The Good Life

It's been two days since Valentine's Day, and I have been consuming my weight in chocolate. Not a bad way to live, except that it flies in the face of my promise to myself to eat better. Ah, well, what's a few days of chocolate? Okay, perhaps a lot since I just bought a bikini for my upcoming trip to visit Diva Mommy in Hawaii.

Yes, you read that right: I wrote the word bikini. It's cute, too, and I didn't run out of the Bloomingdale's dressing room in horror when I tried it on a couple of days ago. Hopefully I'll still feel good about it after the chocolate scarf-athon ends.

Anyway... I got to interview Petula Clark at work this afternoon. I can't say I've ever been a huge Petula Clark fan, although I enjoy the catchy, sing-along goodness of "Downtown" and "I Know A Place." But I just very much respect talented, creative people, and Petula Clark is not some manufactured pop chanteuse. She is also an actress who had been a child star, and she writes songs, as well. All of that made me really excited to meet her, and she was super nice and not at all stuck up.

My interview with Petula got me thinking about the things that would make my life perfect if I got to do them, and I realized the list has some pretty good implications for the life I already lead.

1. Live somewhere fabulous that I love. Two words: San Francisco. Hawaii would be better, but having a mother who lives there is a decent consolation prize.
2. Have a career I enjoy and that doesn't feel like work (most of the time at least). I can claim success in this realm for the last 15 years.
3. Get to sing. Thanks to Fake Band and vocal coaching from the Best Friend School of Music, that's become a reality recently.
4. Get to write. In addition to my little newspaper column, this space exists as proof that I regularly indulge in this one.
5. Get to meet and talk to incredibly talented, creative people. I would like to do this more often, but so far, I'm doing pretty well. And it's not about fame. I've met a lot of famous people in my time (honestly), and they're no more or less interesting than people who aren't famous. It's about talent and creativity, and I include everyone from mega stars to local actors and musicians in this desire. I admit, part of this is about me wanting to know the cool kids, but the cool kids don't need to be famous.

I'd say this sassy existence lives up to that checklist pretty well. Speaking of cool kids, however, I now have to scoot. I'm meeting Helen and Liz for a night of bonding and discussions about boys, and I am about to run the risk of being tardy. So away I go...