other people's babies montage

this week i have had the pleasure of meeting these three new babies for the first time.


this is alexander harris guttell - son of one of my oldest friends, adam, and his wonderful wife, amy. alexander will turn one on january 8, 2009. he enjoys being read to, shaking maracas, and banging cymbals. we got to hang around together at adam's parents' house here in scottsdale.


this is ruby o'brien - she is the newest addition to my cousins corey and rebecca's family - she came home to arizona from ethiopia in september. we shared a delicious meal at carlos o'brien's. ruby's interests include picking up cheerios, splashing in the bath with her older sisters, and eating refried beans with sour cream. she will be one on february 2, 2009.


this is skylar rose mack - she is the daughter of my cousin nicole. skylar and her mom were passing through town on their way back home to new york and sat down for tea with me today. her hobbies include smiling, laughing, trying out her 2 new teeth, and traveling. she is seven months old.



this is my sister kim's cat, prince. i call him "prince charming" but ben calls him "ron". he is a real mischief maker - he enjoys biting, scratching, chasing his laser pointer, watching mtv and waiting for his mom to come home from work. for special occasions he will wear his bejeweled collar but he won't like it. he is about five months old.

arizona goings on

since we decided to spend almost my whole break here in arizona i've tried to have as normal a schedule as possible while still hanging around with the multitudes of family members who live here. liza and my mom hooked ben and me up with a one week pass to the YMCA so i have been going there every day in an attempt to counteract the extraordinary amount of eating that happens here.

the eating is really out of control - i attribute it to my parents' house main hangout area being the kitchen (with the bar counter and 3 stools) which is adjoining the big family room and tv watching area, game table and also the dining area and fireplace. it's pretty much the only room in the house where the family spends time. and guess what...that leads to eating, snacking, foraging, binging and all kind of other words for puttin' away the grub.

ben's grandma taught me how to play canasta over thanksgiving, and this trip ben taught my mom and liza - so we have had 2 nights in a row of after-dinner canasta mayhem. liza is a real game-player and my mom will do anything so it's been a lot of fun. they break out various crunchy snacks and we go to town.

but back to the YMCA - today was my third day of my membership week and second day of taking a group fitness class. yesterday i took "muscle conditioning" and though i was the second youngest person in the class, i was by no means the most in shape. these housewives and old ladies are intense! the one lady who seems to be a real regular (and looks like a total minnesotan with the permy frosted hair) is a bigger lady but she was using an 18 pound body bar and 10 pound dumbells. i have never even SEEN an 18 pound body bar!

today mo (my mom) joined me on a guest pass and we went to ZUMBA! (exclamation is part of the class name) - it's kind of a dance/aerobics hybrid with a latin flavor - it was a lot of fun and just about my level of choreography where i didn't get frustrated - with clippy music (the boots with the furrrrr) and an overall good time. the teacher was the youngest person in the class, and appeared to be 5 months preggers, but she was totally rockin it. the class was all women, i was probably the youngest student and there were ladies in their 70s in there shaking a leg. it was really cute. my mom said she almost peed in her pants from all of the jumping around.

in between all this excitement i have gotten together with friends and am seeting my friend from high school at 4pm today to meet his baby. mo and jeff have their 'Dancing with the Stars LIVE!' tonight so we'll probably be seeing ben's family again. we did not see them at all yesterday.

so that's about it for now. here are some pics from christmas of the entire gang at my parents' open house as well as the family photo we took. leah is in israel (she's fine - she called yesterday because a lot of the people on the trip with her got nervous calls from their parents).

Happy Brisket Eve

the best thing about working in the entertainment industry is that every single agency, production, studio, and casting office shuts down for two weeks over the holidays. which means for the past 10 years i've had the same "winter break" as all the school kids and that is just fine by me.

tomorrow ben and i are leaving for arizona - we're driving straight to his parents' house for BRISKET EVE which is a tradition his mom started a few years ago where she makes brisket for the whole lipson/kull/noel (ben's sister's family) crew. it's also her birthday (billie - ben's mom) tomorrow (and festivus!) so we kind of roll it all into one.

in observance of Brisket Eve - below is Maxine Peters' Sweet and Sour Brisket recipe from the Hasassah Cookbook (1972).



6 lb single brisket
2 onions, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c vinegar
1 c ketchup
1 c water
1 T salt
Freshly ground pepper

Place brisket in heavy skillet and brown on all sides. Add and brown onions
and garlic. Add remaining ingredients. Cook, covered, until meat is tender,
about 2 1/4 to 3 hours. Serves ten.

Now what ol' Maxine doesn't tell you is what "cook" means and at what temperature and in what type of vessel to do the cooking in. When we make it we double the sauce ingredients and cook the browned brisket in a covered stock pot on low-medium heat on the stovetop. But Maxine leaves it up to you - she's Sweet and Sour that way.

Happy Festivus and Happy Brisket Eve to you.

hair removal - one more time

other than cheese, hair removal is at the top of my favorite topics of discussion list. did anyone check out the MODERN MARVELS episode about cheese on the history channel? it was like an episode of UNWRAPPED mating with 3-2-1 CONTACT and giving birth to a perfect hour of tv.

today i experimented with two new forms of hair removal. the first, a little product called Smooth Away. yes i had seen it on tv. so have you. it's a pink thing you slide over your finger (that's what she said), kind of like a horse's curry comb. you supposedly rub in a circular motion (that's what she said) and your hair exits thanks to some magic discovered in europe. NOT SO! not only do i have all the hair i started with, but now my leg seems to be suffering from some kind of rugburn-cum-sandpaper abraisions. i will just put in the drawer with the rest of the garbage i bought after seeing on tv (luma tweeze, anyone?).

but for a truly effective method of hair removal, may i suggest ms. crystal rose of goo salon. this morning while visiting crunch gym for the first time since july, i watched a PINK video with the sound off and decided i needed to have the same hairdo. luckily crystal was available to work it out for me. i'm very pleased with her handiwork. now if she could land me a denim halter-top jumpsuit i would be forever in her debt.

Pink - New Music - More Music Videos

these pics are after a shower - no product involved. imagine with product.