Blondemonium

Honestly, the things people will do to win stuff! There I was, minding my own business, enjoying the music of Green River Ordinance (the warm-up band for the warm-up band for the Goo Goo Dolls ) at the Greek Theatre last night, when one of the band members said something about "we're giving away this guitar" and "send us a tweet and you could win."  So I figured, there's not that many people here yet, how many could possibly be tweeting?  Turned on my phone, looked up @GRO on twitter and found mucho tweets on the page, all saying something lame like "guitar, please" or "will bake brownies for guitar" or "entry for Greek contest" yada yada -- you get the idea.  In between songs, one band member mentioned that they'd been together for 10 years and started playing in high school.   Then he said something about all of them being bad at sports so their parents bought them guitars.  So, I promptly tweeted to @GRO "You guys...

As it turns out, some days I am able to pull off this morning person thing, especially if I have partners in crime.  Leaving the house at 4:45 a.m. to be at the trailhead by 6:00, 8 of us (including 5 and 7 year old kids plus one labrador retriever) embarked on a 10 mile hike to the Bridge to Nowhere.  This being August, it was a good idea to leave at that time.  It was already in the high 70's by 6 a.m., so you know where it goes from there! Our only salvation from the heat was knowing we would be crossing the San Gabriel river at least 8 times each way (maybe more, it was just too much trouble to count.)  At the first crossing, we attempted to keep our feet dry: By 11:00, on our way back, our river crossings looked more like this: And this: And this:   In between, we were treated to a really great hiking experience.  It was long, that's for sure, but the elevation gain was minimal and so was the cardio factor.  Still, my HR monitor ...

I really do wish I were a morning person.  I do.  Truth is, I don't do mornings.  I find that late at night is my quiet time to get things done.  The house is still. The air is cool.  I am generally alone with my thoughts.  I can write. Or read. Or pray. Or whatever. And yet, I really do wish I were a morning person.  Especially on those mornings, like today, when I actually get myself up and out of the house for a walk before 8 a.m.  (Yes, I know all you true morning afficianados are laughing your heads off right now... hey, it's a start!  The 6 a.m. walk just isn't in my vocabulary yet.) I admire those people who can get up before dawn and utilize that quiet time for study and prayer, writing, and exercising.  Perhaps some day that will be me.  On days when I actually pull off accomplishing something of substance before 9:00 a.m. I am so happy!  Like today.  Truth be told, my motivation for climbing out of bed on a Sat...

Suddenly, it matters where my olive oil comes from.  Really!  It matters from whence my olive oil cometh.  What's up with that? So, I'm out of olive oil.  Rather than pay $10 for a couple tablespoons of it at the market, I add it to my Sam's Club list and head out the door.  Now, you've gotta understand that I've never given another thought to the origins of my EVOO (with apologies to Rachael Ray) prior to visiting Italy, where I paid 26 Euros for a ghastly small bottle which makes everything it touches taste like heaven! (When IS that little bottle going to get here?)  In fact, I didn't know it existed until I took on a glorious Italian surname by marriage.  No kidding!  Good ol' vegetable oil was all I'd ever seen in the kitchen before that. Like I said, I'd never given a thought to olive oil origins - I naturally assumed it was from Italy, of course.  Then, on the "oil aisle" of Sam's Club I noticed a sign that said "Califo...

Roma. Colosseum. Ancient ruins. St. Peter's Basilica. Vatican Museum. Walking. Walking. GELATO. Metro rides. Sistene Chapel. Piazzas. Eating. Sleeping. GELATO. Walking. Traffic. Train. Italians arguing. Firenze. Duomo. More Walking. Train to Pisa. Climb the Leaning Tower. Eat. Walking. Bus ride to Lucca.  Rent beat-up bikes. Ride around the Lucca medieval wall. Walking. Train to Florence. Train to Cinque Terre. Very long day. Italian Riviera. Hiking. Walking. Feet in the Mediterranean Sea. GELATO. Long ride home. Climb the stairs to apt. Very tired. Sleeping in. Driver takes us to Tuscan countryside.  Wine tasting. Nonna's lasagne - amazing! Must. Have. Recipe! Villas. Castles. Wealthy Italians. Fiat mini van. Come home to Florence. GELATO.  Hike up the stairs. Packing. Off to Venice.  Vaparetto shuttle boat.  Magical scenery.  Beautiful.  GELATO. I'm so tired - that's it for now!  Will post a couple photos next time....

\well, the first two legs of our journey are complete, and \i find myself sitting in \london \Heathrow airport - in the British Airways lounge to be exact, and I think this may be the only time \i have a few moments to write for awhile.... when we get to Rome, we hit the ground running, so to speak -- as we have only given ourselves a day and half to see the necessary objects before moving on to a little slower pace and five nights in \florence. I just have one question\:  Why is the \ & | key where the shift key is supposed to be on a |British keyboard?  Along with the necessary £ and € keys, in addition to the $ key -- (how very international of them!) it looks like my keyboard at home, and yet |I seem to be typing just one key removed for some words. For illustration purposes, |I'm going to forgo my usual need for typing perfection just this once, as I am sleep-deprived and it's just too much work, for one thing... for another thing - I think it's funny. \...

Well...... for those of you who take a look at this blog even semi-frequently, you'll notice I've changed the background design.  Again.  This whole blogging thing is new to me and I'm finding the endless free gadgets available on the web to be completely distracting.  ADHD level distracting.  I mean... is this cute, or what?   Honestly, it makes me want to create 3 more blogs just so I can be all Cybill-like and have multiple personalities.  (As if having two wasn't bad enough........ahem, blogs, I mean) So, let me know what'cha think!  If you don't like it, as they say in Texas about the weather, just wait a minute -- it'll change....

It's not like this Swedish-American-Heinz57 girl hasn't been in training since marrying The Italian in 1983... but I feel like I'm embarking on the ultimate training exercise:  a real-life trip to Italy!! I really will try to post some updates while we're gone, but seriously, if I can't keep up with my gigantor 27 inch monitor at home, do you think my little Droidy-droid screen is going to suffice in typing all the crazy random information that will be going through my brain while in Italy?  Still, we'll see.... So much planning, preparing, research, etc. etc has been done over the past few weeks - I just hope I can really pull it off and make my family think I'm worthy of an Italian name... no, really!  One of my great hopes is that we will magically run into someone with one of our family heritage names in the little towns of Pisa or Lucca (where we think they are from) and be able to find a distant relative (hopefully one who runs a fabulous restauran...

Truth be told, I can really get annoyed at blonde jokes (or blond jokes - you'll find that I use these spellings interchangeably, just like on dictonary.com.)  Anyway, most of the time I cringe when my inbox spews out a particularly inflammatory idiom against women with my hair color of choice.  I mean, I'm NOT DUMB!! and believe me, I know plenty of brunettes who fit the profile a lot better than I.  BUT, I sure do have my moments... in fact, I chose the "Blondemonium" title for my blog to take a swipe at laughing at myself and learning to go with the flow that so often accompanies the craziness of life in general. Tonight, I became the blonde joke.  Whilst fixing a lovely dinner of bacon-wrapped filet for my mister, I found a bag of old lettuce in the frig that needed to be disposed of.  So, instead of just dropping it in the trash like I usually do , I decided to do the environmentally friendly thing and re-use the bag.   So, guess where the lett...

I would love to take credit for writing this, but it was in our local paper, the Pasadena Star News, a couple of weeks ago under the heading "Slice of Wry." Preparing for a Ski Trip: Stretch a small, but wide, rubber band around the top half of your head before you go to bed. If you wear glasses, begin wearing them with glue smeared on the lenses. Place a small, but angular, pebble in your shoes.  Line them with crushed ice and tighten a c-clamp around your toes. Find the nearest ice rink and walk across the ice 20 times in your ski boots, carrying two pairs of skis, accessory bag and poles.  Sporadically drop things. Secure one of your ankles to a bed post and ask a friend to run into you at a high speed. Slam your thumb in a car door.  Don't go see a doctor. Clip a lift ticket to the zipper of your jacket and ride a motorcycle fast enough to make the ticket lacerate your face. Fill a blender with ice, leave the lid off, put your face over the opening and hit t...

Those last minute adventures, vacations, dinner plans, whatever... always seem to be the best, don't they?  On Monday, the weather looked like it was holding to be a beautiful Tuesday, so plans were confirmed to join my friend (GFS) and her boyfriend (BFC) & GFS's son to fly to Mammoth for the day!  Hard to pass that one up... N even played hooky from school and got someone to cover her work shift so she could join us.  We arrived at the Corona airport at 6:30 for wheels up at 7:00, and had a beautiful flight up the Owens Valley to arrive at Mammoth-Yosemite airport an hour and a half later.  After driving that same route a few weeks ago, leaving at 4:45 a.m. and arriving around 11:00 exhausted and attempting to ski the rest of the day, I can see how you could really get spoiled if you had the option of flying your twin engine Cessna instead! Seatbelts on & passengers are ready for takeoff!! Speeding down the home turf runway... Amazing views all th...

Remember my "note to self?" Well, I didn't last an hour and my inquiring mind had to know.  First of all, it's not a "toe" it's "TOW" -- isn't that helpful? According to Yahoo Answers - here's the story: In colonial times, families grew their own flax to make into fabric for clothing. Transforming the flax into thread was a complicated, involved process with many time-consuming steps. After the flax was harvested, it was soaked in water for several days to soften it so the inner fibers could be removed from the stalk. To separate the long, thin fibers from the shorter, coarser ones, the flax was pulled through a bed of nails or combed in a process called "towing." The shorter fibers that were extricated were of a lesser quality and were called " tow ." This led to the term "towheads" to describe people, particularly children, whose hair resembled these strands. Our favorite online dictionary, MerriamWe...

Okay, so maybe it could be argued that I'm taking this blogging thing a little too seriously... I mean, starting two blogs at one time (when I can't even manage to create a facebook page) is probably showing a bit more confidence in my writing prowess than necessary.  Even without posting more than once on each blog, I have found the process intriguing.  So many decisions to make - choosing a template, a background, choosing a name, a general topic, etc. is all mind-numbing in its detail.  Speaking of names, the Blondemonium thing came to me as I was searching the brain for something other than "Tami Romani's Blog" or "Tami Talks" ...snore...  Not that Blondemonium is all that clever, but I felt it gave me lots of leeway in the direction I might go -- which, if I base this blog on the random narratives I produce in my brain everyday, is going to be necessary.   So, since I receive blonde jokes by the byteload in my inbox, I thought, why fight it?  I tho...