En Fuego

I really don't mean to make light of the fire situation in San Diego and LA (no pun intended), but it is quite surreal to be in the area or to have lived in the area, then see everything on CNN. Unless you are completely living under a rock, you would know that Southern California has been battling major, major fires this week. Almost a million people have evacuated their homes, and a few thousand have lost their homes entirely.

Lindsay, Jon and Mom are all very, very, safe. The closest fire is about 40 miles from where they live in La Jolla and San Diego proper, respectively. Here is a diagram of the fires from CNN that gives a good view. They all live directly IN the white "San Diego" circle.



Mom flew up here yesterday, not because she needed to evacuate, but because she was basically "stuck" in her own home. With the ashes and fumes and general danger outdoors, they instructed everyone to stay inside their homes as much as possible. Doors and windows were closed (which NEVER happens in San Diego) and everyone has, understandably, been glued to the TV watching CNN non-stop. So it made sense for Mom to come up here for a few days and leave the unfortunate scene behind her. Lindsay and Jon JUST got an adorable dog named JACK about a week ago, which made their "escape" a little more complicated, so they opted to stay back in San Diego and wait it out.

Just wanted to give the update that our family has a happy progress report. Thank you for all of the emails and phone calls with concern. I know Lindsay, Jon and Mom all appreciate them. Mom is definitely giving a big "WHAT THE HECK???" (if you know Dianne, you know she has never used the word "heck" in her life) about life in California. First, she experienced the earthquake with us back in February, then there was a landslide in La Jolla this summer and now these horrible, horrible fires have swept across Southern California. She's questioning the "peacefulness" that came with the annual hurricanes and tornadoes of North Carolina...you always knew to expect them and you almost always have time to evacuate. And hell, if not, grab a bottle of moonshine and it will get you through just about anything. Right, y'all?

All joking aside, our thoughts are with our neighbors to the south as they continue to fight the fires and protect their homes. It is such a sad scene to see areas we know burning down, yet we are grateful to hear that our friends and family in SoCal are all safe.

January 2008...Just Around the Corner

That is what the sales clerk told us when she set the delivery date for our new end table from Neiman's. I almost had a heart attack....seriously? January 2008?? And this was ordered at the end of September, when I couldn't believe we would wait almost a half a year for a piece of furniture. With our fickle taste, who knows what we'll even LIKE at that point?

Just the same, one month later, I'm still really excited about both of our new pieces...or soon to be ours when they are delivered...in January 2008 (did I mention that?)

#1: End Table from Neiman's: How cute is this? Just cute and funky enough, with a great color of "celedon" to put a little punch into our living room:


#2: Florence Knoll Marble Top Coffee Table: This was originally Dave's idea and I am now really excited to see it in our place. My Mom had this really great, really durable coffee table in her Raleigh house. It was the kind that you could put your feet up on, put your drinks on without coasters (and Mama Dianne wouldn't even blink an eye!), you could drop a brick on this thing and it wouldn't even flinch. It was awesome. Our new table isn't exactly that way, but it's along the same lines that it's fashionable (to us at least!), while being fully functional and comfortable.

Anyways, these are the newest additions...soon! We just have to get a couple of bedside tables, a rug for the living room and curtains for the bedroom (so it doesn't look like it's 12 o'clock noon at 12 o'clock midnight), then we are officially "settled"! First things first...January 2008...just around the corner.

You're Ruggin' Me the Wrong Way

Rugs! I realize this isn't necessarily the sexiest of topics, but it's a growing part of our landscape here in 3625 Fillmore Street.

Our landlady came in a few weeks ago and - first thing she said - "You need more rugs." We are forced to cover 75% of our hardwood floors by rugs to help in noise reduction within the building. We only had about 25% when the landlady "stopped by" unexpectedly and we're up to about 50% now. Multiple challenges in finding rugs:
1) We are not 90 years old. That eliminates about 90% of the rugs out there because they are geared toward old, wrinkled women who probably wove the darn things 75 years ago when they were young bucks visiting Iran. Do I sound bitter?
2) Holy HELL they are expensive. We had absolutely no idea. We scoured all the "usual suspects" of Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, etc....then went to gigantic local rug stores here in SF with my Mom, then finally bought (and returned) one from Ikea. Even at IKEA it was $800...not sure I can say WTF on my family-friendly blog, but... WTF?????

We were resourceful on CraigsList (we have bought and sold at least 50% of what we have owned on CraigsList...I would be a paid walking advertisement for that site if I could) and Dave found a woman in Half Moon Bay (about 30 miles south of SF) who was selling a particular rug from Iran out of her house. We thought we were going to see ONE rug she was selling, but it turns out she has at least 30 she is selling! She calls it a "hobby" - collecting and selling rugs. Some do stamp collecting, some watch baseball, this women buys and sells thousand-dollar rugs. Hey, I can't knock it...my husband shines shoes as a hobby for god's sake. SIDE NOTE: Dave added a new member to our family this week with a new pair of Alden 405 Indy boots. (He claims, "I'll have these for the rest of my life!" I'm just not sure how these "lifers" are different than his other 5 pairs of brown boots that are also "lifers" that look identical to these. I realize this is role-reversal and it's a crime to women of America that Dave has more shoes than me, but COME ON!!!!)

But I digress. We had a great experience with the Rug Lady of Half Moon Bay and ended up buying three rugs from her. They don't necessarily fit perfectly in THIS apartment, but hopefully we WILL actually have these for the rest of our lives, which presumably will someday bring us to a real, live HOME (i.e. full size space where you don't have to make things "fit" in one of three rooms). So, without further ado, check 'em out (or 2 of the 3 at least)! The top one is by Dave's desk and is an Heriz rug from the 1930s.

The Dirty South Comes West

Yep, the Dirty South arrived last week in full force. Meg, Marco, Nicole and Will arrived from North Cackalaka and San Francisco will never be the same. From a day in Napa to a trip to the Farmer's Market to watching the Blue Angels fly overhead in our neighborhood, to shopping, shopping, shopping and watching sports at local bars, we had a great weekend together and we absolutely appreciate the four of them flying cross-country for a visit with us!

Here are some highlights from the day in Napa:
1) Mumm: Dave and I LOVE this place. I have written about it a few other times because I love doing tastings here and walking through their art gallery.


2) PlumpJack: PlumpJack is partially owned by the mayor of SF, Gavin Newsome. He also owns 2 restaurants, 1 bar and 1 wine shop....all on our street. We wanted to check out his vineyard for the tasting and it turned out to be our favorite winery all day! September and October are harvest season in Napa, so we got to see the winery in action which was cool.


3) Hurley's: We ate lunch here and it was delicious! It's in the town of Yountville and food from their popular burger to the risotto was great.

4) Mondavi: Yes, the biggie. We had never been to such a large vineyard before. Mondavi, as you can imagine, is gigantic. It was more beautiful than I expected, but also a churn-and-burn experience (lots of people, relatively small space...not much time to learn about the wines from the person pouring). I definitely enjoyed the grounds and we took a few pictures out there...

Dave keeps this photo of me in one particular suit jacket.... It is from my 5th birthday when we lived in Evanston and I tried to recreate it here...



5) Clos du Val: This was our last stop for the day. We stopped because, like crackheads, we wanted "just one more". This turned out to be a not-so-great idea as it got us riled up enough to stop at the store and buy cocktails for the hour drive home. Meg came to regret this for the next 24 hours as she intimately got to know the bathroom floor at the hotel. Awww.....

The rest of the weekend flew by and we were very sad when Monday came and we all had to go back to the reality of work! They were anxious to get back to NC, especially back to their adorable kids, Dino and Emerson. For more photos, check out the photo album...

I'm Baaaaack!

I can't believe it's been over two weeks since my last visit. Oh, sweet blog....can you forgive me? Google, can you try not to cancel my account for lack of use after being loyal for so long?

At long last, I'm baaaaack! I actually didn't GO anywhere...life has just somehow snuck in and got in the way of me WRITING about life.... ???

A few things have happened since I last wrote. One of which is that I got a joooooooooob! I'm still with Symantec, but I am now PERMANENT, as in a full-time, salaried employee with benefits, days off, health care, even a free gym membership. I was scheduled to be a contractor through March 2008, but am absolutely thrilled to have "converted" to a full-timer. I'll be doing the same job - Marketing Programs Manager - focusing on ways to market to the consumer.

Anyways, we're back!