A Guy Walks Into a Flower Shop

This may seem like it should be posted on another blog (funtimers!) but it's not, so here's the story.

A guy walks into a flower shop.
He buys a ton of flowers.
Next week, the same thing.
And then again, he shows up.

So what's his deal? Does he have a mad passion for flowers himself? Personal assistant to San Diego's leading Don Juan? Trying to woo his own lady, Cliff-style?


Nope.
He's a set designer, and his new pilot, about a San Diego flower shop owner, has just been picked up. And, professional that he is, he's hired the very best, Che Bella, to act as technical advisers. Check out a clip of the new show, The Ex List, here (sorry, there's a commercial first).

If you haven't been down to Che Bella yourself in a while, check out their redesigned space, and see if you can snag one of their white branch vases before I buy them all. I dare you.

The Mailbox

Hi. I procrastinate.

Anyway, I've gotten some interesting mail in the last few days that I thought was worth sharing. The first, on Friday, was my packet of pre-op stuff from Dr. L and approvals from my insurance. I haven't opened the pre-op stuff because I learned last time that Dr. L's office lists pretty much every horrifying possible outcome on most every page, and they never forget to include death. So while I know my operation will be fairly routine, and now I know me and anesthesia get along just fine, I'm saving that for a day when Mark is not working nights in case I get the freak-outs. Boy won't he be happy. Actually, he will, but it will be more 'glad.' The authorization though, I opened, because oddly enough, those ones tend to make me laugh. I find their specificity entertaining. I get two for every test or procedure so I've seen a lot, but this one was the best. So, on October 1st, 2008, I am having "Bilateral Breast Reconstruction With Silicone* Implants, Bilateral Nipple Reconstruction." If they wanted to be supremely specific they would have written: fabrication out of thin air. Or, I guess, random skin.

I'm not too nervous about this and I'll be happy to have completed this stage. Two things concern me though. The fact that I'll be going home the same day this time, managing pain and post-op maintenance without beautiful angelic nurses, and somehow getting over nasty speed-bumps to get into my house. Also the fact that things will be stapled to me for a while. That will be new. I guess these things should better be filed under Things to Get Over. I will.

Last night's mail was more fun. I'm about finished with "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm liking it. She's not preachy, she's funny and sympathetic while passionate. Anyway, the thing I learned that really irritated me was about seeds and seed companies. Mainly, that when you buy seeds from most co.s and plant them, it is then illegal to harvest the seeds from that plant and use them. The book explains this well. So this week I joined Seed Savers Exchange and bought my first seeds from them. I'm hoping to take advantage of the long California growing season and enjoy my Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts in the fall. Props to my mom who made me think of sprouts which (aha!) grow vertically, allowing me to hopefully harvest 50-100 sprouts from a pot on the balcony.

*Silicone. I've read about it and it's my choice, people. You don't need to comment.

Last Week's Highlights

Modus - Tuesday we decided to spiff up slightly for a random dinner out and settled on Modus. We hadn't been back since Mark's birthday mixology party and we were happy to catch some of the new menu items. They've got a grilled caprese dish that was pretty much like summer in my mouth. It's a good thing I got distracted when they came to clear the plate; it was about to be licked. It was also good to see the genius Ariana and her new bar creations. 'The Latina' is my new favorite and I don't think I'll be tiring of it any time soon because it's inspired by one of my great obsessions: Mexican candy. Mark had the 'Italian Stallion,' which is lush with orange bell peppers, and the 'Mango Djarum,' spiced fruity perfection.

Umi Sushi - Wednesday, after a slightly stressful Crate & Barrel trip, we decided to get some fresh air in Point Loma and took a lovely evening walk along the bay. We worked up an appetite and a hilarious round of decisions guided us towards Umi Sushi. Thank goodness. It's spendier than the sushi we're used to in PB, but also far more innovative. I had a tempura vegetable roll that was amazing and Mark was equally thrilled with his opener, a calamari roll. Our sushi chef was also very generous, gifting us with a lightly battered and flash-fried salmon with hot sauce and about half a pound of salmon sashimi. In the end, I think we got our money's worth.

The Chula Vista Nature Center - This is the home of our little seahorse friend and many other local creatures. We visited on Thursday and had such a good time. I love centers like this that focus on native regional habitats. I can't really express what a gem this place is. Just the fact that the site of a former gunpowder factory is now helping to protect sea turtles, hundreds of native birds, and so much more. And, you can play with bat rays, guitar fish and their friends without battling the crowds at Sea World. The admission is so reasonable, it's a no-brainer of a good family trip. They even have tours and educational seminars, and a regular installation on all different ways to compost. We plan on going back soon & exploring the walk to the bay.




Don Pedro's Taco Shop - We re-fueled here after the nature center and it was heaven. Heaven! I can't remember better Mexican food. If you're anywhere near 247 3rd Ave. in Chula Vista (3rd and Davidson), I highly recommend.

The Galaxy - A mid-week road trip to see David Beckham? Fantastic. I'll leave the storytelling to Mark, though. One small tip: If you're waiting for traffic to dissipate after a soccer game and you just need to kick something, a bundled up bag of Shakey's leftovers works. But take out the chicken bones first.

Romantic Beach Ice Cream - Mark and I had a lovely visit with my parents on Friday and found ourselves chasing the sunset on our way home. So we seized the moment, grabbed two cones, and found a bench on the coast. I wish I'd had my camera. It was amazing endless horizon. The only downside? Baskin Robbins has completely changed their formula, whipping it up with air to save a buck, it seems. Mark's sad, but I'm happy to stick to my old favorite, Haagen-Dazs.

Mike - Saturday had us up early and spending good time with our friends Sydney and Cynthia at CBI. After a little nap, we headed back to Chula Vista to catch my nephew Mike's baseball game. He's ten and he's fantastic.




The New Linkery - Family Sports Time had Mark and I down at the tennis court trying to work off a little of that eating out. The Wii at Scott & Justin's must have done enough because we finished the week at one of our favorite restaurants, and even had more ice cream. Hopefully we'll be eating at home a little more this week. Otherwise, we'll need new pants.

Officially Behind

Well I am so backed up with posts that I don't quite know where to start. Last week was an amazing week with Mark not at the hospital. I'll surely do a run down of the highlights in the days to come. Today I have quite a bit to do before seeing Dr. L to (hopefully) figure out a window into which we can expect to plan for my next surgery. So todays post will be a teaser of things to come that should also hold me accountable to posting them. Fun for all.

1. Last week's highlights
2. A guy walks into a flower shop
3. Saving local, why & how
4. Plant friend update
5. Project Couch


In the meantime, here's a seahorse for you, because they're cute, AND one little clue to our adventures last week.

Oh, and

This is my latest completed project (I think). Miss Lyla's parents finally got it and, thank great goodness, liked it, so here it is. My grandmother encouraged me to try this craft, called scherensnitte in it's German incarnation, and I used a book she gave me for this one. It's my first attempt and I really enjoyed it. Soon I'll be designing my own. I've got two in the works that are either modified by me or drawn from my own photos, so I'm getting there.

Summer

DSC_0056, originally uploaded by beckerjess.

I'm just up to being busy, but I thought I'd check in. I have a lot of projects in the works and the plant friends are great (though I'm not sure I'll be succumbing to any more spontaneous Henry's plant purchases.)

There is something that's been hard for me to figure out lately. Summer. It's always been my favorite season. But now that everything I'd normally be wearing right now accentuates my circus-freakishness, I'm having a hard time figuring out how to make the most of it. The last time I saw Dr. L, he asked me if I was ready for the season, citing "getting the kids into camp" as an example of readiness. Yeah. Even though I can't get kids into my womb, much less camp, I wasn't offended. He's still the one correcting my circus-freakishness. But I don't really know what it means to be ready for summer this year. I was a sweaty monster the last time I worked on the plant friends. And there will be fireworks on Friday. And I am in avocado heaven thanks to the local fruit stand. This just all feels weird without a dripping swimsuit hanging up somewhere.