TODAY'S WEATHER--SMOKE

On my Google homepage it has Santa Monica weather as 'SMOKE' and 84 degrees.
and on Friday I got my tax refund (i owed taxes in every state that I performed in last year...I cried when my tax guy's assistant told me what I owed. If you feel like having a break down about money--I highly suggest starting to sob while on the phone with a 20 year old tax guys assistant. She just sits and waits for you to get done crying and then asks if you want to give her your credit card number or send a check to pay for the remaining 500 dollars you owe for the tax prep.)

So ANYWAY--the only state I had a 200 dollar refund in was the state of California and I got my check on Friday in the form of an IOU from the state of California. It took me so long to figure out what it was when I opened it. It came as a certified letter so Jeff thought it was a warrant for my arrest.

So California is doing great.

The dog is Zulie--Zach's girlfriends parents dog. he has a tiny little brain but when we housesat for them the other week--we'd sit around watching him play with the other dog like it was TV.

Another reason that I wish I lived closer to family--any family--was so I could raid your basements for unwanted furniture. I need one big comfy chair for the living room. Just the one. The leather chair that we used to have in our family room growing up would be perfect. Could that be stuffed into a priority mail envelope?

Jeff and I leave for Seattle on Tuesday for a poor man's vacation. We're mostly going for a shower that my friends Vanessa and Michael are throwing for me. Jeff has accused me of inviting friends to the shower that I hardly know...which is not true. I invited close friends and people who I think would really like to be my friend. And here's their chance--depending on the gift they buy the baby--

And Zach leaves tomorrow night---I'll try to take some pictures at the airport so I can hide my teary face behind the camera.

Zach has lost over 13 house keys in the past 6 years. Which isn't so bad if you think of it as 2 a year. But in the past week alone he's lost 2. The other night when I heard this faint knock on the door and a little voice going 'Dad? Dad?"outside the door. I yelled thru the door "NO..LAUREN' which I know he kind of dreads more. I think I may be meaner. maybe. I opened the door and Zach was standing there with a big proud grin on his face--"i lost my key!" I responded with 'you lost your key. good for you." and turned around and went back to bed. A technique I learned from Sidney Weedman.

Tonight we're going to our favorite sushi restaurant for a goodbye dinner to zach. it's really high quality fish so i may have a bite. I love this baby blog is full of my drinking Guiness beer and eating sushi.

The baby--(new name we're digging right now--Leo--I'll try it out) Leo kicked me harder and more aggressively during the movie Julie and Julia yesterday. I love it. The movie is good too. Jeff didn't want to see it...thought it was girl movie and then he laughed uproariously during the movie and cried twice. He even leaned over to me DURING the movie to tell me "I LOVE THIS MOVIE" as if I hadn't noticed.

One more thing and then I'll shutup---

Jeff gets into fights with people at movie theaters for talking. And though he is in the right---they SHOULD SHUTUP---I live in fear of his 'starting something' with the dumb chatty kathy's next to us. I'd rather just move....and be peaceful.

Yesterday, before the movie started--Jeff sat down and said "i'm not going to start anything with anybody today. If they start talking, I'm going to just go sit somewhere else. It's not worth it to get all upset." Awesome. And then the theater fills up and a couple sits RIGHT next to Jeff and they're yogi people. Or ashram people. They're both wearing white turban and kind of yogi/guru wear.
and jeff still got into a screaming fight with them. Just kidding. It was peaceful. but it was hilarious since he was so like.."I'm gonna be patient this time". And then Gandhi sits next to him.