I was born on May 5th in the suburbs of Philadelphia far, far away from any Cinco de Mayo celebrations.  And even though Californians and Mexicans have been celebrating it since 1863, the year after the Mexican army defeated the French at the Battle of Puebla, I’d never heard of it until I moved to California in 1979.  And even after 30 years of living in Southern California, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a “display” set up in a grocery store like the one I saw in Gelson’s in Westlake Village.  It was set up where they have other holiday displays.  They do the pumpkin pie cans with other baking stuff starting in October, turkey pans and boxes of stuffing for Thanksgiving, stocking stuffers and candy canes for Christmas, noisemakers and champagne for New Year’s Eve, you get the idea right?  Well, I’m sure I’ve seen displays for Cinco de Mayo before, where the chips, salsa, margarita mixers and tequila are set out to entice shoppers to get “loco,” in the San Fernando Valley or maybe even at Jon’s in Simi Valley.  But I was quite surprised to find such a huge display in Whitelake Village, I mean Westlake Village and of all places, a Gelson’s.  But then again, Cinco de Mayo is a drinking holiday and we do live in the United States where Super Bowl Sunday has become as big of a holiday as Mother’s Day.  But I digress, I was actually excited to see the big “Cinco de Mayo” sign hanging down from the ceiling and recalled a time where I’d want to own that sign.  It would have gone rather nicely with the life-sized, cardboard, Mariachi player I used to own and hang up at my annual Cinco de Mayo parties. Continue Reading »

Christmas Lights

 Rainbows

(photo courtesy of  C.T. Bowens -but I think I was there (Moorpark, CA)

and Fireworks!

On Saturday, May 24th, I did something I’ve never done before, I went to Fry’s Electronics in the Valley. It felt like Christmas Eve because the parking lot was jammed full and the huge, warehouse store was filled with crazed people on the search for the latest technology and gadgets. I honestly don’t get it, beside the blank DVD’s I went in for, there’s nothing in that store I needed or even wanted. I found the nearest assistant, asked for guidance and got out of the way of the frenzied shoppers. Continue Reading »

“Laughing at the Christmas lights we remember from December.”

Let’s Go To Bed, by The Cure.

What a nice vacation! I didn’t work from Christmas Eve until the day after New Years Day. And Matthew was out of school until January 7th. Since I don’t work on Thursdays, my first week back was a short two-day work week. On our last Thursday together, Matthew and I slept in, hung out in our pajamas all morning and went out to lunch. A late lunch, we called “linner” at first until Matthew decided he really liked “dunch.” For our special “dunch,” we went to Red Lobster. Strangely, neither one of us ever ate there before. Even though we had halibut the previous night, we were still in the mood for fish. We went to the one on the corner of Vanowen and Fallbrook in West Hills for our end of vacation date. Matthew ordered Shrimp Linguini Alfredo and I ordered a salad. According to Matthew I apparently always get salad. Continue Reading »

Do You Know This Song?

It’s one of my favorite Christmas tunes, which must be played LOUDLY, so you can sing at the top of your lungs. It reminds me of big “glam” hair. And even though it came out several years before I worked in the music business, it brings me back to that time in my life, when I was a “rocker chick.” In college, I worked at Global Satellite Network, a radio syndication company that broadcast Rockline and other music shows. I met lots of rock bands and have glossy black and white photos with artists such as Aerosmith, David Bowie, Billy Idol, John “Cougar” Mellencamp and many more. It doesn’t matter how old this song is, or how old I am, whenever I hear it, I AM a “rocker chick” again. (I even sported a haircut like Martha Quinn’s) So join me in singing…Christmas Is The Time to Say I Love You!