This is where Jonah and friend Tim Shey lived a few years ago...look at it now.

For those of you with cars...I'm certain this is worth the effort...if everyone were to do this...can you imagine just for a second? aaahhhh...would be amazing.

IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME DAY, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES.

AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OF OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.

THEREFORE

THURSDAY

SEPTEMBER 1st HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT UP THEIR BEHIND " DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THESE TWO NATIONS SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE THAT DAY.

Thanks to my friend Katy Oliver for this reminder!!

Thanks to my buddy Mary Patterson for this link!

We're thinking of vacationing in New Orleans for a few days...

Any recommendations on where to stay?

Any advice on what to see and what to avoid?

We've gotten amazingly cheap flights (who knew?) so we're psyched!

Here's the test: Which is cuter?

My sleeping Sparky?

Or my sleeping Uncle Robert?

* The OC, CA 08.05

I NYC

I'm the biggest flirt when it comes to the Empire State Building:

Clouds!! Are you trying to kill me with this pointilist pattern?!

Grace Church (who knew city search had a religion section?) on Broadway & 10th is magnificent. Swear to God.

Close up:

Close up with its bangs cut:

My (Rear Window) view from my living room.

View from my blog studio (desk):

I NYC

Update: This is a dream car - both because it's unaffordable to me and it's not the car I would get if I were ever to buy a car. I would buy the most environmentally friendly car available. There. This Jag is beautiful though isn't it?

AND IT IS!!!

The exact car I want:

The back side of this thing makes me want to...

start a wishlist of one.

* Santa Barbara, CA 08.05.

I mean it.

JUST KIDDING!

Here she is!! After three years in hiding, we've brought her out to say, "Who knew that I, a Chinese & Irish mutt and Jonah, a Jewish-Italian concoction would produce such an Asian looking child!!"

Here's my proud brother (why is my brother so much darker than me? Mommy! What happened?!):

* Newport Beach, CA 08.05 with Shuri Yoshida, my godbrother's very very cute daughter.

Lobster claw:

and grilled cheese sandwiches garnished with potato chip shards:

* Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket 07.05.

I've gotta say that having gotten used to Huffington Post without ads I was worried about my reaction to the new site which would include ads...it turns out the site still looks quite good! The ads aren't too invasive and there are nice features that were added for improved usability. Check it out!

Also, this Cindy Sheehan thing is pretty amazing...pretty cool to read history in the making!

You never get far in life by just sitting back so I say an oldie but a goodie from my good ole cheerleading days, "Be Agressive! B-E Aggressive, say B-E A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E, Be Aggressive...Ahh-ggressive!!"

Words cannot even begin to describe my intolerance for this guy, this wrongly titled organization Focus on the Family - Focus on Your Child and for those who share this twisted and damaging ideology.

CATCH your child's homosexuality...BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

* via Huffington Post.

Bar Notegen is a great little bohemian (whatever that means) cafe nestled between fancier establishments on Via Babuino in Rome (just a stone's throw away from the Spanish Steps). Back in the day such fantastic people as Giulietta Masina (my fave actress) and husband Federico Fellini hung out there. For now, there simply hangs a cool photo of the couple. It's one of my favorite images. So glamorous, so sweet.

* Roma, Italy 07.05

Soba Koh is a delightful new soba restaurant on 5th St. btw 2nd & 1st Aves.

Rolling it:

Cutting it:

You can see the soba maker if you go for brunch:

Here's a cold soba dish for dinner:

And a warm one:

~slurp, slurp~

Update: Is Mariah Carey becoming a Norma Desmond? According to an anonymous source (who heard from a friend of a friend of a friend), it appears so! While it's not (yet) her butler feeding her delusions by writing her fan mail, it's her entourage replacing her size 10 or 12 tags with size 6 tags! Is it wrong to be bigger than a size 6? Of course not! Is it wrong to live or facilitate a delusional life? Never! It's just really creepy.

I've always loved Mariah so I'm profoundly relieved to see that my new sister in law has come around to appreciating her...finally...

It's nothing but Mariah, Mariah, Mariah from here on out, Chels!!!

BTW, half of the rest of the album is good too...For my first venture back into cd purchasing since 1999 I feel that a CD that yields 50% solid results is pretty satisfactory. Truth is that I was (am) so obsessed with Track 2: We Belong Together that I listened to that over and over and over and occassionally got around to Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5 (Snoop's voice is like a warm blankie during an anxiety attack), 6 and 7 (Jermaine Dupri gets an A+ for enthusiasm!) and they're also good! But don't worry! Will brave exposure to the second half of the album soon...exhaustive updates to follow

As for her transition, we can all be happy for it!

2003:

2005:

This clip is funny. Check it out.

There's our favorite fraudulent president!

Arianna doesn't beat around the bush:

Talking points:

Thanks to my friend Bendan 'Turtle' Turrill for this!

Sometimes when you're sitting in the courtyard of your honeymoon hotel, sipping on wine and relaxing, a bird lands on the empty chair next to you and takes a dump.

* Hotel de Russie, Rome, Italy 07.05

** Posted via sidekick while driving south on the 405.

I knew it! It was only a matter of time until THE TRUTH came out.

via Huffington Post.

* posted while standing in line at Swan Oyster Depot in San Francisco.

The Vatican:

* posted via sidekick from Oakland Airport

Alcohol helps you think!

I do however turn to the side and raise an eyebrow about the fact that this study was conducted by Aussies.

* via Huffington Post.

We've been married almost a month now and I've noticed Jonah doing this curious act during meals!

Should I be worried?

* Rome, Italy 07.05

...yielded a big fat TV Guide sitting in front of someone's mailbox because it was too big to fit in the box. There's something really depressing about someone subscribing to TV Guide. It can only mean that you're really really into TV right?

This is a movie worth seeing...check out the trailers!

After this movie and key lime pie and espresso, we went home and I krumped for Jonah. No really. It's best not to imagine it.

After you see it, let me know if you're more into clowning or krumping...this choice speaks volumes.

This was a rare moment for us - walking in the Vatican. Most of the time we were speeding around in a golf cart with a giant American flag soaring from it.

The Vatican is kind of amazing:

Be careful - If you don't wear sunglasses you'll look like Jonah. If you wear sunglasses (that look like welding glasses) you'll look like me (a welder):

Clouds really add a lot, don't they? I'm into clouds!

Shiny (me), happy people outside St. Peter's Basilica:

And we're in!! Although I don't always make it into my signature 'take it myself' shots.

Oh, there we both are! My armpit area is feeling a bit overexposed and shy though!

We're under the Oculus in St. Peter's which our tour guide Jason described as being large enough to fit the Statue of Liberty in! When a rogue tour participant asked Jason if that included the base of the Statue of Liberty, he quietly replied, "well, no".

Poor Jonah really gets roped into me paparazzing us, doesn't he?!

The woman on the left with an umbrella open must be a Chinese relative of mine.

Look at our tour guide go! Can you guess what he's explaining? The big kahuna...the Sistine Chapel!

Jonah is the pious-est. He's having a moment of worship for the gold plated ceiling:

Who does this statue resemble??? Look more closely...Bill Clinton!!

This was our tour guide's favorite thing in all of the Vatican. This reddish, purplish bowl was used as a huge eating bowl, filled with tons of food that debaucharous Romans (love 'em) climbed into and feasted in. Then they went to the vomitorium to create more room to eat and drink and be merry! Yay!!...but that's not what he loved. He loved the reddish, purplish marble that the bowl is made of because according to him, it's incredibly rare, the Vatican owns 80% of the world's supply and therefore it's worth millions or billions.

This one's for the parents!

The End:

BTW, guided tours are great and so is the Vatican...having been there twice now...I'd go back for more!

Stay tuned for a Swiss Guard post...it'll be hot!