Pony Couture

 

My little Mi going to preschool on her 4th birthday. 

I’d dress just like her if it were not widely frowned upon.

 

Mimi loves My Little Pony.  She’s loved them for about a year now and I encourage it for these reasons:

1)  The ponies are androgynous.   Truly.  None of them are gendered in the least.  They don’t have gendered pronouns; their voices are unidentifiable as female or male.  It’s creepy and comforting at the same time.

2)  No gender means no sexy things about them.  No worries about slutty clothes or ponies pairing off to make more ponies.

3)  They’re cheap, easy to come by, and can go in the bath.  They’re easily identified by the stamp on their rumps, called the “Cutie Mark.”  The main ponies are Pinkie Pie, Cheerliee, Rainbow Dash, Toola Roola, Scootaloo, Starsong, and Sweetie Belle.  I did not have to google that.

4)  Every couple of years they come up with other weird ponies.  Last year it was Mermaid Ponies, a movement we could get behind no matter how absurd.  This year it’s ponies with gigantism.

5)  There are a million My Little Pony videos on YouTube.  Frequently they are in foreign languages.

 

Mimi sneaks into my room and snatches my iphone during nap time.  She breaks into the phone and can find pony movies to watch without knowing how to read.

   

*****

A few weeks ago a package arrived at my door addressed to me.  Upon opening  I discovered seven vintage My Little Ponies from 1983-1984.  Did someone know we’re a pony household?  Who sent these mystery ponies?

And then it dawned on me.

I grabbed my iphone, and sure enough on the EBay ap was a completed transaction purchasing $37 worth of vintage My Little Ponies.

$37 for ponies!  Ponies!  Not even cute ones!  Collector’s items!

Yes, my preschooler can Ebay.  I will be turning off the “buy it now” option.

My Dead Body Friends

2011 is pretty much the best year ever. I’ve reconnected with a lot of my very good friends and seen a lot of my local friends. I dub thee the Year of Friends, 2011. It’s a good thing, too, because when you’re down a spouse you really need your friends.

Recently my BFF Niya and my BFBM (best friend before marriage) Brett came to town. I don’t like the phrase Best Friend so I make sure to use it a lot to vex and annoy, but also to indicate the importance of these people in my life. It sounds exclusionary and I am all about inclusion. I have a lot of BFF’s who cycle through my life in varying degrees of talk-to-every-day and talk-to-every-year. You are probably my BFF.

Brett and Niya are my dead body friends. The saying goes, “An old friend helps you move, a good friend will help you move a dead body.” My heart kinda broke last year, these are some of the people who are putting it back together.

I’ve mentioned Niya a lot. She’s an artist and occasionally poses for people who are selling things ;) Here’s some of her art:

Talented, no? If you’re in LA her show is still up at SubUrban and you should swing by and buy some. Or check out her website.

Any who, Niya and Brett were here.

Wait, Brett is supa cool too. He’s a real bonafide filmmaker who makes a living doing only filmmaking and does not sleep on his mother’s couch. No, he and Niya are not an item. He’s dating this girl.

Here’s his production company and a flier for one of his movies that is on TV sometimes.

Whatever, enough with the resumes.

Brett and Niya were in town and we went fun places and did fun things. And Brett fell down a lot.

And my chest still hurts from all the laughing. Seriously funniest people ever.

Tilden Park Trains, beautiful day.

Please kids, look at the camera. I beg you. View from Berkeley hills of SF Bay.

At the Lawrence Hall of Science.

Ethiopian Food in Berkeley (thanks Some Guy for the recommendation! Love that place!)

Also, my own piece of Niya Art. I got a tattoo on my back when I was 18 and didn’t know what a tramp stamp was. I like what it is, just not the location or the fact that it’s there at all (Tattoo regret?! who knew there was such a thing?) I tried to get it lasered off once but have not had the courage to go back because I don’t enjoy being electrocuted. Worst pain of my life, ever. So I’ve been thinking of changing the tattoo to something I like a bit more since it’s not going anywhere. There’s your warning, mom.

Two artistic types couldn’t take ONE good picture of me with the minions? How am I supposed to recruit a new man when it’s clear my kids are fully a swarm? Can we just pretend the last two are one person? Does Mimi’s free spirit count for two? How am I going to sell us??

Also, it was Brett’s 74th birthday and we happened to be at Pam’s. One mention of his birthday (I hadn’t told them in advance) erupted into a full on GreenBomb party, complete with clown and face paint and singing. Brett was game and I think learned a bit about why I am the way I am. I was totally born this way. And so were my kids!

Art in Motion at the Lawrence Hall of Science.