4/25/05 I'm an Auntie again, Passover, Festival of Books

[Blondie]

I'm an Auntie........again!!! One of my best friends just had her first baby on Friday. I am already an aunt twice over because I have an older sister, but I was too young when they were born to be at the hospital and be a part of it. This time I got the call at about 8am Friday morning that she was in the hospital. I went to school to turn in my essay and then cleared it with my TA to miss class and discussion and took off for Camarillo. I got there and we hung around until she had the baby at about 3:30 in the afternoon. She was pushing for an hour and a half!!!! I couldn't believe it. And we were allowed to stay with her right up until she started pushing. Little Derek Samuel is so flippin' cute! I will freely admit that I think most babies are ugly when they are infants, but this little bugger is just too cute for words and I couldn't be prouder to be his Auntie! It was such a privalege to be in the room too cuz I was the only person in there that wasn't a family member. These people are like family though and my friend and her sisters are like older sisters to me. I've known them for 15 years!! I just can't believe that. Life can be so incredibly amazing.

Later that day I ventured back to Los Angeles to go with Manu to his boss's birthday partay thing at this place called the Bungalow Club. First we went to dinner at Bossa Nova which was really nice. I got this huge salad that was just amazing. Then we headed to the bar and I really liked the vibe there. Very chill and laid back yet there was still music and people being loud and it was overall a really cool place. Bars in LA can be so yuppy sometimes but this was was pretty awesome. I even snuck in a little dance. It is ridiculous how much I love to dance. I need to hit a real club again sometime soon and get my groove on! Anyway, there were a bunch of Avidan's friends and family there which was cool. I get really shy around new people so I was pretty queit at first but as the night rolled on I became more comfortable.

Saturday I had to work...boo. But that evening I went with Ira to his Passover dinner (Seder). I am a Christian and he knows that, but he invited me for the cultural experience and to meet his family which was really nice. Once again I was a bit shy at first, but his whole family was just so nice that I couldn't help but feel comfortable and I had a really great time and it was a really great experience.

Sunday was the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books held at UCLA. Being a Lit major and all around book fanatic it is safe to say that I was really excited. And Manu went with me which was even better cuz I know I wouldn't have had nearly as much fun if he hadn't. I went to two panels, one with a bunch of female authors (Elizabeth Berg, Janet Fitch (white oleander), Lisa See, and Chitra Diakuni (totally spelled wrong)), and the second one was just T.C. Boyle talking about a new book of short stories he has coming out. He read an excerpt from one and a whole other story which were both really awesome. So afterward when I went to have my copy of The Tortilla Curtain signed I also picked up a book of his short stories and his novel Drop City which was a National Book Award finalist (see, I told ya I was a book nerd). I also picked up a signed copy of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and a First Edition of a recent Pulitzer prize winner called Gilead. Manu and I just walked around and checked out all the booths after the panels and that was fun cuz there were a lot of little book stores that were represented. We ran into one that had a first edition of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead going for 10,000 dollars!!

After we were done at the book festival we headed over to Ira's and took a trip to Costco where I proceeded to buy candy I didn't need for myself and my roomies. Then last night my roomie Michelle and I went to pick up her friend Matt from LAX and then headed out to Simi for an awesome dinner of tamales followed by chocolate cake with my parents. I did some laundry and visited with the 'rents which was nice cuz I hadn't talked to them hardly all week because I was wrapped up in writing an essay for my Brit Lit class. I didn't have much fun all week because of that stupid paper so I feel I deserved a weekend of fun. And one more highlight was that my Seatbelt bad arrived. It is a purse made out of seatbelts! They look so awesome and I have wanted one for over a year so I was really excited. Check out Harvey's Seatbelt Bags! if ya want to see pictures of what I'm talking about. I got a medium sized one in the gold color. Yay!

Tonight I am going to a Tori Amos concert so there will be more on that in my next post! I am so excited! This is probably my 3rd or 4th time seeing her. She is definitely one of my favs and I really like her new album so I am anxious to see her!