You can take the girl out of Berkeley...

This past weekend was my usual holiday dogsitting stint with Dumb and Dumber. I felt kind of guilty because there was all the unpacking to do at home but this also means extra cash for NYC. And I did more than just hang with the dogs.

Saturday I got to spend time with the Zombie family. You would think that I had had enough chicken but then the various Wing Stop locations kept taunting me. I did not give in.

Saturday night I let someone twist my arm into going to meet up with some folks I know from high school. What I learned is that chatting with them on Facebook is enough for me. Because other than going to the same high school together 25 years ago? Yeah, not much else in common. Now if my best friends from high school had been there it probably would have been different. I've kept in touch with them all these years. Back then we joked that we were sisters. Perhaps it wasn't so much of a joke. But those other folks? Just don't have time to be around folks who raise eyebrows when I act like me. I get enough of that from my family. Thank you very much.

Oh, and there was reading. I finally finished Garnethill. And while out with Zombie Mom on Saturday, I discovered that there was a new book in the Sisters Grimm series. Finished that as well.


This morning I awoke in a strange house. (Marin and family moved at the beginning of April. This was my first weekend in the new house. But I can walk to Astronomico's from there amongst other places!) And I wanted bacon. And hash browns. So I drove to El Cerrito to get breakfast from Nation's -- cheese omelet, bacon and hash browns. I washed it down with a vanilla shake.

And so now I'm getting ready for the trip to New York. And finishing that craft project so that I can put it in the mail before I leave. And thinking about how sometimes it's good to be taken out of one's element. Makes one so much more focused about what's important in life.