that's better

Re-worked my larger hanging boggies that didn't sell too well at my last event. And, to be honest, I never really felt quite right about their wings. The felt worked well for the smaller critters on my mobiles, but at a larger scale it just wasn't working out. The pipe cleaner wings are definitely better. Just came back from buying more and the chenille pipe cleaner I like to use (because I like pipe cleaner where you can't see the wire) was all clearanced. Good deal...but, that must mean they're not going to be stocking this anymore. Translation = yet another one of those items I actually have to plan for by ordering online when I think I'll be needing it soon. Oh bother.

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Speaking of online shopping, I'm in the market for ordering some really good (preferably woodfire, preferably montreal) bagels. We were eating our mediocre bagels yesterday when my husband remarked that I'm a bit of a bagel snob. I have yet to find bagels I enjoy half as much as those made in this bagel shop/bakery I worked at in L.A. It was called Woodfire Bagel Company and was on the corner of Venice and Beverly Glenn Blvd. The day we drove back up to L.A. to discover that the shop had closed up was just about the most disappointing day of my life. The owners had their bakers trained in Montreal where most bakeries use the woodfire baking process. I'd never even heard of a montreal bagel before I started working there. It's smaller, less bready. Delicious! Aside from the bagels, this place made wonderful soups, salad dressings, woodfire pizzas...everything from scratch, everything the best tasting whatever it was I had ever had. I loved walking in there at 6am, smell of the fire, warm bagels all lined up, brew the coffee, fix myself a very tall double shot mocha latte with orange syrup - before the customers started coming. Loved the food, hated the customers. Had my share of nasty L.A. brats. Also had my share of celebrity sightings here. Shall I drop names? Shannon Dougherty, who insisted we call out the name "Tom" when her bagel was ready. Fran Drescher, who had an itty bitty dog obscured under her sweater. (This was back in the day before everyone and their sister wasn't carrying a chihuahua around in their purse - back in the day when you were actually asked to leave the dog outside.) But my all time favorite was Richard Schiff - mostly now known as "Toby" on The West Wing. At the time, in 1996, he was on my favorite favorite show, Relativity, a short-lived show by the producers of My So-Called Life. So instead of simply calling his name when his bagel was ready, I walked around the counter and foolishy asked him if he was an actor. He wasn't incredibly "big" back then, so he smiled warmly at being recognized and said, "yes!" I told him how much I loved the show, asked if he was coming back, since he hadn't been on the past couple episodes, and he proceeded to tell me about the upcoming Christmas episode and thanked me for my support of the show. I was so silly. My only other celebrity sighting in my 3 years of living in L.A. happened while I was heading to a doctor's appointment at the UCLA Medical Center. I was in the elevator heading up when the elevator paused at a floor and the doors opened. A man standing there looked in, a little confused, then looked around the lobby before stepping back and going in the other direction. When the doors closed, the other woman in the elevator said, "Was that...?" "Yes, had to be Clint Eastwood!" Ha ha.

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So...getting back to the point of all this is...if you live near an excellent bagel shop that has an online storefront, would you please let me know? I'm jonesing for a good montreal, bialy or onion, with lots of onions and poppy seeds baked inside, bagel.