I was up at Tahoe this weekend, and – since I always prefer to keep Mr. Hercules with me given the choice, I set about looking for a cool dog friendly restaurant in South Lake Tahoe.  I found a great one!

First of all, if you’re not familiar with Lake Tahoe, permit me to school you.   It’s the most awesome place in the history of ever.  It’s so gorgeous!

Mark Twain wrote this about it in 1861:

“At last the lake burst upon us–a noble sheet of blue water lifted six thousand three hundred feet above the level of the sea, and walled in by a rim of snow-clad mountain peaks that towered aloft three thousand feet higher still! As it lay there with the shadows of the mountains brilliantly photographed upon its still surface, I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole world affords.”

The View from My Room in South Lake Tahoe

So, as I was driving around, I noticed that the Bear Beach Cafe on Highway 50 sets out tables on the lawn in front of the building, and I saw some people with dogs laying under their tables.  Excellent!  Views of the lake and hang time with my puppy?  No question!  It was time for me and Hercy to give it a try!

The Bear Beach Cafe in South Lake Tahoe

The first thing that struck me was how easy it was to get seated.  This sounds like a small thing, but you’d be surprised what a pain in the neck the logistics are at some places to get seating outside when you’re alone with a dog.  Well, at The Bear Beach Cafe, I simply walked in and asked the hostess if I could grab a table outside with my dog.  She said that would be no problem, and we settled on which table it would be.  I told her I was heading back to my car to get my dog – and what do you think I found when I arrived at the table just moments later?  A water bowl, all laid out for Hercules!

My Table at the Bear Beach Cafe, With Water Bowl Laid Out for Hercy

As you can see, the view is awesome, being so close to the Lake!

The View From My Table

The Rest of The View From My Table

The food was absolutely delicious.  I ordered the Lakeview Omlette, which was delicious!

Lakeview Omelette

Herc obviously liked it – he enjoyed looking out at the view, as well as chillin’ on the grass!

Hercules by His Water Bowl

Happy Hercy!

Hercules....Chillaxin'

Next time we are back in Tahoe, we will definitely be hitting up the Bear Beach Cafe!

So, this happened today. I walked down to Starbuck’s for my iced coffee fix. And one unusual and amazing thing was, they spelled my name right! But that was not all.

Also getting their coffee on were Stamie Karakasidis and Tracy Ryerson from season one of The Real L Word.

Me With Stamie Karakasidis and Tracy Ryerson

They were SO, SO nice when I imposed on them for a photo. I got all nervous and fumbly – I do this weird thing where it doesn’t freak me out to see/meet celebrities unless *I* really like them, and then I’m a nervous wreck. I mean, I used to live in Malibu, for God’s sake. I’ve met Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson (before he was crazy), Cindy Crawford, David Duchovny, John Cusack, Cher…I could go on and on. They registered a big NOTHING on the nervousness scale.

However, I meet Paul Giamatti (and this was a 2001 Paul Giamatti, immediately following “Duets” – he was NOT that famous yet!) and I lose my religion. I meet Stamie and Tracy and can’t even manage to operate my camera (and then phone) without fumbling all over the place.

Anyway, like I said, they were absolutely gracious and friendly and completely as nice and fun as they seemed to be on the show.

Check out the pic above, and make sure you check out their website – Our Fifteen Minutes!

It’s really interesting to me that this genuinely seems to be that way that the majority of Starbucks baristas think you spell the name “Melanie”

Have they never possessed brand new pair of roller skates, nor had a friend that, by virtue of serendipity, just happened to have a brand new key???

Enjoy this little Mother’s Day Gift – a video of “I Will Still Be Loving You” by David Ryan Harris. Like many of DRH’s songs, I dare you not to cry by the end!

Delicious! How are you celebrating Pi day?

(via Flickr)

This photo was originally posted by @StamieLA.

How frickin’ creepy is that? Come September, the new show “Children’s Hospital” will be causing nightmares on Sunday Nights at 10:30 pm.

Until then, it will simply be causing accidents on Sunset.

How cute is my boy? He wasn’t so sure about the snow at first, but then he began to enjoy it!

OK, I can finally let the cat out of the bag.  It’s SO exciting!

I am going to be working with the web team of (drumroll….) ADAM FREAKING CAROLLA!!!!!

I went into the offices and spent some time today…met Adam, met Donny, met Sandy, the IT guy I’ll be working most closely with.  I get started next week!

I’ll be doing some WordPress maintenance and posting, RSS and XML work, some Social Media, and down the line (hopefully eventually they’ll let me, once they get to know me and become aware of my patent awesomeness, LOL) SEO work for the podcasts.

I’ve been SUCH a huge fan of Adam and his many projects for so many years that it’s a real honor to have the opportunity to contribute to his team.  Also, as a died-in-the-wool internet geek, can I just tell you how amazing it is to have the chance to be a part of the team that puts out THE MOST POPULAR PODCAST IN THE HISTORY OF PODCASTS???!!!!!

I am beyond stoked right now!!!!

Being a professional internet nerd rocks!

OK, here is a bizarre (and also inspiring!) thing that happened to my friend Jeannie and a project of hers, The Prayer Box Project.  Yes All In Caps.  Deal With It.

She had an idea to put a prayer box at the top of this popular hiking place here in LA, Runyon Canyon.  It’s a place where people tend to do an equal mixture of hiking and contemplating, due to the stunning combination of cardio-inspiring inclines and awe-inspiring views.

In this box, people could jot down their prayers on little pieces of paper and put them into the box, bolstered by the notion that their prayer, as it slipped through the slot, was joining all the prayers – all the love, longings, hopes, dreams, and ambitions – which had been scrawled out on similar bits of paper and entrusted to the box by the hikers who had come before.

It’s poetic and nice, right?

So, of course it got stolen inside a week.  Stinkin’ Angelenos!  Grr…

However, that’s not the end of the story.  On January 1st of this year, the very first day of the brand new decade, it mysteriously showed up again, with some of the prayers inside still intact, no less.  Sure, it was worse for the wear.  But aren’t we all?  The important thing is that it’s back, it’s working, it’s serving its purpose.  Again, what more can we hope for ourselves than that?

I’d like to take a lesson from the prayer box, and I think we all can.  Maybe 2009 tried to hold us back, and beat us up.  Maybe 2009 even snatched us off of the path we were on and held us hostage for awhile.

But, that was then and this is now.  It’s 2010 and WE’RE BACK, BABY!  We may be battle-scarred and a little tattered, but we are BACK ON THE MOUNTAINTOP!

PS – If you think this was a cool idea for a project and want to throw some support Jeannie’s way, due to her being the kind of person that would think of such a cool idea for a project, LOL, then visit her at her blog, http://IHeartJeannieMai.com (so named because she’s adorable and of course everyone does!), or watch her shows, How Do I Look? or Extra.  Although, the latter not being quite as important if you’re not a Nielson family.