user8427

I live in a well-shaded cottage overlooking a man-made lake in the middle of Tinstletown with my husband, dog and cat.

I am a dogged news gatherer. I work in an historic building in downtown Los Angeles.

I'm originally from New York and came out to SoCal after graduating from a women's college in Massachusetts.

My first few years in L.A., largely due to lack of wheels, I didn't appreciate L.A.'s vastness and wealth of microcommunities. Then I started cluing into local blogs and wonderful writers (i.e., Jonathan Gold, Manohla Dargis - she may write for NYT but she's LAT born n' raised) who provoked me to dig into L.A. and dig into off-beat restaurants, neighborhoods, indie cinemas, farmer's markets, mountain trails, galleries, freakish expos, swap meets, etc.

I've travelled in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Thailand, Viet Nam, the Phillipines, Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan. I go home to see family in NYC and Baltimore once or twice a year.

I don't craft but I have huge admiration for other people's handiwork -- including my husband's.

LIKES:

• sour/sweet
• robots
• open source
• lemon, lime, cherry, grape, root beer
• twinkly lights
• intricate
• cartoons
• black & white
• flowering trees
• bees
• cameras
• little boxes, pouches, frames
• rain, snow, hail, sleet
• mice
• candy-coated fennel
• chocolate banana muffins
• Mexico City
• mushroom hunting
• dim sum

DISLIKES:

• dead batteries
• licorice
• potholes
• relentless sun
• pretzels
• melon
• sport drinks
• pecan sandies
• City of Industry
• Microsoft Outlook
• Kraft Singles

The Frames and Marketa Irglova, Lauryn Hill, The Pharcyde, Aloe Blacc, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Ornette Coleman, Jill Scott, Mark Ronson remixes, The Staple Singers, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Heart, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, The Pixies, Diamond D

Once, The Edukators (Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei), Children of Men, Pan's Labyrinth, Cléo de 5 à 7, Amelie, The Lives of Others, The King of Hearts, The Brother from Another Planet, Orlando, The Rose, Eve's Bayou

The Deadliest Catch, Sopranos, Big Love (Chloe in JCP!), The Wire, My Super Sweet 16, The Monks of New Skete, Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations [it's a love-hate situation], Project Runway [I own a Diana Eng Black Box necklace that I cherish]

Yours, felt, plush, pickled stuff