On Life in Summerland...

We moved to Summerland, CA in April, and I can definitely say it's one of the best moves I've ever made.

I first fell in love with Summerland my freshman year at Westmont when I was introduced to The French Bulldog coffee shop by a TA from one of my classes. While we were having coffee, she shared with me her love for Summerland saying, "If I stay here after graduation, I want to live in Summerland. It's just not as much of a scene as Santa Barbara." Given that I had only lived in Santa Barbara for a few months at the time of this conversation, I really didn't know what she was talking about. I nodded and smiled anyway, and did agree that Summerland was super adorable.

Five years later I can fully concur that Summerland is not as much of a scene as Santa Barbara, and in the best way possible. If I were to personify the two cities I would say that Santa Barbara is a young woman at the height of her career and popularity, you know the type: 30, flirty and fun. Santa Barbara plays hard, dining and dancing. Summerland, on the other hand, is Santa Barbara's great aunt who lives next door. Santa Barbara loves to go next door to curl up on Summerland's couch with an afghan and a cup of tea. Summerland is always there for relaxation, comfort, and peace. Summerland brings a homey balance to Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara appreciates Summerland for her charm. Every once in a while, when Summerland wants to kick up her heels, she's so thankful that she lives right next door to Santa Barbara.

I am thankful that I live right next door to Santa Barbara, because I do love to kick up my heels, but I also love the small town charm of Summerland. I love walking my dog to the post office to get my mail, and greeting the postmistress by name. I love Friday evenings at Summerland Winery, chatting with other locals. I love Cafe Luna (previously the French Bulldog), the small town coffee shop filled with quirky art and quirky people. However, I'm especially filled with love for Summerland today because of the Summerland Beach Cafe. It's true they have delicious food, excellent coffee and a delightfully small town aesthetic, but my love today comes from none of those things. Today the owner of the Beach Cafe showed up at my doorstep. I looked out my window at his familiar smiling face, and he stretched out his arm to present me with my debit card.

I'd been looking for my debit card for three days. I can only assume I dropped it in the parking lot of the Beach Cafe as I was walking home from the post office on Friday afternoon. Someone must have picked it up from the parking lot and taken it inside. I still can't believe it was delivered directly to my doorstep! Of course, I live less than a block from the beach cafe... but still, that's great small town service.

On the Bare Legs of the First Lady...

That's right, the bare, uncovered, completely exposed legs of the First Lady. Yes, she showed them to the public in... SHORTS! How dare First Lady Michelle Obama wear shorts, in the summer of all times? How completely unacceptable. Everyone knows that people, especially those in political positions, never get hot, or need to be comfortable when they are in places like Phoenix, or the Grand Canyon, or in her own front yard!

Ok, but let's be serious. Michelle Obama has now been spotted in shorts on several occasions. In fact, this is not the first time she has "pushed the envelope". She did wear a sleeveless dresses in February, which as we all know caused quite a scandal. However, let's not forget that our First Lady style icon, Jackie Kennedy also wore sleeveless dresses:

However, it's not the sleeveless dress or the shorts that are the issue for me. The fact that I was even able to do a search and find that photo of Jacqueline Kennedy in a sleeveless dress in under 30 seconds is appalling. Do we really care that much? Were people freaking out when they saw President Barack Obama in jeans? Or for that matter, with his shirt off? We all know that picture! It was everywhere, but no one said he was "pushing the envelope".


Here's the deal, it is 2009. Women wear shorts, especially when they are hiking, coming back from a hike, or walking their dogs. The First Lady is not an exception to that rule. She didn't wear shorts when she was at an inaugural event or when having tea with the queen. Her desire to wear shorts was completely acceptable, and it doesn't matter what her legs look like. For some reason, there are a number of articles and opinion polls and tweets that claim it ok for the First Lady to have bare arms or legs because they "look great" or "are gorgeous". I'm sorry, is that relevant? She's an adult woman, can't she wear a normal piece of clothing without the public commenting on it or comparing her to others? She doesn't need us, the American people, to approve her very normal clothing options. I would hope we have better things to discuss*.

*Obviously I kind of don't since this is my first blog post in 2 months... but still... I have to break the fast with something.

On Michael Jackson...

I remember the day I learned to moonwalk like it was yesterday. I was 12 and my dance teacher, Anthony, an MJ fanatic, had incorporated the moonwalk into our routine for that particular class. We took off our dance shoes, and did our best to press the balls of our sock-clad feet into the floor, trying to be as Michael-like as a group of little 12 year old girls could.

Because dance was such an influential and formative aspect of my life, Michael Jackson was also a formative part of my life. As I went on to be Anthony's assistant for all of his Saturday dance classes throughout high school, I listened to Michael Jackson pretty much all Saturday, every Saturday for nearly 4 years.

I've been a fan of the classics, Thriller, Bad, Blood on the Dance Floor, Billie Jean... but the album that really conjurs up the most memories is the most recent, Invicible. Released October 2001, Unbreakable, 2000 Watts, and You Rock My World were the soundtrack of my sophomore year of high school. That same year a group of girlfriends and I did a dance to a collection of Michael Jackson songs (one of the MANY Michael mixes we made over the 4 years) for our school talent show. The main song in the dance was Morphine (unedited!SHOCK!)... and to this day remains one of my funnest memories.


I could go on and on about the impact Michael Jackson and his music have had on my life. I could write the memories for hours, but I won't. We all have our own MJ memories, the songs that meant something to us, what we were doing when we first heard Thriller, and so on. For so many of us though, we will also remember today, the day he died, and how we felt when we heard about it.

Although controversy has surrounded his most recent years of life, the positive contributions he's made to music, dance and the performing arts has been unparalleled. Thank you for the music and the memories, Michael.

On the hills of Santa Barbara...

A fire is blazing in Santa Barbara - again. There are consequences for the delightfully warm, rainless weather we've had this year.

As the hills of Santa Barbara are quickly consumed by flames, and helicopters water bomb from above - it good to see that the firefighters in my neighborhood have their priorities straight.



Yes - those are surfboards on the fire truck. However, this display seems consistent with their apparent "let it burn" philosophy down here in Summerland.

Let's hope the winds don't change, my insurance hasn't kicked in yet.

On a yoga mat... with my dog?

Is it just me, or does this dog look like he wishes he were having no part in this activity? Clearly he doesn't want to be sitting on his owner while she practices her wheel. If he did, the instructor wouldn't have to hold him there.

Doga, as this Yoga with Dogs (get it?) is called, was featured in today's New York Times. My dad sent me the article - in jest- suggesting that perhaps my dog, Lily, and I partake. Surprisingly enough, Doga is not yet being offered in Santa Barbara, although I'm sure it will be made available soon!

I love my dog, but I just can't see any joy in incorporating her into my athletic and relaxing practice. Furthermore, there is no way I could a)get her into any of the poses or b)get myself into any of the poses without her licking my face.

Obviously, though, some dogs are just born Dogis:

Doga Downward Facing Dog for Dogs -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

On the phone, and in my inbox, and in my text messages...

That's right. It's Google - again.

In my last post (from about a month ago - sorry), I shared how to be sassy with Google. I have still yet to be sassy with Google, but I'm fairly confident it will happen soon enough.

However, now I'm going to share how Google can slowly take over your life. Please note, although I am prone to exaggeration, this is actually not an exaggeration. I'm serious.

For starters, I Google nearly everything. I use Gmail. I use iGoogle, and Google Reader, and a Google calendar, and Google maps. I also get my weather updates via Google and my news updates via Google. I chat with my friends through Gchat and I video Gchat with my mother-in-law. So in case you couldn't tell, I've fully integrated Google into nearly my entire life... or should I say I've fully integrated my life into Google.

Well, now Google will be butting in just one step further with Google Voice. This is an integrated phone service that allows the user the need for only one phone number for all aspects of their life. They can have this one number forwarded to multiple phones simultaneously. For example, I could have my Google-phone-number-for-my-life forwarded to my landline for work and my cell phone. So if anyone called my Google-for-life phone number BOTH phones would ring.

Now, let's say, perchance, I am near neither phone when they are simultaneously ringing. In this case, I will receive a digital voice mail that can also be transcribed (if I choose) and sent to me via SMS text message or in a Google Voice Mailbox (which will SO be integrated with Gmail... even though they haven't said it will be yet). Also, I can have personalized voice mail recordings for different callers.

Of course, some people think this smells like world domination. But let's be honest here - this is a great tool and it will fit nicely into my Googlicious life.

On Google...

I'm sure you've all had the experience of having a family member or co-worker ask you a question that can easily be answered quickly and efficiently through a Google search. Of course these individuals asking the question have a computer, and know what Google is, yet still rely on you to provide them with the answers they need. I'm sure you know that this is annoying. Why can't they just google it themselves?

Well, I've had this happen to me on occasion (ok, a lot), and for this reason I was really excited to hear about letmegooglethatforyou.com. This sassy-pants website provides a link to the animated step-by-step process of how to google something, as well as providing the results to the search.

I have yet to use it, but I'm looking forward to the time when I can.