Back From The Flu

Reporting from the brink - I had the flu - gasp - not the flu everyone's buzzing about you silly swine - just your good old fashioned sleep for 48 hours straight, achy, breaky, sniffley flu; hence the break in posting. Stay tuned...I've got a report from Foxfield Year of the White Sangria in the pipeline.

In the meantime here's a little tickle. We had Andrew McMahon, singer for punk piano balladeers Something Corporate, to promote his new band Jack's Mannequin. Totally awesome musician but also a fellow Cali kid! Hailing from Orange County (translation: LA for you San Diego readers.) I can add him to my deck of art history buffs.

You'll see he has Van Gogh's Starry Night on one arm and Hokusai on the other. Great story too: in between bands he found out he was diagnosed with Leukemia - which he kicked tucas and overcame. So as you're perusing youtube, sneak a listen, you'll hear some of that bubble through the lyrics. Good stuff guys.

NERD ALERT!

Yes I Am A Sore Loser

 

Well there goes that Chargers season. Next year boys, next year!

Starting It off With A Bang - ish

Sorry for the MIA status folks, lots happening this week. With Inauguration just around the corner, all my attention has been diverted to 1600 Penn updates. But a few fun updates, Angela and I have taken the 2009 Discovery Channel Health Challenge. 

We've been milking the free month of Bally's membership. I'm on Day 7 and kicking butt ya'll.

Don't want to jinx myself though. With a gazillion other New Years Resolutions I've made over the years (ie: washing off the night's mascara masterpiece before bed ha!) I actually want to keep this one! I've noticed if you tack an appointment at Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door spa for good behavior to the end, it becomes much easier to keep! I'll let you know in May how that works out.

I thought I would kick start the year off with a few other improvements, like cleaning out the ole closet and either donating the clothes I didn't wear any more or getting the busted ones hemmed to reenergize the wardrobe a little. I was off to a good start, but in the process I racked up $60 at the dry cleaners (the mending pile was a year old) and in the process of donating my clothes, I also donated my house keys. Woops! (Fear not I tracked them down last night!)

But the best Jen Richer update is the star appearance of Nick Murphree, one of my all time best friends since we were like 8. No, really we were instant best friends starting in 3rd grade. (I moved to a new school and he was one of the first new friends I made. I mean, who can resist the charms of a kid noticing that you and Jenny Craig share the same first name? I was serenaded in the hallways for years with her latest ad jingles, not in a taunting bully sort of way, totally endearing I swear. (Well, that’s how I remember it anyway.)

Well Nick has taken a long weekend and a long flight to elude his studies and hit up the DMV (well D and V mostly). First, stop, Caps game tonight. (He's a huge hockey wonk.)

Happy New Year!

It was a balmy 15 degrees with a wind chill of 2 but the ladies of chez copa teased their hair, lined their lips and donned their formal poofs (ski jackets) to ring in the new year at the Crystal City Sports Pub.

The highlight of the event, aside from the champagne disaster (EDITORS NOTE: Only orange juice and Chambord may be mixed with Champagne, flavored vodka is terrible.) was the 8th grade ritual: the dance circle, which inevitable becomes a showcase for your best lawn mover and shopping cart dance offs!

Made The Morning Reading List!

Alright... who blabbed.....

From the Fishbowl DC

Morning Reading List, 12.12.08

Eight years ago, the Supreme Court stopped the presidential recount in Florida, effectively making Republican George W. Bush the winner. Ed Koch is 84 today. Frank Sinatra was born on this day in 1915 (you hear that Doug and Peter?) You are downright pessimistic about the journalism job market. Today is the birthday of 630 WMAL's Chris Plante and Jen Richer. Ever want to know who owns MeetThePress.com? Slate contemplates "The State of the Cookie." DC Concierge provides a guide to "The DC Singles Scene." Defamer presents, "The Best Letterman Interviews of 2008." Lifehacker asks, "What's the Last Thing You Want to Hear After You've Been Laid Off?" And Slate contemplates "Layoff Spin." Check out today's White House Photo of the Day from Time. Today's "Angry Journalist" rant of the day: "The executive editor spends more time blogging and getting into comment section pissing matches than inspiring decent journalism."

Omigod, Omigod You Guys!

Nothing like coming home only to be jumped and blindfolded by 5 glamorously dressed women, dragged out to a car, and submitted to a blasting of the recently released "I am ....Sasha Fierce" Album.

That was how my adventure began last night! But when the Pashmina was finally removed I knew instantly what was in store.

And I have to say, I lobbied for a solid month, exploiting each of the Copians' weaknesses for information. To their credit, not one sliver of information. Damn!

Since hearing the news they were rewritting one of my all time favorite stories for the stage (who doesn't love a smart blonde?), I was determined to get tickets to see Legally Blonde the Musical.

So I was a little confused when none of the girls shared my enthusiasm when I suggested getting tickets. Little did I know, Katie was killing herself trying not to hum our new them song, Omigod, Omigod You Guys!

And yes, it is a simplistic story line, and the 90 % in attendence also asked for Jonas Brothers tickets for Christmas, but the cast was great, a stage change every 5 minutes, and did I mention there were puppies?

Poppin champagne Like We've Won A Championship Game

On the heels of the big pilgrimage back to San Diego, Chez Copa lined up quite a weekend of activities, including a visit from Aly, the yin to my yang! Aly and I have grown up together, having been friends since the ripe ole' age of eight.

READERS NOTE: When the two of us combine forces its like dousing a fire ball in gasoline and launching it. We just feed off of each other and have been described as nothing less of a beautiful disaster.

So it's no surprise that this weekend visit was not one of R & R.The best part is Chez Copa just absorbed her into our thickly woven group, as if she were there from the beginning!

Friday was pretty much a write off - I was kicking a wicked birthday cold so all I could do was fantasize about Coldeeze and my pillow. Fear not, picking up A-dawg from Dulles was a much needed respite from boogies and wheezing. (So attractive I know - but with the boogies comes a super sexy 70 year old smoking Brooklyn Yetta voice. Silver lining folks, silver lining.)

After a quick nap - we were back in action bright and early Saturday morning to honor the second annual east coast chez copa cookie bake-off. It's a one day bake fest where the CCers descend on auntie Jo's kitchen to crank out no less than 10 cookie versions while SCREAMING holiday music, after celebratory mimosas of course.

On the evening itinerary was the traditional Pink Cashmere (collegiate chez copa) Obnoxious Holiday Sweater Party. Although we modified the tradition slightly by taking it to to the bars. We recruited star cruise director for just the task of navigating the sweater goers through U Street-Cardoza.

Let's be honest; Marvin's, Utopia, and Busboys & Poets didn't see the train wreck of Christmas paraphernalia coming (right down to Aly's christmas socks and heels). The general reaction was "I wonder if they are all together, or if there was a themed memo we missed." Fear not after some intense interrogation on the gracious ride back to Virginia it was back for a quick nap.



Sunday should have been the day of recovery but of course that got tossed. After a morning of sin rehashing at church, Aly and I sneaked into the matinee performance of Next To Normal at the Arena Stage. A wildly colorful musical about a bi-polar disillusion mother and her effect on the typical suburban family, its like American Beauty on crack. And the music is phenomenal.

We had just enough time exit stage left and get our glam on.

We had the bartenders ball, aka Zinzi Holiday Party, to attend. It's the one night of the year where the bartenders aren't off limits. Now I have been in DC for going on 7 years and I have NEVER seen so many attractive people. And here they were in one place. Having borrowed Lindsey's dress, aptly named the Cougar Muu-muu, because of my senior citizen status and the flow-ey nature of the garment, Aly teased I was on the prowl. Ha!

Let just say Cougar Muu-muu + unlimited access to top shelf alcohol + great music does not equal good life choices. Remember how I described the JenAly team? Well they were unleashed in full force. Rarrrr.

Then it was into the station for an early morning while Aly got some sleep in time before her birthday celebration. Now Aly's bday was a bit of a sordid affair. She had promised checking in with her west coast chapter at peak intoxication levels. Childish I know, but there's nothing like a good drunk dial.

So while Lindsey was whipping her last law school exam for the semester, cc copa divebombed into the Tommy Mcfly show to watch the master at work. Then it was off to dinner (CCR) and celebratory hooplah at the CCSP. Mission Accomplished.

Still hanging in there but man what a weekend. I hurt.

And how does Mother Nature celebrate the JenAly train wreck? By canceling all flights through Chicago of course. So poor Aly got sent right back into the cesspool sans luggage for one more evening at the CC. Status is still pending as to whether she actually made it to San Diego today. But I leave tomorrow and that airport better be cleared out by then. I'm not sure the FAA could handle a JenAly in captivity.

Breaking News: Little Elves Break Into Chez Copa, etc!

How those little birthday elves manage to break into my apartment and office every year is beside me. So called friends, fail to witness the sneaky little efforts. Ah maybe next year we'll catch those little guys. In the meantime I was able to collect some evidence...Linds bust out your NCIS kit!
(Thanks Guys!!!)

Tales From The Fringe

This Saturday the station team took to the mall to help fund raise for our partner Fisher House. It's an incredible organization that builds group homes for the troops and their families next to VA hospitals while they are being treated so families are free to focus on the recovery of their loved one rather than making hotel arrangements. Absolutely amazing, but I digress.

Doing these remotes, we get a wide range of fans who come to show their support for both the organization and the station. But with every bunch we get a few outliers too.
This weekend was no different. My favorite was a woman who got particularly aggressive with me over the non-existent debate over Barack Obama's citizenship.

A particular group of whack-a-doos in Pennsylvania felt compelled to bring this conspiracy theory to the supreme court, who yesterday unanimously decided not to hear the case. Now I don't often engage in these provocations but after about an hour of her in my face wagging her finger, I finally asked her...how would that be possible, where's the proof. She claimed Obamas birth certificate was a fake, so I asked her how she knew? She protested if it were real he would show it to us, so I asked if I could see hers. Not surprisingly she said no.

Apparently I wasn't the only one to encounter such an adamant theorist.

From this mornings Washington Post:

President Alien, and Other Tales From the Fringe
By Dana Milbank
Tuesday, December 9, 2008; A03

A unanimous Supreme Court announced yesterday morning that it would not take up a case making the improbable claim that Barack Obama is a secret foreigner.

A dissenting opinion came out in the afternoon.

"This is the largest hoax perpetrated against the United States in 200 years," Philip Berg declared in a news conference at the National Press Club. His colleagues delivered the further news that "Barack Obama is the most notorious criminal in the history of this planet" and that the president-elect's claim to be a natural-born American has "the potential to propel our nation into a time of great peril," a time of "widespread chaos, disturbances to public tranquillity."

Berg, a Pennsylvania lawyer and the author of another lawsuit alleging that Obama is not native-born, and therefore is not eligible to be president, sought to establish several facts. One: "He knows he was adopted in Indonesia." Two: "He was born in Kenya." Three: "His real name would be Barry Soetoro." Four: "If he didn't go through immigration, believe it or not Barack Obama would be an illegal alien today." And five: "If and when the right court handles this matter, Barack Obama" and everybody around him "should really be tried criminally and many of them should go to jail."

Uh, and what about that birth certificate showing he was born in Honolulu, a fact confirmed by the Hawaii Health Department and validated by independent groups?

"That document is a forgery, it's a fraud, just like Barack Obama is," Berg bellowed. "His birth certificate will indicate he was born in Kenya."

Ladies and gentlemen, the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy is back in business. After eight years in the wilderness, its members are regrouping to combat the Obama menace. For their sake, here's hoping they can come up with better material than they presented at yesterday's news conference.

The presentation was hosted by Bob Schulz, who runs the We the People Foundation and has run ads in the Chicago Tribune claiming that Obama -- "the usurper," as Schulz calls him -- is ineligible to be president.

Schulz allowed that the Supreme Court had just declined to hear a lawsuit on the subject, filed by Leo Donofrio of New Jersey, and that another court had declined to hear Berg's complaint because Berg had no standing. But, he argued, "there has been no responsive response" from the courts. "The implied message is the voters have spoken, the voters have determined Mr. Obama's eligibility. But this is not a democracy!"

Schulz was equipped with other pieces of hysteria, among them: "We have an emerging police state. . . . Our Republic cannot and will not long survive. . . . This nation is headed toward a vortex of a constitutional crisis."

In Schulz's view, Obama must "act honorably and relieve the nation of this escalating constitutional crisis." And if not, Schulz will call his own constitutional convention. "The people must act as the final arbiters of the Constitution," he said.

Hear that, Mr. Chief Justice?

Back here on planet Earth, the Obama birth conspiracy is not quite as dramatic as Schulz and Berg view it. FactCheck.org, for example, examined the original birth certificate and found that "it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship" and that "Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said."

Another such group, PolitiFact.com, concluded that "It is possible that Obama conspired his way to the precipice of the world's biggest job, involving a vast network of people and government agencies over decades of lies. Anything's possible. But step back and look at the overwhelming evidence to the contrary and your sense of what's reasonable has to take over."
Then there's the birth announcement in the Honolulu Advertiser on Aug. 13, 1961. "Of course, it's distantly possible that Obama's grandparents may have planted the announcement just in case their grandson needed to prove his U.S. citizenship in order to run for president someday," FactCheck.org judged. "We suggest that those who choose to go down that path should first equip themselves with a high-quality tinfoil hat."

Berg and Schulz did not have the recommended headgear yesterday, but they had no shortage of accusations. They blamed the "disgrace" of the news media -- even Fox News! -- for covering up the birth scandal. They called Obama an "impostor" and a "poseur."

To further make the case about Obama's Americanness, they then called up Orly Taitz, a product of the former Soviet Union, to deliver the message in thickly accented English that the American news media are "aiding and abetting Mr. Obama in defrauding 300 million American citizens."

So the media should report that Obama is a citizen of Britain, Indonesia and the United States -- a triple national? "Quadruple!" Taitz called out.

The trio then went silent while a fourth participant, a minister, delivered a prayer that justice would be done to the usurper. The pastor then advised his fellow African Americans not to be fooled into thinking "that which has come from the womb of this white woman is now your redeemer."

The news conference by now had gone on for 90 minutes and had covered all the darkest areas of Obama conspiracy, including a call to withstand the race riots that would inevitably accompany Obama's ineligibility. And in the somewhat likelier event that Obama ignores Schulz and Berg? He would, Schulz's ad argues, "be entitled to no allegiance, obedience or support from the people. The armed forces would be under no legal obligation to remain obedient."

All of which would be a terrible shame. After all, Schulz declared, "I really like the guy." He just has a strange way of showing it.

'Tis The Season

And it's officially the non-denominational holiday season.

Sunday night, the ladies of Chez Copa braved piercing 25 degree weather to string the balcony lights, fluff the fake tree, drink the mulled wine, set up the menorah and watch (while silently quoting) Love Actually.

We are also proud to announce this year's inductee into the National St. Hottie Hall of Fame (well, scrapbook): Daniel Craig. Congrats Daniel!

This tradition of tree lighting and canonization has been developed and honed since the early years of Pink Cashmere (2003.) 

Keeping it alive ladies!

Rock Jumpers and Sexy Shorts

Finally finished the West Virginia Video! Amazing to think we did all with a tiny zip car, a non-existent budget, and I was barely off crutches! Yum!

Now That's Soft Power!

Ah memories - I remember reading Nye my freshman year at GW, and he never gets hold. I love this one!

 

Joseph Nye: The Obama Effect:Impressions from London

via The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com by Joseph Nye on 11/7/08

I gave a speech in London yesterday, and was overwhelmed and delighted by the enthusiasm for the United States as a result of the Obama election. The papers not only devoted their front pages to the election, but multiple pages inside. Many people remarked on "the extra-ordinary capacity of the United States to renew itself." In speaking with a major figure in Gordon Brown's cabinet, he told me that "in one stroke, the election of Obama has changed the American image in the eyes of billions of people." That is soft power!