tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38798246808146204162012-02-16T00:45:34.517-08:00ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.comBlogger261100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-85149079809764543582010-11-01T10:24:00.000-07:002010-11-01T20:25:38.500-07:00

Being the recently, and easily, converted Anthony Bourdain fan that I am, there was no borough or lack of dining companion that would stop me from visiting the Manhattan restaurant he has been executive chef at for many years. Luckily Les Halles was only a five minute walk from the hip European-style boutique hotel, The Mave, I was staying at for a very short business trip. Let me explain

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-67354841056009672482010-01-31T23:08:00.000-08:002010-02-01T00:11:40.489-08:00

Let me preface this by saying that the following statement will seem correct or incorrect, depending on where you know me from: upkeep on this low-maintenance girl's body is enough for a part-time job. By LA standards, I am a LM girl. By all other standards, you would probably consider me a medium-maintenance girl in regards to grooming. It's all a matter of perspective. Ladies, it's your

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-80919976735510731062009-12-04T23:09:00.001-08:002009-12-04T23:36:31.326-08:00

Hello, Moon. I appreciated the way you hung yourself in the sky tonight. Battered and timid but with a Stepford Wife-look of inebriated glee. You always know. You're always looking down. You never judge. Ten thousand years and still your face will not betray anything other than a pleasant grin without teeth. You are lovely and frightening. You are the original Mona Lisa.The moon, at 7.45

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-25813847613153744332009-10-12T14:04:00.000-07:002009-10-12T16:24:30.968-07:00

Dear Hollywood,My name is Jill Marklin and I have lived in you for nearly six years. I am 5'4" and 129 pounds. I might be 130 after the doughnut I just ate. By your standards, I am chubby. I am not a model. Or an actress. Or a singer in a band. Or a former child star. I am not attempting to be in the limelight. I don't have a real headshot. I have some talents, but don't feel like I've

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-36727357809836892952009-07-31T00:36:00.001-07:002009-07-31T00:36:52.552-07:00

I've been throwing a pity party for myself the last couple of days. Why? You know, I don't really feel like divulging everything but I'll tell you enough to let you know that I'm frustrated at every lazy bone in my body. I'm annoyed that I discipline myself in so many areas but neglect my writing...something that I love to do. Or maybe I don't really love it, because if I did love it then it

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-56177701988006664022009-06-02T14:15:00.000-07:002009-06-02T14:26:35.531-07:00

I know that I talk about laundry a lot. It's, yet again, the bane of my bottom. I despise this domestic task but know that it will never go away. It will be here for the rest of my life. It makes me feel better to know that I can whine and you may very well sympathize. Or not. If that's your favorite household job. I prefer cleaning toilets.The whole process of shoving mounds of clothing

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-3211794810701756732009-04-19T21:14:00.000-07:002009-04-19T22:47:59.589-07:00

What is it about Sunday nights that feels so lonely? Oh no. I said it. I admitted that, yes, I get lonely from time to time. Well I do. And it usually hits on Sunday nights, if you must know. There's just something about the stillness of inactivity before the fury of the workweek that makes me sad. I'm not one of those Monday haters so it can't be blamed on a day that so many despise.

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-73109249575231191682009-03-20T16:20:00.000-07:002009-03-20T16:39:14.459-07:00

About a month before my birthday I start telling people that I am already my impending age. It just happens. My brain switches over involuntarily. Most people try to put it off as long as possible but I can't help it. It possesses me. Thirty two, here we are!As a kid growing up in the eighties, I actually looked forward to my thirties. Maybe it was because I snuck in episodes of Thirty

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-1819636863276795942009-03-03T10:01:00.000-08:002009-03-03T10:22:09.508-08:00

Forgiveness: An act. A statement. A movement. A choice. A gateway to life.Freedom, of the deepest kind, is opening up more and more everyday for me. I woke up, feeling burdened by past hurts and woes. I went forward in the daily habits, hoping to push through. I cursed the faults. I grumbled at the lack of love (while showing none to trespassers). And then LOVE shone through my mouth of

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-41524846891709223762009-02-11T16:12:00.000-08:002009-02-11T16:18:19.803-08:00

This is a blog I wrote two years ago that unfortunately is still very relevant in my life today. If you have been tagged it means: 1. We have shared an awkward hug. 2. We have talked about awkward hugs. 3. We will experience an awkward hug together. 4. You are an awkward hugger. Enjoy, and keep working on it!The Pressures of Successful Hugging and How It Affects Our FriendshipMy friend

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-74324108723751388342009-01-28T13:18:00.000-08:002009-01-28T13:32:56.384-08:00

Dear Lady in the baby blue VW Beetle with Massachusetts license plates-You were right. You were totally right. I didn't realize it until my car was safely parked in the lot behind my office and the replay of the events were rolled back. So, for all it's worth, I'm sorry. I was the "little s**t!!!" that you saw in that moment. Most days I'm not. Just know that. There was no reason for me to

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-23020940520482343812009-01-22T10:19:00.000-08:002009-01-22T11:35:28.255-08:00

I have an unfortunate habit of putting my underwear on inside out and backwards. Victoria's Secret now has the labels printed on the panties instead of on tags. "Genius!" I thought, while imagining fewer embarrassing moments in which the size and brand of my undergarment is flying at full mast from my bum "cleavage" and I entirely stop having to gingerly pat my lower back for said mast (note:

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-48695702097489563922009-01-18T22:46:00.000-08:002009-01-18T22:55:41.805-08:00

Is it possible to miss people that you never knew?  My heart is aching for them now.  For the moments in my life that they never got to see.  For the love that I want to give them today but can't, because they're gone.  It's not fair.  I look at these pictures and hear the stories, locked in my memory, that seem almost real to me.  "She would have bragged to everyone.  He would be so proud of you

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-78306177943733272742008-12-07T00:57:00.000-08:002008-12-07T01:27:11.273-08:00

Oh boy oh boy. Over the Rhine, my favorite band in the world (and fellow Midwesterners), played at Troubadour in West Hollywood tonight. Holy moley, how do they do it? How have they been doing it for twenty years now? They have been with me in moments that no one else but God and my conscience have access to. They have managed to travel with me across oceans, deserts, mountains and city

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-3946273767296984742008-10-27T14:51:00.000-07:002008-10-27T14:52:58.002-07:00

A vision without a task is but a dream.A task without a vision is drudgery.A vision and a task is the hope of the world.-inscribed on a church in England, 1730

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-38458310419407824202008-10-26T16:58:00.000-07:002008-10-26T17:21:44.981-07:00

Life isn't getting any easier but it is getting better.  The deeper into this living thing that I get, the more I realize that there are only two choices with what I do with it.  The one that I pick will will determine how much better it gets.  I can choose to be inactive or active.  It's that simple.  There is either "don't" or "do".  There is either "talk about it" or "be about it".  See

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-25889873968645160112008-10-16T09:33:00.000-07:002008-10-16T10:39:52.675-07:00

My Grandma fell and hurt her back last week.  She's going to be okay and is recooperating at my parents' home after a brief stay in the hospital, doses of medication and weeks of physical therapy to come.  But she didn't tell anyone for five days.  Five days!  Arg.  Why?  Why wouldn't you let someone who loves you and doesn't want you to be in pain, know that you're so uncomfortable that you can

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-57072633785764626662008-10-09T16:48:00.000-07:002008-10-09T17:22:26.077-07:00

Termites.  That's what those darned buggers were.  They were trying to get into my apartment the other day but I fought them.  I told them where to go.  I found them out.  They will not infiltrate.  They will be defeated!  Californians are used to these always present bugs.  Luckily they're not swarming so we should be okay.Certain insects give me the heebie jeebies.  We were talking about this

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-86537592914885411882008-10-02T11:38:00.000-07:002008-10-02T12:31:57.524-07:00

We all have to be friends after this election is over.  So don't blow it now with tawdry little quips and snide remarks regarding whom your neighbor chooses to vote for.  It's just not really worth it.  The world will keep spinning when fill-in-the-blank is put into office.  I certainly have my opinions about who that should be, but do you really care what they are if they're opposite of yours?  

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-7220356673747992732008-09-30T16:53:00.000-07:002008-09-30T17:21:45.050-07:00

Had a dream sometime within the hours of eleven last night and seven-thirty this morning, that I drove to the center of the earth to get a car wash.  It was dusty, and hot and surprisingly cheap for a car wash, but an awfully long way to go for the Tuesday Special.  +++++I've just noticed in several recent photos that I have a lazy eye.  This would have freaked me out a few years ago but for some

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-86136685876011113212008-09-02T16:18:00.000-07:002008-09-02T16:52:47.147-07:00

It's Tuesday.  It's the day-after-Labor-Day Tuesday.  It's-a-listen-to-Morrissey-while-actually-finishing-a-blog kind of Tuesday.  The holiday weekend was super laid back and filled with two newly made traditions amongst my friends, "The 2nd Annual Bass-Fil-A Extravaganza (BFAE)" and "The 1st Annual Westside Hooligan Sponsored Beach Bike-O-Rama (BOR)".  We like to use lots of long titles so

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-7164056317884931512008-08-13T14:36:00.000-07:002008-08-13T15:05:10.081-07:00

Sometimes I get sick of staring at a computer screen.  Lately these days "sometimes" is actually "always".  Sedentary existence.  Ugh.  Looking at digital words and digital pictures and hearing digital sounds.  No wonder gyms are so prevalent in the U.S.I'm just tired.  And it seems pathetic to be exhausted, with no physical strength to gain from this exhaustion, but it's true.  I miss touching

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-11804685696506010282008-07-30T17:26:00.000-07:002008-08-07T17:23:45.358-07:00

Words like "hemorrhage" and "aneurysm" are the last in my Google search bar.  Ridiculous, I know.  But when your head feels as though it is between the vice that was attached to your father's workbench, you start to look for answers.  As much as I hoped for some horrible symptom to tell me that I'm dying dramatically of whatever it is that I'm afraid of, the reality is that it's just a migraine

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-18677033423364590762008-07-17T16:46:00.000-07:002008-12-11T21:24:42.961-08:00

Having grown up a carnivore in the Midwest (land of meat and potatoes), I've never seriously considered vegetarianism or veganism. Basically any "ism" that would prevent me from eating whatever my little heart desired was out of the picture. In very brief moments of disgust, I have allowed my thoughts to digress on the whole idea of who/what/how/when/where the meat before my eyes ends up on my

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-58291807838539189752008-07-16T10:56:00.000-07:002008-07-16T11:41:09.252-07:00

This won't be long.  Promise.  It just needs to be said that NOT wiping off machines at the Culver City YMCA (or any exercise facility) with Simple Green and paper towels (that the gym provides quite readily) is absolutely disgusting and lazy.  I mean, come on.  You're at the gym for Goodness' sake.  That in itself exhibits that you are not a total couch potato.  You've made the effort to

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879824680814620416.post-14848637415483280292008-07-15T14:58:00.000-07:002008-07-15T17:20:33.895-07:00

I was going to start things out by writing about what's been on my mind for the last few days.  Food.  Dieting.  Not dieting.  Carbs.  Bad sugar.  Good sugar.  Good fat.  Bad fat.  Working out.  But I'm not.  That's annoying and no one wants to hear about that.  At least not today.  I don't want to put focus on something that I'm trying not to think about right now, but somehow keep thinking

ragamuffingirlnoreply@blogger.com0