Welcome home, Dad!

The best thing about being away for a week is that the ladies in my life really, really miss me when I’m gone. And even though all three of us had a weird stomach bug all week — nothing like being sick in a hotel room! Fun! — Mrs. Yeti and Greta have been crazy nice to me since I got home.

If you don’t believe me, just check out the super cool sign that was waiting for me on the back door when I drove up. In case you were wondering, that’s our gardener José on the left with the three eyes. Greta said he is mowing over a giant red worm in the grass with his lawnmower. I don’t know what that means, but, man, it’s good to be home!

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Picture Day (2014)

After much heated debate, lots of tears and one hysterical meltdown, Mrs. Yeti and I finally got Greta out the front door today in an outfit we both approved of. And it's a good thing, because today was Greta's first picture day at school. Hooray!

I'll try and post a few of the official studio portraits when we get them back, but for now, here is my favorite new picture of my favorite kindergartner in the world. Enjoy!

 

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Kindergarten Week One: The New World Order

Yesterday marked the end of the first full week of kindergarten and let me tell ya, whoever said I’d have more time on my hands once Greta started school is full of shit. I haven’t felt this frazzled and out-of-my-element since those first few days after we brought Greta home from the hospital. Seriously, it’s been non-stop since Monday morning.

One of my new mom friends equated this week with starting a new job, and she’s not far off. I was anxious, way too concerned with my hair and what I was wearing, tired as fuck (sorry, but my usual F-word substitute, “fudge,” just didn’t seem to express how truly exhausting this week has been) and completely overwhelmed with paperwork. Insanity!

And though there have been definite highlights and I’ve made fast friends with several very chill moms and dads of students in Greta’s class, I think all three of us are a little overwhelmed by the sweeping sea change washing over us right now.

So far, Greta has been loving school but it’s the getting up in the morning and going there that kills her. However, aside from Wednesday morning, which was just horrific — at one point I was literally dragging her to class! — she really loves her teacher and each new day was better than the last. So, that’s progress in my book.

Personally, I found myself finally getting into the groove around Thursday, which is great because it ended up being one of the longest days of my life. I got up at 7:15 (which, believe it or not, has been my start time all week!), got Greta ready, dropped her off at school at 8:25 and then headed to my first PTA meeting at 8:30. Luckily for me, I managed to squeeze in some breakfast, because it turned out to be a three hour meeting! Yikes…who knew?

Fortunately, the meeting got out a little early (at around 11:00) so I had time to run to Costco and Trader Joe’s before heading back to school to pick up Greta at 1:30. We then headed to the park for a mini reunion with some of our old friends from Greta’s pre-school days, and then headed from there straight to ballet class, where we shared an emotional goodbye with Greta’s beloved ballet teacher who started her maternity leave today.

After ballet, we ran home to change and pick up Mrs. Yeti and then hurried back to Greta’s school for a massive “Back-to-School” picnic. They had food trucks, music, a farmer’s market selling produce grown at the school’s onsite garden (!) and again, many chances to meet new parent friends. Simply put, it was awesome. If all the parents at Stevenson are as hip, artsy and totally diverse as the ones we met this week, this new world order might not be so bad after all!

Now, if we could just get a handle on the constant flow of paperwork coming our way, I think we might be ready to face week two. Wish us luck!

 

 

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Library Store on Wheels in the news!

Hot on the heels of being named one of Wuztwhat's Seven Havens for Booklovers in Los Angeles, The Library Store made the news again this week when the store's mobile truck (and Mrs. Yeti herself!) appeared on Thursday's 6:00PM news on KNBC 4.

Featured in a segment on a proposed bill to streamline and simplify the permit process for mobile vendors and retail trucks, The Library Store on Wheels was just one of three trucks in the piece, but, they definitely got the most screen time. I think they have the coolest-looking truck too, but, perhaps I'm a bit biased.

Either way, kudos to Mrs. Yeti and everyone on her rocking Library Store team on yet another awesome TV appearance. Keep on mobile trucking, guys!

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Happy 19th Anniversary, Sweetie!

Yesterday, August 5th, was our 19th wedding anniversary. And though I am having a hell of time locating some pictures of the actual event — or pictures of literally anything that took place before the digital era for that matter! — to scan and post online, I realized that one of the coolest gifts we got that day was literally staring me in the face.

So, what better way to commerate our special day than with a picture of the super cool “calaca couple” that my little sister Brittany gave us as a gift. Brittany might not be here to wish us well this week, but, her beautiful gift has been hanging in a tiny glass ofrenda in our living room since the day we got married. So, thanks, little sister!

And happy anniversary, Mrs. Yeti! As Greta said last night at dinner: “Here's to the wedding day celebration where we eat like royalty!” Sounds good to me…

 

 

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“It’s oh so nice to go traveling…”

One of the best things about taking a nice, long road trip every summer to Grants Pass, Oregon (by way of Santa Cruz, CA) is that being away from Los Angeles for any extended period of time always reminds me of just why I love L.A. so much in the first place. Yes, I admit it, I love L.A., probably more than anyplace I've ever lived.

In fact, having been down here for over twenty-two years now, Mrs. Yeti and I have officially lived in L.A./Burbank longer than we've ever lived anywhere else. And though we love to get away, something about this crazy, sprawling urban jungle just makes us feel excited and alive. Maybe it's because we were both born down here, who knows? But for us, L.A. is home, and as we drove over the Grapevine on Sunday night and caught our first glimpse of the shimmering lights of the San Fernando Valley in the distance, I'm not embarrassed to admit that we both got more than a little choked up.

I'm not sure if that was because we were relieved that some of the more dramatic episodes from our trip were behind us, or the simple fact that we were just happy to be home. But for whatever reason, we practically kissed the ground when we arrived!

And today, as Greta and I grabbed lunch at a totally 80's Taco Bell on Ventura Boulevard — which is one of my two favorite thoroughfares in L.A., BTW, Wilshire Boulevard being the other — I spotted a dude with the long grey hair and tight, studded jeans of a faded rock star enjoying a Meximelt while a crazy-eyed trannie demanded the key to the restroom at the register, and I just smiled from ear to ear. Oh, L.A., how I've missed you. It really is good to be home!

 

 

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Mercury Retrograde Meltdown…

I don’t know if I really believe in the whole Mercury in Retrograde mumbo jumbo that everyone’s been talking about for the past few weeks, but I do know that I have been breaking literally everything I touch lately.

Last Friday I dropped my iPhone — which, BTW, I have dropped hundreds of times! — and broke the LCD connector inside. The screen was fine with nary a scratch or crack to speak of, but all I could see were the dreaded vertical blue lines. Urgh…such a bummer! Luckily, Siri still worked, so, I was able to have her read me my emails and text messages and I even had her call people for me. Of course, I couldn’t hang up when the call ended, but, hey, at least my phone was still kind of moderately usable.

In the meantime I weighed my options with AT&T. I am about six months away from an upgrade, so, my pickings were slim and expensive and just thinking about it made my brain hurt. In the end, Mrs. Yeti and I decided to bite the bullet and lay out the cash for a new phone…and then, something glorious happened. I found a place called uBreakiFix in Glendale, and not only did they fix my LCD thingy, but they did it in an hour and fifteen minutes for $86. To say they saved my bacon is a serious understatement. Those guys rocked!

Of course, the iPhone was only one small part of the shit I broke last week. Aside from breaking two, count ’em, two of Greta’s water bottles, I also broke my longstanding contract with my internet provider Earthlink. I know, that doesn’t technically count as breaking something, but, let me tell ya, changing all of your shit over to a new email address is a freaking nightmare. Especially when you’ve had said address since 1998!

Yep, I signed up with Earthlink during the Clinton administration! Crazy, huh? Anyway, you’d be amazed at how complicated is to reset all your accounts on all your shit across the entire internet. I had to start a handwritten list after a while to keep track of it all and even that got confusing! But, at the end of the day, I emerged a much happier Gmail user.

Oh, and if I somehow forgot to send someone out there my new email address, don’t take it personally, I tried to hit everyone in my book, but, by the end, my brain was mush. If you really need to reach me, you can always comment here or text me or something. I’m pretty easy to find…

Anyway, hopefully all of that insanity is behind me now that Mercury has left retrograde or whatever, but, man…what a week. The Fourth of July weekend in San Diego cannot come soon enough. Seriously, bring on the booze and BBQ, baby!

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“Star Wars” cupcakes!

I don’t know how they spell perfection in your neck of the woods, but, if you ask me, nothing says Father’s Day more than a big old batch of Star Wars cupcakes! Greta and Mrs. Yeti had actually purchased this very cool Star Wars Cupcake Decorating Kit: Galactic Empire for Father’s Day (or maybe my birthday, I can’t remember) at Williams-Sonoma a while back and we just finally got around to using it this past weekend.

Featuring environmentally-friendly soy ink — who says the dark side can’t be green? — on the Darth Vader and Stormtrooper cupcake liners and four different die-cut paper cupcake toppers (Darth Vader, Boba Fett and two different Stormtroopers) the set also comes in a super-cool display box that Star Wars nerds like me will enjoy looking at for hours!

But best of all, these decorations are so cool that they make even store bought cupcakes made from a mix look totally homemade. That’s right, Daddy still likes his Duncan Hines or Pilsbury (whichever’s on sale…I ain’t fancy!) yellow cake mix and chocolate fudge frosting the best.

So, happy belated Father’s Day to all the Star Wars geeks out there. Oh, and if you prefer your cupcakes to be decorated with characters from the good side of the Force, Williams-Sonoma also makes a kit featuring Luke, Leia, Han Solo and Yoda. So, whichever way you lean…enjoy!

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Happy first day of Spring!

Thanks to the impossibly cute Google Doodle on the Google homepage this morning, I just learned that today is the official first day of Spring, aka the Vernal Equinox. Don’t feel bad, I don’t remember what a freaking equinox is either. Plus, the first day of Sping has a much peppier ring to it anyway, so, I’m sticking with that.

Of course, if you live pretty much anywhere in California, you know that Spring started way back in January, so, warmer weather is nothing new. But if you live somewhere really cold and snowy, well buck up, amigos, because Spring has officially sprung!

And in honor of that monumental occasion, I give you a recent pic of Greta on her Lalaloopsy “big girl bike”! As you can see, Mrs. Yeti got a “big girl bike” of her own for her birthday. Now all we have to do is find a bicycle sturdy enough to support me and we’ll be off and running…or, um…riding. Either way, happy first day of Spring, everyone!

Greta’s Princess Birthday Party Pics (2014)

Here, as promised, are some of the best pics from Greta’s fifth birthday party at the log cabin in Verdugo Park. As you can see, it was a Princess-themed party with the guests (and their parents!) encouraged to come in costume as their favorite princess or pirate and a royal good time was had by all. Enjoy the pics…and happy birthday, sweetie!