Glam Girls Don't Cry

My daughter and I went to Mommy and Me Pilates at Golden Bridge Yoga in WeHo today. This experience brought back fond memories of when I was a Mommy and Me yoga junkie in 2003:


During the six months I took off of work after having my son, I was a regular at the Center for Yoga in Larchmont Village, and when that just wasn't enough, I would also go to Golden Bridge and attend Gurmukh's class. I always preferred the energy at the Center for Yoga, however, so that was my preference. But now that Center for Yoga is owned by Yogaworks, it doesn't seem like it would be the same. Plus, the concept of Mommy and Me Pilates, as opposed to Yoga, was intriguing. . .




I knew that Golden Bridge had moved since I used to attend classes on 3rd Street, down the street from the Grove. But I was not prepared for the massive complex that is now the Golden Bridge "Spiritual Village." When you enter, there is a roped off line, of the type normally seen only at banks and amusement parks, to see the cashier. I stood in the back of the line and sneaked peaks at the other women. About half of them had babies too, so I knew who would be joining me in class. We were surrounded by items for sale, as the majority of Golden Bridge now seems to be a store. There is even a restaurant section where a friend of mine from high school was having lunch and yelled out to me in amazement, "Is that you?!"



When I reached the front of the line, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I am still in their "system" after all these years, so I did not have to fill out any paperwork. I paid my $16 and was about to walk off. Then a lady behind me asked how old my daughter is. I said "two months." Apparently, this was not specific enough, as she then asked if my daughter was exactly "8 weeks or what?" I thought it was weird that she cared so much about how many weeks she is, but then assumed maybe she wanted to compare her child to mine, as so many parents, unfortunately, seem determined to do. So to be polite I said, "I don't know how many weeks she is. She was born May 22nd." Sure enough, she advised me that her baby was born May 17, so she was out to compare our children. To my surprise, however, it was not to marvel at my daughter's size or development. Instead, it was to begin berating her baby and telling him how my baby was so much better because she is a "quiet baby" and "See how good babies act? Why can't you be a good baby like that?" Her son, who had been quietly listening at the time, began to bawl in response to this unprovoked public humiliation. The lady at the register told Mother of the Year that she shouldn't have said that--kind of like how people knock on wood in order not to jinx themselves. I was much more disturbed at the message she was sending her child and told her she shouldn't say things like that because our babies can understand us. I then walked off to class.



Class was interesting. Aside from being a great workout, I was struck by how truly amazing my daughter is. The entire class was full of screaming babies that could not be consoled. It was impossible to concentrate on the workout because the screaming was so loud and I was worried that it would scare my daughter or start her going. But to my surprise, she remained true to herself throughout the class. She acted just like she normally does. She never cried out once. She sort of grunted a little when she was uncomfortable or hungry and I attended to her needs before she became upset. I looked around and other mothers were nursing their babies, or rocking them, or walking them around in their arms--while the babies screamed. It is one thing to hear comments from people about how good my baby is or to read about how many babies cry for no reason and cannot be stopped, but it is another to actually see it firsthand. It was awful. I don't think I could live with that. Fortunately for me, neither of my children have ever cried like that. They both only fussed if they had an identifiable need to be met and as soon as I met that need, or more accurately, as soon as they observed me taking action to attempt to identify the need, they stopped fussing immediately.



I was really proud of my baby girl as I walked out. I smiled at Mother of the Year and said goodbye. As I walked out, I heard her telling her son over his screaming, "See. That is a good baby. Why can't you be like that. . ."



I then went over to the restaurant portion of the complex and ordered an avocado sandwhich and iced green tea. As I waited for my order, my daughter fell asleep in my arms and I thought about how lucky I am to have such a wonderful little baby girl. . .

My Criminal Record

In light of a comment I received in response to yesterday's post, I believe a clarification is in order. . .

I am not actually on house arrest. I was placed on bedrest in January due to pregnancy complications and gave birth to a healthy baby girl in May. She is now two months old and I'm just now starting to venture out and get more active again, since first, the bedrest really kicked my butt and sapped my energy and then delivering a baby and caring for a newborn kept me exhausted and tied to my home.

Since I've hardly been out of the house since January, it feels like I've been on house arrest, but that is quickly changing. I'm trying to get out and take the kids to fun places before my son starts Kindergarten and I return to work on September 2nd.

I'm sure that once I'm juggling both my family and my job again, I will look back on these days I was stuck at home with fondness. The grass is always greener. . .

Swinging Moods

So no sooner did I admit to all the world that I felt boring, than I snapped out of it. I woke up feeling pretty inspired. I finally played one of the Namaste yoga episodes I have recorded on my DVR, and it was such a wonderful way to start my day. The workout is only 30 minutes long, which is perfect for someone like me who has not worked out in months and needs to get back in shape gradually. I highly recommend this show on the Fit channel. It is on at 5:30 am each morning, but there is no way I would ever get up that early to workout, so I keep five episodes on standby on my DVR.

I then made breakfast for my family. I popped in a Nelly Furtado CD that I had forgotten I had as I cooked. My son wanted pancakes (again) and toast. Since I couldn't think of a persuasive argument for why one shouldn't have toast AND pancakes for breakfast, I indulged him. When my two month old fussed a bit, she and I danced around the kitchen as I flipped pancakes. It was so much fun!

After breakfast, I made some blinds for my bathroom from the material I purchased at Ikea. They work perfectly, although now my bathroom has less natural light and is not as bright. I would prefer to have privacy over natural light, so they are staying up.

After that project, it was time to make lunch for my family. I made my son's favorite--taco salad with ground turkey. This easy meal is always a hit with everyone. As my hubby grabbed his lunch and left for work he gave me such a loving embrace. Without him saying a word, I could tell he'd enjoyed our morning together and was sad to be leaving for work. It was really a sweet moment.

I was feeling so motivated that I decided to take the kids to the zoo in the afternoon. On the way there, I got a mango sorbetto at Starbucks--I'm so thrilled to finally be able to satisfy my Pinkberry cravings via a drive-thru now. Then I popped into a furniture store and purchased a new dinette set for my kitchen before hopping on the freeway to go the LA Zoo.

To my surprise, it was the perfect time of day to go to the zoo. Most people had left or were leaving and the park had plenty of shade. It was a lovely, relaxing way to spend my afternoon.

When I got home, I made wild caught mahi mahi fish tacos for dinner. I decided to start taking pictures of my homemade meals starting tomorrow, because the tacos looked beautiful.

Now I am sitting here so happy because on Wednesdays there are new episodes of Project Runway, Shear Genius and So You Think You Can Dance---life is good!

Ho Hum

I'm feeling pretty boring lately. I know I shouldn't feel that way--i think so much of our reality is created by our state of mind. And I don't want to be a pitiful Eeyore-type. I want to be fun-loving and high energy. But I still occasionally get this boring feeling since being put on house arrest and it prevents me from fully embracing this whole blogging concept. It's why I've only posted 4 or 5 times since starting this blog in January.

Today, I made breakfast for my family. Whole wheat toast, oatmeal and coffee for Hubby, pancakes and chicken sausage for my son and I. I'm so glad I don't have to worry about my cholesterol. Hubby is not so fortunate.

I purchased two items off of a wedding registry for a couple getting married on Friday. It seems Friday is the new Sunday when it comes to lower-cost weddings. . .

I finally feel like I can handle both kids on my own, so I took them to the Long Beach Aquarium. It was a lovely day. A little chilly to be wearing only a tank top and capris though. Next time I will bring a cardigan. There is sure to be a next time since we were given annual passes as a Christmas gift and I've only now been able to take advantage of that.

I didn't even notice the earthquake. The three of us were in an elevator on our way to check out the jellyfish. I've been on so many crappy elevators that my jiggly ride didn't even phase me. It is fortunate that my son didn't notice either, because he thinks he is terrified of earthquakes. At five years old, he is too young to remember experiencing one, but he has expressed to me in passing that he would be terrified if we ever had one.

We walked around for a couple of hours and then got hungry. I hate food at places like zoos and amusement parks, so we exited and walked over to Chili's for lunch. My son was skeptical of any restaurant named "Chili's" because he doesn't like chiles, but he was pleasantly surprised. He loved his pizza and fries and I loved the chance to sit and relax and munch on a burger and fries as well. It also reminded me that one of my first jobs was as a hostess at Chili's. I was fired after two weeks. Very amusing memories 18 years later . . .

We had to return home after lunch because the nanny/housekeeper locked herself out of my house. We got home around 3 and I put on a Pokemon video for my son and napped with the baby for a couple of hours. My sweet boy came and put his warmest outfit over the top of me because he thought it would help keep me warm and comfy as I snoozed. I don't know how I got so lucky to have two of the sweetest children ever.

About 7 pm, I felt sort of adventurous and decided to get out of the house again and go look for a dinette set. The hole in the wall shop I wanted to go to was closed so Alex and I went to Ikea instead. Ikea is always fun. Like Costco, I always walk out with a bunch of random stuff that I never thought I needed until I saw it offered at such a reasonable price. Today I purchased a set of 6 drinking glasses, a red rug for the kitchen, window shade material that I'm going to use to try to sew into blinds to go under my sheer bathroom window shades, 8 rolls of wrapping paper, and 4 rolls of ribbon. I also confirmed that I still don't like any Ikea furniture. So I can now say that I shopped around first when I buy a new dinette set for our kitchen. Also made a mental note not to shop at Ikea close to closing time. Alex was happy as a clam all day until we got into the horrendous line to checkout as the store closed. Not an ideal situation.

Came home and deleted America's Got Talent from my DVR. I caught the last few minutes of the show live and the hoaky melodramatic montage about a guy who served in Iraq and now wants to be a singer was just too much for me. The entire show is too phony for me. I despise any efforts to tug at my heartstrings when those efforts feel overly deliberate, insincere and formulaic.

Watched Law and Order SVU part time while playing with Alex. This was entertaining, although mildly annoying because I am put off by all wannabee Silence of the Lamb-knockoff characters. Baby cooed and babbled with me making me feel so proud. Like most parents, I'm convinced my 2 month old daughter is especially gifted and brilliant.

I also watched a new show with Benjamin Bratt--"The Cleaner" or something like that. This is a weird show. I'm not sure about the concept of a guy being a hero by curing people of their addictions. I predict it won't last very long. But I will probably watch it since it is on when nothing else is on.

So there it is. My boring day that probably would not be boring if I had a more upbeat attitude.

My Big Fat Chinese Banquet

On Saturday, I attended my first "Chinese Banquet" at Empress Pavilion in the heart of Los Angeles' Chinatown. I was very excited, since I have only ever been to Chinese banquets as a wedding guest before and this was my first time attending a Chinese banquet as a new member of my Chinese family. It was also the first time I met several of my hubby's Chinese relatives who didn't make the cut for our wedding invite list.

The festivities began with some very loud music generated by half dressed men, and dancing dragons (with adorable little kids inside). I especially liked when they would come up close and wink a googly eye at me.

Then there were the first of many raffle prizes. I was sad about not winning anything until someone at our table won. She opened up her lovely wrapped package to discover she was the proud owner of a brand new box of Orville Redenbacher microwave popcorn! Random.

By the time the first course came we were all starving. It was sort of a sampler platter with thinly sliced beef heart, sea cucumber, duck and barbecued pork. My hubby loooooved the beef heart--he loves all meats organ. Lucky for him there was plenty left (but not much else) when the dish finally made its way toward us.

Next is my all time favorite Chinese banquet food dish. It would not be a Chinese banquet without these yummy walnut shrimp. Luckily, after devouring the first course before I could get a bite, the other guests realized they were starving the pregnant lady and began letting me serve myself before snatching up all the food on the lazy Susan, so I was actually able to catch a picture of a full platter!

The next course was surprisingly good---much better than it looked. It was asparagus, calamari and scallops and lucky for me, it was not as popular with the other guests at my table so I finally got to fill my aching tummy!

Next was a dish that somewhat resembled kung pao beef, but it had macadamia nuts, which I have never had in a Chinese dish before. I thought it was okay, but the other guests ate it up lickety split, so all I got was a shot of my own plate, which only had food on it because my hubby wrestled the lazy Susan away from the other guests to serve me some before it was gone. He was so sweet about making sure baby got fed!

Next was the sharkfin soup. It looked like egg drop soup, but it was a lot slimier and tasted fishy. I thought it was okay--especially once I doctored it up with chili garlic sauce. It needed salt.

Next was Peking Duck with some doughy stuff. My hubby's cousin was heartbroken because apparently it looked like something else at first and that other something was his favorite. But everyone agreed the duck was terrific. I didn't touch this dish myself--no matter how delicious duck looks, I just don't like the taste. Everyone at my table was happy, because this was a crowd favorite.

This dish I loved. It was roasted chicken--very juicy and tender, with these yummy fried thing-a-me-bobs. I ate almost all of the friend thing-a-me-bobs myself since nobody else seemed to share my passion for their greasy goodness!

This was another dish that was so popular with the other guests that they forgot to give me a chance to take a pic of it before it was almost all gone. Apparently, people really love those pea pod thingies and the breaded ried cod. I loved the lighter cod from the center of the dish and there was plenty left for me.

By the time the stir fried rice arrived, we were all reeling from eating so many courses. But my hubby once again filled my plate so I could not resist--Empress Pavilian makes decent fried rice!

I did not expect to like dessert. I normally do not care for Chinese desserts and especially jello or custard-type concoctions, but my hubby was looking forward to this dessert all week, so I decided to give it a shot. This mango custard dessert was surprisingly delish!

I think I just got full again running through all this. I forgot how much I ate! I learned a valuable lesson at my first Big Fat Chinese Banquent. Since it lasts so long and my new family eats so much, I shouldn't go too hungry. It took about four hours total, and for the first couple of hours there was no food served. Then, when it was served, the more aggressive eaters snatch up the food before sharing. All of ooour platters went back to the kitchen licked clean, while other tables took home doggie bags. We're a family of big eaters!

I am a little bummed that I won't be able to make it to the annual Chinese cemetary picnic this Saturday, since I am back on strict bed rest. I was looking forward to the roasted pork, white bread, 7 up and orange slices that are apparently the tradition. I was also looking forward to bringing grandpa 7 and 7, since you are supposed to bring something that the deceased loved to eat or drink and that man apparently LOVED to drink. Grandpa, if you can hear me, I will hook you up next year, I promise!

Oh No! Not Again!

Oh No! Not Again! It happened again last night.

Last night I watched a pretty boring episode of American Idol. Dolly Parton was giving the contestants advice and they had to sing one of her many songs--who knew she was such a prolific songwriter?

At the end of the performance by cutie-pie David Archuleta, I briefly spotted Michael Khors in the audience.

Now, this might be something to be proud of, if I recognized him because I am so knowledgeable about the fashion industry that I recognize designers by face. . .

It might even have been okay if I recognized him because he designed these fun shoes---a de-hoochified take on the classic stripper plastic platform shoe that I pair with my very favorite apple green J-Crew cardigan.

But no. . .

I recognized him because he is a regular judge on Project Runway. I am such a reality-TV viewing nerd with a particularly weak spot for all things Bravo!

Reality Star Surprise Cameos???

So I have officially crossed the line from casual reality TV show viewer to creepy reality TV viewer. How do I know that I have crossed this thin line, you ask? It hit me like a thunderbolt when I was watching back-to-back episodes of the Hills last night.

There I was, watching Whitney in all her "styling" glory at Fashion Week in Bryant Park when I suddenly spot "Bronnie" in the audience of the Sass & Bide fashion show.

I quickly stopped and rewound my DVR, thinking, "Wait. . . Was that?. . ." And sure enough, there they were! Ronnie, Perry, Shannon, Ben and Katy were all sitting together in the audience!

That was too weird. How did the characters of two of my favorite reality shows cross paths so unexpectedly and without any fanfair? How did I even notice that? And why in the world do I care?