Okay, so I am not big at promoting myself, but my favorite newspaper did a feature story on me and it is quite impressive. I guess, when you are doing what you love, you forget about all lives you influence.
All the Nobel Peace Prize Winner say the same thing, “I was just doing what I love, which was helping other see what they are capable of.” I hope that I can help YOU see what YOU are capable of. And what YOU are capable of doing is AMAZING. Gosh, I did, so can YOU!
While waiting on standby in LAX last nite I learned that one can get a massage at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas! WOW. This is good info to know. Further reading led me to the fact that they have the first gym facility of its kind in a major airport. 24 Hour Fitness -with steam rooms, saunas, workout equipment, lockers and showers! Located on the Esplanade in Terminal 1 level 2- before going to any gates. 24 hours, Monday – Thursday 12 a.m. – 11 p.m., Friday 6 a.m. – 9 a.m., Saturday & Sunday
If anyone has been to it- please share your experience.
I am guessing 24 Hour Fitness members have already known this wonderful tidbit for sometime. They sell a range of day use packages that range from $15 and up with towels and workout wear if you need it.
Three years of building a company, a decade of traveling solo, two years of rewriting book after book, an endless stream of tears and hours of laughing have been condensed into 336 pages. In some ways, my book reminds me of a gravestone – there it is, all that I am, all that is passionate to me condensed into a small square.
Okay, that might have sounded morbid, but that was not my intention. It is amazing seeing all my hard work come together in such a small space. I am so excited that the book is written and now I get to do all the fun stuff, like plan my press parties, book signings, and see my face in the pages of numerous magazines and newspapers.
You can buy my book now, and because I am the author, I get to give out copies before the book hits the shelves! Unfortunately, you won’t get your book before January 10th, but that is a month sooner than Barnes and Noble! And, I’ll even sign it for you!
*A galley is the rough copy of a book. It is now typeset, but the editors at Penguin are still working diligently to make sure all my information is as correct as possible.
Hi again, we’re back! -Jordie and Redsie here. So sorry that on our last blog the letters came out in all crazy sizes. We-be NEW bloggers and we still have a few "issues" to resolve.
Cirque was TOTALLY AMAZING! http://www.pspavilion.com/site0806/index.shtml The international cast, or as they are referred to in the playbill, "The Dreamers transforming images from the depths of my imagination" were beyond our wildest dreams! Our fav’s were the Gumby-like contortionists whose inside-out pretzel moves had us "owwwwwwing" in pain! The whimsical jelly-belly colored costumes ranged from gygundous M&M human slinkys to "upside-down-which-end-is-up” whatchamacallits.
A coating of gold paint was all the STRONG men needed to show off their muscular moves. After watching this mesmerizing show our own dreams pale in comparision.
Our growling tummies quickly brought us back to earth but we still wanted to keep the dream alive. We were so glad that Redsie had made us reservations at Copleys of Palm Springs, http://palmsprings.com/dine/copleys/index.html which in another lifetime had been Cary Grant’s estate (we had rented the movie "Charade" to watch later so I’d know who the heck he even was but we never had time to watch it – too bad!) The food was absolutely deeeeeeeeeeelish! We decided that Chef/Owner Andrew Copley deserved a gold medal for the World’s best Caesar salad for adding smoked apple bacon and pineapple croutons to the mix. We weren’t even embarrassed when the next table stopped eating to watch us fork fight over the last bite of the heavenly lobster mash potatoes that sided the char-grilled beef fillet (like buttah). The hot apple crumble with vanillay home-made ice cream elicited oooooohs and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhs like we were still back at Cirque.
Our own journey continued the next day with the “The Greatest Show on Cable” as we boarded the Palm Springs Aerial Tramways http://www.pstramway.com/- from the desert floor to the top of the mountain in only 10 minutes.
This was better than any Disney ride because the special effects were real. We did two complete rotations (mom didn’t even puke) scaling up the side of the mountain through five ecosystems and arrived to a 30 degree colder wilderness.
We managed to get lost at least three times on our self guided hike. We stumbled on and off the trail, hollering out our discoveries: “Check this out. Don’t those tangled tree branches look just like Redsies’ hair in the morning?” Mom constantly kept nagging us not to get too close to the steep edges because if “we fall over she wasn’t coming to rescue us“. Then we happened upon the Jeffrey Pine tree, “Jeff”, who came with instructions to ‘smell him’…and he did smell just like a butterscotch sundae as described. We all cracked up as we sang the “Night at the Roxbury theme song” inviting our fellow hikers to hum along and soon the whole mountain was feeling the techno vibe.
Several shocking announcements swept through the IOC Summer 2016 Olympics Bid this month, the worst of which was a crushing blow to San Francisco’s bid because of their numbskull, stupid football team who was supposed to build a gorgeous new stadium in the city but has decided to relocate to a different county altogether instead.
As someone who wouldn’t have minded wandering out my front door to catch a few Olympic events, I scream, "IDIOTS!!" Not that I ever attended before, but I am certainly boycotting the local football team now, those Forty-Whiners…
Rob of Rob’s Olympic Bid Blog said he could, "…practically hear the frustrated sighs emanating from the United States Olympic Committee…"
In other news, the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku announced their desire for the ’16 bid this month. From the City By the Bay to Baku…thanks, Shorty-Niners. The final vote will be held in Copenhagen in October of 2009, and these cities will wait with baited breath:
Chicago, L.A. (our greedy ’84 Olympics host to the south), Dubai, Monterrey (Mexico), Madrid, Hamburg or Berlin, Rio, Rome, Tokyo, Tel Aviv, St. Petersburg, and the countries of Chile, Qatar, Argentina, India, Kenya, Netherlands, Portugal and Thailand.
Winter 2014 is down to 3 candidates: PyeongChang, South Korea, Salzburg, Austria, and Sochi, Russia, and those results will be announced next year, July 4, 2007, in Guatemala City.
And as I’m sure you know, Summer 2008 will be in Beijing, Vancouver hosts the Winter 2010 Games, and London will host in Summer 2012. And San Francisco? Hey, we got that World’s Fair in 1915, right?
If you want to buy something for this Prima Diva, this is where you can find it! And, what a perfect gift for your friends – we all love spas!
Here is what they promise:
WaySpa.com Launches Holiday Gift Guide
Our holiday gift guide is FILLED with amazing spa packages and gift certificates that are sure to excite any purchaser. Plus, our digital deliverable ensures customers can shop right up to the LAST MINUTE.
We are the only website that offers spa packages, individual spa services and spa gift certificates for sale in one location. Premium Hotel, Day, Resort and Destination Spas choose to sell their offerings on WaySpa.com due to our unsurpassed level of customer service, and convenient customer shopping process.
I’ll keep searching for great holiday specials darlings! And I am asking Santa for an hour Swedish massage.
Hi everybody! My name is Jordie and I am a 13 year old D.I.T (Diva-In-Training). My mom’s best friend is Janice, the Dining Diva, but I call her Redsie. She and my mom often go on girlfriend trips, leaving me behind which would make me sooooooo jealous.
On November 11, I celebrated my Bat Mitzvah.
http://www.jewfaq.org/barmitz.htm For anyone out there who doesn’t know what this is, it is when a Jewish girl or boy, at the age of 13 has a big ceremony in front of the whole congregation. This includes reading or chanting in Hebrew from the Torah and a Haftorah portion which takes MANY years of study. This is a HUGE deal in the Jewish religion because on the day of becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah you are considered an adult.
Our long time friend Celeste has finally acquired her 15 minutes of fame. She was bitten by a sea lion in the San Francisco Bay! She is an active swimmer with the local Dolphin Club and Monday morning she was bitten 6 times!
She was terrified but able to laugh it off. Since then over 14 swimmers have reported being bitten! See the article at SFGate
Just heard she is being interviewed on NPR as well!
Hi all…This is my very first blog as your Dining Diva and can you believe it’s not even about food?
I just saw a show that was totally mind-blowing and I want ed to tell you about it before it leaves town. It’s Marc Salem’s fabulous, spine-tingling, Duh-duh-duh-duh Twilight Zone humming, one-man show called Mind Games. It’s playing at San Francisco’s Post Street Theater through November 19, so don’t wait to get tickets, cuz the guy is simply amazing!
Salem (no connection to the Salem witch trials) is a rotund, professorial type, who actually holds two doctorates and has taught college, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies his techniques of non-verbal communication.He insists that he doesn’t deal in the occult or supernatural—rather he is just hypersensitive and very intuitive. (I can’t wait for the Mind Games book to come out next year, so I can tell when my boyfriend is lying to me.)
Ok- all that’s cool, but how the heck can he be blindfolded and call out 10 audience members by name and tell them where their last trip was. He even would add amusing little tips such as, “Marcia, might I suggest that next time you and your husband go on a romantic trip to Rio you leave your sister home”. (All true, gasp-gasp)
Or he would tape and blindfold his eyes, then have two volunteers (one sat next to me and I can promise you that No-Way was she a plant) collect personal artifacts from the audience and bring them up to him. He would quietly hold his hand two inches over the object “feeling the vibrations” and identify not only the item, but correctly name the owner and even offer suggestions such as “Susie, I really think you should stop using pink lip-gloss and try a deeper burgundy shade.”
He’d go on to correctly guess serial numbers on a dollar bill, make a subject’s watch go backwards an hour just by a wave of his hand, stop and start his pulse at will. One of his most amusing bits was called “”Five Liars” and I was selected as one of the “volunteers”. To tell you more would ruin it, but if you can figure out how he does it-puhleeze get back to me. I give Mind Games 4 forks up!
P.s. My dinner pick for after the show is Scala’s Bistro, for their yummy "black and blue" pizza. Extra credit points: their gorgeous new chef is as delicious as the food!
We were just introduced to Babes in the Back Country – operated by Leslie Ross (in photo) and based in Beckenridge Colorado! Babes in the Backcountry is dedicated to educating women in outdoor skills to enable them to become more knowledgeable, self reliant and confident in the backcountry. Check out the classlist and trip schedule to see if there is a fit for you!
We have coupons good for $10 off a class if you are a Tango Diva member. Thanks Alison!!
10 REASONS WHY TO TAKE A CLASS WITH THE BABES! To learn something new or travel to some place you’ve never been before! To become more self reliant in the backcountry through learning about avalanche safety techniques! To learn how to Telemark or improve your technique! To learn from the top female educators in their field! To meet other women backcountry enthusiasts! To experience a backcountry hut trip or winter camping! To try out new equipment! To ski untracked powder! To be a Backcountry Babe! To have a fun getaway!
Okay, so I am not big at promoting myself, but my favorite newspaper did a feature story on me and it is quite impressive. I guess, when you are doing what you love, you forget about all lives you influence. 
Our long time friend Celeste has finally acquired her 15 minutes of fame. She was bitten by a sea lion in the San Francisco Bay! She is an active swimmer with the local 
Hi all…This is my very first blog as your Dining Diva and can you believe it’s not even about food?
We were just introduced to 
