A Foray into Humility: Ray’s SNAFU

My husband, Ray, is a logistics king. He can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple activities for multiple people on multiple dates with the ease of a seasoned tightrope walker. He’s the guy who takes that extra time to see if it makes sense to have our kids drive back home if they’re east of town…

Family Visit and Straining to Hear

My brother, Sam; his girlfriend, Jaime; and Sam’s grown kids Hutch and Charlsie are visiting us at the moment. This is my little brother – five years younger than I am – and he and I are the two remaining siblings out of a family of six children. We are funny together. We are more…

Great Food, Great Service and Celebrity Sightings

We just returned from dinner at a new restaurant in Los Feliz called Mess Hall, which is based on the concept of a mess hall in a summer camp. That are a few camp-like features inside – a display of Swiss Army knives on one wall and metal trays on another – but that’s where…

Peter Gabriel at the Hollywood Bowl

We just came from the Peter Gabriel concert at the Hollywood Bowl. There is only one word: awesome. The music, the lights, Peter Gabriel’s voice that goes right to your heart – all of these made this a must-see event. If you have a chance to see him on tour, do it. This is the…

Movie Recommendation: Perks of Being a Wall Flower

We went to the movies this evening and saw Perks of Being a Wall Flower. It covers adolescent angst without reducing teenagers to stereotypes, and it has a twist you will not see coming. Emma Watson from the Harry Potter Saga is strong in her portrayal of a high school senior and Logan Lerman as…

The Joys of Writing “Flash” and Some Reading Recommendations

I currently am teaching an online course on Flash Fiction and Flash Memoir for Story Circle Network. This subject is close to my heart since flash is one of my favorite modes of writing. For the course, I have read a lot of short-shorts both fiction and memoir and have been reminded of just how…

My Personal Organizer Winner: Wunderlist

I have spent much of today looking at organizational tools online. I checked out several lists that different friends sent me after reading my blog last night. For me, the tool couldn’t be too complicated. I wanted a pretty simple application, but I wanted color and visuals that keep me happy while getting organized. I…

Help to Move into the Computer World of Organization

I am trying to find an online personal organizer that will help establish some order in my daily life. I don’t want to spend any money on this. Free is the operative word. I basically want something that will help me keep track of my long To Do list and tie that to my calendar….

Sunday Night Walk in Weho

Sunday night. 10:14 pm. The fan is whirring and Ray is clanking pans in the kitchen as he washes dishes. We have just returned from a walk with our dogs, Cordelia and Sammie, through West Hollywood and its party district, where there were many folks out in the bars and restaurants on this Sunday evening….

A Documentary to See: Diane Vreeland – The Eye Has To Travel

I just returned from seeing a wonderful documentary on Diane Vreeland, who was the fashion editor for Harper’s Bizarre from 1937 – 1962; Vogue from 1962 – 1971; then the curator for the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York until 1984. Vreeland was responsible for transforming fashion magazines into trendsetters,…