Lots of yays (and one downer)

akscully! I have received your mix tape! <3 I can see it was made with love and a lot of insanity. It might have been more impressive if you'd written XQ's entire letter and announced, "Classmate Sarea, I like you!" but still, it was quite wonderful as it was. I shall treasure it always. Where did you get the songs? Are they just from a couple different albums, or are they all different? Sometimes I feel like I recognize the melody from a soundtrack or something, and then I realize that while it's familiar, it's not exactly the same.

I woke up several times in the night thinking about how tragic Natasha Richardson's death was ... I must've been thinking about it unconsciously all night. :/

I've gotten my April issue of Gourmet. I already have a method. I flip through the whole thing once, and read things here or there that catch my attention right away. Then I go through it again and read the stuff that I've bookmarked in my head as being interesting. Then I read through it a few more times more thoroughly, and catch all the stuff I've missed. It's been a long, long time since I read any magazine so avidly. I think the last time was when I was 14 and reading Seventeen magazine. I love how clean the magazine is -- at least on the subscriber copy. None of the big headlines trying to grab your attention as the checkstand versions have. I saw the cover of this issue and immediately started drooling and planning for when strawberries would be in season. I must share... ( Don't sue me, Gourmet. )

corianderstem and I went to Crush for dinner last night, and I must say, it lived up to its reputation. It was one of those fancy places that bring you a little "chair" for your purse. Given that our expectations (well, mine at least) were fairly high, it's kind of amazing that it was able to live up to them. I really, really wish I'd brought my camera. We were seated in a fairly secluded area where waitstaff wasn't passing by constantly (I'm less concerned about other patrons seeing me photograph food than servers), and the food was beautifully prepared. The restaurant is in a remodeled old home -- the restroom even had a bathtub in it! Speaking of the restroom, we both fell in love with the awesome soap they had -- La Compagnie de Provence - Liquid Marseilles Soap - Olive & Lavender. I may need to actually get it. Edit: I totally bought it, and also am trying their grapefruit version.

As for the menu... ( What we had... )

My dad has found a promising property. I may actually have photos and more details to share soon!