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When Tara Met Blog
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
The New Years that almost wasn't

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usSo the plan was to pick Raphael up at the airport at 1:00 p.m. at LAX on New Year's Eve. He had stayed in El Paso for the week to be with his family and to attend a friends wedding, but he had promised to come back in time to ring in our first New Year's together. His cousins were also coming over to our apartment that night for dinner and drinks and then we were all headed to an L7 New Year's party at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Marina Del Rey.  

Ten minutes before his flight, 10:40 a.m. here, I gave him a call to see if he was at his seat or waiting to board. Turns out he was still on his way to the airport having believed that his flight left at 1 and not arrived at 1. At first I thought he was joking and he thought that I was, but no unfortunately he missed his flight. He of course felt bad and was then forced to wait at the airport all day trying to get on a standby flight back home, but SouthWest said that all flights to LA were already booked for the holiday.  

At this point we're now both stressed out and because I'm big on holidays and was all alone, I start to overreact by crying and feeling sorry for myself since this was supposed to be my first New Year's not being single. If I was still in Manhattan it wouldn't be as terrible, since I could join my friends like usual and ring in the New Year with lots of champagne and fun, there'd definitely be options open to me. 

I still cooked my dinner of sausage pasta sauce though, after all people were coming over and I was still holding out hope that he'd get a standby flight. Yet, every hour he called sadder than before to say he was watching another plane leave that he wasn't on. 

At 5:00 my time, he calls saying he got a flight to Arizona, where he could then take a flight to Ontario, California which gets him in at 7:50 that evening. I quickly MapQuest directions, turn off the stove and drive the hour to the airport, luckily there wasn't any traffic. All the while Cyndi Lauper's song "I dove all night, to get to you," was frantically playing in my head like an anthem.  

We met to much relief and happiness to quickly jump back in the car and head back the hour to the apartment to make our 9:00 dinner time. After parking the car I turned into Speedy Gonzales setting the table, boiling the pasta and getting every thing ready haphazardly. Luckily it all turned out well and we made it to the party by 10:45 p.m., danced to the Disco Kings, had two bottles of champagne and rang in the New Year's together.  Phew, that's my story, happily ever after.  

News: Great, as if I wasn't scared already about driving here. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that in 2005, California had the most fatal crashes, at 4,329, followed by Florida with 3,543, and Texas with 3,504. As a result, BusinessWeek named California #1 in their top 10 deadliest states for driving (read more).


Posted by Tara at 9:16 AM PST
Updated: Friday, January 26, 2007 10:16 AM PST
Friday, December 29, 2006
Mr. Gorbechov, paint that wall!

My friend Amber and I painted a wall in my apartment today. It's a small wall that connects the kitchen and dining room. The color is called cherry cobbler from Behr, a cranberry color to match the pillows that I recently got at Restoration Hardware as a Christmas gift. I've been wanting to add some color to our apartment for awhile now, otherwise it's too beige. Wait till my boyfriend comes home tomorrow and sees it ;) Surprise! hehe

The pillows and throw:

Before:

During (Amber and I on the third and final coat):

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After:

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What do you think?

Painting a wall was actually on my list of things to do before I'm 30, I know it's a weird thing to have on my list or to even have a list in the first place, but it's something I've always wanted to do. I've only painted a shed once for a nursery school for community service but that was painting a bunch of shingles.


Posted by Tara at 9:50 PM PST
Updated: Saturday, December 30, 2006 9:58 PM PST
Are you kidding me?

It's only 9:40 a.m. and I already knocked over my glass of water again today. That's the third time in two days. Not only did I hit it and spill H2O everywhere once again, I F'bombed as I did it, causing my colleagues to inquire as to what happened and bringing more attention to my clumsyness. I've now moved the glass to another spot.

I'm also going to take Shannon's suggestion and get a different glass, maybe one with a heavier bottom. 

Also in office news, my office roommate brought in her french bulldog puppy, Stella. She's taken a liking to me and my new Michael Kors clogs (after xmas clearance sale at DSW, $21). She keeps licking my hand and being cute and distracting me. Right now she's chewing on the Recycling box.

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My editorial: Top New Year's Films


Posted by Tara at 10:15 AM PST
Updated: Friday, December 29, 2006 8:47 PM PST
Thursday, December 28, 2006
The power of Clorox

So I'm driving to work, a bit late as it were, since I got sucked in to watching an episode of The Nanny on Lifetime while I was getting ready this morning, despite already having seen the same episode a dozen times before.

I digress, I'm driving and talking on my cell phone (on speaker phone so it was sitting on my lap) and I'm on Pacific which is just two tight lanes. In my lane up ahead I see a plastic bottle of Clorox rolling around on the street. I can't avoid it without causing the guy behind me to hit me or sideswiping the guy in the lane next to me. I have no choice but to run it over. I clench the wheel as it goes underneath my car, hoping it will simply go out the other side. But no, it's too big and gets caught underneath my car and drags making a loud noise and causing passerbys to look and see what is causing that sound. I manage to get into the other lane now, still dragging the bottle and park in a nearby lot. I then have to climb under my car to rip the empty bottle out, which is now super hot from the friction. Needless to say, I ended up being at work even later than I thought. Well, only 10 minutes, but I don't like being late. Even the parking garage guy commented that I was running late this morning, I was like gee thanks and then my coworker mentions that I look tired. *sigh* 

Why that bottle of Clorox was floating around on Pacific Ave is beyond me. Too many girls bleaching their hair I guess. Oh wait, I shouldn't talk ;)  

Then at work, I knock over my glass of water all over my desk, seat, mouse and keyboard, while gesturing with my hands (an Italian trait of mine), not once but twice. The second time, after I had uprighted what was left of my glass of water and was cleaning up the spill with Subway napkins that I had stored in my desk for accidents like this, I then elbow the glass, successfully spilling what didn't spill the first time. *forehead smack*


Posted by Tara at 1:49 PM PST
Updated: Thursday, December 28, 2006 10:28 PM PST
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
California Roll

Before I moved out west and back when I did my cross country drive, I tried the best sushi ever at California Roll Factory in West LA (11629 Santa Monica Blvd). I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it played a part in my decision to move here either ;).

The place is small, almost like a dinner with over 50 sushi roll choices with fun names like the 5th Roommate, etc and none of the boring rolls that can be found on the menus at common sushi places. Each choice is written on the wall with a little cartoon and listing of the ingredients.  It's rumored that if you order one enough times they will name the roll whatever you like or you can create your own and add it to the wall. 

So far my favorite is the Graber ($8), which has spicy tuna, scallion, scallop, crab, shitake mushroom and smelt egg. Besides the unusual combos that you can get here, this roll is HUGE, the size of my fist. I actually had to grab it (thus the name) like a baseball and dunk it into the soy sauce as I tried not to get too dirty when stuffing it in my face. Looks be damned though, it's amazing and I don't care who's watching me eat it. 

I went just the other day on my lunch break and sat at the sushi bar with my book, Blue Smoke, although the roll was made so quickly I barely got past the page I was on.  Look at these pictures, notice that they take up the whole plate. I could only order the one roll and still left half of one there when I left. 

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My Latest Film Review:  Dreamgirls "You and you and you, you're going to love it"


Posted by Tara at 11:08 AM PST
Updated: Thursday, December 28, 2006 10:19 AM PST

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