this is what i did today. today today.

my car died in center lane of the middle of busy street in NE as a motorcyclist yelled at me, "you ran a red light!". i totally DID NOT. it was yellow. and no, i did not run out of gas. this time it was something that isn't my fault. i don't think...

anyway, super inconvenient! a nice cop pulled over & pushed us & talked stories about hawaii instead of giving me the three tickets i could have gotten. thank you, mr. po po!!! "he's strong!" lili said.

i sat in the illegal spot for a while calling megan to tell her i was gonna be late & kris to try to get some advice. he doesn't answer any of my fifteen calls. lili says, "call wayne." random! she's only met him once.

i wasn't sure how i was going to get myself out of this mess so i grabbed my st. christopher coin & my st. anthony necklace & was like, "hi, guys, um, i'm traveling & things are not going well & i need some help. could you please help me?" instantly, a random guy came to push us from no parking to parking-ok-here-area. as he pushed, he said, "my pants are falling down!" lol. thanks, dude! that was super helpful. "wow, he's super strong!" lili said.

so lili & i started walking to the skatepark to meet megan. she drove to meet us & toted us the rest of the way. lili practiced on the little ramp until her leg hurt. then we went to patina for fun. as lili and megan shopped, i went to sebastian joe's for the world's best cold press.

a friend called me & said he wanted to skate too, so came to meet us. i texted another cool friend cuz he lives across the street. he & his wife came to hang with us too. who knew david pearson skateboarded?! i do now.

so we watched everyone fall off their skateboards doing tricks for a while & that was fun. megan cringed a lot. the two boys & lili shared their boards with some other little kids with no boards at the park. that was sweet but i could tell all three of 'em wanted their boards back! the guys taught the kids how to do tricks. well, they tried anyway.

when it was time to leave, we went to check on the car. it started! hip hop hooray!!! please make it home, please make it home, please make it home, i promise i'll fix you tomorrow.... my friend stayed on call for us in case we didn't make it. thanks, fella!

as i pulled into the parking garage, my car died again. thank you sooooo much for making it this far! i love it! i appreciate it! thank you to all of my angels & guides that are looking after me. please make it into the stall, please make it into the stall..... oh well, that's close enough. "lili, steer. i'll push." lili, "mimi, you cannot push this car!" me, "lili, steer! hurry up!" i pushed it like ten feet into the stall. good job me. "wow, mimi, you're strong too! how heavy are cars?" me, "they're pretty heavy. yea, i am strong." ;)

ok, car, you're going to hang out here until tomorrow morning and i'll deal with you then. please rest so you can try to start and make it across the street to be fixed since none of my friends responded to my request to borrow their tow truck.

we walk into the condo to see kris looking at a magazine. super. me, "where have you been? i've been trying to call you for five hours!" kris, "my phone's dead." me, "well so is the car." lili & i exchange glances. she had just finished telling me she's sure he had a good reason. as i wonder why - if his phone is right there and the cord is right there - he couldn't charge his phone, i remember brooklyn's at her bff's house and i was supposed to get her over an hour ago.

so lili and i walk. it's not far, it's like five blocks...

so when we left the house originally, brooklyn takes two big bags full of stuff. "brooklyn, what's in those bags? what are you doing?" brooklyn, "toys and stuff." me, "doesn't julia have toys at her house?" brooklyn laughs as if my question is ridiculous, "yea!" me, "well then do you really feel it's necessary to bring all that stuff?" brooklyn, "yes, i do." me, "ok, come on."

and when we pick up brooklyn, she has completely changed all of her clothes. i recognize the sweater but nothing else. "are those julia's clothes?" brooklyn, "no, they're mine." me, "you had a bunch of clothes stuffed in those bags too?" brooklyn, "uh huh." ok, whatever, let's go...

guess who has to carry the bags? nbd when they were in the car on the way there but carrying them home was not fun!

so, we go home to drop off the bags but really we're on our way to lund's for dinner stuffs. brooklyn decides she doesn't want to go, which is good cuz she's slow & she'd totally hold us back. we go inside, lili runs upstairs for something & brooklyn says, "so i have to stay home alone?" lili, "of course not, krissy's here." so brooklyn settles in on the couch trying to open this gross soda pop flavored candy lili gave her.

lili and i get a few blocks away. there's a guy walking towards us. i think, "that guy looks cute." yes, these are the things i think when i'm walking around. he gets closer. me, "is that krissy?!" lili, "YES!' we both bust out laughing. we thought he was at home. brooklyn's there alone. we wonder if she knows or if she's just hanging on the couch. krissy agrees to hurry home. i call him to see if she's alright. of course his phone is on now. she didn't notice him walk in the door.

we're around the corner from the store, passing raku, a cool new sushi joint. wayne's the bar manager there. he sees us and comes outside. lili tells him about our adventures in one breath. he's sweet and gives us lots of hugs. we're on our way...

i'm not trying to make some gourmet dinner tonight. lili decided on chicken nuggets & sweet potato fries with sriracha mayo. brilliant. and i also buy a loaf of bread cuz we're out. i stuff the stuff in my handbag because i of course do not remember my shopping bag. the bread doesn't fit so lili carries it for me. "look at my baby," she says while holding it lovingly in her arms. we walk towards home.

as we pass raku, we put our faces to the glass to smile and wave at wayne-o bueno. he tells us to come in & pull up a bar stool. don't mind if we do.... lili plops the loaf of bread down on the bar. i feel like we look slightly silly because of the bread. lili picked out cottage bread and it has a flourescent orange $1.99 sticker on it.

wayne's a darling. he's squeezing fresh orange juice on some fancy shmancy juicer that he brought home in his carry on from his last trip to italy. he's making me a cocktail and lili a "mocktail". love that. "mocktail." my children are already cosmopolitan for goodness sake. but anyway, how fabulous is that? he starts saying, "you probably are usually offered a kiddie cocktail. old school." as he's prepping, lili's like, "i think wayne's making me a new school kiddie cocktail." cute.

our treats are presented in orange rings over ice. he mentions that he'd use crushed ice if he had a crusher. amazing and darling. i take photos cuz my life is fun. we sip em and he refills em when they're low. at the end, you're supposed to squeeze the orange so all the juice comes out. i forgot that but lili reminded me when i didn't do it.

i'm sure brooklyn's starving so we have to skedaddle.

and now i'm safely at home. we wrapped up a gorgeous sunday funday with lost reruns while eating our lazy people's food on the couch and exchanging back rubs.

i love my wild and precious life.

this is the food i like

i know you wanna know so...


i really love avocados.

and perfectly ripe mangoes.

and heirloom tomatoes. with fresh basil, fresh mozz & really good EVOO.

and papaya.

and poke.

and MOCHI! especially pumpkin mochi or the chocolate truffle kind that i don't know how to make. or the ones with strawberries. or the peanut butter-mint.

i also have a thing for the egg salad sandwich at the bean.

and of course their blended white chocolate coffee. yes, that's food.

acai bowls with granola & bananas.

i like honey.

the popovers & papaya butter at mariposa. with the tiny cups of broth.

the crab salad at the wynn restaurant by the pool in vegas.

and the sliced steak at tropics.

all of the sushi at sensai

and the scallops misoyaki at aka saka.

beet salad and lobster risotto or whatever it's called at 2021. and the little spicy ahi sesame cones. and that salmon on tiny pancakes. and the amous bouche spicy string beans.

garlic fried rice, honey shrimp, hot & sour soup at little village.

tomato shabu shabu with lots of junk in it at home sweet home cafe.

gyro salad from the falafel king.

curried tuna salad with chickpeas and italian parsley in romaine wraps.

the blue crab stuffed sashimi calamari at sasabune.

the green curry with seafood at the thai place on waialae, what's it called? and the long rice soup.

the gnocchi at town, especially the one with turnips. and the avocado & mango salad.

paella at palomino. oh, and their chop chop or the lamb shank on risotto with baby carrots and garlic cloves. or the rotis pork with fennel crust & braised fennel, celery & onions.

the racetrack dog or connecticut dog at the penguin and their sweet potato fries and their coleslaw.

sandwiches at james & jen's house.

honeynut cheerios and i like granola with greek yogurt & berries and i LOVE malt-o-meal and oatmeal.

i like cottage cheese with the fruit that comes in syrup, but not the canned kind, the good kind in the jar.

spicy shrimp truck shrimp with corn on the cob.

chicken fingers and siracha-mayo.

potato-mac salad.

kalbi ribs.

kim chee.

key lime pie with a green tea latte at kincaid's.

beer something salad when they have it at sidestreet. sidestreet's pork chops, kalbi, yakisoba and fried rice.

french salad and ahi tartar and the daikon from bistro sun, when there was a bistro sun on king. and the beautiful rice. what was that one called again?!

manapua and shumai from 711.

my mom's calico beans, pot roast, chili, fried potatoes, cottage potatoes and any of her baked goods.

my grandma's (or my mom's since she can make it now - yay!) sauerkraut and dumplings.

my aunt elaine's monster cookies & friendship bread.

krissy & connie's meatballs & pork rib & homemade sauce.

connie's pasta with squid sauce, eggplant parmesan, st. joseph's day dinner beans and pizzelles.

anything made with love is my favorite.

i really like bacon, too. i don't think bacon is made with love though.

you know what i really, really like? vosges bacon milk dark chocolate candy bar.

b&j's makes the perfect ice cream - neopolitan dynamite, which is half cherry garcia and half chocolate fudge brownie. and guess what? YOU CANNOT GET IT IN MINNESOTA. lame.

and another thing i miss about hawaii... MENCHIES!!!!!

in minnesota,

lurcat's veggies: cauliflower, brussels sprouts, beets, squash - wow. i liked veggies before but now i wanna marry 'em!

lurcat's burgers and fries are probably the best out there.

d'amico kitchen's ahi with melon, avocado & lemon smear

d'amico kitchen's lobster gnocchi

masa, masa, masa - chicken tortilla soup, their salsas remind me of my grandma's chili, tres leches, cafe da olla - omg, their food is fantastic!

azteca in honolulu had hands down the best guacamole i've ever had (except my own, mine's like 99% avocados) and super delicious meat nachos and super delicious shrimp fajitas. they also had PITCHERS of patron. oh my!

i also really really like eggs. i make sandwiches out of them like my mom (because she makes everything into sandwiches) or scramble always with onion and my current favorite is red bell peppers, corn and rosemary.

k, i gotta go.

yea, so, did i miss anything? i'm hungry.