and gotten into somewhat of a routine. I have set my alarm everyday (which is a feat in itself when you don’t have anywhere to be the next morning), showered, and gotten dressed (this does not mean back into the sweats I wore before I got into bed, at least not always). Some of the more fun things I have done include:

• San Diego for my mom’s birthday.
• Walking daily.
• Batting cages (there are tons of men there in the middle of the day, who knew?).
• Meals with friends.
• Become a huge fan of Judge Judy and People’s Court, so much that I now have them on my DVR. Please, don’t judge me. At least I no longer record Tyra.
• Discovered marinated chipotle chicken skewers at Trader Joes.
• Helped beautify an elementary school by planting flowers and painting a picnic table (while making two new friends).
• Baked low fat brownies and full of fat caramel crunch bars.
• Finally got my final check(s) from my employer.
• Got a jury duty summons for June which I changed to next week. I have always wanted to do jury duty but my former employer only paid for one day and I never got called in. Now I have plenty of time and it pays $15/day, woohoo! Of course, it’s the same courthouse where my friend is a DA so if I get on her case I’ll be dismissed. Figures.
• Sent out a ton of resumes, spoken to a bunch of recruiters, and feel really discouraged about the job market.
• Learned that in addition to the government subsiding 65% of my COBRA for up to nine moths, the first $2400 of my unemployment checks are not taxed. (Thank you stimulus package.)

In other news, my friend Jess of Sugadeaux will be visiting me next month (she and I met thanks to the Crazy Cupcake Lady, remember her?), after she spends some time traveling and guest baking at Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop in Austin. If you’re in the area, check out her cupcakes! More info here.

The sucketh and rocketh numbers correspond to each other, get it?

Things that sucketh:

1. I get antsy without a structured day.
2. Trying not to spend extra money.
3. Unemployed friends and I don’t want to spend money. (I know, there are free things to do in LA.)
4. No guinea pigs to give the yummies to.
5. Not being able to fall asleep at night.
6. Having no job.
7. Not going out to eat.
8. Having to fight my old company to give me my money.
9. Daytime TV.

Things that rocketh:

1. Lots of free time.
2. Empty grocery/Trader Joe’s/Target.
3. Other unemployed friends to go out with.
4. Lots of time to try new recipes.
5. Sleeping in.
6. Knowing there’s a better job out there.
7. Cooking (elaborate, for me) dinners at home.
8. Filing a claim with the EDD because my former company still hasn’t paid me all of my wages and hoping to get part of what they have to pay as a penalty.
9. Daytime TV.

In related news, my kitchen is now 99% bacteria free and I love Judge Judy. Also, I have never dyed an Easter egg.

Do this:

• Stay with your parents for a week.
• Bake enough Passover desserts to feed a small country.
• Help your family pack up your dad’s optometric practice and move to a new location without interrupting business.
• Apply for a job the day it was posted and receive an email at 8:30 a.m. the following day stating it has already been filled.
• Take advantage of the $5 car wash special between 8:00 and 11:00 a.m.
• File a claim with the EDD because your stupid former employer still (two weeks after being terminated) hasn’t paid you all of your wages and hope they get fined and you get a penalty.
• Spend an entire day without spending any money because you’re busy filling out paperwork and making phone calls because your former employer screwed stuff up.
• Find free stuff to do with another unemployed friend, like an upcoming Depeche Mode concert on Hollywood Blvd.

Today was the first weekday I’ve been in my apartment since I got laid off. Unfortunately, I spent most of it filling out paperwork and making phone calls. Fortunately, I have a lot more free days to catch up on my Tivo.

I’m back! I landed in LA with more money than I left with as well as a cold. Whatever. The sore throat is worth $300 if you ask me. Highlights of my trip include:

• On my Southwest flight in, I chatted with the nice woman seated next to me wearing four inch lime green heels and huge sunglasses about acrylic nails and her peanut allergy for 20 minutes before some woman came running down the aisle and practically screamed, “Are you Marie Osmond??? I would love to have you on my show!!” Oh, that explains why she said she needs to keep her nails long for when she’s “on stage.” I told you I’m horrible at recognizing celebrities.
• Won $225 on my first $20 bill on Wheel of Fortune slots.
• Wrote on Facebook on April 1 that I had won $10,000 and fooled some of my friends. Suckers!
• Had drinks with a college newspaper friend (whom I hadn’t seen since college) and his wife at an enormous bar called Blue Martini.
• Stayed up really late talking to Julie like we used to do when we were in high school.
• Had lunch with a former coworker also celebrating unemployment in Las Vegas.
• Saw a screening of The Proposal with Julie at ShoWest.
• Had a delicious dinner at the Italian restaurant at Bally’s, thanks to Julie’s dad.
• Went to a studio party at The Palms in a suite with a ceiling so low I could touch it without having to stand on my tip-toes.
• Landed an hour-and-a-half late Thursday night and sat behind three drunk assholes, next to a baby, and in front of a kid. To make things worse, I then got stuck behind a total asshat when I was trying to leave the parking lot. For 15 minutes the guy refused to pay or reverse his car, and even closed his window in my face when I asked him to please back up so I could pay and leave. What the fuck?
• Slept 13 hours last night.

I’m back in town for a few days, then I’m headed down to SD to make Passover desserts and attend the seders. I hope you are all doing well, and for my fellow MOTs, good Pesach!

So far, unemployment hasn’t been too bad.

Stay tuned for my tale of sitting next to Marie Osmond on the plane, and other fun stuff yet to come.

I know, it’s been a while. Again. I’ve been busy!

I had dinner with some friends at Fabio’s restaurant. Jenn wrote up what we ate so I won’t go into detail, but I will tell you everything was amazingly delicious and yes, we saw Fabio. He was in the kitchen most of the night, but when we left (three hours later), he was in the dining room taking pictures with customers.
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Last week after a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day at work, I got home to find a FedEx notice on my door. Not expecting anything, I stopped at the FedEx office on my way to pick up my friend and was surprised to find a three foot tall box from…Hallmark. I threw the box in the car and while driving to get Keren, used a key to tear it open, only to find it loaded with baking supplies. Huh.

Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to dig through the box, as Keren and I arrived at M Bar for Heeb Storytelling (where my dislike of oversize 80s glasses on Hipster boys was reignited–scroll through the pics, you’ll see what I’m talking about). Basically, people go on stage and tell a story that has something to do with being Jewish. Kinda. Some of the stories were a little um, out there, but some were pretty awesome. My two favorite storytellers were Evan Kleiman (yes, of Angeli Caffe and Good Food on KCRW) and Joanna Angel (a Jewish punk porn star). It was an interesting show and it was nice to catch up with Keren and bump into David as well.

Back to the box of baking stuff. When I got home, I opened the box and discovered this. Of course, I had no recollection of even entering a contest, so I searched through my email for something that said Hallmark. I finally found an email from a former coworker, suggesting I enter Aunt Helen’s Mandelbrot in a recipe contest last November. And I won! Well, I was one of 10 winners, and stoked to find out my recipe could be featured in the holiday issue of Hallmark Magazine. Of course, as luck would have it, the next day I went back to the Hallmark website only to learn the magazine posted a note stating they were ceasing publication due to “difficult economic times.” Grrr.
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Had dinner and dessert with a friend at Milk. This was the first time I’ve ever eaten dinner there, and it was just OK, nothing special. Of course, I had a coffee toffee macaron ice cream sandwich that made up for the eh dinner.
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I’ve been working a bit of overtime lately, and I’ll be putting in some more over a weekend (!), probably this coming one. I’m not exactly thrilled about this, but since I don’t know if I’ll have a job come April 1, and I am for some reason eligible for overtime now, I’m not complaining too much.
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In baking news, I recently made Oatmeal Caramel Bars and Lemon Meltaways, neither of which I was terribly thrilled with. Fortunately, my coworkers still enjoyed them. Speaking of baking, since I am now back to counting points, you can expect some lower fat/calorie recipes in the future!
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Depeche Mode is touring in August and I desperately want to go, but I can’t justify paying full price for tickets when there’s a good chance I’ll be unemployed. Does anyone have any connections to tickets they are willing to share?
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You know that commercial with the annoying woman who puts her produce in funky looking bags called Green Bags? Well, I bought the bags, and they work! Just an FYI for any of you who have been considering buying them.
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In blog news, I still haven’t figured out what to do with this thing. In the meantime, I added a new plugin that lets you respond to a specific comment in the comments section. Terribly exciting, I know.
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This week’s question: What infomercial product do you want to try?

So, news: It was in the 80s here last week. Today it was in the 60s and raining. Brr. Oh, that’s not the kind of update you were looking for? Well then…
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I see from your comments some of you, ahem, would like dating stories–good or bad. Um, I have none. I haven’t been dating lately…I’d like to get the job situation taken care of (i.e., get a job) before I get back into dating. Of course, if I were to meet an amazing man right now I wouldn’t tell him to go away, but I’m not actively looking. Make sense?

In job news, I’ve had occasion to wear my suit lately, so keep those fingers crossed!
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In baking news, I have decided that the lemon cake I mentioned in my last post is quite possibly one of the best things I have ever made. It’s that good. Since we last spoke, I’ve made caramel fleur de sel macarons and pizza dough. I was really surprised at how easy the pizza dough was.
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Since Barbara E. asked, my parents’ dog will be in the Ugly Dog Contest down in Del Mar this weekend. Da Vinci (along with my dad) will be competing in the “Dog That Looks Like Its Owner” category, a category they have won (first and third place) before. Yes I am serious.
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What did you think of the Top Chef finale? I was rooting for Carla and so disappointed with her (or Casey’s) meal. Boo! Speaking of Top Chef, guess where I’m going to dinner Saturday night? You guessed it–Cafe Firenze, the restaurant owned by none other than Mr. Monkey Ass Filled With Fried Banana, Fabio. A few of us are trekking way out past the Valley into Ventura county just for dinner. It had better be good!

In other TV stuff, is anyone else watching The Amazing Race? I still don’t have a favorite team, but I am enjoying the season thus far. Who do you want to win?
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This week’s question: If there was one food you had to give up for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I had a super fun and busy weekend, and lucky me–I am taking today off too!

Thursday night a high school friend (whom I recently got back in touch with via Facebook) and I went to Groundlings to see another high school friend perform. It was the all improv show and was hysterical–we both left there saying that our mouths hurt from laughing so much.

Friday night I came home and baked chocolate chip pound cake and cookies and cream fudge (both were going with me to friends’ houses over the weekend) before I crashed for the night.

Saturday I went out to the Valley for a hair cut and color (and learned I can’t grow my hair out to donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths because I have so many grays I need permanent rather than semi-permanent color, getting older sucks). I brought some fudge with me and a few of the women at the salon suggested I bring treats in on a weekly basis to sell at the salon! This works out perfectly, considering I will be unemployed in five weeks.

That night, I headed out to a different part of the Valley (with fudge in tow) for game night which was super fun. There were a couple different games being played, but I stuck to the Trivial Pursuit table and did quite alright!

Sunday morning I went to my friend’s boyfriend’s amazing 34th floor apartment in downtown (with pound cake this time) for This American Brunch. Just like it sounds, we listened to This American Life and had brunch. The topic was Valentine’s Day related and there were three stories of finding different kinds of love. I had an awesome time and I hope they do it again soon!

Of course, since this is Oscar weekend, I had to sit in traffic after taking a slight detour home. Then when I finally got home, there were about two dozen people across the street with black masks and megaphones and signs with pictures of bloody monkeys that said something about UCLA. Apparently someone who lives in the building next door works in a department at UCLA that does animal testing on monkeys. Or something like that. They finally left and the rest of the day I got to listen to the sound of helicopters from the Oscars. Oh yay.

And this morning (my day off), I woke up at 2:00 a.m. to sound of the stereo belonging to the asshat in the building next door. I’ve been trying to call his building manager for the past two days but he doesn’t answer and his voicemail doesn’t go off, so today I left a voicemail for the property management company guy, whom I believe is the grandchild of the owner. Other than that, I don’t know what I can do. I call the police each time it happens, but that doesn’t seem to be helping. The building manager claims they are trying to evict the guy, but I don’t believe it considering this problem has been going on for so long. Ugh.

Anyway, after putting earplugs in and sleeping through my alarm, I lounged around then made a lemon cake which is beyond good. I highly recommend the recipe if you like lemon and have time and patience. Now I’m debating between grocery shopping or catching up on the massive amount of shows on the DVR. I have a feeling the DVR will win.

Does anyone still read this? I’ve been such a blog slacker lately.

I am so incredibly tired of people saying to me, “You’re lucky you’re losing your job when you’re single and don’t have a family, because at least you have your parents.” Um, I had no idea that having children or a husband suddenly precludes someone from asking for financial help from their parents. (Married people–is there a secret law that you’re not allowed to ask for money from parents once you’ve tied the knot?) No one in their 30s, single or married, with or without children, wants to ask their parents for money. Trust me on this one.

Speaking of money, the job market–SHITTY. I am in my 30s and am competing for jobs with a bizillion other people, some of whom are recent college grads and would gladly accept the same position for a lower salary.

And speaking of jobs, I caught a VP crying at work the other day and realized I am so not alone with this work/crying thing. Crazy, I tell ya.
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On a lighter note, here is some Snuggie humor! My sister sent me the link at work and I was laughing out loud at my desk. And since we’re watching videos, this one about Trader Joe’s is pretty clever too.
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In baking news, I made Brown Sugar Shortbread (some with wattleseed!) and Chocolate Roll-Out Cookies. (And yes, I put advertising in the sidebar. It’s nice to have a little extra cash.)
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I saw He’s Just Not That Into You and cringed throughout half of the movie, because I could totally relate. Did you guys see it? What did you think? Speaking of dating, I’m not at the moment.
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Earlier this week, I went to a wine tasting with a friend at Silver Lake Wine the other night and fell in love with both the store and a wine. It’s a sparkling shiraz from Australia called Black Chook and is so popular at the shop they refer to it as “liquid crack.” If you see it, try it!
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My Bloglines RSS feed is broken, but I can’t get anyone at Bloglines to respond to an email and fix it. Any suggestions?
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This week’s (month’s? quarter’s?) question: Is your job secure or are you out of work? What do you do?

I’m here! Thanks for the comments and emails, everything is well, I’ve just been busy and not so much in the blogging mood. But I do have a few things to share!
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The work/job situation is really getting to me and I’m finally super stressed. Last week I had my first migraine with aura in over two years, and as much as I try to not let the situation affect me, it does. Ugh.

In an attempt to de-stress, I came down in San Diego for a long weekend and the weather couldn’t be any more perfect (in the high 60s and low 70s). So far, I’ve done a lot of eating, relaxing, and sleeping, saw Gran Torino, and went to the beach. Tomorrow I’m meeting Julie and the baby for brunch then heading back up to LA. I have a phone interview in the evening with a company I am super excited about. Please think good thoughts!
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As I write this, I’m sitting in the living room with my dad watching the Super Bowl. And by watching, I mean he’s rewinding every single play and talking to the TV while I enjoy the commercials. My favorite thus far was for Career Builder–I could so relate! What was your fave?

Speaking of the commercials, I noticed the CSUN library in the ad for the Star Trek movie. Kinda cool!
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The kind folks over at Yummie Tummie sent me a tank to try out and I have to gush about how much I love it. If you don’t know what a Yummie Tummie is, it’s shapewear that is designed to show. From their website: “Unlike most shapewear that compress your bust and roll up, the Yummie Tummies’ cotton bust and hip panels appear to the outsider as a normal tank top…” If you like to layer shirts like I do, the Yummie Tummie is perfect because it slims you down and smooths back fat (!) all while allowing you to breath, and the bottom peaks out below your layers. And even more awesome is that it comes in long, which as we know, is always exciting for someone 5′9″ like myself.
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In baking news, I’ve made quite possibly the best cookies ever.
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And that’s it for now. I hope everyone is doing well!