B + I just came back from a cruise with his family. There were 14 of us in the Smith family crew, and the ship sailed from San Diego to Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. This was our first cruise, and the first thing I can say about it is that we probably gained five pounds in 8 days. It was pretty nice to be in warm weather, and to be swimming in the ocean in the middle of December. What a way to end the year. Which reminds me… Happy New Year everyone!!

here are some pics from the cruise….

This is the second tallest Lighthouse in the world. It’s located in Puerto Vallarta, and we climbed to the top. I may not look like it, but I was exhausted.

This is Lovers/Divorce Beach at Cabo, San Lucas. About mid 80’s, sunny, clear, and the water was great. It was a good day.

Apparently, they have formal nights on cruises. So B + I had to clean up our acts.

For my good friend, J, we went out to dinner last Friday at the *Wood Tavern* on College Avenue. It would be a good idea to make reservations for this place if you want to go. The wait staff was excellent, and the food was good too. I had the chicken that night, but a part of me wished that I ordered the Seafood Stew. Luckily, L let me have some, and I ate most of the octopus that she didn’t want. The picture is of the birthday cake that L got for the birfday girl. The cake place decorated the cake to match one of J’s illustrations. It was BEAUTIFUL, but let me tell you, not that hard to eat. I love cake.

Anyway, check out the Wood Tavern if you have some dough to blow, and you want to go out on a fun date. Beware though, it ain’t intimate…. it is lOuD!

Some friends of mine had a studio sale yesterday, and turned out to be a huge event! Each designer is so talented, and on top of that, they are super nice and genuine people. I’ve met a lot of people in this crazy industry, and sometimes, it’s just difficult to find people who are nice…. or to even find people who have common manners to carry on a decent conversation or a simple, “hello.” So, these gals are a breath of fresh air to me, and they also have talented minds.

Unfortunately, the studio space was too small for the event, and I stopped counting after a few hundred. But, it was fun and exciting to see so many people come through. Congrats to all the designers at the 9th Street *Wish List* event!!!

(I will post some pics up soon!!)
well, here’s the pics that I dug up. There weren’t that many, but here’s a few…

Sometimes, even at my age and my experience, I wonder if I will really be using my music degree. Most of the time, I know that I will, but sometimes, I wonder. I guess it is all the pre-jitters of graduating from grad school. I get these feelings mostly from how the rest of the nation views music. Every time I see the VH1 Save the Music commercial, I am happy at the fact that maybe someone cares, but sad at the fact that our kids music programs suck. It’s always the first one to be downsized, or even obliterated. So, what if we could actually go on strike? This means….

+No music in stores. When you’re shopping for that perfect dress, it’ll be in silence, babe.

+No music in movies. Yeah, that scary movie ain’t so scary no mo’.

+No music on the radio. When you’re stuck in traffic on the Bay Bridge, and you’ve had two cups of coffee and a bran muffin, you can’t distract yourself with the radio.

+No music on TV. Actually, maybe people will watch less TV, which might not be so bad. But just think, no opening music,
Emeril will have to say ‘goodbye’ to his band, no J-Lo, no theme music, no nothing.

+No music at school. No band at the football games, pep rally’s, graduation. Silence at prom, assmeblies, and plays.

+No music at work. Take off your stupid headphones… not allowed. Turn off that stereo. Corporations will have to do all their boring ass presentations without music. Oh yeah, and how PRODUCTIVE will any worker be if music didn’t exist? Healthy minds = productivity. It’s simple psychology people, not rocket science.

+No music for kids. No toys that play music. No singing dolls. Turn off that jingle thingy. Oh yeah, and that rattle is just maraca in a different form, so give it back, kid. No lullabies. And remember, that TV won’t have music either. Shrek and Blues Clues will just have to make it without music.

+No music for holidays. Christmas would be a little less jolly.

+No music in church. Sorry, can’t sing or play anything here either.

Well, you get my drift. Lot’s of people say to me, “I don’t know a thing about music.” Yet, they listen to it ALL the time. It is always ON. If it were gone, people would then notice. It’s too bad that this couldn’t happen though, because this would be the statement of a lifetime. Hmmm… but maybe….. ok folks!!, give me your IPods, stereos, movies, TV’s, radios in your cars, cd players, cd’s, laptops and computers (bc they play music too), toys, records, turntables, walkman’s, tapes, and instruments!!!

and let’s see how you and your children fare.