Holidays CT

This year's tree is definitely the best one we've ever had.



Best friends Jane & Terry on Christmas Eve.



And me & my Dad. How can you tell if you are going to bald or not? Look at your Mom's father? My kids are going to be psyched -- check out that full head of hair!



And two very happy recipients of Juicy Tubes on Christmas morning. Joy!

Holidays LA & NY

I'm told to use less words and more photos for the blog, so my precious-es, here are some assorted images from Christmas time.


Holiday dinner with the LA family and carolers at Lawry's taken with an iPhone, so use your imagination.


Sisters dinner with T.J. at Tang Pavilion in NYC

Me, Ingrid, Jen and Meredith acting like fishies


Brass Monkey Get Together

More Brass Monkey Friends

Aaron, Adeeb & me

Happy Holidays!

Another year, another Donovan & Sablone family Christmas picture. This year's was easily the smoothest picture taking session. Here are some pointers if, like me, you regard the holiday photo process as dreaded and torturous.

1. Have the photographer be someone you know and that you don't want to embarrass yourself in front of, therefore, the petty family squabbles, name calling, and whining won't slow down the snap & clicking.
2. Choose a venue with no wind -- most pictures in the past were useless because of hair being carried off Medusa-style over other people's faces. Plus, the wind can whip through you and although we've got our game faces on, when you're freezing, miserable gets picked up by the camera.
3. Choose a venue with no bathrooms. This year, I calculated that cutting out the rechecking, reglossing, reblowing, changing of outfit, switching of shoes, and discussing the alterations shaved off about 3.5 hours from years past.
4. Let the shortest person in the group stand on a cement block -- that way it's easier to frame the shot and no one feels like a dwarf next to the sisters who insist on wearing the highest heels we own.
5. Photoshop, photoshop, photoshop.

Happy Holidays everyone.

You vs Raptor

I ran across the site below and it tickled me to no end. . .

Created by Oatmeal

Top Digital Tracks

Sad, sad, sad. The music business has killed all creativity. This week's top digital tracks have 2 songs each from Britney, Beyonce and Kanye. Isn't variety the spice of life?

I'm not providing links. I'm sure you can't escape these songs anyhow.

1. Britney Spears -- Circus
2. Beyonce -- Single Ladies
3. Lady Gaga feat. Colvy O'Donis -- Just Dance
4. Kanye West -- Heartless
5. Kanye West -- Love Lockdown
6. Britney Spears -- Womanizer
7. Taylor Swift -- Lovestory
8. Beyonce -- If I Were A Boy
9. T.I. feat. Rihanna -- Live Your Life
10. Katy Perry -- Hot N Cold

New York - Here I Come!

I'm taking the red-eye arriving on Saturday, the 20th, in NYC and remember when I said we MUST share some holiday cheer? I meant it. If nothing, I am a woman of my word. I'll be with my sisters on Saturday night (yes, probably Bowlmor!), but I want to see you Sunday. Please join from 3:00 to 8:00 pm for a gathering that Ingrid has kindly organized at The Brass Monkey on 55 Little West 12th Street. Please note the word: LITTLE West 12th. I was lost for longer than I'd like to admit the last time I was went!

Pictures of Me, Me, Me from This Past Week

Dinner with Poppie, Olanna and Jordan at Taste


How eco-awesome that Poppie and Olanna walked to the restaurant! While we did some much needed catch-up, we oohed and aahed over the roasted red and golden beet salad, baby arugula, shaved red onion, warm herb crusted goat cheese with white balsamic vinaigrette. It is a Taste must. The wine was exceptional too -- we were sold when the server described it as having 'personality'. Three bottles later and we were practically intimate with the 2006 Acacia Carneros Pinot.


Please note in the picture above, Olanna and I are just decoys for the real Kodak moment -- the couple to the left. Poppie had a direct view of the amorous pair and Pops reported that his hand that was placed on her thigh was creeping up and up and up! Scandalous for such a upstanding, fine eating establishment!

Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!
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With Poppie and in this pic with my favorite comedian, Adam, at the Improv. Hysterical sets -- I took notes to provide chuckles for you, my beloved reader, but my written renditions just weren't cutting it. Next time there is IHOC at the Improv, join me for some amusement by professional funny-makers.
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New favorite sushi restaurant (sorry Kazu) last night with Kim. Echigo serves the BEST FISH EVER. But it's just sushi -- no cut rolls, no tempura, no frill. You can't even get edamame or a seaweed salad in this joint. They don't care though -- they know they are THAT GOOD.

In the above picture, you can tell my camera is dying -- I dropped at the Forbidden City a few months ago and parts scattered to and fro -- but thankfully there was a professional photographer at the night out below.
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Arnold's 'very special'-th birthday party at Il Sole



Marinky and I




Arnold was flying high and working the room making sure to spend time with each of his forty five guests. Here he squeezed in between me & Sid. You know, we were hanging.

Sona -- Sooo Nooo

If you ask a handful of Angelenos what the best restaurant is, one of the most common answers is Sona on La Cienega. Thus for my annual holiday dinner with Mom last weekend, I was delighted to get a same day reservation. That was probably not a good sign, but I attributed it to the hideous economy or just sheer good fortune. Whatever the case, I am having a classic case of planned expectations falling apart and then feeling crushed.

Anyhow, I endeavor on. I'll try to make this brief since I don't want to linger on the negative. But a few things that I can't get past -- when the server describes each plate on the 6-course 'surprise' tasting menu, he needs to speak clearly and loudly. After most descriptions, my Mom pointed at her dish and asked me, "what is this?" and I could only throw out a few words.. .oyster on something? If the servers didn't scurry away so quickly, I would have asked them to repeat it, but those folks moved fast!

Speaking of 'oyster on something' -- does anyone think a raw oyster on a pile of beans sounds good? The oyster should have been fresh and light, but then it was paired with earthy and smokey beans in a thick, gluttonous sauce (dry heaving at the memory). The combo did not work.

While getting through that course, my untypically squeamish Mom said to me, "did you eat the oyster?" I told her, "yes, I ate it first. I knew I'd hate it so I wanted it to be over with as fast as possible." Isn't it sad to have to strategize your bites like that?

For courses 3 and 4, I wished for something more memorable. It was cooked well, but I have come to the conclusion that savvy ingredients don't make a culinary masterpiece. The third option was quail, but a homey roast chicken dish would have easily delighted me. The fourth course offered veal cheek, and yet I longed for a pedestrian braised beef in a tasty sauce. You can't fool me with an average dish by using with quail and veal cheek!

Finally two courses of desserts. Maybe this is my only child past creeping out, but they served my Mom and I different dessert plates and the little morsels given were just one bite, so sharing was an impossibility. Thus for two courses, I was torn between jealousy of my Mom's plate and guilt for getting the good one. I'm happy-go-lucky, therefore, the internal struggle was unappreciated!

I will say that our table's head waiter was nice and helpful when I could flag him, the bread was scrumptiously warm, and the wine sublime. And the shared experience with my Mom for our Christmas Dinner '08 is treasured. Yet next time, Melisse or Capo or Providence or Il Sole or Lawry's or Jar or. . .you get the drift.

Poppie is so cool and Olanna is effing hot!

The Poppie love continues. Click here to see who is raving about her line now. And if you still have holiday shopping to do for a very special woman in your life, a Poppie clutch is an easy choice!

Love the tunes

Ah more music. It changes everything -- from the nauseated feeling I get when I hear that hideous song, "More Than Words" by Extreme to the joyous sensation that comes from pretty much any Led Zeppelin or Jimmy Hendrix song. Well, bless Apple's ad agency for giving us Feist's 1-2-3-4, which opened up a whole album of delicious tunes, and kudos to them again for their new ad which features the Submarines. I didn't truly love the song until I listened to it over and over again on CD that was given to me. I'm easily hooked on a catchy jingle, but I needed to be reminded of this sentiment recently. Who doesn't? Go give Apple your support and download it immediately. (FYI, even with these compliments, I will always be a PC girl.) Or check it out the video here.

You, Me and the Bourgeoisie by the Submarines

Here I am with all the pleasures of the first world
Laid out for me who am I to breakdown?

Everyday I wake up,
I choose Love
I choose Light
And I try, it's too easy just to fall apart

Oh my baby don't be so distressed
Were done with politesse
It's time to be so brutally honest about
The way we know we long for something fine
When we pine for higher ceilings
And bourgeois happy feelings

And here we are in the center of the first world
It's laid out for us, who are we to break down?

Everyday we wake up
We choose Love
We choose light
And we try, it's too easy just to fall apart

Plastic Bottles
Imported Water
Cars we drive wherever we want to
Clothes we buy it's sweatshop labor
Drugs from corporate enablers
We're not living the Good life
Unless we're fighting the Good fight
You and Me just trying to get it right

In the center of the first world
It's laid out for us, who are we to break down?

Everyday we wake up
We choose Love
We choose light
And we try, it's too easy just to fall apart

Love can free us from all excess
From our deepest debts
Cause when our hearts are full we need much less

Yea i know we long for something fine
When we pine for higher ceilings
And bourgeois happy feelings

But Here we are in the center of the first world
It's laid out for us, who are we to break down?

Here we are in the center of the first world
It's laid out for us, who are we to break down?

Everyday we wake up
We choose Love
We choose light
And we try, it's too easy just to fall apart

Everyday we wake up
We choose Love
We choose light
And we try, it's too easy just to fall apart

Santa Cruz Weekend

Last weekend was incredible. Some of my happiest times are in Santa Cruz with Becky, Bella and Feol. As Becky describes it, it is the "easy familiarity of our friendship" which has lasted strongly for over 20 years that makes our times together so euphoric. And yes, Beck, it makes me long for more too.

Bella. She's easy-going, giggly and loving. There was not a single tear cried all weekend. This kid is a dream. And absolutely adorable too! (Please note the Hello Kitty sweater too -- a girl after my own heart!)



Bella is an excellent photographer too-- she took a series of photos with my camera of people's thighs. Thighs are at her height level, so that's makes obvious sense. I explained to her that if she angled up then she could get our faces. I figured that instead of criticizing the fact that a 2 1/2 year old is vertically challenged, why not move the objects? Et voila.

Tommorow!

Come work out your abs through hearty laughter at the Improv tomorrow night.



If you need to, click on the image to view it in a larger size.

Today's Music

"Whoever is happy will make others happy, too." Ann Frank

So in that spirit, here are some of my favorite happy tunes.

Beyonce -- Single Ladies -- I only listen to it with this video. I heart Shane.
Metro Station -- Shake It
Phoenix -- Everything is Everything
Kings of Leon -- Sex on Fire
TV On the Radio -- Love Dog
MGMT -- Electric Feel Play it loud.
Deathcab for Cutie -- Cath
Ray LaMontagne -- You Are The Best Thing

Mellow, but joyful:
Elbow -- One Day Like This
Cat Power -- The Greatest
Coldplay -- Violet Hill
Radiohead -- Reckoner
Cinematic Orchestra -- Build a Home
Iron & Wine -- Flightless Bird, American Mouth

I'm sure there is an easier way to put a playlist on a blog, and if you know how to do it, please tell me!

Fresh Start

Okay folks. I've hit a road block on the blog. Writing about September, October and November makes me feel like a crotchety historian instead of the fresh, narcissistic blogger that I am.

Apologies if you were waiting with fierce anticipation for news and photos on Asia travels, London escapades or Thanksgiving festivities. But starting tomorrow, I promise more frequent ramblings and updates. Thanks for hanging in there! xoxo