Category: Blog

My friend Emily McNaughton died just before Christmas. She was sweet, curious, gentle, and intelligent. She volunteered and labored for the political causes she believed in, and was trying to make a positive contribution on the planet and to enrich her life through plays, books, and film. She was moderate, geerous, and hardworking. I will miss you, Emily. Thank you for the Christmas cards, the Neruda book, and your friendship. Rest peacefully.

Met my mom in Cleveland for Thanksgiving.Rock & Roll Hall of Fame—here you go. We went to the college-y part to a museum as well. Cleveland Cavaliers game–check and awesome! Thanksgiving—still not my favorite. But food, glorious food!

Last week I took a trip to Wyoming. I had been planning to get away to the middle of nowhere for the better part of a year. I visited Yellowstone National Park, which looks like Dr. Seuss illustrations spliced into a forest due to the park’s location on an old volcano. 

I have never been much of an outdoors person, but I have to say you can’t be unimpressed by the natural beauty of that place. Mostly it was a hiking trip, although I did leave the park to check out the town of West Yellowstone, MT. Lots of cowboy boots, native american jewelry, gunranges, everything you would imagine of a tourist outpost in the Old West. 

I also visited Grand Teton National Park, which sits just below Yellowstone. It was great to enjoy the simple pleasures in life, like a good nights sleep with no wifi, waking up to the birds chirping, and all kinds of (granola) bars. Hope you enjoy the pics!

Soo…NYC had a snowstorm this weekend. Here is what I did:

-Saw The Hateful Eight will my friend and maybe 10 other people

-Got a seat at the cafe in Whole Foods Union Square and watched the snow come down. 

-Watched 6 movies: the aforementioned, Intolerable Cruelty, Zipper, The Road Within, The Wedding Date (review),  and Adult World.

–Started Broadchurch season 2  and Run

–Made cornbread–and a few other meals for myself

-I also listened to some records, did the laundry, and bought cleaning supplies at Target

Good times. 

Went to LA for Christmas–and it was colder than NY! Still–the trip was filled with family, food, and festivities, including Star Wars, a Kings game, salt crusted branzino, and stockings full of sweets and treasures–thanks West Coast family! My brother does Kung Fu, guitar, and piano. My ideal Christmas: movies, sweatpants, and sustenance. 

Cali is beautiful, and it was great to spend time with family. Back on east coast now–cautiously moving into 2016 🙂 Photos

This year I threw on an old classic–my Shera Princess of Power costume. Nobody remembers her! In the office turnover we got some young people who were born to late to ever hear https://aprilfranz.com/christmas-2015/the words “For the Honor of Grayskull!” So sad! 

I also made cupcakes that look like candy corn! Oven has been test driven now!

¨Food Related:

• Greek yogurt plus a chopped up pickle = poor man’s tzatsiki
• bbq sauce plus anything = pulled pork taste
• cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries take 15 minutes to make
• thank you Zoraida for teaching me how to make rice–thank you thank you

Miscellaneous:

• My most-used app is Shazam, it makes me so happy and is the greatest invention
• Hospital billing could go a lot farther with the internet
• Geoffrey Arend is married to Christina Hendricks (good for him!) (good for her!)
• Save the Date (movie) turned out to be great, ex who vetoed it last spring
• Queens is not that hard to get to.
• The gym is that hard to get to right now.

Hey Guys! Just got back from Mexico City, it was super fun and feeling lucky to have experienced the hospitality of Mexico. Everyone is so nice and hospitable, they are talkative and joyful! I really appreciate the warm welcome! Got to see the National Anthropological Museum and Teotihuacan Pyramids, wow! Got to practice Spanish and ate everything that wasn’t nailed down (yellow Mexican guava…LOVE!). Here are a few pics, but mostly I was just “experiencing” it and left the Iphone in my bag, also I was advised to as crime and safety are real issues. I did get ripped off by a cabbie (don’t pay for your return trip in advance lol), but otherwise had a great time! 

I went to Santiago for a work trip, and had the opportunity to drive up to the Maipo Valley. I got bit by a dog and it was a scary, 2-lane highway drive up there (A GPS does not work well in the mountains). But these views were amazing. The hotel Altiplanico was amazing–I was the only one in the hotel and they made me a yummy dinner for one. I wanted to move to Santiago–it’s surrounded by the mountains and everyone has strong eyebrows. All the ceviche and ice cream too! Yum. Anyway, got to practice my Spanish and get some much needed R&R. Some fun things that you might want to know:

-Copper is big in Chile

-When you are eating fruit out of season it’s probably from Chile (Summer=Winter there)

Pablo Neruda is from there

Enjoy my pics!

Back in China after a three year hiatus. Ate more shrimp than someone should. Tried the Chinese version of icy hot wraps for my neck pain. Tried summer berries flavored Haagen Daaz, and classic milk, both not available in the US. Saw a beautiful skyline, the Yuyuan Gardens. Saw beautiful Fuxing Park, where old folk were playing badminton. It’s so big and full of people. They have tv screens on the outside of the train–in the subway tunnels, where you can buy advertising. And there are shoe stores and clothing stores and jewelry stores everywhere. Good times all around–they have green tea flavored soft serve at McDonald’s there! Not like home though; Saw an old colleage buddy in Hong Kong. More English spoken there, though navigating the city is crazy (escalators!). Definitely wouldn’t want to travel there on a budget though. Hiking was beautiful on Lantau Island! Very nice people! But no Netflix, Instagram, Google, or Facebook took its toll. Check out my pics!