Tea Fire

Here is the view from our balcony of the Tea Fire burning Santa Barbara/Montecito around 5 PM today. It started around 6 pm last night and last I heard there has been over 100 homes destroyed or damaged. The air here is filled with smoke and ash. Helicopters and emergency vehicle sirens are everywhere. We didn't take a photo last night but we sat in our front room watching the large orange glow in the dark (our power was out) and had no idea of the magnitude of the fire until this morning when the power came back on and we saw the news.

Home Stretch

We just need to complete the bathroom and kitchen and then we can move. We won't have everything done when we move in (we are shooting for beginning of December)but the rest of the remodel can be completed while we are living there.

Here are some new photos:

New Front Door (still needs to be stained)



Here is the old front door. I just put it up in the FREE section of Craigslist. Hopefully someone can use it. I mean, who wouldn't want a door with that cool diamond window??

Here is the Kitchen. The cabinets have been ordered and we have bought some of the appliances. Still working on finding the right refrigerator and sink.

Todd is covering all the floors to protect them because he is priming the interior walls

Starting to tile the bathroom wall

Samantha surprised us today by showing us that she is ready to take Lollipop on walks


Not sure how Lollipop feels about this.

The Weeble Wobble

Party Animal

We have had non-stop parties to attend for the past couple weeks.

Last Saturday we attended Maya and Serena Aparicio's birthday party at a park in Ojai: Serena turned 2 (in the floral dress) and Maya turned 7 (holding on to Samantha)

The next day we went to Ella's 1st Birthday party at Padaro Beach Grill:

Later that evening we went to the Stone's Pumpkin Carving Party:

Then on Tuesday we went to the Infant Times Halloween Party:

Samantha was very intrigued by her friend TJ dressed as Elmo

On Thursday the Halloween festivities continued at Yellow Bird:

Samantha got a lot of wear out of her lamb costume. Thank you Dancing Grandma!!!


And finally today we attended Ben's 1st birthday party at the zoo:

Ben the birthday boy, Reese, Sam, and Colin

Cute girls in their pink coats

Baby Steps

Samantha has been taking a few steps here and there lately. Check her out:

4

I've been tagged by my friend Sarah, to complete this survey, so here it goes:

Four Random Things I Like About My Husband:
1) He really is "Mr. Fix It". We rarely need to hire anyone to fix things that break around the house.
2) He has great hair
3) He wears a daily uniform of Dickie's brand shorts and shirts with paint all over them and still looks good.
4) He works hard all day and into the night including the weekends to provide for his family and build us a new home and always manages to carve out some quality time each day for us.

Four Jobs I've Had:
1) Retail Associate at The Limited in my hometown mall while I was in high school. I remember having to fold a gazillion sweaters during the holiday season with a folding board - awful!
2) Product Development Manager at the corporate office of a now defunct retail company called Skinmarket. It was sort of like Bath and Body Works but way hipper. I would say that out of the 50 or so people that worked there, 40 of them were girls in their 20's. Let's just say that not a lot of work was getting done. It was like high school but way more fun!
3) Marketing Manager at Inamed Health which was bought out by Allergan. I worked in the division that marketed The LAP-BAND, a weight-loss surgery. I hope to some day get back into medical marketing.
4) Creative Director at Permilia Inc. a web marketing firm. I went from working at an FDA regulated medical device company to marketing colon cleanser on the Internet.........Let's just say that I am very happy now working as Samantha's mom and Todd's wife.

Four Movies I've Watched More Than Once:
1) Top Secret
2) Return to Oz
3) Vacation
4) Vegas Vacation

Four TV Shows I Watch:
1) Lost (when the heck is the next season going to start?)
2) Prison Break
3) All My Children
4) Sesame Street (this is a show that I stopped watching more than 25 years ago but have recently gotten back into it because of a certain someone)

Four Places I've Been:
1) Italy
2) France
3) Spain
4) Fiji

Four of My Favorite Foods:
1) Sushi
2) Spaghetti
3) Ice Cream
4) Cheese Burgers

Four Places I'd Like to Visit:
1) Australia
2) Africa
3) London
4) Costa Rica

Four Things I am Looking Forward to in the Coming Year:
1) Cooking in our new home
2) Samantha having her own room in our new home
3) A yard for Lollipop at our new home
4) Hosting dinner parties, play dates and family at our new home
4+) Having my husband home nights and weekends because the new house will be finished!!!!!!!!

Four People I Tag:
1) Julie
2) Marina
3) Andrea
4) Lori

Hi!

Samantha can't stop waving all day and saying HI!! I got a little bit on video the other day: