s
    samantha f

    samantha f

  • What I learned in finishing school

    Maybe it was over-the-top, or maybe I'm just from a bit of a different generation that my kids, but my childhood was filled with a mix of wild fun and play dotted by perfecting manners and etiquette from the age of 8. I spent endless weekends learning to pour tea (pour from the right, eldest/most se

  • User Post: What I learned in finishing school

    Maybe it was over-the-top, or maybe I'm just from a bit of a different generation that my kids, but my childhood was filled with a mix of wild fun and play dotted by perfecting manners and etiquette from the age of 8. I spent endless weekends learning to pour tea (pour from the right, eldest/most se

  • The Truant Mom

    I remember rambling along in a long yellow bus filled with 60 second and third graders heading to the La Brea Tar Pits. Another month, another trip to see and touch the history, social science and life we'd been learning about in school. I saw tide pools, art exhibits at LACMA,Olvera Street and more

  • User Post: The Bag Lady

    I'm a bag lady. I am the one, the obnoxious one who doesn't take plastic bags from any store, ever. I'm proudest in 2010 to be able to say that I've been bagless for one year and two days.

  • Pink Ribbons are Boring. Do More.

    Oh man. Here it comes the month when every fricking thing is pink or perfectly normal with a little pink ribbon on it. Blah. Ick. Puke. Here comes the pink ribbon month. Marketing blah blah. Pink ribbons mean nothing to me. Green dollars mean something to me.

  • User post: Gas station stalking and other random acts of kindness

    We sat quietly in the corner of the parking lot - inconspicuous as we could be, staking out the Rotten Robbie gas station. We watched people come and go, and waited patiently to pounce. Who was the next target of the day going to be? We wanted unsuspecting citizens - unaware of our stealth plan.

  • User post: The Plate -- A Thanksgiving Tradition

    <p> <span>I'm a family girl. For all the good and bad of it, that's who I am in a nutshell. This means that every tradition, every person, every meal prepared has meaning to me. I crave Irish Nachos from Rosie McCann's pub on May 6 each year to celebrate a romantic meal La Gringa and I had years and years ago. I play Barbara Streisand's Christmas album all the way through because it reminds me of my parents dancing in the livingroom when I was a child spying on them playing Santa. I make tamales around this time of year too because it reminds me of my cousins and grandmother and her tiny kitchen with the vinyl seats and fake wood. I love tradition, and, until one fated night in Rome ten years ago, I still do.</span> </p> <p> I was traveling in an Eastern direction around the world in 2010, hitting nearly 30 countries and loving every single minute of my travel. My mom met me in Rome for a magical week in early October. It was set to be the last time I'd see her before Christmas eve. We decided to have Thanksgiving in Rome at a beautiful restaurant on the Vio Veneto called Cafe Veneto, an Argentinian restaurant at the Spanish Steps. The night was something I could never write about, filled with symbolism, music, food and love. It <i>was</i> Thanksgiving. That night, we bought the plate we'd eaten from and brought it home. To this day, I use the plate. That darn plate is one of my greatest family treasures. </p> <p> I spent that year away from my family for the first time on Thanksgiving. I was 29. That's a lot of years of Turkey with the same turkeys. Since Thanksgiving in Rome, I've let go of my turkey day traditions and opted for a new tradition: No Tradition! Each year, we pick something different to do. Last year it was LegoLand with our dear friends and tacos at the border on Thanksgiving, the year before we joined both of our families together for an eclectic celebration and the year before that we had 50 people to dinner complete with a serious game of flag football. Next year? Who knows! The tradition began in Italy and stays with me today - Thanksgiving is about a feeling, more than a series of rituals. Come over any night, you'll find chatting, laughing and likely eating from The Plate in our daily thanksgiving. </p>

  • Girl You Got it All Wrong on Election Day

    I sat staring at the TV in complete shock last week as Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell made a wicked, sad fool of herself. I wanted to leap through the television and shut her up - not for her clear lack of knowledge of law and current events or even for her politics - but moreover, fo