Bye bye Mr. Max

My piggy Max died today. He was an old pig, and he wasn't doing so well for the last few days, and the weekend heat-wave didn't do him very good. We came home tonight and he was gone.
Max was my college buddy. I got him on Christmas break of 2002 when I was lonely, homesick and feeling totally out of my element. I can't even describe what a great pet he's been. He'd recognize my steps coming down the hall and squeak to the high heavens until I walked in the door. He once, quite literally ate my homework. He often had more food then me (and more time to eat it). He was awesome, and I miss him. Tomorrow morning is going to feel so weird, without him nagging me to get him his breakfast carrots.
Bye bye, little baby pig. You were a great friend.

Random Saturday

Hi chums. Sorry for being so sparse. Stuff is getting a bit crazy again at work and when I get home I'd rather craft something or chill with my darling. So this post is going to be much like what's going on inside my head - random. I hope you don't mind.

1. A couple of weeks ago we went and saw Indy at the Vista, which just happened to be our local theater (seriously, it's a very short walk away). And if one LA landmark wasn't enough for one night, we later went for drinks at the Tiki Ti. And if that doesn't impress you yet, we had breakfast at Millie's the next morning. Man, I love LA.

2. Speaking of food, we're officially got the Ramseyism. We can't eat anywhere anymore without dissecting our food, the restaurant and the service harshly and pondering what would Gordon have to say. Got to love a crazy, cursing Englishman, right? (and I do say that with all the love in the world). And yes, we are addicted to the new season of Hell's kitchen. Why?

3. I'm still knitting and sewing, and contemplating my upcoming plush shows, but we'll talk about it some other time. Promise.

4. Did I ever tell you that I have a garden? Well, it's not much of a garden, really. It's more like a collection of flower boxes in which I grow herbs, flowers and some vegetables. Or am attempting to, at least... You know, I really thought that I inherited my mom's green thumb along with her other creative talents, but I guess I'm not a natural at gardening as I hoped. The long and the short of it is that I almost killed my entire garden (and the ficus in the living room, and my succulents, although that was mostly Emmet's fault), not so much of neglect or ignorance, but of over enthusiasm. Let's just say that there's definitely such a thing as too much fertilizer (especially if it's the wrong kind) So a couple of weeks ago, I got tired of looking sadly at my cute little organic garden turned scary bush of a thing with mite infested overgrown plants and caterpillars (eek!) crawling around, and took some more research and my garden shears to it and started over, pretty much.


The empty looking box is for lettuces. I have a "salad mix" seed packet I pretty much empties into this one. The smaller box is for herbs: spearmint, parsley, chives, marjoram, basil and sage.


From top to bottom, right to left: our mini rose bush, radishes, pansies (I love pansies), cherry tomatoes, my dying succulents, spring onions and chamomile. It doesn't look like much in these photos, but by now the lettuces have sprouted very nicely and so did my radishes, spring onions and the pansies. And most of the tomatoes survived, which I'm very proud of. Oh, and my neighbors are totally jealous, so there. Watch out Martha Stewart, I'm right behind you.

5.
And after a long day of gardening, I get to sooth my hands with this hand cream, a part of a very useful present I got from my folks for my birthday. It's so good... Thanks, mom and dad! (and while I'm at it, can anyone be an English teacher for a minute and tell me what this flower is called? I got it from a friend for my birthday and none of my native English speaking colleagues, friends or spouse seem to know. What on earth do they call a rakefet in this country?)

6. Our good friends got engaged in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago, which is super exciting. I'll let them make the big announcement in the bloggiverse themselves, but we're so happy for you (you know who you are)!

7. Speaking of weddings, this year we're definitely feeling that it's the season. I went to two bachelorette parties in one week, and I have a bridal shower coming up next weekend. Most of my female friends and colleagues are or have been bridesmaids in at least one wedding this year. It's going to be one busy summer...

8. Tomorrow we're going to the 23rd Israeli Film Festival in LA. No, I'm not dragging my poor husband to see the almost-academy-award-winning-but-not-quite Beaufort, but what looks like the promising sweet comedy The Galilee Eskimos. I think Netflix might have it, it has Big Dig (Te'alat Blaumilch) which I somehow didn't manage to see ever (a confession as difficult for an Israeli as admitting she dosen't like hummus. Which I don't. I know, I should be ashamed). Ant's going to be hearing a lot of Hebrew this month.

8. Thanks for all the new car love! Of course the lovely detailing work was all ruined by a sand storm followed by rain the same week we got it, but it's ok. It probably eased up the transition from owning a tin car to owning a tiger. We actually are beginning to get used to it, which is grand. We were going to call it The Reliant, until we found out about those reliants. Sigh... Don't worry, we won't call it a Sussita either.

Have a good weekend, peeps!