Friday night was really shitty. Midway through turning left at a green arrow from Hollywood onto Highland, a group of pedestrians began jaywalking through the don’t walk sign (as you may remember, we don’t jaywalk in LA). One of them decided to stop in front of my car in the middle of the intersection and yell at me and the car behind me (which then moved to a weird angle in front of/to the side of me), and screamed obscenities for about 30 seconds before she began kicking my car. I’m guessing she didn’t realize I had a green arrow.

She started at the front bumper then realized she wasn’t doing any damage, so she moved to the driver’s side door. She kicked really high, just below the window (keep in mind I have a small SUV), as well as the front left side of the car too. She had this crazed look on her face and rage in her eyes, and I was totally freaked out and thought she was going to kick in my window and hurt me. (Please don’t say, “You should have _____” because when some psycho is kicking your door, the only thing going through your mind is “Oh shit, please don’t hurt me.” Thanks in advance.)

There were dozens of people standing around watching (this is probably one of the busiest intersections in Hollywood–for those of you not in LA, it’s where the Chinese and Kodak Theaters are located), and no one yelled at her or pulled her away. I couldn’t move anywhere because there were cars all around me. She finally stopped and I pulled into a strip mall parking lot and began crying. I spoke to the police (psycho kicking someone’s car is considered vandalism) but didn’t end up filing a police report because the officer told me that without a suspect in custody, the insurance company wouldn’t care about the police report.

Once I calmed down I was able to inspect the damage (a few dents, her shoe prints, and a lot of chipped paint) and I began to get really pissed. When it was all happening, I was scared, but once I was away from her and had time to think about it, I just got mad. And while I am thankful she didn’t hurt me, I’m still pissed.

I called my insurance company and the good news is that if I choose to go through my insurance (which I’ll do if the repairs are more than my $500 deductible), my rates will not go up because I have a good record. The bad news is I won’t be getting that iPhone anytime soon. By the way, can anyone recommend a good auto body shop nearby?

On a happier note, Saturday morning I slept until noon which seems to be something I am only capable of doing at my parents’ house. That afternoon I baked more red velvet cakes, this time for my dad’s birthday and my parents’ office holiday party (they had their staff over for dinner tonight). Saturday night we went with some family friends to Piatti’s in La Jolla for my dad’s (early) birthday dinner then came home for cake and coffee. (Happy birthday dad!) Following the cake, my dad’s friends asked Bethany and me questions about Facebook, and Bethany then proceeded to help them look up their kids and their son’s ex-fiancee. Not satisfied with their Facebook findings, Bethany then helped them Google stalk her. It was quite amusing.

Sunday morning we had a birthday bagel brunch at home, prepared part of tonight’s dinner, then exchanged Hanukkah gifts (I got the Baked cookbook from my sister and a Garmin from my parents) before I hit the road in my banged up car. I made it home in less than two hours, so that was a plus. I am now unpacked, the Hanukkah candles are lit, and I’m going to relax. Happy Hanukkah!

Earlier this week was our company holiday lunch at Lawry’s and for the first (and last) time in eight years, I finally won a damn raffle prize–a $100 Visa gift card. Not too shabby, and I will probably end up spending it at an after-Christmas sale. Yay!

And later that day I got a package in the mail from Australia–filled with goodies!.
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Did anyone else watch Momma’s Boys? Once I got over the annoying title (since there are three mommas, shouldn’t it be Mommas’ Boys?), I pretty much sat there staring at the TV in awe of Mrs. B. Who says that shit?!
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I’m heading down to San Diego this weekend to celebrate Hanukkah and my dad’s birthday with my family. This also means I’ll be in LA for Christmas (since I’m not driving two weeks in a row again), which is my favorite time of year to be in town because the city is like a ghost town, no one in LA is from LA, so everyone goes home. Pure awesome.
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It finally got cold enough in LA to use my heater. And before you go calling me a wuss, may I point out it’s been in the 40s during my drive to work. And it snowed in Malibu. Brrr!
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Because I have so much unused vacation time that I’m getting paid out for, I decided I’m going to treat myself to an iPhone. However, my contract with AT&T isn’t up for renewal until May, and they won’t let me upgrade to the iPhone until then. Even if I sign a two-year contract. They claim Apple won’t let them, which doesn’t make sense to me. Anyone know what’s up with that?
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And in case I don’t post until 2009, then have a very happy Hanukkah/merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year!!
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This week’s question: If you make New Year’s resolutions, what would your resolution be?

This past week has been super busy and I completely forgot to write a post for Thursday, oops! Here are some of the highlights:

• Had a Jdate. He was nice, a little odd, but not for me. I now know a little too much about his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend. And his Jdate experiences.
• Experienced dollar taco night at Don Antonio’s (no, we didn’t see Speidi) with a friend.
• Had dinner with Nanette and her incredibly adorable baby at Urth Caffe in Santa Monica.
• Came home from work totally exhausted on Friday and slept for 12 hours that night.
• Work has been interesting since the new company’s systems have been implemented. My Internet usage is now way down. Boo.
• De-seeded a pomegranate for the first time ever. What a pain in the ass, even with the bowl of water instructions that I got off the Internet.
• Had plans with DG (yes, that DG) but then he got a gig so our plans got canceled and I suddenly remembered why we stopped dating.
• Made Gingerbread Men.
• Pulled in the garage at Target, waited five minutes to move about five feet, and left.
• Went to Bed Beth and Beyond.
• Wrapped most of my Hanukkah presents. I can’t wait to give them to my family next weekend!

In other news, where is the rain? It was supposed to rain all weekend, and nothing. Not a drop.

Friday was a spectacularly shitty day at work and without going into detail, I’ll just say that I still have my stapler and I’m not in the basement. Yet.
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I found a job online that I thought may be a really good fit, and in the middle of filling out their online application, we had an earthquake and I accidentally submitted my resume without a cover letter. Of course, this was after the bad day at work.
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Thanks to the nice people at Goldstar, Jen and I saw Spring Awakening (think the episode of 90210 where Brenda comes in to save the musical) at the Ahmanson downtown. The show was great and the storyline, while enjoyable, was also kinda depressing. And I had no idea that Duncan Sheik did the music for the show!
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I also finally got around to watching You Don’t Mess with the Zohan which was surprisingly funny and I found myself laughing out loud quite a few times. I didn’t know the girl who plays Sloan on Entourage was it. Isn’t she just gorgeous?
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While at The Art Store (or whatever it’s called now, I can never remember), I noticed a sign at Milk stating they have parking. This is good news for the summer. Also, there were random people standing on the sidewalks and singing all over Beverly Blvd. What the hell?
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I went to Trader Joe’s this afternoon and the place was packed–people were lined up all the way to the counter with the samples, and it was amusing watching people’s faces as they walked in the door and saw the crowds. And no, I didn’t see any blowjobs on the way home.
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This is a really boring post isn’t it? I’m just not feeling the blog anymore and still don’t know what to do with it. Blah.

The other day I did the bulk of my Hanukkah shopping online. Of course, Amazon had this labeler on sale for $9.99 with free shipping and I just couldn’t resist.
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Are any of my LA friends who don’t celebrate Christmas going to be in town for the holiday and want to celebrate it Jewish style with me?
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I went to a new ENT to get a second opinion about my supposed deviated septum, and it turns out I have a sinus infection. I guess that would explain the headache and ear pain I’ve had for the past week.
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Trader Joe’s has their salted chocolate caramels again which is both good (yummy) and bad (fat and calories). Also, on my way home from Trader Joe’s, I saw a guy in a parked car getting a blow job.

Back to food stuff–Ralphs does not carry the caramel fleur de sel ice cream and the Pavilions in West Hollywood is closed for a year for construction, so it doesn’t look like I’ll be ODing on that anytime soon.
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Wednesday around 1:30 a.m. I heard someone walking on the roof of my building, and immediately thought there was a murder and the body was dumped on the roof. Note to self: Do not watch Law & Order: SVU right before going to bed.

In other TV news, who do you want to win The Amazing Race? I’m not really excited about any of the teams, but I’d kind of like to see Dandrew win, just because it’d be cool to see two dorky Jewish boys win. Also, did you hear the next season is beginning in February? Yay!

And of course–Top Chef. I’m loving the show but still don’t have a favorite. And they never explained why Kathy Lee spit out the blond guy’s food…?
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I’m going to see Spring Awakening (for free!) this weekend and am so exited!
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This week’s question: What’s your biggest pet peeve?

I wish every weekend was a four-and-a-half day weekend! I:

• Drove down to San Diego straight from a half day at work.
• Had lunch with my sister.
• Tried out the new cupcake place in Solana Beach (the vanilla bean cupcakes are insanely good) and chatted with the super sweet owners a bit. They even let me check out the kitchen!
• Bought a pair of jeans (40% off!)
• Baked two double layer pumpkin cheesecakes, a double batch of vegan pumpkin muffins, an apple pie, and banana chocolate chip muffins.
• Went with my family to our friends’ house for a lovely and delicious Thanksgiving dinner.
• Had pie for breakfast, lounged around, ran errands, then had lunch with my family.
• Saw The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and had dinner with my family.
• Ate a lot.
• Slept a lot.
• Visited with Julie, her boys, and her newborn baby girl whom I didn’t let go of the entire time I was at their house. I had forgotten what it’s like to hold such a tiny baby!
• Paid $1.79/gallon for gas near Julie’s house and went through my first ever drive through car wash.
• Drove back to LA in traffic on Saturday, which was unexpected and annoying.
• Baked an apple pie for my coworkers.
• Had a fabulous massage.
• Paid $4.50 for 12-pack of Diet Coke. Yes, seriously.
• Heard quite possibly the loudest sonic boom ever, when the space shuttle landed.
• Am currently listening to the sound of a marching band about a mile away at the Hollywood Christmas Parade, a parade I thought they were no longer doing.

It was a fun weekend, and my last trip down to San Diego for…three more weeks. I’m heading down then to celebrate my dad’s birthday and Hanukkah with my family.

Now I’m going to try to drown out the sounds of the marching band by watching TV. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Friday was my sister’s 30th birthday, so I drove down to San Diego to celebrate with my family. I:

• Had dinner with my family and Beth’s friend Elise at Kemo Sabe.
• Spoke to the head chef about pastry school (she recommends taking classes, but said the school doesn’t matter and even suggested just a junior college).
• Slept in then baked and frosted Beth’s birthday cake.
• Cut out two different kinds of gum paste letters and decided gum paste tastes nasty.
• Painted the letters silver. I’m not sure why the silver powder is for sale in California, but the dragees are not.
• Went to Bethany’s 80s themed birthday party with my parents and witnessed my dad do Jell-O shots with my sister and her friends. Shortly after that, Beth kicked us out.
• Had dinner with my parents at Bully’s in downtown Del Mar and eavesdropped on the group of guys sitting next to us as they talked about Jdate.
• Went back to my parents’ house and finally relaxed.
• Fell in love with Haagen-Dazs fleur de sel caramel ice cream.
• Slept in then drove back to LA. I brought my sister’s friend Brittney back and it was nice to have company for the ride up.

I’m in LA for a few days then heading back down to SD on Wednesday (we get a half day at work!) for Thanksgiving weekend. I’m glad gas prices are down because I’ve been doing a lot of driving lately.

Tomorrow is my sister’s 30th birthday (happy birthday Bethany!) and she requested a red velvet cake for her party. Of course I said yes, but decided I must do a test run which I completed Tuesday as I have never made a layer cake before (I know, I can’t believe it either). Fortunately for my coworkers, they got to enjoy the ugly attempt yesterday. Let’s just say I learned a lot about crumb coating.
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Have you guys seen that GET CASH FOR YOUR GOLD commercial? It drives me absolutely insane and the dude in the commercial is straight out of 1979.
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Has anyone ever taken a “cooking vacation?” (Dori, what company did you go through?) I was thinking that if I’m able to get a job lined up, I’d like to go to Paris and take baking and patisserie classes for a week or so.
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Should I put this on my Hanukkah wishlist?
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Remember how you all made fun of me for using the word doorwall? Well look how popular the word really is (read the comments)!
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This week’s question: What’s on your holiday wishlist?

Saturday morning I headed to the Valley for my hair appointment. What I didn’t realize was how huge the Sylmar fire had gotten overnight, and I found myself driving through thick smoke and crazy winds and was on a freeway that was closed right after the exit I took. There were dozens of trucks parked on the shoulder, just sitting there waiting for the freeway to reopen. When I got home and put the TV on, I couldn’t believe how horrible the Santa Barbara, LA, and OC fires were. I’m nowhere near the fires yet my neighborhood still smells like smoke; it’s incredibly scary.
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I woke up this morning at 8:30 to sounds of a blasting stereo. I hate my neighbor.
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There’s a new cupcake bakery that opened not far from my parents’ house in SD which I will be hitting up next weekend. I’m heading back down there for my sister’s 30th birthday (which just blows my mind…how can my little sister be turning 30?).

Speaking of small cakes, I finally visited Kiss My Bundt and got a bunch of mini cakes which were really good! So far I have tasted the red velvet and the chocolate, and both were moist and delicious. (And I wonder why I’ve gained weight?)
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I had my last massage for a while. Have I mentioned my back feels a million times better? I am so happy.
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Last week I made the best chocolate chip cookies ever. Seriously.
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I had an outing with my Little today and I do think she turned into a woman in the five months since I’d seen her. Listening to her talk about boyfriends and boys she wants to kiss and the “bad kids at school who do weed” pretty much blew my mind, and I kind of miss the days of her wanting to hold my hand and go to the sticker store.

Anyway, for our outing I took her to Felt Club. I think she was more in awe of the people walking around than the booths, but we had fun and even got to visit with Jenn for bit. Jenn gave us some of her famous burger bites and my Little couldn’t stop talking about them. Also, we (well, I) bought us some rings and a snack. It was a nice afternoon.
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I think I’ve made my last Target run of 2008. The store was incredibly crowded and it’s just going to get worse until the new year. Perhaps I should be thankful the store is so crazy because no Target means more money in my wallet.
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That’s it. I hope everyone and their friends and families are safe from the fires.

Thanks for all the good luck wishes regarding the interview! It went well, but I don’t think it was a good fit. I kind of likened it to a “nice guy, no chemistry” date. The people that interviewed me were nice, the experience was pleasant, but we’re just not a good match.
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If you haven’t tried hot fudge sundae Pop Tarts you are missing out.
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I kind of secretly want this.
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This week has been full of Big Brother Big Sister stuff. Monday night following my interview, I went to a mixer for prospective Bigs at a bar in the Valley. Tuesday I actually talked to my Little on the phone and made plans for an outing this weekend (I think I’m going to take her here). And Wednesday was a roundtable discussion for all the Bigs.

Speaking of Wednesday–Top Chef! Did you watch it? What did you think? I enjoyed the first episode, hopefully the rest of the season will be good as well.
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Monday, although I stayed in Los Angeles, I was in four different area codes. Not that you care, but I found it interesting.
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I am back on Jdate, and this time the subscription is courtesy of my parents. Of the 10 emails I had waiting in my inbox, four were “missed IMs” from two men I had previously told I wasn’t interested, three were flirts from men either old enough to be my father or in a different country (or both), two were in Hebrew from men living in Israel, and one was a generic email that simply said, “I feel that we have a lot of similar interests and would love to talk to you sometime - drop me a line.” I’m suddenly remembering why I took my profile off of the site.

Just some random stuff. I:

• Have been a little anti-social lately, which is partly due to my wanting to see what would happen if I wasn’t always the one initiating plans with friends. Now I know.
• Am feeling a little off and have been so tired since the time change. This has never happened to me before and it’s kind of weird. Friday night I fell asleep at 10:15 in front of the TV then proceeded to wake up at 6:30 (!?) on Saturday. Not good.
• Am super worried about my job situation, especially in this economy.
• Keep going back and forth about moving to San Diego or staying in LA.
• Have been dealing with stress by eating, which is never a good thing.
• Saw a truck blasting Footloose, followed by photographers, followed by a bunch of people wearing white t-shirts and orange backpacks walking down my street this morning. What the hell?
• Put my profile back on Jdate but still haven’t paid for a subscription. Of course, the first two awesome sounding people I find both mention they’re not Jewish.
• Got some good deals at the Macys sale–a $280 suit for $130 and a $80 purse for $40.
• Made a chocolate chip brioche which is hopefully proofing as I type this. If it ever finishes proofing and I can get it in the oven, the plan is to bring it into work tomorrow. Stay tuned for photos and a taste report.
• Had another massage. I think I might do one more next week and if my back is still feeling better, see if I can go a couple of weeks before another one. Also, I kinda want to ask the massage guy if he wants to hang out because I enjoy chatting with him, but I don’t know if that’s too weird.
• Stopped by Boule for a few macaron on my way home from the massage. I had a chocolate, apple pie, and caramel fleur de sel (my favorite). One of these days I’ll try making them at home.

In other news, Monday I am going somewhere that requires me to wear a suit and bring writing samples. Please think good thoughts.

I can’t believe the election is over and I am beyond elated that our country elected Obama as president. However, I am so so so saddened that the state I live in voted to take away the rights of gay couples to marry. Why that decision is anyone’s business is beyond me. I am so disappointed, and I just find it so ironic that on the day we elected our first black president into office, we discriminated against another minority. Shame on California.

Speaking of Prop 8, last night I heard helicopters all evening long. When I sat down to watch Law & Order, I looked outside and noticed they were above Hollywood & Highland, so I figured there was something going on at the Kodak Theater. Uh no. I turned the news on and learned the West Hollywood Prop 8 protest had split off into smaller groups and marched all the way to Hollywood! Aside from a few minor altercations, they said it was peaceful and growing as people marched. It really was pretty cool to watch.
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In TV news, did anyone else with DirecTV watch the awesomeness of channel 352 on election night? Seriously, it was the best thing ever. In other TV news, I’m glad Law & Order is back (even though I haven’t watched last night’s ep yet), I’m really enjoying The Amazing Race but still don’t have a favorite, and am so happy Ted and Stella are done done done on How I Met Your Mother. Also, totally looking forward to Celebrity Rehab tonight. What about yourselves?
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In baking news, last week I made my Aunt Helen’s mandelbrot (AKA mandel bread). If you’ve never had mandelbrot, it’s a twice baked cookie, similar to biscotti, and traditionally made with nuts rather than chocolate chips. And oh, it’s delicious.
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Does anyone have a good chocolate chip brioche recipe?
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I recently took this quiz and was a little surprised by the results. We moved to California when I was 11 and I’ve always though I lost my accent. Apparently, not so much–my result was “The Inland North” which I suppose makes sense since I am originally from Michigan. So I asked my coworkers to say the words dawn and don and when they say them, the two words sound exactly the same. Same goes for cot and caught. They sound completely different to me. This of course leads to this week’s question: Do the words dawn and don sound the same to you? What about cot and caught?

I voted. As usual, my polling place was the International Cinematographers building, located on Sunset , a major street with no morning parking, and in a neighborhood where the side streets are metered or permit. I parked on the side street, below a Tuesday street cleaning sign, and was warned by a resident that my car may not be there when I return from voting. What the hell? I was under the impression that permit and street cleaning and meter rules were all relaxed in the city of Los Angeles today. Anyway…

Fortunately for me, I live in Hollywood where most people don’t wake up until noon, so my line wasn’t very long. (I was the 68th voter, and I got there at 7:30. Usually around that time, I’m the first person to vote!) I spent the time chatting with my neighbor from down the hall, watched an InkaVote demo (seriously), then voted. The only thing that concerned me was when another neighbor from my building wasn’t found on the list and was given a provisional ballot, and the poll worker said to another poll worker, “I’m a little worried about the number of provisional ballots we’ve given out. I don’t think we got an updated list.” Uh oh.

What was your voting experience like?