Well let me tell ya, I used to live in L.A. and I actually miss it. I miss the Voodo shop, I miss a pastrami sandwhich at Cantors (no they don't have that up North). I miss "Pinks". I miss "Okey Doggy" I miss all of it (notice most of it is FOOD?). Then again, I would never move back. Not even to be able to go to the Bohdi Tree (try it, you will become enlightened. I don't know if it is still there).

Does the Voodoo Store have a website? I could use some good Voodoo...

The voodoo store doesn't have a website, I looked everywhere and finally called them because I wanted to link to them. Also, no one speaks English, which I love love love because I get to practice Spanish and also, if something goes awry in the magic, I blame it on my poor translation LOL.

It's on the corner of 4th and Broadway, in downtown, "La Farmacia Million Dollar." It's not really a voodoo shop, more of a botanica, but ya'll know. Oh also, if you want something specific, email me your addy and I will see what I can find for you!

How many times did I say "ALSO" in that post? Uh, yeah, I speak The English....

Now you are commenting instead of working?

actually, instead of having an employee like you, i'd rather have a boss like yours...or wait did you get into trouble and just not share that part with us to save face?
and, in true stalker fashion, i've been checking and reloading and rechecking all day for this post...and i'm an hour ahead of you so i got the pleasure of waiting extra long...so, i'm glad that you were not tied up in traffic all morning and did actually make it too work and were just ignoring us...you know, instead of something much worse...like ignoring us!!!

yes, i'm crazy...i know it and now you all know it...great...normally i like to meet a person before letting them know this...

I love that you're commenting on yourself! And talking back to yourself on the comments! Awesome!

What I can't believe is that you mentioned National Day of Prayer, but did NOT mention Cinco De Mayo! Hello?

I love that you're commenting on yourself! And talking back to yourself on the comments! Awesome!

What I can't believe is that you mentioned National Day of Prayer, but did NOT mention Cinco De Mayo! Hello?

Whoops. Sorry about that.

Who needs work? Work blows! Must only blog forever! Why don't they pay us to blog?

meanwhile on this national day of prayer i pray that the people in charge of my government will shut the hell up and stop telling me to pray. light one of those SHUT UP! voodoo candles, would you, Laurie? Er, RAURIE?

Damn. I was doing so well cruising the Internet at work and then I read this: "Will Paula get the boot for giving the panty pudding to Corey?"

I laughed so hard I started snorting. How the hell am I supposed to explain that to my boss?

Girl, I live up in the Bay Area, and feel your pain about the drivers in rainy weather. I swear they did a special news alert to tell us that there might be scattered rain for about 15 minutes in a couple of places in the viewing area. UGH.

I learned that It was prayer day and also that Cinco De Mayo is when the Mexican Army beat the French as I listened to news radio for TWO HOURS in my car this morning. Love you, L.A.!

Yes, I am commenting and correcting my grammar instead of working. My name is Raurie, and I am ADDICTED to the Internets. Pray for me.

This is completely off subject, but I just stalked you further by reading your travel blog, and therefore seeing your prague pictures...and I was struck by one of those realizations that only happen when you get to know someone online and then suddenly see a picture of them.

Holy cow, I thought to myself. She is GORGEOUS!

I can totally understand the working thing. All I want to do is sit here, read blogs and comment to my hearts content. I also have been anxiously awaiting your post all day. Now that it has come, I have tried to read it several times but my boss keeps interrupting. "Not now, I need to read crazy aunt purl's blog!". (Only in my head of course). Rain makes drivers super crazy. Even up here in Oregon, where we get it all the time.

Who is Raurie? Don't tell me that bitch Maurie finally got fired!

LOL Lisa... what you read in my blog? to my boss? totally in my head. Real response: "mmmhmmm, just finishing it up this minute... mumble mumble..." Oh well.

Maurie, my assistant? Oh yeah. Forgot about her. She's totally getting me coffee right now. CRUD have to go to a meeting .... am late... can't. stop. typing.

Knit blogs are directly affecting my lack of Medical School motivation. School, schmool, that's what I'm sayin'!! Good luck in that rain, and if I send you a present, can I get one of those candles?? I need a brainiac one for my boards!

OK - I am just really, really laughing so hard right now that I might pee my pants!

Oh my gawd!

I think you're better suited to talking back in the comments than emailing. Not that I didn't get all excited about an email from Crazy Aunt Purl, but you need to have time in your day to work. And sleep.

Also, I never realized rain was such a menace to LA. Silly easterner, I was thinking it was the earthquakes.

Just feel lucky that you're not sucked in by instant messenger.

Dude. You have an assistant.

You totally suck. *turns green*

LOL :) I can't imagine what would happen if LA got SNOW. Total pandemonium with people abandoning their cars in the middle of the freeway and running and screaming "the world is coming to an end!" and rending their clothing and tearing at their hair and weeping and getting drunk at 8:30 am and having casual sex. Where here in Wisconsin we just go "yeah, whatever" and stomp harder on the accelerator.

Oh, yeah, if your snail mail gets overwhelming and you need to hire someone just to handle it, I have 5 years mailroom management experience... okay, I manage myself, so I actually know how to do the work, too :)

Just don't put "chocolate" on any customs forms or you may never see the package again....

awesome, awesome site. i just re-started my knitting blog this week. AND I FOUND SOMEONE WHO IS JUST LIKE ME. early 30s, drink too much, fanatical knitter. but only have two cats (there's still time). JOY AND RAPTURE!!!

I totally peed my pants when I got an email from Crazy Aunt Purl. She's internets-famous!

Try working at home, with nobody to crack the whip. You end up checking the comments all damned day with no little breaks in between to get work done.

I so need some voodoo. Some money-school voodoo. I wish I could get my stupid comments emailed to me, maybe if I got the money voodoo to work I could afford paying for my blog services and get my wish. Email me! I love chatting but rarely have anyone to chat with. I've even had all those IM programs, but now that the bf is local I don't have anyone to bug. I'd totally hire you! :)

You are just.TOO.funny!!! Love your site, you always manage to make me smile.
From one nearly-divorced gal to another (only I'm under 30 and with 3 little kids, ex from hell, I'd trade places with you in a heartbeat sometimes, lol!!!), keep it coming, we all need people like you in the world.
Thanks Aunt Purl!!!
Alison in Australia

It's bad enough that it's raining, but let alone, it's Cinco de Mayo. Can we say "Holy shit Batman!"?

Hey, Laurie, Raurie & Maurie....I've got yahoo IM. Now I can REALLY stalk you Maybe I should be called La StashSTALKER in the sequel...

I hope Raurie has fun in WeHo tonight.

I totally agree about LA rain hysteria. Every drizzle leads to a "Storm Watch 2005" story on the news, and people lose the ability to drive by either speeding up and recklessly trying to get out of the weather as fast as possible, or slowing to a crawl in order to peer at the clouds with a befuddled "Water from sky?" expression.

hehe, panty pudding- best phrase I heard all day! I watched that stupid Primetime Live exclusive, and thought it was SO dumb. Do these people really keep receipts for TWO YEARS? And phone bills? What does their house look like? If he DID sleep with her, he decided a long time ago to milk it for all it's worth, and that's just gross. Although I think Paula's high half the time, she's still sweet. I'd rather keep her on American Idol (and I don't think she's really HELPING if she's giving fashion advice, she dresses weird) and shut Corey up.

I just ranted. I'm sorry.

pssst...(stalk).... my assistant Binky would like to send your assistant, Maurie, some San Diego Bontanica voodoodoo (stalk) ok (stalk) please (stalk) email me (stalk) right now (stalk)

Oh yeah, and do you think you could scare me up some scholarship voodoo? Thanks!

Stalking...stalking...just like celery. I so love your blog. I start checking every 10 minutes around 5pm my time to see if you've posted yet. I'm desperate to post something to you (real mail!) but don't know what to send. All the yarn shops around here are crappy. Do let me know if you'd like a tiny ceramic windmill or a pair of wooden shoes (or a tiny black cab or tiny red double-decker bus (we are going to London next weekend)). Anyway, I so love you. I really, really do! But I'm far, far away so don't be scared.

What is it with the people and the rain in LA? I moved there from Houston in 2003 for a very long, expensive year. In Houston, it isn't unusual to get four inches of rain in an hour, but folks in LA stop everything for an inch of rain in a day. I remember one day at work everyone was standing beside the door complaining because they couldn't go to lunch. Why couldn't they go? Well, it was raining.
I'm glad to be back in Houston.

I am really biting my lip to keep from waking the baby here. Laurie, your blog has become one of my regular Internets check in sites. You should really write a book. I would totally buy it and I am too cheap to buy books, at least at full price.

Lissen L - have your girl call my boy (Butkis) and arrange a lunch. Mwah!

Oh my stars!!! Did you say "panty pudding"? That's too funny (and so wrong at the same time... how does that work?). I love reading your blog and am anxious to hear how the WeHo meeting goes for you (I have a similar fear of attending the local "stitch and belch" here... maybe I need an alter ego, too!). Cheers!

teehee! now that you've called my home land (not to be confused with Homeland) "fabled", you so know you're gettin' something, pack rat be damned! As soon as my fabled commission cheque arrives, that is ;)

Y'all "Los Angelians" are just crazy. The last 3 days we have had 7 inches of rain (s fl). Everything is rinsed off anyway. What would that have done to LA?? The buildings and cars may just have melted!!

Having lived in Santa Barbara for 20 years and traveled to LA frequently, I can remember the frantic "natural disaster" style weather reporting whenever rain was predicted. Hilarious to think back on that, now that I'm living in New Jersey and think pretty much nothing of driving home from work in a white-out snow storm.

Say, can you send me a couple hundred "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE" voodoo candles? I just want to put them in a circle around me and glare at anyone who even thinks about annoying me today.

I have to agree with you - the rain is the excuse to take our minds off of the more pressing things that are going on in LA/CA. Our local news can't handle real news! But, as I look out my window this morning, it's such a beautiful day! I'm not even sure it rained here last night. Emailing/Blogging/Surfing at work - I was the pro last year. Really, I was. I got so much done in a day that wasn't work related it was great. But now, going to school I have so much less time to surf and blog. It's no fair!!!

Okay well that explains why there was a herd of people on the courthouse steps praying as I walked by knitting my sock, twice. Of course it doesn't explain the downtown history walk all the school kids were on.

That last paragraph totally reminds me of the show "Soap"!! Do you remember that show?

Wai..Wai...Wait...You're driving to work again? How can we hear about PYT Bus Driver if you are driving yourself? Then again, bus inferno might put me off mass transit for a while, too...

my job totally gets in the way of my life -- i have no time to blog, knit, or email. thank christ that i'm not nearly as much of a blogging rockstar as you, i'd never get out from under the email!

Laurie,
I found your site a week or so ago and I have (all OCD like) finally gone through all of your posts… I like to start at the beginning. I’m a big ol bucket of crazy like that.

But I wanted to let you know that I love your journal, I love your style and you are absolutely precious. Huzzah!

Ugh. If I were a cow - someone would have taken me out back and shot me by now. I had a fabulous trip to the ER this morning. I have coughed so much that i have damaged my vocal cords. The nice ER doc gave me more drugs. I got a steroid shot in my ass and more steroids ot take at home. At the moment I feel like Wonder Woman - with a wicked cough and a scratchy voice.