Things

1. It's pumpkin spice latte season! How exciting! Of course, it was like 74 degrees at 8AM so I didn't get one, but HOOOO BOY that's one of my favorite things about fall.

2. Los Angeles is not my BFF. First of all, it's hotter than heck. Or maybe that's just my go-places-on-record-weather-days bad luck, but HOOOO BOY, it was hot. And smoky. And hot.



And Ben and Sarah think I'm the whiniest OMG IT'S HOT crybaby on the planet but let me tell you something about being a fat person sitting in the back seat of a rented Hyundai on a 100 degree day with a 100-pound person in the front seat controlling the air conditioning: IT IS NOT COMFORTABLE.

To any passers by it would have looked like I was craning my neck for a better view but no, I was craning my neck with the hope that maybe, perhaps, if I was lucky, a little smidge of the refrigerated air would maybe, perhaps, if I was lucky, reach my face.

3. But rest assured, Los Angeles, you are not without SOME redeeming qualities:

A. It's where Karate Kid was filmed:



(Note: The empty iced tea cup is in my hand because I couldn't risk leaving my precious, precious ice to melt in the car.)

B. It's full of celebrity glamour (*cough*):



C. Our hotel was sassy and offered equally sassy bathrobes:



D. Westwood is very cute with lots of very cute little houses and attractive people walking their very cute little dogs.

4. Speaking of attractive people, I had dinner with my BFF Grady last night:



He's quite the charmer.

In the great words of Ms Britney Spears: "Make sure you catch me from my good side; Pick one."

You know what's unfortunate about being 32?

Close up photos.

Don't get me wrong -- 32 is pretty great (all 2009-economy-related-things considered) and I wouldn't want to be 22 again but I just took a whole gang of self portraits with my phone and WHO IS THAT OLD, GRAY-HAIRED, WRINKLY, MASCULINE-LOOKING LADY WITH THE BAD HAIR!?!?!? I'm never wearing this sweater again.

My skin has definitely been looking less fresh in recent years but these close ups in flourescent light are not pretty and now I feel the same way I feel after looking at my skin in the magnifying mirror except without the knowledge that nooooooobody sees my skin at that magnification so if it looks okay at a normal distance, then it's okay. Because those pictures? I took them at arm's distance and plenty of people stand within arm's distance of me so plenty of people know that I look like an old, gray-haired, wrinkly, masculine-looking lady with bad hair. And that's not even counting the sitting-down-stomach-roll. Or the years-of-obesity-skin-sag.

I'm thinking I need to start looking for old men to date so they don't realize that I'm so old and haggard looking. Compared to a 75-year-old, I'll still be as fresh as a daisy.

And you know how they say that youth is wasted on the young? I totally get it, but because I'm still on the upswing of life (I hope), I probably only *think* I get it and that in 25 years I'll look back and tsk tsk for thinking that I could appreciate that thought at 32...which means that it's all downhill from here. Asthetically speaking, anyway.

Vanity aside, I expect the next 32 (dare I say 64?) years will be really awesome and way better than the first 32. Not to discount my childhood (and this is really sad and has me ALLLLLL choked up: the majority of years I will have spent with my parents), but the next 32 will surely be the years when I will watch my brothers have families, find someone to spend my life with, maybe have my own family. Those things are all supposed to be awesome so I'm looking forward to it but I'm kind of bummed that I'll have to do them all from under dry, tired-looking skin.

Things:

1. I hope I'm just experiencing the change-of-season skin freak out and that as soon as summer gets here I'll be looking as youthful and dewy as ever.

2. I hope that I do finally get around to losing eight million pounds so I can get my extra skin hacked off.

3. I can really feel the difference in my arm strength in recent months. All those push ups at boot camp are paying off because maaaaaaan, I can feel the toned muscles. Underneath all the fat. I want to say OMG FEEL MY GUNS but I can't because the gun feeler would have to get through all the fat and skin first and it wouldn't be very impressive at all...but BOY HOWDY, I can tell!

4. The downside to being 32 and single: Any man I date won't have been around to know me when I had youthful skin.

5. The upside to being 32 and single: Any man I date won't have had to put up with pain-in-the-ass 22-year-old Elizabeth Holt. He'll be MUCH happier with 32-year-old Elizabeth Holt. Assuming he can get over the saggy old lady thing.

6. As has been discussed in other forums lately, I spend too much time worrying about death. Not my actual death, actually, but mostly worrying about what would happen if I died tomorrow and didn't get a chance to do the breakfast dishes. OH, THE HORROR of people thinking I was dirty.

7. My All-Time #1 Fear: The deaths of my parents and brothers. And the PISSER is that unless I die first, I will eventually have to face this fear.

8. My #2 All-Time Fear: That I'll be alone when #7 happens. I know there will be friends and family there, but that's not what I mean.

9. DOWNERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR, I know. Here's a remedy:

Baby Grady helps my mom get back into baby-feeding practice:

It should be illegal to be this cute:

My friend CK is the sweetest. He sent me for-no-reason flowers...my favorite kind:

And truth be told, I surely do NOT want to look 17 again:

Baby Grady!

Joanie, one of my long-time partners in crime, had herself a BABY yesterday! It has been really difficult for me to really grasp that JOANIE will be someone's MOTHER and I'm still not all the way there, but HOT DOG, Baby Grady is CUTE AS ALL HELL.

(And for the record, I think she'll be an awesome, fun mom so it's not that I'm having trouble with the Mommy Joanie concept because I think she'll suck at it AT ALL...it's just that when you've done some of your best good-time-having with a person and then all of a sudden she becomes a mom, it's difficult to wrap your head around the whole thing.)

And even though Grady isn't MY baby, I couldn't be prouder of him! He's just a ball of LOVE and I can't wait to see him grow up and be someone fantastic. And because I'm so proud of him, I HAVE TO post some pictures!



Isn't he just PERFECT??

And look how funny he is when he's mad:



Please forgive the blurrrrrr. I was trying to shush him *and* take a camera phone picture and baby shushing = movement = blur. But the old man face is just too cute not to share.

And just to prove that I was there:



YAYAYAAYAYAYAYAAYAYAYAYAYAYAAYAYAYAYAYAYAAYAYAY BABY GRADY!