The CC Special

nightmare on 23rd street, the final chapter

2010-05-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

almost an entire year after discovering two mysterious urns in my neighbor's basement, i am happy to announce that the case has been SOLVED. and here's the best part, it's all because of this very special blog! last friday night, while out and about, i randomly decided to check my personal email... something i'm really bad about remembering to do. through all the spam, one particular email from an unknown sender caught my attention, probably because of it's unusual subject line: Mysterious Ashes. i knew this could only mean one thing. rather than retell, here it is. i recommend sitting down for this one:

Hi there;

A friend of mine e-mailed me your blog - I was dumbfounded to say the least. My name is Bob Hunter. I lived at 1900 23rd Street for over 30 years. My wife, Gloria Hunter, passed away a few years ago. The ashes are the remains of Gloria's brother Bert Mojica and Gloria's mother Dora Arias. They were stolen by my son after Gloria's death and I haven't had contact with him since that time. If you have the ashes or know where they are located, my other children and I would like to bury them next to Gloria's gravesite. We had all given up on ever hearing about those ashes again. It's amazing what comes up on blogs! God bless you.

My phone number is xxx-xxxx and I still live in Sacramento.

P.S. If you blog about this, could you please leave out my name and phone number. Thanks, Bob
(his first name has been changed per this request)

talk about the power of the world wide web.

i immediately responded, letting him know that we did, in fact, still have the urns and would be very happy to meet with him the following week. he was ecstatic. after a few emails back and forth and a couple phone conversations, my neighbor jessica and i were finally able to meet with bob last night. of course, we were curious as to how this had all came about, and he was more than happy to tell us... even bringing a photo album with pictures of gloria, bert and their mother. here is a pic (sorry it's a little blurry):
from left to right: dora, gloria (who was pregnant with their daughter) and bert... all in their native country of honduras.

turns out, when gloria passed 7 years ago, their adopted son stole the urns and brought them to the house his girlfriend was living in at the time... the house that jessica lives in now. the family thought the urns were long gone, until bob's granddaughter decided to do some research on her grandmother, gloria. and wouldn't you know, she typed 'gloria hunter' into google, and THE CC SPECIAL popped up!

now, i'm not a very religious, or even spiritual, person. but this recent turn of events has caused me to really take a step back and ponder. i mean, let's look at this random series of events:

jessica happens to come with me to farmer's market, for the first time
jessica and i happen to stop by a garage sale on the way back and she decides, on a whim, to buy a bicycle
i happen to show this bike to jace... which is why we end up in the basement
jace rummages through a PACKED basement and happens to come across two urns
i blog about it because i just happen to have a blog in which i retell the spesh moments of my life
my friend, olivia, sees my blog and does some research on her own because she happens to locate dead people's families for a living
she discovers that bert was survived by a sister, gloria hunter
i blog about it, and happen to include gloria's name
bob's granddaughter happens to be doing research on her grandmother and comes across my blog (thanks google search engine)
bob gets in contact with me and happens to still live in sacramento

and the rest is history; bert and dora can now finally be buried next to their beloved gloria... and i have a happy ending to a spesh mystery that i never saw coming. i guess it really is true: everything happens for a reason. and maybe there is a higher purpose for me in this life... can't wait to see what happens next!

oh mama kim

2010-05-09T21:56:00.000-07:00

since it's mother's day, i find it only appropriate that i blog about one of the most special (and special) people in my life:

the one and only, MAMA KIM.

for those of you who've had the pleasure of meeting my mother, lucky you. for those of you who haven't, here are five spesh reasons why you should.

mama kim LOVES live music more than anything in the world. actually, i take that back... she loves dancing to live music more than anything in the world. last cinco de mayo, mama kim downed 2 margaritas (which for my tiny mother is about 1.5 too many) and proceeded to break it down on the dance floor. and by 'break it down,' i mean she started a full-on dance circle with a bunch of strangers and even better: freak danced with all of my guy friends. from that moment on, cinco de mayo became cinco de freako, a term invented by who else, but mama kim.

here's an example of her dance moves... it's not to live music, but *fun fact* the video starts at the tail end of another dance she did... to my very own rendition of norah jones' 'the nearness of you,' which i recorded as a christmas gift for her awhile back. pay close attention to the name of the last dance move. oh, and don't pay attention to the SUPER dorky reference i make of posting this to the blog! haha

mama kim loves to give funny cards. she especially goes all out when it comes to cards for my stepdad, brian. she will give him the card, often laughing before he has even opened it, then proceed to make him read it out loud, chiming in for her favorite parts.

since i was out of town for brian's most recent birthday, she felt it necessary to send me a photo of the card (using her iphone, of course!). as usual, it was a card meant for a completely different holiday, altered by mama kim herself. she finds this hilarious every time... and i would have to agree.

mama kim is the funniest person she knows and loves showing off her comedic genius any chance she gets. she cracks herself up all the time, which is hilarious to watch, often more hilarious than the joke itself. and don't worry, she is very aware that this is the case... which really just eggs her on even more. love it.

speaking of love, pictured below is a 'love poem' that mama kim wrote inside the previously mentioned bday card for brian. and no, i didn't sneak a pic of this for the blog. mama kim took the pic herself and sent it to me. of course.

mama kim is a phenomenal cook and can whip up gourmet, delicious meals like nobody's business. i have this spesh idea of starting a food cart called 'mama kim's traveling kitchen' which would serve up gourmet korean-fusion street fare, similar to kogi bbq in la. i told my mom my idea: i would work the window and do all the marketing, and she would cook. her immediate response? 'why put me in the back? i want to work the window.' of course.

she is probably going to kill me for this, but this is probably one of the speshest mama kim moments so far:

my sister (who is currently in south korea teaching english) recently forwarded me an email from my mother.

The subject line: 50?

The only written text within the email: Not bad!!

The picture attachment:

mama kim is definitely going to kill me for this. but whatev... she looks GOOD and can totally work it.

and that, my friends, is why you must meet mama kim. i'll be sure to let you know next time she is out and about. in fact, i was recently informed (by mama kim, of course) that she has signed up to be one of the "dancing groupies" for that spesh percussion band that travels around midtown on second saturday. not sure yet if that will be hilarious, or mortifying. probably a little bit of both.

what's spesher than spesh?

2010-03-27T09:08:00.001-07:00

awhile back, i blogged about my terrible, horrible, very bad week. one of the events that added to that awful series of days was being pulled over by a bicycle cop (for the second time) for talking on my cell phone. and i was convinced that i was the only one to have experienced such a ridiculous brush with the law... until i spotted a girl, in a bright red vw bug, get pulled over by a cop... on a horse. i don't even know how anyone could take that seriously. that, my friends, is spesher than spesh. yikes.

nightmare on 23rd street, part deux

2010-03-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

last summer, i blogged about a mysterious set of urns we discovered in my neighbor's basement. thanks to my friend, olivia, a new development has surfaced... which has me thinking that we may be able to put this case to rest! thanks liv!

Hey, I was checking out your blog (Love It!) and read your post about the ashes you found in your neighbor's basement. I actually locate dead peoples' families for a living (sounds odd, I know, but here's my company website: www.brandenburger-davis.com) so a co-worker and I poked around and found out that Bert Mojica was survived by a sister:

Gloria Hunter
2010 Lyon St.
San Francisco, CA

She used to live at 1900 23rd St., which I'm assuming is your friend's address. Good luck getting Bert back to his family! And thanks for the mystery, it was fun :)

now the real question is: why did his sister leave the ashes in the basement... and who is in the unnamed urn? looks like we will have to contact this gloria character to find out. stay tuned for more to come...

looks like someone has a case of the mondays...

2010-03-17T14:01:00.001-07:00

this is one of those stories that i probably shouldn't put out on the world wide web, but is just TOO special not to:

it started out like any other monday: forced myself to wake up around 8:45a, made it to work by 9:45a, stared at my computer screen for a good 30 min before mustering up the motivation to actually work for a couple hours, walked to cafe b for lunch and the NY times crossword... the usual.

upon returning from lunch, i got back to work and was in the middle of designing a new logo... when my computer froze. now, this isn't the first time my overloaded imac has done this. in fact, it usually happens about 3-4 times a day. but that day, i was at my breaking point and decided that it needed to take a trip to the mac doctor aka the 'genius bar' at the apple store inside arden fair mall. so i boxed it up, loaded it into my car and headed out.

since i had an hour or so before my appointment, i decided to run some errands for work. along with picking up posters from the printers and dropping them off at whole foods, i decided that it was a perfect opportunity for me to swing by KISS N' TELL to pick up some spesh items for my friend's upcoming bachelorette party. after all, it was on the way to the mall, right? i applauded my efficiency.

now, it's always a little embarrassing to be spotted in front of an "adult entertainment" store, so i was determined to get in and out as quickly as possible... which is probably why i turned into the parking lot way too fast... and rammed the curb with my right tire. oops.

being the slightly spacey driver that i am, the curb didn't even phase me as i swung into the first parking space available and made my way into the store. after purchasing a number of phallic-inspired items, i quickly walked to my car, jumped in and backed out. as i pulled up to the exit, i noticed that a large, sweaty man who resembled mr. t was approaching, wildly waving both arms and looking right at me. 'oh great,' i thought to myself, 'he's probably going to hit on me because i'm leaving the sex toy shop.'

if only.

instead, he yelled out, 'your tire is flat and your hub cab is in the middle of the parking lot!'

NOT the pick-up line i was expecting.

i feebly thanked him, pulled back into the parking space and got out to survey the damage. i didn't just have a flat, i had GASHED the side of my tire and managed to rip off the hub cap at the same time. the hub cap that my stepfather had just put back on my car after driving around for MONTHS without it (a casualty of another curb incident).

now, for those of you who don't know, kiss n' tell happens to be on arden, which is one of the busiest streets in sactown. NOT the best place to be if you don't want to be seen. i decided there was no way in hell i was going to call a tow truck... i wasn't about to wait around in that parking lot, and could you imagine that convo?

cc: hello, i need a tow for a flat tire
towman: sure, where are you?
cc: um, in front of kiss n' tell... the sex toy shop on arden
towman: guess it wasn't the pleasurable experience you were expecting

yikes.

i helplessly scanned my environment, praying for a miracle. then that miracle appeared, in the form of a pep boys just down the street. i jumped back into my car and carefully drove over... just to have the pleasure of spending the next two hours sitting in an uncomfortable chair, in a stark waiting room, listening to dr. oz reruns.

$150 later, i had a new tire, hub cap and one very special story for my blog. happy monday to me.

mama kim got an iphone

2010-03-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

my mother got an iphone last week. she told me that her goal is to download, and learn, two new apps every evening. after all, she 'needs to make changes,' her way of saying that she is ready to embrace modern communication... finally.

the ironic thing is, my mother happens to be very technologically savvy; she sells computer components and has been #1 in her dept for over 8 years. basically, it's her job to stay up-to-date on all the latest technology trends. and yet i've probably left about a total of ten voice mails for my mother since she got her first nokia years ago (which was finally laid to rest in 2008, sacramento kings face plate and all). i wasn't leaving messages because i didn't want to, but because i knew she would never listen to them. in fact, i'm pretty sure it's because she didn't know how to. but lo and behold, the glorious iphone comes along and i'm informed that i can now leave voicemails. she 'can listen to them now.'

so spesh.

and then yesterday, i received the first EVER text message from mama kim: hi daut.

super spesh.

she later told me that it took her five minutes to get that far, then accidentally sent it before she could finish. but hey, that's progress.

next step, get her a FB profile. that would be the speshest of all.

cc and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week

2009-10-29T14:13:00.000-07:00

so sorry to all my loyal readers (haha) for slacking on the blog... i was on a roll for awhile! i guess i haven't had anything worth while to write about. that is, until this week... which has probably been one of the worst series of days i've had in, well, ever. so awful in fact, that it is just down right hilarious.

SUNDAY
it's interesting how life can seem so absolutely fantastic, and then bitch slap you in the face. take, for example, my sunday, which was supposed to be a fun-filled adventure to apple hill with the guy i've been dating for the past few months... a guy that i had become smitten with, despite grumblings from many of the friends. this adventure, however, was severely shot down when, after waiting for him at my place for over an hour, i went to his house without any warning (his cell phone was broken) and walked in on him:
on his bed...
in his underwear...
wait for it...
straddling his ex girlfriend.
oh, and let's not forget the goofy grin as he realized that he had just been caught. what a jackass.

now, the last thing i want is to turn this blog into a forum for me to air my dirty laundry, but who are we kidding... it was the ultimate in special moments. and no, i didn't scream, i didn't throw anything, i didn't kick his ass. all i could do was ask, 'are you on top of someone?' which he responded, 'yeah.' then i walked out.

MONDAY
just a crappy day due to residual effects of the previous day. i also woke up with severe stomach pains from sunday's binge of leftover chinese food, champagne, an entire thing of trader joe's mac & cheese, a large grilled sourdough and brie cheese sandwich, three budlight tall boys and two bowls of mint chocolate chip ice cream. if there were an emotional eating olympics, i would have won the gold medal that day.

TUESDAY
after lunch with katie, my office manager called and asked me to pick something up at spataro. realizing that i was supposed to be at a meeting 5 minutes ago, i frantically tried to call the restaurant so that everything was ready for me when i swung by. of course, my bluetooth had just decided to die so i resorted to speaker phone. as i pulled up on the corner of 10th & L, who should happen to be there, but a bicycle cop. i immediately dropped my phone, but it was too late. i was signaled to pull over, then forced to endure an unnecessary lecture, followed by a $100 ticket. and wouldn't you know, this is actually the second time this has happened to me... i think those damn copcycles are out to get me.

WEDNESDAY
oh dreaded wednesday. those of you who know me, know that every wednesday, i have to endure a 3+ hour marketing meeting with my bosses. now, with the plummeting economy, the restaurant industry has been hit hard and the stress level in my office has sky rocketed. during the meeting, i was forced to admit that i had completely forgotten about a couple projects, which did not make my boss very happy... and spurred him to wonder, out loud, if they even needed marketing. GREAT. luckily, i was able to pull myself together enough to get out of that one, but barely.

later, while browsing facebook, i noticed this lovely page suggestion:
no, i DO NOT want to become a fan of apple hill.

TODAY
so far, so good today... although there are quite a few hours still left in the day. i did have a jackass sighting while riding in the car with my friend sean, who refused to satisfy my request to drive around the block so we could pass him again... and i could yell out some choice profanities. mature, i know.

BUT he promptly reminded me: short term bad, long term GOOD. and even though i hate to give sean (s.o.b.) such credit, i have to admit he is right.

i also have to admit that, despite all the crappiness of this week, my friends have really pulled through... making the whole experience a nicely packaged life lesson on the value of friendship. so next time you are thinking of blowing off one of your friends, think again. because you could end up having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week and need that friend to get you through it.

thank you to all of my wonderful, amazing, fabulous friends for being there in my time of need! you are all so special to me...

nightmare on 23rd street

2009-09-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

as promised in my previous post, i will now tell you about my other special adventure on sunday:

one thing i have yet to mention in any of my posts is how incredibly special my neighborhood is. in fact, one of my favorite hobbies involves sitting on my front balcony and watching all of the interesting characters pass by, some of which happen to live right around me... "live" as in "among the living," unlike the two individuals i met on sunday. yes, that is what i said.

after breakfast, jace and i headed over to my next door neighbor's to see the fabulous vintage cruiser that she had just purchased at a garage sale earlier that day. since jessica didn't have a lock yet, it was currently being stored in the basement of the house... which i didn't even know existed.

until that day, i had been under the impression that this house, owned by the family that jessica nannies for, was split up into four units. but as we entered the basement i began to realize there was so much more than i thought, and it literally took me a couple minutes to really soak in the scene around me. there were books, videos, old cassette tapes, speakers, boxes... basically junk everywhere. according to jessica, all of it had been left by previous tenants over the years.

she then asked if we had seen the rooms. 'what rooms?" i asked as i looked around. she then proceeded to lead us toward a door. this door opened into what i can only describe as being an exact representation of what i picture when they talk about child molestors that kidnap kids and keep them in hidden rooms in their house. talk about getting the chills. there was even an old mattress propped up against the wall, which was almost touching the 6 foot high ceiling. she then lead us to another room... same creepy rape vibe. sick.

i would have pondered the strangeness of it all, but after walking out of the second room, i got distracted by a box of old videos. i immediately went from being creeped out to curious and began to rummage through some of the boxes. jace joined me, but after about five minutes, i was over it and ready to get the F out of there. as i was walking out, i turned to say something to jace and saw him digging into a box filled with tissue paper. he then pulled out an old wooden box, opened it and said to me, "cc, i think this is someone's ashes."

"EXCUSE ME?!" i shouted. "yeah, there is a rosary in here," he said. i was in complete shock. he then pulled out a second box and pointed out that it had a label on it. i couldn't help myself; i had to look. on a plain white label, in plain black font it read:

Bert Mojica
1994
Coloma Cremation Shoppe

that is when i really began to lose it and screamed out, "jessica!! there are dead people in your basement!!"

she came running up, eyes wide, hands in the air, screaming "WHAT!?"

"these boxes are filled with ashes," said jace, "and i think i just got some on my arm."

as i looked around for an appropriate place to vomit, jessica began screaming, "oh my god! there are yurns! yurns in the basement!" and yes, that was not a typo. apparently she thought that an urn was a yurn. which only made the moment more special.

i ran outside, breathed in the fresh air, and began to laugh. i couldn't stop. it was just all too hilarious. i mean, really? of course there are dead people stashed away in the basement of the house next to me. but the real question is, who is Bert Mojica, and why would someone ever leave behind the ashes of what i can only assume was their relative?

either way, i am still very creeped out. after all, i'm the girl that can't watch scary movies and has to cover her eyes at the sight of blood.... and cover her ears if she even thinks something scary is going to happen. it's just not my thing. i suppose now we have to figure out who this "Bert" is and get him and his anonymous partner, back to their family. otherwise they are bound to haunt that house, and possibly the surrounding neighborhood, forever. anyone heard of him?

a great weekend... in sacramento?

2009-08-31T10:27:00.000-07:00

i know many people that like to get out of town every weekend... to tahoe, sf, down south... however, i have found that it is completely possible to have a fabulous weekend right here in sacramento, especially with the help of good friends!

saturday:
the main event of the evening was luxe for life, an event that raises money for the sacramento children's home. located in an airplane hangar at the sacramento executive airport, the space was transformed into what jon aptly described as a giant tiffany's box... which sounds gaudy, but was really beautiful. now, i've been to a number of charity events, but i will say that this is definitely one of the better ones. however, they really should consider not doing the event in august, in a building with no air conditioning...as much as i love make-up melting off my face.
here's the assessment:
- decor: as previously mentioned, stunning
- food samples: saporro was doing made-to-order hand rolls... yum!
- alcohol: OPEN BAR, enough said
- "who's who of sacramento": ran into a lot of people i love, dressed fabulously... also saw a number of questionable outfit choices, including the one pictured here. we thought the striking similarities to a go girl can had to be pointed out.
- entertainment: david garibaldi, who did a painting of audrey hepburn that i loved... however, is anyone else starting to feel like he's getting a little played out? no offense.
- auction: there was... stuff? i don't know, i can't afford to bid.
we left around 11pm and headed to meet sara and patty k at the lounge on 20 one-year anniversary party, which was a blast. congrats ali!

sunday:
although a bit tired, i forced myself to get up at 9am and walk to my car, which was deserted the night before due to my inability to drive at the time. i then embarked on my weekly adventure to the farmer's market with the neighbors. this sunday tradition has resulted in some of the best days ever, and this past was no exception. here are some pics i took with my iphone (i heart my iphone):

upon returning, i proceeded to cook a delicious breakfast for my friend, jace: scrambled eggs with fresh cherry tomotoes, chives from our garden and special cheese from farmer's... served with the best croissants ever (pictured above).

after breakfast, jace and i had a really special adventure that deserves it's own post, so stay tuned for that...

later that evening, after an intense four hours of cleaning, jon and matt came over to help prepare a fabulous dinner, which would later be served to the neighbors and my family. i put them to work and left for the grocery store... and i have to admit, it was pretty amazing walking back into my apt to find the two boys, hard at work chopping up vegetables. i wish i had taken a picture. dang.

the menu? stuffed red bell peppers, grilled skirt steak, fresh tomatillo-avocado salsa and chile lime chicken. yum!
dinner was great, but the best part of the evening had to be the presence of my parents, who were able to hold their own during our little 20-something midtown dinner. for those of you who know my mother, enough said. for those of you who don't, come to the next PRG event and look for a tiny little asian woman, in the middle of the dance floor, dancing with anyone and everyone. her infamous boogying at the cinco de mayo block party is why we now refer to the holiday as 'cinco de freako.' and yes, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

all in all, it was a great weekend with great friends, great food, great drinks... and much more. if only every weekend could be this fabulous! or can it... :)

yes, we will judge you

2009-08-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

after last week's little disaster at the park, there is only one thing that could get me back there: the opportunity to sit next to jon while he judges tonight's hair wars competition.

since i don't have time to explain any further, i'll let the real writer do the, well, writing: CLICK HERE

let's just say it will be special at it's finest.

why i love facebook

2009-08-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

thank you to all that participated in this special convo...

watch your wallet

2009-08-25T16:59:00.000-07:00

it's been awhile since i've made an appearance at the park (ultra lounge) but, after much internal debate, decided to return last saturday. i should also note that this decision was mainly due to the fact that my new bff, ryan, was going to be there... and the thought of the trouble that would most likely ensue was too tempting to pass up.

what started out as a normal evening quickly escalated with adventures such as drinking champagne at katie's and knocking back a couple of vodka presses while watching jeff's band at capitol garage. at around 12:30am, katie and i decided that it was high time for us to prance across the street to the park and grace everyone with our presence. we immediately ran into some friends, including ryan, and let's just say that between 12:30am - 1:10am, it's all a bit of a blur.

and then came 1:11am.

ryan, trish and i had just gotten drinks at the bar when i felt a tap on my shoulder. i turned to find myself staring a two police officers. "excuse me, ma'am, do you know this woman?" #1 asked while pointing to trish. "yes, i do... why?" said i. "i will not discuss this in here, i need both of you to come outside immediately," said #1.

now, part of me wanted to argue with him right then and there, but i realized that would probably be a bad (and embarassing) choice. after all, i was innocent, right? so outside i marched, leaving my purse on the bar with ryan.

"ma'am, you have been accused of attempted pickpocketing. we are going to have to ask you to leave," said #2 (#1 was having the same conversation with trish). now, i can't really remember exactly what was said beyond that, but i can tell you that there was a lot of the following spewing out of my mouth:
- excuse me?
- are you kidding?
- there is NO WAY i would ever do such a thing.
- do you know who i am? (i know, so humble of me)

his response to all that? "well, the club is about to close anyways, so you might as well just leave."

now, i'm no expert at dealing with the police, but this was all seeming a bit ludicrious. so i curtly told him that i was going back inside for my purse. strangely enough, he had no objections. at that point, i waltzed back inside to ryan and began to tell him the whole story... completely ignoring the fact that the police officer was waiting for me outside. after about five minutes, i turned to see #1 walking towards me. i flinched, preparing myself for an embarassing handcuffing at the bar. but instead of reading me my rights, he said, "i'm sorry, ma'am, apparently you were mistakenly identified."

my response? THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT.

cheers!

2009-08-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

last year, a friend of mine, erick castro, approached me to see if our restaurants would be interested in participating in an event he was planning called cocktail week. now, erick isn't any ordinary bartender, he is a true mixologist. i knew this wasn't going to be a week about kamakazis and vodka crans (although fun)... this was going to be the real thing, and i was excited. long story short, he was able to pull off a week of fun events celebrating the art of the cocktail, elevating sacramento's reputation in the "mixology scene." i went to the class on absinthe... my thoughts? cool to learn about, disgusting to drink.

unfortunately for all the cocktail nerds of sacramento, erick moved to sf, leaving everyone wondering if the event would continue in the years to follow. and lucky for everyone that it has!

due to the success of last year, cocktail week has morphed into midtown cocktail week and brought on such partners as the midtown business association, sacramento press, and some of the best restaurants in midtown. last night, i went to the kick-off party at L wine lounge... and what an event it was! i had a fabulous raspberry collins made with muddled, fresh raspberries, then went to the back patio "luau," where i enjoyed a refreshing sno-cone rum cocktail, served in a coconut cup with a pineapple garnish. it was a great way to start off what is sure to be an amazing week! you can check out the website for the full line-up of events... midtowncocktailweek.org

and make sure that you come to paragary's on friday night for the punch party! my friend, erick will be there making three different kinds of punch... which you will be able to enjoy on the famous paragary's patio, amidst waterfalls and olive trees. yes, please! (click on the image to see the facebook event)

for the purposes of background info: castro and i met while bartending in hell, i mean bj's in natomas... since then, he has moved on to much bigger and better things, including creating the killer cocktail menu at lounge on 20 when they first opened. he now works at bourbon & branch, which is quite possibly one of the coolest places in SF (you need to tell the doorguy a password to get in!).

just another sunday morning in midtown...

2009-08-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

sometimes i wonder if only weird things happen to me, like i did something in a past life and am now experiencing the consequences. i guess everyone thinks that, but i stand firm in the belief that my special moments are really in the top echelon of strange experiences happening to the relatively normal people of the world, or at least sacramento. for example, there was the time that i was chased by a tranny wearing a red ball gag through a parking garage (to be retold in another blog post some day)... or the time that i was sitting on the steps of my home and was approached by a man, wearing a huge leg cast, who informed me that he was parking his home aka a blue van around the corner from my house and that he was a professional firedancer, which was explained to me as 'you take two sticks, light them on the ends, and spin them around your body really, really fast.' oh, and then there is this time, in which i unknowingly had dinner with thomas kinkade. already retold by my very talented friend, Jon Lovely.

and now another moment to add to the list, which occurred this past sunday... my neighbor jackie and i had just gotten back from the farmer's market (so much deliciousness!) and decided to grab a little breakfast at N street cafe. sitting outside, enjoying breakfast sandwiches, great weather and the sunday paper, we were approached by a little girl who looked to be about 4-years-old. i know, seems like a pretty normal day, right? here we go: the little girl was gripping a dirty, red ash tray. weirder yet: looking up at us with big brown eyes she asked, "you want ash tray?" before we could even respond, she plopped it on our table and made her way back inside to retrieve the rest of the ash trays, placing them on the other tables outside.

now, at this point, there were a few thoughts going through my head:
1. where the hell is this kid's mother?
2. how does a 4-year-old know the word 'ash tray'
3. where's my phone so i can take a picture of this?

i wasn't able to get a very good shot, but here she is placing an ash tray on the table across from us...as jackie and i continued to discuss the bizarre-ness that had just occurred, we were startled to hear the little voice yet again, but this time, we were posed with the question, "do you want a cigarette?" to my horror, i looked up to see the child standing before us with a lit cigarette in hand.

the thoughts going through my head this time:
1. where the hell is this kid's mother?
2. how does a 4-year-old know the word 'cigarette'
3. where's my phone so i can take a picture of this?

i may, or may not have asked the girl to come back so that i could snap this pic...
as it turns out, the lit cigarette belonged to the girl's obviously cracked out mother, who didn't seem to be able to take care of herself, let alone a CHILD. where is CPS when you need them?

life lesson #429

2009-07-09T16:18:00.000-07:00

always proof your emails, especially when writing them on your iPhone, which is much harder to type on. if you choose not to heed this advice, you are in danger of make an incredibly embarrassing mistake... in an email to your landlord. a landlord who, luckily, has a good sense of humor.

----- Original Message -----
From: Callista Wengler
To: Sharon Atkins
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 1:54 PM
Subject: Re: GATE

The plumber is actually here right now! He said there isn't anything he can do about my kitchen sink because my entire cooter is sunken in. Is there anything we can do about it?

Callista Wengler
Paragary Restaurant Group
Sent from iPhone

p.s. i meant to write COUNTER

the great outdoors

2009-07-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

the one good thing about this social media phenomenon is that it's the type of work that can be accomplished with just a laptop and a good wi-fi connection. hence why i have been frequenting my new "outdoor office": lounge on 20, located on the corner of 20th and k... which my good friend, ali, has graciously allowed me to occupy. it is quite possibly one of the nicest patios in midtown (minus the paragary's patio!) and has a free wi-fi connection. and of course around 5 o'clock, i can order one of my favorite cocktails, the bella fragola, a tantazling blend of vodka, fresh strawberries and basil... yum!

if you can, come out and experience this fabulous "office" for yourself. although there can be distractions, i have found the atmosphere stimulating and, in a way, energizing. it's a great way to break up the work week, without having to take a day off!

she and t banks are totes rockin the b's these days

2009-07-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

i can admit that i am no wordsmith, but i decided to venture into blogging in the hopes that people would be interested in my crazy/wonderful life. however, if you want to see writing at it's finest, check out jon schuller's blog, I Love and Hate Everything. it's a literary masterpiece... mainly because i happen to have a recurring role, but also because jon has a way with words that is truly genius, or shall i say: j is totes fab. word.

p.s. translation of the jon-quote in the title: she and tyra banks are totally rocking the bangs these days.

it's friday and i'm still here

2009-06-12T18:25:00.000-07:00

welcome to the cc special. i've spent the past two hours trying to get this page to look nice... too bad no one will want to read it since i haven't written anything. more to come, i promise.