Alive in Wonderland

The ghost in him

"So-So hates Sissy," Ben announces, breaking the silence in the car.  

"WHAT did you just say?"  I ask him, while eyeing him in the rearview mirror. Without backing down, wanting to make it perfectly clear, he says it again, "So-So hates Sissy."

 

If you don't remember, So-So is Ben's invisible--not to be interchanged with imaginary--friend. (You can read my first story about him here.)

"Ben! Don't say you hate your Sissy, that's mean," I tell him.

"I didn't say it, So-So did," he tells me with no hint of sarcasm then turns back to his Nintendo DS. 

"Pfft, tell So-So not to say that anymore," I tell him.

"He's not here right now, he's at work.  I'll tell him later," he says not looking up again.  

I think I know what's going on here. Ben is a follower by nature.  He goes along with everyone.  He's easy.  He is a bit his sister's crony and this role doesn't leave much room for protest.  So-So is his henchman.  His right-hand (invisible) man.

Later that day, while standing in the kitchen, Ben says, "So-So hates Sissy a lot." But this time to his Dad.  

"Well, So-So just better learn to get along with everyone in this house," Larry tells him.  

Quietly, matter of factly Ben says, "You're not in charge of So-So, I am."  

[Uh-Oh]

"Well, I'm in charge of you and so that means I'm in charge of So-So and as long as So-So lives under my roof he better mind the rules," Larry boomed, obviously peeved.

"He lives ON the roof," Ben says as he walks away.  "And he has a job now at The Haunted House at Disneyland. He could live there." 

He is a ghost after all. 

Pictures in Wonderland: Orange

To kick off my return to my blog I thought I would start with a picture of a subject that is apparently near and dear to me: Bikes against brick walls. (In Newport, on Balboa, 17th Street).  Maybe I'm drawn to them because neither are stereotypical Orange County fare.

This one I shot next to The Starbucks in the Orange Circle.  They take their orange VERY seriously in Orange.  As you can see by all the orange.

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Today I'm listening to The Pogues "Sunny Side of the Street." I wish you all a "Sunny Side of the Street" kinda New Year!

When things aren't just things

I think the hardest lessons to teach our kids are the ones we haven't quite learned ourselves...  

Please traipse over to my blog at the Orange County Register to read the rest of the story: "Mommy's Mind is Not a Toy."

I'm still on my break for two more days, but still had to work a little...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I'm taking a bloggy break from today through the new year. I am so very grateful for all the people I have met from all around the world through the wonder of blogging. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  

I'll still be Twittering, if you simply must know what I'm up to for the next seven days.

Illustration by the remarkably talented and impossibly adorable Lisa Mertins.

Say it isn't SNOW!

I'm not a snow person.  I can count on one hand how many times I've been in the snow.  I'm firmly a California Coast girl--born in Orange County and attending college in San Francisco.   I don't have much snow cred and frankly, that's okay with me.

 

Here I am in the snow in Palm Springs last weekend.  See how happy I look? What a natural smile brought on by the joy of being outdoors in the freezing cold...or, more accurately,  brought on by my husband saying "Smile Suz, you look like you're miserable." Truth is, I was miserable and only the thought of a nice martini waiting for me back at the lodge was enough to make me trudge back up the snowcapped mountain and not just lay down in the snow and surrender to the bitter winter cold.

I usually am a shutter bug (see my OC Flickr page here), but while traipsing around outdoors, I felt uninspired and longed for a dramatic street scene, hastily chained up bike or interesting wall mural to photograph.  I wasn't able to shoot off even a few photos of the great outdoors--though I did get some cute pictures of my kids before they got wet and wanted to go back inside. 

It reminds me of the scene from Annie Hall when one of Woody Allen's wives is trying to get him to move to the country and he says, "...I don't like the country, there's no place to walk after dinner."  So true. With all the trees, pine cones, and birds there wasn't anything to shoot and I certainly wasn't going to take my hands out of my warmish pockets for a picture of a snow covered rock.  

It's not that I have anything against the snow.  I think it's super for other people.  I just feel it should stay where it belongs in my life: high atop Mount Baldy for me to admire from the heated seats while driving down the 241, spray painted on windows during the holidays, and falling slowly--suspiciously like bubbles--on Main Street at Disneyland.  These are all perfectly acceptable forms of snow in my opinion.   

My New York-born husband has accepted I won't ever be a snow bunny, so I hope you do, too.  So, I'm dreaming of a "clear with a slight chance of Santa Ana's Christmas!" Not a white one..

This was written for my blog at The Orange County Register, "Mommy's Mind is not Toy."

Chad Cheverier's story about his friend Phil Park

Chad Cheverier is an Orange County photographer, videographer and blogger.  He wrote this photo story for JPG Magazine's website.  It is truly inspirational and reminds me what can happen when creativity and talent are sparked by kindness and love.  

Please go to JPG HERE  to read his story.  If you have the time, please register and vote for his wonderful story about his friend with cancer and his tribute to him.  If he receives enough votes the story will be published.  

Cheers to Chad and let's hope it reaches print! 

She sat next to Hugh Hefner on a bench at Disneyland

My friend Christine sent me this email after her trip to Disneyland this week.  I will let her tell you all about it:

Hi Suzanne,

I just had to tell you this....I was at Disneyland tonight and while I was waiting for Jessica and our friends to get off the roller coaster, a man came and sat next to me on a bench, and, believe it or not, it was Hugh Hefner! 

He sat there about 20 minutes. First he was joined by one young woman, who hugged and kissed him and  told him "I love you!"...then another came over and gave him a kiss. He was very pleasant to me and thanked me for giving him a bottle of water (nobody in his security group had "the money" and I had a spare bottle). 

People were gathering and taking pictures of the four of us on the bench together and I was kind of horrified and leaning away from them, covering my face and laughing. He said, "Oh come on, get in the picture!" and hugged me, patting my back, pulling me in the picture. Cameras were flashing and we were sitting there in a line, grinning like jack-o-lanterns--me, Hugh Hefner, and two Playboy bunnies. 

It was absurd. When Jessica and our friends got off the ride, a whole group of  his other "girls" got off, too, and several of them gave him a kiss as they walked up. It was kind of a hoot, sitting there talking with him, I must admit. He thanked me again when he was leaving and blew me a kiss. Weird, weird, weird.

I need to go take a shower now....I feel dirty. 

:oP

Christine

She'll always have that: She sat next to Hugh Hefner on a bench at Disneyland....of all places! I wish you knew Christine, you would think this is even more funny.  I also wish you knew her because she is truly an amazing  person  (and I NEVER use the word amazing unless I mean it).

SkyWatch Orange County: Great Park Balloon

This week's SkyWatch Friday is of Irvine's Great Balloon.  

This is a much more stark view of it than this one I posted.  

You can click here and go to SkyWatch to see pictures of the sky from around the world. 

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Today I am listening to Kate Bush "Cloudbusting"  Click play below to listen to the song.

You can go to my BLIP.fm Channel to listen to all my songs.

Pictures in Wonderland: Deck the everything

In Brea they Deck the Halls...and the lawn...and the garage...and the roof...and the...After trapsing around this neighborhood I'm starting to feel Christmas.  Then I listened to this song and really felt the season kicking in.  

David Bowie and Bing Crosby signing "The Little Drummer Boy."

(I tried and tried to center this video. I finally had to give up, which wasn't too hard, actually.)

Pictures in Wonderland: Balloons

I spent today with my son at The South Coast Plaza.  I had to get down on the floor to get this shot.  The great thing about taking pictures with a four-year-old is he gets right down on the floor with you--was happy to do it.

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Today I'm listening to Crowded House "It's Only Natural."

e="text-align: center">You can go to my BLIP.fm Channel to listen to all my songs.

It's beginning to look a lot like a kegger

Wide-eyed and excited, a little girl walks down the aisle at Toys "R" Us in Irvine. She stops at the Bratz section and picks up one of the heavily made up dolls who's sporting a mid-drift and thigh-high stockings.

"Stop right there!" I shout, startling her. "Put that down, NOW!" I scream as I lunge toward her and knock the trampy doll out of her little hand. Then I turn her quickly to the sweet My Littlest Pet Shop display. Whew! Future teen disaster averted!

Well, okay not really. But that's what I felt like doing last week. Walking down the girl's aisles at toy stores can sometimes feels a little like MTV's Spring Break. The level of inappropriate attire and activities gets jacked-up year after year. It makes a mom wonder what kind of little girls these toy producers are targeting.

I'm not one to blame the media or toy makers entirely for the trend--as parents, I think it's our responsibility to moderate what our kids consume and not make others responsible--but geesh, taken as a whole, I feel the sexualization of little girls is getting out of hand. It seems every year the boundaries get pushed a little further, dragging our daughters down the road to adulthood at a quicker rate than they are equipped to handle.

It's the growing floozy-fueled trend that bothers me, not the desire for a little girl to act girlie. I let my six-year-old daughter play with Barbies. I let her do her nails sometimes. I let her have a little bit of a heel on her fancy black shoes. Bottom line: I let her be a little girl. I liked being a little girl. Being a little girl is a lot of fun. But I draw the line at Barbie's Hot Tub Party Bus. I think the concept behind it is too exceedingly tart-like to support.

Fun in the sun is one thing--which I enjoyed endlessly with my Malibu Barbie Country Camper--but throwing my daughter on a "Party Bus" with all of her half-dressed friends to soak in a hot tub with Ken and his buddies is another.

(See the original commercial for Barbie's Country Camper here...Sigh...)

This subject of guarding our daughters from vile merchandise is near and dear to my heart. You might remember the subtle mandate (paradox intended) I wrote calling for the boycott of Juicy Couture because of their despicable products made for young girls--remember their "Trust Fund Generation University" line of purses? This holiday season Juicy has teamed up with Barbie to make supermodel Barbies for just $125 a doll. Which would probably be these girls going rate on "the street." ***wink***wink***

Juicy also offers "A Week in the Life of a Juicy Drama Queen" underwear for little girls. So, for only $58, your young daughter can have clever "Juicy" puns splashed across her bottom for...um, I would hope no one to see. And isn't Juicy considerate to promote the trait we ALL encourage in our daughters--DRAMA!

The sales gal at Nordstrom in the Spectrum assured me I would "be surprised" at how many they sell. She's right. I'm always surprised when parents throw their money away on inane products for their kids. (You can read my Juicy Couture Rant here. I go into detailed about why all their products should be tossed into an angry sea.)

I know I must sound like the ultimate mommy buzz kill, and maybe I am a bit. But I didn't sign up for this whole parenting thing just to make and impress friends and I certainly didn't do it for the pay or the hours. I want my daughter (and my son) to have a total blast as kids, but sometimes it takes a purposeful effort on the parents' part to help them define what a "total blast" should look like.

Now let's see...I pointed out the evil trend of trampy toys marketed to our daughters....I showed you pictures of disgraceful Bratz dolls...I reiterated my disdain for all things Juicy...I encouraged you to dump unseemly products into an angry sea...I think my work here is done.

Have a nice holiday...and don't forget to try buying handmade.

This was written for my blog at The Orange County Register, "Mommy's Mind is Not a Toy."

Here are some other things I've written there that are bossy, snarky, and sometimes, usually by accident, downright true!

I'm afraid of wimps and you should be, too

Okay kids, time to break out the french maid costumes!

Social Etiquette 101 or Don't ever, ever under any circumstances ask a women if she is pregnant 101

30 Second Sunday: Dana Point Harbor

Thirty-seconds in Dana Point Harbor. I hope you have fun. We did.

Because everyone is asking: The song is Harbor Bridge by the brilliant New Zealand musician Don McGlashan. Love him.

Birthday card I made for myself ♥

Today is my birthday.

SkyWatch Orange County: The Fun Zone

This is my SkyWatch Friday photo for the week. I thought the happy, blue sky would be a welcome sight for some readers in parts of the world that are having dreary, grey skies. Happy Friday from Balboa Island in Orange County.

Pictures in Wonderland: All my changes were there

These are the State Beach lifeguard towers in Huntington Beach. I spent so much time on this beach while growing up. When making the plans to meet friends at the beach you would always use the lifeguard station's number as the marker.

They look like minions of some weird aquatic army in this picture. I like it.

Here are two more shots of lifeguard towers in Orange County: Laguna Beach, Huntington City Beach.

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Music in Wonderland Neil Young's "Helpless"

You can go to my BLIP.fm Channel to listen to all my songs.

Lessons in parenting: Lying to your kids

I lie to my kids all the time. I know I'm not supposed to lie. I teach my kids not to lie. But it's completely impossible to navigate the murky, treacherous waters of parenting without inserting a doozie of a fib every once in a while.

I'm not talking about the standard "untruths" we tell to kindle our kids' imagination and make their little lives fun--like about a certain white-bearded man or gnomes living in our houses.

I'm not including the little white lies we tell to ease the pain of a lost pet or calm the anxiety of a worried little one on the way to the doctor. Every parent stretches the truth when it comes to how long five minutes is or what the consequences are if you cross your eyes for too long--these are all just "givens" in the big parenting book. (Which isn't issued, but written hastily by parents as they go...)

I'm talking about flat-out whoppers that are told in the hopes of getting our kids to do what we want them to do. Lies that take death defying-leaps away from reality but ultimately, we believe, will benefit our children. In the end, these types of lies will become family folklore that our kids will tell their kids one day. "I remember grandma told me our cat got married and moved away, but really they gave him away because he kept scratching the furniture." They will laugh with their children, while shooting us an amused look.

These are the lies that keep on giving. The ones you have to elaborate and modify to keep them going. The kind of lies you have to whisper ahead of time to friends or family--dragging them into your web of deception.

My biggest and longest running lie revolved around the culinary delight we all know as the grilled cheese sandwich. My favorite food in the world! But my daughter didn't like them--refused to eat them! I wanted to make them for myself her because of their nutritional value (always on whole wheat), to add some variety to her meals, and because they are DOWNRIGHT yummy!

She wouldn't have anything to do with them.

One day, after refusing a grilled cheese, I asked her if she wanted me to make her a very special sandwich--A Camp Sandwich. Usually The Camp Sandwich can only be eaten while outdoors, next to an open fire. But I told her I could, just this once, make her a Camp Sandwich to try. Oh, she really wanted one, so I broke the rules "just this once" and made her the perfect Camp Sandwich.

As she ate it I told her tale after bogus tale about how I used to eat them all the time when I was a little girl. How I used to sit around campsites with my brothers eating Camp Sandwiches, petting the bears, and listening to the wood fairies sing as they worked. I really laid it on thick.

"This is the best sandwich I've ever had!" she announced as she devoured the sandwich. Mission accomplished...until...she ordered a Camp Sandwich at Ruby's, and at Red Robin and at.... I think I have told every 20-year-old, uninterested server in Orange County the story of The Camp Sandwich.

The Camp Sandwich had a very long run as far as parental lies go. It lasted until my daughter was about six years old when her Aunt Jana finally (narked on me) told her the truth while spending the day at her house. She hopped in the car and proudly proclaimed, "I know a Camp Sandwich is really just a grilled cheese!"

Oh, well. At least she has a good story for her kids now and I have a daughter who enjoys a good grilled cheese as much as I do.

I wrote this story about my daughter and I for my blog at The Orange County Register.

Thanks for visiting me there.

(Picture by Studio Schatz)

Pictures in Wonderland: Corona del Mar palm trees in the fog

The beach has had heavy fog lately. I love the look of the fog against palm trees. I wasn't sure until I got home whether I got that bird in the shot. I don't take pictures with my glasses on, which makes downloading a little like Christmas morning--lots of surprises.

Music in Wonderland: Tori Amos "Winter"

You can go to my BLIP.fm Channel to listen to all my songs.

Marcy and me

This is Marcy and me with our friend Goofy. I really like this picture of us (Marcy and me) because of the story it tells: Two girls of a certain age posing with Goofy at a Mom Blogger event hosted by Disneyland--but that's only part of the story.

I met Marcy online. She started to comment on my blog at OC Register.com and then made it over to my personal blog from there. She would leave looooong, detailed comments, sometimes complete with all the literary elements; protaganists, antagonists (usually some Mom at her kids' school), foil. She had a lot to say and always came to some clever resolution at the end.

She was a natural, prolific blog commentor, which we all know is just another way of saying she was someone who needed to get her own blog. One night, late at night, I emailed her to say I thought she should start a blog. The next morning I woke up and there it was: The Glamorous Life.

We have been good friends ever since. Because of our common love of all things related to blogging, writing, photography, and smarminess we have built a friendship that is familiar and warm, though sometimes we don't see each other for months. We float easily from blog world to real world. Once even having a an incident at lunch which resulted in me telling her to "Zip it." We worked it out on Twitter in our cars on the way home like most people. (What? No?) The whole episode resulted in her famous quote, "A friend should be able to tell another friend to shut up ever once in a while." Wise words, indeed.

Disneyland hosted a party for Mom Bloggers and their families this weekend as a special holiday treat. Marcy and I were there; taking pictures of our food, searching for the bar (which Marcy found in another room), and making wisecracks during the pastry demonstration. Both of us feeling "Disneyland love" deep in our hearts since we were kids, this was an extraordinary weekend.

So we both jumped at the chance to get our picture taken with Goofy. See how happy we look? We weren't fakin' it. That's joy. So when you hear people talk about the "evils" of the internet. How online relationships don't result in anything meaningful just think of this picture of Marcy and me. It's proof good can come from cyberspace...and also that we are four kinds of geeky, but that's another story.

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We saw Fantasmic on Friday night and it was Terrifmic! I made this HD video of the whole show.

Fantasmic Part 1

Fantasmic Part 2

Pictures in Wonderland: Blue bike

I've decided not to post a daily photo, but instead post pictures of Orange County when I have one I especially like. I'm still determined to prove Orange County is beautiful and compelling with a lot of fun places to explore.

This picture continues my unintentional series of photos of bikes in front of brick buildings.

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Music in Wonderland: Joe Jackson's "Breakin' up in two."

You can go to my BLIP.fm Channel to listen to all my songs.

Picnik makes photo editing fun

I have a secret weapon that I want to share with you because I'm like that--real nice.

I run all my photographs through Picnik before I post them. Picnik is a free, online photo editing website that offers lots of effects, frames, and tools to help you make your pictures look their finest--kinda like a stylist for your photos.

I'm a complete amateur when it comes to photography, so I lean heavily on editing. Not only to hide mistakes or make a moderately good picture great, but also to add an element of art to a image I like.

Picnik is embarrassingly easy to use. Just sign-up and start uploading your best pictures. I've put together this sample of some of the great things you can do using Picnik, again, because I'm super nice.

This is a picture taken outside It's a Small World at Disneyland.

Here it is cropped with Picnik's Editing feature. Doesn't she look pretty?

Now here it is with the "Cross Process" Feature applied.

Now let's see her with the "Holga-ish" Feature applied.

One of my favorites, the nostalgic "1960's Feature" applied. Just takes you back, doesn't it?

Now slap on a frame and some text.

Here is a collage made with four different pictures taken at Disneyland

Picnik really is this easy to use. It makes photo editing...well, a picnic.

You can go to Picnik here and get started.