"ANOTHER birthday?! Whaaa...?!"

Well, you have not aged A DAY!!!

Hope you have a WONDERFUL day today, Honey. xoxoxo

SHINGLES!

Okay, so, last month, I had this gawd-awful "skin rash". I thought it was acne. Why? I dunno. I guess I think every weird thing on my face is acne.

Here -- check it out. This is after about 3 weeks. The pic does not do it justice. The things were like little wounds. And they did a thing that medical books call "weeping". I think the less said about that, the better.



So like I said, about 3 weeks in, I started realizing, this stuff HURTS, and it's not acting like acne. But it was right around Christmas, so I couldn't go to the doctor. I thought, well, I should at least snap a pic, so I can rap with him about it later, in case it turns out to be some sort of Lupus-y thing. (I haven't been diagnosed with Lupus, but I have some of the blood markers for it, and some odd health issues, as y'all know, so I keep my eyes peeled for stuff that could be Lupus-related.)

So yesterday, I finally get around to seeing my Doc. I show him the pic. He asks me several questions, to which I answer in the affirmative. Then he proclaims, "It was shingles."

Well, you coulda knocked me over with a feather. I dunno why it didn't occur to me, cuz I know shingles are kind of a big health issue right now, and I knew I could get it since I've had chickenpox. I guess I didn't think I'd get it on my FACE. People I know who've had it have found it quite debilitating; but I apparently "lucked out" and got a mild case.

Yeah, try telling that to MY FACE.

Sunday in Balboa Park

Today, we wanted to take the pup on a nice walk. The dog parks are all still too MUDDY to dare go there! So we decided on Lake Balboa -- there's a nice path all the way around the lake. We thought Kelsey would enjoy the change of scenery and the ducks! It was lovely.

MAMIE. VAN. DOREN.

'Nuff said.

Visit Ms. VanDoren's website here, or follow her on Twitter!

Tattoo number... 3 1/2???

Well, I can't really call this tattoo #4, because it's not. It's a revision of tatt #2, seen here when it was new:


For whatever reason, I became dissatisfied with this little beauty. Her colors faded, and she got... dull and boring. Like me! BWHAHAHAHHAH! Kidding! Anyhoo, I started thinking about what I might do to perk her up.

I'd long been wanting to add a Celtic tattoo to my collection of body art, but had never hit on anything I really liked. Then one day one of my Twitter peeps posted his new body art, which as I recall was some sort of initials. The font was so beautiful, and it was so nicely done, I began to think about textual tattoos. It wasn't long before I moved from that, to the idea of putting a Gaelic word on my Irish self!



Little did I know, coming up with the right word would be among the hardest things (the font being the second hardest). First I had to think of what I might want to say, then find out how to say it in Gaelic! And, y'know, some Gaelic words are pretty nutty! They're either long, or don't translate directly, or sound bizarre to the American ear.

So, after much back and forth with my kind Irish peep Martin, I finally settled on the word you see here. It means, "change". I thought it went nicely with the butterfly image.

Then, the day before I was due to go to my tattoo shop Yoni, I started thinking, hmmmm... This re-design needs a little something beyond just the addition of the word. So I dropped in a rough sketch of a vine around the butterfly, and decided to see what my girl Julie could do with this concept. I knew she'd rock it, cuz that's how she does.



I grabbed mah best girl Donita, and off we went.


Here is the pre-tatt, after Julie had transferred the design onto my arm and around the existing butterfly. (At this point, you can wash it off and start over if you decide you're not gonna like it.) I already knew I'd love it!


Here I am, in the chair, while Julie works her magic!


And here it is right after completion, still smeary with ink!


Here it is, after one day of healing. It doesn't hurt at all anymore! And I adore it!

I finally made it.

After many months of dreaming, wishing, and longing, I am pleased to report that my dreams have turned to reality, and I have been included in the SexyPeople blog. HUZZAH! Thanks, Renzo! You RUUUULE.

I now join the ranks of such luminaries as Peter Mayhew and Wil Wheaton, and my delightful friends Gina, Lauren, and Trevor. So awesome!

A special thanks to Lauren, since she was the one who introduced me to SexyPeople to begin with.

Sunday in Silver Lake

Today was a beautiful, 75-degree day in the SoCal, so the fam and I opted to head over the hill to Silver Lake, where there is very little silver to speak of, and no lake at all.

One of our favorite stops in this part of town is Wacko, a nutty book/gift/toy/tchotchke shop, with the often magnificent La Luz de Jesus art gallery in the back. Today we saw some extremely awesome stuff in the art gallery by a fellow named George Thomas. Ev procured some fine wax lips at the candy counter, while Dad selected a book for his collection.

After this foray, we bopped up the street to the Goodwill. This is a most excellent Goodwill. If I'd had more time, I easily could've found a ton of awesome tops! They have lots of stuff, beautifully organized.

As always, I documented some of the more curious finds for your viewing pleasure...

I always look forward to sharing our outings with you, Gentle Reader, so thanks for joining us here at The Mixed-up Files!

Furlough Monday activities!

Ohhhh, furlough days. I'm supposed to hate you. I'm supposed to be incensed and resentful that I am forced to take days off from work, unpaid, due to the California budget crisis.

And yet, I don't hate you. I adore you. I don't know how I will live without you, once I am required to return to a normal work schedule.

I spent today's furlough day with Mr. Siegel, who took a day off from HIS job in order to kick around with me! We opted to do activities that The Boy hates, since he wasn't with us. Aren't we thoughtful?!

We decided to start the day with breakfast at DuPar's in Farmer's Market. Delish! From there, we ambled out into Farmer's Market and The Grove, where we enjoyed the wares and the people watching. Our final stop of the day was at one of our most favoritest stores -- Amoeba Records in Hollywood! (I don't have any pix of that cuz by then, my fone battery had died.)

All in all, it was an absolutely fabulous day. We love our boy, but grownup time is pretty awesome, too. ;-)

I have no idea what these signs mean.

That's not bacon I'm holding -- it's giant striped pasta. And, it's $23/bag.

Weird Merchandise

I like weird merchandise. Luckily, there's plenty of it in the world to encounter.