Mixing Memes

I love being tagged for memes (evidence that someone's reading, right?), but I've been absolutely lame about holding up my end of the deal lately. In the past week I've been tagged by two of my favorite bloggers, Monica and Katie, and I'm only just now getting around to things. What's more, I'm combining their memes. Is that legal?? Not that that's ever stopped me before.

Here we go:

What were you doing ten years ago?
I was honeymooning on Maui (I know—how unoriginal to honeymoon in Hawaii, but I had never been before, and Husband had fun showing me all the place he had traveled to in his former life as a Windsurf Bum).

What are five non-work things on your to-do list for today?
1. Take the cat the vet (he's having his teeth cleaned)
2. Pick up wine for the teacher appreciation lunch at Sophie's school
3. Leave work early to help set up the lunch
4. Take the principal's six-year-old daughter to lunch with Sophie and I so he can enjoy his lunch (she's here on a visit from out of town)
5. Pick up birthday gift for my sister-in-law
Oh, snap—we're out of items, and I haven't even picked up the cat yet!

What snacks do you enjoy?
1. almonds
2. fruit
3. breakfast cereal
4. olives
5. cheese

Who emails you regularly?
1. My lovely authors, some of them ALL THE TIME
2. Various typesetting vendors and freelance editors
3. My P.T.A. veep and pal
4. A friend who is convinced that the financial markets are collapsing and that he must keep all his friends up-to-date on his theory (he's retired)

What four things do you do almost every day without fail?
1. Cook
2. Read
3. Blog
4. Plan (I am nothing if not usually prepared)

Four places you'd rather be?
1. Skiing in Chile
2. Eating in Istanbul
3. Snoozing in the Greek Islands
4. Hiking in the mountains

What would you do if you were a billionaire?
1. Start giving it away. It can't be healthy to have that much. But I'd leave enough to 
2. Finish work on my house
3. Buy a house in Tahoe
4. Ski constantly
5. Have Husband retire so he can spend his time making wine, keeping bees, growing roses, and driving Sophie all over the place.
Wait! Do I still have money left to buy a farm??

Where have you lived?
1. Newport Beach, CA
2. Somerville, MA
3. State College, PA
4. Washington, DC
5. Berkeley, CA

What jobs have you had?
1. Taco girl (I prepared and sold tacos out a window to summer tourists)
2. Sales person (I sold preppy clothing to tourists who had probably just finished a taco)
3. Admin. assistant (what I learned there has come in very handy)
4. Graduate assistant (not a great time in my life but I acquired the skills to land me in the job I have today)
5. Editor (if we weren't on such a tight nonprofit budget, I would have an assistant—that feels nice)

So that's it. Wait! A posts without a picture? No possible. Here's what's been on my mind lately:



One of the most lovely areas of our state is burning, and friends of ours live right in the middle of it. We knew from looking at a map that they were evacuated, but as of yesterday, no one up here had heard from them. Another friend of ours finally got a phone call later yesterday saying that they are ok and that they sneaked back in to their property (so typical of these guys) and found that their house is still standing. Here's hoping humidity levels rise, winds don't shift, and luck holds for them. 

While my mind has been consumed with worry for them, in the back has lurked the thought "If we were evacuated and had a short amount of time to collect belongings, what would we take?" Really, I should think about this more often. We live right on the edge of a regional park, and a fire coming through the canyon would be hard to stop. Every summer when the hills dry out and the winds come up, I wonder "Will this be the year I lose me house?" I need to work on that packing list. What would you take?