Stevie Wonder, my cherie amour

I've always been a huge Stevie Wonder fan and have loved all of his many many hits, which is why when I was 14 and saw him dressed in his usual outrageous garbs at LAX airport while on vacation out in LA I was struck speechless. My stepdad though wasn't and asked the rock, jazz and pop star if he'd take a picture with me. I must have started to say something and he leaned down to ask what and all I could say was, "My name is Tara." He just nodded, the photo went click and that was that. I never told him that despite the generational gap that I'm a big fan and that I know every one of his songs and that every time one would play on the radio, I'd yell out "Stevie!" or how "You are the Sunshine of My Life" was my parent's wedding song, nope just my name. *sigh*

I was still excited about the photo though and eagerly called my dad from the airport to tell him the awesome news that I saw Stevie Wonder and without hesitation his response was, "I bet he didn't see you. Oh did he tell you that you were the prettiest girl he ever saw?" I hung up on him in annoyance.

So now, quite a few years later, when I heard Stevie was giving a benefit concert out here and tickets were still available, I hurried online and bought two without thinking of the price. Add in the fact that I heard the OJays ("Love Train" and "I love Music") and Al Jarreau (I have the Moonlighting soundtrack because of his songs) were performing too and I was now super psyched. My boyfriend on the other hand was pretty indifferent.

Stevie Wonder's 11th annual House Full of Toys benefit concert asks that everyone in attendance donate an unwrapped toy for underprivileged kids. I brought a Batman Hot Wheels Set and Quints dolls to donate. I had already bought a Muppets in Space video for the one at work. However, not everyone brought toys like requested but a lot did. The amphitheater was in Universal City and held 6,000 people after all. So, hopefully the organization did well.

The concert started at 7:30 and ended at 12:30, so yeah super long. I think there were just too many acts, which is why they ran an hour and a half over and were forced to cut down on Stevie's songs at the end. He did manage to sing "Living for the City," "Ribbon in the Sky," "Castle of Love," a duet with his daughter and "My Cherie Amour." And earlier during the program, comedian guest, Chris Tucker, got Stevie to come out to sing Someday at Christmas with him as Chris messed up the words, it was funny. Stevie also provided some back-up support for the different performers as he jammed with them, which was a nice treat. The show overall provided audience members into a good glimpse into his personality, since he was making jokes throughout and showing his big heart to all. Other performers included gospel singers and Brian McKnight, Corinne Bailey Rae, Jon B, Tyrese and Yolanda Adams.

On the 10th day before Christmas: a Starbucks tree

In an attempt to out due my Starbucks themed holiday wreath that I did last week for decoration at work and to keep the theme going, I created a Starbucks cup tree much to my coworkers amusement.

Instead of buying six drinks and washing out the contents after or snagging a bunch, this time I simply asked the woman behind the counter if I could just have six of their red colored holiday cups and well, there you have it. I then stacked them on a chair in the corner of our office for everyone to put their Secret Santa presents underneath our non-denominational cup tree. It was my coworker, Asif, who trimmed and tied the bow that's on the top. I just had it around the base of the stacking like a tree blanket, which wasn't as impressive. I think it came out well: 

The Bloggers Blog admired our "tree" and has included this post in their Blogging the Holidays recap. Pretty cool. 

Oh and I got a lovely Chinese tea set in pink from my Secret Santa and my giftee enjoyed a punching devil puppet that I got him and an 80s movie book.  

The attack of the hair dryer

Before I left for my birthday trip, I was trying to get everything done in time--pack, meet my friend, shower, etc.  So, when I was drying my hair I put it on HOT, so it would dry my hair quicker, which it did.

When I was putting it away though and rolling the cord around the dryer the front grill area and scraped my bare stomach, just under my chest and stuck to my skin causing an immediate burn. I ripped it away to find the spot was already red and swollen. After I put some ice on it, four burn lines were revealed. Now it looks like a cat scratched me or I had an incident with an exacto knife. Who knew a stupid hair dryer could do this? Even putting my thin shirt on that day irritated the area. It's hard to tell in the photo since the pictures kept coming out weird due to the awkward locale.

I've been putting Vitamin E oil on it to stop it from scarring, which would be really unfortunate since it looks like I was clawed and would be revealed whenever I wear a bikini.  I've also been putting these moist burn pads on it called 2nd skin, which are supposed to help. The lines are starting to scab now and when I sit they bend with my tummy, which hopefully won't disrupt the healing process too much. 

FYI the dryer was a Vidal Sassoon 1875 Ion Select.

A birthday sweeter than wine

I had a fabulous birthday weekend visiting Temecula and it's vineyards and casino. Despite the phone calls and presents, it didn't feel like my birthday though, because for my entire life it's always been cold and December-like on my bday. However, here I was wearing a tanktop, stretchy capris and flip flops in the morning when I met my friend Nicki for breakfast before heading on my trip. It was surreal. After all, on December 4th last year in Manhattan it had already snowed and I had blogged about seeing a guy build a snowman.  

Without traffic the drive to Temecula is only a little under two hours. We had traffic going there but sailed back on Sunday. It was a perfect quick getaway, because by going that little distance it felt like we had entered another state. The mountains were cool and the leaves were changing and falling there, it was quite different than LA of course.

We visited the up and coming South Coast Winery and Temecula's original Callaway vineyards, which my mom's previous company, Allied Domecq, had owned at one point.  The tour at South Coast cost $20 but was very personal and included a wine and cheese tasting and a souvenir wine glass. The Callaway tour was free and interesting, but more to the point, you had to pay for the tastings too and received four samplings and a free wine glass for a total of $7.50. We of course bought wine and champagne at each place. We also ate and stayed at the Temucla Creek Inn and lost at Blackjack at the Indian casino Pechanga, but gained our money back at least at craps. Instead of dice though they use cards at the craps table, it was weird but interesting. 

I like it like that

Things I'm digging about Cali/LA so far

• When filling out online forms, the California state option in the pull down menus are closer and requires less scrolling than selecting New York
• The governor is a robot from the future
• Beaches and bonfires
  
• Cheaper drinks
• Getting hit on while driving
• Malls
• Wearing flip flops and open toe shoes in December
• Strangers are more pleasant, even cashiers
• More fast food chains
• Good Mexican food--but bad Italian :(
• No rain
• Palm tree lined streets
• Living with my boyfriend
• Being 3 hours behind (less information overload, but more emails)
• Not lugging my groceries several city blocks and having my hands turn white from the plastic bags cutting my circulation off
• More relaxed lifestyle
• You only hear a siren once a week vs. once every 30 mins
• Costco and Target are within reach
• Playing softball after work in the "winter"

PS: My birthday is tomorrow and we are taking a quick trip to Temecula area for some wine tastings. That's another cool thing about being on the West Coast.  

My coworker and office roommate, Rachael, surprised me with a cake today at work with the guys here. Very sweet--the cake too.