Christmas 2007 in San Diego

Normally I title these family entries "Relative Insanity," but this year was pretty mellow.

For example, this is Jacob, my new nephew. He is a stud (obvious in the picture) but he didn't cry the entire day. When you have an infant that doesn't cry, the "insanity" is quickly removed from the equation.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After Jeff & John took off for Christmas, all of our friends were officially out of town, while Steve and I had no plans. We are never plan-free, so Saturday and Sunday were stress-free. Likewise, Steve and I didn't buy gifts for one another this year. Why? Check it out:

ME: Honey, what do you want for Christmas?
STEVE: A new bathroom. You?
ME: Air conditioning in time for next summer.

Seriously. We don't have space for any much random stuff, so we'd rather have great experiences. That meant we drove to San Diego on Monday and spent our gift money on a room at the W. It was a plush, modern room (duh) with a chalkboard. Steve got to work drawing on it...

We first went to a favorite watering hole for cocktails and dinner#1 (taquitos and a fried tortilla with melted cheese and guacamole). Then we rented Waitress (Widescreen Edition) starring Keri Russell, went back to the hotel, opened our bottle of Marilyn Merlot that Steve brought along and ordered room service for dinner#2 (Kobe burger and a European club, which has ham, cheese and a fried egg on it). We ate, watched the movie, and fell asleep. Happy, happy!

At 6am, I woke up, got mom and took her to church while Steve (and my sister at her home) slept in. At noon we hit my mom's and once my sister Eileen and her family came over the party started.

Steve and I had fun playing the guncles to Savannah and Haylee. (Who was astounded to see tattoos on Steve. Sorry Eileen if she now has ideas of her own.)

Here the two girls are with their new duck and frog bath towels and hoodies.

They look just as good on Steve and I (Note Haylee sticking her bum out like a super model. I had nothing to do with that. I think it's just an Andreoli thing.)

It was sad that we couldn't see all the nieces and nephews, but the time we did have with Haylee, Savannah and Jacob was super fun.

Friday we're off for our second Christmas gift to one another: a trip to San Francisco to see the new Cirque du Soliel show: Kooza!

Christmas Cookies Extravaganza

Friday night we had our Christmas dinner with brothers Jeff & John. We ate filet mignon (with a shallot and red wine reduction on the side), Ina Garten's zucchini gratin, and a spinach salad with toasted almonds, goat cheese, and dried cranberries in a light balsamic vinaigrette. Yum.

But the highlight was dessert, where we made Thompson family Christmas cookies. These were the cookies Steve and Jeff ate while growing up, and when we were in Detroit for Thanksgiving I got Aunt Barbara to hand over the recipe.

First off, please note all the flour on my pants and shirt as I made the dough.

Then notice Steve cutting out the cookies with our new cutters. We had a gingerbread man, stocking, star, tree, a "J," "R," and "S" for our initials, and then a turkey, because that's what Steve always had as a kid. We baked them before dinner and frosted after.

I have to say-- and I've eaten a ton of cookies in my day-- these were really incredible. And even better the next day. The thin treats are not being overly sweet, just buttery enough, and with a hint of orange in the background. (Steve said I made them more orange-y than Aunt Barbara. I'll fix that next year.)

Decorating cookies is good, clean, family Christmas fun... especially with cocktails on the side.


And here's Olive, J&J's dog, trying to lick the frosting (or meat juice) from Jeff's fingers.


We're still eating cookies two days later. They're like crack with icing (and better for you, when you think about it) because we just can't get enough.

We'll come back from a hike and say, "Wow, we hiked. We deserve a cookie!" Or when Saydi and Eric came over with their kids, Hannah and Otto, and Hannah flipped out over how cool our Christmas tree was, we said, "We have such a cool Christmas tree! We should eat cookies!" Or even last night, when Steve was feeling a little tired and his back hurt, so we thought it best to stay in and watch High School Musical and High School Musical 2 on our DVR, we said, "We're watching High School Musical! Let's eat cookies!"
Yes, some may consider this a problem, but to us it's just a new (old for Steve & Jeffrey) family tradition. And since I'm all about keeping tradition alive, I'll keep eating the cookies until they're gone. (Which will be tonight when we come home and say, "We've been drinking in the 70-degree sunny winter! Now let's have the rest of those cookies!"

Want to See My Basket?

Yep, that is one big fruit basket.

I was sent this by the folks at Reunion.com. It said, "Welcome to the team!" Yes, starting January 2nd I'll be working in a traditional office environment once more.

This wasn't an easy decision. I love the freedom of working from home, doing our shopping and cooking in between assignments so we have a life on weekends, and being able to interview cool people or experience amazing things during a work day, all in the name of work.

But it's damn hard working freelance-- and I get some pretty sweet (well paying) assignments. The bottom line, though, is that in order to pay the bills and live this life, I'm writing all the time, and NOT on personal projects that excite me the most: books, scripts, comic book projects, etc. I can't even pitch/develop major magazine projects because I'm just too busy.

I want to see if this gig at Reunion.com will allow me the time/money to do that. The people seem really fun and there looks to be a lot of growth for other creative outlets within the company. None of which I can discuss. But they excite me.

The truth is that my entire career has been a series of oddly interesting and slightly related jobs. I've worked in film and TV development, as a director's assistant, a TV staff writer, an internet writer/producer and a freelance journalist (plus a bunch of even odder jobs, like delivering Redbull to Anna Nicole Smith or writing comedy sketches for Playboy TV). So I'm looking at this next year as just another curious turn on my crazy adventures.

I am keeping some of my really fun writing jobs. In 2008 I have a fitness column launching in OUT Magazine, a local fitness column for IN Los Angeles (which means I'll be writing for "In" and "Out"), and the restaurant material for Metrosource.

Oh, and in January my agent in NY is sending out my first fiction book to publishers. Needless to say, it's a very exciting time. Stay tuned. I'll keep you in the loop.

Our Very Pretty Niece

In anticipation of their Christmas road trip, brothers Jeff & John bought a new coat for their baby, Olive.
They are the gayest parents ever.

Big Baby Weekend

There were holiday parties aplenty this past weekend, but Steve and I also spent Sunday visiting friends and their kids. First up were Lynn & Michelle with their son Christopher.

Here is Lynn with her son inside Christopher's new clubhouse. Yes, that old saying is true, it doesn't matter how many toys you buy a child, the best ones are made from empty shipping boxes.

Not only did Christopher's clubhouse have a skylight (so as to help fit Mom inside), it also featured...
A window!





And...











A front door!

Christopher has learned how to say, "Cheese!" every time he sees a camera. Needless to say, it was great fun having him run inside the clubhouse (and right into his mother) and then burst out yelling, "Cheese!" every couple seconds.

Good times!

He also did very well with watching The Little Mermaid (no, we aren't trying to convert him into being a Disney fan) while the adults ate and caught up.


We then shot over to Aliki and Baron's place to see their six week old baby, Ruby. Aliki works on the new Disney Channel series Phineas and Ferb that will be launching in the new year. Very excited about that! But not nearly as excited as seeing her and Baron's beautiful baby girl!

I love how Ruby is all, "Yo, wassup!"


She totally takes after her father. At least for now.

The New Xanadu

If you love Xanandu, if you love Dannii Minogue (yes, Kylie's sister) you may dig on this lounge version.


I made this music player at MyFlashFetish.com.

To pause it, there's a button in the center under the rolling tape image.

We Wish Jew a Merry Hanukkah

This is a genius video from our friend Coley and her friend Meredith-- who we've met but we're not actually "friends" with. (You'll recognize her from movies like Legally Blonde and such.)

Anyway, it's a pretty genius rap, high production quality, and I think jew'll love it.

This Week in Fashion TV

America's Next Top Model Fans be warned!

Oops. Too late.
I got this e-mail from the CW's PR department saying that Saleisha (with her Tootie Ramsey haircut) was the winner of ANTM Cycle 9 was announced. Really? That's funny, because I watched the show Wednesday night and I'd already forgotten this season happened. It's not that I didn't like Saleisha, I didn't care about her one way or the other. ANTM has gone so far away from its origins that it's not bad, just forgettable, which I think is worse. So I really don't know if I'll be watching again next season.

That said, Project Runway is still fantastic. And did you see this week's, "My Life as a Covergirl"... No, wait. "My Life as a Saturn Model" (or as I like to call these commercials, "The advertorial we create to help pay for these shows.") This week featured Chloe, former Project Runway winner, and she was in Echo Park! Sweet!

So in honor of being overwhelmed with glamorous photo shoots and writing tag lines for more movie posters, I'm going to post that instead of writing more. Have a fun weekend.

Cirque Style Fitness Class

Life feels VERY good. Exciting. Crazy and kind of weird, but still very fun.

A couple weeks ago I wrote two articles, one about staying healthy over the holidays through working out and nutrition tips (where I interviewed Food Network host Ellie Krieger-- so amazing!) for IN Los Angeles Magazine. During that research I discovered an Aerial Arts class taught by a former Cirque du Soliel performer.

Seriously? You have got to be kidding me.

Aloysia Gavre was in the touring show of Quidam and then in O in Vegas, and she's now teaching classes in LA (while still performing in a for-hire group called Troupe). So I pitched another article to IN and it's now going to be their cover story for the February fitness issue.

This meant that I got to actually take the class, and while I was super excited I didn't know how it would go. But last night I took the class, held at Absolution in West Hollywood, and had the best time of my life.

I've never done gymnastics, though I think it helped that I do yoga and take a yoga warm up before boxing every week, because my flexibility wasn't too bad.

But check out the crazy stuff I was doing via Aloysia's very helpful hand.





I won't get into specifics about the evening now since I need to write about it for the mag, but if Steve and I can swing it (pun intended) financially, I think we may start taking classes together in the New Year.

The Lazy Monday Post--BUY SHIRTS!

Busy holidays and a major deadline for MATE Magazine (my first International publication) make Rick a lazy boy. As such, I'm just going to plug cool shirts you should buy for Christmas gifts (and thus help pay for our Pre-New Year's trip to San Francisco to see Cirque du Soliel's new show, Kooza!)
Looking for a cool, unique gift? We've got our Xanadude, Battlestar Galactica and other pop culture shirts at the TWO Rick & Steve stores. Yes, that's right, Roslin for President is back up online (God knows for how long) and it's selling like mad! Get one now!

For Xanadude, The New Jan Brady, Grey Gardens and others, check out Cafe Press!


Looking to elect Roslin For President, Swallow My Pride, Vagetarian and other Xanadu shirts, check out our new store at Zazzle.com and click the "Show All Products" button. (There may be an easier way to display things on that site, but I haven't figured it out yet.)

Got a request or question? E-mail me!

A Random Star-Studded Night in Los Angeles... Literally!

Steve and I have experienced many random fun evenings, many with celebrity encounters-- usually without me having my camera. Thursday night fell into that bunch.

We started with dinner at our friend, Edwin Seth Brown and his partner Lewis. They live in the classic Alto Nido apartments, in what was William Holden's apartment from the movie Sunset Boulevard. Whether this was the actual apartment the actor lived in, or if this was the one his character supposedly lived in it, we're unsure. But Steve has wanted to see this place for a long time, and being able to experience it at dinner with Edwin and Lewis (who have been together for 40+ years and tell stories like the grand dames that they are) was a treat.

After dinner, Steve and I quickly drove downtown to The Edison where we met brothers Jeff and John at a party for the Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival. As a side note, when I sent Jeff the invitation he told John (a big SciFi reader/fan) that, "It's going to be a big party. Patrick Swayze is going to be there." John was confused. "And I think Jules Verne is showing up." John looked at Jeff, smiled politely, and said, "Wow. That WILL be a big event." Needless to say. neither was there. But I'll get to celebs in the minute.

The four of us really love The Edison. It's a gorgeous club built in the basement of the old Edison Electric building, with turbines, exposed brick, recreation antique light bulbs with filaments blazing, leather furniture scattered throughout the space next to old machinery that's still bolted into the floor and private corners for sitting and chatting. All that added to the 1930s-era feel of the party.

It actually started outside with LA's Art Deco City Hall shining it's roof beacon over the darkened downtown like in a scene from a Fleischer Superman cartoon. Inside, the women hosts dressed in long beaded gowns, while bartenders wore shirts, ties, and slacks with suspenders. Servers wore tuxes with tails and white gloves, and flapper cocktail waitresses carried around trays of golden, bubbling champagne.

I got some pics (courtesy of WireImage.com). The night started with running into Frances Fisher from Titanic and countless other films. Next came Tony Curtis, who smiled and waved to us (now I'm really cursing the lack of camera thing because he's happily meeting everyone, shaking hands, taking pictures, and just being lovely). And speaking of lovely, Tippi Hedren (pictured right) was in a gorgeous green gown and she's still stunning. Simply stunning.

The festival then gave out some awards. First, Malcolm McDowell, most recently seen in last season of Heroes, gave an award to legendary author Ray Bradbury (pictured left). Then they called up the Captain of the Enterprise, Patrick Stewart (I wanted to shout out, "And lauded member of the Royal Shakespeare Company!" but I don't think anyone would have appreciated that but him.). Patrick gave out an award to astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

What an amazing group of people! After, Steve realized we were standing by Buzz so he said, "Do you want to meet Buzz Lightyear?" I nodded, excited, turned and stuck out my hand. As he shook it I realized his name is NOT Buzz Lightyear. Fortunately, I just said, "It's an honor to meet you, sir." He nodded, and and the four of us left.

T-Shirts Are Back!

After some searching, our friend Michele directed us to Zazzle.com to sell some of our shirts. Many styles, many prices, we're very happy.

We finally got the "Roslin For President" logo back up (for the time being) and here's friend Jeffrey in the one he just purchased! Very exciting.

That said, Zazzle won't let us sell our The New Jan Brady shirts but we can sell them in our Cafe Press store, so if you want one of the shirts for Christmas try and snag it now before it gets pulled again.

(I know it's confusing. I tried getting everything on one website but they all have different rules and watchdogs. How our Xanadude products are staying up untouched on Cafe Press is beyond me. I have this sinking feeling that any day now everything is going to get yanked...)

So go! Now! Hurry!

Our Christmas Tree is CRAZY!

This is what a kitchen table looks like when your partner designs Christmas ornaments for The Disney Store. (NOTE: This is only the stash from this year...)Yeah, we've got ribbon Princesses, including Giselle from Enchanted on the far right. Notice how HUGE her dress is, because if you've seen the movie you know how huge it is on screen. While many of Steve's ornaments have sold out, the Giselle ornament should be in stores and online this week. Of course, you may still be able to find some at the online Disney Store.
NOTE: There's a BIG SALE this week so you can get things for cheap!

Also notice the two really cool box ornaments at the top-- one for the Wicked Queen's apple that I've posted on here before and one from Pirates of the Caribbean, which is a recreation of Davey Jones' Locker with a heavy gold-ish coin ornament inside. They're only $17 during the sale!

On the left is Steve with another boxed ornament, this one of Oswald, Walt Disney's character prior to creating Mickey Mouse. It should also be in stores this week with Giselle.

Here I am posed with Cinderella's very delicate glass slipper, because I'm very delicate like that. I'm even giving a delicate smile, thank you very much.

It's kind of a stunning to realize that people all across the US will be hanging ornaments Steve created. And then when they grow up and pass on these ornaments to their kids, those items will be filled with memories of old holidays (kind of like the ones my mom keeps that we made in Sunday School as kids). It's just kind of cool, I think.

We bought our tree on Sunday night, I hosed it down yesterday and we decorated last night. When I opened the box, it was like an explosion happened and the tree became filled with fun TV, Disney, comic book, and other ornaments. From Wonder Woman to I Love Lucy we've got all these cool things to check out.

Yes, we know it's not a traditional Pottery Barn-style tree with matching bows and bulbs, but we feel like our tree really shows off our lives. And it makes us happy.

Battle of the Album Covers

Our friend Frank sent this to us. It's a new short film from Ugly Pictures and it's genius.

Battle of the Album Covers.