Fires & Pumpkins.

What a week. As you may have heard, there were some crazy fires in Southern California earlier this week. Monday morning, my commute looked like this:




Scary, right? The fire was about 10 miles away, but the winds picked up, and by Monday evening, there was concern that the fires would burn straight down to the coast. We got a call from the City on Monday evening, telling us to prepare to evacuate. We went outside, and our neighbors were packing their cars and leaving to stay with friends and family. It was very ... apocalyptic.

In case we were evacuated, Josh and I packed up our cars with family pictures and other sentimental stuff. After a long night of tossing and turning, I woke up Tuesday and got news mid-morning that our city was no longer threatened by the fire. Such a relief.

After that scare, the rest of the week seemed like no big thing.

On a brighter note, the weekend has been great. Saturday morning, we checked out the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival.


There was a little pumpkin patch at the entrance.


We are cheap, though, and didn't buy any pumpkins. Apparently, the grocery store by our house has pumpkins for $4 each, so we decided to hold off.


We met up with my dad and his lovely girlfriend Cathy.


Since it was game day, my dad was completely decked out. Can you guess for whom he roots?


The festival was filled with food booths, disastrous news for me since I am trying to lose the 4,327 pounds I've gained since starting at the Firm. Funnel cakes, sausages, and burritos galore. Tear.


I love fall in Southern California (yes, there are seasons here, they are just subtle, ok?). The weather Saturday was sunny and cool with a slight breeze. And the sky blue flecked with clouds. This may make me sound like an office rat, but it was so nice to be outside.


After looping through the Pumpkin Festival, we headed back to our cars. I really love my dad's girlfriend, Cathy. My dad has such a big heart and is kind of a goof, and in many ways, I think they work so well together.

Exhibit A: My dad and Cathy breaking out their dance moves on the way to the car. (Embarrasing yet adorable, no?)

After we left the Pumpkin Festival, we had lunch, and then headed back to our place. Dad and Josh watched football, and Cathy keep me company on a trip to Crate and Barrel to get some bookshelves. I spent all yesterday afternoon and evening unpacking the last few boxes of books, assembling the bookshelves, and cleaning out our home office. It looks like a totally new place.

Today, well, I should be working, but as you can see, I am procrastinating. Josh wants to go see W. this afternoon, so I should probably knock some work out here so I can go play later. More soon...

Wardrobe Malfunctions (alternatively titled, "Why Not to Buy a Cheap Suit at the Outlets")

My firm has a business casual policy unless you're in court, meeting with clients, etc. As a result, I am low on suits. So, I decided to buy a new suit for today's arbitration (and a couple of hearing and depositions that are happening in the next few weeks).

I wore my brand new suit to our big arbitration today. I was a little nervous/excited about conducting the direct examinations of two witnesses, but hey, new suit equals confidence, right?

About three hours in, my pants feel looser all of a sudden...hmmm...that's weird. I get up for a bathroom break, and those darn things feel like they are about to fall off.

Then, it hits me. My zipper is wide open! To make matters worse, in the ladies' room I discover the zipper is broken. Broken!!! On my new suit!!! Open fly + adversarial situation + public speaking!!! Ahhhhhh!

I managed to concoct a way to fasten them and buttoned my suit jacket so you couldn't see my, er, lower stomach. Luckily, the entire arbitration occurred sitting down.

Other than the wardrobe malfunction, the arbitration went really well! As nerdy as this may be, I thought it was a blast! We had to continue it another day, so there is time to get my money back and buy a sturdier suit!

In more good news, Josh brought home Girl Scout Cookies!!! God Bless him. Time for a few Thin Mints, milk, and then bed!

Lazy Sunday.

Well, good news: we seem to have survived Stormwatch 2008! Wow, that sump pump turned out to be a lifesaver. It sucked up our mini-lake and dumped it down the rain gutters. Flood and disaster averted.

Other than that, the weekend was remarkably slow. The grey weather made me lazy, and I slept in Saturday morning past noon. I haven't done that in so long, and it felt incredible. We went up to Camarillo to see my dad for the afternoon and then headed to Sherman Oaks to see Jackie and PJ.

Jackie, PJ, PJ's pal, Josh, and I headed out to a dive bar called Green Frog, also in Shoaks. The bar had a pretty interesting mix of people that seemed to match the weird variety of music played (Alanis Morissette, Pearl Jam, Snoop, Britney Spears). Pretty random, but I dug it. Also, I tried a black and tan (in this case, Guinness and Bass) for the first time, and it was pretty good.

Today was also pretty low-key. Church and breakfast in the morning in Malibu. Then, we headed to my sister's apartment. Bug cooked dinner and then we watched Blades of Glory, which made me laugh, despite its predictable jokes and silliness.

I am now parked on my couch watching Cashmere Mafia. So far, meh. A little too similar to Sex and the City, methinks. Ah, well. I should probably hit the sack anyway...

The kids aren't alright.

When I heard the forecast that torrential rains were about to assault California, I said, "Pshaw." Southern Californians and the news media often overdramatize the weather here, I think. After the many years in craptastic weather (Alaska, Seattle, Ithaca), a little Southern California sprinkle cannot get me down.

Yeah. Famous last words.

I came home today after sitting in traffic for two hours in the pouring rain. I mean, pouring. My little windshield wipers were doing double-time, but I was still squinting and peering over my steering wheel.

Anyway, I come home and find my poor little husband in our backyard, completely sopping wet, in the rain, barefoot, lodging broomsticks against our gutter to make those darn things dump. And the level of our pool has surpassed the spa and was creeping towards the top.

My two dogs looked up at me as if to say, "Uh, wtf?" Josh came in, soaked to the bone (hmm, where is his raincoat, I was wondering) and said it looked like the water was getting so high that it may leak into the house. And, that would be bad.

So, after a couple of frantic calls to the dads of the family, we learned we needed a sump pump. I called every Home Depot, Lowe's, and Ace Hardware store I could find in the phonebook. Most places were sold out (I had never even heard of a sump pump, but apparently everyone else had), but we finally found one. So, we hopped in the car and were in business.

Currently, out little pump is working its hardest to pump the water from our not-so-mini-lake into the street gutter. Hopefully, it is working. I also keep nervously looking at our ceiling. We could probably use a new roof, so I am praying for no leakage. Yeah, it's times like these I miss our apartment.

So, as we wait for our new little pump to do its business, I am sitting here watching Season Three of The Office and keeping my fingers crossed. Hope everyone else is keeping dry!